CHAPTER XIII
THE BOY FROM SERBIA
Jack remained silent for a full minute after his companion had deliveredhimself of this startling statement. He was evidently thinking it over.Perhaps up to then Jack had not even suspected the tramp of beinganything more than he seemed, a well-grown lad who was far away fromhome--and hungry.
Presently Jack spoke again, and from his manner it became apparent thathe now shared in some degree the alarm that Josh seemed to be laboringunder. Really, the conditions were suspicious enough to demand aninvestigation. They were next to unarmed, and if four desperate youngfellows raided their camp they would find it difficult indeed to keepfrom losing everything they possessed, from boat to supplies.
"I hate to think that such a thing can be possible, Josh," he saidslowly, "but, as you were remarking, the circumstances force us to be onour guard. Before we start to eating supper, which must be nearly readynow, I'll try and strike up a conversation with the fellow and learnsomething about him."
"But how on earth can you do that, Jack, when neither of you seem ableto understand one word of each other's tongue?"
"Oh, leave that to me, Josh. There are ways, you know, even if I have tocome to paper and pencil and use the picture writing of the Indians.What with signs and nods and looks we may get a fair understanding."
"No harm trying, that's a fact," admitted Josh. "But I'll watch mychance and put the others wise. Every one of us ought to have some sortof club handy so as to protect the camp and the boat if there's going tobe a raid."
Apparently the more Josh considered the subject the stronger became hisbelief that he had hit the truth in making that guess. In his eyes thedark face of the young stranger now began to assume a threateningappearance, whereas before it had only seemed hungry and eager andalmost sad.
Jack watched his opportunity and soon found a chance to drop down besidethe stranger. He saw that there was intelligence in the face of theother. It could also be seen in his flashing eyes. If Jack had only beenable to understand and speak the other's language he felt sure he couldinduce him to tell his story.
He took out a pencil and a pad of paper and began to draw. As Jack was amaster hand at this sort of thing, he quickly produced a sketch thatrepresented four boys, all dressed alike, and in the costume which theyoung stranger wore.
This he held before the other, and then pointed to him as he nodded.After looking at the drawing intently the boy shook his head. It wasevidently intended for a denial that he had three companions, but thenJack could hardly have expected him to admit it openly.
One thing sure, he did not seem to be alarmed, as though suspecting thathis secret had been discovered; only puzzled.
As if governed by a sudden impulse, he motioned for the pencil andpaper, just as Jack expected he would do, and in his turn began to drawsomething. When he handed the pad back it was seen that he had actuallymade a pretty accurate map of the enlarged Serbia of to-day; doubtlessevery schoolboy in that country was early taught to be able to do this,on account of the great pride the Serbian people took in their recentvictories over Turkey and Bulgaria.
He had even written in bold letters the magical word "Serbia" acrossthis map, as if determined to remove all doubt as to what it was meantfor. Such frankness made Jack begin to believe that the other could notpossibly be the desperate character Josh suspected; had he been, itwould only have seemed natural for him to deny his nationality lest hebe arrested and put in an Austrian dungeon.
Jack went a step further, after the boy, first pointing to his map,smote his own chest proudly and smiled, as if to proclaim that hebelonged in that country. By various gestures he tried to ask the otherwhat he was doing here in a hostile land.
The other watched his every gesture and seemed to be reading even theexpression on Jack's face. It is surprising how much can be learned thatway. Whole conversations may be carried on by instinct and intelligence.One who does not know a single word of Italian may be able to sense thegeneral meaning of many paragraphs in a newspaper war item by thesimilarity of words. Try it, and you will see that this is really so.
By slow and laborious degrees Jack began to pick up something of whatthe other was trying to tell him. The further he proceeded the moreintense did the boy seem to become. Buster, glancing that way from timeto time, filled with curiosity, considered that they were using theirhands almost as cleverly as a couple of mutes did whom he had oncewatched talking in the sign language.
Of course, Josh had before then managed to whisper to each of the othertwo what a "mare's nest" he believed he had unearthed, so that bothGeorge and Buster had begun to look on the intruder in the light of adangerous fellow. George kept caressing a stout cudgel of which he hadbecome possessed, as though determined not to be caught entirelydefenseless in case of a sudden raid.
