"Has been kidnaped—carried off—last night—and nobody knows where to. The whole country is wild with the news, and there is a reward up of a hundred thousand dollars for anybody who will bring her back safe and sound."
"She's worth the money, too," added Captain Oscar, promptly. "Martha Adams is one of the sweetest girls in this country. How in the world was the deed accomplished?"
"Last night she was left home alone, the President being at a Cabinet meeting, and Mrs. Adams being at a meeting for the benefit of disabled soldiers. Two of the servants in charge of the President's apartments were drugged and one stabbed in the back and killed. That is as much as is known now, excepting that two men were seen to hurry somebody in a coach and drive off with her."
"And in what direction did the coach go?"
"Straight for the Potomac—and a boat was seen to leave and go down the river an hour later."
"Then she has been carried off to sea, beyond a doubt."
"So I'm thinking, and more than likely she is now a prisoner on one of the foreign warships."
The captain of the new Holland scratched his head thoughtfully.
"If she is on a warship, it must be either a Japanese or a Chinese craft," he muttered.
"Why so?"