[image]Map of Manchuria and part of SiberiaA train from Vladivostok was expected during the afternoon, and the composite train would leave for the west at nine o'clock. Jack went out with the majority of the passengers into the buffet, which is one of the admirable features of the Russian railway system, and ordered a good meal. Then he looked over some illustrated papers, making no attempt to leave the station, having noticed that he was still watched by one of the train attendants. Time hung heavily; he took a nap on one of the seats, and when he awoke found that the Vladivostok train had arrived, and the night train for the west was being made up. Strolling out with his bag, he showed his pass to an official, and by means of a liberal tip secured a sleeping compartment to himself. He explained with many yawns that, being tired out, he intended to turn in as soon as the train started, and asked the man to arrange his bed and lock him in. The attendant complied, and a few minutes later Jack noticed him in conversation with the man under whose watchful eyes he had been all day. The latter appeared satisfied and went away.The train was late in starting; a high personage, it seemed, was expected. Jack stood for some minutes at the door, watching the varied crowd on the platform Suddenly he heard cheers; the high personage had no doubt arrived. A warning bell rang; the officials called to the passengers to take their seats. Jack took off his coat in full view from the platform, then drew the curtain, opened his bag, and took from it, not a night costume, but a brush, a comb, and a collar. Then he turned off the light.But instead of throwing himself on his bed, he went to the opposite door of the compartment and tried it; as he expected, it was locked. He put on his coat, crammed into the pockets the articles he had taken from his bag, and from his vest pocket took one of the sticks he had been whittling on the way from Moukden. Leaning out of the window, he inserted it in the lock. The train was just beginning to move. Would this extemporized key serve? He turned it; the lock clicked; and the next moment he was on the foot-board. Silently closing the door he dropped to the ground, and ran alongside the moving train, stumbling and tripping over the rugged ballast. The pace quickened and the train began to distance him; but he made all the speed he could, and by the time the last carriage had passed him he found, to his relief, that he was beyond the station and in darkness. Dodging behind an engine-shed he clambered over a fence, left the railway, and set off to find the house of the compradore's brother.He had taken the precaution, before starting, to obtain very explicit directions, in order to save time, and to avoid the risk involved in asking questions. The Chinese part of the town is some three miles from the station, on lower ground near the river. The streets were abominably filthy; and by the time Jack reached the priestan or merchants' quarters he felt sadly in need of a bath. By following the compradore's instructions he found the grain store of which he was in search, though with some trouble. All the business premises in the neighbourhood were closed for the night; there were few people in the streets: the Chinaman as a rule barricades himself in his house at nightfall. Making sure by peering at the sign that he had come to the right house, Jack gently knocked at the door. It was opened by a Chinaman, whom Jack recognized by the light of the oil-lamp he carried as the compradore's brother."I am from Moukden, Mr. Hi," said Jack, "and have a note from your brother Mr. Hi An.""Come in," said the Chinaman at once, without any indication of surprise. Jack pulled off his dirty boots and followed him to a little back shop, where he had evidently just been engaged in brewing tea. He asked Jack to sit down, poured him out a dish of tea, and then waited with oriental patience to hear what his visitor had to say. Prising open the sole of one of his boots, Jack drew out the compradore's note. It bore only three Chinese characters, and said merely that Hi An wished his brother to give all possible assistance to the bearer. The Chinaman looked up with an expression of grave polite curiosity and still waited.The compradore having said that his brother could be thoroughly trusted, Jack explained to him, as simply and clearly as he could, the circumstances that had brought him to Harbin, and the object of his visit. When the Chinaman had heard the story, and learnt what was expected of him, he looked somewhat scared. He said that the Russians would inflict the most terrible punishments upon him if they discovered that he had sheltered and assisted a fugitive. He spoke of his terror of the Russian knout. But the Englishman might command him to do what he could. Had he not himself received benefits from Mr. Brown? Five years ago, he said, when he was on the verge of ruin, he had written to his brother the compradore for assistance. Hi An, a born gambler, like every Chinaman, had himself been speculating disastrously, and was unable to give any help. But he had appealed to Mr. Brown, who had at once advanced the sum required and set the grain merchant on his feet again. The loan had long since been repaid: in business transactions the Chinaman is the soul of honour: but he had never lost his feeling of gratitude; and his recollection of Mr. Brown's kindness, together with his brother's request, made him willing to run some risk on behalf of his benefactor's son.Jack talked long over the situation with his host. His object was to get to Vladivostok as soon as possible. Having no pass he could not travel openly, and when breakfast-time came next morning his absence from the Moscow train would be discovered, even if it were not found out before; the news would be telegraphed to Harbin, and there would instantly be a hue and cry. The Chinaman doubted whether this would be the case; the train officials would be too anxious to screen their own negligence. Still, it would be unsafe for Jack to remain in Harbin; as for himself, he saw no way of helping him."I must go by train," said Jack, "and secretly. Could I go hidden in a goods wagon?""That might be possible," said the Chinaman; "but goods trains are not fast; they are often delayed for hours and even days. The journey would take a week, and though you might carry food with you, you would have to leave your hiding-place for water, and you could not escape discovery.""Still, it may be that or nothing. Have you yourself any goods going in that direction?""No. My business is chiefly to supply fodder to the Russians, more especially for horses that are being sent south. I completed a large contract yesterday. One thing I can do. I can go to the station in the morning and learn what trains are expected to leave for Vladivostok. That is the first step. You will remain concealed in my house. You were not seen as you entered?""No. The street was clear.""Then nobody but my wife and myself need know that you are here. I will do what I can for you.""Thank you! And if it is a question of bribery, you need not be niggardly."The Chinaman smiled. He had not had dealings with Russian officials for nothing.Jack was provided with a couch for the night, and, being very tired after his long journey and the excitement of his escape, he soon fell asleep. About five o'clock he was awakened by the Chinaman's hurried entrance."It is all arranged, sir," he said, "but at a terrible price. A train conveying horses is to leave for Vladivostok at seven. The sergeant in charge is well known to me: I have had dealings with him. All Russians can be bribed; but this man—sir, he is an extortioner. Still, after what you said, I made the bargain with him. You give him at once twenty roubles; you arrive safely at Vladivostok and give him thirty roubles more. I tried to make him accept twenty-five for the second sum, but he refused."Jack could not help smiling at this naïve evidence of the oriental habit of bargaining. He felt that if he reached Vladivostok for fifty roubles he would have got off remarkably well."But how is it to be managed?" he asked."I gave him to understand, sir, that you are a foreign correspondent wishing to see Vladivostok, and that there is a delay in the forwarding of the necessary authorization. It was because you are a foreigner that the sergeant was so firm about the five roubles. He talked about the risk he ran, and said that you must leave the train some time before it arrives at Vladivostok and walk the rest of the way. He said, too, that if you should be discovered you were not to admit that he had any knowledge of your presence. I promised that you would do all this.""Very well. I am exceedingly obliged to you. But how am I to go? What will the sergeant do for twenty roubles?""He will give you a corner in a horse-box.""Does the train consist of nothing but horse-boxes?""Horse-boxes and the sergeant's van. You cannot go in that.""No. And how am I to get into the horse-box without being seen? There are sure to be soldiers and officials about."The Chinaman rubbed his hands slowly and pondered."If it had been yesterday," he said, "you might then have gone hidden in a hay-cart. But my last loads were delivered yesterday.""Who knows that?""The inspector of forage; perhaps others.""And is the inspector likely to be at the station this morning?""Not so early as seven; he is too fond of his bed for that.""Where is the train standing?""On a siding at some little distance from the station. You can drive straight up to it from the road through the goods entrance. But there is a sentry at the gate.""Well, Mr. Hi, I think I see a way to dodge the sentry, with your kind assistance. I suppose you have some hay or straw in your store?""Certainly.""Then if you will load up a wagon with several large bundles, and leave a hole for me in the middle, I think I can get to my place in the horse-box.""But you might be seen as you slip out.""We can lessen the risk of that. You can drive the wagon up to the horse-box as though bringing a final load that had been overlooked. I am covered by the bundles. You move them in such a way that the sides of the cart are well screened, at the same time leaving a passage for me. I ought to be able to slip into the box without being observed. And if you are willing I will chance it."The Chinaman agreed, and as the time was drawing near, and the earlier the plan was carried out the better, he went off to get his wagon loaded. Shortly after six the cumbrous vehicle was brought up as close as possible to a door giving into the yard of the store. Jack thanked Mr. Hi very warmly for his services, and begged him, if he should by any chance learn of Mr. Brown's whereabouts, to communicate with his brother in Moukden. Choosing a moment when nobody but the Chinaman and his wife was near, Jack slipped into the wagon, and was in a few moments effectually concealed by the bundles of hay. He found in the bottom of the cart a supply of food and a large water-bottle thoughtfully provided by his obliging host.Mr. Hi himself mounted to the bare board behind his oxen, grasped the rope reins in one hand and the long-thonged whip in the other, and drove off. Jack did not enjoy the drive, jolted over the vile roads, and half-choked by the full-scented hay. The wagon came to the gate of the goods entrance, and the Chinaman was challenged by the sentry. He pulled up, and with much deference explained that he had brought a last load of hay for the horses about to leave for Vladivostok, pointing at the same time to the long line of horse-boxes standing on the siding, about three hundred yards