It was a tense time. I had just returned from Rome as the guest of the Italian Navy, where American and Italian admirals exchanged views upon future naval problems and the future type of naval craft. In both nations there was the earnest desire to strengthen and cement the American and Italian friendship, jeopardized by the situation on the Dalmatian coast. I had scarcely finished my interview with Admiral Niblack, who felt the need of prompt action to prevent trouble in the Adriatic, when I received a visit from Count V. Macchi Cellere, the Italian Ambassador to the United States. He had felt the approaching disagreement between Wilson and Orlando and had hurried to Paris to make an earnest effort to avert it. A charming gentleman, who loved his country passionately, he had a sincere attachment for the United States, where he was highly esteemed. He sensed that, if President Wilson did not approve Italy's claims on the Adriatic, the people of his country would feel deep disappointment. He foresaw that the sincere admiration of the Italians for President Wilson, as shown on his visit to Rome, would be turned into resentment. He was deeply moved in his appeal in advocacy of the position of his country, which he pressed with great earnestness. He believed in his soul that if the aspirations of the Jugo-Slavs were approved and they obtained important bases on the Adriatic, such settlement would prove disastrous to his country. Knowing my regard for Italy and his countrymen, and assured of my personal friendship, he felt free to speak without reserve. I never saw him after the break at Paris, but I knew his disappointment was poignant. When he died, not long afterwards, at Washington, I had the honor to send his body home on an American dreadnaught with distinguished escort, a token of American regard for Italy and its diplomatic representative. When, during the command of Rear Admiral Philip Andrews, who served two years in charge of our naval forces in the Adriatic, as well as the American member of the Allied Armistice Commission, the shore patrol was removed, the duty of preserving order fell on the Serbs. Their central authority was light and order was not always preserved. Though there was no real authority for it, the American naval force was the real factor in maintaining order. Admiral Andrews came to be recognized by common consent as the controlling influence in that zone in the early days when authority was feeble. That country being ex-Austrian territory, some one did at times have to exercise authority. Our naval representative was looked upon to do this, and exercised it principally by moral force and fair dealing. His leadership was recognized, even demanded, by the Allies and by the Jugo-Slav government at Belgrade. [Illustration: FROM MANILA TO THE ADRIATIC The Olympia, once Dewey's flagship at Manila, was flagship of Rear Admiral Philip Andrews (inset) in the Adriatic.]