CHAPTER XXVThe Pressure-GaugeTimber on the Track—Fuel and Water—The Station House—A Trap—Neck or Nothing—Screwing down the Valve—A Slip Carriage—Nearing the End—Kao-ling-tzü—Indiscreet Zeal—A Lady Passenger—Traffic SuspendedJack glanced anxiously back along the line; his engine was jolting, bumping, up the incline at the rate of forty miles an hour; steam was escaping from the safety-valves; the gauge registered over 10 atmospheres, considerably above working pressure; yet to his impatience it seemed to be moving with exasperating slowness. Dust was whirling behind; through the cloud, five minutes after he started, he saw a puff of 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 find that the water was just disappearing in the gauge glass. In a few minutes—he could not tell how few—the water would be below the level of his fire-box crown, the fusible plug would drop, and the fire would be put out by the escaping steam. This was ominous indeed.There were, he saw, two conditions in his favour: he had a start of nearly five minutes; and he could choose his own place to obstruct the pursuer. But the other conditions were all against him. He must needs stop for water, and at the present rate of consumption for fuel also; and whenever he passed a station it would be necessary to cut the telegraph wires. Moreover, on board the pursuing train there must be men skilled in repairing the line, or the chase could not have been resumed so promptly; and Jack could not expect to do more damage in a given 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 end of the train, yet an experienced driver can always get more work out of his engine than a tyro,—and Jack was making his trial trip!He cudgelled his brains for some means of checking the pursuit without bringing his own train to a stand-still. He wished that he had thought to instruct his men when tearing up the rails to lift some of the sleepers into the train; these placed on the line would prove serious obstacles. It was too late to repine; he made up his mind not to lose the chance if it should occur again. While his thoughts were still on the matter, his eye caught the balks of timber used for fuel on this part of the line. The stock in the tender was much diminished; more fuel must soon be obtained; but surely one or two might be spared for the experiment. Without delay he sent Hi Lo to the back of the tender with an order to Wang Shih to carry two of the balks through the train and to drop them on the line from the communication door at the rear of the last carriage. In a few moments the command was carried out, but Wang Shih reported that owing to the high speed he had found it difficult to see what happened to the logs when they reached the ground. One, he thought, had remained on the inside rail; the other appeared to jump off. Narrowly watching the riband of steam from the pursuing train, Jack believed he detected a momentary diminution about the time when 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 the tail of the advancing train came into full view, the growing size of the carriage-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 would be absolutely necessary, and in a short colloquy with Wang Shih when he returned from throwing the logs on the track he had arranged what should be done. Immediately on the stoppage of the train twelve men were to engage the station staff and destroy the telegraphic instruments; ten were to tear up the rails behind the train, and, if possible, bring some sleepers on board; four were to cut the telegraph wire, and twenty to load wood from the station stock on to the nearest carriage. In the meanwhile he himself, with the assistance of the man acting as fireman and others riding on the engine, would take in a supply of water from the tank.The train rattled into the station. In his anxiety Jack found that he had shut off steam too late; the engine ran some yards beyond the water-tower. As he had already found at Imien-po, it was not easy to the amateur to bring a train to a stand-still at a given spot. But although the greater part of the train had run beyond the platform, the Chunchuses, who were standing ready with the doors open, swung themselves out, and before the gaping officials were aware of what was happening they were disarmed and helpless. Not for the first time had Jack reason to be glad that his men were the pick of Ah Lum's band, and a standing proof of the efficacy of discipline with the Chinese.While Jack was backing the engine to the tank the work of ripping up the track and demolishing the wire had already been begun, and a string of men were hauling timber into the nearest carriage. But before the supply of water was fully replenished Jack had to blow his whistle to recall the various parties; the pursuer was drawing perilously near. The train moved off before all the men were in their places; the last of them running along the platform and being helped in by his comrades. Up came the second train; again it had to halt before the gap, and the driver, being at the other end, was compelled for safety's sake to reduce speed earlier than he would have done had he been able to judge the distance more exactly. But this time the gap was shorter; the time required to restore the line would be correspondingly less. Yet Jack had gained one advantage; knowing that the enemy's water supply, like his own, must have run low, he had brought the station hose away with him, and he looked at it with grim satisfaction, lying coiled at the rear of the tender.As Jack's engine, Alexander the Second, gained impetus and charged up the gradient towards the hills looming in the distance, it was followed by a dropping fire from the pursuing train: some of Lieutenant Potugin's men had climbed to the roof of the stationary carriages. Whether any of the bullets struck the train was doubtful; no harm was done; and in the excitement of the moment the idea of firing rifles seemed almost as childish as shooting at the moon. Nothing less than a siege-gun would have appeared formidable in the circumstances.The brigands' last cutting of the line and the removal of the hose had evidently gained several minutes for the fugitive, for many miles had been covered before the smoke of the pursuer was again seen. With so considerable a start Jack felt it safe to pull up once more and try a device that had occurred to him. His engine was at the summit of a long descent where the line curved. Hitherto his track-breakers had forced up both the rails, but the curve was here so sharp that he thought he might save time by having only one rail lifted, hoping that the partial gap might not be seen by the enemy until it was too late to do more than check the train, which would in all probability be derailed. An alternative plan suggested itself, only to be dismissed. It was to remove the rail, and then replace it without the bolts. The pursuer would then rush on at full speed expecting no danger; the train would be hurled from the track, and probably all on board would be killed or injured. But even in the heat of the moment, and with the knowledge that if he were caught he could expect no mercy from the Russians, Jack could not bring himself to compass such wholesale destruction. "Play the game": the phrase of the school song stuck to him. His purpose would be amply served by the mere derailment of the train, the speed of which 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 the single rail was removed and flung over the embankment, he again crowded on steam, his mind was occupied rather with the question of what should be done at the next station than with the prospect of further difficulties with his dogged pursuer. He was now approaching the place in the hills to which Ah Lum was to advance by forced marches, and whence he was to be prepared to dash across the line on receiving a message that the scheme had succeeded. Jack had already selected his messenger; the man was clinging to the rail of the engine, and only awaited the word to spring during a temporary slackening of speed and plunge into the hills.The chosen spot lay between Pei-su-ho and Kao-ling-tzü, and had been minutely described by Ah Lum. Jack was glad that his anxieties appeared to be over, for the country flashed by so rapidly that he ran the risk of over-shooting the mark unless he could keep a good look-out. He was narrowly watching for the opening on his right when Hi Lo suddenly drew his attention westward. With greater alarm than he had yet felt, even when he first caught sight of the pursuer, he saw, scarcely a mile and a half behind him, the relentless enemy leaping along in his wake. He was half-way up a steep incline; the second train was rushing with wholly reckless speed down a steep straight gradient on which Jack, no longer fearing pursuit, had thought it desirable to clap on the brakes. All notion of going cautiously must now be abandoned. Amazed at the failure of his last effort to delay the pursuer, Jack set his men with desperate energy to pile up the furnace to its utmost capacity; and when he topped the hill, and the enemy was just beginning the ascent, he let the engine go at its own pace down the opposite side. He and his men had to hold on with both hands as they rounded another sharp curve; the wheels on the inside seemed to be raised from the track, the train keeping the rails only by the grip of the outside wheels. Jack held his breath as the panting engine plunged along; would it come safely on to the straight? Even in the excitement of the moment he solved as in a flash the mystery of the pursuers' escape from derailment, and he could have beaten his head for his thoughtlessness. The rail that had been lifted was an inside rail; rounding a curve the weight of a train going at speed is always thrown on the outer rail, which is raised above the level of the other. Either designedly or by accident the pursuing train had passed at full speed over the gap, its very speed proving its salvation.Although there were many ups and downs, the general trend of the line was still chiefly on the up grade, and Jack found that while the enemy made as good timing as himself down the slopes, their more powerful engine gained rapidly wherever the track began to rise. As mile after mile was passed, the huts of the line guards at intervals of ten versts seeming like the milestones on an ordinary journey, the space between the two trains steadily diminished. Every now and again the pursuer was lost to view; but whenever it next came in sight it was always perceptibly nearer. The noble Alexander the Second rattled and groaned like a creature in pain; the working parts were smoking; some of the bearings were melting, and Jack dared not risk the perils of oiling. He knew that he was getting out of it every ounce of which it was capable, unless indeed he adopted the desperate expedient