Jimmie and Jack were lying behind a great flowing vine which swung from a balete tree, looking keenly out in the direction in which they believed the camp to be situated, when four lusty men who appeared to be Filipinos crept noiselessly out of the jungle and sat down on their backs with chuckles of satisfaction.
"Quit it!" roared Jimmie, thinking they had been followed from the boat.
Then he saw it was no joke, for Jack was floundering about, and one of the little brown men was tying his hands with a hard cord. He flopped over on his back and looked up into the sinister face of a native.
"What's comin' off here?" demanded the boy, trying hard to get a glimpse of Jack from where he lay.
"We're pinched!" Jack called out.
Then the two were dragged hastily to their feet and pushed through the jungle toward the camp. Jimmie thought this a place for optimism, and decided to try it on the low-browed chap who was rather rudely forcing him along. "I was just thinking of going down to see your camp," he said with a grin, "but I didn't know the way exactly. I'm glad you happened along. I've got the left hind foot of a rabbit that was caught by a black cat at midnight, in the dark of the moon, in a negro cemetery, on the grave of a black man who was hanged for murder. Guess that's brought me luck."
"You'll need four rabbits' feet if you get out of this," Jack grumbled. "Suppose we take a quick hike for the boat, right now?" he added, believing the Filipinos would not be able to understand English.
In this he was mistaken, for one of the men said:
"Don't you ever try it. Your left hind foot won't protect you if you do."
The boys gazed about the group, now halted, trying to pick out the speaker.
"But this is a magic rabbit-foot," Jimmie retorted, scornfully as if any sane person ought to know of the virtues of a left hind rabbit-foot. "It used to be owned by an armless man who rowed over the Great American Desert in an open boat!"
This, of course, was all for the purpose of inducing the one who had spoken in English to speak again, in order that he might be sorted out of the others. Jimmie's imaginative powers proved equal to the occasion.
A man who, regarded closely, did not look at all like a Filipino—a slender, though broad-shouldered, man with sharp gray eyes and the awkward manner of one unused to disguise—laughed lightly at the boy's odd conceit and said:
"That will be about enough of that Bowery lingo. What are you boys doing here?" he added.
"We came over to see about puttin' up a couple of skyscrapers!" replied Jimmie. "The air seems nice an' high here. Guess we wouldn't have to push it up any to build fifty stories. Where you takin' us?" he went on. "If I owned this shrubbery we're borin' through, I'd have it manicured."
"Where did you leave theManhattan?" asked the other, without taking the trouble to answer Jimmie's question.
"We didn't leave her," Jimmie lied, cheerfully arguing with himself that it wasn't any of the other man's business where they had left the boat. "She's left us, an' gone off on a cruise to the South; left us to reign on this island. She'll be back in a couple of days, an' then you'll get what's comin' to you."
"I'm glad you took over the government of the island," the other laughed. "Only for your appearance here we should not have known about theManhattanbeing in these waters. Now we can look her up. We have a steamer here for that purpose."
"I guess I ought to have remained on board," Jimmie said, ruefully.
"It is a wonder that Nestor permitted you to leave the boat," observed the other. "It is said of the lad that he makes few mistakes," he went on, glancing from one boy to the other.
"So you know Ned, do you?" asked Jack. "Well, you know a good fellow. If you stay about here you'll be likely to know more about him before long."
"Oh, I mean to remain," was the cool reply. "Nestor is wanted at Manila for disobeying orders, and I'll take him along with me when I go. There's a steamer out here looking for him."
The boys knew that Ned had left Manila in defiance of the orders of Major John Ross, but they did not believe that a steamer had been sent out to arrest him. They knew that he had received his original orders from Washington, and believed that when Ross communicated with the authorities there he would be instructed to keep his hands off so far as Ned was concerned.
The man was, of course, lying, doubtless in the hope of creating the impression in the minds of the boys that he was still in the service of the government, and there on official business. The boys had no fear of their leader being taken back to Manila under arrest. They were more concerned for his life if he fell into the hands of this traitor.
"You know a fat lot about it," Jack said, disdainfully. "What you know about Ned's business won't swell your head any. Where's this steamer you're talking about?"
"I suspect," replied the other, "that she is now circling the island in order to pick up theManhattan. Nestor was wrong to run away with a government boat. He'll serve time for it, I reckon."
"I suppose," Jimmie said, in as sarcastic a tone as he could bring forth, "that you're lookin' among these bushes for theManhattan. She might have climbed one of these big trees," he added, with a grin.
The leader made no reply, none being required, and the party pressed forward toward the center of the island. The jungle grew thinner as they advanced, and presently the encampment came into view.
It was evident to the boys that some of the native chiefs were there in state, for some of the tents—doubtless stolen from the government—were gaudily decorated, and attendants were flying about as if their lives depended on the speed with which they covered the ground. It seemed to the boys that there could not be less than three hundred persons present, and the decorated tents, marking the stopping place of a chief, indicated a large collection of native rulers.
The boys were not taken through the encampment, but led into a tent on the outskirts, where they were securely tied up and left alone.
"Cripes!" Jimmie said, when the flap of the tent fell behind the figure of the disguised man, "this reminds me of a drammer we used to have on the good old Bowery. In this play there was a girl that was always bein' captured an' rescued. Any scene that didn't witness a couple of captures and a couple of rescues was no good. This is just like that. We're bein' captured, all right, but we ain't bein' rescued—not just yet!"
"Ned's somewhere about," Jack said, confidently. "He'll manage to turn us loose before long."
Then through the jungle, and ringing snappingly on the clear air, came the snorting of theManhattan'sengines. At that moment she was entering the little creek which Pat had pointed out. In a moment the explosions ceased.
