CHAPTER II
A DISQUIETING DISCOVERY
The four boys regarded each other in silence for a moment. Jack was thefirst to speak.
"How badly are the machines damaged?" he asked.
"Mine is all right," Jimmie reported, after a careful examination of hissteel steed, "except that a couple of burrs are missing."
"And mine," Frank hastened to say, "is all right except that the oilfeed is blocked and the electric battery is shut off--that is, it is soarranged that the machine will spark for a short distance and then buck.Great doings!"
"And yours, Jack?" asked Ned.
"Just a few burrs gone."
"And mine is o.k.," Ned went on, "except that the carburetor has beentampered with. I think we'll get off for Peking before long."
"How?" demanded Jimmie. "We can't make burrs out of wood, or patch upwith rat pie, which seems to be about the only thing we have plenty of.I don't suppose we can get repairs in this yellow hole."
Ned took a handbag from under the burlap. "I am carrying my own repairshop with me," he said, taking out a box of burrs and a pair of pincers."I've got all the small parts right here in duplicate, and some of thelarger ones are in the big suitcase."
"You're a wonder!" Jimmie cried, dancing about his chum and wrinklinghis nose until it looked like that of a comedian in a motion picture."I wonder if you haven't got a hunk of Washington pie in that keyster!"
The lads fell to work on their machines, and in a very short time allwere ready for the road. Then Ned put away his handbag and began anexamination of the large suitcase, which contained the larger repairsfor the motorcycles. It had not been molested.
"There's one thing certain," he said, "and that is that the Chinese whoare watching us expect us to make a dash for Peking. They took thepains to leave our machines in such shape that their tampering with themwould not be suspected. I'd like to know just when this mischief wasaccomplished."
"Yes," Frank observed, "they wanted us to get out of Taku and break downon the road to Tientsin. They would have us at their mercy out there--or they figured it out that way."
"The work on the machines must have been done sometime during the day--or last night," Ned replied. "Possibly while we were dozing."
"I don't believe it!" Jimmie insisted. "I've had me eyes open everyminute to-day."
"Well," Ned went on, laughing, "we had a high wind yesterday, didn't we?A wind that tumbled the dust of the streets in upon us? Well," pointingto a portion of his machine frame which he had been careful not totouch, "here is some of the dust which fell upon the motorcycle then.The person who did the job brushed a lot of the dust away, so, you see,he must have worked since the dust fell."
"Did he brush it all away?" asked Jimmie.
"No," Ned replied, pointing, "here is a brace which he touched with hishands but did not wipe off. In a short time I'll tell you just whatsort of a chap it was that did the trick."
The boy got his camera out of the suitcase and took a picture of thespot on the machine frame where the print of human fingers showed. Themotorcycle owned by, or in charge of, Jimmie also showed a similar mark,and this, too, was photographed.
This completed, Ned laid the films aside for a time while he made acircuit of the old house, walking slowly as if out for chest exercise,but really seeing every square inch of the earth's surface where hewalked. Once he dropped a pocketknife which he carried in his hand andstooped over to pick it up.
The boys thought he was a long time in securing the knife, although itwas plainly in sight. When he stood up again and continued his circuitof the house there was a strange, inscrutable smile on his face.
"What is it?" asked Jack, the instant Ned entered the house.
"We've been blind and deaf since we have boon here," Ned answered."Hostile influences have been operating all around us. Now," hecontinued, as Frank opened his lips to ask a question, "we'll see whatsort of a tale the camera has to tell."
As he looked at the films his face hardened and his eyes snapped. In amoment he put the telltale sheets away.
"European fingerprints," he said, quietly, "and European footprints outthere. It is not Chinamen that we have to look out for."
"What the Old Harry--"
Jimmie checked himself as a figure darkened the doorway. Ned steppedforward to greet the newcomer.
The visitor was a youngish man with black hair, growing well down on anarrow forehead, small black eyes, a straight-lipped mouth, and hardlines about his deep-set eyes. His manner and carriage was that of aman trained to military service.
"You are Mr. Nestor?" he asked, extending his hand as Ned approachedhim. "I have come a long distance to meet you," he added, before Nedcould answer the question.
"From Washington?" asked Ned.
The visitor nodded; glanced sharply about the apartment, where themotorcycles were still lying, and then squatted on one of the burlapbags. Jimmie shook his fist behind the newcomer's back. It was evidentthat the boy did not like his appearance.
"I am Lieutenant Rae, of the Secret Service," he said, in a moment. "Ihave been delayed on my way here. You were about to start on withoutyour final instructions?" he asked, lifting a pair of eyebrows whichseemed to make his little black eyes smaller and more inscrutable thanever.
Ned looked at the man, now lolling back on the burlap, and for a momentmade no reply. Then he lied deliberately--in the interest of Uncle Samand human life, as he afterwards explained!
"No," he said, "we were merely overhauling the machines. We are in nohaste to be away."
"I see," grinned the other. "You are taking life easily? Well, that isnot so bad. However, you are to start on your journey early to-morrowmorning."
"I shall be ready," Ned replied. "You have just landed?"
For just a second Lieutenant Rae's eyes sought the ground, then helifted them boldly. Ned was watching his every movement.
