Part 23 (1/2)
As soon as the hydroplane was well out on the pool, the tow-rope was cast off, the planes were outspread, and Errington started the engine, setting the vessel straight towards the channel leading to the river.
When it had gathered speed, a touch on the elevator sent it aloft, and Errington steered to the right, intending to strike the river about half-a-mile lower down than the mouth of the channel. He kept fairly low, so that the flying boat should be concealed from the gunboat by the intervening trees.
They came to the river, and instantly saw with alarm that their precaution was futile. In a recess of the opposite bank, with black smoke pouring from its funnel, lay the gunboat. The small boat was at that moment being taken on board. The rebels had chosen this position to lie in wait, partly to be out of the current, partly to cut off the escape of the hydroplane down the river if it eluded the search parties.
Errington at once steered the machine back towards the land. He dared not risk a straight flight down-stream, within range of the guns; another mishap might put the engine wholly out of action, and in spite of the expenditure of petrol, flying must be kept up for some minutes longer. That he did wisely was immediately proved. A fusillade broke out from the deck of the gunboat, and in another half-minute the machine guns opened fire. Luckily they had been trained hurriedly, and the shots went wide of the mark. Before they could be fired again the flying boat was out of sight behind the trees.
It was some minutes before Errington ventured to direct his course again towards the river. Everybody on board the flying boat expected that the rebels would by this time have come to the conclusion that pursuit was hopeless. The vessel alighted safely on the stream, and bearing in mind the necessity of husbanding the petrol, Errington thought he might now let it drift along on the current.
But he was disabused in a very short time. For some miles the river wound with such frequent curves that only short stretches of it were visible in either direction. Thus it was with a shock of surprise that the occupants of the flying boat discovered, on nearing the end of a straight reach, that the gunboat was coming down at full speed scarcely half-a-mile behind them. Errington at once started the engine; the vessel cut round the curve, and planed along at a rate far exceeding the maximum of which the gunboat was capable.
”We can easily keep ahead as long as the petrol lasts,” said Burroughs; ”but it seems as if the beggars know by instinct that we're running short. The worst of it is that we've several long straight reaches to navigate a little lower down, and there they can fire at us as they please.”
”Wouldn't it be better to go ahead full speed until the petrol gives out?” said Errington. ”We could gain at least a dozen miles on the gunboat.”
”And still be forty from Sui-Fu, absolutely helpless.”
”Why not run up some creek, then, and hide until she has pa.s.sed or given it up?”
”No good. We've pa.s.sed one or two sampans already, and the farther we go the more traffic we shall meet; some one would obligingly inform the honourable ruffians of our whereabouts. No: we'd better go as we are going; use our engine for spurts when we are hard pressed, and drift when we are not.”
Very soon afterwards they encountered a difficulty which they might have foreseen. The river narrowed to little more than a gorge, through which the water poured in swift swirling volume. A junk was being hauled against the current by a hundred ”trackers” on the bank. The channel on one side was obstructed by the tow-ropes; on the other there was not room for the flying boat to pa.s.s, because of the rocks that projected into the stream, even though the planes had been folded back. There was nothing for it but to draw into the side, and wait until the vessel had pa.s.sed.
This wasted five minutes of valuable time. The gunboat would, of course, be delayed in the same way; but the gorge was fairly straight, and if she gained the upper end before the fugitives had escaped at the lower, the flying boat would be at the mercy of her guns.
Almost immediately after the boat had run in to the bank a shot whistled overhead. Luckily the junk had now pa.s.sed. Its deck was crowded with Chinamen gazing curiously at the flying boat. At the sound of the shot they yelled with fright, and ran for shelter beneath the port gunwale.
A second shot from the gunboat struck away one of the junk's yards, many of the trackers dropped their ropes and ran for their lives, and the unwieldy vessel fell away towards mid-stream, forming an effective screen against the guns.
Profiting by this diversion, Errington again put the engine at speed, and the flying boat raced down the river, out of the gorge, into a broad straight reach that extended apparently for miles. Burroughs glanced into the petrol tank: it was almost empty. All that they had remaining was a little in the bottom of the can which had been pierced by the bullet. Lo San poured this into the tank.
Up to this time the Englishmen had retained their confidence; but the acc.u.mulated misfortunes of the last few minutes plunged them in desperate anxiety. The drifting of the junk across the stream might be expected to check the gunboat for at least ten minutes, during which they would be safe from gunfire. But as soon as the gunboat got clear, she would have a free field, and unless the flying boat could arrive at the farther end of the long straight reach before the guns could be brought into action, she could hardly escape.
Only one course was possible: to use up all the remaining petrol for a last flight. Then the issue was in the hands of Fate. The planes were thrown back. Running on at full speed, the vessel skimmed the surface, rose into the air, and flew along at the rate of fifty miles an hour.
The occupants of various sampans, fishermen casting their nets from the banks, men and women at work in the paddy fields beyond, gazed with amazement at the strange object flying over the middle of the river.
Before it came to the end of the straight reach the petrol was all consumed; the vessel sank upon the surface; and behind, the gunboat could be seen steaming after it in full career.
Errington steered round the bend. It was a short one; in five minutes the river again stretched straight in front. He was familiar enough with the neighbourhood to know that Sui-Fu was still nearly thirty miles distant. There was now no engine power to rely on; they could but drift. Once more the idea of running into a creek occurred to them, only to be abandoned, for the sampans in this part of the river were more numerous, and some one would certainly think it worth while to betray their presence.
They were at their wits' end. During their flight they had gained several miles on the gunboat, but the very fact that they had descended would inform the rebels that they could fly no longer. The pursuit would be kept up; they must be overtaken within twenty minutes at the most, unless some unforeseen incident intervened.
The boat drifted on, and came to another bend; the gunboat had not yet hove in sight, but they could distinctly hear the throbbing of its engines. Again the river straightened, and though there were slight curves which would hide them from the pursuers for some few moments at a time, the general course was so direct that for at least five minutes they would afford a target for the guns. Looking anxiously back, Burroughs saw the gunboat come into the straight, perhaps a mile behind.
Errington steered near the left bank, in order to gain what cover the occasional slight windings would afford. A minute afterwards they heard a report, but they did not see the shot, nor discover where it fell.
Half-a-minute later a shot plunged into the water a yard or two behind; the gunners had the range. A tree-clad bluff hid them for another minute; as soon as the boat again came into the open, a third shot fell some distance ahead, and the gunboat was rapidly overhauling them.
Disregarding the risk of striking a submerged rock, Errington hugged the bank, losing time by following the curves, but gaining what was much more precious in this crisis, fitful protection from the guns.
They came to the end of the reach. Turning the corner, they suddenly caught sight of the smoke of a steamer ahead of them, coming up-stream.