*CHAPTER XXV*
*The Pressure-Gauge*
Timber on the Track--Fuel and Water--The Station House--A Trap--Neck orNothing--Screwing down the Valve--A Slip Carriage--Nearing theEnd--Kao-ling-tzue--Indiscreet Zeal--A Lady Passenger--Traffic Suspended
Jack glanced anxiously back along the line; his engine was jolting,bumping, up the incline at the rate of forty miles an hour; steam wasescaping from the safety-valves; the gauge registered over 10atmospheres, considerably above working pressure; yet to his impatienceit seemed to be moving with exasperating slowness. Dust was whirlingbehind; through the cloud, five minutes after he started, he saw a puffof steam in the distance; the pursuing train was again under way.Turning to see if he could put on more steam, he was dismayed to findthat the water was just disappearing in the gauge glass. In a fewminutes--he could not tell how few--the water would be below the levelof his fire-box crown, the fusible plug would drop, and the fire wouldbe put out by the escaping steam. This was ominous indeed.
There were, he saw, two conditions in his favour: he had a start ofnearly five minutes; and he could choose his own place to obstruct thepursuer. But the other conditions were all against him. He must needsstop for water, and at the present rate of consumption for fuel also;and whenever he passed a station it would be necessary to cut thetelegraph wires. Moreover, on board the pursuing train there must bemen skilled in repairing the line, or the chase could not have beenresumed so promptly; and Jack could not expect to do more damage in agiven time than could be remedied by expert hands in the same period.Worst of all, the pursuing engine was evidently more powerful than his;and though it was somewhat handicapped by its position at the wrong endof the train, yet an experienced driver can always get more work out ofhis engine than a tyro,--and Jack was making his trial trip!
He cudgelled his brains for some means of checking the pursuit withoutbringing his own train to a stand-still. He wished that he had thoughtto instruct his men when tearing up the rails to lift some of thesleepers into the train; these placed on the line would prove seriousobstacles. It was too late to repine; he made up his mind not to losethe chance if it should occur again. While his thoughts were still onthe matter, his eye caught the balks of timber used for fuel on thispart of the line. The stock in the tender was much diminished; morefuel must soon be obtained; but surely one or two might be spared forthe experiment. Without delay he sent Hi Lo to the back of the tenderwith an order to Wang Shih to carry two of the balks through the trainand to drop them on the line from the communication door at the rear ofthe last carriage. In a few moments the command was carried out, butWang Shih reported that owing to the high speed he had found itdifficult to see what happened to the logs when they reached the ground.One, he thought, had remained on the inside rail; the other appeared tojump off. Narrowly watching the riband of steam from the pursuingtrain, Jack believed he detected a momentary diminution about the timewhen it should have reached the spot where the logs had been thrown out;but if there was a delay it was very brief, and a few minutes later thetail of the advancing train came into full view, the growing size of thecarriage-end showing that it was making up on him.
Looking ahead with greater anxiety, Jack saw a station within a mile.This must be Pei-su-ho. He had already decided that to stop there wouldbe absolutely necessary, and in a short colloquy with Wang Shih when hereturned from throwing the logs on the track he had arranged what shouldbe done. Immediately on the stoppage of the train twelve men were toengage the station staff and destroy the telegraphic instruments; tenwere to tear up the rails behind the train, and, if possible, bring somesleepers on board; four were to cut the telegraph wire, and twenty toload wood from the station stock on to the nearest carriage. In themeanwhile he himself, with the assistance of the man acting as firemanand others riding on the engine, would take in a supply of water fromthe tank.
The train rattled into the station. In his anxiety Jack found that hehad shut off steam too late; the engine ran some yards beyond thewater-tower. As he had already found at Imien-po, it was not easy tothe amateur to bring a train to a stand-still at a given spot. Butalthough the greater part of the train had run beyond the platform, theChunchuses, who were standing ready with the doors open, swungthemselves out, and before the gaping officials were aware of what washappening they were disarmed and helpless. Not for the first time hadJack reason to be glad that his men were the pick of Ah Lum's band, anda standing proof of the efficacy of discipline with the Chinese.
