mused.

"If we could only catch him and shut his mouth," Jack muttered, "we
wouldn't have such a rotten bad time in the mountains."

"It is not what he knows," Ned suggested. "It is what his master as
Washington knows. We might put this chap under ten feet of earth, but
the opposition from Washington would go right on."

"When was the child abducted?" asked Jack. "When and how?"

"He was taken from in front of the embassy early in the morning. The
ambassador brought him out for a spin in his automobile and left him
out in front a moment. When he went back to continue his morning ride
the automobile and the boy were nowhere to be seen! This was before
nine o'clock Monday morning. Yesterday, along about noon, the boy--or
a lad very much resembling him--was seen by a lieutenant of infantry
in a motor boat, speeding up the Potomac."

"Why didn't he catch him, then?" asked Jack.

"Because he did not know at that time that the prince had been
kidnapped. The authorities kept everything quiet! I presume they
thought the thief didn't know that he had committed a crime, and were
afraid the newspapers would tell him about it!"

"Tell that to Frank!" laughed Jack. "He'll go up in the air!"

The boys found Jimmie and Oliver in the club-room when they went
down. The garage and carriage house had been searched--in vain, of