away. The sentry jerked his rifle over his shoulder and said nothing. Taking his silence for consent, the Chinaman lashed his oxen, and the wagon rumbled over the bumpy ground and two or three lines of metals until it reached the last carriage but one, next to the brake-van. The Chinaman jumped to the ground, backed the wagon against the door, and began to arrange his bundles as Jack had suggested. He whispered to Jack that nobody was near; and next moment a form much the colour of hay crept on all-fours out of the wagon into the van. Then Mr. Hi built up the hay with what was already in the vehicle, so as to conceal him and yet allow a little air-space near one of the small windows. There were three horses in the van. Though early morning, it was already close and stuffy, and Jack looked forward with anything but pleasure to the heat of mid-day and the prospect of many hours in this equine society.CHAPTER VA Deal in FlourVladivostok—Orloff—Russian Resentment—Large Profits—Quick Returns—Overreached—A Droshky Race—The Waverley—Captain Fraser—Sowinski comes Aboard—Sea Law—PourboireIt was two o'clock in the morning on the second day after Jack left Harbin. The train slowed down as it rounded a loop, and finally came to a stop. Jack was fast asleep in his corner of the horse-box. He was awakened by a touch on the shoulder."You get down here, sir.""Ah! Where are we, sergeant?""Four versts from Vladivostok.""That's well. And what sort of a night?""Fine, sir; but dark as pitch.""Thanks! Let me see; is it twenty-five roubles I owe you?""Thirty, sir, no less; more if you like.""Here you are. Have you got a match? Take care: a spark, you know! Count them; three ten-rouble notes. Now, how am I to get into the town?""The road's not far on the other side of the line.—Nobody is to know how you got here, sir.""I understand that. Many thanks! It has been a pretty rapid journey for Manchuria, I think.""Yes. Live stock comes next to the Viceroy. Horses are none the better for being jolted over three hundred miles of rail, so they've let us pass several goods trains on the way.""Any passenger trains allowed to pass us?""Not one.""Then I couldn't have got here sooner. Thanks again!"Jack dropped from the foot-board, ran down the embankment, and in a few minutes struck the high-road. He had not thought it necessary to explain to the sergeant that he knew the district. It was, as the Russian had said, very dark, but Jack made his way to a plantation near the road, through which he knew that a little stream ran. There he had a thorough wash, changed his collar, brushed and shook his clothes, and felt a different creature. Then he sat down on the moss-grown roots of an oak, and ate the Chinese cakes and dried fruit that remained from the stock of food given him by Hi Feng, the compradore's brother, washing it down with water from the brook. Dawn was breaking by the time he had finished his frugal breakfast, but it was useless to go into the town until the business houses opened. He therefore determined to remain in the secluded nook he had chosen, and sat there thinking of what lay before him.About eight o'clock he rose to continue his walk to the town. It was two years since he had last visited it, and he was struck by the progress it had made in the interval. Founded only forty years before, the city had grown very rapidly; but since the Russian occupation of Manchuria it had made giant strides. New hospitals and barracks had been erected; the surrounding hills, once decked with forest, but now treeless, were covered with immense forts and earthworks, at which vast gangs of coolies were still at work. The wooden shanties that formerly lined the shore had for the most part given place to more solid and imposing structures of brick and stone. Other signs of development caught Jack's eye as he walked towards the harbour; but he was too eager to complete his errand to dwell upon them, especially as he heard behind him in the distance the rumble of an approaching train. It overtook him just as he turned down one of the steep, narrow side streets leading to the office of his father's agent; and as he saw the long line of carriages, including several sleeping-cars, roll past, he could not but wonder whether Anton Sowinski was among the passengers, and hastened his steps.The office had just been opened for the day when he arrived. Alexey Petrovitch Orloff was a big, jovial Russian of some forty years; honest, or Mr. Brown would have had no dealings with him; a little greedy; a good business man, and on excellent terms with his principal. But Jack knew little about him outside their business transactions, and had made up his mind not to trust him with his secret."Ah, Ivan Ivanovitch!" exclaimed Orloff as Jack entered. "I was expecting you or your father. You came by the night train?""Yes. You must have been asleep when it arrived.""What sort of a journey had you?""It was very hot.""Yes, we have been baked here. When did you leave?""On Thursday.""A fairly quick journey, considering the state of the line. You left before my letter arrived?""Yes. Of course you guess the object of my visit?""The consignment of flour? You have had great luck, I must say; but Captain Fraser always is lucky. Of course his cargo was not contraband according to English ideas, but we Russians have been rather strict of late, and the Japanese will probably follow suit. However, Captain Fraser never saw a Japanese cruiser the whole voyage. It should be an excellent speculation for your father. Prices are naturally high just now.""That is good news. We shouldn't like to wind up with a failure.""Of course not. It is a pity your father is retiring; we are bound to win in the end; but I've no doubt he can well afford it. And I'm not the man to complain, if, as I hope, I can get hold of a part of his business. Perhaps he is wise after all. Manchuria is not the most comfortable country to live in—just now, at any rate; and I fancy an Englishman will have a poor time of it in Moukden, eh?" (He gave Jack a shrewd look.) "Your newspapers have so completely taken the side of the enemy.""Yes, there is a strong feeling at home in favour of Japan, and your people resent it. That's natural enough.""It's rather worse than that. People here are saying that Russia and England will be at war before a month's out.""Nonsense!""They say so. Our cruisers have stopped a P. and O. liner, theMalacca, in the Mediterranean, and put a prize crew on board. She was carrying contraband, it appears; but your fire-eaters—jingoes, is that the name?—are thirsting for our blood.""We don't all eat fire and drink blood, Alexey Petrovitch.""True. And you English will find you have backed the wrong horse.""You haven't been much troubled here, then?""No. The bombardment did us no harm. Our cruisers sank three Japanese transports the other day, and they captured another of your ships with contraband, theAllanton: you'll see her lying in the harbour now.""Well, it appears to be lucky for us that theWaverleywas, in a sense, on your side. About this consignment of flour: do you think you can find an immediate purchaser? We want to realize and get away at once."The Russian's eyes gleamed, but his reply was cautious."Well, Ivan Ivanovitch, it is always more difficult to sell in a hurry than if you can wait. A good profit can be made, but we must take our time. It is a matter of bargaining. The man in a hurry always suffers.""Yes, I know. We must be prepared to sacrifice something. At the market rate the flour ought to fetch about 27,000 roubles; but look here, if you can find an immediate purchaser at 25,000 I'll let it go."Orloff still hesitated, but Jack could see that he was making an effort to restrain his eagerness."In business," he said, "it is best to be frank. If you will give me my usual commission of two and a half per cent—what do you say to my taking over the stuff myself?"Jack smiled."I say that it pays very well to be principal and agent at the same time. But we won't quarrel about the commission. If you'll write me a cheque for 24,375 roubles, we'll call the matter settled. I've full authority to act."The Russian, looking as if he was sorry he had not improved the opportunity still further, sat down at once and made out the cheque, adding:"There will be one or two papers to sign. I will get them from the dockyard people.""Very well. In the meantime I'll pay this into the bank and call back as soon as I can.""What is the hurry? Business is slack, and I suppose I shan't see you again for a long time.""Probably not. But there's a ring at your telephone. Evidently someone wants to do business. I'll see you again shortly."Orloff was disposed to be talkative, but Jack was on thorns lest the train he had seen come in should have brought Sowinski. He had the cheque; while in the train he had taken the vouchers from the sole of his boot; he wondered whether he could complete his business at the bank before Sowinski, supposing him to be in Vladivostok, should come upon the scene. He hurried to the branch of the Russo-Chinese bank, where he was well known to the officials. Business there also was slack; the manager said indeed that trade in Vladivostok would be ruined if the war continued much longer. Within half an hour, Jack left the building with bills on Baring Brothers for the amount of the cheque and the sum represented by the vouchers, less 2000 roubles in notes which he kept for his immediate and contingent expenses.He hurried back to Orloff's office, keeping a wary eye on the people thronging the streets, among them many soldiers in thepashalik, their characteristic peaked cap. When he entered the room, Orloff flung down his pen and gave a shout of merriment."I must tell you the joke, Ivan Ivanovitch. Not five minutes after you left, who should come in but Sowinski!" Jack repressed a start. "He had happened to hear, he told me, that theWaverleyhad arrived with a consignment of flour for your father. Was I empowered to sell? Ha! ha! It was not a matter of much consequence, he said. Ha! ha! I know Sowinski. But, having a small contract to fulfil in a month's time at Harbin, he could do with the flour, if it was to be had cheap. 'Mr. Brown is leaving the country, I understand,' says he. Ha! ha!"Sowinski had evidently not told Orloff of the arrest. Jack wondered for a moment why. But the explanation at once suggested itself. If the fact were known, the consignment would no doubt be impounded by the Russian authorities in Vladivostok, and then the Pole would lose his chance of making a profitable deal."I assure you I was not eager," continued Orloff, still laughing. "Sowinski is no friend of mine. In the end he went down to the harbour, inspected the consignment, and bought it for 27,000 roubles, the market price, as you yourself mentioned.""Quick returns and by no means small profits," said Jack."Yes. But—ha! ha!