Sister Barnes and I left Belgrade at 6 o'clock; our coachman was a boy
of thirteen. He took us along a forbidden road to Topschaite; we had
to drive furiously on account of the snipers in the hedges on the
river Save which we were skirting, and only fifty miles away. The
horses went at such a speed that Miss Barnes' box took a flying leap
off the carriage; the Jehu turned round and gazed as if we were to get
out and pick it up. We left Topschaite station at 8. We had some
interesting Americans who have a camp at Nish; their camp is called
"Columbia" owing to the unit being chiefly made up from the university
of that name. One specially interested us as he told us that an
American Jew had inoculated him for typhus, a thing that we heard in
London was quite impossible. He was a Dr. Plot from New York; he is
only twenty-five years of age. We are told typhus is due to dirt,
lice, and sanitary conditions, and it was introduced into Serbia by
the Austrian prisoners. Among the other travellers who interested us
was a man with a blue-grey hat, a khaki coat, red knickers and black
top boots. He was very sorry for himself; his bull-dog had taken a
slice out of his trousers. He carried a beautiful embossed sword. We
arrived at Nish, which is a place that seems to be suffering from the
seven plagues of Egypt, from flies, dust, dirt, smells, etc. We were
told that the Serbs have brains like scrambled eggs, as they scatter
their diseases all over their country. We arrived at Nish at 11
o'clock. We were taken to the rest house by the Americans. We visited
the American camp, then went to the Serbian Red Cross office to get
Miss Barnes' typhus medal. We left by the 8 o'clock train for Uskub,
or Scoplie.