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I saw nothing of the gorges and ravines, through which runs the Grand Transasiatic; nothing of the valley of Lou-Ngan, where we stopped at eleven o'clock; nothing of the two hundred and thirty kilometres which we accomplished amid the wreaths of a sort of yellow steam, worthy of a yellow country, until we stopped about ten o'clock at night at Tai-Youan. Ah! the disagreeable day.
"Go to the nearest station, that of Fuen Choo, and telegraph to Tai-Youan for them to send on a relief engine." "How far is it to Fuen Choo?" asked Ephrinell. "About six kilometres to Nanking junction, and about five kilometres beyond that." "Eleven kilometres," said the major; "that is a matter of an hour and a half for good walkers.
Evidently Faruskiar had cleared off. The Chinese police would have to deal with the bandit and his accomplices. Would they catch him? I hoped so, but I doubted. At the station Pan-Chao explained matters to the stationmaster, who telegraphed for an engine to be sent from Tai-Youan to the Nanking line. At three o'clock, just at daybreak, we returned to wait for the engine at the junction.
Before three o'clock the engine from Tai-Youan ought to be here. I am ready to start." "So am I," said Popof! "I think several of us ought to go. Who knows if we may not meet Faruskiar and his Mongols on the road?" "You are right, Popof," said Major Noltitz, "and we should be armed." This was only prudent, for the bandits who ought to be on their way to the Tjon viaduct could not be very far off.
Fortunately it was not necessary for us to return to Tai-Youan, and we thus saved a delay of an hour and a half. At the junction the engine was detached and run for a few yards towards Pekin, then the vans and cars, one by one, were pushed on to the main line, and then the engine backed and the train proceeded, made up as before the accident.
Ephrinell has also been out on business, for a deal in hair probably. Here they come, and without seeming to notice one another they take their seats. The other passengers are only Celestials. Some are going to Pekin; some have taken their tickets for intermediate stations like Si-Ngan, Ho Nan. Lou-Ngan, Tai-Youan. There are a hundred passengers in the train. All my numbers are on board.
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