The street below soon cleared of the few who gathered about to witness the arrival of the soldiers.  The few prisoners, who had been taken marched sullenly to prison.  In ten minutes the city of Peking was as quiet as if the machinations of the conspirators had never stirred the people to riot.

“Well?” Ned said, facing the prisoner.  “What do you think we ought to do with you?”

“After all,” was the reply, “you have no charges against me.  My government alone can discipline me for what has been done.”

“Your government will deny any knowledge of the conspiracy,” Ned replied.  “From this time on, you have no government.”

“And yet I acted under instructions.”

“What was the motive?” asked Frank, who saw a fine cablegram for his father’s newspaper in the story.

“The purpose,” replied the other, weakly, “was to so entangle your government that it would not dare lend aid to the revolutionary leaders.”

“And you were engaged in it?”

A nod of the head was the only reply.

“Yet you pretended to be assisting the revolutionary party.  You were present at their councils.  Can it be possible that you were treacherous to both sides?”

There was no answer.

“Suppose,” Ned said, “suppose I turn you over to the revolutionary leaders, with a statement of what you have just said?  What would be your fate?  Remember that the men of the revolution were ready to fight for you not long ago.”

Still no reply.  The prisoner only looked sullenly down at the floor.

“What government do you represent?” asked Frank.  “What nation is it that is protecting the imperial government of China?”

“You need not answer that question,” Ned said, with a sigh.

Frank laughed.

“I see,” he said.  “You don’t want to further implicate matters by giving out the name of the power whose seal shows on the wax!  All right, old boy, I’ll get it yet!”

“No good can come of a representative of the United States Government presenting charges of such a character against another power,” Ned replied.

Captain Martin now arose from the chair where he had been seated for a long time.  He glanced keenly into the faces of the six prisoners and then turned to Ned.

“Shall I take them in charge?” he asked,

“That would be useless.”

“Then what can be done with them?”

“I am going to turn them over to the authorities on the charge of attempted murder, based on the effort they made to kill us in the old house.”

“Very well,” the Captain said, “now will you tell me how you set this trap so, cleverly?”

“It was only a matter of detail,” Ned replied.  “I took good care to let the native waiters here know that I had the clues I had found secreted in my room.  I also let it be known that I was a heavy sleeper.

“My interpreter, who is by no means as treacherous a chap as his looks would indicate, heard the robbery of my room planned.  He heard the hour fixed-a quarter past twelve.  So all the rest was easy.”