"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 ship Waverley! 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——"