of screwing down the safety-valve, from which a dense cloud of steam was escaping. He glanced at the gauge—13 atmospheres; then his eye went backwards along the track—the pursuer was still gaining; he turned to look ahead, there was a long steep ascent to be climbed. The pace lessened to an alarming extent: puffing, panting, creaking, the engine toiled up a hillside on which the track could be seen rising for at least two miles. He must risk it.Three minutes later, the valve now screwed down, he again glanced at the gauge—14 atmospheres. Bursting pressure, Jack knew, was calculated at five or six times the working pressure; but the Alexander the Second was an old engine, he doubted whether her boilers would stand anything like this strain.For a time Jack's train drew away; but the gain was only temporary; the pursuers, he guessed, must have adopted the same desperate expedient. Gradually they crept up, while Jack alternately watched them and the track ahead, and the gauge, which now registered 15 atmospheres—the limit which it was constructed to indicate. Beyond this point he had no means of knowing how the pressure was increasing. The rapidity of his thoughts seemed to keep pace with the tremendous speed at which he was travelling. His mind worked with marvellous clearness; the minutes seemed like hours; he even found himself speculating which of the three risks was the greatest—derailment, capture by the Russians, or the imminent explosion of the boiler.To look for the spot chosen for the despatch of his messenger was out of the question; it had probably been already passed. Jack felt that he had 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 track when at his order Wang Shih, at the risk of his life, uncoupled the rearmost of the three carriages. For a short distance it followed the rest; then it stopped, and began to run back at a pace that threatened to telescope at least one carriage of the oncoming train. A turn in the track hid both the detached carriage and the pursuer from sight; Jack listened with a beating heart for the sound of the collision, which he felt 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 at considerably higher speed. At one moment he thought he heard the expected crash, and it seemed that the move had been successful, for when next he obtained a fair view of the line behind, the enemy was not in sight. Alternating between compunction and elation, he ventured, the line being more level, to reduce speed until it was safe to drop his messenger, who must perforce find his way to Ah Lum. But the man had barely left the track when, to Jack's amazement, the indomitable pursuer reappeared. A glance showed him that it was pushing the discarded carriage before it. His move had been detected, probably before the cast-off carriage began its backward journey; the pursuing engine had been able to reverse in time; chased and overtaken by the runaway carriage, the train had no doubt been badly bumped, but not with force enough to cause any serious damage. Now, to all appearance, it was following the quarry at the same breakneck pace as before. Jack felt a glow of admiration for the wary Russians, who showed themselves so intent 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 by yard. He knew that the pressure must now be enormous; would the boilers stand the strain? Yet in spite of all he was steadily being overhauled. Yard by yard the gap lessened. Nothing but an accident could now prevent him from being overtaken; his only course seemed to be to stop before the enemy was too close, reverse his engine, and with his men take to the hills. But then he reflected with a kind of agony that the task he had set himself was even yet only half done. There was no longer, 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 time to check the Chunchuses before they got across the railway; and if they were once checked, the forces behind would at once close in and crush them. While, therefore, the slightest hope remained, Jack resolved to cling to his train; but he gave his men orders to jump clear at a moment's notice. They must now be very near to Kao-ling-tzü: if they failed to cut the line there the race was clearly run, for a warning would certainly be flashed over the wire to the next station at Han-ta-ho-tzü, giving ample time for preparations to be made to meet him. He was in a bath of sweat; his throat was parched; his limbs were trembling; but collecting all his forces, he watched the gauge and grasped the lever.There remained, he clearly saw, one small chance, and only one. If there happened to be a train at Kao-ling-tzü side-tracked in obedience to his instructions, it might be possible—how long would it take?—to interpose 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 the rearmost carriage, and crowding the whole of his men and the two prisoners into the single carriage in front. The enemy had all along shown himself so alert that he would doubtless be on the look-out for such a move; there was no longer any likelihood that it would end the chase; but at least it would check the pursuer's progress, forcing him to 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 having been quickly effected, Wang Shih broke the couplings and left the saloon solitary upon the line. Looking with blood-shot eyes ahead, Jack saw—and his labouring heart leapt at the sight—not one, as he had hoped, but two trains, one behind the other, completely filling a siding, where they were halted to allow General Bekovitch's expected train to pass.But the same glance that gave Jack such elation showed him that he had to deal with perhaps the greatest danger he had yet encountered. He had intended to follow the same plan that had proved successful at the other stations: 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, and excited by the urgent messages received along the wire, not only the station officials were waiting, but a considerable number of workers on the railway, Russian riflemen, and Chinese passengers. These, together with the attendants of the standing passenger train, were massed upon the platform. They formed so numerous a crowd that it would tax all the energies of the Chunchuses to deal with them; there might be a prolonged fight, and, even if it ended in a victory for the brigands, so much time would have been consumed that the pursuers must arrive before anything could be done to stop their progress. It was a moment when many a man might have despaired. But Jack was not made of the stuff that yields. As his engine plunged along towards the station he conceived an alternative plan; it would test his nerve and self-command to the uttermost; but it might succeed by its very audacity.Passing the word to his men that they were to remain in the carriage and hold their revolvers ready in case an attack was made, he halted the engine with a jerk a yard beyond the spot where the station-master was standing. He sprang to the platform, clutched the astonished official by the 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 a train in the possession of the enemy. General Bekovitch is laid up. We have done our best to check the pursuit, but they'll be upon us in a few minutes. 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 take the responsibility."As Jack had hoped, the suddenness and unexpectedness of the news, and the urgency of his manner, bereft the station-master of all power of independent thought. He hurried along the platform, shoving aside all who stood in his path, every man in the crowd looking on with wonderment. He sprang on to the line, with his own hands uncoupled the engine, signalled for the points to be closed, and ordered the driver to send it ahead at full speed."Two minutes saved!" thought Jack, as the engine started. But he could not 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. You must empty the passenger train, and then push it along with the goods engine. It would be well to throw a carriage or two off the rails at the points. Anything to block the line.""Certainly, your nobility," said the station-master. "It is the only way."They were now on the track between the waiting train and Jack's. Many of the passengers had their heads out of the windows, wondering what was going on. Waving his arms, the station-master summoned them in urgent tones to alight."I'll now push on," said Jack. "Do your best, nichalnik; remember how much depends on you."He walked rapidly along between the trains to reach his engine. Passengers, anxious, wonder-struck, were already leaving the train. One of them, a Russian army doctor, stopped Jack and asked what was the matter."Train behind in possession of the enemy," returned Jack laconically."Bozhe moï!" ejaculated the doctor, drawing his revolver and making for the platform.Jack passed on, not venturing to delay even long enough to assist a lady, 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 much inclined to take to his heels as then. He could hardly believe he had heard aright; yet amid the bustle now filling the station he had caught the whisper of his name. On a sudden impulse he swung round."Monsieur Brown," said Gabriele Walewska, running up to him, "I have news for you: I have something to show you.""Come with me, Mademoiselle," said Jack instantly. "I haven't a minute to lose.""But Masha is here; I cannot leave her.""For heaven's sake, Mademoiselle, climb up into this carriage. I will fetch Masha."With anxiety tearing at his heart Jack hurried back down the train. He saw Gabriele's old nurse at the door of a carriage; she was almost the only passenger who had not yet alighted."Spring into my arms," he said, forgetting that she knew no tongue but Polish. But his outstretched arms spoke for him. The woman jumped clumsily; but Jack kept his feet, and, straining his muscles, he carried the burden, as rapidly as he could stagger, to his own train. Gabriele's hands were ready to help the woman; with an unceremonious heave Jack pushed her into the carriage. Then he ran to his engine, swung himself up, and pressed the lever just as the empty passenger train moved off in the other direction. Before he had run a hundred yards he heard a crash behind. Glancing back, he saw that the first carriage had jumped the points, ploughed up the permanent way, and overturned. One after another the other carriages followed; and in a brief minute there was a pile of wrecked trucks and coaches in inextricable confusion across the rails.Jack had not time to give a second thought to Gabriele. He was again urging Alexander the Second along at full speed. He must run to within a few miles of the next station, and lift enough rails to delay for some hours any train despatched from the direction of Ninguta. Twenty minutes brought him to a likely spot—a high culvert over a brawling hill stream. Employing the whole strength of his detachment in the