Jimmie sat up, wrinkling his nose until one would think it never would smooth out again, and gazed at Ned with provoking grin.

"Gee!" he cried. "I thought I was mixing it with six c.h.i.n.ks! Wonder you wouldn't knock before entering a private room!"

"I did knock," laughed Ned, rising from the floor and taking the flashlight.

"Yes, you knocked me down," grunted Jimmie.

The three marines, standing in the middle of the room with amused faces, regarded the four boys curiously for a moment and then moved out of range of the window. Also Ned was asked to shut off the light.

"We're not out of it yet," one of them said. "Our men chased the Yellow Faces into a bad part of town, and they are likely to be chased back, not by a few, but by a mob! These c.h.i.n.ks like Americans about as much as brook trout love the desert."

"Perhaps I'd better go out an' see what's comin' off," suggested the little fellow.

"You'll only get captured again," Jack suggested, provokingly.

"I ain't got nothin' on you in getting tied up with ropes," Jimmie retorted. "You looked like one of these mummy things when the light was turned on."

The officer in charge of the marines motioned to Jimmie to remain where he was, but the order came too late. Having been relieved of his bonds by Ned's quick fingers, he fairly dived out of the window into the darkness.

"Now there'll be trouble catching him again," complained the officer.

"If he doesn't get a hole bored through him, we'll have to hunt the town over to get him out of the c.h.i.n.ks' hands. Why can't you boys behave yourselves?"

"Ruh!" Jack retorted, annoyed at the tone of superiority adopted by the officer. "I guess we've been doing pretty well, thank you! I reckon you fellows must have followed off a cow path! We've been waiting here for you long enough to walk to Peking on our hands!"

"That's the fact!" the officer replied, speaking in a whisper in the darkness. "We were the first ones to fall into the snares set by the c.h.i.n.ks. Only for Ned, we would still be waiting for you in a house something like this one, in a distant part of the town. How the boy found us I can't make out, but find us he did."

"What are you going to do about that runaway kid?" asked Frank of Ned.

"Shall I go get him?"

It was not necessary for Ned to reply to the question, for at that moment a figure came tumbling through the window and a voice recognized as that of the little fellow cried out:

"Gee!" he said, feeling about in the darkness, "what do you think of my ruinnin' into a sea soldier an' getting chucked through the hole the carpenter left?"

"If you boy will get ready now," a voice said, "we'll be on, our way toward Peking."

"How many of the c.h.i.n.ks did you catch?" asked Ned.

"Not a blooming one," was the disgusted reply. "They ran away like water leaking into the ground."

"If you'd only let me alone," wailed Jimmie, "I'd have got one. I want to soak the man that tied me up."

The marines, a full dozen of them, now gathered in the old house and all made ready for departure. Directly a motorcycle for every man was wheeled up to the door.

"We have been practicing riding while waiting for you," the officer in charge explained, "and the fellows think they can go some!"

"It is a wild night for such a ride," Frank suggested.

"Couldn't have been better for our purpose," said the officer.

"Do you know why we are going on motorcycles?" asked Ned.

"I think I do," was the reply.

"Why don't you out with it, then?" asked Jack.

"You'll learn of the reason soon enough!" replied the other. "Before we go to Peking you may understand why you are going with a flying squadron of Uncle Sam's men!"

"Who directed you to the house where I found you?" asked Ned.

"A chap who called himself Lieutenant Rae," was the reply.

"j.a.panese-lookin' chap?" asked Jimmie.

"That's the fellow."

"There's one more question," Ned went on. "Are all the men you took from the ship with you?"

"Every one of my men is here," answered the officer, "but there was a fellow, a friend of yours, with us at first who is not with us now.

Queer chap he was, too! German, I think, and a master at tangling up the United States language. He came on board the ship, and managed to get off with us when we left. In two days he disappeared."

"That was Hans!" cried Jack.

"Who's Hans?"

"A German Boy Scout we picked up on an island. A member of the Owl Patrol, of Philadelphia, he said. We left him on the submarine."

"Well, he asked after you boys, and looked disappointed when we did not find you, owing to the misleading statements of that fraud, Rae. He left us without a word of explanation, and is probably looking for you.

Did he know where you were going?"

"Yes," admitted Ned, "I told him we were going to Peking by way of Tientsin. I should not have done that."

"Oh, it can do no harm, and may be for your benefit. If the lad was not killed by the c.h.i.n.ks, he is doubtless on his way to Peking."

"Then you think he knew there was something wrong because we did not meet you?" asked Ned.

"Yes; he acted queerly."

"There are evidences of a struggle in this house," Ned went on, "and we thought the messenger we were waiting for had been attacked, but it may have been Hans after all. I hope he is not in serious trouble."

"I am the only messenger sent to you," the officer said, "so, as you say, it might have been the German who was attacked, though no one knows how he ever found this house, or why, when attacked, he didn't make himself heard."

The rain was now falling heavily, and it was decided to remain under shelter for a time, so the flashlight was brought into use again.

"If your men can keep up with us," Jack said to the officer, "we can get to Peking in six hours, so there is no need of hurrying."

"If you get to Peking in six weeks you'll be doing well," laughed the officer.

"What do you mean by that? Demanded Ned, who was anxious for a start.