*CHAPTER XXIII*
*From Mao-shan to Imien-po*
Wrecking a Bridge--Through Wu-chi-mi--More Dynamite--AtImien-po--Clearing the Line--Pelion upon Ossa--A Puff of Smoke--TwoMinutes' Grace
Jack felt an extraordinary sense of exhilaration as the train, gatheringspeed, rolled eastward over the single track towards Wu-chi-mi. Thecountry was hilly. The line at this point is some 900 feet abovesea-level, but although there are steep gradients the main altitude fora considerable distance varies little. Jack was satisfied at first witha speed of about thirty miles an hour--a speed indeed rarely exceeded onthe railway--for the curves are at times very sharp, and not knowing theline he felt that there was some risk of running the train off themetals. More than once, keeping a sharp look-out, he had to shut offsteam and apply the brakes at a particularly ugly corner. Hishobnobbing with railwaymen during the construction of the line was nowbearing fruit; and he remembered with a curious pleasure, even while hekept his hand on the regulator handle and his eye on the gauges, asaying of his father's: "Never lose a chance of picking up odd bits ofinformation: you never know when they may come in handy". He had notactually driven a locomotive before, but he had often ridden in the cab,and watched the driver, so that he felt no nervousness at having theAlexander the Second under his control.
As the train rattled past the block-houses of the railway guard, placedat every tenth verst along the line, the men stared to see it make suchunusual speed; but no doubts troubled their sluggish minds, for theycaught sight of the well-known caftan and head-dress of the Cossacks atevery window. In their innocent-looking bundles the Chunchuses hadcarried the uniforms captured with Captain Kargopol's convoy, and theyhad donned them as soon as the train started.
Though he gave close attention to the engine, and saw that from time totime the furnace and boiler were replenished with fuel and water, Jackwas keeping a sharp look-out for a spot at which he could do sufficientdamage to the line to check a pursuing train. That he would be pursuedhe had no doubt; he only wondered how long it would be before news ofhis escapade reached the nearest point whence a train could bedespatched after him. Mile after mile was passed, without his seeingworks of any importance. The culverts were small, the water-coursesonly a few feet broad, until, about twelve miles out, the trainapproached a stream of some size spanned by a small bridge. At thispoint a special guard of three riflemen was stationed. The train sloweddown, ran a few yards past the bridge, and came to a stand. At a wordfrom Jack a dozen men leapt from the carriages on to the track, andbefore the astonished guards, deceived by the Cossack uniform, knew whatwas happening, they were seized, disarmed, and stretched bound upon theembankment.
The bridge was of brick, and consisted of two small arches, the centralbuttress sunk in the stream, which here ran only a few feet deep. Jacksent three men into the water above and below the bridge, each partyarmed with a large hand drill. The water was bitterly cold, but the menset to work quickly, both parties simultaneously attacking the buttressnear the water-line. Fortunately the brickwork was soft; Jack was gladthat his father had not had the contract for it, for then their laboursmight have been indefinitely prolonged. By a system of relief gangs afair-sized hole was drilled at each end of the buttress in the course oftwenty minutes. Then Wang Shih brought from the saloon two articlesfrom the box he had so carefully carried from the cart. They weredynamite cartridges, part of the spoil of a Russian convoy. One wasplaced in each aperture, and in a few seconds two muffled explosionssent rumbling reverberations as of distant thunder among the hills.Jack hoped the noise would not be heard at Wu-chi-mi, about six milesoff; it could not escape the ears of the guards in the interveningblock-houses, and it would probably carry much farther. But the trueexplanation was not likely to occur to the staff at Wu-chi-mi, who inany case would be quite unable to verify any suspicions they might have.
The result of the explosions was the collapse of the middle portion ofthe bridge, only the jagged foundations of the central buttressappearing above the water. Followed by his men, Jack ran at once to thetrain, which had been taken two hundred yards away, out of reach ofharm, and started the engine full speed ahead. Although twenty minuteshad been spent at the bridge, the rate of progress from Mao-shan hadbeen so much above the average that the lost time might almost be madeup before the train arrived at Wu-chi-mi.