While Jack was backing the engine to the tank the work of ripping up thetrack and demolishing the wire had already been begun, and a string ofmen were hauling timber into the nearest carriage. But before thesupply of water was fully replenished Jack had to blow his whistle torecall the various parties; the pursuer was drawing perilously near.The train moved off before all the men were in their places; the last ofthem running along the platform and being helped in by his comrades. Upcame the second train; again it had to halt before the gap, and thedriver, being at the other end, was compelled for safety's sake toreduce speed earlier than he would have done had he been able to judgethe distance more exactly. But this time the gap was shorter; the timerequired to restore the line would be correspondingly less. Yet Jackhad gained one advantage; knowing that the enemy's water supply, likehis own, must have run low, he had brought the station hose away withhim, and he looked at it with grim satisfaction, lying coiled at therear of the tender.
As Jack's engine, Alexander the Second, gained impetus and charged upthe gradient towards the hills looming in the distance, it was followedby a dropping fire from the pursuing train: some of Lieutenant Potugin'smen had climbed to the roof of the stationary carriages. Whether any ofthe bullets struck the train was doubtful; no harm was done; and in theexcitement of the moment the idea of firing rifles seemed almost aschildish as shooting at the moon. Nothing less than a siege-gun wouldhave appeared formidable in the circumstances.
The brigands' last cutting of the line and the removal of the hose hadevidently gained several minutes for the fugitive, for many miles hadbeen covered before the smoke of the pursuer was again seen. With soconsiderable a start Jack felt it safe to pull up once more and try adevice that had occurred to him. His engine was at the summit of a longdescent where the line curved. Hitherto his track-breakers had forcedup both the rails, but the curve was here so sharp that he thought hemight save time by having only one rail lifted, hoping that the partialgap might not be seen by the enemy until it was too late to do more thancheck the train, which would in all probability be derailed. Analternative plan suggested itself, only to be dismissed. It was toremove the rail, and then replace it without the bolts. The pursuerwould then rush on at full speed expecting no danger; the train would behurled from the track, and probably all on board would be killed orinjured. But even in the heat of the moment, and with the knowledgethat if he were caught he could expect no mercy from the Russians, Jackcould not bring himself to compass such wholesale destruction. "Playthe game": the phrase of the school song stuck to him. His purposewould be amply served by the mere derailment of the train, the speed ofwhich would no doubt be sufficiently checked, when the gap was descried,to avert fatal consequences.
So confident was he of the success of his scheme that when, after thesingle rail was removed and flung over the embankment, he again crowdedon steam, his mind was occupied rather with the question of what shouldbe done at the next station than with the prospect of furtherdifficulties with his dogged pursuer. He was now approaching the placein the hills to which Ah Lum was to advance by forced marches, andwhence he was to be prepared to dash across the line on receiving amessage that the scheme had succeeded. Jack had already selected hismessenger; the man was clinging to the rail of the engine, and onlyawaited the word to spring during a temporary slackening of speed andplunge into the hills.
The chosen spot lay between Pei-su-ho and Kao-ling-tzue, and had beenminutel
y described by Ah Lum. Jack was glad that his anxieties appearedto be over, for the country flashed by so rapidly that he ran the riskof over-shooting the mark unless he could keep a good look-out. He wasnarrowly watching for the opening on his right when Hi Lo suddenly drewhis attention westward. With greater alarm than he had yet felt, evenwhen he first caught sight of the pursuer, he saw, scarcely a mile and ahalf behind him, the relentless enemy leaping along in his wake. He washalf-way up a steep incline; the second train was rushing with whollyreckless speed down a steep straight gradient on which Jack, no longerfearing pursuit, had thought it desirable to clap on the brakes. Allnotion of going cautiously must now be abandoned. Amazed at the failureof his last effort to delay the pursuer, Jack set his men with desperateenergy to pile up the furnace to its utmost capacity; and when he toppedthe hill, and the enemy was just beginning the ascent, he let the enginego at its own pace down the opposite side. He and his men had to holdon with both hands as they rounded another sharp curve; the wheels onthe inside seemed to be raised from the track, the train keeping therails only by the grip of the outside wheels. Jack held his breath asthe panting engine plunged along; would it come safely on to thestraight? Even in the excitement of the moment he solved as in a flashthe mystery of the pursuers' escape from derailment, and he could havebeaten his head for his thoughtlessness. The rail that had been liftedwas an inside rail; rounding a curve the weight of a train going atspeed is always thrown on the outer rail, which is raised above thelevel of the other. Either designedly or by accident the pursuing trainhad passed at full speed over the gap, its very speed proving itssalvation.
