This business at length completed, we were escorted to a taxi by the attache and whisked up one of the wide avenues of the city without a question as to where we were to stay. Baker and Martin stared out the window with studied ease--they knew that something was up, but were content to await further developments. Now I noticed something else. The driver of our cab was a European, not a native. I started to frame a question, when, without warning, the car ducked into a side street, swung around two corners and abruptly entered an open doorway in a tall stucco building. Both Walt and I were half out of our seats in alarm, when our guide spoke. "The American Consulate, gentlemen," he said, with the slightest trace of a diplomatic smile. The cab had stopped in the ground floor garage of the consulate, and opening the door was the consul himself. "Good morning, I'm Stimson. Hope Avery didn't give you too wild a ride, but I thought it best not to advertise my interest in you at the front door. Things have changed a bit in the last few days. Well, Avery will show you to your rooms. I'll be in the upstairs study when you're freshened up." There was little to speculate on as we shaved and changed to less rumpled clothes, but we worked over the available data for what it was worth. "Consul takes us in tow," remarked Chamberlin. "That isn't in line with the unofficial status so strongly impressed on us at Washington." "And sneaking us in through the back door isn't according to best diplomatic form, either. Stimson wants to protect us from something, but obviously doesn't want the local constabulary to know." This from Martin. "It seems to me," I ventured, "that they could check the hotels. It shouldn't take them long to put two and two together when we don't show. I'm blessed if I can see what Stimson has to gain from this maneuver." Baker turned from the mirror where he had been adjusting his tie. "Suppose we ask him," he commented. The consul was waiting for us in his study. After the briefest greeting which his official position permitted, he got down to business. "Gentlemen, I've had to pull a diplomatic boner of the first magnitude. I refer to the cloak and dagger method of getting you here. But believe me, it was the only way. They're onto your scheme. If you went to a hotel in New Macassar, you wouldn't be alive tomorrow morning." "But, the taxi--" began Martin. "It gave us a few hours. If I had sent the consulate car, they'd have us sealed off tight right now. I could keep you safe here, or get you on the Shanghai plane, but you couldn't make another move. As it is, we have perhaps two hours--with luck." The consul settled back in his chair, evidently gathering his thoughts. We waited, more mystified than before, if that were possible. At length Stimson started again.