“Oh, yes, hurry up and give him the full particulars,” sneered George, looking daggers at his companion.
“Why, you see, George here tried some of his German on a gendarme we happened to meet,” explained Josh between gurgles. “Say, you ought to have seen how surprised that cop looked. I’m afraid George got his nouns twisted and called him some sort of bad name. Anyhow, he was for taking us to the lock-up; but I managed to soothe him down some by showing him my letters with the American postmarks on them, and letting a silver coin slip into his hand. But he shook his head and looked as if he could eat poor George. All the way back George has been racking his brain trying to understand what it was he really called that uniformed gendarme. I rather think it stood for pig.”
“Well, let that rest, will you, Josh?” growled George. “What I’m most interested in just now is pig of another kind, for I see Buster has fried some bacon for us. Mistakes will happen in the best regulated families, they say, and I own up I’m afraid I did get my nouns slightly mixed.”
“Slightly!” echoed Josh, with a shrug of his shoulders. “Well, if the boys could only have seen how that big cop scowled at you they’d have had a fit.”
As Josh was also hungry, he wasted no more time in explanations, and so the incident was forgotten for the present. Later on it would doubtless give Josh occasion for considerable additional merriment and be the cause for more or less acrimonious conversation between the pair.
While they were eating Jack proceeded to settle with the owner of the boatyard for the accommodations, for a bargain had been struck with him. People over in old Europe are not apt to do things without a consideration, especially when tourists are concerned.
By the time George and Josh had finished their morning meal everything was in order for making a start.
“It’s pretty tough to be running away like this without having a chance to see what sort of movies they have over here in Budapest,” complained George, who was known to be a steady attendant at the little theatre in his home town, where all manner of dramas, as well as world-wide views, were nightly screened.
“So far as that goes,” Josh told him, “they’re pretty much all alike here and at home. Chances are you’d see some cowboy pictures of the wild and woolly West; for they do say those are the ones they like best abroad. They know all about Buffalo Bill over here. You know we saw an Austrian edition of some highly colored story about his imaginary exploits hanging up when we passed that book stall.”
Working the boat free from all entanglements, they were soon afloat once more on the river. The motor had started working as though it meant to do good service. Jack himself as a rule took charge of the machinery, not but that George knew all about such things, but he had a decided failing, which was to “monkey” with things even when they were running satisfactorily, and thus bring about sudden stoppages through his experiments.