Segment Tree Algorithm Clarification

Hey Guys,
You should all be familiar with the segment tree algorithm tutorial from TopCoder.
I have a small doubt in the same.
The code snippet for the “Query” part of the segment tree algorithm is as follows,

int query(int node, int b, int e, int M[MAXIND], int A[MAXN], int i, int j)       
  {     
   int p1, p2;

   if (i > e || j < b)
      return -1;

  if (b >= i && e <= j)
      return M[node];

  p1 = query(2 * node, b, (b + e) / 2, M, A, i, j);
  p2 = query(2 * node + 1, (b + e) / 2 + 1, e, M, A, i, j);

  if (p1 == -1)
      return M[node] = p2;
  if (p2 == -1)
      return M[node] = p1;
  if (A[p1] <= A[p2])
      return M[node] = p1;
  return M[node] = p2;

 }

Now What I’d like to know is, why are the results returned this way ‘M[node] = position’
Will that not alter the pre-initialized minimum positions ?
Thanks in Advance.

The assignment is wrong. Here is the code to check it out.

    #include<iostream>
    using namespace std;

    #define MAXIND 100
    #define MAXN 5
    int M[MAXIND];
    int A[MAXN] = {5,1,2,9,0};
    void initialize(int node, int b, int e, int M[MAXIND], int A[MAXN], int N)
      {
          if (b == e)
              M[node] = b;
          else
           {
      //compute the values in the left and right subtrees
              initialize(2 * node, b, (b + e) / 2, M, A, N);
              initialize(2 * node + 1, (b + e) / 2 + 1, e, M, A, N);
      //search for the minimum value in the first and
      //second half of the interval
              if (A[M[2 * node]] <= A[M[2 * node + 1]])
                  M[node] = M[2 * node];
              else
                  M[node] = M[2 * node + 1];
          }
      }

      int query(int node, int b, int e, int M[MAXIND], int A[MAXN], int i, int j)
      {
          int p1, p2;


      //if the current interval doesn't intersect
      //the query interval return -1
          if (i > e || j < b)
              return -1;

      //if the current interval is included in
      //the query interval return M[node]
          if (b >= i && e <= j)
              return M[node];

      //compute the minimum position in the
      //left and right part of the interval
          p1 = query(2 * node, b, (b + e) / 2, M, A, i, j);
          p2 = query(2 * node + 1, (b + e) / 2 + 1, e, M, A, i, j);

      //return the position where the overall
      //minimum is
          if (p1 == -1)
              return M[node] = p2;
          if (p2 == -1)
              return M[node] = p1;
          if (A[p1] <= A[p2])
              return M[node] = p1;
          return M[node] = p2;

      }


    int main(){
        initialize(1, 0, 4, M, A, 5);
        cout<<query(1, 0, 4, M, A, 0, 4)<<endl;
        cout<<query(1, 0, 4, M, A, 0, 2)<<endl;
        cout<<query(1, 0, 4, M, A, 0, 4)<<endl;
    }

Remove the assignment and it will work fine.