Motor Boat Boys Down the Danube; or, Four Chums Abroad

“Keep still, Buster, and quit trying to balance the boat!” urged George; “your weight won’t matter a bean if she’s bound to turn turtle; and you nearly smashed my foot that time, you came down on it so hard. Talk to me about a sportive elephant, it isn’t in the same class with you when you get excited.”

“Here, I’ll try and fix you up, Buster, if only you keep quiet a spell,” Josh told him, and between the two mentors Buster resolved to bear up and show a brave front.

Jack was peeping out as if hoping to see some sign of the storm breaking. The boat meanwhile was wallowing dreadfully, showing that by degrees she must be turning sideways to the waves and the wind, the latter still blowing “great guns.”

A vivid flash came just when Jack had the tarpaulin drawn aside, and made Buster give a loud cry.

“Oh, what a scorcher!” he exclaimed; “I thought I was struck at first.”

The speedy crash that followed drowned the rest of his words.

“Any hope of its being over soon, Jack?” demanded Josh, as soon as he could make himself heard.

“Nothing doing that I could see,” came the loud reply, for what with the howl of the wind and the dash of the agitated waters against the boat it was no easy matter to make oneself heard. “All black around. You can’t see twenty feet away for the rain and the gloom.”

“Jack, do you happen to know whether there’s any rapids or falls along the Danube?” asked George presently.

“I’m not so sure about it,” replied the other; “seems to me I did hear some talk about rapids or falls or something, though it may have been about the river away up above Vienna.”

Buster at that found himself possessed with a new cause for alarm. He pictured Niagara Falls, and the powerboat plunging over the beetling brink, with four boys he knew full well fastened in its interior, helpless victims. Then as the mood changed he could see Whirlpool Rapids below the falls, through which no ordinary boat had been known to pass safely, but always emerged in splinters, after buffeting the half-hidden sharp-pointed rocks, and urged on by the frightful current.

“Listen! I thought I heard a distant roaring sound just then that might be the falls, fellows!” Buster broke out with.

Although the others all suspected that it was only the result of a lively imagination that caused him to say this, at the same time they could not help straining their hearing to ascertain whether there could be any truth in it.

“You fooled yourself that time, Buster,” announced George finally, and with a vein of positive relief in his voice; “it must have been the rain coming down like a cloud-burst, or else the wind tearing through some trees ashore.”

The action of the boat continued to cause more or less anxiety. Frequently when the wind struck savagely on the counter of the wallowing craft it would careen over so far that even Jack feared a catastrophe was impending.

Everything conspired to cause alarm – the darkness, the heavy crash of thunder, the blinding flashes of lightning that stabbed the gloom so suddenly, and the possibility of the boat turning turtle.

In the midst of this Jack was seen to be crawling out of the cover.

“What are you going to do?” shouted Josh.

“All of us have forgotten that we’ve got an anchor forward,” Jack told him; “I’m going to drop it over. It may take hold; and anyway it’s bound to keep our head into the storm by dragging!”

“Let me help you, Jack!” added Josh with his usual impulsiveness.

“You may come along, but no one else,” he was told.

Of course, that was aimed primarily at Buster, for Jack could not forget how clumsy the fat chum always proved himself to be; and the chances were that he would manage to fall overboard did he attempt to crawl along the slippery sloping deck.

Once outside and Josh realized what a difficult thing it was going to be to get forward to where the anchor might be found. The little boat rolled and tossed like a chip on the angry seas. Josh felt almost dizzy with the motion, but he shut his teeth grimly together and resolved to stick it out to the end. If Jack could stand it surely he should be able to do the same. Besides, he would sooner die almost than let George see him show the white feather.

“Get a good hold before you move each time,” called Jack in his ear; “and better grab me if you find yourself going!”

That was just like Jack’s generous nature; he thought nothing of the added risk he was assuming when he gave Josh this advice.

Josh would never be apt to forget that exciting experience as long as he lived. Except when the lightning came it was as impossible to see anything as though they were in the midst of a dark night; and even then all they could detect was what seemed to be a wall of gray fog enveloping them on every side, with the white-capped waves leaping and tossing like hungry wolves around them.

