before it is too late. I am a member of the Japanese Secret Police. And
you?"

"A plain American citizen," answered Johnny, "which, by the laws of our
land, makes me a policeman, a marshal, a member of the secret
service--anything and everything, when the safety of my people, the
stability of my government, is at stake." Johnny's chest swelled
proudly.

"Oh! I understand," breathed Hanada.

"But," said Johnny quickly, "you say we must get that man. I have had
opportunities to kill him, to let him be killed and always you have
hindered me. Why?"

"Don't you see even now?" Hanada asked. "Don't you see that now is the
time to strike? Now he is meeting with his leaders. We must take him not
alone, but the whole band. We must scatter them to the ends of the
earth, put them in prison, banish them. Then the whole affair will be
ended forever."

Hanada leaned forward. His eyes glowed; his words were sharp with
excitement. Johnny listened, breathless.

"We must get them all," he continued. "That is why our secret service
people allowed him to break through the lines at Vladivostok, and make
his way north to cross the Strait. That is why I followed him, as an
Eskimo, to dog his tracks and yet to protect him. That is why he could
not be killed. He was to be a decoy; a decoy for the whole band. Your
Secret Service, of which I thought you were a member, would not have