NEARING THE SCENE OF WAR
“Pull up, Jack; that’s a plain invitation to hold our horses!” shrilled
Josh, being the first one to find his voice.
Jack already knew this. He shut off power and then started to reverse,
for the impetus of the craft, not to mention the swift current, was
carrying the boat forward at a good pace, and any sign of disobeying
that naval summons might cost them dear.
“There, he’s beckoning to us to run over alongside,” said Josh. “Mebbe
we’ll be given a chance now to see what one of these same river monitors
look like.”
“Huh! like as not we’ll be given a chance to see what a musty old
dungeon under some Austrian fortress looks like!”
Of course, it was George who made this last gloomy prediction; but then
the others were so accustomed to his ways that no one paid the least
attention to him.
Jack was already heading the boat toward the anchored vessel. All of
them had a very good chance to observe what a monitor looked like as
they approached, and if they failed to accept their opportunity, that
was their fault.
Coming up from below, they bumped against the armored side of the bulky
war vessel. Buster looked with something of awe at the gaping guns of
large caliber that projected from the turret close by.
When Josh, coached by Jack, had tossed a rope to some of the waiting
crew of the monitor, they prepared to go aboard. Jack might have limited
the number to himself and perhaps Josh, but then he knew the others
would always be sorry they had not been given the privilege of saying
they had once been aboard a fighting warship while war was on; so he
allowed both George and Buster to trip after.
It could be seen that the officer was plainly surprised when he saw them
at close quarters. Instead of the local boys whom he might have expected
to meet, he now realized that the tiny flag floating from the stern of
the motorboat stood for something.
“Who are you, and where do you come from?” he asked in excellent
English, doubtless realizing that it was useless to ply them with
Magyar.
“We are American boys, sir, as you can see from our flag,” Jack told
him. “It is the only one we happen to have along with us.”
He thought that the captain looked very much interested, and that his
manner became immediately a shade more cordial, which proved that he
knew considerable about the country across the ocean.
“But this is a strange place for four American boys to be taking a
cruise, you must admit,” he told Jack.
That gave the boy a chance to begin explanations. He went over the same
ground as before and told how as members of a motorboat club they had
planned to voyage down the Danube, and only learned of war breaking out
when on the way.
When he mentioned the matter of passports the officer indicated that he
should like to see them, at which once more Jack called upon his chums
to produce their papers.
“You will find them all correct, sir,” he assured the other; “and
besides, here are some letters from home which we received from our
folks. They reached us in Budapest, you can see. I would like you to
glance over them so that you may know we are just what we claim to be.”
The officer seemed to be pretty well satisfied after he had examined the
passports. At the same time he looked at the boys in an amused fashion.
“Which one of you is George Rollins?” he asked, somewhat to the
astonishment of that worthy, who did not know what might be in store for
him, honors or captivity.
“That’s my name, sir,” he spoke up, and, to the further surprise of the
boys, the Austrian commander thrust out his hand.
“I want to shake hands with you, George,” he said.
“Y-yes, sir,” replied the other, still groping in the dark, and fearing
that he might be perilously near the edge of a precipice.
“You wonder why I single you out from your companions,” continued the
other, as George accepted his hand and received a cordial squeeze in
return. “I’ll have to explain, I suppose. Did you ever hear your mother
speak of a cousin who had married an Austrian gentleman many years ago?”
Then George found his tongue.
“Oh, yes, I certainly have heard her speak of her cousin Lucy, and the
name of the gentleman she married was--let me see, Stanislaus!”
As George burst out triumphantly with this declaration he found his hand
once more shaken and squeezed, while the commander of the monitor beamed
upon him.
“Well, I am Captain Stanislaus, and my mother was that same Cousin Lucy
you have heard about. So you see, my boy, we are kin. I am very glad to
meet you, even under such singular conditions.”
George turned toward his companions. His face was one broad smile. He
doubtless had a pretty good sense of his own importance just then.
“I want to introduce my three chums to you, Cousin Stanislaus,” he went
on to say with an air of importance. “The one you have been talking with
is Jack Stormways, our leader; the stout one is Buster Longfellow, and
the other is Josh Purdue, all of them the finest fellows under the sun,
and my pards.”
The officer gravely shook hands with each of the boys in turn. He
seemed to be duly impressed with the recommendation given by his newly
discovered relative.
