Never in all their lives had they seen such wonderful cleanliness. The women and children with their queer head-dresses, and snow-white garments were a never ceasing source of wonder to the boys, especially Bumpus, who often chuckled when he pointed out roly-poly boys who put even his own generous proportions into the shade, so to speak.
“This is the land where you really belong, Bumpus,” Giraffe told him; “here you could pass unnoticed, if only you dressed like these other boys do. Just imagine our Bumpus with a pair of those wide trousers on, and wooden shoes to finish him off, would you? I’ve got half a mind to buy an outfit for you, Bumpus, while we have the chance. You’d make a great hit with the pretty girls of Cranford when you came out and set the style for the rest of the fellows.”
“Squander your money if you feel like it, Giraffe,” Bumpus good-naturedly told him; “but getting me to wear such a clown outfit will be another thing. One boy c’n lead a horse to water, but the whole Cranford Troop can’t make him drink against his will, remember.”
They had a peaceful night of it, although at first they feared the many noises welling up from the water front where the shipping was so dense would annoy them. It must have been they were all pretty tired, and that of late they had failed to enjoy their customary sound sleep, for to tell the truth none of them seemed to know a thing from the time they retired until Thad, arousing, found it was already broad daylight.
Immediately after breakfast they started out. Bumpus was becoming distressed once more on account of his not having heard from his mother for such a long time. He was exceedingly fond of her, and felt sure she must be enduring great mental agony on account of the uncertainty concerning her boy, marooned up in the Rhine country by this sudden breaking out of the great war.
At first they did not meet with any luck. Vessels were starting out that day, a number of them, but for America and England. Those destined to cross the Atlantic had every stateroom engaged, for thousands of sight-seers had already taken the alarm, and were flocking to the Dutch ports to get passage home.
It was about the middle of the morning when Thad struck a clue which seemed to give more or less hope. Eagerly following the trail they finally learned that a small steamer expected to leave Rotterdam for Antwerp an hour after noon that same day. There might not be another for forty-eight hours, and so it became necessary for the scouts to immediately engage passage, and then hurry back to settle their score at the hotel, as well as carry their personal belongings aboard.
Being something of hustlers they managed to accomplish all this in record time, having learned that they could get dinner on board the boat.
And once comfortably settled they could await the sailing of the boat with a conviction that their troubles were in all probability over.
“Just to think,” said Giraffe, after they had started down the river to the sea, lying some twenty miles or so away, “if we could have continued our voyage in that little boat of ours through the rest of Germany and then into Holland we’d have brought up here, sooner or later.”