Of course, both boys were immediately drenched, but of this they thought nothing. Both had their coats off at the time, on account of the afternoon heat, which turned out to be a lucky thing for them, since their movements were apt to be less fettered and confined in consequence.

Foot by foot they made their way forward. Jack’s advice to always retain one grip until the other hand could take hold of something ahead saved Josh more than once from being thrown overboard. A little recklessness would have cost him dear in a case like that.

Finally Jack seemed to have gained his end, for he was bending down over the anchor when a flash of lightning enabled the other boy to see him again. Josh, determined to have a hand in casting the mudhook overboard, hastened to join him.

“The end of the cable is fast all right, is it, Jack?” he shouted, as together they took hold of the rusty iron anchor.

“Yes. I made sure of that before we started, and tested the cable in the bargain,” he was instantly assured.

It was a good thing some one had been so careful, for Josh himself had evidently not given the matter a single thought.

“Look out not to get a leg tangled in the rope, Josh!” shouted Jack.

“I will, all right!” the other replied, knowing that in such an event he would be dragged overboard like a flash.

So the anchor was let go.

There was no result until the whole of the cable had been paid out. Jack waited anxiously to see what followed, though he knew fairly well it would steady the drifting boat and turn the bow into the storm again.

Both of them felt the sudden jerk that announced the expected event.

“She’s turning right away, Jack!” bellowed Josh, trying to make himself heard above the heavy boom of the thunder’s growl.

There could be no doubt on that score, for already the motions of the runaway motorboat seemed to be much less violent. Jack believed his scheme was going to be a success, and it pleased him to know that his wetting would not have been taken for nothing.

They lingered no longer, but started back toward the stern. It was not quite so difficult now to creep along the slippery deck, holding on to the cabin roof, and finally reaching the open well in the stern. A head was in sight, showing that one of the anxious chums could not rest easy until he learned what the result of the venture had been.

“You must have done it, fellows!” exclaimed Buster, for it was no other than the stout boy who had thrust his head out like a tortoise, “because she rides so much easier now. I knew Jack’d manage it if anybody could.”

Drenched as they were, the two boys had to drop down under the tarpaulin. After all, that was a minor matter, since by their bold action they had warded off what might have turned out to be a grave disaster.

“Let her blow and thunder all she wants to now,” said Josh triumphantly; “we’ve got the anchor trailing from the bow, and that’s going to keep her nose in the wind. I’ve read how a vessel nearly going down in a hurricane has been saved by making a storm anchor out of hatches, or anything else that will float, and towing the same behind to keep the ship steady. That’s what we did, you see.”

Josh was more than glad now he had insisted on accompanying the commodore in attempting to carry out his hazardous undertaking. It would give him an opportunity to swell with importance whenever the deed was mentioned, and to use the magical word “we” in speaking of the adventure. What boy is there who does not like to feel that he personally partook of the danger when brave things were undertaken and accomplished?

After that they settled down to wait. The storm must surely come to an end before a great while, and as they were now moving at less than one-half the mad pace they had been going before that drag had been instituted, it seemed perfectly safe even to Buster.

“All I hope for now is that we don’t run afoul of some half-sunken rock, or it may be a snag!” Josh was heard to say.

“We do know there are snags floating along, because you remember I struck one only yesterday,” ventured Buster, referring, of course, to the log which, by catching his trailing fish hook, had dragged him overboard.

“Not much danger of that,” Jack assured them; “they keep a pretty clear channel over here, it seems, even if we haven’t met steamboats on the river like you would on the Mississippi. Given another ten minutes or so and I think we’ll see the break in the storm we expect. It can hardly last much longer now.”

“Must have done some damage ashore, too, boys?” suggested George.

“So long as it hasn’t killed off all the chickens, so we can’t get any more eggs, that doesn’t really concern us, I s’pose,” said Buster, not meaning to be unfeeling in the least, but just then that seemed to be in the nature of a calamity in his mind.

