"Encamped in the grove," was the reply.
"They will not be attacked there?" asked Frank, in some amazement.
"Certainly not. All Chinamen hate us, but we are safe except when the revolutionists take a hand in the game. The marines are probably surrounded by a crowd of sullen curiosity seekers, but they will not be molested unless the revolutionists decide to take another chance with them."
"And the machines are gone for good?"
"No, the American consul is getting them back, or was when I left his office, one by one. The men who were fighting were too frightened to take the machines with them, but the mob got them. They were taken by individual thieves, and will soon be restored."
"We ought to have come over in our aeroplane," smiled Frank.
"That would have defeated our purpose," Ned replied. "We are here to catch the leaders of this conspiracy, and the only way we can do it is to wait until they show themselves.
"Just see how foolish they are!" Ned went on. "If they had been content to wait, to manufacture such evidence as they needed to show their innocence, we could never have located them. They would have lied us out of countenance if we charged any one man with being the leader, or any one nation with fostering the conspiracy.
"But they tried to make a clean record for themselves by wiping us off the face of the earth and so showed themselves to us. I am told by police officers that if criminals would keep away from women, away from the scenes of their crimes, and keep their mouths shut when given the famous--and disgraceful--third degree, not one in twenty would ever be convicted."
"Well," Frank said, "here"s hoping that the man we want will come within reach again!"
After breakfast the boys headed for the American consulate, where they found the machines which had been stolen.
"That was quick work," Ned congratulated. "How did you do it?"
The consul laughed.
"Why," he replied, "you might as well try to bide a fifty story building in China as one of those machines! The natives believe the devil is in them!"
"I"ve known Americans to express the same opinion," laughed Frank.
While they talked with the consul a message was brought him from the telegraph office. It read:
"Report progress."
Ned laughed.
"Nothing to report but disaster," he said.
"Well," the consul replied, "we expected something of the kind. You have gained the very point we expected you to gain. You know exactly who is at the head of this mess. Thinking he had you where you would never get away, he talked too much."
"I think I should know him in any disguise," Ned said. "I should know him anywhere, and under any circ.u.mstances. Do you think he would have kept faith with me if I had given up the doc.u.ments and promised never to implicate either his country or himself in the trouble?"
"Certainly not. The fact that he revealed himself to you shows that he meant to have you murdered there. Only for the marines breaking in just as they did, it would have been all off with you, my boy."
"He must be a treacherous old chap!" Ned commented.
"His life and everything he loves is at stake."
"Then he should have kept out of the mess! Why should he want to get us into a war?"
"My boy," replied the consul, "we are sure to have a war with some great European nation before many years."
"Because the people are getting too thick over here. Because they are going to America in droves. Because the governments of Europe desire to retain control of their people after they leave the confines of their own countries. They want English, German, Russian, Italian, French colonies held under their hand instead of a ma.s.s of their subjects doing reverence to a foreign flag."
"And they will fight for that?"
"Of course. The only way we can keep out of a great and disastrous war is to abandon the Philippines, throw our island possessions to the dogs, and tumble the Monroe doctrine into the sea. Then these foreign nations can buy, steal, or conquer all South and Central America. We don"t want the land there, and we can"t afford to fight for the dagoes who live there."
"There is too much jingo in our country to ever do what you suggest,"
Ned suggested.
"I"m afraid you are right," the consul replied. "But now to business.
Get your machines here and mount them! You are to leave for Peking to-night."
"And I"ll not come back until I reach the town!" declared the boy.
"By the way," said the consul, "where are the papers you took from the captain of the Shark--the boat you fought with your submarine?"
"I have them here," was the reply.
"Better leave them in my safe."
Ned consented to this, and later, on the march to Peking, he was very glad that he had done.
At twilight the boys joined the flying squadron, and were all off for the imperial city, little suspecting that the perils before them were greater than any they had encountered.
CHAPTER XVI
A BIT OF SEALING WAX
The night grew clearer as the flying squadron advanced toward the imperial city of China. The roads were rough in places, but the superb machines carried the boys and their companions at good speed.
It may well be imagined that the party created something of a sensation as it whirled along. The constant popping of the engines, the strong lights which flashed ahead, and the voices of the marines brought many a sleepy-faced Chinaman to the door of his home.
Now and then the boys were hailed from the roadside, but little attention was paid to these calls. Finally, however, a voice addressed the party in English.
"Where are you going?" it asked.
Ned instructed the Captain to proceed a few paces with his company and then halted to see what manner of man it was that spoke to him in that tongue. He found an old Chinaman, a wise-looking old fellow with a keen face, leaning over a rude gate in front of a small house.
"Did you speak?" he asked, advancing to the gate.
"I did," was the reply. "I was curious to know where you were going in the middle of the night."
"You speak English remarkably well," Ned said, not in any hurry to satisfy the old fellow"s curiosity.