Part 28 (1/2)
What he had found was a gold piece of the denomination of twenty dollars. And it bore the stamp of the American eagle!
CHAPTER XVII
BOY SCOUTS IN A LIVELY MIXUP
Ned took the gold piece into his hand and examined it.
”It is American money, sure enough,” he observed, ”and was made at the San Francisco mint.”
Frank and Jack now joined the little group in the library and regarded the piece with interest.
”What does it mean?” Frank asked.
”Why,” Jack volunteered, ”it means that some American man is mixed up in this dirty affair.”
”Perhaps that gold came out of the wreck,” Jimmie suggested. ”Say, are we ever goin' back after that gold?” he added.
”Ned's got all the gold he can attend to right here,” commented Frank.
”He's got to find out how that came here.”
”Why, there was an American in the bunch, and he lost it out of his pocket,” Jack ventured.
”That's the very point,” Frank observed. ”What was an American doing in that bunch?”
”It might have been the American who planned to send the gold to the revolutionary leaders by way of a s.h.i.+pment to the Chinese government,”
Ned said, thoughtfully. ”You know some American had to send the gold.”
”Of course.”
”Well, suppose he is now here trying to get something in exchange for the gold which lies at the bottom of the Pacific?”
”He naturally would be doing business, with the revolutionary party,”
Frank exclaimed. ”What a trick that was!”
”I haven't got it through my head yet,” Jack said. ”I don't know any more about the plot than a robin.”
”Look here,” Frank said, in a superior tone, ”there are a lot of Chinese in the United States who want to a.s.sist the revolutionary party. Got that?”
”You know it!”
”These men arrange with the Chinese government to send over a cargo of gold.”
”That's easy. What were they to get for the gold?”
”I don't know,” Frank answered. ”But they arranged to send the gold right out of the subtreasury at San Francisco--or was it New York?--to the Chinese government.”