Although there were many ups and downs, the general trend of the linewas still chiefly on the up grade, and Jack found that while the enemymade as good timing as himself down the slopes, their more powerfulengine gained rapidly wherever the track began to rise. As mile aftermile was passed, the huts of the line guards at intervals of ten verstsseeming like the milestones on an ordinary journey, the space betweenthe two trains steadily diminished. Every now and again the pursuer waslost to view; but whenever it next came in sight it was alwaysperceptibly nearer. The noble Alexander the Second rattled and groanedlike a creature in pain; the working parts were smoking; some of thebearings were melting, and Jack dared not risk the perils of oiling. Heknew that he was getting out of it every ounce of which it was capable,unless indeed he adopted the desperate expedient of screwing down thesafety-valve, from which a dense cloud of steam was escaping. Heglanced at the gauge--13 atmospheres; then his eye went backwards alongthe track--the pursuer was still gaining; he turned to look ahead, therewas a long steep ascent to be climbed. The pace lessened to an alarmingextent: puffing, panting, creaking, the engine toiled up a hillside onwhich the track could be seen rising for at least two miles. He mustrisk it.
Three minutes later, the valve now screwed down, he again glanced at thegauge--14 atmospheres. Bursting pressure, Jack knew, was calculated atfive or six times the working pressure; but the Alexander the Second wasan old engine, he doubted whether her boilers would stand anything likethis strain.
For a time Jack's train drew away; but the gain was only temporary; thepursuers, he guessed, must have adopted the same desperate expedient.Gradually they crept up, while Jack alternately watched them and thetrack ahead, and the gauge, which now registered 15 atmospheres--thelimit which it was constructed to indicate. Beyond this point he had nomeans of knowing how the pressure was increasing. The rapidity of histhoughts seemed to keep pace with the tremendous speed at which he wastravelling. His mind worked with marvellous clearness; the minutesseemed like hours; he even found himself speculating which of the threerisks was the greatest--derailment, capture by the Russians, or theimminent explosion of the boiler.
To look for the spot chosen for the despatch of his messenger was out ofthe question; it had probably been already passed. Jack felt that hehad no longer any alternative; he must play what seemed his last card.The pursuing train was only half a mile behind on the steep upward trackwhen at his order Wang Shih, at the risk of his life, uncoupled therearmost of the three carriages. For a short distance it followed therest; then it stopped, and began to run back at a pace that threatenedto telescope at least one carriage of the oncoming train. A turn in thetrack hid both the detached carriage and the pursuer from sight; Jacklistened with a beating heart for the sound of the collision, which hefelt would be audible even above the thundering roar of his own train.
Lightened of part of its load, his engine was forging its way uphill atconsiderably higher speed. At one moment he thought he heard theexpected crash, and it seemed that the move had been successful, forwhen next he obtained a fair view of the line behind, the enemy was notin sight. Alternating between compunction and elation, he ventured, theline being more level, to reduce speed until it was safe to drop hismessenger, who must perforce find his way to Ah Lum. But the man hadbarely left the track when, to Jack's amazement, the indomitable pursuerreappeared. A glance showed him that it was pushing the discardedcarriage before it. His move had been detected, probably before thecast-off carriage began its backward journey; the pursuing engine hadbeen able to reverse in time; chased and overtaken by the runawaycarriage, the train had no doubt been badly bumped, but not with forceenough to cause any serious damage. Now, to all appearance, it wasfollowing the quarry at the same breakneck pace as before. Jack felt aglow of admiration for the wary Russians, who showed themselves sointent to mark his every move, so quick to take measures to defeat it.