"If they didn't know before," Jack said, "they know now. It won't take them long to geezle theManhattannow. Say," he added, "roll over here and eat these cords. If I could get down to them I'd soon be free."
"I wonder if I could?" asked Jimmie.
The cords were hard and strong and tightly knotted, but after a long time the boy succeeded in releasing Jack's hands, and the rest was easy as they were alone in the tent. In a very short time both boys were free of bonds.
The tent did not seem to be guarded, as the captors doubtless believed escape from the island impossible, even if the boys succeeded in getting away from the camp. They did not know, of course, that the member of the Wild Cat Patrol from Manila had noted the capture of the lads, and had started away to notify their friends as soon as the explosions heard so plainly by the boys notified him of the whereabouts of theManhattan.
Jimmie and Jack remained quietly in the tent for some moments after their freedom from their bonds had been gained, then Jimmie crawled to the wall nearest the center of the camp, lifted the canvas and looked out. He crouched there a moment and then dropped the canvas and turned to his chum.
"You remember the night in Yokohama?" he asked.
"I should say so," Jack replied. "Didn't I wait around a bum old hotel until almost morning for you to come back?"
"Well," Jimmie went on, "the man that sat in disguise in the tea house, and the men who were there with him, are out there."
Jack approached the little opening made by the lifting of the canvas and looked out.
"Which one?" he asked. "Which one was disguised!"
"The military-lookin' chap," was the reply.
"On the night them gazabos chased us down the Street of a Thousand Steps he was made up like a Jap. When we came to the marines he ducked, as if afraid of Uncle Sam's uniforms."
"Ned rather thought he'd be down to this conference," Jack said.
The man to whom the boy called special attention was in the garb of a civilian, but the military manner was unmistakable. He now stood talking with half a dozen Filipinos, occasionally pointing to the eastern coast of the island.
"He's sendin' his natives after theManhattan, all right," Jimmie said. "There's goin' to be somethin' doin here before long. Look who's here!" he added, as a young man of perhaps twenty-five sauntered toward the tent.
Under his arm the young man carried a steel box, like those used as receptacles for cash and important papers in safe deposit vaults. The box seemed to be quite heavy, for the young man frequently shifted it from one side to the other.
"There's your treaty box!" laughed Jack, poking Jimmie in the ribs.
"It may be, at that," the boy replied.
The young man passed from group to group in front of the tents, apparently seeking some one. Occasionally he pointed to the keyhole of the box and the others felt in their pockets.
"He's lost the key to the treaty box," Jimmie grinned.
"Probably he's got cigarettes in there and wants to dope himself with one," Jack replied.
"Anyway," Jimmie went on, "I wish Ned was here. I'll bet he could open that box for him."
"Now he's talking with the man who chased you out of the tea house in the Street of a Thousand Steps," Jack said, "and the fellow is raving about something."
"They can't open the treaty box!" laughed Jimmie.
"You'll be seeing things next," Jack grunted. "Now, what do you think of that?" he added. "The chap is bringing his box here."
"Then fix yourself up so you'll look like you was in captivity," Jimmie advised. "If he finds out we've released ourselves he'll tie us up again."
The boys found pieces of the cord with which they had been tied and managed to put up a very fair imitation of being bound good and hard. When the young man entered the tent he stood over them for a moment with a supercilious grin on his face.
"How do you like it, boys?" he finally asked.
"Fine!" Jimmie sang out.
"Isn't it most dinner time?" Jack added.
The young man sat down on a bundle of freshly cut grass, placed the box by his side, placed his chin on his hands, his elbows on his knees, and sat for some moments regarding the boys with an amused smile on his rather weak face.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"We're doin' acrobatic stunts on a high wire just now," scorned Jimmie.
"Don't get gay, now," the other growled. "I'm the son of a United States senator."
"I'm the sister of the sun an' moon," Jimmie replied. "So don't be givin' me no guff."
"You're a cheeky little baggage," the son of the senator replied, rising to his feet.
"You might leave that box here," Jimmie called out, "if it's got anythin' to eat in it. We could eat a crocodile."
"Be careful that the crocodiles don't eat you," warned the other and, seizing the box in a firmer grasp, walked out of the tent.
"What do you make of it?" asked Jack.
"The son of a senator," Jimmie replied, "is here representin' some big interest, an' that's the treaty box he's got. Say, if they ever get all these native kings an' queens an' prime ministers to goin', there'll be bloody war in the Philippines, an' Japan, or China, or Germany, or France will butt in, an' there'll be a fine time."
"Of course," Jack replied. "That's why we've got to stop it."
"It might be stopped by scatterin' these chiefs, an' kings, an' all the rest," Jimmie concluded.
"Not so you could notice it," Jack insisted. "Didn't we scatter them when they met on that other island? Well, they've come together again, haven't they? I've heard Ned say that the only way to stop this thing is to get a good grip on the man at the head of it. The thing now is to find who that man is."
"I should say so, with the military men all mixed up in it!" Jimmie said. "It seems to me that the head of it must be in Washington, in Manila, or in Yokohama. I wish Ned was here."
"Tied up?" echoed Jack. "If he was, we'd never get out. Let me tell you this, little man," he went on, the tan on his cheeks showing browner than ever against the sudden paleness of his face, "let me tell you this: These men are here in the guise of soldiers to put this treaty through. These chiefs think they represent men high up in our government. If they didn't think so they wouldn't listen.
"When it is all over, and war has been declared, and our title to the islands has gone up in smoke, these traitors will go back to their posts in the army. Now, this being the case, they won't want to see us around, will they?"
"Hardly," was the reply.
Jimmie saw what his chum was coming to and opened his eyes wider than ever.
"You mean," he added, "that when the ruction breaks out, or even before, we'll be put out of the way?"
"Of course."
