THE MESSAGE FROM WASHINGTON
"Surely," the marine officer said, in answer to the boy's exclamation, "that is a genuine, feathered owl. No boy could make so perfect an imitation."
"It's Dutchy, all right," insisted Jimmie. "I've heard him make that noise before. Now, how did he ever get to Tientsin, and how did he locate us?"
"It doesn't seem possible that it is Hans," Ned said. "How could he make the journey on foot, through a country suspicious of every foreigner? And how comes it that he chanced on this building?"
"Didn't he know that you were expecting instructions from Washington while on the way to Peking?" asked the officer.
"I did not know, myself, that I was to receive instructions while on the way until I met you," Ned replied. "If Hans is indeed here, he has either blundered into his present position or gained pretty accurate information from some one unknown to me."
"If he is here?" repeated Jimmie. "Of course he is here. I'm goin' out in the court an' give him the call of the pack!"
"What does he mean by that?" asked the officer of Ned. "Call of the pack?"
"The call of the Wolf pack," answered Ned. "We both belong to the Wolf
Patrol, of New York."
"And you think Hans, if it is he, will understand?"