Then Frank stepped closer and peered down at the larger of the two figures. Then he turned his searchlight on the bowed head.
Then a smile came over his face and he reached out a hand and took the bobbing pigtail into his hand and gave it a quick jerk. The result was amazing.
The pigtail came away in his hand, and with it a bunch of coarse hair and an odor!
"Look here, kids!" Frank cried. "Look who's here!"
It was Ned, and the shaking figure by his side was that of Jimmie. In a moment both were out of their disguises and making an inspection of the tunnels and the underground chamber.
"You've got Herlock Sholmes beaten to a frazzle," said Jack, as Ned stooped over to examine the knocked-out Chinamen.
"How did you do it?" demanded Frank. "We thought you were on the road to Peking until we heard some of the Chinks talking, not long after daybreak, then we thought you might be in trouble."
"It was long after daybreak when we mixed with the bunch," Jimmie answered. "Anythin' you heard before eight o'clock was fright an' not fact."
Sandy was now presented and his share in the adventures of the night given proper recognition.
"I thought he was a sneak at first," Jack explained, "but he showed us the way out in the end."