CHAPTER XV
THE BOOMING OF BIG GUNS
"Another storm coming, worse luck!" grumbled George.
"Going to spoil all our fine plans in the bargain," added Josh; "for ifit turns out to be anything as bad as that other whooper, excuse me fromwanting to be out on the river in the middle of the night."
"Listen again!" said Jack, with a meaning in his manner.
"There she goes, and I must say it's kind of queer thunder, after all,"Buster advanced; "each growl is separate and distinct, and not likeanything I ever heard before."
"Sure enough," continued Josh; and then, as though a sudden light haddawned upon him, he turned to Jack to add: "Say, you don't imagine now,do you, that can be the booming of big guns we are listening to?"
Jack nodded his head in the affirmative.
"It must be," he said positively.
"Sounds just like blasts," continued Josh, "up in the quarry near ourtown, when they let the same off by electricity at noon, when the menare all out of the workings. Boom! boom! boom! boom! Let me tell youthey must be making things hum over there now, with all that firinggoing on."
"What do you suppose they're doing, Jack?" asked George.
"For one thing sending shells into Belgrade," came the reply.
"Look, the Serbian boy has caught on as well as the rest of us," saidJosh, "and it frets him a whole lot, too, you can see by his face. Nowhe's talking with the little sister, and pointing, as if he might beexplaining what that sound means."
"Well, can you blame him for feeling that way?" burst out Buster; "whenyou must remember that their mother is somewhere in Belgrade, and withthose shells bursting in the city they may get home only to find thatthey have been left orphans. I guess war is all that General Shermansaid it was."
"Oh, shucks! We haven't seen hardly anything of its horrors yet. Waittill you read what is happening in Belgium about this time, and thenit'll be time to talk," George told him.
"But why didn't we hear the cannonading before?" asked Buster; "itseemed to hit us all of a sudden."
"Because there was a shift of the wind," explained Jack. "You know itwas on our right before, and since then has changed, so that now itseems to be coming straight from the south."
As they kept on down the river the sounds, reaching their ears everyonce in so often, increased gradually in volume.
Every time the suggestive sound came to their ears it could be seen thatthe two young Serbians would start and listen eagerly. Undoubtedly theirthoughts must be centered on the home they had left in Belgrade, andthey were wondering if the latest shell could have dropped anywhere nearthat dearly loved spot.
"Honest, now," said Josh presently, "after that last shot I could hear asecond fainter crash, which I take it may have been the shell explodingin or over the city."
"It may have been a Serbian gun, after all," George asserted, "and ifso, then the shoe was on the other foot, and the shell burst in thefortifications on the Austrian side of the Danube, perhaps scatteringguns and soldiers around as if they were so many logs."
"That's what our friend here is hoping deep down in his heart, you canbe sure," Jack mentioned, with a glance toward the boy passenger.
"Look away down yonder and tell me if that isn't one of those monitorslike my cousin Captain Stanislaus commands," said George just then.
Josh tested his eagle eye and admitted that, while the surface of theriver was misty, which fact made seeing difficult, he believed the otherwas right, and that the object they were looking at did resemble a"cheese-box on a raft" in marine architecture.
"Then we can't be so very far above Belgrade," Jack concluded.
"You mean the monitor may have been doing some of that shelling, doyou?" questioned Buster.
"I don't know about that, for none of us have seen any sign of firingaboard the boat; but she's evidently anchored there to take part inprotecting the Austrian troops that will soon be attempting to cross tohostile territory. So we must expect to haul in somewhere along here andwait for night to settle down."
"It would be too risky to try and pass the monitor, I reckon you mean?"George asked.
"You remember how we were brought up with a round turn the other time,"he was reminded; "and if we refused to obey the summons to comealongside a second shot would sink us like a stone."
"Whee! if one of those big shells ever struck this chip of a boat therewouldn't be enough of her left for firewood," asserted Josh. "So I sayjust as you do, Jack; we mustn't be too brash and take chances. We can'texpect to fight the whole Austrian navy on the Danube. The word for usis diplomacy, remember that. We've got to play the Napoleon style ofstrategy if we hope to win out in this game."
Jack allowed the boat to continue on her course for some little timelonger. He did not mean to take unnecessary chances, but at the sametime the further they were down the river before night set in thebetter, since it would shorten the time they expected to be in thedanger zone.
He kept a wary eye on the anchored monitor, for all of them could bythis time plainly see that it was one of those strange looking vessels,believed by Austria to be just suited to the waters of the Danube foroffense and defense.
When not employed in this fashion Jack was watching the near-by shorefor a favorable landing spot. They could proceed to make a fire and actas though fully intending to spend the night there. If by accident theyhad visitors from the monitor early in the evening they could arrange itso that nothing suspicious would be seen.
The firing had now ceased for the time being, as though enough had beenaccomplished on either side for the day.
It was not long before they found themselves up against the bank. Jackhad picked out a good landing place, for there were trees in plenty,under which they could make themselves comfortable.
"Do you think they have noticed us across there on board the monitor?"Buster asked, as they stepped ashore.
"It would be strange if they hadn't," Josh told him. "Of course, theycan see all that goes on up and down the river, and we were in plainsight. Jack, did you expect they might have a pair of field glassesleveled on us, and was that why you had the brother and sister keepinside the cabin lately?"
"Well," replied the skipper, "I saw something flash over there while thesun was shining through that rift in the clouds, and I got the idea theymight be using their binoculars. You see, if they should send over tointerview us, and the two Serbians were absent from the camp, as we meanthey shall be, what could we say if asked about them? That was why Iwanted them to keep out of sight, while the four of us remained in fullview."
Josh did not say anything further, but the look of admiration he gaveJack told what his thoughts were. In his mind the other could not beequalled when it came to covering the whole ground and laying outextensive plans, for Jack seemed to be able to grasp everything.
"We must keep a watch out on the river and try to be on our guard,"continued the leader. "If they send a boat over here to investigate, weought to know about it before the men have a chance to land and spy onour camp."
The boat was tied up, and Buster had already taken ashore all he neededfor the evening meal; while Josh was making a fire in the midst of somestones he had collected in a sort of cairn.
The day had ended in a dismal fashion for one starting out so bravelywith blue skies and plenty of warm sunshine. Out over the water the hazewas thickening, so that when George gave place to Josh later on it wasnext door to impossible to tell where the Austrian monitor was anchored.
"I've lined it up with this stone here and that tree out on the littlepoint," George explained; "the boat lies almost directly with the two,so if you happen to see any light over there you'll know what it means,Josh," he told the other, as he gave up his post.
"As long as you could see the monitor, were there any signs of a boatleaving?" he asked; but George shook his head and told him he had seennothing suspicious.