Boy Scouts on Motorcycles | Page 7

any
possibility of our friend being in trouble. Besides, Jack," he went on, "a
native fight here would hardly be umpired by a man wearing European
shoes! Here are the tracks, and I found others like them on the ground
outside not long ago. We may as well go out now and try to follow
them."
Accompanied by Jimmie, Ned went out and made a closer examination.
The tracks crossed the yard and ended at the street in the rear of the old
house.
"Now," Ned said, as he stepped out on the beaten course of the unpaved
street, "we shall have to take chances. The trail has disappeared, and we
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 the
corner of a street lined with miserable huts.
"We'll walk about here," he said, "and if we get somewhere near any
point of information to us or danger to the others, I have a notion that
that nest of Celestials will begin to buzz."
Jimmie laughed and the two passed on, merely looking in the direction
of the group as they passed it. They moved on down the street on the
opposite side. The Chinamen did not move.
When they turned back, however, on the other side of the thoroughfare
and stopped, on speculation, for an instant before a hut somewhat larger
and more dilapidated than the others, a pair of the watchers suddenly
detached themselves from the group and hastened away in opposite
directions. 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
something doing in this house," Ned replied. "Suppose we go in and
ask some ordinary question?"
"An' get kicked out!" grunted Jimmie.
"That will be all right, so long as they let us out at all," Ned replied
with a smile. "I just want to know why our stopping here excited the
Chinks who were watching us."
As Ned turned toward the house the little fellow caught him by the
sleeve and held him back.
"You look out," he said, "there's a snake in there, that black-eyed snake
who claimed to be Lieutenant Rae! Do you want him to know that we
are wise to his game?"
Ned turned and started away from the house, but there came a call from
the structure, and the next instant two men were running out to greet
him. More by gestures than by words they informed the boys that there
was a man in the house wished to see them.
In a moment they stood facing the man who had called himself
Lieutenant Rae. He advanced to meet them and pointed to chairs as
they entered the room.
"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. We
met first, years ago, in San Francisco. I'm staying here while in the
town. 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 Jimmie

pointed to a rear apartment where an old Chinaman with a long, sinister
cicatrice on his left cheek was bending over a table.
"That's the Chink who brings our grub," he said. "What is this Rae
person doing here? I don't eat no more grub that Chink brings."
Ned made no reply, for a swinging closet door attracted his attention at
that moment. Inside the narrow closet, on the rough floor, lay a pair of
European shoes. Ned slipped forward and seized one. When Rae
returned 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 the
tracks we have been following."
"Then this Rae person didn't always enter the old house where we are
stopping by the front way," commented Jimmie. "Gee," he added, "I'll
bet he umpired that fight, and the man the Chinks carried off is in this
house now."
There was no more opportunity for conversation between the two boys
at that time, for Rae stood watching them closely, a sneering smile on
his face. Ned turned toward the door.
"Why venture out in the storm?" asked Rae. "Surely, there is no need of
haste. 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,