Boy Scouts on Motorcycles | Page 6

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 been
involved in a plot to get the United States into trouble with a foreign
government over a shipment of gold to China. This shipment had gone
to the bottom of the Pacific.
It had been claimed that the gold shipment, which was marked for the
Chinese government, had really been intended for the revolutionary
party, now becoming very strong. It was now insisted that the
revolutionists had been posted as to the shipment, and that it was on the

books for them to seize it the moment it left the protection of the
American flag.
These claims having been made, and believed, in the state department
of a foreign government, none too friendly to the government of the
United States. A ship had been sent out to watch the transfer of the gold.
At least, that was what had been claimed, but this ship, so sent out, had,
by an "accident," rammed and sunk the treasure boat. If the Chinese
government did not get the gold, neither did the leaders of the
revolutionary party.
It had been claimed at Washington that the whole thing was a plot to
discredit the United States government in the eyes of the nations of
Europe, and Ned Nestor and his chums had been sent out to search the
wreck for papers which would disprove the statements made. The
papers had been secured.
The point now was to connect the foreign statesmen who had burned
their fingers in the plot with the affair. Ned knew that the papers would
establish the falsity of the charges, but he wanted to place the blame for
the whole matter where it belonged. He wanted to track the man who
had conferred with known conspirators back to his home. He wanted to
be able to point out the treacherous government which had so sought to
belittle the United States in the eyes of the world.
The boy had no doubt that this was actually the mission upon which he
had been sent when ordered by the Secret Service department to report
at Taku and there await instructions before proceeding to Peking. He
did not understand why he had been instructed to make the trip to
Peking on a motorcycle when there were easier ways, but he was quick
to obey orders. 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 out
for Peking to-night. If we wait until morning, we may not be at liberty
to 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 a
footprint on the earthen floor of the room. It was not such a print as the
foot-covering of a Chinese man would leave. It had been made by the
long 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 saw
that a struggle must have taken place in the room, for the few things it
held were in disorder.
"Boys," he said, "perhaps our Secret Service man got here before we
did."
CHAPTER III
A SHOE AND A SURPRISE
"What do you mean by that?" asked Frank. "If he had reached the old
house 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 knife
was 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
had no occasion to visit this room."
"We should have been on our guard," Ned replied, "but there is no help
for 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,"
Ned replied, "is really the messenger we are waiting for, we ought not

to go away and leave him in the hands of the enemy. It may not be the
one I fear 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