"Rather a bright boy," sneered the other, "only not bright enough to understand that men of the world are not to be defeated in their long-cherished plans by the kindergarten cla.s.s. Do you know where your two friends are--the two who accompanied you here?"
"I presume that they are quite capable of taking care of themselves,"
Ned replied.
"They are on the road to a dungeon in Peking."
"From first to last," Ned said, "from my first connection with this case up to this hour, I have come upon only bluffers and liars. You seem to be making good in both lines."
"Not so rude, kid," laughed the other. "You"ve certainly got nerve to address such words to one who holds your life, and the lives of your friends, in his hand."
"If you do," Ned said, "if you really have the power of life and death you claim to have, there is no hope for any of us."
"Figure it out in your own way," said the other, "but, so far as the power of life and death is concerned, you hold the lives of your friends in your own hands."
"I understand what you mean," the boy replied, "but I"m not for sale.
Go ahead with your procession! Death looks pretty good to me, as compared with the disgrace of asking a favor from one of your stripe."
Ned"s words, purposely designed to enrage the fellow, struck fire at last, and he said what he never would have said in calmer moments.
"I"ll show you that death is not so pleasant a thing as you seem to imagine!" he almost shouted. "I"ll show you how to learn the lesson of supplication! When the future of a nation is at stake, human lives do not count. What are the lives of a dozen or more to the prosperity of millions? You have information which is needed, in the interest of humanity, and even torture shall be resorted to if it can be obtained in no other way."
"And so," Ned replied, calmly, "you are not merely a tool. As I supposed, you are one of the men at the head of the conspiracy. You are the man I came upon at Canton. You are the wretch who is trying to involve two continents in war. Well, I hope to meet you under less trying circ.u.mstances!"
The other laughed harshly and walked to the door. Listening with his ear against the rough boards for an instant, he opened it a trifle and glanced out. Ned heard sounds of a struggle there, and was about to spring forward when his captor faced him with a provoking smile.
"By the way," he said, "I neglected to inform you that one threatening movement will mean instant death to you. I am opposed to any bully-like display of weapons, preferring to discuss this question with you without coercion, but I took the precaution to place a rifleman at an opening in one of the walls of this room. He has you "covered," as the saying is, and so it is advisable for you to remain pa.s.sive."
"What is going on out there?" demanded Ned.
"Your people seem to be protesting against leaving the place under escort," laughed the other. "The two you left at the camp in the cornfield were not so hard to control."
"You seem to have a good knowledge of a our movements," said Ned. "You have a spy system well in hand here."
"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 doc.u.ments 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 a.s.sumed 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 doc.u.ments 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage behind that wall.
The man with whom Ned was struggling was evidently unarmed, for he fought only with his hands and feet. He tried by all the tricks known to wrestlers to break away from the boy, or to hurl him to the floor, but Ned had skill as well as strength, and all such efforts proved unavailing.
While this silent struggle was going on, the rough door came crashing in and a score of Chinamen, evidently fleeing from an enemy, rushed in and flocked toward that south wall. Ned and his enemy were trampled under foot for a moment, then the room was clear save for a half dozen marines who stood in the doorway, their smoking guns in their hands.
Ned"s head whirled from a blow he had received, and there was a numb feeling in one of his arms, but he arose to his feet and glanced around.
Jimmie stood with the marines, a grin on his freckled face.
"Gee whiz!" he shouted, "how that man did go!"
"Which man?" demanded Ned. "Why didn"t some one follow him?"
"He just went through that wall," Jimmie answered. "When I tried to follow him I b.u.mped me nose! Say, but he went right through that old wall!"
"Where did the c.h.i.n.ks go?" asked Ned.
"Down through the floor!" was the reply. "But, say, did you ever see anythin" like that vanishin" priest? I"ll bet a pie he"s forty miles away right this minute."
When Ned and the marines took up the search for the diplomat and the Chinese, it did seem that they were forty miles away! There were numerous pa.s.sages under the old temple, and in these the fugitives must have hidden.
"How did you know?" asked Ned of the marines who had broken into the underground rooms. "How did you know there was danger inside?"
"That little imp of a Jimmie," one of the men said, "came to the entrance and shouted fit to wake the dead. They were trying to carry the Captain and the kid away. Bright boy, that!"
Two of the marines had been slightly wounded by knives in the hands of the Chinese, but they declared themselves quite well enough to go on with the journey.