What he had found was a gold piece of the denomination of twenty dollars. And it bore the stamp of the American eagle!
CHAPTER XVII
BOY SCOUTS IN A LIVELY MIXUP
Ned took the gold piece into his hand and examined it.
"It is American money, sure enough," he observed, "and was made at the San Francisco mint."
Frank and Jack now joined the little group in the library and regarded the piece with interest.
"What does it mean?" Frank asked.
"Why," Jack volunteered, "it means that some American man is mixed up in this dirty affair."
"Perhaps that gold came out of the wreck," Jimmie suggested. "Say, are we ever goin" back after that gold?" he added.
"Ned"s got all the gold he can attend to right here," commented Frank.
"He"s got to find out how that came here."
"Why, there was an American in the bunch, and he lost it out of his pocket," Jack ventured.
"That"s the very point," Frank observed. "What was an American doing in that bunch?"
"It might have been the American who planned to send the gold to the revolutionary leaders by way of a shipment to the Chinese government,"
Ned said, thoughtfully. "You know some American had to send the gold."
"Of course."
"Well, suppose he is now here trying to get something in exchange for the gold which lies at the bottom of the Pacific?"
"He naturally would be doing business, with the revolutionary party,"
Frank exclaimed. "What a trick that was!"
"I haven"t got it through my head yet," Jack said. "I don"t know any more about the plot than a robin."
"Look here," Frank said, in a superior tone, "there are a lot of Chinese in the United States who want to a.s.sist the revolutionary party. Got that?"
"You know it!"
"These men arrange with the Chinese government to send over a cargo of gold."
"That"s easy. What were they to get for the gold?"
"I don"t know," Frank answered. "But they arranged to send the gold right out of the subtreasury at San Francisco--or was it New York?--to the Chinese government."
"All right," laughed Jack. "I see daylight."
"Then they notify the rebels-to-be that the gold will be shipped on such a vessel at such a time."
"Warmer!" grinned Jimmie.
"And the rebels undertake to have a ship ready to s.n.a.t.c.h off the gold when the right time comes. So the Chinese government will have to pay for the yellow stuff and the rebels will have the good of it."
"Great scheme!"
"Yes, well, some other nation gets wise to what is going on, and sets out to burst up the combination."
"Naturally."
"So this foreign nation sends out a ship to ram the vessel carrying the gold."
"Oh! I got that long ago!"
"And the vessel is rammed and the gold goes to the bottom. Then this other government, thinking to kill two birds at one shot, gives it out, in certain diplomatic circles, that Uncle Sam shipped that gold directly to the Chinese government from the subtreasury, with the full knowledge that the rebels were to get it."
"Yes, I"ve heard about that."
"So Uncle Sam sends Ned over here to dig up that gold and see if the shippers didn"t put doc.u.ments in the bags or boxes which would prove out the whole transaction."
"An" Ned found the doc.u.ments!" cried Jimmie. "Good old Ned!"
"Yes, he found the doc.u.ments which prove that the United States had nothing to do with the matter, but which do not show who started the slander.
"And then Ned is sent out to track the statesman who had been doing business with the rebels down to his hiding place. It is thought that his nation is the one that tried to mix Uncle Sam in the matter."
"But why should this man be doing business with the rebels?" asked Jack.
"That is what we don"t know," was the reply. "Still, we know that he is allied with the rebels. We met him at Taku. Ned met him at the ruined temple. He may be treacherously in the company of the men who lead the revolutionary party, but he is there."
"You have that figured out correctly," Ned cut in. "If the man we are after had been doing business with the Chinese government, we would have had officers of the law after us at Tientsin and Taku, instead of men who ran when it came daylight."
"What national seal made that stamp on the wax you have in your pocket, Ned?" Jimmie asked.
Ned made no reply.
"Was the stamp made with the seal you have with you?" was the next question.
Still Ned did not answer. He was in a quandary. It did not seem possible that the two nations pointed out by the seal and the wax could be engaged in such dirty business. He hoped to prove to his own satisfaction that they were not.
"The only way to find out what we want to know," he said, "is to go on to Peking."
"Your proof will a.s.sist you when you get there?" asked Frank.