"Then I'm goin' to duck right now!" Jimmie said, moving toward the wall of the tent. "I'm not goin' to stay here an' be bolo meat. If we can get to the first thicket we stand a chance of gettin' to theManhattan."
"That's all right, but it won't do," Jack said. "Don't you suppose these gazabos heard the fuss the engine was makin'? Well, then! But we've got to go somewheres, so come on. Me for a point opposite to the direction of the sounds we heard."
There was a sudden commotion in the camp just then, and the boys reached the first thicket.
The boys reached the first thicket and quickly disappeared from the sight of those in the camp. There they listened for an instant, but heard nothing which sounded like pursuit. Then they dug into the jungle and worked around toward the bay where they had left theManhattan.
There came no alarm from the camp as they passed through the thickets, using only their hands in fighting the creepers and snake-like vines. It was afterwards learned that the arrival of a particularly powerful chief had caused the commotion which had so assisted in the escape.
Luckily the attentions paid to the new arrival stretched over a long period of time, otherwise the boys would certainly have been retaken. Disturbed by the noise made by the lads in pushing through the jungle, the monkeys, birds, and other creatures of the forest lifted up their voices and seemed to point out the path of flight. Jimmie declared that a brass band could have done no more to locate them.
It was after noon when they came to the little bay where they had left theManhattan. There was the bay, shimmering in the sun, there was the beach where they had landed. But where was the motor boat?
"They've had to run for it," Jimmie decided, gazing gloomily over the waste of sea and back to the jungle. "What's the next move? This spot must be watched, so we've got to get out of here. I guess we're in for it, all right."
The situation seemed to be a desperate one, and the boys crept back into the jungle to study it out. If theManhattanhad left the vicinity of the island there was no hope for them; still, they decided to make sure that it had before giving over the search for it. In considering the situation they did not at all censure Ned, for they saw that he might have been obliged to take theManhattanaway from the little bay in order to avoid capture.
At last when, in their tracing of the coast in the faint hope of finally coming upon theManhattan, the boys came upon the little stream where the boat was hidden, they remained concealed from the sight of those on board while they took careful note of the surroundings. It did not seem possible that theManhattanhad not been discovered by the Filipinos, and naturally the boys suspected that some trick to gain possession of her without an open fight was being worked.
The boat lay quietly drawing at the cable which held her to the bank of the little stream, with everything apparently in order in the cockpit and in the cabin, but there were at first no signs of the boys. Presently, however, Pat's red head shot up out of the cockpit, where he had evidently been lying down.
As the head appeared, an arrow whizzed almost over the heads of the watching boys and struck the side of the boat with a force which seemed equal to cutting a hole in it. Pat was out of sight in a moment, with the cabin door closed behind him.
"Going back to old methods, are they?" whispered Jack. "Do you see anything of Ned or Frank there?"
Jimmie shook his head.
"I'm afraid they've gone to look us up," he said, "an' in that case, their return to the boat is likely to bring about a fight."
The battle was on in a moment, for Ned, Frank and the Filipino boy were now approaching the boat. It was decidedly a desperate charge they were making through the jungle when shots from the right of the pursuers caused the latter to believe that their peril lay in that direction.
When the Filipinos turned to beat off this attack Ned and his companions made a rush for the boat and reached her in safety. Then the Filipinos rushed to the bank, a dozen or more of them, in a rash attempt to board theManhattan.
They were met by a hot fire from the cabin and the cockpit as soon as they came out on the little rim of clear space on the bank and turned to the thicket for shelter only to meet a volley of revolver shots from the interior. This was too much for the untrained natives to endure, and they fled up the shore of the stream and disappeared.
The boys themselves were uninjured, but spots of blood on the shore and on the leaves indicated that their bullets had not all gone astray. The wounded natives, however, had been carried off by their companions.
Of course those on the boat understood where the fire which had assisted them had come from. Jimmie and Jack were the only persons on the island who would be apt to come to their aid.
"Come out of that!" Frank called, as the last Filipino disappeared. "Don't stay there in the thicket all day! We've got to get out!"
"Why don't you get out, then?" demanded Jimmie, with a grin. "We'll stay here an' run things while you are gone."
The boys were soon on board and theManhattanwas worked out into the channel. But before she was far away from the shore a volley of shots came from the jungle, doing no damage except to the beauty of the craft.
"Now run!" advised Jack. "The steamer over on the other side can chase the legs off us if given half a chance."
Frank took charge of the engine, and Jack stood by to see that he did the right thing, and the boat purred through the waters at a speed which she had never been called upon to make before. Presently the steamer showed up, pumping great columns of smoke into the sweet air, and the chase was on in earnest.
Ned directed Frank to seek the shelter of a group of islands not far away and sat down to talk with Jimmie, first explaining to the two who had just come aboard how the Filipino Boy Scout came to be there.
"We can't miss 'em!" Jimmie exclaimed, shaking the Filipino warmly by the hand. "We found Boy Scouts in Mexico, and in the Canal Zone, and now in the Philippines. They hop out on us wherever we go, like 'skeeters!"
There was now a long and serious talk concerning the course to be pursued. Jimmie and Jack told of meeting the man who had been followed to Yokohama, and also of the senator's son and the box he carried. The Filipino told what he knew of the plans of those on board the steamer, now gradually drawing away from them.
"Are you sure that the men in charge of the steamer are American military men?" asked Ned.
"Sure!" was the reply. "I came from Manila with them."
"And they are in the service of the government?"
"Sure!"
"Then what are they doing on that island, in company with the insurgent chiefs?" demanded Frank, but the Filipino only shook his head.
He insisted that Lieutenant Carstens, who was in command of the vessel from which the steam launch had come, was a fine officer, and high in the esteem of the Manila authorities.
