“better take a little turn ashore, josh and george, while i’m getting breakfast ready,” advised buster; “you’d hate to say you’d passed through budapest without even setting foot in the city.”
“if you go, be careful not to get lost,” added jack, looking as though almost tempted to veto the arrangement; but george proudly declared he felt sure of being able to find his way about.
“don’t be more than half an hour at the most, fellows,” sang out buster after the couple, and they waved their hands at him as if they understood.
about the time breakfast was ready jack went ashore to look for the absent ones, but there was as yet no sign of them. in fact, the two who were left aboard had more than half finished their meal and were becoming really worried when the others made their appearance.
george looked a trifle chagrined, while josh was chuckling to himself.
[31]
“what’s the joke? tell us, josh,” demanded buster.
“oh, yes, hurry up and give him the full particulars,” sneered george, looking daggers at his companion.
“why, you see, george here tried some of his german on a gendarme we happened to meet,” explained josh between gurgles. “say, you ought to have seen how surprised that cop looked. i’m afraid george got his nouns twisted and called him some sort of bad name. anyhow, he was for taking us to the lock-up; but i managed to soothe him down some by showing him my letters with the american postmarks on them, and letting a silver coin slip into his hand. but he shook his head and looked as if he could eat poor george. all the way back george has been racking his brain trying to understand what it was he really called that uniformed gendarme. i rather think it stood for pig.”
“well, let that rest, will you, josh?” growled george. “what i’m most interested in just now is pig of another kind, for i see buster has fried some bacon for us. mistakes will happen in the best regulated families, they say, and i own up i’m afraid i did get my nouns slightly mixed.”
“slightly!” echoed josh, with a shrug of his[32] shoulders. “well, if the boys could only have seen how that big cop scowled at you they’d have had a fit.”
as josh was also hungry, he wasted no more time in explanations, and so the incident was forgotten for the present. later on it would doubtless give josh occasion for considerable additional merriment and be the cause for more or less acrimonious conversation between the pair.
while they were eating jack proceeded to settle with the owner of the boatyard for the accommodations, for a bargain had been struck with him. people over in old europe are not apt to do things without a consideration, especially when tourists are concerned.
by the time george and josh had finished their morning meal everything was in order for making a start.
“it’s pretty tough to be running away like this without having a chance to see what sort of movies they have over here in budapest,” complained george, who was known to be a steady attendant at the little theatre in his home town, where all manner of dramas, as well as world-wide views, were nightly screened.
“so far as that goes,” josh told him, “they’re pretty much all alike here and at[33] home. chances are you’d see some cowboy pictures of the wild and woolly west; for they do say those are the ones they like best abroad. they know all about buffalo bill over here. you know we saw an austrian edition of some highly colored story about his imaginary exploits hanging up when we passed that book stall.”
working the boat free from all entanglements, they were soon afloat once more on the river. the motor had started working as though it meant to do good service. jack himself as a rule took charge of the machinery, not but that george knew all about such things, but he had a decided failing, which was to “monkey” with things even when they were running satisfactorily, and thus bring about sudden stoppages through his experiments.
“look at the beautiful bridge we’re going to pass under,” sang out buster presently. “it makes me think of one we saw in london.”
“there’s a bunch of austrian officers walking across,” said josh, “and see how one of them is pointing to us now.”
“bet you they’re suspicious of us right away, and mean to order us to go back,” said george disconsolately.
“rats!” scoffed buster. “don’t you see they’re only admiring our little flag?—that’s[34] all. i’ve got the same fastened in the stern, where it can show well. i only wish it was five times as big, that’s all. but it stands for what we are—true-blooded americans, every one of us.”
the officers even leaned over the parapet of the bridge to stare at the boat as it passed under. when the boys looked back a minute or so later they saw that the uniformed hungarians had hurriedly crossed over and were now gazing after them.
“shows how seldom old glory is ever seen in these parts,” said josh, “for they hardly know what to make of it. if i had my way, can you guess what i’d do? make the flag of the free so well known and respected that everywhere people’d kowtow to the same and take off their hats.”
“now they’re hurrying off the bridge, seems like, as if they’d just remembered an engagement somewhere,” reported buster.
“i only hope they don’t start any sort of trouble for us, that’s all,” george went on to say, but, finding that no one seemed to be paying any sort of attention to his grumbling, he stopped short, as his kind always do.
jack held the wheel and guided the boat along through the numerous mazes of moving river craft. he was a skillful pilot and could[35] be depended on to mind his business every time. unlike george, jack was plain and practical, whereas the other never seemed satisfied with what he had, but was always trying to better conditions, often to his own and others’ discomfort, as well as possible delay.
by degrees they were now leaving the twin cities behind them, and the river began to appear more open and free to travel. the boys, as usual, were calling each other’s attention to such features of the landscape that attracted their admiration, or it might be some of the buildings they passed.
all of them were on the watch for special sights, and in this way the time passed rapidly. the little motor was a very good one, and chugged away faithfully as it had continued to do hour after hour ever since the start, which was made far down the river below vienna.
they overtook other vessels frequently, since the danube is navigable for the greater part of its long course. rising away over in germany near the border of luxemburg, it winds its sinuous way through the greater part of germany and austria-hungary, strikes the serbian border, turns sharply to the east, and then touches bulgarian territory, forms the dividing line between rumania and bulgaria, then crosses the former monarchy, and serves[36] as a border between rumania and russia, to finally empty into the black sea.
it is by long odds the greatest river in europe, and in all the world there can be found no stream upon whose borders live so many different nationalities. that was one reason jack stormways had yearned to cruise down the danube; and he was even now trying to get all the pleasure possible out of the trip, though the clouds had arisen so early in the venture.
budapest was now far in the rear, though they could see the smoke that arose in a few localities, coming from certain factories producing articles for which the hungarian capital is famous.
josh happened to notice about this time that george seemed to be amusing himself by shading his eyes with one hand and looking backward.
