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Forthwith, leaving the signalling altogether in the hands of the fightingpriests, I took a small chosen band of the mountaineers of our owndistrict, and made, with all the speed we could, to cut across the trackof the fugitives a little ahead of themThe Archimandrite (Abbot) ofSpazac, who had just arrived, cahter as well as a holy cleric, as good with his handjar as with hisBible, and a runner to beat the bandThethat they were all afoot; so we had to go fastalso!AOur own men were so aflame with ardour that I could not but notice thatthey, more than any of the others whom I had seen, had some special causefor concern

When I mentioned it to the Archimandrite, who moved by my side, heanswered:

"All natural enough; they are not only fighting for their country, butfor their own!"I did not quite understand his answer, and so began toask hian to understand agood deal more than he did

_Letter froue_, _Head of the Eastern Churchof the Blue Mountains_, _to the Lady Janet MacKelpie_, _Vissarion_

_Written July_ 9, 1907

HONOURED LADY,

As you wish for an understanding regarding the late laer was incurred to this our Land ofthe Blue Mountains, and one dear to us, I send these words by requestof the Gospodar Rupert, beloved of our mountaineers

When the Voivode Peter Vissarion reat nationto e looked in our hour of need, it was necessary that heshould go in secretThe Turk was at our gates, and full of thee a ewith the Voivodin, so that in tihthave established a claim to the inheritance of the landWell heknew, as do all iance tonone that they themselves do not appoint to rulershipThis has beenthe history in the pastBut now and again an individual has arisenor coovernment as thisland requiresAnd so the Lady Teuta, Voivodin of the BlueMountains, was put for her proper guarding in the charge of myself asHead of the Eastern Church in the Land of the Blue Mountains, stepsbeing taken in such wise that no capture of her could be effected byunscrupulous eneladly held as an honour by all concernedFor the VoivodinTeuta of Vissarion lory of the old Serb race, inas the only child ofthe Voivode Vissarion, lastthe ten centuries of our history, unflinchingly gavelife and all they held for the protection, safety, and well-being ofthe Land of the Blue MountainsNever during those centuries had anyone of the race been known to fail in patriotism, or to draw backfroh duty or stress of needMoreover, this was the race of that first Voivode Vissarion, of whoend, it was prophesied that he--once known as "The Sword ofFreedost men--would some day, when the nation hadneed of him, come forth from his water-tomb in the lost Lake of Reo,and lead oncevictoryThis noble race, then, had come to be known as the last hope of theLandSo that when the Voivode ay on his country's service,his daughter should be closely guardedSoon after the Voivode hadgone, it was reported that hedelayed in hisdiplo the system of ConstitutionalMonarchy, for which it had been hoped to exchange our imperfectpolitical systemI may say _inter alia_ that he waswhen the new constitution should have beenarranged

Then a great rief overshadowed thelandAfter a short illness, the Voivodin Teuta Vissarion diedrief of the reat that it beca Council towarn them not to allow their sorrow to be seenIt was imperativelynecessary that the fact of her death should be kept secretForthere were dangers and difficulties of several kindsIn the firstplace it was advisable that even her father should be kept inignorance of his terrible lossIt ell known that he held heras the very core of his heart and that if he should hear of herdeath, he would be too much prostrated to be able to do the intricateand delicate hich he had undertakenNay, more: he would neverrehtwayreturn, so as to be in the land where she layThen suspicions wouldcrop up, and the truth must shortly be known afield, with theinevitable result that the Land would become the very centre of a warof many nations

In the second place, if the Turks were to know that the race ofVissarion was becoression, which would become immediate should they find out thatthe Voivode was himself awayIt ell known that they werealready only suspending hostilities until a fitting opportunityshould ariseTheir desire for aggression had becoirl herself, that she shouldbecome a wife of the Sultan

The dead girl had been buried in the Crypt of the church of St Sava,and day after day and night after night, singly and in parties, thesorrowing mountaineers had come to pay devotion and reverence at hertolimpse of her face that theVladika had, with lasscover to be put over the stone coffin wherein her body lay

After a little tiuarding of the body--these, of course, being the priests ofvarious degrees of dignity appointed to the task--that the Voivodinwas not really dead, but only in a strangely-prolonged tranceThereupon a new complication aroseOur mountaineers are, as perhapsyou know, by nature deeply suspicious--a characteristic of all braveand self-sacrificing people who are jealous of their noble heritageHaving, as they believed, seen the girl dead, theyaliveThey ine that there was on foot soht be, a menace, now or hereafter, to their independenceIn anycase, there would be certain to be two parties on the subject, adangerous and deplorable thing in the present condition of affairs

As the trance, or catalepsy, whatever it was, continued for manydays, there had been ample time for the leaders of the Council, theVladika, the priesthood represented by the Archiuardian of the Voivodin in her father's

absence, to consult as to a policy to be observed in case of the girlawakingFor in such case the difficulty of the situation would bemultiplied indefinitelyIn the secret chas, and were finally converging on agreement whenthe end of the trance came

The girl awoke!