“It is! Oh, spare my life!”
“Were the Russians at that bridge a day or two ago?”
“Yes! yes! But what they did I do not know. They said, if I went down there, I would be killed.”
Gilbert turned to his companions.
“That is the Shan-gow bridge—the one the Russians mined,” he said, in English. “We have reached it in time, after all.”
“Yes, but none too soon!” came from Ben.
“What do you mean, Ben?”
“Look along yonder road. A battery of Japanese guns is coming at full speed, and they are bound for the bridge!”
CHAPTER XXXI
THE GREAT BATTLE OF LIAO-YANG
What Ben said was true. A battery of six guns was moving swiftly along the road which led to the bridge of the stream before them. The battery was so close that they could plainly hear the shouts of the drivers, as they urged their horses along the highway in the direction of the fatal spot.