p her bow on to
the Servian shore, but there seemed no reason to fear anything from the
Austrians behind them. Yet suddenly a bullet whistled over their heads,
following the crack of a rifle.

"Never mind that!" said Dick. "They just want us to know that they're
still thinking about us, that's all!"

But the shot had another motive, as they soon guessed. It had been fired
in an interval of silence, when there was no firing from the batteries
at Semlin--to which, incidentally, the Servians had as yet made no reply
from Belgrade--and it was soon apparent that it had been fired to
attract the attention of the monitor. In a moment the searchlight came
winking back, and instinctively, as the great beam of light swept over
them, all crouched lower still in the bottom of the boat. There were
quick wits on the Servian side, for the dragging of the rope stopped at
once, and their motion with it.

For a moment nothing happened.

"Perhaps they won't notice that we've moved," said Steve, hopefully.

But that was a vain hope. More faintly now, they could hear shouting
from the Austrian bank, and then Dick understood as a volley rang out
and a hail of bullets swept over them and pattered into the water near
by.

"They saw that we had disappeared. That's enough to make them
suspicious!" he cried. "Shake that rope! Maybe they'll understand that
we want them to pull again."

But that was unnecessary. The pull on the rope had been resumed, and
they were moving fast again.

Once more the Austrian rifles spoke, and this time half a dozen bullets
pattered against the side of the boat. Some came through, but she was
stoutly built, and these had lost most of their force. But the
searchlight followed them, and now there was a loud roar near by. This
was followed in a moment by a dull explosion that seemed to be within a
few feet of them. The boat rocked violently and a shower of spray
descended, wetting them all.

"Stay down!" cried Steve. "That's a shell from the monitor!"

"Gee! They're anxious enough to get us, aren't they?" exclaimed Dick.
"That was a close call, Steve! But I'll bet it was just a lucky shot!
We're too small a target, and we're moving pretty fast! I don't believe
they will really hit us."

"Too close to be comfortable," agreed Steve. "It feels funny, doesn't
it, being under fire? I never was before."

"And I don't care if I never am again," rejoined Dick. "I'm frightened,
and I don't care who knows it!"

"