—what makes me laugh is something else. I was rung up at the telephone—just as you went, you remember; two vessels had been signalled from the mouth of the harbour carrying flour—not a moderate consignment like yours, but a whole cargo each. You see, Ivan Ivanovitch? The market price of Sowinski's lot will fall in an hour to 20,000 roubles, and it serves him right. How your father will laugh when he learns how his rival has overreached himself! By the way, theWaverleyis sailing this morning, in ballast of course.""Indeed!" No information could have pleased Jack more. "Captain Fraser is an old friend of ours. I should like to see him.""Then you haven't much time to lose. But you may as well sign these papers to complete our little transaction—the last, I am sorry to say. You will be back again?""I am not sure. I am not staying in Vladivostok long, and I'll say good-bye in case I don't get time to run in again.""And when do you leave for home?""As soon as possible.""By the Trans-Siberian, I suppose?""Probably; unless we can get through the lines to Newchang.""That will be easy enough soon. Reinforcements are pouring in for General Kuropatkin, and he'll soon be strong enough to drive those waspish little yellow men into the sea.""Perhaps. Well, good-bye, Alexey Petrovitch!""Remember me to your father.""I will, the moment I see him. Good-bye!"Leaving the office Jack hailed a droshky, and ordered the man to drive down to the harbour. Knowing that Sowinski was actually in the town he felt insecure with such valuable property in his pocket. As he stepped into the vehicle he glanced round, and, forewarned though he was, he started when he saw, a few yards up the street, the man he was anxious to avoid hurrying in his direction. By the look on the Pole's face, and his quickened step, Jack knew that he had been recognized. It was touch and go now."Quick, my man!" he said quietly to the driver, "time presses."The man, scenting a tip, whipped up his horse, and it sprang forward, throwing Jack back into his seat. At the same moment he heard the Pole shouting behind; but his voice was at once drowned by the clatter of the wheels, and the droshky man, standing in the car, and driving with the usual recklessness of the Russian coachman, was too much occupied in avoiding the traffic to turn his head. Jack, however, a minute later looked cautiously over the back of the vehicle. Sowinski, with urgent gestures, was beckoning a droshky some distance up the street. He was now nearly a quarter of a mile behind; and, turning a corner, Jack lost him from sight. But the street he had now reached was a long straight one, leading direct to the shore, and almost clear of traffic. In a few seconds the pursuing droshky swung round the corner at a pace that left Jack amazed it did not overturn. To throw the Pole off the scent was impossible now; it was an open race. In two minutes Jack's droshky rattled down the incline to the shore. He had the fare and a handsome tip in readiness. Springing from the car almost before it had stopped, he paid the man, leapt down the steps into a sampan, and called to the burly Chinaman smoking in it:"The English shipWaverley! A rouble if you put me aboard quickly."The Chinaman looked stolidly up."She is about to sail, master. See! And they will not allow you on board. There are difficulties. The port officers——"Jack waited for no more. Taking a rouble note from his pocket, he cried:"Here is six times your fare; this or nothing!"At the same time he seized the yuloh,—the pole that does duty for a stern oar, and shoved off. There is nothing a Chinese coolie will not do for a rouble. The man sprang to the oar, worked its flat end backwards and forwards with all his strength, and sent the sampan over the water at a greater speed than its clumsy build seemed capable of. Jack kept his head low in order to be sheltered as long as possible by the shanties on shore and the sampans crowded at the water's edge; Sowinski, he felt, would not hesitate to take a shot at him. He could see the Pole spring from his droshky and rush at break-neck pace towards the waiting row of craft. He leapt into one, pointed Jack out to the coolie, and in a few moments started in pursuit.TheWaverleyhad left the inner harbour where merchant vessels drop anchor, and was steaming dead slow out to sea. The captain stood on the bridge, and the vessel hooted a farewell to the cruiserRurikthat lay in the middle of the channel. Suddenly Captain Fraser became aware that the voice sounding clear across the still water was hailing him. Glancing round, he saw a sampan making rapidly towards him from the shore, and in it a youth with one hand to his mouth, the other waving his hat. The captain first swore, then signalled half-speed ahead; it was some Russian formality, he supposed, and as a British sailor he'd be hanged if he delayed another moment for any foreign port officer. But next moment he heard his own name in an unmistakably English accent, and, looking more closely at the shouter, recognized him."Young Mr. Brown!" he muttered. "What's he wishing?"At the same time he jerked the indicator back to "stop", a bell tinkled below, and the vessel came to a stand-still."Ay, ay!" he shouted. "And be hanged if there isn't another man bawling. What's in the wind, anyway?"The first craft was soon alongside, a rope was heaved over, and in a few seconds Jack stood on deck."Pleased to see you, Mr. Brown," said the Captain. "Ay, and I wouldna have sto'ped for no ither man.""Thanks, Captain! I want your help." Jack spoke hurriedly; the second sampan was but a biscuit-shot distant. "The Russians have collared my father on a charge of spying for the Japanese; I don't know where he is; that fellow in the boat is at the bottom of it. I've managed to steal a march on him and sell the flour you landed the other day, and I want you to take charge of these bills and deposit them at the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank for me.""Eh, laddie, is that a fact? And what'll you do yersel' the now?""Oh, I'll stay and find my father. Here's Sowinski. I'm jolly glad I got here first."The other sampan was by this time under the vessel's quarter. A seaman came up to the captain."A furriner, sir, talking double Dutch.""Quay."He left the bridge and went to the side."What might you be wishing the now?" he said.Sowinski began to address him in very broken English, eked out with French and Russian."I'm no' what you might ca' a leenguist," said the Captain, after a patient hearing. "What'll he be meaning, Mr. Brown?""He says I'm a fugitive, and insists on your giving me up. If you don't, he'll have the boat stopped at the signal station, and you'll be heavily fined.""He's a terrible man, yon; there's nae doot about it. Just tell him to bide a wee, Mr. Brown, until you an' me has had a wee bit crack. Now, sir," he added in a lower tone, when this had been interpreted to the Pole, "hadn't ye better come wi' me now ye're aboard? If you go ashore you may be caught. I'm no sure but we'll be overhauled by a Russian cutter as we gang out, but I've no contraband aboard; in fact, I've run a cargo in for the Russians, an' well they know it. Your father may be half-way to Europe by this time; I canna see there'd be ony guid biding to look for him.""That's good of you, Captain, but I must stay. They say they've deported my father; but somehow I feel sure he is still in the country, and I shall try to hang on here by hook or crook till I find him.""Aweel; then the best thing will be to get yon terrible Turk aboard. Just ask him to step up, sir."As Sowinski was clambering up the side the captain signalled the engine-room to go ahead dead slow. He invited the Pole to join him on the bridge. Captain Fraser looked him critically up and down; then said blandly:"And is it a port officer I'm to understand you are, Mister?""A port officer! Not so. I am man of affairs, business man. But in name of his majesty ze Imperator I—I arrest zis young man.""Just exactly. But I beg your pardon, Mister—Mister—what?""Sowinski.""Just exactly. Well, then, Mr. Sowinski, do ye happen to have about ye a warrant for the arrest o' this young man in the name o' the Imperator, by which, I preshume, you mean the Czar? Where's your authority, man?"The Pole looked puzzled."Audority! I have no audority. But I tell you, zis young man is deported; he escape from arrestation; he——""Tuts! And you have the impidence to come aboard my ship: to haud me up, a British subject; to cause loss to my owners—to my owners, I say—without authority? I'll learn you, Mister, what it is to haud up a British ship without authority. Hi, Jim! lug this man below, and if he doesna behave himsel' just clap him under hatches."Sowinski, wriggling desperately, and volubly protesting in half a dozen languages, was bundled from the bridge."He's got the wrong sow by the lug in Duncan Fraser," said the captain, with a grim tightening of the lips. "I'll just tak' him along to Shanghai if the coast is clear, Mr. Brown, though I may have to drop him a few miles lower down if I see signs of any Russians being inqueesitive. And if you must go ashore, laddie, tak' a word frae me—keep out o' the road o' the Russians.""I'll be careful, Captain. When you get to Shanghai you'll tell our consul all about it, and ask him to wire to England? The newspapers will take it up, and I should think Lord Lansdowne will make official enquiries at St. Petersburg.""Ay, I'll do what I can. You're quite determined to bide?""Oh yes! And another thing, Captain: I think, if you don't mind, you'd better let my mother know; she expects us home, and not hearing, would be alarmed. Tell her not to worry; it's sure to come all right in the end.""Ay, I'll do that. I never heard the like o't. What the ballachulish will the Russians be doing next! I needna say I wish ye good luck, sir. Will you take a wee drappie?""Not to-day, Captain, many thanks all the same! A pleasant voyage to you!"Both sampans had kept pace with the steamer; the coolies were beginning to be anxious about their fares. Jack bade his friend the captain a cordial farewell; the vessel stopped; and, dropping into his sampan, Jack ordered the man to put him ashore at the nearest point. Within a yard of the shore the Chinaman brought the punt to a stop and demanded two roubles."But the bargain was one.""I did not know, Master. I do not risk offending the Russians for a rouble. Give two, or I will not let you land."He looked at Jack with victorious malice in his beady black eyes. For a moment Jack hesitated; he did not wish to have an altercation with the man; at the same time he objected to be "done". He stood up in the sampan and drew a bundle of notes from his pocket. Selecting one, he folded it; then, flinging it to the coolie, he sprang suddenly overboard, giving the sampan a kick which sent it backwards. The man also had risen; the sudden movement made him lose his balance, and he fell over the yuloh into the water. Jack quietly walked away. As he did so he heard loud laughter on his left hand. Turning, he saw that the incident had been witnessed by two Russian officers who had been walking towards the mouth of the harbour. Knowing the ways of the Chinese coolie, they were much amused at the readiness with which Jack had disposed of the boatman. One of them shouted "Well done!" in Russian. Jack smiled, and replied with a couple of words in the same tongue; then hurried on, thanking his stars that the matter had ended so well.CHAPTER VIIn Full CryIn Chinatown—A Deal in Horseflesh—North and by East—A Korean Host—Across the Line—Buriats—Father Mayenube—Gabriele—A Shot—Hard Pressed—In Hiding—Suggestio FalsiJack's business in Vladivostok was now completed. He had secured the last of his father's property; bills representing several thousands of pounds were in the safe hands of Captain Fraser, soon to be confided to the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank. So far his task had been unexpectedly easy; his difficulties, he felt, were now to begin. During the long journey from Harbin he had spent hours endeavouring to think out a plan to adopt if his secret visit to Vladivostok proved successful. By hook or crook he must get back to Moukden and learn the result of the compradore's enquiries; the question was, how? The return journey would be attended by many difficulties; even if he should reach Moukden in safety it would only be to find himself encompassed by danger. Yet he saw no other