work, he lifted fifty yards of the track and flung the rails and sleepers into the stream's rocky bed."At last!" he exclaimed. The load of anxiety he had borne for over two hours was gone. From the place where he had wrecked the bridge nearly a hundred miles westward to the spot where he now stood, traffic on the Siberian railway was hopelessly blocked.CHAPTER XXVIA Double QuestGabriele's Story—A Hasty Word—Lex Talionis—Bribery and Corruption—Cause and Effect—The Natural Man—The Filial Obligation—The Choice of Routes—A Fair Pleader—In the Circumstances—Improving the OccasionJack's part was done. The way had been cleared for the passage of the Chunchuses across the railway, and knowing Ah Lum's rapidity of movement he felt tolerably sure that the crossing might easily be made. He could now afford to think of his own safety. He determined to run the train back as near as he dared to Pei-su-ho, then to leave it standing on the line and make off in a northerly or north-westerly direction, trusting to join hands with Ah Lum at some distance north of the line. The railway guards were amazed to see the train running swiftly backwards; but, whatever their suspicions, they were powerless. Jack came to a stop between two of the block-houses; in a few minutes his men alighted with Bekovitch and Sowinski, Gabriele, and her nurse; and then Jack abandoned the noble Alexander the Second that had served him so well, and started on his northward march. Some distance above the line he instinctively turned for a last look. There was the short train, motionless on the rails, a derelict in a vast solitude. But it represented activities that had disorganized the whole traffic of the line for a hundred miles, nullified a military scheme, and saved hundreds of lives. It was not without a certain grim amusement Jack remembered that the final card in that game had been played by the Russians themselves. "I only hope the station-master won't be cashiered," he thought, as he turned his back upon the scene.Not till now had he an opportunity of learning what strange fate had entrusted Gabriele to his care. Some time after he had left the missionary's house the girl, unable to endure the separation from her father, again ventured into Vladivostok. Acting on the knowledge that Jack had bribed a Russian official, she succeeded in persuading a colonist about to re-embark for Sakhalin to carry a letter from her to Count Walewski. She told him of her intentions, assuring him that in spite of her failure to gain permission to enter the island, she still meant to persevere. Several weeks later she received a reply, brought by the same man, who had crossed the sea in probably the last boat before the ports became ice-bound. It was addressed in a strange handwriting, and as she tore it open she was oppressed by the fear that her father was dead. But the first line of the letter, written in French, dispelled her anxiety. The count was ill in hospital, unable to write; but he had availed himself of the ready help of a fellow-prisoner—a political prisoner who had recently arrived in the island. He thanked his daughter for her affectionate solicitude, but pled with her to abandon her purpose: Sakhalin was no place for a woman; she would only suffer without alleviating his lot. As for himself, until the arrival of his new friend he had despaired of ever regaining his liberty. But the surprising news that the Japanese were winning victory after victory had sown a seed of hope. The prisoners on the island had been fed with lies by the officials, who reported constant victories for Russia. But the new-comer had thrown a fresh light on the war; he could not foresee its end: the Russians had still enormous powers of resistance; it was possible that the great fleet on its way eastward might break through to Vladivostok and change the aspect of things. Yet, if it should be defeated, the Japanese might capture Sakhalin; possibly the political prisoners would then be released if they had not been previously removed to the mainland. It was only a possibility, but sufficient to give new courage to a sorely-tried man.Jack read all this himself, for Gabriele, immediately after explaining how the letter came into her possession, handed it to him. The writing was his father's. At the first moment he felt unutterable relief in finding that his father was alive; then rage burned within him as he saw before him, marching at some distance apart, each manacled to a Chunchuse, the two men whose villainy had sent Mr. Brown to the bleak "island of the dead". Gabriele noticed his look."I understand," she said. "But if your anger is great, how much greater is mine! Your father's persecutor is a Russian, a foreigner; my father was betrayed by one of his own countrymen,—one of his own house. The traitor there recognized me as I entered the saloon carriage; bound as he was, he shrank from me as though expecting that I would kill him.""But he did not recognize you when he saw you at Father Mayenobe's?""No. But something must have put him on my track, for it is through him that I was a passenger on the train. I was arrested in Vladivostok and ordered to go back to Europe. He was with the soldiers who arrested me: in fact, he pointed me out to them. I do not know how he came to recognize me after all."At the moment no explanation occurred to Jack, who indeed did not give a thought to it. But later he remembered that, on the well-remembered evening in Moukden when he had got the better of Sowinski, he had mentioned the man's true name, Streleszki. This had no doubt set the Pole wondering how Jack could have learnt his name; and the chain of incidents had led him to connect the disclosure with the European girl he had met at the missionary's. So that Jack's almost inadvertent explanation had ultimately led to this meeting with Gabriele at the station, and to the end of his long search for his father's whereabouts.The party marched as rapidly as possible, rising gradually towards the barren hills. After two hours they stopped for a brief rest, and for the first time since his capture at Mao-shan General Bekovitch was within arm's-length of the Chunchuse leader. Jack wondered whether he would be recognized; but the change of costume, the hardening of his features and the development of his physique due to his active rigorous life, made him a different being from the lad whom Bekovitch had seen for five minutes at the Moukden railway-station. And the general was certainly not in such a calm and collected mood as might quicken his memory. He was indeed in a condition of boiling rage and indignation."Here, you—" he cried, seeing Jack so near to him. "Do you understand Russian?""Moderately well, sir."His very voice had become more manly; its deeper tones did not awaken recollection."Then what do you mean, confound you! by treating a Russian general officer thus? What do you mean, I say? Do you know what you are doing? Made to tramp over these hills—fettered to a filthy Chinaman—why—why——"The general could find no further words to express his indignation."Is it not the Russian custom to manacle prisoners?" asked Jack quietly.The Russian's cheeks took a purple hue."An officer—a general! Do you know who I am, you—you——""You are General Bekovitch.""Well—well—loose me at once, then; I insist on this indignity being removed; it is monstrous!""Possibly; but quite Russian. You are no worse treated than you treat your prisoners. If a Chunchuse, myself for instance, had fallen into your hands, what would have been his fate?"The mild reasonableness of the Chunchuse's reply, together with his firm attitude, seemed to suggest to the general that he should try another tack."Come," he said, with sudden suavity, "I know you gentlemen; I suppose it is a matter of dollars. How much will you take to let me go?"Jack looked at him."Say a thousand dollars—that's a very fair sum, more than you'd get in the ordinary way of your—business. Eh?""Yes: our business, as you call it, is certainly not profitable, but we do make a haul at times."The general looked furious. Jack quietly continued:"But you are making a mistake—you are treating me as you would a Russian and an official. I am merely a brigand—but we Chunchuses have our code. Dirty though he is, General Bekovitch, the man you are bound to has cleaner hands than you: he at least is an honest man according to his lights. It is he who should complain of contamination."Bekovitch quivered with rage, but gulping down the indiscreet words his anger prompted he returned to the point."I could make you a rich man. I said a thousand dollars; come, I will make it two thousand. It will buy you a pardon, and an official post as well. Batiushki! no brigand ever had such a chance."Jack laughed."We have our code, General Bekovitch, I repeat. There are some things bribery cannot effect. Your release just now is one of them. But for bribery you would not be here."The general stared."What do you mean?""It is all very simple. If the Pole Sowinski yonder had not bribed you, General Bekovitch, you would not have conspired against Mr. Brown at Moukden, and you would not have needed to deport his son. If you had not deported his son, his son would not still be in Manchuria; and if he had not been in Manchuria he could not have captured you, General Bekovitch, and you need not have attempted to bribe him."The general stared incredulously at the speaker. Then it was as though the Cossack uniform dropped away; as though the young man before him became again the lad he had been nine months before. The Russian recognized him at last, and his jaw fell."You see now," pursued Jack, "the double uselessness of offering bribes to me—as the son of Mr. Brown, and as an Englishman.""What are you going to do with me?"All the bluster, all the silkiness, was now gone; the general was anxious, almost suppliant."That I cannot say. You will be delivered to my chief, Mr. Ah. It is likely that you will be detained until my father is released. But I cannot answer for Mr. Ah. He is a Chinaman, with Chinese ideas. Much may depend on how my father has been treated."Bekovitch became pale; his eyes looked anxiously around. Jack left him to his meditation. Passing the spot where Sowinski sat, manacled like Bekovitch, Jack noticed that the Pole's eyes met his with a hunted, terrified look. He had recognized his captor at once, and having also seen Gabriele he felt that he had to reckon with her as well; and his imagination of what he himself might do, were he in their place, shook him like the ague.The march was resumed, and late in the day the party came in touch with Ah Lum's scouts. The meeting between Ah Lum and Jack was very warm."Never was captain so nobly served," said the grateful chief. "I was at my wits' end to escape the meshes of the net; and now not only have I escaped, but I hold in my power the man who was to ensnare