The general trend of the line from this point was downhill, and thetrain tore along at furious speed over the six or seven miles intoWu-chi-mi. Slackening speed slightly during the last mile, it rattledat about forty miles an hour through the station. Jack noticed that thestaff was collected on the platform, excited probably by the noise ofthe explosions, and by the reported fire at Mao-shan. They evidentlyexpected the train to stop. But any hopes they may have formed ofauthentic information were disappointed. Sounding the whistle, Jack ranthe train through the station, and it was soon lost to sight. But hecould not afford to take any risks. If the suspicions of the Wu-chi-mimen were aroused, it was certain that they would warn Imien-po, the nextstation, some twenty miles distant. In that case he would probably bestopped 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 thetelegraph wire, hoping that the officials at the station behind would bestill discussing the unexpected passing of the train instead ofinstantly sending a message ahead of him.
The bare hills had now given place to wooded slopes, the trees standinggaunt and brown, awaiting the touch of spring. The line crossed severalsmall water-courses and irrigation ditches. Though he grudged the lossof time Jack decided to pull up at one of the smaller culverts andexpend his last two dynamite cartridges in completing the work ofdestruction begun at the bridge beyond Wu-chi-mi. Although theexplosions 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 forsupplementing the work done by the cartridges and at the same timelightening the load upon his engine. Quickly uncoupling the thirdcarriage from the rear, he sprang into the cab and threw over thereversing lever, setting the train in motion backwards. When it hadgained sufficient momentum, he brought the engine to a stop; the threerear carriages rushed down the incline and dashed with tremendous forceinto the wreckage. Then, relieved of nearly half its load, the engineagain started eastward. The cutting ran parallel with the Ma-en-ho, awide stream flowing northwards into the Sungari. Glancing at the map ofthe railway which had been found in the saloon carriage, he saw thatwithin a few miles he would come to a short stretch of line branchingoff on the right, but apparently leading to no village, and having nostation at its end. It seemed probable that it was a light lineconnected with a mine. At first he thought that the junction would be agood place to lift a few rails. But seeing at a second glance that thestation of Imien-po was not far beyond, he dared not run the double riskof another delay. On went the train, then, past the junction, where thesingle pointsman looked amazed at the speed with which it thundered by.Passing a brief instruction along the train, Jack shut off steam anddrew up sharply at the Imien-po station. It was time, he thought, toreassure the railway officials ahead.
On entering the station he noticed that an empty goods train bound weststood on a siding waiting for the passenger train to pass. Obviously hemust not leave this intact behind him. Imien-po was a place of somesize; for all he knew, it might contain Russian troops sufficient innumber 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 seemedopen to him: either to take the engine with him, or to destroy some ofits working parts. Coupled to his own train, the engine would probablybe only an encumbrance, and he had almost decided to adopt the secondalternative, when, just as he drew up at the platform, a third coursesuggested itself. Bidding Wang Shih take half a dozen men and securethe personnel of the goods train, he leapt on to the
platform andaccosted 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 lyingbound hand and foot on one of the luxurious divans, just able to seeSowinski in a similar plight at the opposite side. "Be so good as towire down the line to shunt all traffic. We are already late; the trainhas been shortened to lighten us; and it is imperative that the losttime be made up. The service, you understand. The general"--here hebecame confidential--"is in charge of the operations against the brigandAh Lum."
The station-master looked duly interested and impressed, and was aboutto speak when Jack moved towards the telegraph office, saying:
"Follow me, if you please."
Wondering what this young Cossack officer of the authoritative mannerwished to do, the station-master, a burly little man, toddled at Jack'sheels. The other officials had watched the short colloquy, and were nowapproaching the carriages, surprised that none of the train attendantshad yet appeared. Meanwhile the station-master had himself ticked offthe brief message to the next station. The instant it was complete Jackstepped to the door of the office and held up his hand. A dozen men inCossack uniform sprang from the nearest carriage.
"Now, sir, you have been very obliging, and I am sorry that you and yourclerk must consider yourselves my prisoners."
The station-master stared in stupefaction. Before his slow tongue couldfind words two of the bandits ran into the room, and while theircomrades outside were dealing with the other officials, the poor man andhis equally amazed clerk were securely tied up. At the same time WangShih and his men, slipping out of the opposite side of the train, hadswarmed on to the goods train and surprised the driver and fireman, theonly men to be found on it, relieving them of their coats and caps, andtying the men up. The garments were afterwards donned by two of thebandits who rode beside Jack on the engine. Leaving his men to destroythe telegraphic fittings, Jack hurried to the newly-captured engine. Hereleased the brakes, then opened the regulator valve to its full extent.The train began to move westwards; Jack jumped to the ground, and a fewseconds brought him to his own train. Glancing down the platform to seethat all his men were on board, he started the engine, and it snortedout of the station just as one or two railway officials and the guard ofthe goods train came running up from an outbuilding where it is to besupposed they had been beguiling the time with vodka.