Slowly the time passed, but the boys were soon delighted to discover that there was actually a slackening up of the elements that had combined to make such a furious discord. The thunder became less boisterous, the wind lulled perceptibly, and even the waves had lost much of their force.

Jack, taking an observation, made an important discovery, and followed it with an announcement that gave his comrades considerable pleasure.

“There’s a break in the storm clouds over there in the west, boys, and I guess we’ve got to the end of this trouble!”

“With no damage done except a wetting for two of us,” added Josh, trying to act as though that counted for next to nothing, considering the benefits that had probably sprung from the work of Jack and himself.

“Why, it seems to me the rain has let up, too, Jack!” exclaimed Buster, forcing his head through the opening in the tarpaulin cover of the well.

“In a few minutes more we can get rid of this old thing and breathe free once more,” Jack told him.

“Well, I’m sure I’ll be mighty glad,” said Buster, “because I’m nearly stewed as it is, with the heat below here; and that breeze feels mighty good to me. It won’t be near as warm after this storm, that’s sure.”

“Like as not, Buster,” advised Josh, shivering a little because of his wet condition, “we’ll all be frozen stiff before an hour goes by. Queer things happen over in this Danube country, I’m told.”

“Rats! You can’t scare me, Josh,” Buster immediately informed him; “course, since you’re all wet through and through you might freeze, but not a healthy specimen like me. This time we’ll have to make a fire for you other fellows, if we can find enough dry wood to burn, that is.”

Jack’s prediction was soon fulfilled. The break in the storm clouds grew rapidly in magnitude until quite a large sized patch of blue sky became visible. They soon had the tarpaulin dragged on top of the cabin roof to dry out; and when the sun appeared the pair who had been drenched took positive delight in sprawling there and letting the warm rays start drying their garments on them.

“Well, seems like we got through that scrape O. K.,” ventured Buster; “but we’re not yet out of the woods by a big lot. We’ve got a broken engine on our hands, and no means of fixing the same, even if we knew how to do it. What’s to be done now, Commodore Jack?”

Somehow the others always thought to give Jack his full title when relying on him to get them out of a scrape. But Jack let this significant fact pass, for he knew these three chums from the ground up, and could not hold a single thing against any one of them. And, as usual, he had a remedy ready for every disease.

CHAPTER IX

THE HUNGARIAN MOB

“There’s only one thing we can do,” Jack told them, “which is to work the boat along closer to the western shore. Before long, unless my map of the river is all wrong, we ought to strike a town by the name of Mohaca, a railroad place situated on a sharp bend of the Danube, and there must be some one in that town who can do the necessary repairs to our engine, if we hold over half a day.”

The others admitted that the plan proposed by their leader sounded good to them. And accordingly they set to work first of all to get the trailing anchor aboard, so that their progress would be delayed no longer.

Buster was much relieved. Besides, it was Josh who was saturated to the skin now, and when one means to be cheerful it counts for considerable “whose ox is gored,” as Buster liked to put it.

Still he felt sorry when he saw Josh shivering, for the air had become suddenly quite cool after the passing of the storm, and insisted on wrapping a blanket about the slim boy.

All of them kept watch for signs of the town below. The afternoon was wearing on very fast now, and they hoped to arrive before sunset. It might be a difficult matter to find the machinist they wanted if they reached the town on the bank of the Danube after darkness had set in.

“I reckon it’s at that bend below there,” said Jack; “if you look sharp you can see the sun glinting from what looks to me like a church steeple, with a cross on the same.”

“You hit it that time, Jack,” asserted Josh, “because that’s just what it is. For one I’ll be glad to get where we can have a fire and dry out.”

They were compelled to work pretty hard in order to get the boat over close to the shore where the town stood. The current seemed to run in a contrary direction, and did its best to frustrate their efforts.

Jack, however, remembering many other times when they had been aboard motorboats that acted queerly, or else broke down, had seen to it that there was a push-pole lashed to the side of the craft. The river at this point proved to be comparatively shallow, so that it was easily possible to reach bottom.

