*CHAPTER XXIV*
*Lieutenant Potugin in Pursuit*
From a Hilltop--Mystified--In Full Chase--A Runaway--In Sight--A RailwayDuel
"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 Kargopolwalked 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, wereseated on the rocks in the hills above the Ma-en-ho, engaged in a meagreluncheon of black bread and vodka. They had arrived early that morningby special troop train, in company with a sotnia of Cossacks, fromHarbin. Their errand was to establish a temporary signal-station on aconvenient hilltop. The hole for the signal-pole had been dug, notwithout difficulty, in the hard and frozen soil, and before thecompletion of the job was taken in hand, Lieutenant Potugin, in commandof the working party, was allowing his men a short respite for rest andfood. The Cossacks meanwhile were scouting in the hills beyond--a taskthey were by no means fond of,--and seeking a suitable place for theerection of a corresponding signal some miles distant, whencecommunication could be established with the height now occupied by theinfantry.
Lieutenant Potugin was very popular with his men, largely because henever overworked them and was quite content when on duty to share theirhumble rations. He was seated now beside the sergeant, in the midst ofthe circle, munching his bread, and every now and then raising hisfield-glass to scan the surrounding heights. It was a fine morning; abreath of spring was already in the air, even in these heights; theatmosphere was clear, and the outlines of the country were sharplydefined against the unclouded sky.
Over the shoulder of a low hill beneath him he could just see a stretchof the main railway line, some three miles away. The little branch linealong which his train had come that morning was out of sight immediatelybelow; but he expected every moment to see the empty train reappear onthe main line. It was to return to Harbin; rolling stock was urgentlyneeded on all parts of the system; and when his work was done LieutenantPotugin was to report himself to General Bekovitch and join thatofficer's carefully-planned expedition against the Chunchuses. Thebranch line ended at a disused quarry which had been largely drawn uponwhen the main railway was under construction; and there was notelegraphic communication between the main line and the terminus of thebranch--if, indeed, the latter could be said to have a terminus: itsimply left off. The empty troop train would doubtless remain at thejunction until it was signalled by trolley-car from Imien-po to proceed.
The sergeant, a famous raconteur, was telling a story, long-winded, notat all humorous, yet received by the men with shouts of laughter.Lieutenant Potugin smiled good-humouredly at the naive amusement of thehonest fellows, and once more idly scanned the panorama beneath him. Inthe far distance he saw a dense line of smoke lying flat in the stillair, betokening a train travelling eastward at a high speed. He watchedit with languid curiosity as it appeared in the open and vanished intocuttings in the winding valley of the river. It passed the junction,slackening speed, and then, to his surprise, pulled up. Distant thoughit was, he could distinctly see through his powerful glass a little knotof men hurrying from the train up the line. They disappeared for atime, apparently beneath a culvert. The circumstance awakenedLieutenant Potugin's curiosity; he watched with a certain eagerness forthe men to reappear; one or two small groups could be seen against thesnow, but a considerable time elapsed before the most of the men joinedthem and the whole party ran back to the train. Scarcely had theyreached 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 thelieutenant's ear, followed by miniature echoes from the rocks.
The lieutenant sprang up and gazed intently through his glass. Thesounds had been heard by the men also; they turned their heads for amoment, but, seeing nothing, resumed their conversation. But Potuginstood as if stupefied. An attempt had been made to wreck the culvert;that was clear. But who were the wreckers? Were they Russians, cuttingthe railway to check pursuit by the Japanese? Surely the enemy was notalready at Harbin? Accustomed as he was in this terrible war to suddenand startling movements, the lieutenant could not believe that theJapanese had made such strides. No, he thought; it was more likely tobe a party of Japanese who had captured the train and were engaged on awrecking foray. Such things had happened south of Moukden; a flyingsquadron might have evaded the Cossacks and made a daring attack on someinadequately 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 tohurl themselves to destruction on the ruins of the culvert? Potugin'sgaze is fascinated. Ah! he sees through it now; three carriages haveleft the rest of the train, which is again at a standstill; they arerushing down the gradient, faster, faster. Good heavens! they havecrashed into the culvert, piling themselves one above another, and thesound 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 hadgiven the Russians so much anxiety as their railway. Depending on itfor the rapid transit of reinforcements and munitions of war, they wereconstantly in nervous dread of this their sole communication with St.Petersburg being cut by Japanese or Chunchuses. The dreaded thing hadhappened. Fully realizing the situation, Lieutenant Potugin was promptto 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 theenemy, and going eastward. Men, follow me."