chance of tracing his father, and whatever the risks and perils, he felt that his duty called him to face them.The first thing, then, was to make his way back to Moukden. To return by the railway was out of the question. He dared not go openly, and he knew no one in Vladivostok whom he could trust to negotiate for a clandestine passage. His only course was to slip away, gain the Manchurian frontier, and cross the Shan-yan-alin range of mountains—a long and difficult journey at the best, and in the present circumstances hazardous in the extreme. If he evaded the Russians in and around Vladivostok he would still be exposed to capture by Chinese bandits, to say nothing of the tenfold risks as he neared his journey's end.His difficulties were intensified by the desperately short notice at which he must now quit Vladivostok. Sowinski, furious at being outwitted in the matter of the bills, would be goaded to madness by his detention on board theWaverley, and as Captain Fraser would probably consider it prudent to put him ashore at no great distance, it might not be long before he telephoned to head-quarters and thus raised the hue and cry in Vladivostok itself. To the natives Jack might easily pass for a Russian; carefully made up, he might, with his smattering of Chinese, be taken by the Russians for a native. But there was no time for such preparations; and a Russian policeman on the hunt for an Englishman, with the Pole's description of him, must be an exceptionally incompetent member of his class if he failed to recognize the fugitive. Speed was thus the first essential.Hurrying up from the shore he made up his mind what to do. Fortunately he was in the Chinese quarter of the town; it was the part of prudence to avoid the Russian settlement on the hill. He remembered a Chinese horse-dealer with whom Mr. Brown had done business when he lived in the town years before. The Chinese had altered less than the official city, and he thought he could find his way to the merchant's house. Taking his bearings, he walked rapidly through several streets, and found to his delight that his recollection had not failed him. The horse-dealer was at home; he did not recognize Jack, who was a boy of eleven when his transactions with Mr. Brown had taken place; but he well remembered the English merchant. And when he learnt that Jack wished to purchase a pony he rubbed his hands together and led him at once to the stables to view the stock. They were a weedy lot, like most of the native animals. Jack was careful to show no haste or eagerness; he looked them over critically, rejected one after another in spite of all the flowery things the Chinaman found to say in their favour, and finally refused to buy. As he expected, the merchant then managed to find a better beast—a beautiful little Transbaikal pony, sturdy, well-made, and evidently full of mettle. Jack could not have wished for a better animal; but, experienced in the ways of Chinese business men, he gave no sign of his approval. The merchant quoted a price; Jack hemmed, hesitated—he knew better than to close at once; and then offered half. Eager as he was to get away, he patiently chaffered for nearly an hour; then, when the Chinaman was beginning to think he had lost his customer, Jack suddenly closed with the last offer, and the pony became his at two-thirds of the price first asked. The purchase of a saddle did not take so long; and when he rode off, both dealer and customer were equally pleased.In the street Jack stopped a young Chinese boy and sent him to a purveyor's shop for a small supply of portable food. The messenger returned with some dried fish and stale cakes of potato-rice, all he could procure. With this tied behind his saddle Jack set off. It was an anxious moment when he passed a brown-coated Cossack policeman, and a little farther on he gave a jump when a squadron of Cossacks swung round the corner of the street. But they rode on without giving him more than a casual glance. Not daring to hasten, he slowly made his way through the city and out into the country. It was still only eleven o'clock; he had nine or ten hours of daylight before him, and though the pony was somewhat soft for want of exercise, it was no doubt good for thirty miles at a pinch.Vladivostok stands at the end of a narrow peninsula, with the Amur Bay running for several miles into the land on the west, and the Ussuri Bay on the east. To gain the Manchurian frontier Jack would have to ride northwards, cross the railway at the head of the Amur Bay or beyond, and then turn to the south-west. It was obviously unsafe for him to ride parallel with the railway line, for his escape, if discovered, would no doubt be telegraphed ahead, and the road would be watched, especially in the neighbourhood of the stations. His best course, therefore, would be to strike up eastwards towards the head of the Ussuri Bay, away from his ultimate destination, and trust to luck to find a hill-path leading back that would enable him to cross the line somewhere between the head of the Amur Bay and the garrison town of Nikolskoye. His way led through the plantation where he had made his toilet early that morning, then to the right towards the hills.Though Vladivostok itself has sprung up with marvellous rapidity, the country is as yet sparsely peopled. At one time the town was closely surrounded by magnificent woods; but the axe of the lumberman has been busy, and the same work of deforesting that has robbed the town of picturesqueness is now being pursued inland. One of the few people Jack met along the unfrequented road he had chosen was a Russian colonist riding behind a cart laden with pine logs and driven by a coolie. Jack threw him a friendly "Good morning!" as he passed, and received a feeling "Very hot, barin" in return. It was indeed hot; the almost naked Korean labourers in the fields were streaming with sweat; and Jack was glad to halt at a little brook to refresh himself and his beast.After riding for some three hours, and covering, as he guessed, about eighteen miles, almost entirely uphill, he saw the sea below him on the right, and the far coast-line running to all appearance due south. This must be Ussuri Bay. He had evidently come far enough east; it was time to change his course to the north-west. Swinging round, he had not ridden far before he came to a small farm, the house surrounded, like all Chinese isolated country buildings, with a mud wall. His pony required food, and though he felt some misgivings he thought this too good an opportunity to be neglected. He rode up. The owner, he found, was a Korean; Jack did not speak Korean; but by the help of Chinese and pidgin Russian he succeeded in making the man understand what he wanted. He then asked how far it was to Nikolskoye, and learning that it was thirty versts, roughly twenty miles, he decided to give his pony a good rest and start again about six o'clock, so that darkness would have fallen by the time he came to the neighbourhood of the railway. Having seen that the animal was rubbed down and provided with a good feed of hay, he joined the farmer in a game ofwei-ch'i, a difficult variant of chess, and with this and a slow laborious conversation, in the course of which his host expounded his hazy ideas of the war, he managed to get through the hot afternoon.Soon after six he set off again. The way was mainly downhill now, and easier riding. About nine o'clock he saw in the gloaming a little settlement ahead, and beyond it the hexagonal water-tower and timbered store-house of the typical Siberian railway-station, but on a small scale. The path he was following led direct to the hamlet, and the sight of several small knots of people at that hour of the evening showed that a train would shortly be passing; the peasants have not yet lost their curiosity about the iron horse. He thought it well to avoid observation by leaving the track—road it could not be called—and striking across a bean-field. Making a wide sweep he came to the railway some three versts north of the station. He rode very cautiously as he approached the line, tied his pony to a tree, and scouted ahead to make sure that the line rifle guard, whose hut might be expected a few versts beyond, was not in sight. Suddenly he heard the distant rumble of a train—the night train for Harbin. In a moment he saw that the passage of the train would give him an opportunity of crossing the line unobserved. He went back to his pony, led it as near as he dared to the embankment, and waited.The engine came snorting along at a fair pace, the fire throwing a glow upon the darkling sky. The train clattered by. Immediately after the last carriage had passed, Jack mounted the embankment, dragging his pony, crossed the single line, and descended on the other side.With a lighter heart he got into the saddle again, and rode his excellent little steed across the fields in the hope of ere long striking a road. Pursuit would be difficult in the darkness; the greatest danger was to be expected with daylight, and it was very necessary that he should put as many miles as possible between himself and the railway before dawn. His course must be mainly south-west; the nearest town of any size was Hun-chun, some sixty miles in that direction; but having a vague idea that the Russians had erected a fort there, he had already made up his mind to avoid that town itself. Four or five hundred miles and countless perils lay between him and Moukden; but with the hopefulness of youth he rode confidently on. Danger and difficulty were only incentives to caution; if he anticipated them, it was merely that, being prepared, he might be the more ready to grapple with and overcome them. Ever present in his mind was the belief that his father's fate hung upon the success of his enterprise.Coming by and by to a rough track between the fields, he followed it until past midnight. Then, feeling that his pony could do no more, and being unable in the darkness to guide himself by the little compass he wore on his watch-chain, he left the track, rode into a plantation to the right, off-saddled, and, hitching the bridle to a tree, threw himself on the ground and fell asleep.During the short hours of darkness his slumbers were disturbed by dreams. Sowinski, Orloff, Monsieur Brin, the Chinese horse-dealer—all figured in a strange phantasmagoria. Monsieur Brin had lost his pass, and was shedding tears because he could not tear the red brassard from his arm, when Jack awoke with a start. Looking at his watch he found it was five o'clock. He must be up and away. He ate the last of his food; the pony had already made a meal of the shoots of creeping plants; then, with the instinct born of his fugitive condition, Jack approached the edge of the plantation to spy out the country. Before him, not many yards away, was a narrow river; behind—he gave a great start, for little more than half a mile distant he saw a troop of Russian horsemen trotting smartly along the road towards him. They might be going, of course, to Possiet Bay, or Novo Kiewsk, or the Korean frontier. But he noticed at a second glance that the leading man was bending low in his saddle, as though following a trail. He distinguished their uniform now; they were Buriats, Mongols by race and Buddhists by religion, hard riders, excellent scouts, the most reckless and daring of the Russian cavalry. Without a moment's hesitation he went back to his pony, snatched from the ground the saddle that had formed his pillow, threw it over the animal's back, and, tightening the girths with hands that shook in spite of himself, he plunged with the pony into the thickest part of the plantation.
