k."

The consul roared with laughter.

"By George!" he said. "I'll back you to make it hot for Hallo!" But then
he grew more serious. "I don't know, though," he went on. "You're in
hard luck, Dick. In ordinary times I think you'd have a good chance. But
these aren't ordinary times. Come here!"

He led the way to the window. From it they could see the broad Danube,
the great, sluggish river that was wending its slow way to the Black
Sea, and the narrower, cleaner Save, directly before them, which flowed
into the bigger stream here and lost its own identity. Across the Save
was a steel bridge, over which a train was now running. And at the other
end of the bridge was a city of white houses, with minarets and spires,
and on top of a high, flat topped hill stood an old, white fortress.

"Look there, above the bridge," he said. "Do you see that monitor?"

"Yes, sir. And there are two more out in the Danube."

"Exactly! Well, at any moment those monitors may begin bombarding
Belgrade, the capital of Servia. I don't know at what moment war will
break out, but I know that it won't be delayed very long."

"It won't be much of a war, will it, sir?" asked Dick. "Servia's too
small to have a chance with Austria-Hungary, I thought."

"Maybe. But you must remember that Servia has just been through two
great wars. She smashed the Turks in her great battles with them, and
then she smashed the Bulgarians, who had beaten the Turks too, and were
supposed to have the most efficient army of its size in all Europe. You
see, the Servian army has been doing a lot of fighting in these last few
years. Every man in it is a veteran, and knows just what war is. A man
like that is worth more than one who has to get used to the idea of a
campaign, and has never been under fire. And--maybe Austria wouldn't
have to fight Servia alone."

Dick stared at him.

"Maybe Russia will help Servia. I think she will. Then all of Europe
will get into the war, sooner or later. If Austria has to fight Russia
on the other side, she won't be able to spare her whole army or anything
like it to fight Servia. And three hundred thousand Servians won't be
beaten by that many Austrians, I can tell you!"

"Well, but I don't see what that's got to do with Hallo, after all, sir.
He's not a soldier, is he?"

"No. He's past the age of military service. But this is what it will
mean, Dick. In time of war ordinary affairs can't be attended to the way
they are in time