"Then what is he monkeyin' with the rebel chiefs for?" demanded Jimmie. "It looks to me like Uncle Sam was goin' to get the double cross."
"Why don't you go back to the steamer," asked Pat of Ned, "and go on board?"
"That would be fine!" cried Jack.
"What could they do to him?" demanded Frank.
"That boat is here to make trouble for me," Ned said, in a moment. "I can't understand what is going on, but I know that it would not be safe for me to go on board."
"For why?" asked Jack.
"I should be accused of murder," was the grave reply.
"For shootin' the dagoes who were shootin' at you?" demanded Jimmie.
"That will be the charge," Ned replied.
"Then we'll become pirates!" Jack cried. "We'll sail the raving deep and get a new plank for prisoners to walk as soon as the old one wears out. We'll be bold, bad men on the Spanish main!"
"Cut it out!" Frank said. "This is no joke. They've got the goods on us for that shooting, and we've got to keep out of the way until Ned discovers the inner workings of this red tape machine."
The truth of this statement was so apparent that there was little more argument on the subject. It seemed that, in trying to defend the government against a gang of conspirators and traitors, Ned had indeed come to a point of open rupture with some of the men in authority.
For some unknown reason they were chasing him down. Twice he had come to the spot where the treasonable document was to be executed, and twice he had been driven away without accomplishing the object he sought to accomplish.
About the middle of the afternoon the government steamer disappeared entirely, leaving theManhattanalone in the network of tiny islands which came down pretty close to the northern shore of the island of Luzon. Ned watched the last trace of her smoke disappear with much the same feeling that one experiences when an enemy he has been fighting passes from view but does not leave the vicinity.
"She's getting ready to spring out on us," he said to Frank. "She is either waiting for night, or she has gone back to dig up a gunboat. Those on board of her have good ground for arresting us, and before we could prove the true state of affairs at the time of the shooting the treaty would be signed and war would be on."
"If we only had that treaty box!" Jimmie exclaimed.
"And the senator's son with it!" Jack put in.
The steamer gave them no more trouble that day, and when night fell theManhattannosed into a creek which rippled into the channel and the boys prepared to pass the night there. It was a still night and there was no moon, but would be later on. The air, heavy with tropical scents, scarcely stirred, the light breeze having gone down at sunset.
The island which the boys had selected as a resting place for the night was well up to the north of Luzon and faced the China Sea. There seemed to be no land between its western coast and the shoreline of China. Far out in the sea the lights of a liner gleamed for an instant as the boys carried provisions ashore, then the great expanse of water showed only the light of the stars.
"We may have to lug this stuff back to the boat with a rush," laughed Jimmie, as he carried a basket of tinned provisions from the rowboat to the little glade where they were to prepare supper. "I don't believe the government steamer went very far away. If she did, she'll come back with a gunboat."
"Imagine a gunboat out here after theManhattan!" scoffed Jack. "All the steamer people wanted was to drive us away. Don't you think they could have caught us if they had set out to? You bet they could! But they didn't want to show up before us. There are people on board of her who do not want to be seen in the society they have been in during the past few days."
Ned looked the speaker over thoughtfully for a moment.
"I think," he said, "that you've about hit the nail on the head. They wanted to drive us away, and they didn't want their own boat in the way to-night."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Frank.
"I'm not very clear in my mind as to what I did mean," laughed Ned. "However, it is plain that the steamer did not relish staying about here."
Ned watched the supper preparations for a short time and then walked away toward the interior. The island was a very small one, and consisted chiefly of a round rim of white sand—which was rock pounded up by the beating of the waves—and a rocky, cone-like elevation which lifted above the waters of the China Sea like a signal tower.
In some distant epoch the bit of rock had been cast up from the bottom of the ocean, and the rains and suns of countless years had formed from the volcanic material the thin soil which here and there supported tropical growths.
Sailors called the island "Elephant's Head," because the central elevation was said to resemble in some remote degree the head of an elephant, and because two great ridges of rock jutted out into the water, pointing toward the coast of China. These ridges formed an excellent harbor, and were known as "The Tusks."
TheManhattanwas not anchored in this secure harbor, but in a bay which was formed by a break in the rock just around the south corner of the island. There were springs high up on the mountain, and these formed the river which had in turn worn away the rock and shaped the bay.
Ned reached the place where the climb began in five minutes after leaving the campfire. There was no jungle to speak of and he walked rapidly. He passed on up the steep side of the mountain for some distance and then paused on a little shelf of rock which faced the west and took out his glass.
Before him lay the quiet waters of the great China Sea, while back of him loomed the rugged bulk of the mountain, the summit indistinct in the darkness of the moonless night. The growths of the tropics came up to where he stood and then died out from lack of soil. Elephant's Head stood out boldly, its rugged lines unsoftened by the growths which flourish almost everywhere in the Philippines.
Below, Ned could see the red of the campfire, sheltered from the sea side by a screen of bushes. Away to the west he could see, at first, nothing, and then a light came dancing over the waves. At first he thought he must be mistaken, but the light remained stationery except that it seemed to rock with the slow movement of the waves.
While the boy was wondering over the matter Pat came scrambling up the side of the mountain. He threw himself on the shelf of rock by Ned's side and pointed out to the west.
"You see that light?" he asked.
"Yes; I was just wondering about it," was the reply.
"It is at the top of a tall mast," Pat went on to explain, "and is a signal. I can't read it, of course, but it seems to me that it means mischief."
"I have no doubt of it," was the reply, "but we've got to wait for developments for a time. This seems to me to be a waiting game," he added with a laugh which did not sound at all merry.
The boys sat for a long time, watching the light, which grew nearer, and the campfire below, which was still glowing brightly. Then Ned turned his glass to the north and an exclamation of surprise escaped him. Where he looked there was a duplicate of the light to the west, and that, also, was drawing closer.
