ACROSS THE SAVE
The fact that they lost their oars was what saved them. For now, its
attention evidently attracted by the sudden outburst of firing, the
nearest monitor sent its searchlight flashing down upon them, and the
little boat, with its helpless burden, was plainly visible from the
shore. With a quick and ready wit, the two scouts leaped to their feet,
at the risk of upsetting the boat, and waved their hands, in token of
their helplessness. They were seen at once, and there was a sharp cry
from the shore, and an order to cease firing.
"We're in luck," said Steve, quietly, as he sat down again in the boat.
"That's an Austrian officer. If he had been Hungarian, he wouldn't have
stopped firing just because he saw we were helpless. But he must have
come lately from Vienna. He hasn't had time to get the border hatred of
us into his system yet."
Dick already knew that there was particularly bad and bitter blood
between Servians and Hungarians, but he made no comment. By this time he
was heart and soul with Servia in the war that must have begun, but this
was partly because of his swiftly formed friendship for Steve Dushan,
and partly because Servia seemed to be the under dog. Yet he knew that
there were probably two sides to the question, and even the way Mike
Hallo had behaved had not filled him with a prejudice against the whole
Hungarian nation.
Now that the immediate danger was over, there was time for them to look
to the wounded ferryman. Dick thought he was dead. He had never seen a
man shot before, but when he turned the man's body over, Steve laughed,
not callously, but happily.
"Good for old Mischa!" he said. "I thought a man who fought at Kumanovo
and helped to storm Adrianople after the Bulgarians yelled for help
wouldn't go out so easily! See? It's only a scratch! The bullet grazed
his head. Dip your handkerchief in the water, and we'll have him all
right in no time."
The cold water, as a matter of fact, did revive Mischa almost at once,
and he sat up, rueful at the loss of his oars. When he was told that a
bullet had grazed his scalp and stunned him, he actually grinned.
"So that is what it feels like to be shot!" he said. "Good! Now I shan't
be afraid the next time there is going to be a battle, as I was at
Kumanovo. What next?"
"I think everyone is wondering about that," said Dick, with a grin.
"They don't seem to want to come out after us, and we certainly can't
row ashore without oars, even if we wanted to. And I suppose if she's
cleared for action, that monitor isn't carrying so many boats that
she'll want to send one for us."
"I wish her searchlight would break down!" said Steve, venomously. "Then
our fellows on the other side might help us. Mischa, I've got to get
over if we can do it. It's very important for me to report what I
discovered during the day. Has war been declared yet?"
"It has not been formally declared," said Mischa. "But the King and all
the government have gone all the way back to Nish, and most of the
troops have marched away to the west, toward Schabatz and Losnitza.
There is only a small garrison left in Belgrade."
"To Nish, eh?" said Steve, frowning a little. "That was not the plan of
which I heard. The withdrawal was to be only to Kragujevac. They must
mean to draw the Austrians on. But I am sorry. I hoped for an invasion."
Suddenly to the east there was a dull roar. The three in the boat stared
at one another, and at the same moment there came a wild outburst of
cheering from the soldiers on the Austrian bank of the river.
"What is that?" asked Dick. As he spoke the sound was repeated.
"Cannon," said Mischa.
"Yes, cannon!" repeated Steve, his face lighted up. "The first gun of
the war! Who knows how many echoes that shot will have? They said that
in your country a shot was fired once that was heard around the world. I
believe that this is just such a shot, Dick!"
"Where is the firing?"
"It must be from one of the Austrian batteries near Semlin. They are
bombarding the city of Belgrade, I suppose."
And then there was a deafening roar, a sound far greater than the firing
of even the heaviest guns of modern warfare would make, and to the east,
toward the Danube, there was a great flash of fire. Instantly the
searchlight swung away from them and pointed in the opposite direction,
and as the beams of light were concentrated on the spot where the flash
had been, the three observers in the boat saw a strange and wonderful
sight. The lights played full on the great steel railway bridge across
the Save, and in their white glare they could see the beams collapsing,
the piers melting away, while the whole central span of the bridge
collapsed in utter ruin, leaving a gap where the river now flowed
unbridged.
"Yes, the war has come!" said Steve impressively. "That was to be our
first act--the destruction of the bridge. They will not send their
troops into Servia so easily as that!"
"P--ss--t!"
A sharp hiss came to their ears, seemingly from the water. And not only
seemingly. Looking down, they saw the upturned face of a swimmer. Mischa
hailed him joyfully.
"Peter!" he said.
"Take this rope. We saw what had happened," said the swimmer, "and so I
swam out, and waited until their accursed searchlight was not playing on
you. We will draw you ashore. If they fire, lie low in the boat, and
they will never hit you. But you are safe now unless the searchlight
comes back again. They can never see you in this darkness."
"Good man, Peter!" said Steve, his voice hushed. "Swim back, now. We
have the rope. It is better for you not to come into the boat now."
