“What has happened?” asked Jerry, trying to look through the mist of falling rain, and seeing nothing but a black object, as large as a house, looming up before him.
“Matter!” exclaimed the pilot. “We’ve gone and smashed plumb into Don Alvarzo’s house-boat and done no end of damage. Wait until he makes you fellers pay for it.”
“It wasn’t our fault,” began Jerry. “You were in charge of the ferryboat. We are only passengers. Besides, we couldn’t stop the storm from coming up.”
“Tell that to Don Alvarzo,” sneered the ferryman. “Maybe he’ll believe you. But here he comes himself, and we can see what has happened.”
Several Mexicans bearing lanterns now approached. At their head was a tall, swarthy man, wearing a big cloak picturesquely draped over his shoulders, velvet trousers laced with silver, and a big sombrero.
By the lantern light it could be seen that the ferryboat had jammed head-on against the side of a large house-boat moored on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. So hard had the scow rammed the other craft that the two were held together by a mass of splintered wood, the front of the ferryboat breaking a hole in the side of the house-boat and sticking there. The automobile had nearly gone overboard.
Don Alvarzo began to speak quickly in Spanish, pointing to the damage done.
“I beg your pardon,” said Jerry, taking off his cap and bowing in spite of the rain that was still coming down in torrents. “I beg your pardon, señor, but if you would be so kind as to speak in English we could understand it better.”
“Certainly, my dear young sir,” replied Don Alvarzo, bowing in his turn, determined not to be outdone by an Americano. “I speak English also. But what is this? Diablo! I am taking my meal on my house-boat. I smoke my cigarette, and am thankful that I am not out in the storm. Presto! There comes a crash like unto that the end of the world is nigh! I rise! I run! I fire my revolver, thinking it may be robbers! My Americano manager he calls out! Now, if you please, what is it all about?”
“The storm got the best of the ferryboat,” said Jerry. “My friends and myself, including Professor Uriah Snodgrass, of whom you may have heard, for he is a great scientist——”