"I think," Ned said, after calling Pat's attention to the second light, "that we'd better have that fire out. Go down and ask the boys to finish their suppers and make everything dark."
"Why," Pat said, "you haven't any notion those ships are coming here, have you?"
"There's a pretty good harbor here," Ned said.
"Yes, but—"
"And the insurrectos must have arms," Ned went on.
Pat thumped his hands down on his knees half a dozen times and then brought one palm down on Ned's shoulder.
"Sure!" he said. "Sure, sure, sure! The game is to land arms and ammunition here to-night! Now, what do you think of tumbling headfirst into the center of the disturbance like this? Say, we'll have to receipt for those guns!"
The boys hastened down to the campfire and quickly extinguished it, much to the disgust of Jimmie, who had begun the preparation of an elaborate meal—at least as elaborate as could be gotten together out of tin cans.
This precaution taken, theManhattanwas towed into the mouth of the little creek and climbers and creepers drawn over her until no one would have suspected her presence there. The engine was not set in motion in making this change because of the danger from the explosions.
All this accomplished, Ned and Pat climbed back to the shelf of rock and again looked out over the mysterious China Sea. There were the two lights, one to the west and one to the north. They were closer to the island than before, however, and the light up toward Formosa was drawing to the south rapidly.
"They are going to meet here, all right," Pat said, "and I'll go apples to snowballs that they've got arms for the insurrectos. The manager of this enterprise never let all those chiefs get away from that other island without signing the treaty, and now he's sneaking in guns to help them out."
The boys discussed the situation for some moments, the lights coming nearer with astonishing rapidity. At length another light showed away to the south and west, but not such a light as the others.
It was not high up in the air, like the others, and directly it seemed to divide itself into half a dozen points. Its progress toward the island seemed to be even faster than that of the others.
"That's a steamer," Ned said, after a long look through his glass.
"The other lights are on steamers, too," Pat replied. "No wind-jammer could make the time, in this calm, that those boats are making."
While the boys looked the lights went out, or appeared to, and there was only the glimmer of the unfamiliar constellations of the heavens over the China Sea.
"That's strange!"
Pat turned to Ned and grasped him by the arm.
"What do you make of it?" he continued.
"That may be a signal," was the reply.
"If it is, the glims will show again directly."
"They may," was the reply.
But the lights did not show again, and, after waiting for an hour or more, the boys started back to the camp. Half way down, the dull, reverberating boom of a cannon came to their ears, over the water.
"What does that mean?" asked Pat.
"It may be the gunboat Jimmie insisted would be sent for me," smiled Ned.
"You don't really think that?"
"Hardly," was the reply, "but I don't know what to make of it."
"Perhaps it was a command for the other ships to show their lights," Pat suggested.
"I hope Uncle Sam is becoming wise to the game that is being played down here," Ned said, "and has sent a gunboat to look into it."
"That's it!" cried Pat. "That's just it! If she doesn't pass the ships in the dark there'll be something doing here."
The dull boom of the gun came again, and, far out, the low lights of the gunboat showed above the water. She seemed to be passing swiftly to the north.
"She's going to pass us, all right!" Pat cried. "Now, what did she make that noise for? To warn the ships that she was coming, and to get out of the way?"
"There's some good reason," Ned replied.
In a moment a searchlight shot out from the gunboat and prowled over the sea. The boys could see it moving about, but could not see that it picked up the ships which had previously shown the lights. One of the vessels, it appeared, was too far to the south and the other too far to the north to be reached by the traveling rays from the gunboat.
"She's slowing down!" Pat cried, in a moment. "She's going to search the islands. Glory be!"
"You may not want to meet her people, after you find out what they want," said Ned. "Remember that battle with the Filipinos back there."
"I'm willing to take chances with them," was the reply.
The boys now hastened back to camp and Ned passed on to the creek where theManhattanlay in hiding.
"Jimmie," he said, turning to face that young gentleman, "do you remember whether those rockets we bought at Manila were put on board?"
"Sure they were!" was the reply. "Want 'em?"
Ned replied that he did, and the boy went prospecting in the lockers of the boat.
"Got 'em!" he cried presently.
"Do you know how to send them off?" asked Ned.
"Do I? Well, if you'd ever seen me bossin' the fireworks at Tompkins Square, in little old N. Y., I guess you wouldn't ask that!"
Just then Jack came blundering along through the brush and half fell into the boat.
"You'd make a fine scout!" Jimmie said. "You move through the thickets with the stealth and grace of an elephant!"
"What's that firing about?" asked Jack, paying no attention to the boy and facing Ned anxiously, his face only half seen in the semi-darkness.
"That is what I want you to find out," was the reply. "I want you and Jimmie to put the boat in running condition, everything ready for a spurt of speed. And I want you to remain here in the boat, ready to shoot out in a second."
"All right! That's easy."
"You may have to wait a long time," Ned went on, "and you may have to go inside of five minutes. When you go, muffle the engine as much as possible, but run like the Old Nick was after you—run for the gunboat out there!"
"They'll pinch me!" wailed Jimmie.
"And when you get to the gunboat," Ned continued, "tell the officer in charge that Nestor is a prisoner on this island, and that the insurrectos are about to land guns and ammunition here."
"You a prisoner!" Jack echoed. "What's the use of lying about it?"
"I shall be a prisoner by the time you reach the gunboat," Ned said, coolly—as calmly as if he had been announcing that he would be taking his supper at that time.
"If you go in theManhattan," Jack said, "you won't be a prisoner here."
"But I've got to stay here," Ned said, "and besides, the boat must not be loaded down. She may have to make a hot run for the gunboat."
"I don't know what you're up to," Jack said, doubtfully, "but I guess you do, so I'll do just as you say."
