“Save for that beautiful bluff of yours!” laughed Ned.  “But how in the Dickens did Hans ever get to you?  How did he know where to go?  How did he get to Tientsin, anyway?”

“Give it up!” smiled the consul.  “You might as well ask me who got the marines out just in the nick of time.”

“Jimmie did that, of course,” replied Ned.  “I think I know all about it now,” he added.  “We saw Hans in a room opening on the court.  The little fellow burglarized the window and found Hans.  I don’t know how Hans got there, but Jimmie found him, anyway.  Then the kid told his story and Hans went to the consul and Jimmie went after the flying squadron.  I have a notion that this is the way it came about.”

In this supposition Ned was exactly right, for Jimmie had found Hans in the room off the court and the two had planned their movements just as Ned explained.  The only mystery was as to how Hans got to the Tientsin house and the room where he was found.

“We’ll learn all about that in time,” Ned added.  “Now we must be off.  By the way, I wonder where Jack and Frank are?  I haven’t seen them since I left the camp.  In the rush of events I quite forgot to ask for them.”

“Just wait until I talk with one of the boys out here,” the Captain said.  “Probably Jimmie is already telling them of his adventures.”

But when the door was opened and Jimmie questioned he opened his eyes wide in wonder.  The Captain drew him into the private room.

“Say,” the boy said, excitement in voice and manner, “didn’t you leave Frank and Jack at the camp when you left?”

“Why, I left when you did,” was the reply.  “They were there then.”

Jimmie sprang to the door and beckoned the second in command into the room.  By this time both Ned and the consul were on their feet.

“Where did you leave Frank and Jack?” asked Ned, as the officer entered the apartment.

“They left us,” replied the officer, with hesitation.  “We made our beds of blankets and tumbled in, leaving one man on guard.  When I turned in the boys were in their bunks.  When Jimmie awoke us, they were nowhere to be seen.  They probably sneaked off to have a look at Tientsin by night—­and a beautiful time they will have.”

“Didn’t you see them when you went back?” asked Ned of Jimmie.

“No; I looked for them, and one of the marines told me they had gone on ahead.  I’m goin’ out an’ dig ’em up!”

“You’ll make a sweet fist of digging them up in this man’s town, at this hour of the night,” the consul declared, anxiety showing on his face.  “You’ll have to leave them, Mr. Nestor,” he went on, “and I’ll rake the city with a fine tooth comb but I’ll find them.”

Ned hesitated.  There was the cablegram on the table.  A delay of an hour or two might not prove serious, but this search for Frank and Jack might occupy days, if not weeks!

It was inconceivable that the boys, disregarding all instructions from the Captain and all warnings from Ned, should have stolen off into the city for a night ramble.  They both knew how much depended on the party keeping together and keeping prepared for action.