ags or boxes which would prove out
the whole transaction."

"An' Ned found the documents!" cried Jimmie. "Good old Ned!"

"Yes, he found the documents which prove that the United States had
nothing to do with the matter, but which do not show who started the
slander.

"And then Ned is sent out to track the statesman who had been doing
business with the rebels down to his hiding place. It is thought that
his nation is the one that tried to mix Uncle Sam in the matter."

"But why should this man be doing business with the rebels?" asked Jack.

"That is what we don't know," was the reply. "Still, we know that he is
allied with the rebels. We met him at Taku. Ned met him at the ruined
temple. He may be treacherously in the company of the men who lead the
revolutionary party, but he is there."

"You have that figured out correctly," Ned cut in. "If the man we are
after had been doing business with the Chinese government, we would have
had officers of the law after us at Tientsin and Taku, instead of men
who ran when it came daylight."

"What national seal made that stamp on the wax you have in your pocket,
Ned?" Jimmie asked.

Ned made no reply.

"Was the stamp made with the seal you have with you?" was the next
question.

Still Ned did not answer. He was in a quandary. It did not seem
possible that the two nations pointed out by the seal and the wax could
be engaged in such dirty business. He hoped to prove to his own
satisfaction that they were not.

"The only way to find out what we want to know," he said, "is to go on
to Peking."

"Your proof will assist you when you get there?" asked Frank.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Ned answered, tentatively.

"I don't understand that reply," Frank observed, with a serious face.
"You must have discovered something in this house which is not to your
liking."

"Time will show," Ned said.

Captain Martin, of the marines, now entered the room where the
discussion was going on. His face was pale, and his eyes showed greater
anger than Ned had ever seen reflected there before.

"Just a moment, Ned," he said, and the two stepped into another room.
The Captain dropped into a chair.

"We have struck the hornet's nest," he said.

"Do you hear them buzzing?" asked Ned, with a smile.

"Worse than that," was the reply. "I am feeling their stings. Two of
my men have been attacked in the dark."

"And wounded?"

"Yes; one of them seriously."

"I'm sorry for the