CHAPTER XII
NEARING THE SCENE OF WAR
"Pull up, Jack; that's a plain invitation to hold our horses!" shrilledJosh, 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, wascarrying the boat forward at a good pace, and any sign of disobeyingthat naval summons might cost them dear.
"There, he's beckoning to us to run over alongside," said Josh. "Mebbewe'll be given a chance now to see what one of these same river monitorslook like."
"Huh! like as not we'll be given a chance to see what a musty olddungeon under some Austrian fortress looks like!"
Of course, it was George who made this last gloomy prediction; but thenthe others were so accustomed to his ways that no one paid the leastattention to him.
Jack was already heading the boat toward the anchored vessel. All ofthem had a very good chance to observe what a monitor looked like asthey approached, and if they failed to accept their opportunity, thatwas their fault.
Coming up from below, they bumped against the armored side of the bulkywar vessel. Buster looked with something of awe at the gaping guns oflarge caliber that projected from the turret close by.
When Josh, coached by Jack, had tossed a rope to some of the waitingcrew of the monitor, they prepared to go aboard. Jack might have limitedthe number to himself and perhaps Josh, but then he knew the otherswould always be sorry they had not been given the privilege of sayingthey had once been aboard a fighting warship while war was on; so heallowed both George and Buster to trip after.
It could be seen that the officer was plainly surprised when he saw themat close quarters. Instead of the local boys whom he might have expectedto meet, he now realized that the tiny flag floating from the stern ofthe motorboat stood for something.
"Who are you, and where do you come from?" he asked in excellentEnglish, doubtless realizing that it was useless to ply them withMagyar.
"We are American boys, sir, as you can see from our flag," Jack toldhim. "It is the only one we happen to have along with us."
He thought that the captain looked very much interested, and that hismanner became immediately a shade more cordial, which proved that heknew considerable about the country across the ocean.
"But this is a strange place for four American boys to be taking acruise, you must admit," he told Jack.
That gave the boy a chance to begin explanations. He went over the sameground as before and told how as members of a motorboat club they hadplanned to voyage down the Danube, and only learned of war breaking outwhen on the way.
When he mentioned the matter of passports the officer indicated that heshould like to see them, at which once more Jack called upon his chumsto produce their papers.
"You will find them all correct, sir," he assured the other; "andbesides, here are some letters from home which we received from ourfolks. They reached us in Budapest, you can see. I would like you toglance 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 thepassports. At the same time he looked at the boys in an amused fashion.
"Which one of you is George Rollins?" he asked, somewhat to theastonishment of that worthy, who did not know what might be in store forhim, honors or captivity.
"That's my name, sir," he spoke up, and, to the further surprise of theboys, 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 fearingthat he might be perilously near the edge of a precipice.
"You wonder why I single you out from your companions," continued theother, as George accepted his hand and received a cordial squeeze inreturn. "I'll have to explain, I suppose. Did you ever hear your motherspeak 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 thename of the gentleman she married was--let me see, Stanislaus!"
As George burst out triumphantly with this declaration he found his handonce more shaken and squeezed, while the commander of the monitor beamedupon him.
"Well, I am Captain Stanislaus, and my mother was that same Cousin Lucyyou have heard about. So you see, my boy, we are kin. I am very glad tomeet you, even under such singular conditions."
George turned toward his companions. His face was one broad smile. Hedoubtless had a pretty good sense of his own importance just then.
"I want to introduce my three chums to you, Cousin Stanislaus," he wenton to say with an air of importance. "The one you have been talking withis Jack Stormways, our leader; the stout one is Buster Longfellow, andthe 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. Heseemed to be duly impressed with the recommendation given by his newlydiscovered relative.
"See, here is a letter from my mother, sir," continued George impulsivelyand with a deep motive back of his actions. "Her name is Alice, and sheis first cousin to your mother. How pleased she will be to learn that Iran across you in this remarkable way! And because we are related, as itseems, 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 upnow."
Jack felt like clapping George on the back when he heard that naiveappeal. Evidently George believed in making use of his relatives. Whatwas 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 monitormight say. Ties of relationship might be all very well, but there wassuch a thing as duty to the Government to be considered. Of course, heknew 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 intrying to pass the disputed portions of the Danube where opposingbatteries might be bombarding each other.
The officer looked from one to another. He saw only appealing glancesthat undoubtedly must have made him weaken in his first resolve to orderthe boys back and end their adventurous voyage then and there.
"We are accustomed to looking out for ourselves, believe me, sir," Jackthought fit to say just then, hoping to be able to influence thecommander, 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 somenight when it happens to be cloudy, and, once by the Iron Gate, the wayis clear for us on to the mouth of the Danube. We have spent a heap ofmoney to have this trip, and it would break us all up if we had toquit."
The officer laughed at that.
"Well," he went on to say, "I suppose, after all, it is none of mybusiness, and I could allow you to proceed without any risk that youwould carry important news of troop movements to the enemy beyond theDanube. It is with regard to your mother, George, I am thinking most ofall."
