CHAPTER III
A SHOE AND A SURPRISE
"What do you mean by that?" asked Frank. "If he had reached the oldhouse first, he would have waited here for us, wouldn't he?"
"Look what's here," Ned replied. "There has been a fight in the room.The combatants fought from the inner wall to the window, then a knifewas used. These stains are by no means fresh, but they tell the story.And to think that we've been here all these days and never found them!"
"Well," Frank hastened to say, "we weren't suspicious; and, then, we hadno occasion to visit this room."
"We should have been on our guard," Ned replied, "but there is no helpfor it now. This discovery may block our going on to Peking to-night."
"I don't see why," Jack said, in a disappointed tone.
"If the man who was wounded here and carried out of the window," Nedreplied, "is really the messenger we are waiting for, we ought not to goaway and leave him in the hands of the enemy. It may not be the one Ifear it is, but we ought to find out about that."
"It might have been only natives fighting," urged Jack.
"Of course," Ned insisted, "but we ought not to leave if there is anypossibility of our friend being in trouble. Besides, Jack," he went on,"a native fight here would hardly be umpired by a man wearing Europeanshoes! Here are the tracks, and I found others like them on the groundoutside not long ago. We may as well go out now and try to followthem."
Accompanied by Jimmie, Ned went out and made a closer examination. Thetracks crossed the yard and ended at the street in the rear of the oldhouse.
"Now," Ned said, as he stepped out on the beaten course of the unpavedstreet, "we shall have to take chances. The trail has disappeared, andwe can only depend on our enemies for guidance."
"That's fine!" said Jimmie. "We may as well go back!"
Ned pointed to a little group of Chinamen standing not far away, at thecorner of a street lined with miserable huts.
"We'll walk about here," he said, "and if we get somewhere near anypoint of information to us or danger to the others, I have a notion thatthat nest of Celestials will begin to buzz."
Jimmie laughed and the two passed on, merely looking in the direction ofthe group as they passed it. They moved on down the street on theopposite side. The Chinamen did not move.
When they turned back, however, on the other side of the thoroughfareand stopped, on speculation, for an instant before a hut somewhat largerand more dilapidated than the others, a pair of the watchers suddenlydetached themselves from the group and hastened away in oppositedirections. Two more strolled toward the boys.
"What next?" asked Jimmie, in a whisper.
"Seems to me that our halting here indicates that there may be somethingdoing in this house," Ned replied. "Suppose we go in and ask someordinary question?"
"An' get kicked out!" grunted Jimmie.
"That will be all right, so long as they let us out at all," Ned repliedwith a smile. "I just want to know why our stopping here excited theChinks who were watching us."
As Ned turned toward the house the little fellow caught him by thesleeve and held him back.
"You look out," he said, "there's a snake in there, that black-eyedsnake who claimed to be Lieutenant Rae! Do you want him to know that weare wise to his game?"
Ned turned and started away from the house, but there came a call fromthe structure, and the next instant two men were running out to greethim. More by gestures than by words they informed the boys that therewas a man in the house wished to see them.
In a moment they stood facing the man who had called himself LieutenantRae. He advanced to meet them and pointed to chairs as they entered theroom.
"Out for a walk?" he asked, with a smile.
Ned nodded and Jimmie grinned.
"The owner of this house," Rae went on, "is an old friend of mine. Wemet first, years ago, in San Francisco. I'm staying here while in thetown. By the way, I was about to visit your quarters."
"Come along," Ned said. "We must be getting back."
Rae left the room, saying that he would bring a raincoat, and Jimmiepointed to a rear apartment where an old Chinaman with a long, sinistercicatrice on his left cheek was bending over a table.
"That's the Chink who brings our grub," he said. "What is this Raeperson doing here? I don't eat no more grub that Chink brings."
Ned made no reply, for a swinging closet door attracted his attention atthat moment. Inside the narrow closet, on the rough floor, lay a pairof European shoes. Ned slipped forward and seized one. When Raereturned it was hidden in a capacious pocket.
"What is it?" whispered Jimmie.
"If I'm not much mistaken," was the reply, "it is the shoe that made thetracks we have been following."
"Then this Rae person didn't always enter the old house where we arestopping by the front way," commented Jimmie. "Gee," he added, "I'llbet he umpired that fight, and the man the Chinks carried off is in thishouse now."
There was no more opportunity for conversation between the two boys atthat time, for Rae stood watching them closely, a sneering smile on hisface. Ned turned toward the door.
"Why venture out in the storm?" asked Rae. "Surely, there is no need ofhaste. Your friends will not lose themselves during your absence."
"You were ready to go, a moment ago," Ned said.
"It is the storm," the other observed, with a shrug of the shoulders."It is increasing in violence every moment."
Glancing into the rear room, Ned saw the old Chinaman leave his work andpass through a door to the west. The boy thought he recognized asignificant signal as the fellow disappeared,
The lads never knew exactly how it all occurred. They only knew at thetime that there was a quick rush, a flash of weapons, a desperatestruggle, then momentary unconsciousness.
They decided afterwards that their enemies had rushed upon them fromevery direction, and that the sneering face of Rae had gloated overtheir capture.
"Don't injure them," Rae ordered, as ropes were knotted about the wristsand ankles of the prisoners. "I'll go out now and see that the twoBlack Bears," with a double sneer in his voice, "are taken into camp inshort order. Bad climate, this, for school boys who imitate wildanimals," he added, with a malicious smile. "A bad climate."
"You're all right!" Jimmie called out, as Rae paused in the doorway foran instant. "You're all right! But let me give you a pointer. Youkeep the Bears and Wolves you get in strong cages! If they get out,they'll eat you up!"
"Oh! I'll pull their fangs!" laughed the other, and then he was gone.
"This China seems to be a nice country," Jimmie said, turning to Ned."Some people would break our crusts in instead of tyin' us up."
"I rather think," Ned replied, "that they have planned to do that alittle later on. We ought never to have taken such chances."
"You can't have a chicken pie," grinned Jimmie, "unless some one kills achicken! No more can you find out what's goin' on by sittin' down in anold house an' waitin' for someone to bring you the news in a New Yorknewspaper! We had to keep cases on this chap, didn't we?"
"I think you would talk slang if you were drowning," Ned smiled."Anyway," he added, "we've caused Rae, if that is his name, to show hishand. That is something."
"If we never get away," laughed Jimmie, "we can leave the information toour friends in a will! I wonder if this gazabo will get Frank andJack?"
"Possibly," Ned answered.
"They seem to be puttin' most all the Americans in China out ofcirculation!" said the little fellow. "Wonder if that old gear-facethinks he can guard us an' sleep, too? Say, you watch your chance, Ned,an' I'll roll over and geezle him an' you get out of the house. Rollout, tumble out, any way to get out! There," with a sigh ofdisappointment, "there's another Chink in the game. Listen to what theyare saying!"