"There"s our house yonder," and he pointed to a handsome stone residence.
"Hullo, what"s that I see on the roof?" asked Jack.
"That"s my wireless outfit. Mother made an awful kick about having it there, but at last she gave in."
"So you"re still a wireless boy?" said Billy.
"Yes, and I"ve got a dandy outfit too. Come on over. I want to introduce you to the folks."
"Thanks, we will some other time, but not to-night. We don"t feel fit for company. You see quite a disaster has happened to a friend of ours,"
and under a pledge of secrecy from Ned, who he knew he could rely on, Jack told the lad part of the story of the theft of the code.
"By jove, that is a loss," said Ned sympathetically. "I"ve heard dad talking about the new code. It was a very important matter."
"We were going for a walk to discuss the whole question," said Billy.
"Can I join you?" asked Ned.
"Glad to have you," was the rejoinder. Talking and laughing merrily over old times on the _Tropic Queen_, the boys walked on, not noticing much where they were going till they found themselves on an ill-lighted street of rather shabby-looking dwellings.
"Hullo," said Ned, "I don"t think much of this part of town. Let"s get back to a main street."
"It"s a regular slum," said Billy, and the three boys started to retrace their steps. But suddenly Jack stopped and jerked his companions into a doorway. Two figures had just come in sight round the corner. They were headed down the street on the opposite sidewalk.
"It"s Judson and his son," whispered Jack. "What can they be doing here?"
"Hiding, most probably," returned Billy.
"Yes, they--hullo! Look, they"re going into that alley-way."
The boys darted across the street. Looking down the alley-way, they saw the figures of Judson and his son, by the light of a sickly gas lamp, ascending the steps of a rickety-looking tenement house.
"Jove, this is worth knowing," exclaimed Jack. "If they are really hiding here we can get the police on their track. How lucky that we just let ourselves roam into this part of town."
"We ought to have them arrested at once," said Billy.
"Yes, that"s a good idea. But they may have just sneaked through the hallway and out by a rear way. You fellows wait here till I go and see."
"Oh, Jack, you may get in trouble."
"Yes, we"ll go with you," said Ned.
"No, you stay here," Jack insisted. "One of us won"t be noticed. Three would. Besides, that house is full of other tenants. Nothing much could happen to me."
In spite of their further protests he walked rapidly, but cautiously, down the alley-way. Noiselessly he entered the hallway and walked to the door of a rear room, where he heard voices. But it was a laboring man and his wife quarreling over something. Jack heard a door open on an upper floor. Then came a voice that thrilled him. It was Jarrow"s.
"Hullo, Judson, back again? Well, how did things go?"
Then Jack heard the door closed and locked.
"So, they are really here," he muttered. "What a piece of luck. But the question is, have they got the code? If it is out of their hands it will be well nigh impossible to recover it, for it is a serious matter to charge an amba.s.sador with wrong-doing."
Jack began to ascend the rickety stairs with great caution. They creaked dismally under his tread. At a door on the second floor he caught the sound of Judson"s voice. With a beating heart he crept as close as he dared and listened.
"The plans have all been changed," he heard Judson saying. "We are to take the code to Crotona (the capital of the power represented by the amba.s.sador) ourselves. There"s a steamer that leaves Baltimore for Naples to-morrow. We are to take that and proceed from Naples to our destination."
"What a bother," came in Donald"s voice. "I don"t see why the amba.s.sador didn"t take them."
"He said it was too dangerous. He was being watched by the Secret Service men."
"Well, it"s just as dangerous for us, if it comes to that," grumbled Jarrow.
"I"ve got another piece of news for you," said Judson. "As I was pa.s.sing the Willard to-night I saw Simms, and who do you think was with him?"
"I don"t know, I"m sure."
"Those two brats who made trouble for us at Alexandria Bay. It was a good thing I was disguised, for I pa.s.sed close to them before I recognized them."
"Confound it all," burst out Jarrow, "do you think they know we are here?"
"Not a ghost of a chance of it," said Judson confidently; "anyhow, we"ve picked a hiding place where no one would ever dream of looking for us."
"That"s so. I"ll be glad when we get out of the horrid hole," grumbled Donald.
A footstep sounded behind Jack on the creaking boards. It startled him.
He had not heard a door open. But now he was confronted by a portly Italian. The man grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Whadda you do-a here?" demanded the man, "me thinka you one-a da sneak-a da tief."
"Let me go," demanded Jack, striving to wrench himself free.
"I no leta you go justa yet. I tinka you here steala da tings," cried the man in a loud voice.
The talk inside Judson"s room broke off suddenly.
"Hullo, what"s up outside?" exclaimed Donald. "Somebody"s collared a thief. Let"s see what it"s all about."
He flung the door open and the lamplight streamed out full on Jack"s face.
Donald fell back a pace with astonishment.
"Great Scott! It"s Jack Ready," he exclaimed. "What in the world are you doing here?"
"You knowa desa boy?" asked the Italian, still holding Jack fast.
"Yes, I do. He"s no good," replied Donald.
"Dena I throwa him out or calla da police."