"Gosh, that was a narrow escape!" I murmured, when they had departed.
"Don't crow, Oliver; we are not yet out of the woods. Those fellows may be waiting for us up there," and Dan pointed to the alley's entrance.
"I wonder what sort of a building this is," I went on, and turning around began an examination of the door. Presently my hand touched a rude wooden latch and the door fell back, sending us flying onto a floor white with flour and dirty with a dozen other kinds of merchandise.
Shutting the door behind us, we pushed our way among numerous boxes and barrels until we came to the front of the warehouse. Here there was a long, low shed, extending to a dock fronting the Pasig River. The shed was also filled with merchandise, and at the end of the dock lay half a dozen lighters such as the Filipinos use in carrying goods from the river docks to the large vessels lying in Manila harbor.
"We are on the Pasig," announced Dan. He read the inscriptions on several of the boxes. "This warehouse belongs to an English firm named Carley & Stewart, and these goods are consigned by them to Hong Kong, per steamer Cardigan."
"The Cardigan!" I exclaimed. "Why, she sails to-morrow. I saw the announcement on a card down at the office."