He led the way at a breakneck pace down the hill towards the spot wherethey had left the empty troop train. Three minutes brought them withinsight of the train; at that moment the engine whistled and began to puffalong. The officer shouted, waving his hand; the engine-driver saw hisurgent gesture, and shut off steam. In another ten minutes sixtybreathless men, heated with their headlong scamper, were on board thetrain; the lieutenant was beside the driver; and the engine was steamingas rapidly as the crazy irregular track permitted towards the main line.
Arrived at the junction, Lieutenant Potugin himself leapt down andswitched the points close. The pointsman had apparently been startledby the crash and run off to inform the guardsmen at the nearestblock-house. The troop in was just moving forward to cross the pointswhen a tremendous rumbling was heard from the direction of Imien-po,moment by moment increasing. The engine of the troop train was alreadyon the main line. But the lieutenant, standing with his hand on theswitch and looking down the track, was horrified at what he saw rapidlyapproaching.
"Reverse the engine!" he shouted; "for God's sake reverse the engine!"
The driver with frenzied haste threw over his reversing lever and put onmore steam; the engine stopped, moved slowly backward; it had reachedsafety by only a few inches when a goods train came thundering past atfurious speed, and disappeared in the direction of the bridge. As itflashed by, Lieutenant Potugin was almost sure that the engine hadneither driver nor fireman. Startled though he was by thehair's-breadth escape from destruction, he immediately recovered hispresence of mind. Setting the points, he ran to his retreating train,clambered into the cab, and before the driver had pulled himselftogether the lieutenant seized the lever, reversed the engine, and drovethe train on to the main line, then sprang down, unlocked the points,and in two minutes was running the train backward towards Imien-po.
The engine was a powerful Baldwin; the train though long was nearlyempty; it gathered way, and with the regulator fully open had soonattained a high speed. But the engine was at the wrong end; it wasdifficult to see ahead. The lieutenant was now outside the engine,hanging on to the rail, and bend
ing outwards in order to get a clearview down the line. Half-way to Imien-po he caught sight of a trolleyapproaching. He called to the driver to shut off steam and apply thebrakes. The man working the trolley stopped the moment he caught sightof the train, and seemed in doubt whether to go back or to remain. Thetrain had almost come to rest; the officer bellowed a few words to thetrolley-man; he sprang to the ground, promptly tipped the trolley offthe track and over the embankment, and, running to the engine, climbedup beside Potugin, the train still moving. Again the brakes werereleased and the regulator opened, and as the train forged ahead thetrolley-man explained in a few words to the lieutenant what hadoccurred.
At Imien-po a few minutes' stop was made while appliances for repairingthe line were hastily brought on board and a number of skilledplatelayers taken up. The opportunity was taken to shunt several of thecarriages on to a siding. The engine could not be transferred to thefront of the train without a serious waste of time, and every second wasprecious. A fresh start was made; greatly lightened, the train madefine running for some miles. Then the lieutenant, using his glass, sawthe smoke of a train about five miles down the line. As he watched it,the smoke ceased; the train must have stopped, for the gradient wasrising. A few minutes more and the runaway came in sight. But thefireman, stooping from his side of the engine, observed with his trainedeyes that a portion of the track had been torn up, and steam was shutoff and the brakes applied only just in time to avert a disaster.Jumping from the train, half a dozen platelayers hurried with theirtools behind the engine, and, spurred by the voice of the officer andhelped by his men, in an incredibly short space of time they hadwrenched up some rails from the track already covered, and bridged thegap at the other end.
Slowly and carefully the train was run over the shaky metals onlyhalf-secured to the sleepers. When the danger point was passed, thedriver opened the valve and the engine pushed along at full speed. Itwas to be a trial, not only of speed between the two magnificentengines, but of wits between the two leaders: between the ingenuity ofthe pursued in obstructing the progress of the pursuer, and of thepursuer in overcoming the obstacles raised by the pursued. It was more;it was a competition in daring and the readiness to take risks. Thetrack was hilly, winding, roughly laid; not intended for, whollyunsuited to, great speed; with steep gradients and sharp curves neverrounded by the regular drivers of the line but with caution. Over thistrack the two trains were leaping at a pace unknown on the Siberianrailway--a pace that would have turned the chief engineer's hair whitewith dismay. On the one train Jack Brown, on the other LieutenantPotugin, had to think out their decisions, or rather to flash themunthought, clinging to the outer rail of a rattling, swaying, jolting,throbbing engine threatening at any moment to jump the rails, with thenoise of escaping steam, the roaring of the furnace heaped to the mouthwith fuel, the whistle constantly sounding to warn off any obstructionahead, small though the chances were that the signal, if needed, couldbe heard and acted on in time. Accident apart, the race would be to thecoolest head and the quickest wit. On the one side the stake was lifeor death. Into whose hand would fortune give it?