He could not exactly make out the words, but it was certainly, also, a cry of fear. "Let go! Don't you touch me!" they heard now. The cry came from the hole. Then all was still below, although above the Chinamen chattered louder than ever. "By Jove! the Chinks are going for the boy," cried Harry. "He has fallen into one of the secret dens of Pell street, sure!" It looked like it. The policeman came. The Bradys turned electric flash lights into the hole. It seemed to be a brick vault of considerable size. But there was no one in it so far as they could discover. Harry's repeated shouts to Ed brought no response. "I must go down there and look for the boy!" cried Harry. "Hold on," said the policeman, who was a person they knew; "if the Chinks have got him, they may get you, too. You know what Chinatown is." "I ought to by this time!" cried Harry. "Lower me down, governor." "The officer is right," said Old King Brady. "We better be sure than sorry. If we only had a rope." "Look here, some of youse guys, get a rope!" cried the policeman, charging in among the crowd. There were enough that understood him. Some of them started to act. A moment later a man came out of a Chinese grocery near by with a rope. It was tied under Harry's arms and he was lowered into the hole. The floor of the vault had water an inch deep upon it; the brick sides were dripping with a slimy ooze. But there was no sign of Ed. Nor was there any apparent opening except at the top. The walls on all sides looked to be solid. And Young King Brady saw now that they were up against another Chinese mystery. But a mystery had also been revealed. For the great storm had laid open one of the secrets of Pell street. And who could say into what sort of a queer den this opening might lead? CHAPTER II. ED FINDS ETHEL. Ed Cullen was not yet eighteen, although he looked to be twenty. The boy, in fact, had but just graduated from the Albany High School. He little dreamed into what peculiar adventures this visit to New York was destined to lead him. The fall of the two flagstones came altogether as a surprise to Ed. Doubtless the weight of the Bradys as they trod upon them completed the work of the water. At all events, Ed had no more than planted his feet upon them when down they went. The shock sent the boy on his knees. He scrambled up and answered the Bradys as told. Then an instant later Ed was seized from behind by two pairs of hands. A secret door--bricks set in a box--had opened. The boy, in spite of his struggles, was dragged through the opening. Two Chinamen had captured Ed. But why? There was the mystery! And we may as well add right here that just how it came about was never fully explained. The chances are that the pair were inside the secret door when Ed fell, and hearing the noise, looked in upon him, although he did not see them.