“that’s so, jack; unless he can produce the little sister we’ve got to believe his fine yarn is all a fraud,” josh observed seriously.
“did you say as much to him, jack?” questioned george.
“i did,” came the ready reply.
“and what was his reply to that?” asked buster.
“i gathered from his gestures and actions,” explained jack, “that he stood ready, yes, and anxious, to go into the woods near by and get his sister, if only we gave him permission. so i thought i’d put it up to the rest of you first.”
“oh, tell him to go and fetch her along,” sneered george. “if he really has got a little sister, and she’s hungry, why, i’d be willing to go on half rations myself to help out. i may be suspicious of him, but there isn’t a stingy bone in my whole body.”
“we know that, george,” jack told him quickly, “and since you seem willing i’ll let the poor fellow know about it right away. you[165] can see how eagerly he’s watching us now, because he understands what i’m telling you.”
“tell him supper’s about ready, and that he ought to hurry,” explained buster.
jack had another short interview with the young serbian. then the other sprang hastily to his feet and ran off, looking back once or twice, and smiling as he waved his hand toward jack.
“good-by!” called out george derisively, and then, turning to the others, he added: “because i hardly expect to see him again, unless he comes back with the other three. chances are he knew we’d got on to his game, and means to slip away now so he couldn’t be nabbed by the authorities.”
“shame on you, george, you old unbeliever!” cried buster.
“wait and see who’s right,” warned the other sturdily, for george always clung to his belief until convinced that he was wrong, when he would frankly confess his error of judgment.
a minute, two of them, passed, and still the boy did not return. it would really seem as though he had had time to go to where he left his sister concealed at the time he crept toward the landing spot of the cruising party in the motorboat, and come back again.
[166]
george was grinning with that important air of his, which, being interpreted, meant the usual “i told you so.”
then josh, whose sharp eyes had detected a moving figure in the semi-gloom, exclaimed:
“there they come over yonder, i do believe!”
“two or four?” questioned buster.
“it’s all right, boys,” josh continued, for he was standing on a stump, and in this position could see what was invisible to the others.
“then he’s got his little sister along with him, has he?” asked buster.
“sure thing,” reported josh, “and as for you, old croaker george, it’d be doing the right thing for you to beg everybody’s pardon, and especially the boy’s, for thinking such mean things about him.”
“who was the first to guess that he must be one of that band of desperate serbian youths, tell me?” demanded george. “i was wrong, i’ll admit, but an ounce of prevention is always better than a whole pound of cure.”
with that he threw away the club which he had been gripping, as though in company with it went all his suspicions.
presently the serbian boy came into camp, holding by the hand a pretty dark-eyed little maid of about seven. the boys were immediately[167] smitten with her charms, and no longer wondered that her brother had so openly boasted she was the prettiest little girl in all belgrade.
apparently that noted surgeon had done a splendid job, for never had they looked into brighter and more roguish eyes than she possessed. if they had been dulled by cataracts, as jack suspected was the case, then the curtains had been skillfully removed.
buster immediately announced that supper was all ready, and would be spoiled by any further waiting; so they sat down, places being prepared for the guests of honor.
while they ate the boys kept up a conversation among themselves. jack from time to time would hold communication with the serbian youth, whose appetite proved the truth of his assertion that no food had passed his lips during the whole of the preceding day.
later on buster amused himself trying to talk with the little girl and teach her a few words in english. jack and josh and george got their heads together, being desirous of settling on what they ought to do with regard to the pair cast adrift in a strange and hostile land.
“they can stay with us all night, anyway, and have breakfast in the morning,” suggested josh.
[168]
“and we could make up a little purse among us,” added the now penitent george, “enough to carry them across the border and into their own country.”
“that’s fine of you to mention that, george,” jack told him, “but you are forgetting something. serbia is at war with austria, and so you see no trains can be running to the border that would allow a serbian young fellow to pass. if he ever gets across the river to belgrade it must be with our help.”
“you’ve got a plan fixed, i guess, jack?”
“i’ve been thinking it over, and wanted to hear what your ideas might be before i mentioned it,” the other explained. “but, now that you ask me, i’ll tell you what i’d like to do. we can find room for them aboard the boat when we start in the morning. unless we are overhauled on the way there’d be little danger on account of our having serbians with us, a boy and a child at that.”
“i agree with you there, jack,” said george, now evidently seeking to make all amends possible for having allowed himself to believe the stranger a desperate character, when in truth he was only a kind and protecting big brother.
“ditto here,” added josh glibly, as though he were a parrot.
“we will have to tie up by the time another night comes along,” continued jack, “and if[169] it’s cloudy we can hope to try and pass the hostile batteries by keeping in the middle of the river and just floating with the current, never showing a single light. but before that we might make a landing on the serbian side and put the brother and sister ashore.”
josh and george exchanged looks, nodding their heads as if in approval.
“now, i call that a good scheme, if you want to know it,” declared the former.