“See, here is a letter from my mother, sir,” continued George impulsively
and with a deep motive back of his actions. “Her name is Alice, and she
is first cousin to your mother. How pleased she will be to learn that I
ran across you in this remarkable way! And because we are related, as it
seems, I hope you will allow us to continue our voyage down the river,
for it would be a great disappointment all around if we had to give it up
now.”
Jack felt like clapping George on the back when he heard that naive
appeal. Evidently George believed in making use of his relatives. What
was the use of blood ties if favors could not be obtained through them?
All of them waited anxiously to see what the commander of the monitor
might say. Ties of relationship might be all very well, but there was
such a thing as duty to the Government to be considered. Of course, he
knew very well that nothing was to be feared from these American boys,
who would not have any reason for carrying news to the hostile Serbians.
Hence it was really only a matter of their taking unnecessary risks in
trying to pass the disputed portions of the Danube where opposing
batteries might be bombarding each other.
The officer looked from one to another. He saw only appealing glances
that undoubtedly must have made him weaken in his first resolve to order
the boys back and end their adventurous voyage then and there.
“We are accustomed to looking out for ourselves, believe me, sir,” Jack
thought fit to say just then, hoping to be able to influence the
commander, who seemed to be what Josh would call “on the fence.”
“All we expect to do,” George went on to say, “is to slip past some
night when it happens to be cloudy, and, once by the Iron Gate, the way
is clear for us on to the mouth of the Danube. We have spent a heap of
money to have this trip, and it would break us all up if we had to
quit.”
The officer laughed at that.
“Well,” he went on to say, “I suppose, after all, it is none of my
business, and I could allow you to proceed without any risk that you
would carry important news of troop movements to the enemy beyond the
Danube. It is with regard to your mother, George, I am thinking most of
all.”
“Oh, don’t you fear about her, sir!” cried the boy enthusiastically.
“She knows I’ve always been able to paddle my own canoe and find some
way to get out of every sort of scrape. Please say that you will wash
your hands of us and let us go about our business.”
“Very well, let it be just as you will have it, George. I do wash my
hands of the whole business. You see, I have been young myself not
very long back, and know what it means to a fellow to be terribly
disappointed. Only promise me on your word of honor that you will not
run any unnecessary risks in trying to pass Belgrade in the night time.”
Of course, George was only too glad to do this, and so they were allowed
to go aboard the motorboat again, parting from the Austrian commander
with mutual wishes for good luck.
George was about the happiest fellow going during the next hour. He
seemed to be beaming with good nature.
“Did you ever hear of such a remarkable thing happening in all your
life?” he demanded of Buster, whom he had cornered. “To think that, with
the whole of this big country of Austria-Hungary to choose from, we
should have picked out the Danube River for our cruise, and that just at
the same time my second cousin with his warship should be stationed down
here! Then again, remember how he fired a shot across our bows to bring
us to, and, seeing my name on my passport, realized that we were
actually blood relations!”
“It was queer, for a fact,” agreed Buster.
“Queer, you call it, do you, Buster?” cried George. “Why, I think it the
most astonishing coincidence that ever happened. I’m sure none of us
have even run across its equal. And then, what’s more, he let us proceed
just because I was his cousin twice removed. Don’t forget that, Buster,
will you, some time when you and Josh feel like giving me a dig or two?
Oh, I’m of a little consequence once in a long time.”
“You’re of a whole lot of consequence plenty of times, George,” said
Josh just then, “and we all acknowledge the corn; but for goodness’
sake please give us a change of tune now. We’ve been hearing about
Cousin Stanislaus until even the swallows swinging past seem to be
chirping the name; and I expect the fish will give it to us, too, if we
catch any to-night.”
George looked a little hurt in his feelings at this thrust, but he
subsided all the same, going off by himself where he could ponder upon
the freaks of fortune that had thrown him in contact with this relative
at the other side of the world, so to speak. From time to time he would
smile as though his thoughts were pleasant ones; but none of the others
interrupted his meditations.
The day drew near a close, and as they had really come up to Jack’s
expectations it might be set down as possible that they would camp
somewhere close by the place marked with a cross on the chart.
That would mean only one more day’s journey before they must find
themselves in the vicinity of battle scenes, if, as they suspected, the
Austrians had started to bombard Belgrade and were being answered shot
for shot from their fortifications by the valiant Serbian gunners.
