"She thought Bulgaria was strong enough to beat us, and she promised to help if Bulgaria were too weak. Everyone thought, you see, that the Bulgarian troops were the best in the Balkans. They forgot that we helped them to win Adrianople, and that we and the Greeks won our great victories unaided. And then, when we crushed Bulgaria within two weeks, Austria broke her word, and Bulgaria was left helpless. We acted in self defence, but we were sorry."
"I supposed that Servia hated Bulgaria now, Steve. And Greece, too."
"As to Greece, I cannot say. Her people are not Slavs. But we and the Bulgarians are blood brothers. We would not have fought except for Austrian trickery and Austrian lying—that they call diplomacy."
"Will Bulgaria fight again in this war?"
"I do not know. There is a great effort being made to revive the Balkan League and add Roumania to it. Roumania is stronger than any of us now, because, though she helped us at the end of the war with Bulgaria, she did no real fighting at all, and it did not exhaust her to gain what she did from the wars. If we can win what Austria denied us before, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, perhaps, as well, we will not grudge Bulgaria what we had to keep from her in Macedonia after the war with Turkey, and we will help her, too, to recover Adrianople. You remember that the Turks took that back from her when we had beaten her down."
"So Bulgaria may be on your side?"
"Yes. And I think it very likely, because she is near us and far from Austria, which might offer to help her. If she attacked us, too, Greece would come to our aid. But that depends on many things. If Russia helps us, that will make a difference. And it is a question of what Italy will do, also. But this is not getting us anywhere. You are game to come with me?"
"Yes."
"Then let us start. We are going to get a motor boat on the Danube—not on the Save—and try to run the gauntlet of the Austrian monitors. I think it is safe enough, because they believe that they have the river entirely under their control. I think it will be easier to get into Semlin than it was to get out last night."
"Well, I'm ready whenever you give the word."