His mouth hardened as he watched the pursuer gaining upon him yard byyard. He knew that the pressure must now be enormous; would the boilersstand the strain? Yet in spite of all he was steadily being overhauled.Yard by yard the gap lessened. Nothing but an accident could nowprevent him from being overtaken; his only course seemed to be to stopbefore the enemy was too close, reverse his engine, and with his mentake to the hills. But then he reflected with a kind of agony that thetask he had set himself was even yet only half done. There was nolonger, indeed, any chance of Ah Lum's retreat being cut from the west;but the Russians could still despatch a force from Ninguta in ample timeto check the Chunchuses before they got across the railway; and if theywere once checked, the forces behind would at once close in and crushthem. While, therefore, the slightest hope remained, Jack resolved tocling to his train; but he gave his men orders to jump clear at amoment's notice. They must now be very near to Kao-ling-tzue: if theyfailed to cut the line there the race was clearly run, for a warningwould certainly be flashed over the wire to the next station atHan-ta-ho-tzue, giving ample time for preparations to be made to meethim. He was in a bath of sweat; his throat was parched; his limbs weretrembling; but collecting all his forces, he watched the gauge andgrasped the lever.
There remained, he clearly saw, one small chance, and only one. Ifthere happened to be a train at Kao-ling-tzue side-tracked in obedienceto his instructions, it might be possible--how long would it take?--tointerpose it between himself and his pursuers. There would be a minute,nay, less than a minute, to gain possession of it and set it in motion.Could he increase the margin? Yes; by detaching the saloon, now therearmost carriage, and crowding the whole of his men and the twoprisoners into the single carriage in front. The enemy had all alongshown himself so alert that he would doubtless be on the look-out forsuch a move; there was no longer any likelihood that it would end thechase; but at least it would check the pursuer's progress, forcing himto stop or reverse. Even if it caused the delay of only a few seconds,it was worth attempting; a few seconds might make all the difference.
The station was already in sight when, the transference of men havingbeen quickly effected, Wang Shih broke the couplings and left the saloonsolitary upon the line. Looking with blood-shot eyes ahead, Jacksaw--and his labouring heart leapt at the sight--not one, as he hadhoped, but two trains, one behind the other, completely filling asiding, where they were halted to allow General Bekovitch's expectedtrain to pass.
But the same glance that gave Jack such elation showed him that he hadto deal with perhaps the greatest danger he had yet encountered. He hadintended to follow the same plan that had proved successful at the otherstations: dispose of the officials, cut the wires, and block the line.But he saw almost with dismay that the platform here was thronged.Drawn, no doubt, by curiosity to see the train of General Bekovitch, andexcited by the urgent messages received along the wire, not only thestation officials were waiting, but a considerable number of workers onthe railway, Russian riflemen, and Chinese passengers. These, togetherwith the attendants of the standing passenger train, were massed uponthe platform. They formed so numerous a crowd that it would tax all theenergies of the Chunchuses to deal with them; there might be a prolongedfight, and, even if it ended in a victory for the brigands, so much timewould have been consumed that the pursuers must arrive before anythingcould be done to stop their progress. It was a moment when many a manmight have despaired. But Jack was not made of the stuff that yields.As his engine plunged along towards the station he conceived analternative plan; it would test his nerve and self-command to theuttermost; but it might succeed by its very audacity.
Passing the word to his men that they were to remain in the carriage andhold their revolvers ready in case an attack was made, he halted theengine with a jerk a yard beyond the spot where the station-master wasstanding. He sprang to the platform, clutched the astonished official bythe arm, and dragged him along, speaking in low, rapid, urgent tones.