They were fortunate enough to find a particularly good camp site. It was
in the midst of some trees that offered them all the comforts they
could wish for. At the same time they had no reason to believe they were
anywhere near a town, and the river in this spot looked quite lonely and
deserted; at least there was no other war monitor in sight, from the
deck of which their movements might be observed and deemed suspicious
enough to warrant a visit of investigation.
As evening drew on they tied the boat securely and built a fire close
by. Buster, as usual, insisted on taking charge of the cooking, while
the rest lay around or gathered fuel for the fire.
It was while moving about with this latter purpose in view that Jack
suddenly came upon a crouching figure in the brush. At his exclamation
the unknown party struggled to his feet. Jack had been alarmed at first,
not knowing but what there might be bandits in that vicinity. He quickly
saw, however, that he had a peaked looking and very hungry fairly well
grown boy to deal with.
Not wishing to let the other see that he had been startled, Jack
immediately demanded to know who he was and why he was spying on them.
The other made motions to let Jack understand he could not speak
English. He then went on to say something in rapid tones, but it was
all Greek to Jack.
However, from his appearance and the motions he made to his mouth, as
well as showing how empty his stomach was, it was easy to judge that it
was the smell of the cooking supper that had drawn him.
“Stay with us, then, and share our meal,” suggested Jack, mostly in
pantomime; and evidently his gestures must have had a convincing way of
their own, for the hungry boy immediately nodded his head, said
something in a fervent tone, and, to Jack’s embarrassment, proceeded to
kiss his hand violently.
“Hey, what’s all this going on here?” asked Josh, just then coming on
the scene, no doubt attracted by the sound of a strange voice.
“Here’s a poor tramp of a boy who gives me to understand he’s half dead
with hunger,” Jack went on to explain; “and as we can’t turn him away in
that condition, we’ll have to let him stay to supper with us, I
suppose.”
Josh, of course, was exceedingly surprised. He looked the strange boy
over and saw that he undoubtedly had a hungry appearance.
“Sure we’ll share our supper with him, Jack,” he hastened to say, being
one of those fellows who could never see any one suffer when he had a
chance to offer assistance; “who knows but what we may be entertaining
an angel unawares, like we read about. Tell him to come along up to the
fire right away.”
Buster and George were also somewhat astonished at this increase to
their number. Still the poor chap looked so woebegone that Buster
immediately saw to it that an extra portion of food was prepared.
George, too, did not have the heart to show his objecting nature. He
thought this to be a real case of necessity.
The strange boy was fairly well grown, though slender. His face was dark
and he had a mass of heavy black hair. His eyes were dazzlingly bright,
and, although there was an uneasy look on his face, he could smile
cheerily when he saw that any of them were looking at him.
Josh watched him from time to time, as though some notion had come into
that shrewd head of his. Supper was getting along nicely when Jack saw
Josh beckoning to him cautiously at a time the stranger happened to be
looking another way.
Then Josh strolled off a short distance and seemed to be bending down,
as if looking at something that interested him.
“What’s in the wind?” asked Jack softly, as he joined the other.
“I don’t know exactly, to tell you the truth, but I’m uneasy over
something, and wanted to have a little chin with you,” came the reply.
“You’re suspicious, that’s what, Josh?”
“Oh, well, I admit as much,” replied the other. “You see, in these times
we’ve got to be careful. Instead of an angel we may be entertaining one
of the other kind.”
“Now get it out of your system, and tell me what you’re thinking about,”
demanded Jack.
“First of all, he turns his head and looks every little while in a
certain direction. I’ve got a good notion the boy must have friends
hidden somewhere near by.”
“Yes, go on, Josh; what else?”
“Then, if you come to think of it, he doesn’t talk the same lingo as
these Hungarian Magyars we’ve met. I’m not dead sure about it, but I’ve
got a hunch he must be of another nationality. Well, what nation are we
closest to below here? What but Serbia? Are you following me, Jack?”
“I am, so keep going,” the other informed him.
“You remember the story we were told by that polite Hungarian officer,
about the four desperate Serbian youths who had sworn to have the life
of the aged Austrian emperor--well, according to my notion, our guest is
one of the batch; and his three tough cronies are hidden close by,
waiting for some signal!”