"What about the rockets?" asked Jimmie.
"They are to be used in signaling the gunboat," Ned replied. "She may be a long ways off when you get out there."
When the boys at the camp had finished their supper, eaten in the darkness, and watched the sea for signs of the ships for half an hour, they started toward the boat. Then another shot came over the water, followed by two more, fired in quick succession. Ned joined them instantly, for, following the shots, the rattle of sailing gear and the thud-thud of boxes or boards on a deck echoed over the sea.
"One of the ships is close in," Ned said. "Now we'll see if the owners are unloading missionaries here!"
The vessel close in looked like an old-fashioned top-sail schooner; still there was an engine and a propeller. She was a three-master, and looked, in the uncertain light, as if she had been in service in the East for a long time.
She glided into the harbor between the Tusks as if she knew every inch of the channel, and brought up close to a flat surface of rock on one of the Tusks, which formed a natural pier. Then the hatches were opened, and shaded lanterns gleamed about the deck.
Ned glanced back over the mountain, and was astonished at seeing a green signal light there, almost at the top. The men on the schooner saw the signal, too, for Ned could see them pointing at it, could hear them laughing as if a great point had been gained.
"Wonder why we didn't see that?" asked Frank. "It must have been there when the lights showed from the ships."
"We didn't go up high enough, or it might not have been there when we were looking," was the reply.
"Well," Frank said, then, "if we didn't see the chap who is tending that light on the mountain, he must have seen us; or if he didn't see us he must have heard the engine of theManhattandoing her talking stunt."
"Probably," replied Ned.
The matter was more serious than his manner indicated, for he turned quickly and walked toward theManhattan, calling out softly to Pat as he did so. There was no answer for a moment, and then it came in the shape of a dozen pistol shots.
Ned dropped down behind a clump of bushes and waited for an instant, resolved to know what was going on at the boat before advancing. Then the boys from the camp came running up, asking questions, and all made a rush for the boat.
When they came within sight of the spot where she lay, they saw that she was moving out into the bay, and that Pat was standing by the engine whirling the fly-wheel. On the shore were a score of Filipinos, standing with guns turned toward the boat.
The boys saw Ned and Frank spring forward, saw them hesitate an instant, and then drop to the ground. TheManhattanswung out into the bay with engines snapping and propeller churning the smooth waters.
"Whoop—ee!" shouted Pat from the deck.
"Got her off all right!" shouted Jimmie. "Nobody hurt!"
"Straight to the Northwest," shouted Ned, "and keep your rockets going!"
"I wish we had been able to get on board," Frank said, regretfully, as theManhattanshowed a clean pair of heels out of the bay. "I saw Jack on her."
"The boys on board have their instructions," Ned said, "and now we may as well be getting out of range of these little brown men! If Pat and the others hadn't been on their guard the boat would have been captured."
The moon was rising now, almost at full, and brought the natives, standing on the beach, out in full relief. They were well armed, and seemed very angry at the turn matters had taken. They had evidently been sent out to capture the boat, and were not pleased at the report they would now be obliged to make.
They stood looking out at the fast receding boat for only a moment before opening fire on her. Directly, however, theManhattanwas out of range, and then they turned their attention to Ned's party, which, being hidden by the thicket, might not have been discovered at that time only for the instructions shouted out by Ned as the boat slid away.
Knowing that he would be between two fires if a battle opened, Ned made no show of resistance when the natives approached him with leveled guns. There was a great bustle between the Tusks now, showing that the cargo of the schooner, whatever it was, was being landed, and it was natural to suppose that there existed an understanding between the crew and the men on the island.
"Don't try to shoot!" a voice said in good English. "My men have you covered."
"Who are you?" asked Ned, not much surprised, after what had taken place, to find the party officered by an American.
"An officer in the United States army," was the unexpected reply.
"Then what are you doing all this shooting for?" demanded Frank. "Why did you molest theManhattan, here on government service?"
"We'll see about the service she is on later," replied the officer. "Beat it for the harbor, all of you."
When the party reached the Tusks the crew of the schooner was busy unloading long pine boxes which looked as if they contained shovels and hoes, and seemed to be very heavy. The second vessel, the one which had been observed in the north, lay close in.
"Where's the officer in charge?" asked Ned, as they approached a group standing at the head of the harbor.
The officer who had captured the boys pointed out a tall, rather fine-looking man who was standing, pencil and paper in hand, checking off the boxes as they crashed down on the beach.
"There he is," was the information given. "Lieutenant Carstens, and a mighty good man at that!"
The Filipino boy stepped forward, as if anticipating a friendly greeting and then drew back in confusion. Lieutenant Carstens had looked him fairly in the face and had not recognized him.
Ned did not step forward to present his side of the case to the man pointed out to him, for there was no need to do so. The man was the one he had met in the tea house in Yokohama, in the Street of a Thousand Steps.
"Go on and give him a talk," Frank said, as Ned drew back.
"There is not a bit of use," Ned replied. "The man is a crook, and is not acting for the government here."
"Then why these vessels?" asked Frank. "He must be a good deal of a wise crook if be sails about with a fleet like that."
"I rather think he is a good deal of a wise crook," Ned replied. "He's the man whom Jimmie saw mixing with the rebel chiefs."
"But look here," Frank insisted, "look at the blue coats unloading the boxes. They are in the service, for sure. This Lieutenant Carstens may be a crook, but he has a command in the United States navy, all right."
One of the men who was assisting the Lieutenant in the tally now called his attention to the prisoners and the Filipino boy standing by their side. He listened for a moment to what was said to him, then motioned for the Filipino boy to approach. The two talked for a moment in Spanish, and then the boy, evidently much against his will, was sent on board the ship.
