"Where do you live?" asked the Captain.
The leader pointed to a pile of broken stones at the edge of the grove. A closer inspection of the heap told the officer that it was what time had left of a temple.
"Tell him to get busy," whispered Jimmie. "Can he make a tree three hundred years old in a minute?"
"Where is this mysticism of the East located?" asked the Captain, unable to get the original notion that they were not what they seemed out of his mind.
Again the leader pointed to the ruined temple.
"Come!" he said.
"Now is your chance!" whispered the Captain.
"You are convinced that these are the people who were sent out to defeat the purpose of our mission?" asked Ned.
"Sure," was the reply. "These fellows are not priests. I don't believe the chap who speaks is even a Chinaman."
Ned did not hesitate long. If he was correct in his interpretation of the orders of the Secret Service department, it would be the right thing for him to go with the strange visitors.