"Do you suppose Jack's really finding out anything?" Buster whispered toJosh when the other leaned down as if to ascertain how the supper wascoming on.
"Sure he is," replied the other, "though chances are the cub's givinghim taffy just to keep him quiet."
"But Jack seems to be interested a whole lot," objected Buster.
"I think Jack means to join us presently, from the way he nodded to mejust then," Josh went on to say hastily, "so don't hurry on the suppermore than you can help. For all we know we may have to share it with_four_ instead of one."
It proved to be just as Josh had predicted, for presently Jack left theside of the dark-faced young stranger and come over to the fire.
"Well, how did you manage to get on with him?" asked Josh impetuously.
"It grew easier as we went on," said Jack. "He knows just a little bitof English, after all. When that failed he resorted to the paper andpencil, or else made gestures. When I shook my head to tell him it wasall a mystery to me, he would try again in a different way, and wealways succeeded in getting there by one means or another."
"Did he own up in the end, Jack?" asked Josh.
"If you mean about being one of the four Serbian youths we thought hemight be, he denied it absolutely," came the reply.
"H'm! What else could you expect, since their game had been knocked onthe head by the breaking out of the war and they found themselves beinghunted like rats in a hostile territory, afraid to ask for anything toeat because they'd like as not be grabbed? No wonder he looks hungry,say I."
Jack looked at the other and shook his head.
"This time you're away off, old fellow," he told Josh. "He didn't comeup into Austria-Hungary on an errand of blood, but one of mercy."
"As how, Jack?" asked Buster, already deeply interested.
"He has a little sister," the other went on to say. "She seems to bejust so high," and he held his hand about three feet from the ground,"from which I'd judge she might be something like six or seven yearsold."
"A sister, eh?" George remarked skeptically.
"Listen, fellows," continued Jack, "here's the story he told me as nearas I was able to make it out, for lots of times I had to just guess atthings; but it ran fairly smooth, after all. He lived in Belgrade, thecapital of Serbia. There was his mother, a widow with some means, andone little sister. This girl, it seems, was blind and the pet ofeverybody who knew her."
"Gee! that sounds interesting," muttered Josh.
"Some time ago the mother learned of a celebrated surgeon up in Budapestwho had performed wonderful cures with people afflicted just as thelittle child was. It was determined to take the girl to him, and anappointment was made; but just then the mother had the misfortune tosprain her ankle and could not walk a step."
"Tough luck," said Buster, "and I can see what the boy did. He lookslike he had the grit to carry anything like that out, sure he does."
Apparently Buster was taking stock in Jack's story and changing hisopinion again with regard to the dark-faced young stranger.
"Yes, there was nothing for it but that the boy go to Budapest with hislittle sister and stay there while the operation went on. From what hetel
ls me he was in the Hungarian capital nearly a month. The surgeonoperated, and the thing turned out a splendid success. You ought to haveseen how his face lighted up when he told me in sign language that shecould see now just as well as any one."
"Then why didn't he start home right away, knowing how anxious hismother must be?" asked George incredulously.
"First the surgeon would not allow it for a certain time after thebandages were taken off. Then, as luck would have it, just when theywere about to start, a thief broke into their apartment and stole everydollar, or whatever money the Serbians use."
"Oh, how tough that was!" exclaimed Buster sympathetically.
"A likely story, I call it," muttered George.
"On top of it all the war broke out, and he knew that unless theyhurried off from Budapest the Hungarian authorities might arrest them.So they sold a few of their things and get enough money together tocarry them part of the way to the Serbian border. Then they had to leavethe train and start to tramp the rest of the way. Neither of them havehad a bite this whole day. Seeing us land, he became desperate anddetermined to appeal to us to help him, if we looked as if we were kindpeople. Then I chanced to run across him. That's what he told me, asnear as I could make it out."
Jack saw that while Buster and Josh were disposed to believe the youngstranger, George still hung back.
"It makes a pretty interesting story, that's right," was what Georgesaid, "but there's a fishy part to it. That little sister sounds like aninvention to get our sympathy. Where is she at, I'd like to know; lethim produce the kid, say I."