“just what i expected!” exclaimed george, when he heard what jack had to say.
“will the boat upset, do you think?” bellowed buster, as he fancied he could feel the craft already tilting dangerously, so that he “sidled” across to the other side of the crowded little cabin.
“oh! i hardly think it’ll be as bad as that,” the commodore told him; “but while we’re about it we’d better fasten on these life preservers!”
they had discovered half a dozen cork belts under one of the lockers, and these jack proceeded to hastily throw out. every fellow was immediately engaged in trying to buckle one about his person, well up under the arms.
the thunder bellowed at quick intervals, so that talking could only be indulged in between these outbursts. it was almost dark inside the cabin of the rocking boat, and of course the boys were all very much excited, not knowing what was going to happen at the next minute.
[94]
“be sure to get it up under your arms, buster,” warned jack, while he worked.
“yes,” added josh, who could be sarcastic even when confronted by such danger, “for if the old thing slips down any it’ll keep your feet out, and your head under water. better put two more on you, buster, because you’re a heavyweight, you know.”
perhaps josh was joking when he said this, but buster took it all solemnly enough.
“guess i will, if the rest of you don’t need ’em!” he declared. “if you’re done fixin’ yours josh, please lend me a hand. i don’t seem able to get the fastening the right way. oh! we nearly went over that time, didn’t we?”
“keep still, buster, and quit trying to balance the boat!” urged george; “your weight won’t matter a bean if she’s bound to turn turtle; and you nearly smashed my foot that time, you came down on it so hard. talk to me about a sportive elephant, it isn’t in the same class with you when you get excited.”
“here, i’ll try and fix you up, buster, if only you keep quiet a spell,” josh told him, and between the two mentors buster resolved to bear up and show a brave front.
jack was peeping out as if hoping to see some sign of the storm breaking. the boat meanwhile was wallowing dreadfully, showing[95] that by degrees she must be turning sideways to the waves and the wind, the latter still blowing “great guns.”
a vivid flash came just when jack had the tarpaulin drawn aside, and made buster give a loud cry.
“oh, what a scorcher!” he exclaimed; “i thought i was struck at first.”
the speedy crash that followed drowned the rest of his words.
“any hope of its being over soon, jack?” demanded josh, as soon as he could make himself heard.
“nothing doing that i could see,” came the loud reply, for what with the howl of the wind and the dash of the agitated waters against the boat it was no easy matter to make oneself heard. “all black around. you can’t see twenty feet away for the rain and the gloom.”
“jack, do you happen to know whether there’s any rapids or falls along the danube?” asked george presently.
“i’m not so sure about it,” replied the other; “seems to me i did hear some talk about rapids or falls or something, though it may have been about the river away up above vienna.”
buster at that found himself possessed with a new cause for alarm. he pictured niagara falls, and the powerboat plunging over the[96] beetling brink, with four boys he knew full well fastened in its interior, helpless victims. then as the mood changed he could see whirlpool rapids below the falls, through which no ordinary boat had been known to pass safely, but always emerged in splinters, after buffeting the half-hidden sharp-pointed rocks, and urged on by the frightful current.
“listen! i thought i heard a distant roaring sound just then that might be the falls, fellows!” buster broke out with.
although the others all suspected that it was only the result of a lively imagination that caused him to say this, at the same time they could not help straining their hearing to ascertain whether there could be any truth in it.
“you fooled yourself that time, buster,” announced george finally, and with a vein of positive relief in his voice; “it must have been the rain coming down like a cloud-burst, or else the wind tearing through some trees ashore.”
the action of the boat continued to cause more or less anxiety. frequently when the wind struck savagely on the counter of the wallowing craft it would careen over so far that even jack feared a catastrophe was impending.
everything conspired to cause alarm—the darkness, the heavy crash of thunder, the[97] blinding flashes of lightning that stabbed the gloom so suddenly, and the possibility of the boat turning turtle.
in the midst of this jack was seen to be crawling out of the cover.
“what are you going to do?” shouted josh.
“all of us have forgotten that we’ve got an anchor forward,” jack told him; “i’m going to drop it over. it may take hold; and anyway it’s bound to keep our head into the storm by dragging!”
“let me help you, jack!” added josh with his usual impulsiveness.
“you may come along, but no one else,” he was told.
of course, that was aimed primarily at buster, for jack could not forget how clumsy the fat chum always proved himself to be; and the chances were that he would manage to fall overboard did he attempt to crawl along the slippery sloping deck.
once outside and josh realized what a difficult thing it was going to be to get forward to where the anchor might be found. the little boat rolled and tossed like a chip on the angry seas. josh felt almost dizzy with the motion, but he shut his teeth grimly together and resolved to stick it out to the end. if jack could stand it surely he should be able to do the same.[98] besides, he would sooner die almost than let george see him show the white feather.
“get a good hold before you move each time,” called jack in his ear; “and better grab me if you find yourself going!”
that was just like jack’s generous nature; he thought nothing of the added risk he was assuming when he gave josh this advice.
josh would never be apt to forget that exciting experience as long as he lived. except when the lightning came it was as impossible to see anything as though they were in the midst of a dark night; and even then all they could detect was what seemed to be a wall of gray fog enveloping them on every side, with the white-capped waves leaping and tossing like hungry wolves around them.
of course, both boys were immediately drenched, but of this they thought nothing. both had their coats off at the time, on account of the afternoon heat, which turned out to be a lucky thing for them, since their movements were apt to be less fettered and confined in consequence.
foot by foot they made their way forward. jack’s advice to always retain one grip until the other hand could take hold of something ahead saved josh more than once from being[99] thrown overboard. a little recklessness would have cost him dear in a case like that.
finally jack seemed to have gained his end, for he was bending down over the anchor when a flash of lightning enabled the other boy to see him again. josh, determined to have a hand in casting the mudhook overboard, hastened to join him.
