s we'll have to call you Mr.
Senator, Jr., now and tip our hats to you."

"Avast with that nonsense, as they don't say at sea," laughed Ned.
"There's our house yonder," and he pointed to a handsome stone
residence.

"Hullo, what's that I see on the roof?" asked Jack.

"That's my wireless outfit. Mother made an awful kick about having it
there, but at last she gave in."

"So you're still a wireless boy?" said Billy.

"Yes, and I've got a dandy outfit too. Come on over. I want to introduce
you to the folks."

"Thanks, we will some other time, but not to-night. We don't feel fit
for company. You see quite a disaster has happened to a friend of ours,"
and under a pledge of secrecy from Ned, who he knew he could rely on,
Jack told the lad part of the story of the theft of the code.

"By jove, that is a loss," said Ned sympathetically. "I've heard dad
talking about the new code. It was a very important matter."

"We were going for a walk to discuss the whole question," said Billy.

"Can I join you?" asked Ned.

"Glad to have you," was the rejoinder. Talking and laughing merrily over
old times on the _Tropic Queen_, the boys walked on, not noticing much
where they were going till they found themselves on an ill-lighted
street of rather shabby-looking dwellings.

"Hullo," said Ned, "I don't think much of this part of town. Let's get
back to a main street."

"It's a regular slum," said Billy, and the three boys started to retrace
their steps. But suddenly Jack stopped and jerked his companions into a
doorway. Two figures had just come in sight round the corner. They were
headed down the street on the opposite sidewalk.

"It's Judson and his son," whispered Jack. "What can they be doing
here?"

"Hiding, most probably," returned Billy.

"Yes, they--hullo! Look, they're going into that alley-way."

The boys darted across the street. Looking down the alley-way, they saw
the figures of Judson and his son, by the light of a sickly gas lamp,
ascending the steps of a rickety-looking tenement house.

"Jove, this is worth knowing," exclaimed Jack. "If they are really
hiding here we can get the police on their track. How lucky that we just
let ourselves roam into this part of town."

"We ought to have them arrested at once," said Billy.

"Yes, that's a good idea. But they may have just sneaked through the
hallway and out by a rear way. You fellows wait here till I go and see."

"Oh, Jack, you may get in trouble."