ent seal, bits of broken
sealing wax, and now a piece of a broken match safe. He'll set a trap
with them directly!"

"The trap is already set!" Ned replied.

The long delay at the house made high speed necessary during the
remainder of the run to Peking. The machines sparked and roared through
that ancient land, bringing sleepy-eyed natives to doors and windows,
and setting villages into whirls of excitement.

Captain Martin and one marine were with the boys, the rest having been
left with the wounded men.

"My flying squadron is just beginning to fly," Ned said, as the machines
rolled noisily down a hill from which the towers of the distant city
showed. "And the smaller it becomes as we approach the end of the
journey!"

"Suppose the Chinks attack the men left behind?" asked Jack.

"No danger of that," Ned replied. "They are not after the marines, but
the Boy Scouts who had the nerve to cross the Pacific for the purpose of
bringing a rascal to punishment."

This view of the case proved to be the correct one, as the marines were
remarkably well treated by the natives, who gathered about them with
many gestures and questions, all unintelligible to the warriors. The
boys who were slowly drawing a slowly closing circle around the guilty
ones were the persons in demand!

It was the middle of the forenoon when Ned and his companions reached
the suburbs of the wonderful city. They attracted a great deal of
attention as they wheeled through the straggling streets. They had not
yet come to the wall, so the population was principally agricultural.
Maize and millet are the principal products of the soil here, as the
staple crops, wheat and rice, do not flourish well.

They had no difficulty in passing the gate which gave into the southern
or "Chinese City." It is the northern part of Peking that is known to
foreigners as "The Forbidden City." Here the rulers live in wonderful
palaces. This is the old "Tartar City," too.

The second division of Peking is the business section. Here the boys
drew up at a most uninviting native inn and asked a clerk who claimed to
speak English for an interpreter. A snaky-looking fellow was finally
produced, and Ned proceeded to question him about the show places of the
town.

"Let him think we are American tourists," Ned said to his chums, "and
we'll stand a better chance of getting into the diplomatic section of
the town. Anyway, while we are here, we may as well see the s