Part 22

As the train rattled past the block-houses of the railway guard, placed at every tenth verst along the line, the men stared to see it make such unusual speed; but no doubts troubled their sluggish minds, for they caught sight of the well-known caftan and head-dress of the Cossacks at every window. In their innocent-looking bundles the Chunchuses had carried the uniforms captured with Captain Kargopol's convoy, and they had donned them as soon as the train started.

Though he gave close attention to the engine, and saw that from time to time the furnace and boiler were replenished with fuel and water, Jack was keeping a sharp look-out for a spot at which he could do sufficient damage to the line to check a pursuing train. That he would be pursued he had no doubt; he only wondered how long it would be before news of his escapade reached the nearest point whence a train could be despatched after him. Mile after mile was passed, without his seeing works of any importance. The culverts were small, the water-courses only a few feet broad, until, about twelve miles out, the train approached a stream of some size spanned by a small bridge. At this point a special guard of three riflemen was stationed. The train slowed down, ran a few yards past the bridge, and came to a stand. At a word from Jack a dozen men leapt from the carriages on to the track, and before the astonished guards, deceived by the Cossack uniform, knew what was happening, they were seized, disarmed, and stretched bound upon the embankment.

The bridge was of brick, and consisted of two small arches, the central buttress sunk in the stream, which here ran only a few feet deep. Jack sent three men into the water above and below the bridge, each party armed with a large hand drill. The water was bitterly cold, but the men set to work quickly, both parties simultaneously attacking the buttress near the water-line. Fortunately the brickwork was soft; Jack was glad that his father had not had the contract for it, for then their labours might have been indefinitely prolonged. By a system of relief gangs a fair-sized hole was drilled at each end of the buttress in the course of twenty minutes. Then Wang Shih brought from the saloon two articles from the box he had so carefully carried from the cart. They were dynamite cartridges, part of the spoil of a Russian convoy. One was placed in each aperture, and in a few seconds two muffled explosions sent rumbling reverberations as of distant thunder among the hills. Jack hoped the noise would not be heard at Wu-chi-mi, about six miles off; it could not escape the ears of the guards in the intervening block-houses, and it would probably carry much farther. But the true explanation was not likely to occur to the staff at Wu-chi-mi, who in any case would be quite unable to verify any suspicions they might have.

The result of the explosions was the collapse of the middle portion of the bridge, only the jagged foundations of the central buttress appearing above the water. Followed by his men, Jack ran at once to the train, which had been taken two hundred yards away, out of reach of harm, and started the engine full speed ahead. Although twenty minutes had been spent at the bridge, the rate of progress from Mao-shan had been so much above the average that the lost time might almost be made up before the train arrived at Wu-chi-mi.

The general trend of the line from this point was downhill, and the train tore along at furious speed over the six or seven miles into Wu-chi-mi. Slackening speed slightly during the last mile, it rattled at about forty miles an hour through the station. Jack noticed that the staff was collected on the platform, excited probably by the noise of the explosions, and by the reported fire at Mao-shan. They evidently expected the train to stop. But any hopes they may have formed of authentic information were disappointed. Sounding the whistle, Jack ran the train through the station, and it was soon lost to sight. But he could not afford to take any risks. If the suspicions of the Wu-chi-mi men were aroused, it was certain that they would warn Imien-po, the next station, some twenty miles distant. In that case he would probably be stopped at the points and questioned. About a mile beyond Wu-chi-mi, therefore, he stopped the train and sent half a dozen men to cut the telegraph wire, hoping that the officials at the station behind would be still discussing the unexpected passing of the train instead of instantly sending a message ahead of him.

The bare hills had now given place to wooded slopes, the trees standing gaunt and brown, awaiting the touch of spring. The line crossed several small water-courses and irrigation ditches. Though he grudged the loss of time Jack decided to pull up at one of the smaller culverts and expend his last two dynamite cartridges in completing the work of destruction begun at the bridge beyond Wu-chi-mi. Although the explosions raised a huge cloud of dust the actual damage was not great. But as he was about to start the train, Jack hit upon an idea for supplementing the work done by the cartridges and at the same time lightening the load upon his engine. Quickly uncoupling the third carriage from the rear, he sprang into the cab and threw over the reversing lever, setting the train in motion backwards. When it had gained sufficient momentum, he brought the engine to a stop; the three rear carriages rushed down the incline and dashed with tremendous force into the wreckage. Then, relieved of nearly half its load, the engine again started eastward. The cutting ran parallel with the Ma-en-ho, a wide stream flowing northwards into the Sungari. Glancing at the map of the railway which had been found in the saloon carriage, he saw that within a few miles he would come to a short stretch of line branching off on the right, but apparently leading to no village, and having no station at its end. It seemed probable that it was a light line connected with a mine. At first he thought that the junction would be a good place to lift a few rails. But seeing at a second glance that the station of Imien-po was not far beyond, he dared not run the double risk of another delay. On went the train, then, past the junction, where the single pointsman looked amazed at the speed with which it thundered by. Passing a brief instruction along the train, Jack shut off steam and drew up sharply at the Imien-po station. It was time, he thought, to reassure the railway officials ahead.

