"There may then be some friendly face in sight, if we are able to get to the street."
"There's force in that," Jack replied, "but this is no palace car to wait in."
"You let me go and try," Sandy urged.
Frank shook his head gravely.
"No use," he said. "There are probably a score or more of Chinks around this old shack. We've got to wait until morning before we try to get away. The only question in my mind is this: Will they let us alone until daylight? If they don't, then it will be a scrap."
The boys sat down against the earth wall of the chamber and waited. Now and then they could hear whispers in a tongue they could not understand. Occasionally they heard a wagon creaking along the distant street. Then they knew that the doors connecting the mud hut with the outer world were open.
"I wonder if old Chee is still asleep from the dope?" Sandy asked, after a long time had passed.
"Why did they dope her?" asked Jack. "I don't see any nourishment for them in that."
"Guess they thought I'd be apt to help you boys," Sandy replied, "and made up their minds to catch me and chuck me away somewhere. Chee's a nervy old lady, an' probably scrapped when they searched for me. I'd like to help her."
"Why do you call her Chee?"