But to his intense surprise, he saw that as the man tore angrily at the
pile, he uncovered nothing but skins.

Johnny smothered a sigh of relief which was mixed with a gasp of
admiration. The girl was clever, he was obliged to admit that. In a
period only of seconds, she had cut away the rope which bound the skin
wall to the floor and had crept under the wall to freedom.

As Johnny settled back to watch, his brain was puzzled by one question;
what was it that the Jap girl sought? Was it certain papers which the
Russian carried, or was it--was it something which Johnny himself
carried in his pocket at this very moment--the diamonds?

This last thought caused him a twinge of discomfort. If she was
searching for the diamonds, could it be that they rightfully belonged to
her or to her family, and had they been taken by the Russian? Or had the
girl merely learned that the Russian had the jewels and had she followed
him all this way with the purpose of robbing him? If the first
supposition was correct, ought Johnny not to go to her and tell her that
he had the diamonds? If, on the other hand, she was seeking possession
of that which did not rightfully belong to her, would she not take them
from him anyway and leave him to face dire results? For, though no law
existed which would hold him responsible for the jewels, obtained as
they had been under such unusual conditions, still Johnny knew all too
well that the world organization of Radicals to which this Russian
belonged had a system of laws and modes of punishment all its own, and,
if the Russian succeeded in making his way to America and if he, Johnny,
did not give proper account of these diamonds, sooner or later,
punishment would be meted out to him, and that not the least written in
the code of the Radical world.