On entering the station he noticed that an empty goods train bound west stood on a siding waiting for the passenger train to pass. Obviously he must not leave this intact behind him. Imien-po was a place of some size; for all he knew, it might contain Russian troops sufficient in number to deal with his handful of Chunchuses; and the goods train, being empty, could soon be manned and sent after him in hot pursuit. But what could he do with it? At first sight only two courses seemed open to him: either to take the engine with him, or to destroy some of its working parts. Coupled to his own train, the engine would probably be only an encumbrance, and he had almost decided to adopt the second alternative, when, just as he drew up at the platform, a third course suggested itself. Bidding Wang Shih take half a dozen men and secure the personnel of the goods train, he leapt on to the platform and accosted the station-master.

"You will please give orders to preserve quietness. General Bekovitch, who is in the saloon, is indisposed." The general was in fact lying bound hand and foot on one of the luxurious divans, just able to see Sowinski in a similar plight at the opposite side. "Be so good as to wire down the line to shunt all traffic. We are already late; the train has been shortened to lighten us; and it is imperative that the lost time be made up. The service, you understand. The general"--here he became confidential--"is in charge of the operations against the brigand Ah Lum."

The station-master looked duly interested and impressed, and was about to speak when Jack moved towards the telegraph office, saying:

"Follow me, if you please."

Wondering what this young Cossack officer of the authoritative manner wished to do, the station-master, a burly little man, toddled at Jack's heels. The other officials had watched the short colloquy, and were now approaching the carriages, surprised that none of the train attendants had yet appeared. Meanwhile the station-master had himself ticked off the brief message to the next station. The instant it was complete Jack stepped to the door of the office and held up his hand. A dozen men in Cossack uniform sprang from the nearest carriage.

"Now, sir, you have been very obliging, and I am sorry that you and your clerk must consider yourselves my prisoners."

The station-master stared in stupefaction. Before his slow tongue could find words two of the bandits ran into the room, and while their comrades outside were dealing with the other officials, the poor man and his equally amazed clerk were securely tied up. At the same time Wang Shih and his men, slipping out of the opposite side of the train, had swarmed on to the goods train and surprised the driver and fireman, the only men to be found on it, relieving them of their coats and caps, and tying the men up. The garments were afterwards donned by two of the bandits who rode beside Jack on the engine. Leaving his men to destroy the telegraphic fittings, Jack hurried to the newly-captured engine. He released the brakes, then opened the regulator valve to its full extent. The train began to move westwards; Jack jumped to the ground, and a few seconds brought him to his own train. Glancing down the platform to see that all his men were on board, he started the engine, and it snorted out of the station just as one or two railway officials and the guard of the goods train came running up from an outbuilding where it is to be supposed they had been beguiling the time with vodka.

There was a grim smile on Jack's face as, leaning from the cab, he watched the tail of the empty goods train rapidly dwindling as it raced away on its uncontrolled journey westward. In a few minutes it would crash into the ruins of the bridge and the wreckage of the carriages already cut off from his own train. The resultant block would tax all the ingenuity of the railwaymen to clear away in time to get on Ah Lum's track, if the chief succeeded in reaching the appointed spot at the appointed time.

Jack examined his stock of fuel and the water in the tender tank. There was enough wood to serve for an hour's run, he thought; but he would require to water in half that time at the most. This was a necessity he had foreseen: how to surmount it must perforce be left to the chances of the journey. He could only face each difficulty as it arose. The pressing matter at present was to guard against an attempt to stop him at Pei-su-ho. Two miles from the station he had just left he stopped the train at a bridge. The half-dozen watchmen at this point were easily overpowered, though not before one of Jack's men was wounded; the telegraph wire was cut, and the rifles of the Russians were added to the stock. With those already captured the little party of Chunchuses had now some twenty Mausers and a fair supply of ammunition.

The pause offered another opportunity for bridge destruction, but the supply of dynamite cartridges was exhausted, and after what had been done it was not worth while to expend precious time; there was still ample work to do in providing against a dash of the Russians from the neighbourhood of Ninguta. The train once again started on its adventures, the line still clinging to the valley of the Ma-en-ho; a gradual ascent of some thirty miles, up which the engine snorted furiously, leading to one of the highest points touched by the railway in this district--a spur of the Chang-ling hills some 1200 feet above the sea.