"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 someway to get out of every sort of scrape. Please say that you will washyour 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 myhands of the whole business. You see, I have been young myself notvery long back, and know what it means to a fellow to be terriblydisappointed. Only promise me on your word of honor that you will notrun 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 allowedto go aboard the motorboat again, parting from the Austrian commanderwith mutual wishes for good luck.
George was about the happiest fellow going during the next hour. Heseemed to be beaming with good nature.
"Did you ever hear of su
ch a remarkable thing happening in all yourlife?" he demanded of Buster, whom he had cornered. "To think that, withthe whole of this big country of Austria-Hungary to choose from, weshould have picked out the Danube River for our cruise, and that just atthe same time my second cousin with his warship should be stationed downhere! Then again, remember how he fired a shot across our bows to bringus to, and, seeing my name on my passport, realized that we wereactually blood relations!"
"It was queer, for a fact," agreed Buster.
"Queer, you call it, do you, Buster?" cried George. "Why, I think it themost astonishing coincidence that ever happened. I'm sure none of ushave even run across its equal. And then, what's more, he let us proceedjust 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," saidJosh just then, "and we all acknowledge the corn; but for goodness'sake please give us a change of tune now. We've been hearing aboutCousin Stanislaus until even the swallows swinging past seem to bechirping the name; and I expect the fish will give it to us, too, if wecatch any to-night."
George looked a little hurt in his feelings at this thrust, but hesubsided all the same, going off by himself where he could ponder uponthe freaks of fortune that had thrown him in contact with this relativeat the other side of the world, so to speak. From time to time he wouldsmile as though his thoughts were pleasant ones; but none of the othersinterrupted his meditations.
The day drew near a close, and as they had really come up to Jack'sexpectations it might be set down as possible that they would campsomewhere close by the place marked with a cross on the chart.
That would mean only one more day's journey before they must findthemselves in the vicinity of battle scenes, if, as they suspected, theAustrians had started to bombard Belgrade and were being answered shotfor shot from their fortifications by the valiant Serbian gunners.
They were fortunate enough to find a particularly good camp site. It wasin the midst of some trees that offered them all the comforts theycould wish for. At the same time they had no reason to believe they wereanywhere near a town, and the river in this spot looked quite lonely anddeserted; at least there was no other war monitor in sight, from thedeck of which their movements might be observed and deemed suspiciousenough to warrant a visit of investigation.
As evening drew on they tied the boat securely and built a fire closeby. Buster, as usual, insisted on taking charge of the cooking, whilethe rest lay around or gathered fuel for the fire.
It was while moving about with this latter purpose in view that Jacksuddenly came upon a crouching figure in the brush. At his exclamationthe unknown party struggled to his feet. Jack had been alarmed at first,not knowing but what there might be bandits in that vicinity. He quicklysaw, however, that he had a peaked looking and very hungry fairly wellgrown boy to deal with.
Not wishing to let the other see that he had been startled, Jackimmediately demanded to know who he was and why he was spying on them.The other made motions to let Jack understand he could not speakEnglish. He then went on to say something in rapid tones, but it wasall Greek to Jack.
However, from his appearance and the motions he made to his mouth, aswell as showing how empty his stomach was, it was easy to judge that itwas the smell of the cooking supper that had drawn him.
"Stay with us, then, and share our meal," suggested Jack, mostly inpantomime; and evidently his gestures must have had a convincing way oftheir own, for the hungry boy immediately nodded his head, saidsomething in a fervent tone, and, to Jack's embarrassment, proceeded tokiss his hand violently.
"Hey, what's all this going on here?" asked Josh, just then coming onthe 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 deadwith hunger," Jack went on to explain; "and as we can't turn him away inthat condition, we'll have to let him stay to supper with us, Isuppose."
Josh, of course, was exceedingly surprised. He looked the strange boyover and saw that he undoubtedly had a hungry appearance.
"Sure we'll share our supper with him, Jack," he hastened to say, beingone of those fellows who could never see any one suffer when he had achance to offer assistance; "who knows but what we may be entertainingan angel unawares, like we read about. Tell him to come along up to thefire right away."
Buster and George were also somewhat astonished at this increase totheir number. Still the poor chap looked so woebegone that Busterimmediately saw to it that an extra portion of food was prepared.George, too, did not have the heart to show his objecting nature. Hethought this to be a real case of necessity.
The strange boy was fairly well grown, though slender. His face was darkand 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 smilecheerily when he saw that any of them were looking at him.
Josh watched him from time to time, as though some notion had come intothat shrewd head of his. Supper was getting along nicely when Jack sawJosh beckoning to him cautiously at a time the stranger happened to belooking 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 oversomething, 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 timeswe've got to be careful. Instead of an angel we may be entertaining oneof 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 acertain direction. I've got a good notion the boy must have friendshidden somewhere near by."
"Yes, go on, Josh; what else?"
"Then, if you come to think of it, he doesn't talk the same lingo asthese Hungarian Magyars we've met. I'm not dead sure about it, but I'vegot a hunch he must be of another nationality. Well, what nation are weclosest 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 lifeof the aged Austrian emperor--well, according to my notion, our guest isone of the batch; and his three tough cronies are hidden close by,waiting for some signal!"