[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.