"Why don't you tell us what the danger is?" demanded Ned, shaking the little fellow by the arm.
"You listen!" Jimmie replied.
There was dead silence for an instant. Then, seemingly from underneath the floor, came a low, sinister hissing sound which every one of the boys recognized.
A great fuse was burning below, and might at any moment reach the explosive to which it was attached. The Chinese tools of the man at the head of the conspiracy were taking desperate chances.
In order to destroy the clues which Ned had found in the house, and also to prevent the boy ever discovering any more, they were taking the long chance of murdering the soldiers of a friendly power and bringing on international complications. Ned was by no means idle while these thoughts were swarming in his brain.
In fact, all the boys sprang to action instantly. Captain Martin was told to order his men farther away from the point of danger. In less time than the result of their activities can be written down the wounded men were lying in the grove, surrounded by their fellows, and the boys were waiting for what seemed inevitable, the complete destruction of the house.
CHAPTER XVIII
A BROKEN MATCH SAFE
"Why don't she go up?" asked Jack, as the boys crouched in the grove.
"I don't mind seeing a little fourth of July!"
"She's coming," Frank answered. "Do you see the light in the cellar?
That's the fuse burning."