“Oh, it isn’t so bad!” smiled the other, won into better humor by the laughing face of the boy.  “But why should the Secret Service department put you in such peril?”

“It is my notion,” Ned hastened to say, in defense of his superior officers, “that they give me credit for sense enough to take care of myself.  The same with regard to you.”

“But why—­”

“It seems to me,” Ned interrupted, “that the department is up against a tough proposition.  The matter is so delicate that no foreign government can be accused of mixing this conspiracy for Uncle Sam.  What remains to do, then, is to spot the tools being used by the power that is most active.”

“That’s good sense.”

“Well, we can’t spot them in Washington, nor in Tientsin, nor yet in the American embassy at Peking.  Where, then, but on the road—­on the road where they are striving with all their might to block the progress of the agent who is trying to land them?”

Captain Martin mused a moment and then broke into a laugh.

“And so,” he said, “you think we are spread out along this road for the conspirators to grab off?”

“If they can, of course; but that is not stating the case right.  We are spread out along the road to Peking to catch the men who will try to stop us.  See?  We are here to watch for those who will try to catch us, and to catch them!  What do you think of that?”

“Clever!” exclaimed the Captain.

“The system is an old one in detective work,” Ned explained.  “It is no unusual thing for an officer to permit a prisoner to escape in order that be may be traced to his confederates.  Only this case is somewhat different, of course.  We don’t know exactly who the criminals we, but we expect them to reveal their identity by their own acts.”

“Then we’d better be on double guard?”

“Of course.  You know how the consul reiterated the warning he gave us.  He couldn’t tell us that it was the notion of the Secret Service department that we would be attacked on the way to Peking, but he could tell us to look out, and he did.”

“Perhaps he thought the truth would frighten you off?”

“Perhaps,” laughed Ned.

“Well, I’m glad to have the puzzle solved,” Captain Martin said.  “Now we know just what to look out for.  When do you expect to meet with these foxy chaps?”

“They will appear in due time, if I am right,” Ned replied.  “Look out there on the road,” he added, “they may be coming now.”

The Captain looked and saw four men in the garb of priests, approaching the grove.  Their robes were long and of a dirty slate color, and there was a great star on the breast of the man in the lead.

“A queer bunch,” the officer said, “but not diplomats.  They are Taoist priests, and the chances are that they have a tumble-down temple in this vicinity.  They are not very popular in China just now.”