There was an air of insincerity about the Japanese which Ned did not like. It seemed to the boy that he was leading the others on--or trying to lead them on--in a sinister way. The impression was in the lad's mind from the moment of his meeting Gostel that the two men, Itto and Gostel, were in the plot for some purpose of their own, a purpose which was not the accumulation of money, and which did not match the motives of the others.