Five minutes after the journey was resumed, Hi Lo, who was on the railed-in space on the right of the engine, drew Jack's attention to a small white puff of smoke in the direction of Imien-po, apparently no more than two or three miles behind, and easily visible from the higher position now attained. Jack started, swung out on the foot-board, and gazed intently down the hill.

"They are after us!" he ejaculated. "But how in the world did they manage it? They can never have got over the wreckage."

He looked long and earnestly. Then he turned to Hi Lo.

"What is it, boy?"

"Tlain, masta, no-fea'," he replied without hesitation.

There was no room for doubt. The Russians were on his track. Springing back into the cab, Jack ordered the man acting as fireman to put more fuel into the furnace, and opened the regulator valve to its full extent. Dense spark-laden smoke poured from the wide funnel; the pistons flew backward and forward; the great locomotive seemed to leap over the line, and Jack wondered whether the roughly-laid track would hold together. But, looking anxiously back, he found in a few moments that the pursuing train had appreciably gained. It must be either lighter or better engined, or had still the advantage of the momentum acquired before it had been discovered.

Danger acted on Jack like a tonic. He instantly grasped the situation and braced himself to cope with the peril. Shouting to Wang Shih to tear up the rails behind the train as soon as it came to a stop, he shut off steam and applied the brakes hard, bringing the engine with a jolt and a screech to a stand-still. Instantly the men told off leapt on to the line; with feverish energy they loosened the fish-plates, forced up with crowbars the spikes holding the rails to the sleepers, and threw the lifted rails over the embankment. Glancing anxiously back along the track Jack, though the pursuing train was as yet invisible, saw its smoke growing larger and larger in volume over the hills. At last the train itself came into view. Jack saw with surprise that the engine was at the other end of it; could the goods train, he wondered, have been stopped in some inexplicable way and started back after him? In two minutes it would be upon him. He waited for one minute; then, seeing that a gap of some fifteen or twenty yards had been made in the track, he summoned his men back to the train and pressed the regulator handle. To his eager impatience it seemed that the engine would never get under way. The wheels slipped on the rails; he had pushed the regulator too far; he drew it back, the wheels held, and, gathering speed every moment, the locomotive raced on once more.

The thunder of the pursuing train was roaring in Jack's ears. It seemed to him, looking back, that the foremost carriage was charging at the gap. He hoped the work of destruction had not been perceived; but in this he was disappointed, for when the rear of his own train was barely two hundred yards from the break, steam was shut off on the engine of the pursuer, and, helped by the rising gradient, it succeeded in coming to a stand-still just as the buffers of the foremost carriage were within half a dozen yards of the gap.

*CHAPTER XXIV*

*Lieutenant Potugin in Pursuit*

From a Hilltop--Mystified--In Full Chase--A Runaway--In Sight--A Railway Duel

"Those Cossacks are taking their time, Akim Akimitch."

"Yes, little father; 'tis to be hoped Ah Lum has not swallowed them."

Lieutenant Potugin smiled.

"Ah Lum has been a bogey to them, truly, ever since Captain Kargopol walked into his trap. But I think we'll run the fox to earth this time. General Bekovitch will soon start the rounding up; and 'tis high time."

A half-company of Siberian infantry, including a few engineers, were seated on the rocks in the hills above the Ma-en-ho, engaged in a meagre luncheon of black bread and vodka. They had arrived early that morning by special troop train, in company with a sotnia of Cossacks, from Harbin. Their errand was to establish a temporary signal-station on a convenient hilltop. The hole for the signal-pole had been dug, not without difficulty, in the hard and frozen soil, and before the completion of the job was taken in hand, Lieutenant Potugin, in command of the working party, was allowing his men a short respite for rest and food. The Cossacks meanwhile were scouting in the hills beyond--a task they were by no means fond of,--and seeking a suitable place for the erection of a corresponding signal some miles distant, whence communication could be established with the height now occupied by the infantry.

Lieutenant Potugin was very popular with his men, largely because he never overworked them and was quite content when on duty to share their humble rations. He was seated now beside the sergeant, in the midst of the circle, munching his bread, and every now and then raising his field-glass to scan the surrounding heights. It was a fine morning; a breath of spring was already in the air, even in these heights; the atmosphere was clear, and the outlines of the country were sharply defined against the unclouded sky.

Over the shoulder of a low hill beneath him he could just see a stretch of the main railway line, some three miles away. The little branch line along which his train had come that morning was out of sight immediately below; but he expected every moment to see the empty train reappear on the main line. It was to return to Harbin; rolling stock was urgently needed on all parts of the system; and when his work was done Lieutenant Potugin was to report himself to General Bekovitch and join that officer's carefully-planned expedition against the Chunchuses. The branch line ended at a disused quarry which had been largely drawn upon when the main railway was under construction; and there was no telegraphic communication between the main line and the terminus of the branch--if, indeed, the latter could be said to have a terminus: it simply left off. The empty troop train would doubtless remain at the junction until it was signalled by trolley-car from Imien-po to proceed.

