weeks you'll be doing well," laughed the
officer.

"What do you mean by that? Demanded Ned, who was anxious for a start.

"I can't tell you," was the answer. "But it was never believed you
could make a quick jump to the capital city. There maybe things to do
on the way there. That is why you have to escort. I don't like this
diplomacy game, but have to obey orders."

"What I want to know," Jimmie broke in, "is how Ned got away. They had
him tied up plenty last time I saw him. And, after he got away, how did
he happen to blunder into the company of our escort? China is a land of
mystery, all right!"

"They didn't watch me closely," Ned replied, modestly, "after they took
you away, and when I did get out of the house I had only to follow one
of my captors. Believing that I was safely tied, my captors talked a
lot about having the marines waiting in the wrong house while they
disposed of the Boy Scouts!"

"This man Rae?" asked the officer. "Was he there with your captors?
That's one of the men we must take."

"Oh, he is the man that caused us to be taken," Jimmie cut in. "I'd
like to break his crust for him. I'm gettin' sick of bein' tied up in
every case, like the hero in a Bowery play!"

"Was there a Chink who spoke English like a native?" asked Jack.

"There were two."

"Dressed in native costume?"

"Yes, and looking bored and weary."

"Then they're the men that sat with the others in a grinning row up
against the wall," Frank exclaimed. "Do you think they are Chinamen?"

"Disguised Englishmen," Ned replied.

"That's my notion," Frank went on. "Oh, we'll get this all ironed out
directly! If we could find Hans we might start off with a thorough
understanding of how the game was carried out here."

The rain now slacked a little, and here and there stars showed through
masses of hurrying clouds. The boys led their steel horses to the door
and prepared to mount.

"Plenty of mud," Jack suggested.

In the little pause caused by the marines getting out their machines a
dull, monotonous sound came to the ears of the party. It was such a
sound as the Boy Scouts had heard on the rivers of South America, when
the advance of their motor-boat was blocked, and hundreds of savages
were peering out of the thickets.

"What is it?" asked Jack.

"Sounds like the roaring of a mob," answered the officer. "You
understand that a word will stir the natives to arms against foreigners.
As there is no kno