“and as buster is always ready to agree to anything jack says,” george remarked, “i move we call it unanimous.”
the readiness of his chums to fall in with his proposition, of course, pleased jack. he always made it a point to invite the fullest discussion when offering any plan of campaign, because it was better that all of them should feel that they had a hand in engineering matters.
so it was settled, later on buster being told the arrangements. as george had prophesied, the fat boy had not the slightest objection to make; indeed, he was enthusiastic over the idea of helping the little serbian girl get back home to her anxious mother.
arrangements for sleeping were soon effected. as their guests had no blankets, george and buster insisted on loaning them[170] one each. they said they could go without easily enough; though jack finally induced george to share his covers, while josh compelled the fat chum to crawl under with him.
the night passed without anything occurring to disturb them. everybody slept after a fashion, though doubtless the boys were not as comfortable as though each possessed his own blanket.
it made them feel that they were suffering in a good cause, however, when they saw how happy both the boy and his sister seemed in the morning. the dark clouds that had of late been hanging over their heads had apparently taken flight, and with the rising sun they smiled, and seemed contented with having found such good friends.
after breakfast they started down the river again. it might prove to be the last day of peace for them for some time, since jack figured that by another sunset they would very likely have reached the scene of hostilities, when danger might be lying in wait for them at every turn.
of course, all of them were more or less concerned about the prospect of being held up again by some austrian river war vessel. the presence of serbians aboard the motorboat would look suspicious in those trying days, and[171] might get the boys into trouble. nevertheless, not one of them so much as hinted at any desire to be rid of their guests.
the little girl was so winsome that she had captured all their hearts by storm, and they could not do too much for her.
as the afternoon began to pass jack looked earnestly ahead many times. he wondered what awaited them in that mysterious region whence they were headed. all sorts of strange things might crop up to confront them as they proceeded on their dangerous course; still, no one even gave the idea of turning back a thought.
he had managed to let the serbian boy know what they meant to do about getting his sister and himself on his native soil. how those black eyes snapped as the plan was unfolded to him! jack fancied he could see unshed tears there also, showing how their generosity must have affected the other. he could not express his gratitude by repeating that one word “thank” again, but he did display it by almost fiercely seizing jack’s hand and actually kissing it, an act that made the american boy feel exceedingly queer, because he was not accustomed to such things.
they kept, as a rule, closer to the right bank of the river, for that would in time prove to be[172] the one on which the serbian capital was located. besides, jack believed it would answer their purposes better in case circumstances forced them to make a hurried landing, so that their passengers might conceal themselves in the brush.
the sun was hot again, and as the afternoon began to wear along they found that the breeze created by their own swift passage was the only invigorating thing to be met with.
“but it’s beginning to cloud up, you can see,” josh remarked, when buster complained that he was melting away with the heat; “and once the old sun gets out of sight it’ll be a whole lot more comfy.”
“i’ve been watching those clouds,” remarked jack, “and they please me a whole lot, because we must have a cloudy night if we’re ever going to run past the batteries on both sides of the river.”
“whew! that sounds as if we might be away back in the civil war, trying to pass memphis on a gunboat, with the confeds whanging away at us to beat the band. but, of course, you don’t expect to have any real trouble getting by, do you, jack?”
“so far as i can see, there’s no reason why we should meet up with any,” the skipper informed him.
[173]
“and once we’re well by belgrade the worst will be over,” cheerily observed josh. “you see, the railroad runs down through serbia from the capital, and any invasion must, of course, follow the morava river, because serbia is a mountainous country, and there are passes through which troops have to go if ever they hope to reach nisch down near the middle of the nation.”
“seems like you’ve been reading up on serbia, josh,” ventured george.
“i have, all about the last war between the balkan states,” josh admitted. “and let me tell you right here, if the austrians and the germans ever try to invade that little country of born fighters they’ll find they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. the serbians know every foot of ground, and can lay in ambush on the heights, dropping rocks down on the enemy, and using all sorts of quick-firing guns to cut them down in windrows.”
“if only all these balkan countries were agreed on a single policy,” said jack, “they could snap their fingers at the teuton alliance, for no force could ever be brought to bear against them that would smash their defenses. but petty jealousies keep them apart, and may be their undoing in the end.”
the sun vanished about this time, the clouds[174] having risen far enough to cover his blazing face.
“that feels a heap better,” announced the panting buster; “and it looks like we mightn’t glimpse old sol again to-day. for one i’m glad. sunshine is all very well in winter time, but when it’s hot summer i prefer the shade.”
the others laughed at his odd way of putting it, for buster often expressed himself in a peculiar fashion. josh said he “mixed his metaphors,” though buster was never able to get him to explain what he meant by saying that.
just then something came stealing to their ears that caused the boys to exchange meaning glances. it was a distant grumbling that died away almost as soon as it reached them, a sort of complaining, reverberating boom that brought a thrill with it.
