CHAPTER XXIII
STEALING A LOCOMOTIVE
Jo's plan was communicated to Rob in a few breathless words as thelads dashed up the track towards the head of the train. The crowd ofsoldiers, not yet understanding that they were fugitives, and awed bythe sight of Jo's uniform, parted before them, only stupidly wonderingat their haste. Rob's mind instantly seized the possibilities of Jo'ssuggestion, and as they ran he gasped:
"You get aboard, Jo, while I cut it loose. Persuade the driver to starther. Never mind me. I'll climb aboard somehow."
Even as he spoke, Rob turned in between the locomotive and the foremostcar, which already was filled with Chinese craning their necks overthe side to see what was going on. Fortunately, there were no patentcouplers to be dealt with, and no pneumatic tubes, for on this primitivetrain brakes were applied by hand, while the connections were simplelink-and-pin affairs that any one could understand. Rob pulled the pinand scrambled across the bumpers to the opposite side of the train.As he did so his flowing priestly robe caught and was torn from hisshoulders, leaving him fully revealed in unmistakable European costume.
Instantly there arose a yell of "Fan kwei!" from the soldiers in the carabove him, but a sudden shot from his pistol cut it short and sent thosewho were uttering it tumbling over backward in pell-mell consternation.
The locomotive already was moving as Rob ran forward and sprang into thecab, where he was just in time to break up a most startling tableau.The Chinese engine-driver, with hand on the open throttle, was coweringbeneath the threatening muzzle of Jo's cocked revolver. The latter'sback was turned, and behind him, with an uplifted bar of iron, crept theoverlooked fireman. In another instant the blow would have fallen, andthe whole course of Chinese history might have been changed; but, as itwas about to descend, Rob caught the unsuspecting man by his convenientpig-tail and jerked him violently backward, while the murderous barclattered to the iron floor of the cab. The next moment Rob had bundledthe fireman overboard, and the locomotive sprang forward as thoughrelieved of a clogging weight.
A tremendous clamor of yells and shooting rose from behind, while halfa dozen bullets splintered the wood-work and shivered the glass of thecab; but no one was hurt, and no one minded the fusillade except thepoor engine-driver, who was scared almost white. Rob sprang on top ofthe coal in the tender and waved his pistol defiantly above his head;at the same time shouting derisive farewells to the baffled soldiers,many of whom were hopelessly running after the vanishing locomotive.He remained there until these dwindled to the size of distracted antswandering aimlessly about a ruined hill, and then he returned to thecab, where Jo still remained on guard.
"I say, old man," cried the young American, speaking loudly to makehimself heard above the roar and rattle of the on-rushing engine, "thisbeats anything I've struck in China yet. Isn't it the greatest bit ofluck in the world? and isn't it fun running off with a locomotive? Inever before stole anything worth speaking of, and I'm glad my firstburglary is something worth while. I don't suppose it comes under thehead of burglary, though. Perhaps we'd be called sneak thieves, only Ihardly like the sound of that, either. How would highwaymen do, or stagerobbers, or land pirates. That's it, Jo; we are land pirates who havejust captured a ship and made her crew walk the plank, and now--"
"I'm hungry," interrupted the young Chinese, who, never having read anypirate stories, didn't know what his companion was talking about, "andthirsty," he added, looking longingly at the faucet of the tender'swater-tank.
"So am I," shouted back Rob. "Make your slave there slow down a bit, forwe're in no hurry anyhow, and I'll get you a drink."
As the speed with which they had started began to slacken, Rob suddenlyadded:
"Great Scott! There's another thing I hadn't thought of. Stop her,quick, Jo! We've got to cut that telegraph-wire, or they'll run us offthe track at the first station. What a chucklehead I am!"
Before the locomotive had come to a stand-still the active young fellowwas off and was swarming up a short, iron telegraph-pole near thetrack. Thus it was owing to his prompt action that a hurry message atthat moment clicking into the Ting-Chow station, a few miles ahead, wasinterrupted after the words, "Look out for engine; open--" Probablythe sender at Hsu River would have added, "derailing switch," and thenproceeded to give enlightening particulars of what had happened, if hehad been allowed the opportunity; but he was not, and the Ting-Chowoperator was left to think what he pleased. The latter, however, hadbeen warned that for some unknown reason an engine might be expectedfrom the south, so he side-tracked and held a train of empty cars thatwas just about to proceed in that direction. Thus he left an open trackfor our friends, and saved them an awkward if not disastrous meeting.
Without knowing whether he had cut the wire in time to prevent mischiefor not, Rob returned to the locomotive, got a big, satisfying drink ofwater from the tank, chucked a lot of coal into the furnace, assumeda new disguise in shape of the cap, jumper, and overalls of theengine-driver, which he calmly appropriated to his own use; and as thegreat, swaying machine again sped forward over the shining rails hereopened conversation with his comrade.
