and milk, we sally forth with our wheels, prepared
to start; and the spontaneous murmur of admiration
which breaks forth as we mount becomes louder and more
pronounced as I turn in the saddle and doff my helmet
in deference to the homage paid us by hearts which
are none the less warm because hidden beneath the
rags of honest poverty and semi-civilization.
It takes but little to win the hearts of these rude,
unsophisticated people. A two hours’ ride
from Batainitz, over level and reasonably smooth roads,
brings us into Semlin, quite an important Slavonian
city on the Danube, nearly opposite Belgrade, which
is on the same side, but separated from it by a large
tributary called the Save. Ferry-boats ply regularly
between the two cities, and, after an hour spent in
hunting up different officials to gain permission
for Igali to cross over into Servian territory without
having a regular traveller’s passport, we escape
from the madding crowds of Semlinites by boarding
the ferry-boat, and ten minutes later are exchanging
signals! with three Servian wheelmen, who have come
down to the landing in full uniform to meet and welcome
us to Belgrade. Many readers will doubtless
be as surprised as I was to learn that at Belgrade,
the capital of the little Kingdom of Servia, independent
only since the Treaty of Berlin, a bicycle club was
organized in January, 1885, and that now, in June
of the same year, they have a promising club of thirty
members, twelve of whom are riders owning their own
wheels. Their club is named, in French, La Societe
Velocipedique Serbe; in the Servian language it is
unpronounceable to an Anglo-Saxon, and printable only
with Slav type. The president, Milorade M. Nicolitch
Terzibachitch, is the Cyclists’ Touring Club
Consul for Servia, and is the southeastern picket
of that organization, their club being the extreme
’cycle outpost in this direction. Our
approach has been announced beforehand, and the club
has thoughtfully “seen” the Servian authorities,
and so far smoothed the way for our entrance into
their country that the officials do not even make
a pretence of examining my passport or packages —
an almost unprecedented occurrence, I should say,
since they are more particular about passports here
than perhaps in any other European country, save Russia
and Turkey. Here at Belgrade I am to part company
with Igali, who, by the way, has applied for, and just
received, his certificate of appointment to the Cyclists’
Touring Club Consulship of Duna Szekeso and Mohacs,
an honor of which he feels quite proud. True,
there is no other ’cycler in his whole district,
and hardly likely to be for some time to corne; but
I can heartily recommend him to any wandering wheelman
happening down the Danube Valley on a tour; he knows
the best wine-cellars in all the country round, and,
besides being an agreeable and accommodating road
companion, will prove a salutary check upon the headlong
career of anyone disposed to over-exertion. I
am not yet to be abandoned entirely to my own resources,