By changing hands, and each one having a turn, they kept where they wanted to go, and in this way made the town.

It did not differ from other places they had been seeing along the Danube, and after the storm it looked rather subdued. In the morning they would find the customary amount of life in the place, together with the usual display of soldiers’ uniforms, Jack did not doubt in the least.

As they were passing slowly along in search of some place where they might hope to have their broken-down engine repaired on the following day, as well as a harbor of refuge for the coming night, loud cheers drew their attention to the railroad which ran close to the river bank.

“It’s only another train-load of troops going to the front!” announced Josh, as they saw numerous heads thrust from the windows of the carriages, together with wildly waving hands.

“They think it’s a picnic to start with,” said George, “but before long they’ll sing a different tune, I guess; that is, those who live through the first battle. In these days of quick-firing guns and the terrible shells, the chances a fellow has of coming back home are mighty small. No soldiering for me if I know myself.”

“Oh, that’s all hot air you’re giving us, George,” scoffed Josh. “You know mighty well that if our country was in danger, and you were old enough, you’d enlist right away. So would we all of us, as well as Herb and Andy at home. You’ve got your faults, George, as all of us have, but being a coward isn’t one of them by a long shot.”

George did not make any reply to this speech, but smiled as though he felt rather pleased to know even Josh had such a good opinion of his fighting abilities.

The long train with its shouting crowds passed from sight. Evidently these troops were headed for the Servian border, and expected to see warm service there, fighting against the brave little country that had long since won its independence from the Turks.

“I think I see what we’re wanting to find,” remarked Jack presently.

“It’s the usual boatyard you find in nearly all river towns,” added Josh; “and we ought to be able to make arrangements for having our engine looked over and repaired in the morning.”

“Make your minds easy on that score,” advised George, calmly enough; “for even if we don’t run across a machinist who can do the job, trust me to tackle it.”

“What! you?” ejaculated Buster.

“Why not?” demanded George, as though aggrieved that any one should for a moment question his ability in that line. “Haven’t I taken the engine of my Wireless to pieces many a time and put it together again?”

“That’s right, you have,” spoke up Josh, “because you never could let well enough alone, but must be monkeying around your engine all the time. That’s why Jack insisted in the beginning of this voyage that you were to be a passenger and let him act as pilot and engineer.”

“But the engine’s broken down, isn’t it?” demanded George.

“Sure it has,” Josh admitted, “but that was a sheer accident, and you didn’t have a thing to do with it.”

“There’s no reason to believe we’ll get left about finding a machinist here,” Jack remarked, to calm the troubled waters. “I think that sign tells us as much. But we’ll soon know.”

They managed to push the boat inside the enclosure. Here they found a number of river craft of various types, and Jack noticed that among them were several launches, from which fact he judged that the man did all kinds of general repairing.

A short time later they landed and found the owner of the shop. He could understand English, fortunately enough, so they were able to make a bargain with him. Doubtless he must have charged them an exorbitant price, for upon their accepting his terms he showed them unusual courtesy, even telling them to push the boat inside his house, where he could get to work at the engine in the morning.

He also informed the boys that if they chose to sleep aboard they were at perfect liberty to do so. Should it storm again they would have the benefit of a roof over their heads; and they could cook their supper at the fire he would leave in the forge.

Buster immediately declared it would be a jolly thing all around.

“You know we do feel more or less cramped aboard our boat,” he went on to remark, with considerable eagerness. “And if you say the word, why, I’ll take my blanket and camp out here on the floor. There are plenty of chips to make a soft bed, even if they don’t smell as sweet as hemlock browse such as we have at home.”

“And another thing,” added Josh, “Jack and myself can get nice and dry at the fire here in the forge. I think the man must have noticed that we’d been soaked.”

“Yes, and he soaked us some more in the bargain,” complained George, “according to the price we agreed to pay him for the easy job of mending a broken engine. See, you might have saved all that money if you’d had enough confidence in me to let me run the job.”