me. Truly the poet Li T'ai-poh was right when he said, in hisApology for Friendship—"'Never despair: the darkest Lot may mend;Call no Man lost that hath one faithful Friend'.You will find the works of Li T'ai-poh worthy of perusal, my honoured friend. They have been to me as a bright star to a wanderer in a dark night."Jack thanked him for the recommendation; then changed the topic, and asked how the crossing of the line had been effected. He learnt that a slight skirmish had taken place at the line between the Chunchuses and the energetic pursuers of the train; but the Russians, being hopelessly outnumbered, had been compelled to retire with loss. Ah Lum in his turn was informed of the discovery of Mr. Brown's whereabouts."Nothing proceeds from the machinations of men," he said, "but the whole of our lives is planned by destiny.""Yes, Mr. Ah, and destiny has willed that my father's persecutor and your hunter are the same man—the Russian general there.""Ch'hoy! May his posterity be cut off! May the five thunders strike him dead! May the village constable attend to his remains! May he be born again as a hog! When we pitch our camp, I will cut out his tongue, fry him in a caldron of oil, rip——""Stay, stay, Mr. Ah!" cried Jack, aghast at this unwonted fury in his scholarly friend. "You forget that he is a European, and I am an Englishman; we don't do such things in my country.""But it is an imperative duty. Your duty to your father demands that you should heap on the villain the direst curses, and inflict on him the most terrible torture.""No, Mr. Ah, the books of our sages teach us differently. Besides, my father would not approve: he would most strongly disapprove."This was a new aspect, and one that Ah Lum took time to consider."That alters the case," he at length reluctantly admitted. "A son may not act contrary to his father's wishes. What does the poet Tu Fu so beautifully say?—"'Happy the Father, yea, and doubly blest,Whose Son, though absent, doeth his Behest'.Yes, it is a pity; but when inclination and the counsel of sages agree, there is but one course."Considering that there would be plenty of time to levy a contribution on the settlement at Shih-tou-ho-tzü, Ah Lum sent back 200 men for the purpose of collecting supplies, and pushed on with the main body. A few hours later the detachment rejoined, with a number of carts containing useful stores of all kinds, and the march northward was resumed with all speed. One of the carts was appropriated to the use of Gabriele and her servant; but the former soon declared that she preferred to walk; the springless cart made riding anything but comfortable. The march was continued throughout the day. In the evening Ah Lum reached a spot far in the hills, where he might safely encamp.Next morning Jack took the earliest opportunity of holding a consultation with the chief. It was his fixed intention to get if possible to Sakhalin; he knew his father was there: to rescue him ought not to be difficult. As a Chinaman Ah Lum confessed that he could not oppose an enterprise of such piety; but as a practical man he thought it his duty to mention the objections. He had never been to Sakhalin, but he understood that it was a terrible place, visited by fierce storms, buried for the greater part of the year under snow and ice, covered with thick forests, infested by wild beasts, wilder men, and even hideous dragons. By the many forms of exorcism employed for generations past in China, dragons had been driven out of the Celestial Kingdom; but they had crossed the sea and taken refuge, so Ah Lum had been informed, in the dreary wastes of Sakhalin.Jack brushed all these objections aside. Seeing that he was firm, the chief carefully considered the best means of helping him. The strait between Siberia and Sakhalin was at this time of the year frozen over; the ice would not begin to break up for several weeks. The nearest point at which it could be crossed was at least 1500 li from the Chunchuses' present encampment, and not only would so long a journey be attended by many hardships, but Jack would be liable to arrest as soon as he came to any considerable Russian settlement. Jack at once said that he did not propose to make the long overland journey; his best plan would be to sail by junk from one of the Manchurian ports as soon as the coast was clear of ice. To go to Vladivostok was too risky; Possiet Bay was the nearest point, and the most promising in all respects. It was some hundreds of li distant, and there were high hills to be crossed; but Ah Lum offered to send with Jack a man who knew the country, and to issue orders to the headman of every important village, instructing him under pain of his severest displeasure and drastic penalties to do all in his power to forward the journey.This having been settled, the question of the disposal of the prisoners arose."I am not one to mistake a village headman for the emperor," said the chief; "but fishes, though deep in the water, may be hooked, and I know I have a valuable fish in the Russian general. How many men think you a general is worth in exchanges?""That's a hard question, Mr. Ah. Some less than nothing: others an infinite amount.""Then it will be a matter of long bargaining. As for the other man, he is of little account. The mule is always attended by a flea. The two men are companions: what does that prove? When the rat and the cat sleep together, be sure that the larder will be empty in the morning. As the fishmonger throws a sprat into the scale to make the salmon appear cheap, so will I deal with the Pole when I dispose of the Russian. But there is another point, my honoured friend; what is to become of these women whom Destiny has sent to trouble me?""Yes, that has troubled me, too. I must go and hear what they say."Jack found Gabriele listening gravely to Ah Fu's recitation of the "May Queen"."Mademoiselle, may I have a little serious talk with you? The chief is sadly perturbed about your presence here.""Well, Monsieur Brown, it was your train that brought me. Seriously, I suppose I must go back to Father Mayenobeen routeto Sakhalin, for sooner or later I will get there—on that I am determined. They may deport me, but I shall always return.—What will you do yourself?—not remain a Chunchuse?""No, indeed. I am going to find my father.""To Sakhalin?""Yes.""Oh! Monsieur Brown, cannot I come too? I may never get such a chance again. My poor father! he has been there six years. Take me with you.""But, Mademoiselle——""I am very strong, really I am. Did I not walk for six hours yesterday? I will not delay your march.""But think of the difficulties—a long mountain journey to begin with, a voyage in a junk at one of the worst seasons of the year, the danger of being discovered and arrested at any moment, exposure, perhaps hunger——""I am not afraid. And surely it will be better for me to face these hardships in your company than alone!""Alone?""Yes, alone! I have as strong a motive as you; my father—oh! I cannot bear to think of him ill and wretched. I shall go to Sakhalin. If you will not take me, and do not give me up to the Russians, I shall tramp to the coast and cross on the ice—alone."Jack hardly knew whether to be amused at the absurdity of such a venture, or to be impressed with the girl's determination. That she meant what she said he had not the slightest doubt."But what about Masha?""Poor old thing! She declares she will never leave me. And she is quite strong—stronger than I am, though she is getting on in years. We shall get through somehow; the Lord God will protect us."In face of this spirit Jack felt helpless. It was arranged that Gabriele and the nurse should accompany him. Their destination was kept secret from the band, lest by any mischance it should leak out. A week afterwards, Jack took a cordial farewell of Ah Lum, asking him, if he had any news to communicate, to write to him at the care of the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank at Shanghai. The leave-taking was conducted with due solemnity. There was no question as to Ah Lum's sincerity of feeling. He was unfeignedly sorry to lose the lieutenant who had done him such yeoman service. When he had exhausted the resources of his language to express his gratitude, he spent a few minutes in bestowing fatherly counsel on Jack, drawing lavishly from his well of proverbial wisdom. Jack found the draught a trifle turgid, but otherwise the quality was excellent."Difficulty and danger," began the chief, folding his hands and looking benignly over the rims of his spectacles—"difficulty and danger teach us to know the value of friendship; at the same time they winnow the true from the false, even as a husbandman winnows the grain from the chaff. I may never see you again; take from me a few words of counsel, learnt as well from life as from the works of the poets and sages. What says Li T'ai-poh?—'A good rule of conduct is better than stout armour or a sharp sword'. When you are most happy, you should be most ready to meet misfortune. Extreme joy is but a sign of grief to come. In security, do not forget danger. Do not consider any vice as trivial, and therefore practise it; nor any virtue as unimportant, and therefore neglect it. Let your words be few, and your companions select. Inattention to minute actions will ultimately be prejudicial to a man's virtue. Past events are as clear as a mirror; the future as obscure as lacquer; yet, gazing into that mirror, I seem to see reflected a future of great prosperity, high office, and a numerous progeny. Heaviness and care will come upon you, as upon all men; at such periods the works of Li T'ai-poh will prove a well of refreshment, a mine of solace. I have no fears for you. As the sun's rays first gild the highest mountains, so the blessings of Heaven fall in richest measure upon the upright. You have shown yourself to be an excellent son: what says the poet Wang Wei in hisAddress to Posterity?—"'To him who faithfully his Father's Will obeys,Heaven in its Bounty grants great Wealth and Length of Days'."
CHAPTER XXV
The Pressure-Gauge
Timber on the Track—Fuel and Water—The Station House—A Trap—Neck or Nothing—Screwing down the Valve—A Slip Carriage—Nearing the End—Kao-ling-tzü—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 was escaping from the safety-valves; the gauge registered over 10 atmospheres, considerably above working pressure; yet to his impatience it seemed to be moving with exasperating slowness. Dust was whirling behind; through the cloud, five minutes after he started, he saw a puff of 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 find that the water was just disappearing in the gauge glass. In a few minutes—he could not tell how few—the water would be below the level of his fire-box crown, the fusible plug would drop, and the fire would be put out by the escaping steam. This was ominous indeed.