[image]Map of Manchuria and part of Siberia
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Map of Manchuria and part of Siberia
A train from Vladivostok was expected during the afternoon, and the composite train would leave for the west at nine o'clock. Jack went out with the majority of the passengers into the buffet, which is one of the admirable features of the Russian railway system, and ordered a good meal. Then he looked over some illustrated papers, making no attempt to leave the station, having noticed that he was still watched by one of the train attendants. Time hung heavily; he took a nap on one of the seats, and when he awoke found that the Vladivostok train had arrived, and the night train for the west was being made up. Strolling out with his bag, he showed his pass to an official, and by means of a liberal tip secured a sleeping compartment to himself. He explained with many yawns that, being tired out, he intended to turn in as soon as the train started, and asked the man to arrange his bed and lock him in. The attendant complied, and a few minutes later Jack noticed him in conversation with the man under whose watchful eyes he had been all day. The latter appeared satisfied and went away.
The train was late in starting; a high personage, it seemed, was expected. Jack stood for some minutes at the door, watching the varied crowd on the platform Suddenly he heard cheers; the high personage had no doubt arrived. A warning bell rang; the officials called to the passengers to take their seats. Jack took off his coat in full view from the platform, then drew the curtain, opened his bag, and took from it, not a night costume, but a brush, a comb, and a collar. Then he turned off the light.
But instead of throwing himself on his bed, he went to the opposite door of the compartment and tried it; as he expected, it was locked. He put on his coat, crammed into the pockets the articles he had taken from his bag, and from his vest pocket took one of the sticks he had been whittling on the way from Moukden. Leaning out of the window, he inserted it in the lock. The train was just beginning to move. Would this extemporized key serve? He turned it; the lock clicked; and the next moment he was on the foot-board. Silently closing the door he dropped to the ground, and ran alongside the moving train, stumbling and tripping over the rugged ballast. The pace quickened and the train began to distance him; but he made all the speed he could, and by the time the last carriage had passed him he found, to his relief, that he was beyond the station and in darkness. Dodging behind an engine-shed he clambered over a fence, left the railway, and set off to find the house of the compradore's brother.
He had taken the precaution, before starting, to obtain very explicit directions, in order to save time, and to avoid the risk involved in asking questions. The Chinese part of the town is some three miles from the station, on lower ground near the river. The streets were abominably filthy; and by the time Jack reached the priestan or merchants' quarters he felt sadly in need of a bath. By following the compradore's instructions he found the grain store of which he was in search, though with some trouble. All the business premises in the neighbourhood were closed for the night; there were few people in the streets: the Chinaman as a rule barricades himself in his house at nightfall. Making sure by peering at the sign that he had come to the right house, Jack gently knocked at the door. It was opened by a Chinaman, whom Jack recognized by the light of the oil-lamp he carried as the compradore's brother.
"I am from Moukden, Mr. Hi," said Jack, "and have a note from your brother Mr. Hi An."
"Come in," said the Chinaman at once, without any indication of surprise. Jack pulled off his dirty boots and followed him to a little back shop, where he had evidently just been engaged in brewing tea. He asked Jack to sit down, poured him out a dish of tea, and then waited with oriental patience to hear what his visitor had to say. Prising open the sole of one of his boots, Jack drew out the compradore's note. It bore only three Chinese characters, and said merely that Hi An wished his brother to give all possible assistance to the bearer. The Chinaman looked up with an expression of grave polite curiosity and still waited.
The compradore having said that his brother could be thoroughly trusted, Jack explained to him, as simply and clearly as he could, the circumstances that had brought him to Harbin, and the object of his visit. When the Chinaman had heard the story, and learnt what was expected of him, he looked somewhat scared. He said that the Russians would inflict the most terrible punishments upon him if they discovered that he had sheltered and assisted a fugitive. He spoke of his terror of the Russian knout. But the Englishman might command him to do what he could. Had he not himself received benefits from Mr. Brown? Five years ago, he said, when he was on the verge of ruin, he had written to his brother the compradore for assistance. Hi An, a born gambler, like every Chinaman, had himself been speculating disastrously, and was unable to give any help. But he had appealed to Mr. Brown, who had at once advanced the sum required and set the grain merchant on his feet again. The loan had long since been repaid: in business transactions the Chinaman is the soul of honour: but he had never lost his feeling of gratitude; and his recollection of Mr. Brown's kindness, together with his brother's request, made him willing to run some risk on behalf of his benefactor's son.
Jack talked long over the situation with his host. His object was to get to Vladivostok as soon as possible. Having no pass he could not travel openly, and when breakfast-time came next morning his absence from the Moscow train would be discovered, even if it were not found out before; the news would be telegraphed to Harbin, and there would instantly be a hue and cry. The Chinaman doubted whether this would be the case; the train officials would be too anxious to screen their own negligence. Still, it would be unsafe for Jack to remain in Harbin; as for himself, he saw no way of helping him.
"I must go by train," said Jack, "and secretly. Could I go hidden in a goods wagon?"
"That might be possible," said the Chinaman; "but goods trains are not fast; they are often delayed for hours and even days. The journey would take a week, and though you might carry food with you, you would have to leave your hiding-place for water, and you could not escape discovery."
"Still, it may be that or nothing. Have you yourself any goods going in that direction?"
"No. My business is chiefly to supply fodder to the Russians, more especially for horses that are being sent south. I completed a large contract yesterday. One thing I can do. I can go to the station in the morning and learn what trains are expected to leave for Vladivostok. That is the first step. You will remain concealed in my house. You were not seen as you entered?"
"No. The street was clear."
"Then nobody but my wife and myself need know that you are here. I will do what I can for you."
"Thank you! And if it is a question of bribery, you need not be niggardly."
The Chinaman smiled. He had not had dealings with Russian officials for nothing.
Jack was provided with a couch for the night, and, being very tired after his long journey and the excitement of his escape, he soon fell asleep. About five o'clock he was awakened by the Chinaman's hurried entrance.
"It is all arranged, sir," he said, "but at a terrible price. A train conveying horses is to leave for Vladivostok at seven. The sergeant in charge is well known to me: I have had dealings with him. All Russians can be bribed; but this man—sir, he is an extortioner. Still, after what you said, I made the bargain with him. You give him at once twenty roubles; you arrive safely at Vladivostok and give him thirty roubles more. I tried to make him accept twenty-five for the second sum, but he refused."
Jack could not help smiling at this naïve evidence of the oriental habit of bargaining. He felt that if he reached Vladivostok for fifty roubles he would have got off remarkably well.
"But how is it to be managed?" he asked.
"I gave him to understand, sir, that you are a foreign correspondent wishing to see Vladivostok, and that there is a delay in the forwarding of the necessary authorization. It was because you are a foreigner that the sergeant was so firm about the five roubles. He talked about the risk he ran, and said that you must leave the train some time before it arrives at Vladivostok and walk the rest of the way. He said, too, that if you should be discovered you were not to admit that he had any knowledge of your presence. I promised that you would do all this."
"Very well. I am exceedingly obliged to you. But how am I to go? What will the sergeant do for twenty roubles?"
"He will give you a corner in a horse-box."
"Does the train consist of nothing but horse-boxes?"
"Horse-boxes and the sergeant's van. You cannot go in that."
"No. And how am I to get into the horse-box without being seen? There are sure to be soldiers and officials about."
The Chinaman rubbed his hands slowly and pondered.
"If it had been yesterday," he said, "you might then have gone hidden in a hay-cart. But my last loads were delivered yesterday."
"Who knows that?"
"The inspector of forage; perhaps others."
"And is the inspector likely to be at the station this morning?"
"Not so early as seven; he is too fond of his bed for that."
"Where is the train standing?"
"On a siding at some little distance from the station. You can drive straight up to it from the road through the goods entrance. But there is a sentry at the gate."
"Well, Mr. Hi, I think I see a way to dodge the sentry, with your kind assistance. I suppose you have some hay or straw in your store?"
"Certainly."
"Then if you will load up a wagon with several large bundles, and leave a hole for me in the middle, I think I can get to my place in the horse-box."
"But you might be seen as you slip out."
"We can lessen the risk of that. You can drive the wagon up to the horse-box as though bringing a final load that had been overlooked. I am covered by the bundles. You move them in such a way that the sides of the cart are well screened, at the same time leaving a passage for me. I ought to be able to slip into the box without being observed. And if you are willing I will chance it."
The Chinaman agreed, and as the time was drawing near, and the earlier the plan was carried out the better, he went off to get his wagon loaded. Shortly after six the cumbrous vehicle was brought up as close as possible to a door giving into the yard of the store. Jack thanked Mr. Hi very warmly for his services, and begged him, if he should by any chance learn of Mr. Brown's whereabouts, to communicate with his brother in Moukden. Choosing a moment when nobody but the Chinaman and his wife was near, Jack slipped into the wagon, and was in a few moments effectually concealed by the bundles of hay. He found in the bottom of the cart a supply of food and a large water-bottle thoughtfully provided by his obliging host.
Mr. Hi himself mounted to the bare board behind his oxen, grasped the rope reins in one hand and the long-thonged whip in the other, and drove off. Jack did not enjoy the drive, jolted over the vile roads, and half-choked by the full-scented hay. The wagon came to the gate of the goods entrance, and the Chinaman was challenged by the sentry. He pulled up, and with much deference explained that he had brought a last load of hay for the horses about to leave for Vladivostok, pointing at the same time to the long line of horse-boxes standing on the siding, about three hundred yards away. The sentry jerked his rifle over his shoulder and said nothing. Taking his silence for consent, the Chinaman lashed his oxen, and the wagon rumbled over the bumpy ground and two or three lines of metals until it reached the last carriage but one, next to the brake-van. The Chinaman jumped to the ground, backed the wagon against the door, and began to arrange his bundles as Jack had suggested. He whispered to Jack that nobody was near; and next moment a form much the colour of hay crept on all-fours out of the wagon into the van. Then Mr. Hi built up the hay with what was already in the vehicle, so as to conceal him and yet allow a little air-space near one of the small windows. There were three horses in the van. Though early morning, it was already close and stuffy, and Jack looked forward with anything but pleasure to the heat of mid-day and the prospect of many hours in this equine society.
