Adventure, December 1914 — page 210: what you’re looking at

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208 otherwise. But at any rate, the Roumanian demands make another good excuse for our demands at the Peace Conference. We can say to Greece and Servia: ‘Roumania wishes to take a slice off our own territory as payment for having left us alone. It is only fair that you should make this good to us. Give us Salonika and a slice of Mace- donia, as far as the Vardar valley.’ You see, it is a splendid excuse.” “And does your Majesty believe that after such treatment as you suggest your allies will still continue to entertain the project of crowning you Emperor of the Balkans?” I demanded. To my surprise he did not flinch. ‘“‘That is a matter which will take care of itself. In fact, it is inevitable. I may say, too, in this connection, that I am assured of powerful backing in pursuing the policy I have outlined to you.” “T suppose you are referring to Austria,” I said with a feeling I could not conceal. “Well, your Majesty, you have sat upon this throne now for more than twenty-five years, and if you have not yet learned the measure of Austrian diplomacy I can not teach it to you. But you must know that if there is one thing the Hapsburgs dread it is the foundation of a powerful Slav confeder- ation on their southern frontiers. If there is one thing they want to prevent it is that. Bulgaria will never receive disinterested help from Vienna.” Again, to my surprise, he did not show the anger and resentment I expected from my exceedingly frank and democratic language. Instead he leaned over closer to me, tapping the floor with his heavy stick. “Ah, but you must give me credit for something, Mr. Blair,” he replied. “I deal with Austria wittingly, and in the long run it is Austria that will be fooled, not I. I shall play into Austria’s hands only so far as it profits Bulgaria. “‘Come, look at the situation as it is. We profit by Austria’s backing and influence at the present. Grant that she withdraws her help when she thinks we need it most. Then we fall back upon you. With your loan of one hundred and twenty-five mil- lion francs, we shall be independent of Aus- tria and every other Great Power. “We have four hundred thousand veter- ans ‘under arms, compared with two hundred and fifty thousand Servians and one hun- dred and fifty thousand Greeks; perhaps a Adventure few more—what does it matter? We area single nation, united in ambition and pur- pose; they are two peoples of different lan- guage. The result can never be in doubt for a minute if we have sufficient financial resources.” ‘And while you are engaged with Greece and Servia, what do you suppose Roumania and Turkey will be doing?’ I asked sarcas- tically. “Turkey is crippled,” he answered, im- perturbably satisfied with his own logic. “‘Roumania dares not move without the approval of both Austria and Russia.”’ I got to my feet. “Once and for all, I must tell your Majesty that you can not count upon my assistance in this project,” I said. ‘It spells ruin— ruin for everything and for everybody con- nected with it. Have I your Majesty’s per- mission to withdraw?” He glared at me with ill-suppressed rage. For an instant I thought he would move to strike me with his cane, but by a violent effort he regained control of himself. “Go!” he gasped thickly. “I am suffi- ciently rewarded for admitting an American adventurer to my confidence!”’ I bowed and walked out of the room, con- scious that his eyes were boring into my back. CHAPTER XXI | THE WAR OF THE BRETHREN AGAINST the background of those tu- multuous days the affairs of individuals seem insignificant as the infinitesimal strokes of the artist’s brush that supply the detail to a gigantic canvas. The actors in that mighty Balkan drama were swept up and carried along on seas of human passion and racial hatred that baffled man’s con- trol. The first war of the allies against Turkey was one of the most desperate waged in modern times. But in the second war, in which the allies turned upon each other like starving wolves, and Turkey and Rou- mania, like jackals, hung on the outskirts of the fray to pick up the scraps dropped by the combatants, the din of contending armies, the tramping of hostile hosts, the scourge of hunger and suffering, surpassed anything dreamed of before. It was an object-lesson of the destructive effects of greed, not only upon the individual comicloool C©@