“If you boy will get ready now,” a voice said, “we’ll be on, our way toward Peking.”

“How many of the Chinks did you catch?” asked Ned.

“Not a blooming one,” was the disgusted reply.  “They ran away like water leaking into the ground.”

“If you’d only let me alone,” wailed Jimmie, “I’d have got one.  I want to soak the man that tied me up.”

The marines, a full dozen of them, now gathered in the old house and all made ready for departure.  Directly a motorcycle for every man was wheeled up to the door.

“We have been practicing riding while waiting for you,” the officer in charge explained, “and the fellows think they can go some!”

“It is a wild night for such a ride,” Frank suggested.

“Couldn’t have been better for our purpose,” said the officer.

“Do you know why we are going on motorcycles?” asked Ned.

“I think I do,” was the reply.

“Why don’t you out with it, then?” asked Jack.

“You’ll learn of the reason soon enough!” replied the other.  “Before we go to Peking you may understand why you are going with a flying squadron of Uncle Sam’s men!”

“Who directed you to the house where I found you?” asked Ned.

“A chap who called himself Lieutenant Rae,” was the reply.

“Japanese-lookin’ chap?” asked Jimmie.

“That’s the fellow.”

“There’s one more question,” Ned went on.  “Are all the men you took from the ship with you?”

“Every one of my men is here,” answered the officer, “but there was a fellow, a friend of yours, with us at first who is not with us now.  Queer chap he was, too!  German, I think, and a master at tangling up the United States language.  He came on board the ship, and managed to get off with us when we left.  In two days he disappeared.”

“That was Hans!” cried Jack.

“Who’s Hans?”

“A German Boy Scout we picked up on an island.  A member of the Owl Patrol, of Philadelphia, he said.  We left him on the submarine.”

“Well, he asked after you boys, and looked disappointed when we did not find you, owing to the misleading statements of that fraud, Rae.  He left us without a word of explanation, and is probably looking for you.  Did he know where you were going?”

“Yes,” admitted Ned, “I told him we were going to Peking by way of Tientsin.  I should not have done that.”

“Oh, it can do no harm, and may be for your benefit.  If the lad was not killed by the Chinks, he is doubtless on his way to Peking.”

“Then you think he knew there was something wrong because we did not meet you?” asked Ned.

“Yes; he acted queerly.”

“There are evidences of a struggle in this house,” Ned went on, “and we thought the messenger we were waiting for had been attacked, but it may have been Hans after all.  I hope he is not in serious trouble.”