CHAPTER V
A Deal in Flour
Vladivostok—Orloff—Russian Resentment—Large Profits—Quick Returns—Overreached—A Droshky Race—The Waverley—Captain Fraser—Sowinski comes Aboard—Sea Law—Pourboire
It was two o'clock in the morning on the second day after Jack left Harbin. The train slowed down as it rounded a loop, and finally came to a stop. Jack was fast asleep in his corner of the horse-box. He was awakened by a touch on the shoulder.
"You get down here, sir."
"Ah! Where are we, sergeant?"
"Four versts from Vladivostok."
"That's well. And what sort of a night?"
"Fine, sir; but dark as pitch."
"Thanks! Let me see; is it twenty-five roubles I owe you?"
"Thirty, sir, no less; more if you like."
"Here you are. Have you got a match? Take care: a spark, you know! Count them; three ten-rouble notes. Now, how am I to get into the town?"
"The road's not far on the other side of the line.—Nobody is to know how you got here, sir."
"I understand that. Many thanks! It has been a pretty rapid journey for Manchuria, I think."
"Yes. Live stock comes next to the Viceroy. Horses are none the better for being jolted over three hundred miles of rail, so they've let us pass several goods trains on the way."
"Any passenger trains allowed to pass us?"
"Not one."
"Then I couldn't have got here sooner. Thanks again!"
Jack dropped from the foot-board, ran down the embankment, and in a few minutes struck the high-road. He had not thought it necessary to explain to the sergeant that he knew the district. It was, as the Russian had said, very dark, but Jack made his way to a plantation near the road, through which he knew that a little stream ran. There he had a thorough wash, changed his collar, brushed and shook his clothes, and felt a different creature. Then he sat down on the moss-grown roots of an oak, and ate the Chinese cakes and dried fruit that remained from the stock of food given him by Hi Feng, the compradore's brother, washing it down with water from the brook. Dawn was breaking by the time he had finished his frugal breakfast, but it was useless to go into the town until the business houses opened. He therefore determined to remain in the secluded nook he had chosen, and sat there thinking of what lay before him.
About eight o'clock he rose to continue his walk to the town. It was two years since he had last visited it, and he was struck by the progress it had made in the interval. Founded only forty years before, the city had grown very rapidly; but since the Russian occupation of Manchuria it had made giant strides. New hospitals and barracks had been erected; the surrounding hills, once decked with forest, but now treeless, were covered with immense forts and earthworks, at which vast gangs of coolies were still at work. The wooden shanties that formerly lined the shore had for the most part given place to more solid and imposing structures of brick and stone. Other signs of development caught Jack's eye as he walked towards the harbour; but he was too eager to complete his errand to dwell upon them, especially as he heard behind him in the distance the rumble of an approaching train. It overtook him just as he turned down one of the steep, narrow side streets leading to the office of his father's agent; and as he saw the long line of carriages, including several sleeping-cars, roll past, he could not but wonder whether Anton Sowinski was among the passengers, and hastened his steps.
The office had just been opened for the day when he arrived. Alexey Petrovitch Orloff was a big, jovial Russian of some forty years; honest, or Mr. Brown would have had no dealings with him; a little greedy; a good business man, and on excellent terms with his principal. But Jack knew little about him outside their business transactions, and had made up his mind not to trust him with his secret.
"Ah, Ivan Ivanovitch!" exclaimed Orloff as Jack entered. "I was expecting you or your father. You came by the night train?"
"Yes. You must have been asleep when it arrived."
"What sort of a journey had you?"
"It was very hot."
"Yes, we have been baked here. When did you leave?"
"On Thursday."
"A fairly quick journey, considering the state of the line. You left before my letter arrived?"
"Yes. Of course you guess the object of my visit?"
"The consignment of flour? You have had great luck, I must say; but Captain Fraser always is lucky. Of course his cargo was not contraband according to English ideas, but we Russians have been rather strict of late, and the Japanese will probably follow suit. However, Captain Fraser never saw a Japanese cruiser the whole voyage. It should be an excellent speculation for your father. Prices are naturally high just now."
"That is good news. We shouldn't like to wind up with a failure."
"Of course not. It is a pity your father is retiring; we are bound to win in the end; but I've no doubt he can well afford it. And I'm not the man to complain, if, as I hope, I can get hold of a part of his business. Perhaps he is wise after all. Manchuria is not the most comfortable country to live in—just now, at any rate; and I fancy an Englishman will have a poor time of it in Moukden, eh?" (He gave Jack a shrewd look.) "Your newspapers have so completely taken the side of the enemy."
"Yes, there is a strong feeling at home in favour of Japan, and your people resent it. That's natural enough."
"It's rather worse than that. People here are saying that Russia and England will be at war before a month's out."
"Nonsense!"
"They say so. Our cruisers have stopped a P. and O. liner, theMalacca, in the Mediterranean, and put a prize crew on board. She was carrying contraband, it appears; but your fire-eaters—jingoes, is that the name?—are thirsting for our blood."
"We don't all eat fire and drink blood, Alexey Petrovitch."
"True. And you English will find you have backed the wrong horse."
"You haven't been much troubled here, then?"
"No. The bombardment did us no harm. Our cruisers sank three Japanese transports the other day, and they captured another of your ships with contraband, theAllanton: you'll see her lying in the harbour now."
"Well, it appears to be lucky for us that theWaverleywas, in a sense, on your side. About this consignment of flour: do you think you can find an immediate purchaser? We want to realize and get away at once."
The Russian's eyes gleamed, but his reply was cautious.
"Well, Ivan Ivanovitch, it is always more difficult to sell in a hurry than if you can wait. A good profit can be made, but we must take our time. It is a matter of bargaining. The man in a hurry always suffers."
"Yes, I know. We must be prepared to sacrifice something. At the market rate the flour ought to fetch about 27,000 roubles; but look here, if you can find an immediate purchaser at 25,000 I'll let it go."
Orloff still hesitated, but Jack could see that he was making an effort to restrain his eagerness.
"In business," he said, "it is best to be frank. If you will give me my usual commission of two and a half per cent—what do you say to my taking over the stuff myself?"
Jack smiled.
"I say that it pays very well to be principal and agent at the same time. But we won't quarrel about the commission. If you'll write me a cheque for 24,375 roubles, we'll call the matter settled. I've full authority to act."
The Russian, looking as if he was sorry he had not improved the opportunity still further, sat down at once and made out the cheque, adding:
"There will be one or two papers to sign. I will get them from the dockyard people."
"Very well. In the meantime I'll pay this into the bank and call back as soon as I can."
"What is the hurry? Business is slack, and I suppose I shan't see you again for a long time."
"Probably not. But there's a ring at your telephone. Evidently someone wants to do business. I'll see you again shortly."
Orloff was disposed to be talkative, but Jack was on thorns lest the train he had seen come in should have brought Sowinski. He had the cheque; while in the train he had taken the vouchers from the sole of his boot; he wondered whether he could complete his business at the bank before Sowinski, supposing him to be in Vladivostok, should come upon the scene. He hurried to the branch of the Russo-Chinese bank, where he was well known to the officials. Business there also was slack; the manager said indeed that trade in Vladivostok would be ruined if the war continued much longer. Within half an hour, Jack left the building with bills on Baring Brothers for the amount of the cheque and the sum represented by the vouchers, less 2000 roubles in notes which he kept for his immediate and contingent expenses.
He hurried back to Orloff's office, keeping a wary eye on the people thronging the streets, among them many soldiers in thepashalik, their characteristic peaked cap. When he entered the room, Orloff flung down his pen and gave a shout of merriment.
"I must tell you the joke, Ivan Ivanovitch. Not five minutes after you left, who should come in but Sowinski!" Jack repressed a start. "He had happened to hear, he told me, that theWaverleyhad arrived with a consignment of flour for your father. Was I empowered to sell? Ha! ha! It was not a matter of much consequence, he said. Ha! ha! I know Sowinski. But, having a small contract to fulfil in a month's time at Harbin, he could do with the flour, if it was to be had cheap. 'Mr. Brown is leaving the country, I understand,' says he. Ha! ha!"
Sowinski had evidently not told Orloff of the arrest. Jack wondered for a moment why. But the explanation at once suggested itself. If the fact were known, the consignment would no doubt be impounded by the Russian authorities in Vladivostok, and then the Pole would lose his chance of making a profitable deal.
"I assure you I was not eager," continued Orloff, still laughing. "Sowinski is no friend of mine. In the end he went down to the harbour, inspected the consignment, and bought it for 27,000 roubles, the market price, as you yourself mentioned."
"Quick returns and by no means small profits," said Jack.
"Yes. But—ha! ha!—what makes me laugh is something else. I was rung up at the telephone—just as you went, you remember; two vessels had been signalled from the mouth of the harbour carrying flour—not a moderate consignment like yours, but a whole cargo each. You see, Ivan Ivanovitch? The market price of Sowinski's lot will fall in an hour to 20,000 roubles, and it serves him right. How your father will laugh when he learns how his rival has overreached himself! By the way, theWaverleyis sailing this morning, in ballast of course."
"Indeed!" No information could have pleased Jack more. "Captain Fraser is an old friend of ours. I should like to see him."
"Then you haven't much time to lose. But you may as well sign these papers to complete our little transaction—the last, I am sorry to say. You will be back again?"
"I am not sure. I am not staying in Vladivostok long, and I'll say good-bye in case I don't get time to run in again."
"And when do you leave for home?"
"As soon as possible."
"By the Trans-Siberian, I suppose?"
"Probably; unless we can get through the lines to Newchang."
