The General muttered an oath and relapsed into silence.
The hawser having been made fast, Will started the motor and set the hydroplane going at a speed of about ten miles an hour. To go faster while it was still dark was unwise: he hoped also unnecessary. Azito stood forward with his pole: José was at the engine with his oil-can; Machado, to his disappointment, was given a seat beside Will at the steering-wheel. In that position he was unable to interfere with the machinery. But he still hoped that an opportunity might offer before the night was over.
It was more than fifty miles by river to the junction. Will had pondered his task as the yacht drifted down the smaller stream, and recognized the dangers. First, there was the navigation of the river in the darkness; but the danger of this might be avoided with Azito's care, and by maintaining only a moderate speed. The second danger was that Captain Espejo might run a train to the narrowest part of the river some forty miles away, where the bank was fairly clear of vegetation and the railway line was near the stream. That spot would be reached about dawn. If the enemy got there first and lined the bank, they could riddle the hydroplane with bullets, and a single well-planted shot would cripple the engine, to say nothing of the risks to which the occupants of the vessel would be exposed. The third danger was that Captain Espejo might run the train beyond the narrows to the junction. At this part of its course the river made a wide bend, while the railway ran fairly straight; so that if the hydroplane got safely past the narrows there was still a possibility of the train outstripping it before the junction was reached. But the train, consisting as it must do of heavy goods wagons, could not approach without noise, which would give warning of the necessity of increasing speed. Nor did Will suppose that the Captain would venture to drive the train at full speed in pitch darkness over a new track, in which there were many awkward curves before it reached the straight run to the junction. On the whole, Will felt fairly easy in mind, and since the safety of the hydroplane was all-important, he contented himself with the moderate speed of ten knots.
The voyage had been in progress little more than an hour when Azito suddenly turned round, and said--
"I hear a train, señor."
Will instantly stopped the engine. While it throbbed he could hear nothing else. The hydroplane drifted silently on the current. From the far distance, on the right bank, came the characteristic rumble of a heavy train--a sound impossible to mistake. Ruggles heard it at the same moment.
"We must cut and run for it now," he said, "and no mistake."
"Yes, and we must have the General aboard. It will be a near thing at the best. We must make room for him somehow."
As he said this he backed the vessel to allow the yacht to come alongside. Then he gave the wheel to José, turning to help Ruggles to lift the General on board. Machado thought his chance was come. He took up the light anchor, as though to throw it over and hold the vessel while the transfer was made. He really intended to dash it into the machinery. But just as he was on the point of hurling it, Azito sprang at him and brought his pole down with tremendous force on his forearm. He dropped the anchor with a howl of pain. At the same moment the General was hauled over the side and laid just in front of the engine. Ruggles cast off the hawser and stowed himself near José; Will returned to his seat; and opening the throttle little by little he set the hydroplane going, at ten, fifteen, and finally twenty knots. The extra weight she carried depressed her in the water, and more power than usual was necessary before she would plane.
Will had heard Machado's cry, but was too intent upon his task to pay any heed to it. He knew full well the frightful risks he was running in pressing the engine so hard in the darkness, but there was no alternative. He must reach the junction before the train. Alarmed at the speed, Ruggles suggested that it would be better to lie up until the morning, but Will would not hear of it.