“the end of the cable is fast all right, is it, jack?” he shouted, as together they took hold of the rusty iron anchor.
“yes. i made sure of that before we started, and tested the cable in the bargain,” he was instantly assured.
it was a good thing some one had been so careful, for josh himself had evidently not given the matter a single thought.
“look out not to get a leg tangled in the rope, josh!” shouted jack.
“i will, all right!” the other replied, knowing that in such an event he would be dragged overboard like a flash.
so the anchor was let go.
there was no result until the whole of the cable had been paid out. jack waited anxiously to see what followed, though he knew fairly well it would steady the drifting boat and turn the bow into the storm again.
[100]
both of them felt the sudden jerk that announced the expected event.
“she’s turning right away, jack!” bellowed josh, trying to make himself heard above the heavy boom of the thunder’s growl.
there could be no doubt on that score, for already the motions of the runaway motorboat seemed to be much less violent. jack believed his scheme was going to be a success, and it pleased him to know that his wetting would not have been taken for nothing.
they lingered no longer, but started back toward the stern. it was not quite so difficult now to creep along the slippery deck, holding on to the cabin roof, and finally reaching the open well in the stern. a head was in sight, showing that one of the anxious chums could not rest easy until he learned what the result of the venture had been.
“you must have done it, fellows!” exclaimed buster, for it was no other than the stout boy who had thrust his head out like a tortoise, “because she rides so much easier now. i knew jack’d manage it if anybody could.”
drenched as they were, the two boys had to drop down under the tarpaulin. after all, that was a minor matter, since by their bold action they had warded off what might have turned out to be a grave disaster.
[101]
“let her blow and thunder all she wants to now,” said josh triumphantly; “we’ve got the anchor trailing from the bow, and that’s going to keep her nose in the wind. i’ve read how a vessel nearly going down in a hurricane has been saved by making a storm anchor out of hatches, or anything else that will float, and towing the same behind to keep the ship steady. that’s what we did, you see.”
josh was more than glad now he had insisted on accompanying the commodore in attempting to carry out his hazardous undertaking. it would give him an opportunity to swell with importance whenever the deed was mentioned, and to use the magical word “we” in speaking of the adventure. what boy is there who does not like to feel that he personally partook of the danger when brave things were undertaken and accomplished?
after that they settled down to wait. the storm must surely come to an end before a great while, and as they were now moving at less than one-half the mad pace they had been going before that drag had been instituted, it seemed perfectly safe even to buster.
“all i hope for now is that we don’t run afoul of some half-sunken rock, or it may be a snag!” josh was heard to say.
“we do know there are snags floating along,[102] because you remember i struck one only yesterday,” ventured buster, referring, of course, to the log which, by catching his trailing fish hook, had dragged him overboard.
“not much danger of that,” jack assured them; “they keep a pretty clear channel over here, it seems, even if we haven’t met steamboats on the river like you would on the mississippi. given another ten minutes or so and i think we’ll see the break in the storm we expect. it can hardly last much longer now.”
“must have done some damage ashore, too, boys?” suggested george.
“so long as it hasn’t killed off all the chickens, so we can’t get any more eggs, that doesn’t really concern us, i s’pose,” said buster, not meaning to be unfeeling in the least, but just then that seemed to be in the nature of a calamity in his mind.
slowly the time passed, but the boys were soon delighted to discover that there was actually a slackening up of the elements that had combined to make such a furious discord. the thunder became less boisterous, the wind lulled perceptibly, and even the waves had lost much of their force.
jack, taking an observation, made an important discovery, and followed it with an announcement[103] that gave his comrades considerable pleasure.
“there’s a break in the storm clouds over there in the west, boys, and i guess we’ve got to the end of this trouble!”
“with no damage done except a wetting for two of us,” added josh, trying to act as though that counted for next to nothing, considering the benefits that had probably sprung from the work of jack and himself.
“why, it seems to me the rain has let up, too, jack!” exclaimed buster, forcing his head through the opening in the tarpaulin cover of the well.
“in a few minutes more we can get rid of this old thing and breathe free once more,” jack told him.
“well, i’m sure i’ll be mighty glad,” said buster, “because i’m nearly stewed as it is, with the heat below here; and that breeze feels mighty good to me. it won’t be near as warm after this storm, that’s sure.”
“like as not, buster,” advised josh, shivering a little because of his wet condition, “we’ll all be frozen stiff before an hour goes by. queer things happen over in this danube country, i’m told.”
“rats! you can’t scare me, josh,” buster[104] immediately informed him; “course, since you’re all wet through and through you might freeze, but not a healthy specimen like me. this time we’ll have to make a fire for you other fellows, if we can find enough dry wood to burn, that is.”
jack’s prediction was soon fulfilled. the break in the storm clouds grew rapidly in magnitude until quite a large sized patch of blue sky became visible. they soon had the tarpaulin dragged on top of the cabin roof to dry out; and when the sun appeared the pair who had been drenched took positive delight in sprawling there and letting the warm rays start drying their garments on them.
“well, seems like we got through that scrape o. k.,” ventured buster; “but we’re not yet out of the woods by a big lot. we’ve got a broken engine on our hands, and no means of fixing the same, even if we knew how to do it. what’s to be done now, commodore jack?”
somehow the others always thought to give jack his full title when relying on him to get them out of a scrape. but jack let this significant fact pass, for he knew these three chums from the ground up, and could not hold a single thing against any one of them. and, as usual, he had a remedy ready for every disease.
