"Indeed I would!"
Hans made a threatening gesture toward the fellow and he hastened to the protection of the counter.
"My office is only a short distance away," said the consul, turning to Ned. "We may as well go there and size this extraordinary situation up.
I hardly know what to make of it."
"There is one thing you, perhaps, do not understand," Ned said, "and that is that Captain Martin, in charge of this squad, has been taken into custody by order of the detective Hans knocked out a moment ago."
The consul"s face turned red with anger. He seized the a.s.sistant manager by the shoulder and shook him, over the counter, as a dog shakes a rat.
"Where is he?" he demanded. "Tell your hirelings to bring him here, not soon, but now."
"He a.s.saulted me!" complained the manager.
"Produce him! One, two, three. At the third word he comes!"
Obeying a motion from the frightened man, a native opened a door back of the counter and Captain Martin was pushed out into the room, smiling and evidently enjoying the situation.
"I could have b.u.t.ted out at any moment," he said, "for these c.h.i.n.ks are not fighters, but I heard what was going on out here and thought I"d let events shape themselves. If I had been out here a short time ago I am afraid I should have made trouble for myself and for you."
"It is nice to watch a game that you can"t lose at," laughed the consul.
"Come along, with your men, to my office. This lad wants a chance to read his message."
"Sure," was the reply. "I want to know how that Dutchman come to bring you here, and how my men managed to get here just in time. There are mysteries to explain. What?" he added, with a laugh.
"I guess we"ll have to wait for explanations until we know what is in this message," Ned said. "Come along to the office, Mr. Consul, for we have lost a lot of time already."
"I am anxious to know what the message contains," said the consul.
CHAPTER X
THE DARK ROAD TO PEKING
Half an hour later the American consul, Captain Martin, and Ned sat in a private room at the consulate. The marines and Jimmie and Hans were in the large outer room.
The cablegram from Washington lay open on a table with a translation by its side. It read:
"Proceed to Peking immediately and report to the American amba.s.sador.
Keep within reach of the flying squadron. Avoid complications with the natives. Look out for plots to delay your party. Important that you should reach Peking at once. Wire conditions."
"Not much news in that," said Ned. "Guess we"ve met all the trouble the Washington people antic.i.p.ated."
"Shall you go on to-night?" asked the Captain.
"Certainly."
"It is a dark, rainy night," the consul warned, "and the highways of China are none too safe, even in daylight, for American messengers who are insufficiently guarded."
"We"ll look out for our part of the game," Captain Martin laughed.
"We"ll, keep close together," advised the consul. "You will meet trouble on the way. The men who bribed the telegraph people will not get into the discard now. You"ll find their hirelings waiting out on the dark road to Peking."
Ned pointed to the dispatch.
"We"ve got to go," he said. "I can"t tell you how thankful I am to have met a true American here," he added, extending his hand to the consul.
"I shall tell the story of to-night in the State department at Washington when I get back."
"Well, get it straight," laughed the consul. "Say that a blundering German boy, who said he was a Boy Scout from Philadelphia, nearly dragged me out of bed about midnight and informed me that other Boy Scouts were in trouble at the telegraph office. I knew that Ned was expected here, and so lost no time in getting down. That"s all. The marines did the rest."
"Save for that beautiful bluff of yours!" laughed Ned. "But how in the d.i.c.kens did Hans ever get to you? How did he know where to go? How did he get to Tientsin, anyway?"
"Give it up!" smiled the consul. "You might as well ask me who got the marines out just in the nick of time."
"Jimmie did that, of course," replied Ned. "I think I know all about it now," he added. "We saw Hans in a room opening on the court. The little fellow burglarized the window and found Hans. I don"t know how Hans got there, but Jimmie found him, anyway. Then the kid told his story and Hans went to the consul and Jimmie went after the flying squadron. I have a notion that this is the way it came about."
In this supposition Ned was exactly right, for Jimmie had found Hans in the room off the court and the two had planned their movements just as Ned explained. The only mystery was as to how Hans got to the Tientsin house and the room where he was found.
"We"ll learn all about that in time," Ned added. "Now we must be off.
By the way, I wonder where Jack and Frank are? I haven"t seen them since I left the camp. In the rush of events I quite forgot to ask for them."
"Just wait until I talk with one of the boys out here," the Captain said. "Probably Jimmie is already telling them of his adventures."
But when the door was opened and Jimmie questioned he opened his eyes wide in wonder. The Captain drew him into the private room.
"Say," the boy said, excitement in voice and manner, "didn"t you leave Frank and Jack at the camp when you left?"
"Why, I left when you did," was the reply. "They were there then."
Jimmie sprang to the door and beckoned the second in command into the room. By this time both Ned and the consul were on their feet.
"Where did you leave Frank and Jack?" asked Ned, as the officer entered the apartment.
"They left us," replied the officer, with hesitation. "We made our beds of blankets and tumbled in, leaving one man on guard. When I turned in the boys were in their bunks. When Jimmie awoke us, they were nowhere to be seen. They probably sneaked off to have a look at Tientsin by night--and a beautiful time they will have."
"Didn"t you see them when you went back?" asked Ned of Jimmie.
"No; I looked for them, and one of the marines told me they had gone on ahead. I"m goin" out an" dig "em up!"
"You"ll make a sweet fist of digging them up in this man"s town, at this hour of the night," the consul declared, anxiety showing on his face.
"You"ll have to leave them, Mr. Nestor," he went on, "and I"ll rake the city with a fine tooth comb but I"ll find them."
Ned hesitated. There was the cablegram on the table. A delay of an hour or two might not prove serious, but this search for Frank and Jack might occupy days, if not weeks!
It was inconceivable that the boys, disregarding all instructions from the Captain and all warnings from Ned, should have stolen off into the city for a night ramble. They both knew how much depended on the party keeping together and keeping prepared for action.