“I am the only messenger sent to you,” the officer said, “so, as you say, it might have been the German who was attacked, though no one knows how he ever found this house, or why, when attacked, he didn’t make himself heard.”

The rain was now falling heavily, and it was decided to remain under shelter for a time, so the flashlight was brought into use again.

“If your men can keep up with us,” Jack said to the officer, “we can get to Peking in six hours, so there is no need of hurrying.”

“If you get to Peking in six 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.