There were, he saw, two conditions in his favour: he had a start of nearly five minutes; and he could choose his own place to obstruct the pursuer. But the other conditions were all against him. He must needs stop for water, and at the present rate of consumption for fuel also; and whenever he passed a station it would be necessary to cut the telegraph wires. Moreover, on board the pursuing train there must be men skilled in repairing the line, or the chase could not have been resumed so promptly; and Jack could not expect to do more damage in a given 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 end of the train, yet an experienced driver can always get more work out of his engine than a tyro,—and Jack was making his trial trip!
He cudgelled his brains for some means of checking the pursuit without bringing his own train to a stand-still. He wished that he had thought to instruct his men when tearing up the rails to lift some of the sleepers into the train; these placed on the line would prove serious obstacles. It was too late to repine; he made up his mind not to lose the chance if it should occur again. While his thoughts were still on the matter, his eye caught the balks of timber used for fuel on this part of the line. The stock in the tender was much diminished; more fuel must soon be obtained; but surely one or two might be spared for the experiment. Without delay he sent Hi Lo to the back of the tender with an order to Wang Shih to carry two of the balks through the train and to drop them on the line from the communication door at the rear of the last carriage. In a few moments the command was carried out, but Wang Shih reported that owing to the high speed he had found it difficult to see what happened to the logs when they reached the ground. One, he thought, had remained on the inside rail; the other appeared to jump off. Narrowly watching the riband of steam from the pursuing train, Jack believed he detected a momentary diminution about the time when 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 the tail of the advancing train came into full view, the growing size of the carriage-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 would be absolutely necessary, and in a short colloquy with Wang Shih when he returned from throwing the logs on the track he had arranged what should be done. Immediately on the stoppage of the train twelve men were to engage the station staff and destroy the telegraphic instruments; ten were to tear up the rails behind the train, and, if possible, bring some sleepers on board; four were to cut the telegraph wire, and twenty to load wood from the station stock on to the nearest carriage. In the meanwhile he himself, with the assistance of the man acting as fireman and others riding on the engine, would take in a supply of water from the tank.
The train rattled into the station. In his anxiety Jack found that he had shut off steam too late; the engine ran some yards beyond the water-tower. As he had already found at Imien-po, it was not easy to the amateur to bring a train to a stand-still at a given spot. But although the greater part of the train had run beyond the platform, the Chunchuses, who were standing ready with the doors open, swung themselves out, and before the gaping officials were aware of what was happening they were disarmed and helpless. Not for the first time had Jack reason to be glad that his men were the pick of Ah Lum's band, and a standing proof of the efficacy of discipline with the Chinese.
While Jack was backing the engine to the tank the work of ripping up the track and demolishing the wire had already been begun, and a string of men were hauling timber into the nearest carriage. But before the supply of water was fully replenished Jack had to blow his whistle to recall the various parties; the pursuer was drawing perilously near. The train moved off before all the men were in their places; the last of them running along the platform and being helped in by his comrades. Up came the second train; again it had to halt before the gap, and the driver, being at the other end, was compelled for safety's sake to reduce speed earlier than he would have done had he been able to judge the distance more exactly. But this time the gap was shorter; the time required to restore the line would be correspondingly less. Yet Jack had gained one advantage; knowing that the enemy's water supply, like his own, must have run low, he had brought the station hose away with him, and he looked at it with grim satisfaction, lying coiled at the rear of the tender.
As Jack's engine, Alexander the Second, gained impetus and charged up the gradient towards the hills looming in the distance, it was followed by a dropping fire from the pursuing train: some of Lieutenant Potugin's men had climbed to the roof of the stationary carriages. Whether any of the bullets struck the train was doubtful; no harm was done; and in the excitement of the moment the idea of firing rifles seemed almost as childish as shooting at the moon. Nothing less than a siege-gun would have appeared formidable in the circumstances.
The brigands' last cutting of the line and the removal of the hose had evidently gained several minutes for the fugitive, for many miles had been covered before the smoke of the pursuer was again seen. With so considerable a start Jack felt it safe to pull up once more and try a device that had occurred to him. His engine was at the summit of a long descent where the line curved. Hitherto his track-breakers had forced up both the rails, but the curve was here so sharp that he thought he might save time by having only one rail lifted, hoping that the partial gap might not be seen by the enemy until it was too late to do more than check the train, which would in all probability be derailed. An alternative plan suggested itself, only to be dismissed. It was to remove the rail, and then replace it without the bolts. The pursuer would then rush on at full speed expecting no danger; the train would be hurled from the track, and probably all on board would be killed or injured. But even in the heat of the moment, and with the knowledge that if he were caught he could expect no mercy from the Russians, Jack could not bring himself to compass such wholesale destruction. "Play the game": the phrase of the school song stuck to him. His purpose would be amply served by the mere derailment of the train, the speed of which 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 the single rail was removed and flung over the embankment, he again crowded on steam, his mind was occupied rather with the question of what should be done at the next station than with the prospect of further difficulties with his dogged pursuer. He was now approaching the place in the hills to which Ah Lum was to advance by forced marches, and whence he was to be prepared to dash across the line on receiving a message that the scheme had succeeded. Jack had already selected his messenger; the man was clinging to the rail of the engine, and only awaited the word to spring during a temporary slackening of speed and plunge into the hills.
The chosen spot lay between Pei-su-ho and Kao-ling-tzü, and had been minutely described by Ah Lum. Jack was glad that his anxieties appeared to be over, for the country flashed by so rapidly that he ran the risk of over-shooting the mark unless he could keep a good look-out. He was narrowly watching for the opening on his right when Hi Lo suddenly drew his attention westward. With greater alarm than he had yet felt, even when he first caught sight of the pursuer, he saw, scarcely a mile and a half behind him, the relentless enemy leaping along in his wake. He was half-way up a steep incline; the second train was rushing with wholly reckless speed down a steep straight gradient on which Jack, no longer fearing pursuit, had thought it desirable to clap on the brakes. All notion of going cautiously must now be abandoned. Amazed at the failure of his last effort to delay the pursuer, Jack set his men with desperate energy to pile up the furnace to its utmost capacity; and when he topped the hill, and the enemy was just beginning the ascent, he let the engine go at its own pace down the opposite side. He and his men had to hold on with both hands as they rounded another sharp curve; the wheels on the inside seemed to be raised from the track, the train keeping the rails only by the grip of the outside wheels. Jack held his breath as the panting engine plunged along; would it come safely on to the straight? Even in the excitement of the moment he solved as in a flash the mystery of the pursuers' escape from derailment, and he could have beaten his head for his thoughtlessness. The rail that had been lifted was an inside rail; rounding a curve the weight of a train going at speed is always thrown on the outer rail, which is raised above the level of the other. Either designedly or by accident the pursuing train had passed at full speed over the gap, its very speed proving its salvation.
Although there were many ups and downs, the general trend of the line was still chiefly on the up grade, and Jack found that while the enemy made as good timing as himself down the slopes, their more powerful engine gained rapidly wherever the track began to rise. As mile after mile was passed, the huts of the line guards at intervals of ten versts seeming like the milestones on an ordinary journey, the space between the two trains steadily diminished. Every now and again the pursuer was lost to view; but whenever it next came in sight it was always perceptibly nearer. The noble Alexander the Second rattled and groaned like a creature in pain; the working parts were smoking; some of the bearings were melting, and Jack dared not risk the perils of oiling. He knew that he was getting out of it every ounce of which it was capable, unless indeed he adopted the desperate expedient of screwing down the safety-valve, from which a dense cloud of steam was escaping. He glanced at the gauge—13 atmospheres; then his eye went backwards along the track—the pursuer was still gaining; he turned to look ahead, there was a long steep ascent to be climbed. The pace lessened to an alarming extent: puffing, panting, creaking, the engine toiled up a hillside on which the track could be seen rising for at least two miles. He must risk it.
Three minutes later, the valve now screwed down, he again glanced at the gauge—14 atmospheres. Bursting pressure, Jack knew, was calculated at five or six times the working pressure; but the Alexander the Second was an old engine, he doubted whether her boilers would stand anything like this strain.
