"I can"t tell you," was the answer. "But it was never believed you could make a quick jump to the capital city. There maybe things to do on the way there. That is why you have to escort. I don"t like this diplomacy game, but have to obey orders."
"What I want to know," Jimmie broke in, "is how Ned got away. They had him tied up plenty last time I saw him. And, after he got away, how did he happen to blunder into the company of our escort? China is a land of mystery, all right!"
"They didn"t watch me closely," Ned replied, modestly, "after they took you away, and when I did get out of the house I had only to follow one of my captors. Believing that I was safely tied, my captors talked a lot about having the marines waiting in the wrong house while they disposed of the Boy Scouts!"
"This man Rae?" asked the officer. "Was he there with your captors?
That"s one of the men we must take."
"Oh, he is the man that caused us to be taken," Jimmie cut in. "I"d like to break his crust for him. I"m gettin" sick of bein" tied up in every case, like the hero in a Bowery play!"
"Was there a c.h.i.n.k who spoke English like a native?" asked Jack.
"There were two."
"Dressed in native costume?"
"Yes, and looking bored and weary."
"Then they"re the men that sat with the others in a grinning row up against the wall," Frank exclaimed. "Do you think they are Chinamen?"
"Disguised Englishmen," Ned replied.
"That"s my notion," Frank went on. "Oh, we"ll get this all ironed out directly! If we could find Hans we might start off with a thorough understanding of how the game was carried out here."
The rain now slacked a little, and here and there stars showed through ma.s.ses of hurrying clouds. The boys led their steel horses to the door and prepared to mount.
"Plenty of mud," Jack suggested.
In the little pause caused by the marines getting out their machines a dull, monotonous sound came to the ears of the party. It was such a sound as the Boy Scouts had heard on the rivers of South America, when the advance of their motor-boat was blocked, and hundreds of savages were peering out of the thickets.
"What is it?" asked Jack.
"Sounds like the roaring of a mob," answered the officer. "You understand that a word will stir the natives to arms against foreigners.
As there is no knowing what this fake Lieutenant Rae and the men we drove away from this house may have said to the c.h.i.n.ks, we may as well be moving. It may be safer out on the road!"
"I should say so!" exclaimed Jack. "We can"t fight a whole nation, can we? Look there! That was a rocket, and means trouble."
The distant murmur was fast growing into a roar, and rockets were flecking the clouds with their green, red, and blue lights. Shadowy figures began to show in the darkness, and a group was seen ahead, in the street which led away toward Peking.
"More dangerous than wild beasts!" exclaimed the officer. "Be careful to keep together and in the middle of the road, when we get under way, for if one of us gets pulled down there"s an end of all things for him!"
"It is too bad we can"t stay long enough to find Hans," Ned said.
"If we remain here five minutes longer," the officer replied, "someone will have to come and find us. Are you ready?"
All were ready, and the next moment sixteen motorcycles shot out into the street and headed northwest for Tientsin, which city lay in the direct path to Peking. The group in the road ahead parted sullenly as the squadron pressed on its outer circle and the company pa.s.sed through without mishap.
That was as wild a ride as any living being ever engaged in. Nothing but the speed of the motorcycles saved the boys, for enemies sprung up all along the way. Some mysterious system of signaling ahead seemed to be in vogue there.
The sky cleared presently. The road was muddy, but the giant machines made good progress, especially through little towns, through the doors and windows of which curious eyes peered out on the silent company, marching, seemingly, to the music of the spark explosions.
After a run of two hours the officer halted and dismounted.
"Now," he said, "we"ve got a bit of work cut out for us here. If we make it, we may go on in peace. If we fail, all must keep together and take chances on speed."
CHAPTER VII
THE MIDNIGHT CALL OF AN OWL
Ned glanced about keenly as he left his seat on the machine and stood awaiting further instructions. There was little rain in the air now, but it was still dark except for the faint reflection of a distant group of lights.
"Where are we?" Ned asked.
"Near Tientsin."
"So soon? Why, I thought we"d be a long time on the way."
"I reckon you don"t know how fast we have been traveling," said the officer. "Fear led me to take risks. I"ll admit that."
"I want to look through the city before I leave the country," Ned remarked.
"You are standing now where the allied armies encamped in 1900," the officer went on. "You doubtless recall the time the allied armies were sent to Peking to rescue the foreign amba.s.sadors during the Boxer uprising? That was an exciting time."
"Hardly," laughed Ned, "although I have read much about that march. I must have been about eight years old at the time."
"Well here is where the American brigade encamped on the night before the start for Peking was made. At that time it was believed that the foreigners at Peking had all been murdered. I was here with the boys in blue."
"Then you ought to know the road to Peking."
"I certainly do."
"What are we halting here for?"
"There is a dispatch from Washington due you here," was the reply.
"Telegrams in China?"
"Certainly. Why, kid, this city has over a million of inhabitants, and thousands of the residents are foreigners. Of course they have telegraph facilities."
"But how am I to get it to-night?"
To the east lay a great cornfield, to the west a broken common upon which were a few houses of the meaner sort. The corn had been cut and was in the shock. In the houses the lights were out. But far over the poverty-stricken abodes of the poor shone the reflections of the high lights of the city.
Tientsin is a squalid Oriental city, its native abodes being of the cheapest kind, but the foreign section is well built up and well lighted. These were the reflections, glancing down from a gentle slope, that the boys saw.