Four men dashed suddenly from the darkness, and before the patrolmen could draw guns or clubs, before Johnny could realize what was happening, the officers were flat on the pavement, with hands and feet tied.

Johnny’s brain worked rapidly.  He understood all right.  These men were Radicals.  He was the prize they were after—­he and the diamonds.  Once let him be taken to the police station, there to be searched, the diamonds would be lost to them forever.

But handcuffed as he was, Johnny was not the boy to submit to being kidnapped without a fight.  As one of the Radicals leaped at him, he put his hands up, as in a sign of surrender, then brought them, iron bracelets and all, crashing down on the fellow’s head.  The man went down without a cry.

Hanada, too, had not been idle.  He slipped the handcuffs from his slender wrists and seizing the club of one of the fallen policemen, aimed a blow at the second man who leaped at Johnny.  A moment later, Johnny heard his shrill whisper: 

“C’mon!”

They were away like a flash.  Down a dark alley, over a fence, with Johnny’s handcuffs jangling, they sped.  Then, after crossing a street and leaping into a yard filled with junk and scrap iron, they paused.

“Let’s see,” said Hanada.

He took Johnny’s wrist, and after twisting the iron bracelets and working for a moment with a bit of rusty wire, he unlocked the handcuffs and threw them in the scrap heap.

“Clumsy things!  Belong there,” he grunted.

“But,” said Johnny slowly, “what’s the big idea?  They’ll get us again, and running away will only get us in bad.  They’ll think those Radicals were in cahoots with us.”

“I think not,” said Hanada.  “We left them one or two of the Radicals for samples.  But that doesn’t much matter now.  They will get me, yes.  And they will not let me go either, not even under bond.  But you, you have done nothing.  They will let you go.  My testimony will set you free.  Then you must carry on the hunt and the fight, which they will keep me from continuing because they do not know what they are doing.  That’s why I must have a little time to talk to you before they take me; time to explain everything, and to tell you how very important it is that you get that Russian, and all those that are with him.”

“My room,” whispered Johnny, now breathless with interest.  “My room; the police do not know about it.  We might be able to hide there for hours.  We can reach it by the next bridge and by alleys and roofs.  C’mon!”

CHAPTER XVIII

HANADA’S SECRET

Johnny smiled grimly.  He was in his old place by the window overlooking the river.  Hanada was seated beside him.