For a time Jack's train drew away; but the gain was only temporary; the pursuers, he guessed, must have adopted the same desperate expedient. Gradually they crept up, while Jack alternately watched them and the track ahead, and the gauge, which now registered 15 atmospheres—the limit which it was constructed to indicate. Beyond this point he had no means of knowing how the pressure was increasing. The rapidity of his thoughts seemed to keep pace with the tremendous speed at which he was travelling. His mind worked with marvellous clearness; the minutes seemed like hours; he even found himself speculating which of the three risks was the greatest—derailment, capture by the Russians, or the imminent explosion of the boiler.
To look for the spot chosen for the despatch of his messenger was out of the question; it had probably been already passed. Jack felt that he had 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 track when at his order Wang Shih, at the risk of his life, uncoupled the rearmost of the three carriages. For a short distance it followed the rest; then it stopped, and began to run back at a pace that threatened to telescope at least one carriage of the oncoming train. A turn in the track hid both the detached carriage and the pursuer from sight; Jack listened with a beating heart for the sound of the collision, which he felt 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 at considerably higher speed. At one moment he thought he heard the expected crash, and it seemed that the move had been successful, for when next he obtained a fair view of the line behind, the enemy was not in sight. Alternating between compunction and elation, he ventured, the line being more level, to reduce speed until it was safe to drop his messenger, who must perforce find his way to Ah Lum. But the man had barely left the track when, to Jack's amazement, the indomitable pursuer reappeared. A glance showed him that it was pushing the discarded carriage before it. His move had been detected, probably before the cast-off carriage began its backward journey; the pursuing engine had been able to reverse in time; chased and overtaken by the runaway carriage, the train had no doubt been badly bumped, but not with force enough to cause any serious damage. Now, to all appearance, it was following the quarry at the same breakneck pace as before. Jack felt a glow of admiration for the wary Russians, who showed themselves so intent 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 by yard. He knew that the pressure must now be enormous; would the boilers stand the strain? Yet in spite of all he was steadily being overhauled. Yard by yard the gap lessened. Nothing but an accident could now prevent him from being overtaken; his only course seemed to be to stop before the enemy was too close, reverse his engine, and with his men take to the hills. But then he reflected with a kind of agony that the task he had set himself was even yet only half done. There was no longer, 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 time to check the Chunchuses before they got across the railway; and if they were once checked, the forces behind would at once close in and crush them. While, therefore, the slightest hope remained, Jack resolved to cling to his train; but he gave his men orders to jump clear at a moment's notice. They must now be very near to Kao-ling-tzü: if they failed to cut the line there the race was clearly run, for a warning would certainly be flashed over the wire to the next station at Han-ta-ho-tzü, giving ample time for preparations to be made to meet him. He was in a bath of sweat; his throat was parched; his limbs were trembling; but collecting all his forces, he watched the gauge and grasped the lever.
There remained, he clearly saw, one small chance, and only one. If there happened to be a train at Kao-ling-tzü side-tracked in obedience to his instructions, it might be possible—how long would it take?—to interpose 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 the rearmost carriage, and crowding the whole of his men and the two prisoners into the single carriage in front. The enemy had all along shown himself so alert that he would doubtless be on the look-out for such a move; there was no longer any likelihood that it would end the chase; but at least it would check the pursuer's progress, forcing him to 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 having been quickly effected, Wang Shih broke the couplings and left the saloon solitary upon the line. Looking with blood-shot eyes ahead, Jack saw—and his labouring heart leapt at the sight—not one, as he had hoped, but two trains, one behind the other, completely filling a siding, where they were halted to allow General Bekovitch's expected train to pass.
But the same glance that gave Jack such elation showed him that he had to deal with perhaps the greatest danger he had yet encountered. He had intended to follow the same plan that had proved successful at the other stations: 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, and excited by the urgent messages received along the wire, not only the station officials were waiting, but a considerable number of workers on the railway, Russian riflemen, and Chinese passengers. These, together with the attendants of the standing passenger train, were massed upon the platform. They formed so numerous a crowd that it would tax all the energies of the Chunchuses to deal with them; there might be a prolonged fight, and, even if it ended in a victory for the brigands, so much time would have been consumed that the pursuers must arrive before anything could be done to stop their progress. It was a moment when many a man might have despaired. But Jack was not made of the stuff that yields. As his engine plunged along towards the station he conceived an alternative plan; it would test his nerve and self-command to the uttermost; but it might succeed by its very audacity.
Passing the word to his men that they were to remain in the carriage and hold their revolvers ready in case an attack was made, he halted the engine with a jerk a yard beyond the spot where the station-master was standing. He sprang to the platform, clutched the astonished official by the 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 a train in the possession of the enemy. General Bekovitch is laid up. We have done our best to check the pursuit, but they'll be upon us in a few minutes. 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 take the responsibility."
As Jack had hoped, the suddenness and unexpectedness of the news, and the urgency of his manner, bereft the station-master of all power of independent thought. He hurried along the platform, shoving aside all who stood in his path, every man in the crowd looking on with wonderment. He sprang on to the line, with his own hands uncoupled the engine, signalled for the points to be closed, and ordered the driver to send it ahead at full speed.
"Two minutes saved!" thought Jack, as the engine started. But he could not 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. You must empty the passenger train, and then push it along with the goods engine. It would be well to throw a carriage or two off the rails at the points. Anything to block the line."
"Certainly, your nobility," said the station-master. "It is the only way."
They were now on the track between the waiting train and Jack's. Many of the passengers had their heads out of the windows, wondering what was going on. Waving his arms, the station-master summoned them in urgent tones to alight.
"I'll now push on," said Jack. "Do your best, nichalnik; remember how much depends on you."
He walked rapidly along between the trains to reach his engine. Passengers, anxious, wonder-struck, were already leaving the train. One of them, a Russian army doctor, stopped Jack and asked what was the matter.
"Train behind in possession of the enemy," returned Jack laconically.
"Bozhe moï!" ejaculated the doctor, drawing his revolver and making for the platform.
Jack passed on, not venturing to delay even long enough to assist a lady, 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 much inclined to take to his heels as then. He could hardly believe he had heard aright; yet amid the bustle now filling the station he had caught the whisper of his name. On a sudden impulse he swung round.
"Monsieur Brown," said Gabriele Walewska, running up to him, "I have news for you: I have something to show you."
"Come with me, Mademoiselle," said Jack instantly. "I haven't a minute to lose."
"But Masha is here; I cannot leave her."
"For heaven's sake, Mademoiselle, climb up into this carriage. I will fetch Masha."
With anxiety tearing at his heart Jack hurried back down the train. He saw Gabriele's old nurse at the door of a carriage; she was almost the only passenger who had not yet alighted.
"Spring into my arms," he said, forgetting that she knew no tongue but Polish. But his outstretched arms spoke for him. The woman jumped clumsily; but Jack kept his feet, and, straining his muscles, he carried the burden, as rapidly as he could stagger, to his own train. Gabriele's hands were ready to help the woman; with an unceremonious heave Jack pushed her into the carriage. Then he ran to his engine, swung himself up, and pressed the lever just as the empty passenger train moved off in the other direction. Before he had run a hundred yards he heard a crash behind. Glancing back, he saw that the first carriage had jumped the points, ploughed up the permanent way, and overturned. One after another the other carriages followed; and in a brief minute there was a pile of wrecked trucks and coaches in inextricable confusion across the rails.
Jack had not time to give a second thought to Gabriele. He was again urging Alexander the Second along at full speed. He must run to within a few miles of the next station, and lift enough rails to delay for some hours any train despatched from the direction of Ninguta. Twenty minutes brought him to a likely spot—a high culvert over a brawling hill stream. Employing the whole strength of his detachment in the work, he lifted fifty yards of the track and flung the rails and sleepers into the stream's rocky bed.
"At last!" he exclaimed. The load of anxiety he had borne for over two hours was gone. From the place where he had wrecked the bridge nearly a hundred miles westward to the spot where he now stood, traffic on the Siberian railway was hopelessly blocked.
CHAPTER XXVI
A Double Quest
Gabriele's Story—A Hasty Word—Lex Talionis—Bribery and Corruption—Cause and Effect—The Natural Man—The Filial Obligation—The Choice of Routes—A Fair Pleader—In the Circumstances—Improving the Occasion
Jack's part was done. The way had been cleared for the passage of the Chunchuses across the railway, and knowing Ah Lum's rapidity of movement he felt tolerably sure that the crossing might easily be made. He could now afford to think of his own safety. He determined to run the train back as near as he dared to Pei-su-ho, then to leave it standing on the line and make off in a northerly or north-westerly direction, trusting to join hands with Ah Lum at some distance north of the line. The railway guards were amazed to see the train running swiftly backwards; but, whatever their suspicions, they were powerless. Jack came to a stop between two of the block-houses; in a few minutes his men alighted with Bekovitch and Sowinski, Gabriele, and her nurse; and then Jack abandoned the noble Alexander the Second that had served him so well, and started on his northward march. Some distance above the line he instinctively turned for a last look. There was the short train, motionless on the rails, a derelict in a vast solitude. But it represented activities that had disorganized the whole traffic of the line for a hundred miles, nullified a military scheme, and saved hundreds of lives. It was not without a certain grim amusement Jack remembered that the final card in that game had been played by the Russians themselves. "I only hope the station-master won't be cashiered," he thought, as he turned his back upon the scene.
