“That is refreshing, as coming from the mouth of a spy,” retorted the other.  “If you are ready to talk business,” he added, closing the door, “I am ready to make a proposition.”

“If your time and your breath are worth anything,” the boy replied, “you may as well save both.”

“You have possession of certain documents taken from a certain wreck in the Pacific Ocean?”

Ned made no reply.

“You possess certain information concerning an alleged plot.”

Still no response from the boy.

“Without you, your government can make no headway in the investigation now on foot.”

Ned dropped into a chair and turned his face away with a well assumed air of indifference.  Really, he was anxious for the man to go on, to say just how important were the papers and the information.

“We have it in our power to prevent the information you possess ever reaching your government, but the documents you have we cannot get in the usual way.  Therefore we are offering you terms.”

“Naturally,” Ned smiled.

“Promise to restore the papers and forever remain silent as to what you have learned since you undertook this case, and you shall all go free, with more money than you ever dreamed of having in your hands.”

“You have not stated the case fully,” Ned said, when the other concluded, with a superior air.  “You have not mentioned a certain alleged diplomat.  You want me to forget all that he has said and done in the matter.”

“Naturally.  I said that you were to forget everything connected with the case.”

“I prefer,” Ned replied, “to see you on the gallows for murder.”

The other started violently.

“Then this is final?”

There came a sound resembling the report of firearms from the outer room.  At the same time Ned caught a movement behind the south wall of the room.  The gunman mentioned by the diplomat was evidently leaving his post for the purpose of joining in any struggle which might be taking place.

The boy thought fast for a moment.  If the marines had fought their way into the outer room they would soon be knocking at the rough door that separated the two apartments.  In that case the man before him would do one of two things.

He would try to fight his way out of the room, or he would try to escape by some exit not at that time in sight.  In the first instance he might wound or kill one or more of the marines.  In the latter, he might be able to conceal himself in some underground passage and finally escape.

It seemed to Ned that the one thing for him to do was to attack the fellow and endeavor to disarm him.  The noises of conflict in the outer room grew more distinct, and Ned, observing that the diplomat was glancing restlessly about, as if seeking some means of escape, sprang upon him.

Instead of turning and defending himself, the fellow struggled to release himself from the boy’s hold, and to make his way toward a section of the wall on the south.  The statement that a rifleman had been stationed somewhere there now came back to the boy’s mind, and he knew that there must be a passage behind that wall.