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