There was a grim smile on Jack's face as, leaning from the cab, hewatched the tail of the empty goods train rapidly dwindling as it racedaway on its uncontrolled journey westward. In a few minutes it wouldcrash into the ruins of the bridge and the wreckage of the carriagesalready cut off from his own train. The resultant block would tax allthe ingenuity of the railwaymen to clear away in time to get on Ah Lum'strack, if the chief succeeded in reaching the appointed spot at theappointed time.
Jack examined his stock of fuel and the water in the tender tank. Therewas enough wood to serve for an hour's run, he thought; but he wouldrequire to water in half that time at the most. This was a necessity hehad foreseen: how to surmount it must perforce be left to the chances ofthe journey. He could only face each difficulty as it arose. Thepressing matter at present was to guard against an attempt to stop himat Pei-su-ho. Two miles from the station he had just left he stoppedthe train at a bridge. The half-dozen watchmen at this point wereeasily overpowered, though not before one of Jack's men was wounded; thetelegraph wire was cut, and the rifles of the Russians were added to thestock. With those already captured the little party of Chunchuses hadnow some twenty Mausers and a fair supply of ammunition.
The pause offered another opportunity for bridge destruction, but thesupply of dynamite cartridges was exhausted, and after what had beendone it was not worth while to expend precious time; there was stillample work to do in providing against a dash of the Russians from theneighbourhood of Ninguta. The train once again started on itsadventures, the line still clinging to the valley of the Ma-en-ho; agradual ascent of some thirty miles, up which the engine snortedfuriously, leading to one of the highest points touched by the railwayin this district--a spur of the Chang-ling hills some 1200 feet abovethe sea.
Five minutes after the journey was resumed, Hi Lo, who was on therailed-in space on the right of the engine, drew Jack's attention to asmall white puff of smoke in the direction of Imien-po, apparently nomore than two or three miles behind, and easily visible from the higherposition now attained. Jack started, swung out on the foot-board, andgazed intently down the hill.
"They are after us!" he ejaculated. "But how in the world did theymanage 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. Springingback into the cab, Jack ordered the man acting as fireman to put morefuel into the furnace, and opened the regulator valve to its fullextent. Dense spark-laden smoke poured from the wide funnel; thepistons flew backward and forward; the great locomotive seemed to leapover the line, and Jack wondered whether the roughly-laid track wouldhold together. But, looking anxiously back, he found in a few momentsthat the pursuing train had appreciably gained. It must be eitherlighter or better engined, or had still the advantage of the momentumacquired before it had been discovered.
Danger acted on Jack like a tonic. He instantly grasped the situationand braced himself to cope with the peril. Shouting to Wang Shih to tearup the rails behind the train as soon as it came to a stop, he shut offsteam and applied the brakes hard, bringing the engine with a jolt and ascreech to a stand-still. Instantly the men told off leapt on to theline; with feverish energy they loosened the fish-plates, forced up withcrowbars the spikes holding the rails to the sleepers, and threw thelifted rails over the embankment. Glancing anxiously back along thetrack Jack, though the pursuing train was as yet invisible, saw itssmoke growing larger and larger in volume over the hills. At last thetrain itself came into view. Jack saw with surprise that the engine wasat the other end of it; could the goods train, he wondered, have beenstopped in some inexplicable way and started back after him? In twominutes it would be upon him. He waited for one minute; then, seeingthat 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 underway. The wheels slipped on the rails; he had pushed the regulator toofar; he drew it back, the wheels held, and, gathering speed everymoment, the locomotive raced on once more.
The thunder of the pursuing train was roaring in Jack's ears. It seemedto him, looking back, that the foremost carriage was charging at thegap. He hoped the work of destruction had not been perceived; but inthis he was disappointed, for when the rear of his own train was barelytwo hundred yards from the break, steam was shut off on the engine ofthe pursuer, and, helped by the rising gradient, it succeeded in comingto a stand-still just as the buffers of the foremost carriage werewithin half a dozen yards of the gap.