Peter did not answer, but turned at once and began cutting the water
with long, powerful strokes. Nevertheless, though he made good progress,
he disturbed the water very little, and he had not gone more than a few
yards before it was almost impossible for even those in the boat to see
him. Only a faint rippling of the water behind him marked his trail.
"That was good work," said Dick, admiringly. "We'll get ashore safely
yet, Steve! And a minute ago it certainly didn't seem possible."
There was a tug at the rope a moment later. The searchlights were still
turned downstream, and now there was a brisk cannonading from the Semlin
batteries. There had been no more explosions. It was plain, as, indeed,
they had already been able to see, that the Servian sappers who had
mined the railway bridge had done their work well.
"Down in the boat now!" said Dushan. "They are drawing on the rope, and
they'll begin pulling us along in a moment. I'm going to try to keep
her as she is, but it may be hard if they pull too fast. If they will
keep their searchlight away for just five minutes, we shall be all
right."
"You'd better make that rope fast to something in the boat instead of
just holding on to it," said Dick. "If you don't, you might lose your
hold. Remember how Mischa lost his oars."
"That's a good idea, Dick. I didn't think of it. Here, it's looped
around one of the thwarts now. That ought to hold it all right, if they
do hit me."
Then they all dropped, and in a moment the boat was being drawn along
swiftly through the water. It proved impossible to keep her bow on to
the Servian shore, but there seemed no reason to fear anything from the
Austrians behind them. Yet suddenly a bullet whistled over their heads,
following the crack of a rifle.
"Never mind that!" said Dick. "They just want us to know that they're
still thinking about us, that's all!"
But the shot had another motive, as they soon guessed. It had been fired
in an interval of silence, when there was no firing from the batteries
at Semlin--to which, incidentally, the Servians had as yet made no reply
from Belgrade--and it was soon apparent that it had been fired to
attract the attention of the monitor. In a moment the searchlight came
winking back, and instinctively, as the great beam of light swept over
them, all crouched lower still in the bottom of the boat. There were
quick wits on the Servian side, for the dragging of the rope stopped at
once, and their motion with it.
For a moment nothing happened.
"Perhaps they won't notice that we've moved," said Steve, hopefully.
But that was a vain hope. More faintly now, they could hear shouting
from the Austrian bank, and then Dick understood as a volley rang out
and a hail of bullets swept over them and pattered into the water near
by.
"They saw that we had disappeared. That's enough to make them
suspicious!" he cried. "Shake that rope! Maybe they'll understand that
we want them to pull again."
But that was unnecessary. The pull on the rope had been resumed, and
they were moving fast again.
Once more the Austrian rifles spoke, and this time half a dozen bullets
pattered against the side of the boat. Some came through, but she was
stoutly built, and these had lost most of their force. But the
searchlight followed them, and now there was a loud roar near by. This
was followed in a moment by a dull explosion that seemed to be within a
few feet of them. The boat rocked violently and a shower of spray
descended, wetting them all.
"Stay down!" cried Steve. "That's a shell from the monitor!"
"Gee! They're anxious enough to get us, aren't they?" exclaimed Dick.
"That was a close call, Steve! But I'll bet it was just a lucky shot!
We're too small a target, and we're moving pretty fast! I don't believe
they will really hit us."
"Too close to be comfortable," agreed Steve. "It feels funny, doesn't
it, being under fire? I never was before."
"And I don't care if I never am again," rejoined Dick. "I'm frightened,
and I don't care who knows it!"
"So am I!" admitted Steve, a little tremulously. "And I hoped I wouldn't
be! I wanted to be a soldier, but a coward can't be a soldier."
Before Dick, who didn't think that it was cowardly to be afraid, could
answer, another shell plumped into the water beyond them, and again
showered them with spray, while it set the boat to rocking. But in a way
even this danger was a source of safety, for the upheaval of the water
had spoiled the aim of the rifleman each time, and though they dared not
rise to look, they felt that they must be very near the Servian shore by
this time. And then big Mischa laughed aloud.
"You need not be afraid, Stepan Ivanovitch," he said. "You need not be
afraid that you are a coward, I mean. I am afraid at first every time I
am under fire, and so are most soldiers. Ask your father, now that you
have been under fire yourself. It soon wears off, that fear. But the
bravest men need not be ashamed to admit they are afraid when the first
bullets sing in their ears, or when they hear the shells burst near
them!"
Twice more, in a few moments, shells dropped in the water near them. But
either luck was with them, or the monitor's target practice was poor,
for neither damaged the boat. And now they could hear the encouraging
shouts of the Servians from the shore. Then there came an explosion
louder than any of the rest, and the boat seemed to go to pieces under
them. The water rushed in. Luckily, no one of them was hurt, but all
were thrown into the water. They began to swim lustily, striking out
blindly for the shore, until Mischa raised his voice in a great laugh,
and seized one of them in each arm.
"Here, I'll carry you ashore!" he cried.
They were safe!