“Perhaps!” said Josh dryly, and there was such a world of meaning in that one word as pronounced by him that George immediately fell silent, not caring to bring about another verbal controversy.

The owner of the boatyard and shop was certainly very kind in allowing those who were perfect strangers to him to remain over night there. He must have seen by looking at the faces of the four boys that they were worthy of trust. It was not everybody whom he would grant such a favor to, and Jack told his chums they had reason to feel quite proud of the fact.

It was by this time getting quite dark. The man had lighted a lamp for them, which served to dispel the gloom in the shop’s interior. Josh was already using the bellows in order to blow the dying fire into new life. When the heat became noticeable he and Jack proceeded to warm up. By degrees they found that this steaming process dried their clothes admirably. Buster could tell them how efficient it had been in his own case, only that Buster was now impatient for them to get through, so he could have the red bed of coals for the purpose of cooking supper.

At the time the proprietor of the boatyard went away Jack had stepped outside the door with him. As he expected, he found that the shop faced on a street running close to the river itself.

As they had laid in plenty of provisions at Budapest, there was really no necessity for any of them to wander around the town. If the boys exhibited any curiosity in that respect, Jack meant to dampen their zeal by telling them there might be some danger of strangers being eyed with suspicion in these exciting days, and that it would be safest to stay at the shop.

Besides, there could be no telling just when the repairs would be finished, for, after all, the damage was apt to be slight; and in this event they would want to be on the move with as little delay as possible.

Bumpus was soon in his glory. It had indeed been a long while since they had enjoyed the privilege of preparing a meal over such a fine fire as the blacksmith forge afforded them. Besides, the glowing coals seemed so much nicer than ordinary smoking wood; as Bumpus said, it saved the cook’s back considerable, in that he did not have to bend down so much.

They found something that answered for a table, and by the light of the lamp so kindly loaned by the owner they ate their supper. No matter what it consisted of, for there is no time to go into particulars – at least it had a “homey” taste to it, and brought back to their minds numerous other meals which had accompanied their various cruises down American rivers, through the Great Lakes, and among the islands of the Florida coast.

It seemed very quiet down by the river. If the town itself was booming with the spirit of war, the boys heard very little of it while they sat around chatting, after partaking of the meal Bumpus provided.

Once George sauntered over to the door that led to the street and looked out, but he did not venture forth. When he came back Josh, of course, wanted to know what he had heard.

“Oh, nothing much,” the other replied with a yawn. “There’s considerable noise up above, and perhaps some soldiers are getting ready to go away. You know they make an awful lot of fuss over here when the boys are off for the war.”

“So far as that goes, they do it everywhere,” remarked Jack. “I remember plainly hearing my folks telling all that happened in our town in ninety-eight, when the war with Spain broke out. Of course, all of us were kids then, babies in fact, and we knew nothing about it; but I take it there were lots of exciting things happening day after day, as trains passed through. One country doesn’t differ a great deal from another, when you come to take notice.”

“I hope you took pains to put up that stout bar again, George, after you shut the double doors?” remarked Bumpus. “Not that I expect we’ll be troubled with unwelcome visitors in the shape of thieves while we’re roosting here, but you know it’s a heap nicer to know everything’s lovely and the goose hangs high.”

“Oh, don’t borrow any trouble about that bar, Buster,” George assured him. “Sure I put it back, just like I found it. I reckon the owner uses it when he’s working in here behind closed doors and doesn’t want to be disturbed. You know he locked the small door before going away. It’s all right, Buster, so let your dear timid soul rest in peace.”

“Oh, not that I’m afraid,” asserted the other indignantly; “honest, George, I only mentioned the matter as a simple precaution. Jack here might have done the same, given a little more time. You ought to know me better than that, George.”

The boat lay tied up in the basin inside the shed. Back of it was a water gate, which had also been closed and fastened by the owner before departing. Surrounded as they were by all the tools of a boat repairer’s trade, the boys felt as though they were in strange company. Possibly some of these same tools were built along different lines from what they might have found in the same sort of an establishment in the States.