"No," he said, then, "I came in three days ago, but I was obliged toawait the movements of others before reporting to you."
Jimmie caught Frank by the arm and drew him out of the house. Out inthe deserted garden--which was only a yard or two of hard-packed earth--he whispered:
"That feller's a liar!"
"What makes you think so?" Frank asked.
"He's no Englishman," Jimmie insisted. "He's a Jap. You bet your lastround iron man that's the truth. Now, what do you think he's doin'here?"
"Well," Frank replied, "I think you are right. He's not an Englishman.The nerve of him to put that up to us!"
"Perhaps he's the gazabo that monkeyed with our machines," suggestedJimmie. "Wish I'd 'a' caught him at it!"
"But Ned says that was an European," Frank said.
"Then they're thick around us," Jimmie went on, "and we're up to ournecks in trouble. I wonder what instructions this Rae person will giveNed?"
"Suppose we go inside and see," Frank answered.
When the lads reached the interior of the house again Ned and Rae werebending over a road map of the country between Taku and Peking. Thevisitor was indicating a route with his pencil.
"Very well," Ned said, as if fully convinced of the honesty of theother, "now about the private orders. You understand, of course, that Iknow little concerning the work cut out for me."
"You are to receive final instructions at Peking."
Ned smiled, but there was something about the smile which told the boysthat he was of their way of thinking.
"He's on!" Jimmie whispered in Frank's ear.
"You bet he is," was the reply.
"I'll come here in the morning," the visitor said, looking at his watch,"and go out with you. The chances are that we'll have to make a quickrun. Machines in good order?" with a glance at the motorcycles lyingagainst the wall.
"We haven't as yet looked them over carefully," Ned lied again, "butpresume they are in good shape. As a matter of fact," he continued,hardly able to suppress a smile as Jimmie looked reprovingly at him, "
asa matter of fact, we know little about the machines. This is newbusiness for us."
Lieutenant Rae bowed himself out of the door, and the boys gathered inan inner room to discuss the situation.
"We may as well face the truth," Ned said, calmly. "The man who was tomeet us here has fallen into the hands of our enemies. We are alone inChina without instructions and surrounded by foes. Now, what shall wedo? We may be able to reach the water front and get off to one of theBritish ships in sight."
"And go back?" demanded Jimmie. "Not for me! I'm goin' to stay an' seethis thing out."
"That's me!" Frank said, and Jack echoed his words.
"Well, then," Ned went on, with a smile of satisfaction at the attitudeof the lads, "if we are going on, we've got to get to Peking withoutdelay. I'll tell you what I think. The conspirators are aware that weare trying to run them down. If they can stop us before we fullyidentify them, their part in the plot against Uncle Sam will never beknown." Rest assured, then, that they will stop us if they can."
"Then it's us for the road to-night!" said Jimmie. "That is fine."
In referring to conspirators, Ned indicated the men who had beeninvolved in a plot to get the United States into trouble with a foreigngovernment over a shipment of gold to China. This shipment had gone tothe bottom of the Pacific.
It had been claimed that the gold shipment, which was marked for theChinese government, had really been intended for the revolutionaryparty, now becoming very strong. It was now insisted that therevolutionists had been posted as to the shipment, and that it was onthe books for them to seize it the moment it left the protection of theAmerican flag.
These claims having been made, and believed, in the state department ofa foreign government, none too friendly to the government of the UnitedStates. A ship had been sent out to watch the transfer of the gold. Atleast, that was what had been claimed, but this ship, so sent out, had,by an "accident," rammed and sunk the treasure boat. If the Chinesegovernment did not get the gold, neither did the leaders of therevolutionary party.
It had been claimed at Washington that the whole thing was a plot todiscredit the United States government in the eyes of the nations ofEurope, and Ned Nestor and his chums had been sent out to search thewreck for papers which would disprove the statements made. The papershad been secured.
The point now was to connect the foreign statesmen who had burned theirfingers in the plot with the affair. Ned knew that the papers wouldestablish the falsity of the charges, but he wanted to place the blamefor the whole matter where it belonged. He wanted to track the man whohad conferred with known conspirators back to his home. He wanted to beable to point out the treacherous government which had so sought tobelittle the United States in the eyes of the world.
The boy had no doubt that this was actually the mission upon which hehad been sent when ordered by the Secret Service department to report atTaku and there await instructions before proceeding to Peking. He didnot understand why he had been instructed to make the trip to Peking ona motorcycle when there were easier ways, but he was quick to obeyorders. Later on he learned just why this order had been given.
"Yes," Ned replied to Jimmie's remark, "I think we may as well set outfor Peking to-night. If we wait until morning, we may not be at libertyto start out."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Jack.
"Study it out," smiled Ned, "and you may be able to find an answer."
While the boy was speaking, he bent over and looked keenly at afootprint on the earthen floor of the room. It was not such a print asthe foot-covering of a Chinese man would leave. It had been made by thelong heel of an European shoe.
When Ned looked closer, he saw that the ground was stained a deep red,that there were dark crimson spots on the window casing. Then he sawthat a struggle must have taken place in the room, for the few things itheld were in disorder.
"Boys," he said, "perhaps our Secret Service man got here before wedid."
Boy Scouts on Motorcycles; Or, With the Flying Squadron Page 2