ALICE AND THE CHINESE PRINCESS.
To make a quick opening of the box containing the Chinese Princess was
quite impossible.
Besides the difficulties already explained, there were others.
The box was not nailed.
Examination showed that it was put together with screws, and that the
boards were of some hard wood.
Air-holes bored in the sides at regular intervals showed that the
imprisoned princess certainly ought to have no difficulty in breathing,
and made it seem that her present unconsciousness was probably nothing
more than a faint.
The landing at the bulkhead had now been made.
There appeared to be no watchman here--at least no one challenged the
Secret Service party.
Behind the bulkhead extended a row of storage warehouses.
The boat had been tied up opposite a break in this row formed by a
street extending back towards Amador street, the first of which
parallels the Islais Creek Channel on the south.
The Bradys had plenty of rope, and the work of unloading now began.
Harry got into the sailboat along with the kicker and remained there.
Old King Brady, Alice and the other two Secret Service men ascended to
the bulkhead.
Such boxes and opium bales as were piled on the larger box were
transferred to the launch, and a rope made fast around the box, which
was then hauled up, but not without considerable difficulty, and carried
in front of the first warehouse of the row, where it was placed on the
board platform.
Alice now called again to the imprisoned princess, but received no
answer.
"I'll be blest if I see how we are ever going to get this thing open
without a screw-driver," grumbled one of the Secret Service men.
"I can supply that want," replied the old detective, who usually has a
few tools concealed in some of the many pockets of that wonderful blue
coat.
He hastily produced it and went to work.
The screw-driver was not only a small affair, but the blade folded into
a slot in the handle.
The joint being loose, it made the tool wobbly.
Old King Brady soon discovered that he had attempted the impossible. He
could not start a single screw.
"This is a bad job," he exclaimed. "We shall have to lower the box
again. I greatly fear that we are up against a murder case. If the woman
was alive, she would surely have revived before this."
"She said she was dying," replied Alice. "It begins to look as if she
spoke the truth."
"Get back to the boat," called Harry. "We may as well run around to the
India Basin warehouse. We shall be able to open the box there."
"I see no other way," replied Old King Brady, and once again he started
to make fast the rope, when suddenly Harry called that he could hear the
sound of oars.
"Which way?" demanded the old detective.
"Up the channel. Don't seem to be far off, either."
"Come, boys," said Old King Brady, "we'll sneak along the bulkhead and
see who it is. Crouch low, now. If it is the Chinamen prowling about, we
may be able to bag them. Alice, you better go aboard the launch."
"I'll stay here and watch the box," replied Alice.
The old detective and the two Secret Service men now crept along the
line of the bulkhead with their revolvers drawn.
Alice quickly lost sight of them in the fog, which was now thicker than
ever.
"Alice, are you all right up there?" called Harry.
"Of course," she replied. "Why not?"
"I wish you would come down."
"And abandon my imprisoned princess? I won't."
Harry and Alice are lovers, and practically engaged.
Long ago they would have been married if Alice would only consent to
give up her work.
But Alice is perfectly fascinated with the life of a detective, so the
marriage day is forever being postponed, for Harry insists that Alice
shall give up the business before becoming his wife.
But even under their present relations he sometimes tries to force her
to yield to his ideas more than she cares for, although he has long ago
learned that she is a difficult person to drive.
Harry knew by her tone now that Alice had made up her mind to stay just
where she was, so he let the matter drop and was sitting in the launch
in silence when suddenly a shot rang out.
It was followed by another, and others still.
Then Old King Brady shouted something in the distance, but Harry could
not make out what he said.
"Alice!" he called, "can you hear what the governor is saying?"
There was no answer.
"She don't seem to hear you," observed the kicker.
"Alice!" shouted Harry again.
Still no answer.
"Can she have gone forward to see what that shooting is about?" he
exclaimed. "It would be just like her. I'm going up to see."
"I hear somebody running," cried the kicker.
Just then Old King Brady was heard calling out:
"Lay for them, Harry! Chinks in a boat! Coming your way!"
Young King Brady listened, catching the sound of oars.
But it was only for a minute.
"They have either stopped or muffled their oars!" he said when he heard
Old King Brady right above him exclaim:
"Good heavens! What's this?"
"Anything the matter with Alice?" cried Harry, and he went up the
standing ladder flying.
Old King Brady was peering about in the fog.
The two Secret Service men were just coming up.
"What is it?" cried Harry. "Where's Alice? I have called her several
times, but she don't answer."
"Why, I left her right here, and that box with her; both seem to have
vanished," Old King Brady answered in a tone which fully betrayed his
anxiety.
But it was easy to mistake the exact position in the fog.
A moment's search revealed the puzzling fact that nowhere on the
bulkhead Alice and the heavy box containing the imprisoned princess was
to be found.
The Bradys and the Secret Service men pushed about everywhere.
One of the first things they did was to turn the corner of the end
warehouse and look there along the street.