“what now, old croaker?” he ventured to say. “do you imagine you see a patrol boat chasing after us hotfooted, with orders to bring us back and throw us in a black dungeon, charged with being desperate spies?”
“laugh as much as you want to,” retorted george stubbornly, “but all the same there is a boat hustling along after us.”
“you don’t say!” gibed josh, without bothering to turn his head to look. “well, since[37] when have we taken out a mortgage on the danube, please tell me? i guess it’s free cruising ground for anybody who can afford to own a steam yacht, or even a common little dinky motorboat.”
“she certainly is coming hand over fist after us,” asserted buster.
“well, the river is sure wide enough for two, and when she comes up we’ll give her a chance to pass us by. whew! but i’m sleepy, if you want to know it,” and josh yawned and stretched, but still declined to bother turning his head.
a little while later george again made a remark.
“now that they’re coming closer, i believe i can see several people in uniforms aboard that swift little boat.”
jack took a look on hearing this.
“you’re right there, george,” he assented; “but then there’s nothing to hinder magyar officers going on the river when they choose. in fact, i imagine they pass plenty of their time that way when off duty.”
josh could not hold out after that any longer, but condescended to lazily turn and indifferently survey the approaching craft.
“oh, she’s a dandy for speed, all right,” he frankly admitted, “and could make circles[38] around our old tub if the skipper wanted. yes, those are soldiers on board, i’ll admit, but how can you decide that they want to overhaul us, i’d like to know?”
“i’m only guessing when i say that,” acknowledged george; “but now that i look sharper it strikes me one of those officers is the tall chap wearing the feather in his hat that we noticed on the bridge. how about it, jack?”
“he looks like that man, but then there are probably scores in budapest who wear that same kind of hat, alpine style. he’s probably an officer of the mountaineer corps, those fellows from the carnic alps who can do such wonderful stunts in scaling dizzy heights.”
“well, we must soon know if there’s going to be any sort of a row,” said george, “because in ten minutes or less they’ll overtake us.”
“there must be no row, remember, boys,” advised jack. “if we attempted to resist arrest we’d soon be trapped, for they would send word down-river way about us by telegraph or telephone, and officers would be on the watch for us all along the route. don’t forget that.”
“paste it in your hat, george,” advised josh, “for i reckon you’re the only one in the bunch liable to make trouble. if they want to take me back and give me free lodging, i’ll go as meek as mary’s little lamb. but whatever[39] you do, george, please be careful how you fling that german of yours around loose. if you called one of those fiery hungarian officers a donkey by mistake i think he’d want to run you through the ribs with his sword.”
“huh! wait and see. that german you pretend to make so much fun about may some day keep you from being hung or stood up against a blank wall. stranger things than that have happened, let me tell you, josh purdue.”
“they keep pushing us right along,” announced buster, beginning to feel quite an interest in the affair by this time.
“get ready to give them the right of way, jack,” jeered josh. “we wouldn’t want to act greedy, you know, and claim the whole river. and when they whiz past look out you don’t get splashed, buster.”
“goodness! i hope you don’t mean to say they might swamp us away out here in the middle of the river. but there, i know you’re only being true to your name, josh. who’s afraid? you don’t get me to worrying any if i know it.”
“look again and see what’s happening!” suddenly snapped george, with a ring of triumph in his voice.
“they’re waving to us, for a fact!” admitted[40] buster. “now what d’ye suppose that can be for, jack?”
“just saluting our little flag, mebbe,” suggested the unconverted josh.
“they are demanding that we pull up and wait for them, that’s what!” asserted george, with a superior air that he liked to assume on occasions like this.
“is he right there, jack?” asked buster eagerly.
“i think that’s what is meant,” assented the pilot and engineer of the powerboat the boys had chartered. “they are suspicious of us, and mean to have a look in before allowing us to proceed.”
“but why should anybody be suspicious of four honest-looking boys out for a little fun?” demanded josh. “we’ve met heaps of other people before now, and they acted just as nice as you please. i don’t understand it.”
“well, you must remember,” admonished jack, “that something terrible has happened since yesterday morning. every military man in germany and austria has been on needles and pins about this war business ever since serbia defied francis joseph and some of her adventurers murdered the heir apparent to the austrian throne. and now that war has[41] broken out, they are all eager to show their fidelity to their country.”
“but will you stop for them, jack?” asked josh.
“it would be foolish not to,” he was told, “because you can see it’s only a matter of ten minutes at most when they will have overhauled us. it pays to be courteous, especially, i’m told, when dealing with the military authorities over here. besides, in war times they rule the roost.”
“i guess they do all the time,” muttered josh; “but then you’re right about it, jack. we must get ready to show them just who and what we are. if they’re sensible men they’ll let us go on down the river as we’ve planned.”
“and supposing they happen to be unreasonable men?” queried buster.
“oh, some of the dungeons may be large enough to hold you, perhaps,” laughed george; “but i can see your finish on a diet of bread and water, mostly water. you will waste away to a shadow before you get out, buster.”
the other only gave him a scornful look, as much as to say he was not worrying any about that part of the game, for he knew he could rely on jack to pull them all through safely.
[42]
so jack shut off the power, and the clumsy but comfortable boat lay wallowing on the surface of the river, awaiting the coming of the speedy craft containing the hungarian army officers.