"That will be easy enough soon. Reinforcements are pouring in for General Kuropatkin, and he'll soon be strong enough to drive those waspish little yellow men into the sea."
"Perhaps. Well, good-bye, Alexey Petrovitch!"
"Remember me to your father."
"I will, the moment I see him. Good-bye!"
Leaving the office Jack hailed a droshky, and ordered the man to drive down to the harbour. Knowing that Sowinski was actually in the town he felt insecure with such valuable property in his pocket. As he stepped into the vehicle he glanced round, and, forewarned though he was, he started when he saw, a few yards up the street, the man he was anxious to avoid hurrying in his direction. By the look on the Pole's face, and his quickened step, Jack knew that he had been recognized. It was touch and go now.
"Quick, my man!" he said quietly to the driver, "time presses."
The man, scenting a tip, whipped up his horse, and it sprang forward, throwing Jack back into his seat. At the same moment he heard the Pole shouting behind; but his voice was at once drowned by the clatter of the wheels, and the droshky man, standing in the car, and driving with the usual recklessness of the Russian coachman, was too much occupied in avoiding the traffic to turn his head. Jack, however, a minute later looked cautiously over the back of the vehicle. Sowinski, with urgent gestures, was beckoning a droshky some distance up the street. He was now nearly a quarter of a mile behind; and, turning a corner, Jack lost him from sight. But the street he had now reached was a long straight one, leading direct to the shore, and almost clear of traffic. In a few seconds the pursuing droshky swung round the corner at a pace that left Jack amazed it did not overturn. To throw the Pole off the scent was impossible now; it was an open race. In two minutes Jack's droshky rattled down the incline to the shore. He had the fare and a handsome tip in readiness. Springing from the car almost before it had stopped, he paid the man, leapt down the steps into a sampan, and called to the burly Chinaman smoking in it:
"The English shipWaverley! A rouble if you put me aboard quickly."
The Chinaman looked stolidly up.
"She is about to sail, master. See! And they will not allow you on board. There are difficulties. The port officers——"
Jack waited for no more. Taking a rouble note from his pocket, he cried:
"Here is six times your fare; this or nothing!"
At the same time he seized the yuloh,—the pole that does duty for a stern oar, and shoved off. There is nothing a Chinese coolie will not do for a rouble. The man sprang to the oar, worked its flat end backwards and forwards with all his strength, and sent the sampan over the water at a greater speed than its clumsy build seemed capable of. Jack kept his head low in order to be sheltered as long as possible by the shanties on shore and the sampans crowded at the water's edge; Sowinski, he felt, would not hesitate to take a shot at him. He could see the Pole spring from his droshky and rush at break-neck pace towards the waiting row of craft. He leapt into one, pointed Jack out to the coolie, and in a few moments started in pursuit.
TheWaverleyhad left the inner harbour where merchant vessels drop anchor, and was steaming dead slow out to sea. The captain stood on the bridge, and the vessel hooted a farewell to the cruiserRurikthat lay in the middle of the channel. Suddenly Captain Fraser became aware that the voice sounding clear across the still water was hailing him. Glancing round, he saw a sampan making rapidly towards him from the shore, and in it a youth with one hand to his mouth, the other waving his hat. The captain first swore, then signalled half-speed ahead; it was some Russian formality, he supposed, and as a British sailor he'd be hanged if he delayed another moment for any foreign port officer. But next moment he heard his own name in an unmistakably English accent, and, looking more closely at the shouter, recognized him.
"Young Mr. Brown!" he muttered. "What's he wishing?"
At the same time he jerked the indicator back to "stop", a bell tinkled below, and the vessel came to a stand-still.
"Ay, ay!" he shouted. "And be hanged if there isn't another man bawling. What's in the wind, anyway?"
The first craft was soon alongside, a rope was heaved over, and in a few seconds Jack stood on deck.
"Pleased to see you, Mr. Brown," said the Captain. "Ay, and I wouldna have sto'ped for no ither man."
"Thanks, Captain! I want your help." Jack spoke hurriedly; the second sampan was but a biscuit-shot distant. "The Russians have collared my father on a charge of spying for the Japanese; I don't know where he is; that fellow in the boat is at the bottom of it. I've managed to steal a march on him and sell the flour you landed the other day, and I want you to take charge of these bills and deposit them at the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank for me."
"Eh, laddie, is that a fact? And what'll you do yersel' the now?"
"Oh, I'll stay and find my father. Here's Sowinski. I'm jolly glad I got here first."
The other sampan was by this time under the vessel's quarter. A seaman came up to the captain.
"A furriner, sir, talking double Dutch."
"Quay."
He left the bridge and went to the side.
"What might you be wishing the now?" he said.
Sowinski began to address him in very broken English, eked out with French and Russian.
"I'm no' what you might ca' a leenguist," said the Captain, after a patient hearing. "What'll he be meaning, Mr. Brown?"
"He says I'm a fugitive, and insists on your giving me up. If you don't, he'll have the boat stopped at the signal station, and you'll be heavily fined."
"He's a terrible man, yon; there's nae doot about it. Just tell him to bide a wee, Mr. Brown, until you an' me has had a wee bit crack. Now, sir," he added in a lower tone, when this had been interpreted to the Pole, "hadn't ye better come wi' me now ye're aboard? If you go ashore you may be caught. I'm no sure but we'll be overhauled by a Russian cutter as we gang out, but I've no contraband aboard; in fact, I've run a cargo in for the Russians, an' well they know it. Your father may be half-way to Europe by this time; I canna see there'd be ony guid biding to look for him."
"That's good of you, Captain, but I must stay. They say they've deported my father; but somehow I feel sure he is still in the country, and I shall try to hang on here by hook or crook till I find him."
"Aweel; then the best thing will be to get yon terrible Turk aboard. Just ask him to step up, sir."
As Sowinski was clambering up the side the captain signalled the engine-room to go ahead dead slow. He invited the Pole to join him on the bridge. Captain Fraser looked him critically up and down; then said blandly:
"And is it a port officer I'm to understand you are, Mister?"
"A port officer! Not so. I am man of affairs, business man. But in name of his majesty ze Imperator I—I arrest zis young man."
"Just exactly. But I beg your pardon, Mister—Mister—what?"
"Sowinski."
"Just exactly. Well, then, Mr. Sowinski, do ye happen to have about ye a warrant for the arrest o' this young man in the name o' the Imperator, by which, I preshume, you mean the Czar? Where's your authority, man?"
The Pole looked puzzled.
"Audority! I have no audority. But I tell you, zis young man is deported; he escape from arrestation; he——"
"Tuts! And you have the impidence to come aboard my ship: to haud me up, a British subject; to cause loss to my owners—to my owners, I say—without authority? I'll learn you, Mister, what it is to haud up a British ship without authority. Hi, Jim! lug this man below, and if he doesna behave himsel' just clap him under hatches."
Sowinski, wriggling desperately, and volubly protesting in half a dozen languages, was bundled from the bridge.
"He's got the wrong sow by the lug in Duncan Fraser," said the captain, with a grim tightening of the lips. "I'll just tak' him along to Shanghai if the coast is clear, Mr. Brown, though I may have to drop him a few miles lower down if I see signs of any Russians being inqueesitive. And if you must go ashore, laddie, tak' a word frae me—keep out o' the road o' the Russians."
"I'll be careful, Captain. When you get to Shanghai you'll tell our consul all about it, and ask him to wire to England? The newspapers will take it up, and I should think Lord Lansdowne will make official enquiries at St. Petersburg."
"Ay, I'll do what I can. You're quite determined to bide?"
"Oh yes! And another thing, Captain: I think, if you don't mind, you'd better let my mother know; she expects us home, and not hearing, would be alarmed. Tell her not to worry; it's sure to come all right in the end."
"Ay, I'll do that. I never heard the like o't. What the ballachulish will the Russians be doing next! I needna say I wish ye good luck, sir. Will you take a wee drappie?"
"Not to-day, Captain, many thanks all the same! A pleasant voyage to you!"
Both sampans had kept pace with the steamer; the coolies were beginning to be anxious about their fares. Jack bade his friend the captain a cordial farewell; the vessel stopped; and, dropping into his sampan, Jack ordered the man to put him ashore at the nearest point. Within a yard of the shore the Chinaman brought the punt to a stop and demanded two roubles.
"But the bargain was one."
"I did not know, Master. I do not risk offending the Russians for a rouble. Give two, or I will not let you land."
He looked at Jack with victorious malice in his beady black eyes. For a moment Jack hesitated; he did not wish to have an altercation with the man; at the same time he objected to be "done". He stood up in the sampan and drew a bundle of notes from his pocket. Selecting one, he folded it; then, flinging it to the coolie, he sprang suddenly overboard, giving the sampan a kick which sent it backwards. The man also had risen; the sudden movement made him lose his balance, and he fell over the yuloh into the water. Jack quietly walked away. As he did so he heard loud laughter on his left hand. Turning, he saw that the incident had been witnessed by two Russian officers who had been walking towards the mouth of the harbour. Knowing the ways of the Chinese coolie, they were much amused at the readiness with which Jack had disposed of the boatman. One of them shouted "Well done!" in Russian. Jack smiled, and replied with a couple of words in the same tongue; then hurried on, thanking his stars that the matter had ended so well.
CHAPTER VI
In Full Cry
In Chinatown—A Deal in Horseflesh—North and by East—A Korean Host—Across the Line—Buriats—Father Mayenube—Gabriele—A Shot—Hard Pressed—In Hiding—Suggestio Falsi
Jack's business in Vladivostok was now completed. He had secured the last of his father's property; bills representing several thousands of pounds were in the safe hands of Captain Fraser, soon to be confided to the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank. So far his task had been unexpectedly easy; his difficulties, he felt, were now to begin. During the long journey from Harbin he had spent hours endeavouring to think out a plan to adopt if his secret visit to Vladivostok proved successful. By hook or crook he must get back to Moukden and learn the result of the compradore's enquiries; the question was, how? The return journey would be attended by many difficulties; even if he should reach Moukden in safety it would only be to find himself encompassed by danger. Yet he saw no other chance of tracing his father, and whatever the risks and perils, he felt that his duty called him to face them.
