The next morning being the day of the feast, I was awoke pretty early by the repeated firing of cannon just outside the gate of the Palace and in front of my window. I should have been glad to have slept a few hours longer, but the noise was too great, and my so-called Italian-speaking servant coming in at the same moment, I jumped out of bed and called out, "_Colazione!_"
I had not more than half finished, and was in the act of peeling some grand specimens of Albanian figs, when in walked Pero Pejovich, who came to tell me that the Prince and Princess, with all the notables and Voyvodes of Montenegro, would attend High Mass at ten, and that the _cortège_ would pass under my windows and would be worth seeing. He added that if I liked he would take me into church and get me standing-room inside before they arrived; but he feared the crowd and the heat would be something fearful. Consequently, finding it quite hot enough already, I determined to remain where I was and enjoy the procession from my window.
I then told the Commandant of my adventure the night before. He scolded me awfully, but patted me on the back, as one would a child, and said I might have run some risk had I not been fortunately recognised as a guest of the Prince.
"Only imagine," said he, "if anything had gone wrong, the honour of Montenegro might have been compromised."
We then lit our cigars, and while waiting for mass-time, fell, as usual, into conversation about his country and its usages.
"What do you think of our Prince, and the way he goes among the people? I saw you last night with him. Did you ever see such love, such devotion, as we all have for him? But he deserves it fully. There never was such a ruler as our Prince; we would all lay down our lives for him, and be proud of the honour. If he were to call us to arms, we could muster in twelve hours, here in this plain of Cettigne, twenty thousand able men, fully armed and equipped, ready to march on any point, and that without endangering Montenegro; for we should leave twenty thousand more behind us, not so well adapted for advancing in an enemy's country, but fully competent to guard our mountain passes and protect our strongholds."
I said I hoped such a contingency might never arise; but he shook his head. The Turks, he said, hated them too much not to seek, sooner or later, for a pretext to attack them, and then he added,