"How far is the line open?" he asked.
"To Pao-Ting-Fu, at any rate," replied Jo, "and perhaps some distancebeyond."
"That's the worst place between here and Pekin, isn't it?"
"Yes; the Boxers are in complete control of the city, and moreforeigners have been killed there than at any other point in thisprovince."
"Then it won't be good for our health to stop there too long."
"I should think not!"
"How far is it from Pao-Ting-Fu to Pekin?"
"About three hundred li."
"That's about a hundred miles--three or four days if we have to walk it,two days if we can steal a couple of ponies, and less than half a day ifwe only could carry this old rattle-trap the whole distance," mused Rob.Then, again speaking to Jo, he said:
"Ask your friend what's wrong with the road beyond Pao-Ting-Fu?"
Jo did as requested, and after a short conversation with the frightenedengine-driver reported that two bridges had been destroyed, one at TingShing, about half-way between Pao-Ting-Fu and Pekin, and the other at LuKow, only a few miles from the capital.
"The first would be enough to stop us," said Rob, gloomily. "What otherdamage has been done?"
"He says not much, only a rail torn up here and there."
"Well," said Rob, "we might as well play this game for all it is worth;so, suppose we make the operator at the next station telegraph for acar with a dozen or so of rails on it, and a gang of track-layers, tobe ready for us at Pao-Ting-Fu. Sign the message with the biggest nameyou can think of in this part of the country; say it is a matter of lifeor death to the Emperor himself for this engine to get as near Pekinas possible in the shortest possible time. It will be an awful bluff,of course, but bluffs sometimes work when you least expect them to. Atany rate, we won't lose anything by trying. Hello! There's a stationnow, and a train headed this way on the siding. Lucky for us that itwaited here, for there's apt to be trouble when two trains meet on asingle track. I hope it doesn't mean, though, that they have heard ofour coming. You run in and do your best with the telegraph man, while Istay here and keep this chap from getting busy. Better tell the agent,or whatever you call him, to rush that train out in a hurry, so itshands won't come rubbering round us for news. See if you can't pickup something to eat, too, for I am starving. We'll run up and take inwater from that tank while you are gone. I'll make our friend here sabesomehow what I want him to do."
Rob's bluff worked to perfection. The waiting train pulled out themoment they had passed the siding switch, and went on its southward waywithout carrying a suspicion of anything having gone wrong. Rob gothis tank full of water without trouble, and had hardly done so whenJo reappeared, hurrying towards the locomotive. He was followed by aboy bearing a basket full of cooked rice and Chinese cakes. The youngofficer had ordered the few employes of the station about with such alor
dly air that they had obeyed him without question.
"Did they know we were coming?" asked Rob, as the engine again gatheredheadway.
"Yes," replied Jo. "They had received part of a message, telling them tolook out for us. Then it was cut off, and they were a good deal troubledat not hearing a word from the south since."
"Good!" cried Rob. "We cut the wire just in time then."
"Yes. I told them I saw somebody destroying the line, and said I thoughthe was a Boxer."
"So I am," laughed Rob, munching a Chinese sweetcake as he spoke. "Buthow about the message to Pao-Ting?"
"Oh, he sent it off all right. That is, I suppose he did. Anyhow, heseemed a good deal impressed by the name I signed to it."
"What name was it?"
"Yu-Hsien."
"What! The governor of Shan-Si! The big man of all the Boxers! Youdidn't have the cheek!"
"I did, though," declared Jo, stoutly; "and if it don't get us what wewant at Pao-Ting, there isn't another name in all China that would."
They were barely out of sight of the station before they came to abridge across a small river. Here, as the telegraph-line was strung onit within easy reach, the locomotive was brought to a stand-still, whileRob again tried his hand at wire-cutting. Jo leaned from the cab towatch him, thus relaxing for a minute his close watch of their usefulprisoner.
As Rob came back, calling out: "Let her go again, I'm aboard," Jo turnedto give the necessary order, only to discover to his consternation thatthe engine-driver was nowhere in sight. In vain did they search throughthe cab and its tender, in the water-tanks, and even under the coal. Invain did they look up and down the track, at the bridge on both sides,even staring down into the water twenty feet below them. The man haddisappeared, so far as they could discover, as absolutely as though theground had opened and swallowed him.
"Well," remarked Rob, in a melancholy tone, "that beats anything I everexperienced. We certainly have got the old wagon to ourselves now, andthe question is, what shall we do with it?"
"I say run it," replied Jo. "I've watched him until I know how to startand stop, and how to go slow or fast. I'll do that part if you will keepup the fire, and I don't believe there is anything else to be looked outfor."
"All right," agreed Rob, "go ahead. I don't like it, and I expect weshall come to grief; but I can stand it if you can."