“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[143] 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[144] 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[145] 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.
[146]
“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.”
[147]
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,[148] 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[149] 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[150] 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[151] 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[152] 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[153] 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.
[154]
“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!”