"She has been captured and carried off. She must have gone this way,"
Harry exclaimed.
"Or into one of the warehouses," said Old King Brady.
"I'll get up the street. You get along by the warehouses," cried Harry,
and he started away on the run.
It was ten minutes before he returned.
"Learned anything?" demanded Old King Brady, anxiously.
"Nothing. I went two blocks. Didn't see a soul; no need to ask you if
you had better luck, I suppose?"
"I had none at all. I have tried the different doors, but I can't find
any that is open now, whatever the case may have been a few minutes
ago."
And such are the circumstances of the most mysterious disappearance
Alice has ever made, and she has made many, for, of course, troubles
form a part of the life of a detective.
Poor Harry was in despair. Old King Brady exceedingly anxious and also
vexed with himself to think that he had not insisted upon Alice going
aboard the boat.
"And you heard no noise of any kind?" he asked for the third time.
"Not a sound," replied Harry. "I was sitting quiet in the boat, too."
"When was the last you heard her speak?"
"Just before the firing began. Was it you who fired?"
"We fired back at three Chinamen who fired on us from a boat."
"Sailboat--rowboat?"
"Rowboat. Didn't you hear the sound of oars?"
"Yes, yes! I am so rattled that I hardly know what I'm saying. What on
earth shall we do?"
"We have to look after our captured opium, too. You remain here, Harry,
and Leggett can stop with you. I'll run the stuff around into the India
Basin and make sure of it. Don't you go doing the disappearance act
now."
"Same to you, governor. Oh, these Chinks! I wish we might never have
another mix-up with them."
Old King Brady made no reply, but hastily descended to the launch, which
towed the captured sailboat to a bonded warehouse on the India Basin,
where Secret Service men were waiting to receive them.
It was daybreak before he got back to the Islais Creek Channel again.
The fog had vanished with the night, and a hot August wind was blowing
the sand about after the usual San Francisco style.
Harry and the Secret Service man were standing on the bulkhead.
"Have you learned anything?" demanded Old King Brady as the launch drew
near.
"Not a thing, worse luck," replied Harry. "If ever there was a mystery
it is this."
"It is certainly a bad job," replied the old detective, "but such as it
is we must make the best of it. Let us wait for the opening up of these
warehouses. Information of some sort may come from a quarter we least
suspect."
Seven o'clock came, bringing with it the men connected with the
warehouses.
Among them was the dock foreman, who demanded the Bradys' business.
He seemed slightly startled when he saw the Secret Service shield.
"Who is Volckman?" demanded the old detective, abruptly.
"I am Volckman," was the reply.
"What's your position here?"
"I am dock foreman."
"Which means that you have charge of the laborers?"
"Yes."
"Who is superintendent of these stores?"
"Mr. Renshaw."
"When is he due here?"
"Eight o'clock."
"Will he remain here right along after that?"
"Yes; all day."
"I want to see Mr. Renshaw. Tell him Old King Brady was speaking to you,
and that he will return in about an hour."
The Bradys went away in their launch then, going to breakfast at the
Palace Hotel, where they were staying.
The first thing Old King Brady did upon their arrival at the hotel was
to call up Secret Service Commissioner Narraway and tell him of their
partial success.
He did not mention Alice's disappearance nor the matter of the Chinese
princess, leaving these things to be communicated by word of mouth later
on when, it was to be hoped, he would understand them better himself.
Breakfast over, the Bradys lost no time in keeping their appointment
with Mr. Renshaw, who proved to be a civil, intelligent gentleman.
Old King Brady at once explained the whole situation.
"This certainly seems to be a serious piece of business," said Mr.
Renshaw after hearing the old detective through. "I can't understand
what brought these Chinamen here or how they came to use Mr. Volckman's
name. Is there no possibility of Miss Montgomery being mistaken?"
"I don't think so. Her knowledge of Chinese is excellent."
"And her disappearance a serious matter for you, I realize. I can't
imagine that she and this singular box can have been taken into any of
our warehouses."
"You have perfect confidence in Volckman?"
"Always have had. Would you like to question him? I will send for him if
you wish."
"No; I think not. I certainly do suspect the man of being mixed up in
this business, but it will do no good to make him aware of it; still I
should like to be given the opportunity to search these warehouses in
every part."
"And so you shall. I will go with you myself. If there is any crooked
work going on here I want to know it."
The search was made accordingly, but nothing came of it.
"Listen, Mr. Renshaw," said the old detective as they were about to
part. "To-day a laboring man will apply for work at this office. He
wants to be hired and given a job, which will enable him to watch
Volckman."
"I understand," was the reply, "and so it shall be."
And so it was. Secret Service man Leggett, an excellent detective in his
way, was the person selected, but three days passed, and at the end of
that time he had nothing to report.
Nor had a word been heard of Alice.
This time her disappearance seemed to be a serious matter.
The Bradys exhausted every effort to find her, but in vain.