THROUGH WILD EUROPE 159 



by making a complaint to the British Vice-Consul, 

 who, by the way, was a wealthy Albanian who 

 could speak no English, they were compelled to 

 restore them to me within a couple of days. 



That evening my hopes were again raised by a 

 visit from the secretary of the Austrian Consulate, 

 to whom I had brought an introduction from Baron 



B . He told me that he had, at my request, 



sent a fisherman, whom he sometimes employed, to 

 search for nests of the White Heron while I was at 

 Plavnica, and that he had reported the finding of 

 several nests with eggs. 



This circumstantial report, from a man described 

 by M. Ljoubanovitch as trustworthy, seemed at last 

 to promise well. It was agreed that Ljoubanovitch 

 and myself should accompany this fisherman to the 

 spot where he had found the nests, that he was to 

 come for me soon after daybreak, and that we should 

 go down to the custom-house to embark together. 



This was done, but the morning- again was most 

 unpromising. We started in heavy rain, and my 

 companion, who was crippled in one leg with long- 

 standing rheumatism, was in such evident pain that 

 I refused to allow him to proceed, and said I would 

 go alone with the fisherman and his son. 



They were Turks, and of course I could not 

 speak a word to them, but they were very civil and 

 plausible, and I thought I should be able to manage 



