gate which would mean that Ross and Sullivan had been detected – shots either at the house or at the gate of the camp. But when ten minutes had passed he was almost sure that he would not hear them now. He knew he must not go round by the stone house to see if the horses were gone, as that might possibly give the game away, but he longed to know for certain, and the next long wait was the most anxious that he had ever passed in his life. At last the sun had moved an hour’s space across the sky, and Derrick, walking hurriedly, as if he had a message, went to the stone house. The guards were still playing dice as he passed them. He paused for a second on the threshold, smiled at the Professor, and then let out a yell that echoed throughout the camp.
The guards came rushing in with their rifles at the ready. For several minutes there was a confused hurly-burly, with everyone shouting at the tops of their voices. The din attracted Shun Chi himself; he came stamping through the crowd with his Russian advisers, knocked the guards out of his path, and on hearing the news that his prisoners had escaped, he foamed at the mouth. When he could speak he swore that he would have the head of every sentry at the gate if they had let the prisoners through. In a moment the report came that the sentries, seeing two Europeans dressed like Russians, had let them through without thinking twice about it. In another five minutes heads were rolling outside the camp, and the guards who had been outside the house had melted away into hiding. The officer who was supposed to be in charge of the men who should have been guarding the horses brought the news that two were missing: Shun Chi shot him where he stood.
Meanwhile the Russians were untying the Professor, and as soon as the gag was out, the Professor cried, ‘That fool Dimitri. I will have him shot, liquidated, sent to Siberia. Put him under arrest at once. The fool, he would insist on having the prisoners untied to question them. He said they would not answer to harsh treatment. I told him that it would be better to flog the answers out of them. Where is the son of a yellow dog? This is sabotage. He was in the pay of the capitalists. I’ll know who paid him! I’ll flog the answers out of him. Bring him here!’
‘They seem to have killed him, Ivan Petrovitch,’ said one of them apologetically.
‘So much the better,’ growled the Professor. ‘They have saved me the trouble.’ He turned to Shun Chi. ‘Well, Tu-chun,’ he snapped, ‘this is a pretty piece of work. They will be half-way to Liao-Meng by now, taking the south road to avoid Hsien Lu’s army. If they are not caught before sunset, someone will have to answer for it.’ He glared about him impressively and caught sight of Derrick. ‘Here, you,’ he shouted, falling upon him with a rain of blows, ‘why weren’t you here to protect your master, idle, worthless dog.’ He kicked him out of the house, and after a little more cursing and stamping about, he cried, ‘I said that the machine-guns were to be ready for inspection. Where are they?’
‘If you will come with me, comrade,’ said one of the Russians, ‘I will show them to you. They are all ready. We have explained the working mechanism to the soldiers.’
By the side of a long row of wooden crates the machine-guns stood, all neatly aligned.
‘You have explained them thoroughly?’ asked the Professor, looking at them blankly.
‘Oh, yes, comrade, very thoroughly,’ said the Russian. ‘They understand them very well. My interpreter learnt in less than a morning.’
‘Your interpreter? Don’t you speak Chinese?’
‘Why, no, Ivan Petrovitch. You know that none of us speaks Chinese except the dead capitalist spy, Dimitri Mihailovitch.’
‘Of course. I remember. Who is your interpreter? How many are there here?’
‘There were only two, comrade. A Chinese clerk who deserted last week, and the officer of the guard who lost his head just now.’
‘And you have made no effort to learn Chinese in all this time? You are content to be here now, unable to instruct the soldiers or to communicate with the Tu-chun?’
‘But you know what our orders were, and what our work is, Ivan Petrovitch,’ said the Russian, excusing himself; but there was a certain wondering tone in his voice that the Professor did not like.
‘Nevertheless,’ he said, ‘I think that a little more zeal – however, let us get on with the inspection. These are all the guns?’
‘Yes, comrade. Perhaps you can solve a little difficulty for me, Ivan Petrovitch. I find that when they get heated, the stop-pawl sometimes refuses its function. What is the best way of disengaging the return-spring without removing the condenser?’
‘Well,’ said the Professor, ‘I think I will go on with the inspection now. It would take time to show you, and I have none to spare just now. We will talk about it in the evening.’
‘But if you pointed it out on the blue-print, comrade, I would see in a moment.’
‘I have not got it with me.’
‘But, comrade, excuse me. I saw you put it in your pocket.’
‘Later, later,’ cried the Professor, feigning to be absorbed in the machine-gun before him.
The Russian looked at him for a moment, and then said, ‘Do you think I should detach the draw-bolt?’
‘Yes,’ said the Professor. ‘Now I want you to go and tell the others that I want a report from all of you immediately on the – on the rate of fire in the hands of inexperienced recruits, and on the difficulties you have met with in training the men. I want them at once, together with a return of breakages. You can be doing that while I look over these.’
‘Very well,’ said the Russian, leaving them.
When he was well away, the Professor sat down on the ground by the first machine-gun. It looked very unlike the blue-print.
‘I believe the locking-pin and the tension nut are under this casing,’ he said. ‘Of course, they would not leave such delicate parts exposed. Pass me that spanner.’ He worked at the nuts. ‘Yes, here we are,’ he said, removing the casing. ‘Now we turn to the left here, and again here, and the deed is done.’ He looked up with a smile, wiping his forehead with a greasy hand.
‘Don’t look round, sir,’ murmured Derrick, ‘but there’s something rather odd behind. The Russians are standing by their hut, and they are watching you through their binoculars.’
‘Are they, indeed? Confound their impertinence. I am very much afraid that that fellow who was here is growing suspicious. I could not altogether avoid his technical questions, and I probably answered stupidly. However, I have a petard on which to hoist them if they provoke me.’ He seemed to Derrick extraordinarily calm.
‘They are getting excited,’ said Derrick. ‘One is coming our way now.’
‘I suppose I have done something very unprofessional with this machine,’ said the Professor, peering thoughtfully at a piece of metal.
The Russian came up, affecting to stroll idly. ‘It is getting very hot, comrade,’ he remarked, looking sharply at the dismantled gun.
‘I don’t find it so,’ snapped the Professor. ‘Have you prepared your report?’
The Russian did not reply directly. He said, ‘You seem to be having some difficulty with that interruptor.’ There was a false, cunning note in his voice.
The