"Come with me. There is not a moment to lose. We are pursued by atrain in the possession of the enemy. General Bekovitch is laid up. Wehave done our best to check the pursuit, but they'll be upon us in a fewminutes. Only one thing can be done: uncouple the engine on the siding,and start it up the line. Quick! our lives depend on it. I will takethe responsibility."
As Jack had hoped, the suddenness and unexpectedness of the news, andthe urgency of his manner, bereft the station-master of all power ofindependent thought. He hurried along the platform, shoving aside allwho stood in his path, every man in the crowd looking on withwonderment. He sprang on to the line, with his own hands uncoupled theengine, signalled for the points to be closed, and ordered the driver tosend it ahead at full speed.
"Two minutes saved!" thought Jack, as the engine started. But he couldnot afford to let the flurried official regain his self-command.
"That is not enough," he said. "They will see the engine, reverse,couple it on, and come at greater speed. I've tried it already. Youmust empty the passenger train, and then push it along with the goodsengine. It would be well to throw a carriage or two off the rails atthe points. Anything to block the line."
"Certainly, your nobility," said the station-master. "It is the onlyway."
They were now on the track between the waiting train and Jack's. Manyof the passengers had their heads out of the windows, wondering what wasgoing on. Waving his arms, the station-master summoned them in urgenttones to alight.
"I'll now push on," said Jack. "Do your best, nichalnik; remember howmuch depends on you."
He walked rapidly along between the trains to reach his engine.Passengers, anxious, wonder-struck, were already leaving the train. Oneof them, a Russian army doctor, stopped Jack and asked what was thematter.
"Train behind in possession of the enemy," returned Jack laconically.
"Bozhe moi!" ejaculated the doctor, drawing his revolver and making forthe platform.
Jack passed on, not venturing to delay even long enough to assist alady, for whom the jump from carriage to track was somewhat difficult.She sprang down unassisted.
"Monsieur Brown, Monsieur Brown!"
Jack shivered from top to toe, and never in his life felt so muchinclined to take to his heels as then. He could hardly believe he hadheard aright; yet amid the bustle now filling the station he had caughtthe whisper of his name. On a sudden impulse he swung round.
"Monsieur Brown," said Gabriele Walewska, running up to him, "I havenews for you: I have something to show you."
"Come with me, Mademoiselle," said Jack instantly. "I haven't a minuteto lose."
"But Masha is here; I cannot leave her."
"For heaven's sake, Mademoiselle, climb up into this carriage. I willfetch Masha."
With anxiety tearing at his heart Jack hurried back down the train. Hesaw Gabriele's old nurse at the door of a carriage; she was almost theonly passenger who had not yet alighted.
"Spring into my arms," he said, forgetting that she knew no tongue butPolish. But his outstretched arms spoke for him. The woman jumpedclumsily; but Jack kept his feet, and, straining his muscles, he carriedthe burden, as rapidly as he could stagger, to his own train.Gabriele's hands were ready to help the woman; with an unceremoniousheave Jack pushed her into the carriage. Then he ran to his engine,swung himself up, and pressed the lever just as the empty passengertrain moved off in the other direction. Before he had run a hundredyards he heard a crash behind. Glancing back, he saw that the firstcarriage had jumped the points, ploughed up the permanent way, andoverturned. One after another the other carriages followed; and in abrief minute there was a pile of wrecked trucks and coaches ininextricable confusion across the rails.
Jack had not time to give a second thought to Gabriele. He was againurging Alexander the Second along at full speed. He must run to withina few miles of the next station, and lift enough rails to delay for somehours any train despatched from the direction of Ninguta. Twentyminutes brought him to a likely spot--a high culvert over a brawlinghill stream. Employing the whole strength of his detachment in thework, he lifted fifty yards of the track and flung the rails andsleepers into the stream's rocky bed.
"At last!" he exclaimed. The load of anxiety he had borne for over twohours was gone. From the place where he had wrecked the bridge nearly ahundred miles westward to the spot where he now stood, traffic on theSiberian railway was hopelessly blocked.