d then rolled me out of the drapery of me elegant couch."

"Search me!" Jack replied. "I got something like that, also. I'll bet
it's the blooming marines, playing an alleged joke! I'm going out to
heave a rock at them."

"Wait!" whispered a voice. "Don't make so much noise, either. You're
pinched!"

"That's Bowery!" cried Jack.

"Come on and show yourself!" Frank commanded. "What are you hiding back
there in the darkness for? Who are you, and where did you come from?
What did you wake me up for, anyway?"

"Black Cat Patrol, Chicago!" was the reply that came through the
darkness. "You're both Black Bears, New York," the voice went on. "I
saw the badges on your vests."

Both boys sprang to their feet instantly. This was something worth
while. A Boy Scout in China!

"Got a light?" asked Frank. "I'll just like to see whether you're a
Black Cat or not."

"Nix on the light," was the reply.

"That's South Clark street, below Van Buren," laughed Jack.

"All right," Frank said, in answer to the boy's negative, "I've got a
flashlight."

"Then keep it out of sight," advised the other. "I don't want to stir
up these soldiers. Perhaps they won't let you go with me."

"Oh, they won't?" Jack grumbled. "We'll see! Turn on your light,
Frank, old top!"

Frank, "old top." turned on his light, and the two saw a boy of
apparently fifteen standing immediately in front of them. He was
slender but muscular, and his red hair and blue eyes betokened anything
but Asiatic ancestors.

The lad extended his right hand in full salute and waited.

"Correct!" Jack said. "Turn out your light, Frank. Sit down, kid, and
tell us why this surprise party."

"I came down to tell you that there's doin's up town," was the quick
reply. "You'd better get a move on!"

"We're ready," Frank said, then, "but we'd like to know what we're going
to move against."

"Your friends are in trouble. That's the answer."

"How do you know?"

"I have just left them at the telegraph office."

"That's where they went."

"Well, that's where they're gettin' theirs," declared the lad. "So buck
up!"

"Who--what--"

"Aw, come along!" the boy cut in. "They're goin' to be arrested, an'
they won't get their cablegram, an' there'll be worse if you don't wake
up. See?"

"You'll have to explain to us," Frank observed.

"You go tell that to the marines!" Jack exclaimed. "They're right
outside there."

"All right!" the lad answered.