In a few moments the Lieutenant turned to Ned, a smile of victory on his lips.
"Well," he said, "your career as a pirate has been brought to a sudden close."
"What do you mean by that?" demanded Ned.
The question was a natural one, but was entirely unnecessary, for the boy knew what was meant—knew on what desperate chance the lives of himself and his friends rested.
"I mean," answered the Lieutenant, "that you are under arrest for piracy on the high seas. Also for deliberate murder. Also for the larceny of theManhattanfrom Manila."
"Very well," Ned replied, coolly, "take me back to Manila for trial. I am willing to go with you."
"We don't take pirates back to Manila for trial," was the sneering reply. "We give them a hearing and shoot them down on the spot. I'll attend to your case directly."
"You've got your nerve!" cried Frank.
The Lieutenant turned with a snarl and pointed the end of his pencil toward the two boys.
"Put them in irons," he said. "We'll give them a drum-head when we get the goods out of theClaraand will shoot them at midnight."
The boys made no resistance. That would have been useless, for there were twenty to one against them.
"And," continued the officer, "send for the relatives of the natives this man Nestor murdered on Banta Isle. We'll have them for witnesses."
"They attacked me," Ned said, in a second sorry that he had spoken at all.
"They were ordered to recover theManhattan, property stolen from the government," was the reply, "and you resisted them. Put a stick in his mouth, Ben, if he talks any more."
Ben, a muscular, scar-faced fellow of thirty, stepped forward and took a seat on the rock near the captives. He had the mild, soft eyes of a student of theology and the square jaw and hard hands of a prize fighter.
"You're to keep your face closed—see?" he said, nudging Ned in the side with an elbow. "You're to keep your clapper tied," he went on, "or I'll tie it up for you. And how in the name of the Seven Seas did you ever get in such a scrape, Ned Nestor?"
The last words were spoken very softly, but before that Ned had recognized the man as one he had known and liked on the water front in New York.
"You're in a bad box," Ben went on, "for that slob means business."
"There's just one chance for us," Ned whispered. "If the rockets are all right, and the gunboat is not too far away to see the signals!"
Ben looked at Ned in astonishment.
"You never got theManhattanaway, did you?" he asked.
"The boys got it away," replied Ned.
The sailor remained silent for a moment, his face turned away from the man he was supposed to be watching. When he spoke it was in a very low tone, with little movement of the lips, and with his face still turned toward the lieutenant.
"You should have gone with it," he said.
Ned did not reply. He had, at the last moment, made a rush for the boat, but had been kept away from her by the natives.
"Carstens has been after you for a long time," the sailor went on. "He got his orders at Manila."
"What was he doing on the island with the rebels?" asked Ned.
"I'm sure I don't know," was the whispered reply. "There's something mighty funny going on here. More mischief, I'm afraid. No one knows what is in the boxes that are now being unloaded."
"What does he say they are?" asked Ned.
"Supplies, to keep the chiefs good-natured."
"He brought them from Manila?"
"No, he picked them up over on the China coast."
"I thought so," Ned answered.
"Now, what is the answer to that remark," asked Ben.
"You'll get the answer directly," Ned replied. "Listen to the rattle of the alleged supplies when a box is thrown down hard!"
"I was noticing that."
"Sounds like guns?" asked Ned.
"Yes, indeed, but why should the government be supplying the dagoes with guns? We have all we can do to keep them decent when they have no arms at all."
"You sailed from Manila with Carstens?" said Ned, putting his statement in the form of a question.
"Yes, I left Manila on theClara. He seemed to be all right until after we picked up the boxes on the China coast. He was a good fellow, when we left Manila, but he was confined to his cabin for a day and a night and has been ugly as sin ever since. He came out of the sickness looking a bit seedy but that ought not to cause him to turn into a red-handed brute, had it?"
"He has been acting badly, has he?" asked Ned.
"As if the very Old Nick was in him," was the reply. "You heard what he said about a drum-head court martial for you?" the sailor added.
"Of course."
"Well, he means it. He's got something against you that doesn't show on the outside. He'll try you in five minutes and shoot you within the next ten."
"That would be murder."
"Well, he has the authority, under the general instructions regarding the treatment of pirates," said the sailor.
"But you know that I'm not a pirate, and so does Carstens," Ned said. "You know that I came here in theManhattanwithout the consent of the officers at Manila, but you know that I was only defending myself when those natives were shot."
"I don't know anything about it," was the discouraging reply. "I've heard you spoken of as a pirate for the past few days, and the members of the crew all believe you to be one. If he orders them to shoot you, they'll do it."
"Yes, I presume so," Ned said, soberly.
"What are you going to do about it?" asked the sailor, after a short pause.
"The question," Ned replied, "is what are you going to do about it?"
"I couldn't do a thing if I tried," was the reply. "When Carstens hears that theManhattangot away he will be red-headed, and will order the trial to proceed at once. I'll see what I can do with some of the men I know well, but the chances are that I'll only get myself into trouble without doing you any good."
"All you can do," Ned said, "is to delay the trial, and the execution, if it comes to that."
The officer who had made the arrest, after failing to seize the boat, now approached the Lieutenant and said something to him in a low tone.
"What?" the latter almost screamed. "You let the boat get away?"
"They were too quick for us," was the reply.
"Too quick for you?" howled the Lieutenant. "Do you know what you've done? You've ruined all my plans—the plans of the government. Inefficiency is worse than open disobedience, and you may consider yourself under arrest!"
The officer saluted and turned away, a scowl on his face.
"There is a likely man to talk with first," Ned suggested to the sailor. "He will doubtless listen to you."
The Lieutenant now turned sharply toward the prisoners.
"What's going on there?" he demanded. "What are you talking to that pirate for?" he added, approaching Ben threateningly.