The first thing, then, was to make his way back to Moukden. To return by the railway was out of the question. He dared not go openly, and he knew no one in Vladivostok whom he could trust to negotiate for a clandestine passage. His only course was to slip away, gain the Manchurian frontier, and cross the Shan-yan-alin range of mountains—a long and difficult journey at the best, and in the present circumstances hazardous in the extreme. If he evaded the Russians in and around Vladivostok he would still be exposed to capture by Chinese bandits, to say nothing of the tenfold risks as he neared his journey's end.
His difficulties were intensified by the desperately short notice at which he must now quit Vladivostok. Sowinski, furious at being outwitted in the matter of the bills, would be goaded to madness by his detention on board theWaverley, and as Captain Fraser would probably consider it prudent to put him ashore at no great distance, it might not be long before he telephoned to head-quarters and thus raised the hue and cry in Vladivostok itself. To the natives Jack might easily pass for a Russian; carefully made up, he might, with his smattering of Chinese, be taken by the Russians for a native. But there was no time for such preparations; and a Russian policeman on the hunt for an Englishman, with the Pole's description of him, must be an exceptionally incompetent member of his class if he failed to recognize the fugitive. Speed was thus the first essential.
Hurrying up from the shore he made up his mind what to do. Fortunately he was in the Chinese quarter of the town; it was the part of prudence to avoid the Russian settlement on the hill. He remembered a Chinese horse-dealer with whom Mr. Brown had done business when he lived in the town years before. The Chinese had altered less than the official city, and he thought he could find his way to the merchant's house. Taking his bearings, he walked rapidly through several streets, and found to his delight that his recollection had not failed him. The horse-dealer was at home; he did not recognize Jack, who was a boy of eleven when his transactions with Mr. Brown had taken place; but he well remembered the English merchant. And when he learnt that Jack wished to purchase a pony he rubbed his hands together and led him at once to the stables to view the stock. They were a weedy lot, like most of the native animals. Jack was careful to show no haste or eagerness; he looked them over critically, rejected one after another in spite of all the flowery things the Chinaman found to say in their favour, and finally refused to buy. As he expected, the merchant then managed to find a better beast—a beautiful little Transbaikal pony, sturdy, well-made, and evidently full of mettle. Jack could not have wished for a better animal; but, experienced in the ways of Chinese business men, he gave no sign of his approval. The merchant quoted a price; Jack hemmed, hesitated—he knew better than to close at once; and then offered half. Eager as he was to get away, he patiently chaffered for nearly an hour; then, when the Chinaman was beginning to think he had lost his customer, Jack suddenly closed with the last offer, and the pony became his at two-thirds of the price first asked. The purchase of a saddle did not take so long; and when he rode off, both dealer and customer were equally pleased.
In the street Jack stopped a young Chinese boy and sent him to a purveyor's shop for a small supply of portable food. The messenger returned with some dried fish and stale cakes of potato-rice, all he could procure. With this tied behind his saddle Jack set off. It was an anxious moment when he passed a brown-coated Cossack policeman, and a little farther on he gave a jump when a squadron of Cossacks swung round the corner of the street. But they rode on without giving him more than a casual glance. Not daring to hasten, he slowly made his way through the city and out into the country. It was still only eleven o'clock; he had nine or ten hours of daylight before him, and though the pony was somewhat soft for want of exercise, it was no doubt good for thirty miles at a pinch.
Vladivostok stands at the end of a narrow peninsula, with the Amur Bay running for several miles into the land on the west, and the Ussuri Bay on the east. To gain the Manchurian frontier Jack would have to ride northwards, cross the railway at the head of the Amur Bay or beyond, and then turn to the south-west. It was obviously unsafe for him to ride parallel with the railway line, for his escape, if discovered, would no doubt be telegraphed ahead, and the road would be watched, especially in the neighbourhood of the stations. His best course, therefore, would be to strike up eastwards towards the head of the Ussuri Bay, away from his ultimate destination, and trust to luck to find a hill-path leading back that would enable him to cross the line somewhere between the head of the Amur Bay and the garrison town of Nikolskoye. His way led through the plantation where he had made his toilet early that morning, then to the right towards the hills.
Though Vladivostok itself has sprung up with marvellous rapidity, the country is as yet sparsely peopled. At one time the town was closely surrounded by magnificent woods; but the axe of the lumberman has been busy, and the same work of deforesting that has robbed the town of picturesqueness is now being pursued inland. One of the few people Jack met along the unfrequented road he had chosen was a Russian colonist riding behind a cart laden with pine logs and driven by a coolie. Jack threw him a friendly "Good morning!" as he passed, and received a feeling "Very hot, barin" in return. It was indeed hot; the almost naked Korean labourers in the fields were streaming with sweat; and Jack was glad to halt at a little brook to refresh himself and his beast.
After riding for some three hours, and covering, as he guessed, about eighteen miles, almost entirely uphill, he saw the sea below him on the right, and the far coast-line running to all appearance due south. This must be Ussuri Bay. He had evidently come far enough east; it was time to change his course to the north-west. Swinging round, he had not ridden far before he came to a small farm, the house surrounded, like all Chinese isolated country buildings, with a mud wall. His pony required food, and though he felt some misgivings he thought this too good an opportunity to be neglected. He rode up. The owner, he found, was a Korean; Jack did not speak Korean; but by the help of Chinese and pidgin Russian he succeeded in making the man understand what he wanted. He then asked how far it was to Nikolskoye, and learning that it was thirty versts, roughly twenty miles, he decided to give his pony a good rest and start again about six o'clock, so that darkness would have fallen by the time he came to the neighbourhood of the railway. Having seen that the animal was rubbed down and provided with a good feed of hay, he joined the farmer in a game ofwei-ch'i, a difficult variant of chess, and with this and a slow laborious conversation, in the course of which his host expounded his hazy ideas of the war, he managed to get through the hot afternoon.
Soon after six he set off again. The way was mainly downhill now, and easier riding. About nine o'clock he saw in the gloaming a little settlement ahead, and beyond it the hexagonal water-tower and timbered store-house of the typical Siberian railway-station, but on a small scale. The path he was following led direct to the hamlet, and the sight of several small knots of people at that hour of the evening showed that a train would shortly be passing; the peasants have not yet lost their curiosity about the iron horse. He thought it well to avoid observation by leaving the track—road it could not be called—and striking across a bean-field. Making a wide sweep he came to the railway some three versts north of the station. He rode very cautiously as he approached the line, tied his pony to a tree, and scouted ahead to make sure that the line rifle guard, whose hut might be expected a few versts beyond, was not in sight. Suddenly he heard the distant rumble of a train—the night train for Harbin. In a moment he saw that the passage of the train would give him an opportunity of crossing the line unobserved. He went back to his pony, led it as near as he dared to the embankment, and waited.
The engine came snorting along at a fair pace, the fire throwing a glow upon the darkling sky. The train clattered by. Immediately after the last carriage had passed, Jack mounted the embankment, dragging his pony, crossed the single line, and descended on the other side.
With a lighter heart he got into the saddle again, and rode his excellent little steed across the fields in the hope of ere long striking a road. Pursuit would be difficult in the darkness; the greatest danger was to be expected with daylight, and it was very necessary that he should put as many miles as possible between himself and the railway before dawn. His course must be mainly south-west; the nearest town of any size was Hun-chun, some sixty miles in that direction; but having a vague idea that the Russians had erected a fort there, he had already made up his mind to avoid that town itself. Four or five hundred miles and countless perils lay between him and Moukden; but with the hopefulness of youth he rode confidently on. Danger and difficulty were only incentives to caution; if he anticipated them, it was merely that, being prepared, he might be the more ready to grapple with and overcome them. Ever present in his mind was the belief that his father's fate hung upon the success of his enterprise.
Coming by and by to a rough track between the fields, he followed it until past midnight. Then, feeling that his pony could do no more, and being unable in the darkness to guide himself by the little compass he wore on his watch-chain, he left the track, rode into a plantation to the right, off-saddled, and, hitching the bridle to a tree, threw himself on the ground and fell asleep.
During the short hours of darkness his slumbers were disturbed by dreams. Sowinski, Orloff, Monsieur Brin, the Chinese horse-dealer—all figured in a strange phantasmagoria. Monsieur Brin had lost his pass, and was shedding tears because he could not tear the red brassard from his arm, when Jack awoke with a start. Looking at his watch he found it was five o'clock. He must be up and away. He ate the last of his food; the pony had already made a meal of the shoots of creeping plants; then, with the instinct born of his fugitive condition, Jack approached the edge of the plantation to spy out the country. Before him, not many yards away, was a narrow river; behind—he gave a great start, for little more than half a mile distant he saw a troop of Russian horsemen trotting smartly along the road towards him. They might be going, of course, to Possiet Bay, or Novo Kiewsk, or the Korean frontier. But he noticed at a second glance that the leading man was bending low in his saddle, as though following a trail. He distinguished their uniform now; they were Buriats, Mongols by race and Buddhists by religion, hard riders, excellent scouts, the most reckless and daring of the Russian cavalry. Without a moment's hesitation he went back to his pony, snatched from the ground the saddle that had formed his pillow, threw it over the animal's back, and, tightening the girths with hands that shook in spite of himself, he plunged with the pony into the thickest part of the plantation.