Boy Scouts on Motorcycles | Page 4

missing."
"And mine," Frank hastened to say, "is all right except that the oil feed
is blocked and the electric battery is shut off--that is, it is so arranged
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 been
tampered with. I think we'll get off for Peking before long."
"How?" demanded Jimmie. "We can't make burrs out of wood, or patch
up with 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
repair shop 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
the larger ones are in the big suitcase."
"You're a wonder!" Jimmie cried, dancing about his chum and
wrinkling his 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 all
were ready for the road. Then Ned put away his handbag and began an
examination of the large suitcase, which contained the larger repairs for
the motorcycles. It had not been molested.
"There's one thing certain," he said, "and that is that the Chinese who
are watching us expect us to make a dash for Peking. They took the
pains to leave our machines in such shape that their tampering with
them would not be suspected. I'd like to know just when this mischief
was accomplished."
"Yes," Frank observed, "they wanted us to get out of Taku and break
down on 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 every
minute 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,"
pointing to a portion of his machine frame which he had been careful
not to touch, "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 his
hands but did not wipe off. In a short time I'll tell you just what sort of
a chap it was that did the trick."
The boy got his camera out of the suitcase and took a picture of the
spot on the machine frame where the print of human fingers showed.
The motorcycle 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 a
circuit of the old house, walking slowly as if out for chest exercise, but
really seeing every square inch of the earth's surface where he walked.
Once he dropped a pocketknife which he carried in his hand and
stooped over to pick it up.
The boys thought he was a long time in securing the knife, although it
was plainly in sight. When he stood up again and continued his circuit
of 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," he
continued, as Frank opened his lips to ask a question, "we'll see what
sort of a tale the camera has to tell."
As he looked at the films his face hardened and his eyes snapped. In a
moment he put the telltale sheets away.
"European fingerprints," he said, quietly, "and European footprints out
there. 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 stepped
forward to greet the newcomer.
The visitor was a youngish man with black hair, growing well down on
a narrow forehead, small black eyes, a straight-lipped mouth, and hard
lines about his deep-set eyes. His manner and carriage was that of a
man