"Trying to see what I could get out of him, sir," Ben replied, saluting.
"Well?"
"Not a thing!"
"Then cut it out," said the officer, moving away.
By this time the boxes were all out of theClara, and the other vessel was brought up to the Tusks. A great pile of boxes lay in the sandy beach, and these the Lieutenant counted over for the second time. Then he beckoned to a dignified looking native and went over the ranks of boxes with him.
"Is it correct?" asked Carstens.
The other nodded and passed a slip of paper to the officer.
"Yokohama exchange," Ned heard him say.
"It must be that the native is paying for the guns," Ned said, and Ben, looking half frightened, half angry, nodded his head.
The Lieutenant now turned to the unloading of theMartha, which was now at the north Tusk. The hatches were soon lifted and the unloading of the cargo began. It consisted principally of boxes and barrels.
"Ammunition," Ned whispered.
Again the sailor nodded.
"Nice old government officer he is!" Frank said, in a half whisper.
"He doesn't act like himself," Ben said, "not since he came out of the cabin after being ill for a day and a night. And the boxes coming out of the hold now do not look like the boxes that were put in it on the China coast. I don't know what to make of it all."
During all this talk Ned had been listening intently for the shriek of a rocket, casting his eyes up the mountain side in the hope of seeing the green light of a signal reflected there. But no reports of rockets in the sky had come to his ears, and there were no signal lights reflected on the mountain.
The moon was well up in the heavens when the unloading of theMarthawas completed. Then the Lieutenant called the dignified native to his side again, and once more the toll of the boxes was taken and a slip passed over to the officer. This done, the men went back into the hold again and began unloading small boxes, evidently containing tinned provisions.
"There," whispered Ben, "those are the goods Lieutenant Carstens took on board at the Chinese port."
"Then where were the guns and the ammunition taken on?" asked Ned.
"That is what gets me," was the reply.
"Tinned goods were also put into theClara?" Ned asked.
"Yes; and they are going to take them out."
"Thought they'd get the guns out first," said Ned. "Don't you see," he added, "that this man Carstens is a traitor! Can't you see that he is turning guns, undoubtedly stolen from the government, over to the rebel chiefs, and getting his pay for them?"
"It looks that way," was the slow reply, "but what am I to do about it?"
"Talk with some of the men," urged Ned. "If those arms are taken away from this island by the natives they will be used to murder soldiers and sailors."
"I know it," said the sailor, "but what can I do?"
"Go and talk to the officer he just ordered under arrest."
"And have him report the conversation in order to get back into the good graces of the Lieutenant!" said Ben. "I'm not quite so green as that."
"What sort of a reputation does this man Carstens bear in army circles?" asked Ned, presently, seeing that it was of no use to argue with the sailor, who was afraid of being brought into trouble if he tried to aid the boy.
"First-class," was the reply. "He is known as a brave and dependable officer."
"And any action he might take here would be endorsed at Manila?"
"Yes; I think so."
"Then," Ned said, grimly, "if theManhattandoesn't get within speaking distance of the gunboat very soon there will be a couple of funerals on this island."
"I am afraid you are right," said Ben. "If I could do anything for you I would, but—"
"Stop that clatter there!" shouted Carstens, pointing the end of his pencil toward Ned. "Didn't I tell you to put a stick in his mouth if he opened it again?"
Ben saluted and said that he was trying to get a confession out of the prisoner, and the Lieutenant turned back to the work of tallying the tinned goods. It was quite evident that he did not intend to leave that important duty to any subordinate.
Ned knew that he was in the tightest hole his love for detective work had ever fitted him into. He knew that the Lieutenant suspected him, and would not hesitate to order him shot after a mock trial. He had little doubt that the officer had, after his return from Yokohama, managed to poison the minds of the officers at Manila against him. That was why, he thought, he had been ordered by Major John Ross to remain at Manila until instructions could be received from Washington.
He understood that Carstens might murder him there at will and so close his mouth forever. After the murder there would be no one to tell of the secret meetings on the islands where the rebel chiefs were assembled, no one to tell of the murder of Brown at the Yokohama tea house, no one to tell of the arms unloaded there and turned over to the Filipinos—unless the sailors should take it into their heads to investigate the long boxes and take their lives in their hands by reporting their discoveries.
Lieutenant Carstens certainly had everything to his taste there, and Ned was of the opinion that he would not be very long in exercising his authority to the limit. While the boy was thinking over the situation, trying to find some way out of the peril he was in, a sleepy-looking young man came out of the cabin of theClaraand stepped ashore. He was neatly dressed, with a handsome face and alert figure. Lieutenant Carstens bowed to him as he approached the place where he stood and pointed to the prisoners.
"Do you know who that is?" whispered Ned to the sailor.
"No," was the reply, "except that he is the son of a prominent politician in the United States."
Ned did not need to ask another question then. Jimmie had described the senator's son, and Ned knew that the young man who had held possession of the treaty box was there, in conference with the Lieutenant.
"I guess," the boy mused, "they've got the top hand. The Lieutenant has his military authority, and also has the senator's son here to swear to anything he asks him to!"
"You should have made a getaway in theManhattan," Ben said, in a moment.
"Then I wouldn't have seen the unloading of the arms," Ned answered.
Ben arose and stood yawning by the side of his prisoner. The Lieutenant and the senator's son approached and stood for a moment looking down on the two captives.
"Why not call the drum-head now?" asked the senator's son. "It will help to pass a couple of hours which might otherwise be dull."
"Call it, then," said the officer. "The sooner it is over the better."
Ned looked up to the mountain as one looks to a friend for assistance and cheer when things are going hard, and the mountain did not disappoint him. For there, high up, was the green light of a distant rocket.
TheManhattanhad found the gunboat and was using the signals.