Not till now had he an opportunity of learning what strange fate had entrusted Gabriele to his care. Some time after he had left the missionary's house the girl, unable to endure the separation from her father, again ventured into Vladivostok. Acting on the knowledge that Jack had bribed a Russian official, she succeeded in persuading a colonist about to re-embark for Sakhalin to carry a letter from her to Count Walewski. She told him of her intentions, assuring him that in spite of her failure to gain permission to enter the island, she still meant to persevere. Several weeks later she received a reply, brought by the same man, who had crossed the sea in probably the last boat before the ports became ice-bound. It was addressed in a strange handwriting, and as she tore it open she was oppressed by the fear that her father was dead. But the first line of the letter, written in French, dispelled her anxiety. The count was ill in hospital, unable to write; but he had availed himself of the ready help of a fellow-prisoner—a political prisoner who had recently arrived in the island. He thanked his daughter for her affectionate solicitude, but pled with her to abandon her purpose: Sakhalin was no place for a woman; she would only suffer without alleviating his lot. As for himself, until the arrival of his new friend he had despaired of ever regaining his liberty. But the surprising news that the Japanese were winning victory after victory had sown a seed of hope. The prisoners on the island had been fed with lies by the officials, who reported constant victories for Russia. But the new-comer had thrown a fresh light on the war; he could not foresee its end: the Russians had still enormous powers of resistance; it was possible that the great fleet on its way eastward might break through to Vladivostok and change the aspect of things. Yet, if it should be defeated, the Japanese might capture Sakhalin; possibly the political prisoners would then be released if they had not been previously removed to the mainland. It was only a possibility, but sufficient to give new courage to a sorely-tried man.
Jack read all this himself, for Gabriele, immediately after explaining how the letter came into her possession, handed it to him. The writing was his father's. At the first moment he felt unutterable relief in finding that his father was alive; then rage burned within him as he saw before him, marching at some distance apart, each manacled to a Chunchuse, the two men whose villainy had sent Mr. Brown to the bleak "island of the dead". Gabriele noticed his look.
"I understand," she said. "But if your anger is great, how much greater is mine! Your father's persecutor is a Russian, a foreigner; my father was betrayed by one of his own countrymen,—one of his own house. The traitor there recognized me as I entered the saloon carriage; bound as he was, he shrank from me as though expecting that I would kill him."
"But he did not recognize you when he saw you at Father Mayenobe's?"
"No. But something must have put him on my track, for it is through him that I was a passenger on the train. I was arrested in Vladivostok and ordered to go back to Europe. He was with the soldiers who arrested me: in fact, he pointed me out to them. I do not know how he came to recognize me after all."
At the moment no explanation occurred to Jack, who indeed did not give a thought to it. But later he remembered that, on the well-remembered evening in Moukden when he had got the better of Sowinski, he had mentioned the man's true name, Streleszki. This had no doubt set the Pole wondering how Jack could have learnt his name; and the chain of incidents had led him to connect the disclosure with the European girl he had met at the missionary's. So that Jack's almost inadvertent explanation had ultimately led to this meeting with Gabriele at the station, and to the end of his long search for his father's whereabouts.
The party marched as rapidly as possible, rising gradually towards the barren hills. After two hours they stopped for a brief rest, and for the first time since his capture at Mao-shan General Bekovitch was within arm's-length of the Chunchuse leader. Jack wondered whether he would be recognized; but the change of costume, the hardening of his features and the development of his physique due to his active rigorous life, made him a different being from the lad whom Bekovitch had seen for five minutes at the Moukden railway-station. And the general was certainly not in such a calm and collected mood as might quicken his memory. He was indeed in a condition of boiling rage and indignation.
"Here, you—" he cried, seeing Jack so near to him. "Do you understand Russian?"
"Moderately well, sir."
His very voice had become more manly; its deeper tones did not awaken recollection.
"Then what do you mean, confound you! by treating a Russian general officer thus? What do you mean, I say? Do you know what you are doing? Made to tramp over these hills—fettered to a filthy Chinaman—why—why——"
The general could find no further words to express his indignation.
"Is it not the Russian custom to manacle prisoners?" asked Jack quietly.
The Russian's cheeks took a purple hue.
"An officer—a general! Do you know who I am, you—you——"
"You are General Bekovitch."
"Well—well—loose me at once, then; I insist on this indignity being removed; it is monstrous!"
"Possibly; but quite Russian. You are no worse treated than you treat your prisoners. If a Chunchuse, myself for instance, had fallen into your hands, what would have been his fate?"
The mild reasonableness of the Chunchuse's reply, together with his firm attitude, seemed to suggest to the general that he should try another tack.
"Come," he said, with sudden suavity, "I know you gentlemen; I suppose it is a matter of dollars. How much will you take to let me go?"
Jack looked at him.
"Say a thousand dollars—that's a very fair sum, more than you'd get in the ordinary way of your—business. Eh?"
"Yes: our business, as you call it, is certainly not profitable, but we do make a haul at times."
The general looked furious. Jack quietly continued:
"But you are making a mistake—you are treating me as you would a Russian and an official. I am merely a brigand—but we Chunchuses have our code. Dirty though he is, General Bekovitch, the man you are bound to has cleaner hands than you: he at least is an honest man according to his lights. It is he who should complain of contamination."
Bekovitch quivered with rage, but gulping down the indiscreet words his anger prompted he returned to the point.
"I could make you a rich man. I said a thousand dollars; come, I will make it two thousand. It will buy you a pardon, and an official post as well. Batiushki! no brigand ever had such a chance."
Jack laughed.
"We have our code, General Bekovitch, I repeat. There are some things bribery cannot effect. Your release just now is one of them. But for bribery you would not be here."
The general stared.
"What do you mean?"
"It is all very simple. If the Pole Sowinski yonder had not bribed you, General Bekovitch, you would not have conspired against Mr. Brown at Moukden, and you would not have needed to deport his son. If you had not deported his son, his son would not still be in Manchuria; and if he had not been in Manchuria he could not have captured you, General Bekovitch, and you need not have attempted to bribe him."
The general stared incredulously at the speaker. Then it was as though the Cossack uniform dropped away; as though the young man before him became again the lad he had been nine months before. The Russian recognized him at last, and his jaw fell.
"You see now," pursued Jack, "the double uselessness of offering bribes to me—as the son of Mr. Brown, and as an Englishman."
"What are you going to do with me?"
All the bluster, all the silkiness, was now gone; the general was anxious, almost suppliant.
"That I cannot say. You will be delivered to my chief, Mr. Ah. It is likely that you will be detained until my father is released. But I cannot answer for Mr. Ah. He is a Chinaman, with Chinese ideas. Much may depend on how my father has been treated."
Bekovitch became pale; his eyes looked anxiously around. Jack left him to his meditation. Passing the spot where Sowinski sat, manacled like Bekovitch, Jack noticed that the Pole's eyes met his with a hunted, terrified look. He had recognized his captor at once, and having also seen Gabriele he felt that he had to reckon with her as well; and his imagination of what he himself might do, were he in their place, shook him like the ague.
The march was resumed, and late in the day the party came in touch with Ah Lum's scouts. The meeting between Ah Lum and Jack was very warm.
"Never was captain so nobly served," said the grateful chief. "I was at my wits' end to escape the meshes of the net; and now not only have I escaped, but I hold in my power the man who was to ensnare me. Truly the poet Li T'ai-poh was right when he said, in hisApology for Friendship—
"'Never despair: the darkest Lot may mend;Call no Man lost that hath one faithful Friend'.
"'Never despair: the darkest Lot may mend;Call no Man lost that hath one faithful Friend'.
"'Never despair: the darkest Lot may mend;
Call no Man lost that hath one faithful Friend'.
You will find the works of Li T'ai-poh worthy of perusal, my honoured friend. They have been to me as a bright star to a wanderer in a dark night."
