"When he lay on the rug," Ned explained, "he stretched out on his
stomach to look through the hole, if he could. He couldn't; he could
only listen, for the cut was made so as to be hidden by the
ornamental brass piece that circles the rod from which the chandelier
swings. The marks of his elbows and toes were on the soft fiber of
the rug, showing him to be a man at least six feet tall."

Ned walked over to the large box again and bent over it.

"Crumbs!" he exclaimed, in a second. "Crumbs!"

"Then he must have brought a lunch up with him," Jack exclaimed
excitedly. "There is no knowing how long he was here!"

"Some one in Washington has leaked!" Ned declared, angrily.

"Why Washington?" demanded Jack. "Why not New York?"

"Because no one in this city knows about our being engaged to hunt
down the abductor. My instructions have all come in cypher, and some
of them have, as you know, been addressed to this house. And there
you are!"

Chang Chu arose limply, rubbing a small wound in his head from which
blood had come, and tottered off toward the staircase. As he did so,
Ned noticed that his pigtail was very black, very long, and very
greasy.

"Did he take you by the cue?" asked the boy. "Did he pull your hair?"