The sergeant, a famous raconteur, was telling a story, long-winded, not at all humorous, yet received by the men with shouts of laughter. Lieutenant Potugin smiled good-humouredly at the naive amusement of the honest fellows, and once more idly scanned the panorama beneath him. In the far distance he saw a dense line of smoke lying flat in the still air, betokening a train travelling eastward at a high speed. He watched it with languid curiosity as it appeared in the open and vanished into cuttings in the winding valley of the river. It passed the junction, slackening speed, and then, to his surprise, pulled up. Distant though it was, he could distinctly see through his powerful glass a little knot of men hurrying from the train up the line. They disappeared for a time, apparently beneath a culvert. The circumstance awakened Lieutenant Potugin's curiosity; he watched with a certain eagerness for the men to reappear; one or two small groups could be seen against the snow, but a considerable time elapsed before the most of the men joined them and the whole party ran back to the train. Scarcely had they reached it when a cloud of dust rose high into the air above the bridge, and a few seconds later the sound of two dull explosions reached the lieutenant's ear, followed by miniature echoes from the rocks.

The lieutenant sprang up and gazed intently through his glass. The sounds had been heard by the men also; they turned their heads for a moment, but, seeing nothing, resumed their conversation. But Potugin stood as if stupefied. An attempt had been made to wreck the culvert; that was clear. But who were the wreckers? Were they Russians, cutting the railway to check pursuit by the Japanese? Surely the enemy was not already at Harbin? Accustomed as he was in this terrible war to sudden and startling movements, the lieutenant could not believe that the Japanese had made such strides. No, he thought; it was more likely to be a party of Japanese who had captured the train and were engaged on a wrecking foray. Such things had happened south of Moukden; a flying squadron might have evaded the Cossacks and made a daring attack on some inadequately protected train.

The train was moving forward. But what is that? It has stopped again; it is running back towards the stream. The madmen! Are they going to hurl themselves to destruction on the ruins of the culvert? Potugin's gaze is fascinated. Ah! he sees through it now; three carriages have left the rest of the train, which is again at a standstill; they are rushing down the gradient, faster, faster. Good heavens! they have crashed into the culvert, piling themselves one above another, and the sound comes to him like the breaking of some giant's crockery afar.

Then Potugin found his wits. Nothing in the whole course of the war had given the Russians so much anxiety as their railway. Depending on it for the rapid transit of reinforcements and munitions of war, they were constantly in nervous dread of this their sole communication with St. Petersburg being cut by Japanese or Chunchuses. The dreaded thing had happened. Fully realizing the situation, Lieutenant Potugin was prompt to act.

"Fall in!" he shouted.

The men sprang from their seats and were aligned in a twinkling.

"Sergeant, signal the Cossacks that a train is in the hands of the enemy, and going eastward. Men, follow me."

He led the way at a breakneck pace down the hill towards the spot where they had left the empty troop train. Three minutes brought them within sight of the train; at that moment the engine whistled and began to puff along. The officer shouted, waving his hand; the engine-driver saw his urgent gesture, and shut off steam. In another ten minutes sixty breathless men, heated with their headlong scamper, were on board the train; the lieutenant was beside the driver; and the engine was steaming as rapidly as the crazy irregular track permitted towards the main line.

Arrived at the junction, Lieutenant Potugin himself leapt down and switched the points close. The pointsman had apparently been startled by the crash and run off to inform the guardsmen at the nearest block-house. The troop in was just moving forward to cross the points when a tremendous rumbling was heard from the direction of Imien-po, moment by moment increasing. The engine of the troop train was already on the main line. But the lieutenant, standing with his hand on the switch and looking down the track, was horrified at what he saw rapidly approaching.

"Reverse the engine!" he shouted; "for God's sake reverse the engine!"

The driver with frenzied haste threw over his reversing lever and put on more steam; the engine stopped, moved slowly backward; it had reached safety by only a few inches when a goods train came thundering past at furious speed, and disappeared in the direction of the bridge. As it flashed by, Lieutenant Potugin was almost sure that the engine had neither driver nor fireman. Startled though he was by the hair's-breadth escape from destruction, he immediately recovered his presence of mind. Setting the points, he ran to his retreating train, clambered into the cab, and before the driver had pulled himself together the lieutenant seized the lever, reversed the engine, and drove the train on to the main line, then sprang down, unlocked the points, and in two minutes was running the train backward towards Imien-po.