Jack thanked him for the recommendation; then changed the topic, and asked how the crossing of the line had been effected. He learnt that a slight skirmish had taken place at the line between the Chunchuses and the energetic pursuers of the train; but the Russians, being hopelessly outnumbered, had been compelled to retire with loss. Ah Lum in his turn was informed of the discovery of Mr. Brown's whereabouts.
"Nothing proceeds from the machinations of men," he said, "but the whole of our lives is planned by destiny."
"Yes, Mr. Ah, and destiny has willed that my father's persecutor and your hunter are the same man—the Russian general there."
"Ch'hoy! May his posterity be cut off! May the five thunders strike him dead! May the village constable attend to his remains! May he be born again as a hog! When we pitch our camp, I will cut out his tongue, fry him in a caldron of oil, rip——"
"Stay, stay, Mr. Ah!" cried Jack, aghast at this unwonted fury in his scholarly friend. "You forget that he is a European, and I am an Englishman; we don't do such things in my country."
"But it is an imperative duty. Your duty to your father demands that you should heap on the villain the direst curses, and inflict on him the most terrible torture."
"No, Mr. Ah, the books of our sages teach us differently. Besides, my father would not approve: he would most strongly disapprove."
This was a new aspect, and one that Ah Lum took time to consider.
"That alters the case," he at length reluctantly admitted. "A son may not act contrary to his father's wishes. What does the poet Tu Fu so beautifully say?—
"'Happy the Father, yea, and doubly blest,Whose Son, though absent, doeth his Behest'.
"'Happy the Father, yea, and doubly blest,Whose Son, though absent, doeth his Behest'.
"'Happy the Father, yea, and doubly blest,
Whose Son, though absent, doeth his Behest'.
Yes, it is a pity; but when inclination and the counsel of sages agree, there is but one course."
Considering that there would be plenty of time to levy a contribution on the settlement at Shih-tou-ho-tzü, Ah Lum sent back 200 men for the purpose of collecting supplies, and pushed on with the main body. A few hours later the detachment rejoined, with a number of carts containing useful stores of all kinds, and the march northward was resumed with all speed. One of the carts was appropriated to the use of Gabriele and her servant; but the former soon declared that she preferred to walk; the springless cart made riding anything but comfortable. The march was continued throughout the day. In the evening Ah Lum reached a spot far in the hills, where he might safely encamp.
Next morning Jack took the earliest opportunity of holding a consultation with the chief. It was his fixed intention to get if possible to Sakhalin; he knew his father was there: to rescue him ought not to be difficult. As a Chinaman Ah Lum confessed that he could not oppose an enterprise of such piety; but as a practical man he thought it his duty to mention the objections. He had never been to Sakhalin, but he understood that it was a terrible place, visited by fierce storms, buried for the greater part of the year under snow and ice, covered with thick forests, infested by wild beasts, wilder men, and even hideous dragons. By the many forms of exorcism employed for generations past in China, dragons had been driven out of the Celestial Kingdom; but they had crossed the sea and taken refuge, so Ah Lum had been informed, in the dreary wastes of Sakhalin.
Jack brushed all these objections aside. Seeing that he was firm, the chief carefully considered the best means of helping him. The strait between Siberia and Sakhalin was at this time of the year frozen over; the ice would not begin to break up for several weeks. The nearest point at which it could be crossed was at least 1500 li from the Chunchuses' present encampment, and not only would so long a journey be attended by many hardships, but Jack would be liable to arrest as soon as he came to any considerable Russian settlement. Jack at once said that he did not propose to make the long overland journey; his best plan would be to sail by junk from one of the Manchurian ports as soon as the coast was clear of ice. To go to Vladivostok was too risky; Possiet Bay was the nearest point, and the most promising in all respects. It was some hundreds of li distant, and there were high hills to be crossed; but Ah Lum offered to send with Jack a man who knew the country, and to issue orders to the headman of every important village, instructing him under pain of his severest displeasure and drastic penalties to do all in his power to forward the journey.
This having been settled, the question of the disposal of the prisoners arose.
"I am not one to mistake a village headman for the emperor," said the chief; "but fishes, though deep in the water, may be hooked, and I know I have a valuable fish in the Russian general. How many men think you a general is worth in exchanges?"
"That's a hard question, Mr. Ah. Some less than nothing: others an infinite amount."
"Then it will be a matter of long bargaining. As for the other man, he is of little account. The mule is always attended by a flea. The two men are companions: what does that prove? When the rat and the cat sleep together, be sure that the larder will be empty in the morning. As the fishmonger throws a sprat into the scale to make the salmon appear cheap, so will I deal with the Pole when I dispose of the Russian. But there is another point, my honoured friend; what is to become of these women whom Destiny has sent to trouble me?"
"Yes, that has troubled me, too. I must go and hear what they say."
Jack found Gabriele listening gravely to Ah Fu's recitation of the "May Queen".
"Mademoiselle, may I have a little serious talk with you? The chief is sadly perturbed about your presence here."
"Well, Monsieur Brown, it was your train that brought me. Seriously, I suppose I must go back to Father Mayenobeen routeto Sakhalin, for sooner or later I will get there—on that I am determined. They may deport me, but I shall always return.—What will you do yourself?—not remain a Chunchuse?"
"No, indeed. I am going to find my father."
"To Sakhalin?"
"Yes."
"Oh! Monsieur Brown, cannot I come too? I may never get such a chance again. My poor father! he has been there six years. Take me with you."
"But, Mademoiselle——"
"I am very strong, really I am. Did I not walk for six hours yesterday? I will not delay your march."
"But think of the difficulties—a long mountain journey to begin with, a voyage in a junk at one of the worst seasons of the year, the danger of being discovered and arrested at any moment, exposure, perhaps hunger——"
"I am not afraid. And surely it will be better for me to face these hardships in your company than alone!"
"Alone?"
"Yes, alone! I have as strong a motive as you; my father—oh! I cannot bear to think of him ill and wretched. I shall go to Sakhalin. If you will not take me, and do not give me up to the Russians, I shall tramp to the coast and cross on the ice—alone."
Jack hardly knew whether to be amused at the absurdity of such a venture, or to be impressed with the girl's determination. That she meant what she said he had not the slightest doubt.
"But what about Masha?"
"Poor old thing! She declares she will never leave me. And she is quite strong—stronger than I am, though she is getting on in years. We shall get through somehow; the Lord God will protect us."
In face of this spirit Jack felt helpless. It was arranged that Gabriele and the nurse should accompany him. Their destination was kept secret from the band, lest by any mischance it should leak out. A week afterwards, Jack took a cordial farewell of Ah Lum, asking him, if he had any news to communicate, to write to him at the care of the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank at Shanghai. The leave-taking was conducted with due solemnity. There was no question as to Ah Lum's sincerity of feeling. He was unfeignedly sorry to lose the lieutenant who had done him such yeoman service. When he had exhausted the resources of his language to express his gratitude, he spent a few minutes in bestowing fatherly counsel on Jack, drawing lavishly from his well of proverbial wisdom. Jack found the draught a trifle turgid, but otherwise the quality was excellent.
"Difficulty and danger," began the chief, folding his hands and looking benignly over the rims of his spectacles—"difficulty and danger teach us to know the value of friendship; at the same time they winnow the true from the false, even as a husbandman winnows the grain from the chaff. I may never see you again; take from me a few words of counsel, learnt as well from life as from the works of the poets and sages. What says Li T'ai-poh?—'A good rule of conduct is better than stout armour or a sharp sword'. When you are most happy, you should be most ready to meet misfortune. Extreme joy is but a sign of grief to come. In security, do not forget danger. Do not consider any vice as trivial, and therefore practise it; nor any virtue as unimportant, and therefore neglect it. Let your words be few, and your companions select. Inattention to minute actions will ultimately be prejudicial to a man's virtue. Past events are as clear as a mirror; the future as obscure as lacquer; yet, gazing into that mirror, I seem to see reflected a future of great prosperity, high office, and a numerous progeny. Heaviness and care will come upon you, as upon all men; at such periods the works of Li T'ai-poh will prove a well of refreshment, a mine of solace. I have no fears for you. As the sun's rays first gild the highest mountains, so the blessings of Heaven fall in richest measure upon the upright. You have shown yourself to be an excellent son: what says the poet Wang Wei in hisAddress to Posterity?—
"'To him who faithfully his Father's Will obeys,Heaven in its Bounty grants great Wealth and Length of Days'."
"'To him who faithfully his Father's Will obeys,Heaven in its Bounty grants great Wealth and Length of Days'."
"'To him who faithfully his Father's Will obeys,
Heaven in its Bounty grants great Wealth and Length of Days'."