I was busy packing most of the morning, then I did up the accounts and
the diet sheets for the wards, finishing up this part of my work. In
the afternoon one of the sisters and I went to the arsenal and I was
presented with a medal of King Peter. We also saw many of the
treasures which were taken off the German aeroplane which was brought
down. They showed us an orange printed paper with full instructions
on. It was of course in German and it said that they had to come to
Kragujevatz and drop four bombs.
It was very painful saying good-bye to my kitchen staff, principally
Austrian prisoners who had done such good work. When they first came
they said, "No pay, therefore no work." I replied, "No work, therefore
no food," and they quickly fell in with my views, which they never
resented but really worked well. The commissionaire came up to say
good-bye with his daughter, and brought from his wife two cooked
chickens for our journey, a dozen eggs, walnuts, apples and jam. I
packed these up, then went in to dinner. When I returned I found my
parcels had been unpacked by the dogs from the farm near by; the
chickens had gone, the eggs eaten, and bits of shell all over the
floor of my tent. Eggs when boiled hard out here the white will often
be found soft no matter how long one boils it. Also the apples and the
nuts scattered about; my tent was a sight to behold, but fortunately
we had other things provided for the journey.
At 9 o'clock fifteen wounded men were brought in from Belgrade. They
were in the most terrible condition, and they described to us the most
awful slaughter that had taken place there.
At 10 o'clock one of the Government officials came up to say good-bye,
and to bring my pass on the railway as far as the Greek frontier, and
also gave me some sweets.
At 11.30 the carriage came to take us to the station. The train was
leaving at 12 o'clock. A terrible night, pouring with rain, and we all
got wet through before starting. We had a comfortable journey as far
as Lapovo, where we arrived at 2 a.m. Here we had to change, and were
supposed to get a train on in an hour's time, but waited about till 5
o'clock, and were then told that there would not be a train on till
noon. We piled our luggage up and went to our dispensary, which is on
the line. We found the windows open and the door unlocked and every
one in bed. They had left it like this as they were expecting the
doctor from Nish, who had gone to fetch fresh supplies of stores. We
took off our boots and lay down on the beds in the ward until 7
o'clock, then we had breakfast and took it in turns to go back to the
station to take charge of the luggage. It was a pitiful sight while in
the station, watching the train loads of refugees coming in from
Belgrade. Many of the women were crying as they related their sad
experiences to the people on the platform. Also train loads of wounded
were coming in; many had been to our dispensary on the Thursday to
have their wounds dressed before going on to a permanent hospital.
We were told that 6,000 or 7,000 shells had been fired in Belgrade,
and that many places were on fire.
At 11 o'clock a train came in from Belgrade, and I heard several
voices calling to me, and I found there were some of Admiral
Troubridge's unit on the train, and three or four of the first
Farmers' unit. They all looked very ill and were covered with mud.
They had left Belgrade at 6 o'clock the night before, and had had to
walk many miles before they could get the train, and had left
everything behind them, only having the clothes they stood up in. They
had only had bread to eat and were almost famished, so I told them to
come and get into our carriage, as we could give them some of the food
we had for our journey. I then went to the guard and asked where this
train was going to, and he replied "to Nish"; but there was only a
cattle truck for us, so we all got into it, and as it was very
doubtful about our getting a train at 12 o'clock we thought it better
to go on. We gave them all a good meal of tongue and beef sandwiches,
bread and cheese and apples and lemonade, and they were indeed
thankful, poor things! for they had gone through a terrible time. They
told us many sad stories of our brave Serbians, who ran into the
hospitals, had their wounds dressed, and then went back to fight. All
the patients in the hospitals who were suffering from bronchitis,
pneumonia, and consumption, and many other diseases, put on their
clothes and went to the trenches. They also told us that the American
hospital was staying on, so all their luggage was sent to this
hospital for safety; later on the American hospital was seen in
flames. The members of these units got out of the train at Chupria, to
join Admiral Troubridge. We heard that the English batteries, with the
exception of one, had been quieted at Belgrade. At Chupria many
wounded soldiers got into our truck. They were going to the hospital
at Nish, we to the rest station which belonged to Sir Ralph and Lady
Paget, and it was for the use of the different English units that were
coming to Serbia. We arrived at 9.30, and as we were very tired we
went to bed at once.