There came a half-hearted explosion from the direction of the locks, followed by more shots. Then everything was in confusion, and groups of men gathered in four spots along the line. There were more shots and then the three boys rushed, panting, to the position Ned and the foreman had taken.
“They’ve got them!” Frank cried. “They’ve got every man of them—four Japs with lighted fuses in their hands!”
“There must be more than four!” Welch cried.
“I think not,” Ned replied. “This is hardly a job for many men to work on! The four dare not take others into their confidence. Come! Suppose we gather them in?”
“How do you boys know they’ve got them all?” demanded Welch. “The four men must be some distance apart.”
“Not too far for a revolver to carry a signal!” smiled Ned. “You probably noticed four groups of shots? Well, the boys who have been acting as messengers from man to man gave directions as to the number of shots for each group!”
“I see!” said Welch. “You don’t need any whiskers, boy, to do the brain work of a man. Here comes the first batch!”
Itto and Gostel were the first ones brought in. Itto was wounded fatally and Gostel was bleeding from a wound in the side. The other men were not injured. They stood in a little group for a moment, and then Itto dropped to the ground.
The reports of the men who had been sent out to the danger points showed that each one of the four had been caught lighting a fuse, the bombs having been set.
“We were forced to work before we were ready,” Gostel said, defiantly. “Our government discovered what was going on, and we would have been arrested to-morrow. So we were obliged to take the risk to-night. We were working for the glory of the Emperor, but he forbade it!”