"We ought to have come over in our aeroplane," smiled Frank.
"That would have defeated our purpose," Ned replied. "We are here to catch the leaders of this conspiracy, and the only way we can do it is to wait until they show themselves.
"Just see how foolish they are!" Ned went on. "If they had been content to wait, to manufacture such evidence as they needed to show their innocence, we could never have located them. They would have lied us out of countenance if we charged any one man with being the leader, or any one nation with fostering the conspiracy.
"But they tried to make a clean record for themselves by wiping us off the face of the earth and so showed themselves to us. I am told by police officers that if criminals would keep away from women, away from the scenes of their crimes, and keep their mouths shut when given the famous—and disgraceful—third degree, not one in twenty would ever be convicted."
"Well," Frank said, "here's hoping that the man we want will come within reach again!"
After breakfast the boys headed for the American consulate, where they found the machines which had been stolen.
"That was quick work," Ned congratulated. "How did you do it?"
The consul laughed.
"Why," he replied, "you might as well try to bide a fifty story building in China as one of those machines! The natives believe the devil is in them!"
"I've known Americans to express the same opinion," laughed Frank.