The man grinned and, opening the cabin door, stepped inside. He was tall, rather slender, with clean-cut features and bright gray eyes. His bearing was that of a gentleman, and Frank began to have an indefinable idea that he had met him before somewhere, just where he could not decide. The fellow evidently was an American, though his followers seemed to be Chinese and Filipinos.
"So he"s gone after a battleship, has he?" the intruder said, shutting the cabin door behind him, after making sure that his men were standing at attention with their guns. "Do they pick battleships off trees up on the hill?"
"I don"t see anything funny about it," Jack said, sourly. "Who do you mean by "he"? What do you know about the crew of the boat?"
"I"ve heard of Mr. Ned Nestor," was the calm reply, "and was hoping to meet him here. However, you seem to be cheerful young fellows, and a cruise with you may not result in lost time. You are Jack Bosworth and Frank Shaw. Which one is Shaw, and which one is Bosworth?"
"I"m Shaw," answered Frank, somewhat amused at the cool impudence of the man. "What is your name?"
"I"m French," was the reply. "Not French tribally but just French. One of the sort of Frenchmen who are born of Irish parents in the city of Chicago! Anyway, you may call me French. That is near enough."
"You seem to be an amusing sort of a character," observed Frank. "What are you going to do with the _Manhattan_?"
"Why," was the smiling reply, "there is a sort of a political convention called for that hill over there, and some of the delegates are slow in coming. So I thought I"d borrow your boat and go and fetch them. They are not far away. Some of them, in fact, live on islands, not more than four or five hundred miles off."
"That will be nice!" Frank said, falling into the mood of the other.
"Only you can"t carry many native chiefs in this boat, not if they insist on bringing their wives and attendants along. Suppose one should insist on appearing before the convention riding in state on the back of a white elephant?"
"Never thought of that," replied the other with a grin, "but how did you learn that the delegates were to be native chiefs?"
"I guess most everybody knows what kind of a game you"re playing," Frank said with a grin which he intended to be provoking. "When you get your delegates a.s.sembled, Uncle Sam will give you an imitation of a man shooting up traitors."
"We"ll have to take our chances on that," replied French, with apparent good nature. "In the meantime, we"ll have to ask you to vacate the boat while we make our collection of delegates. I presume that you can get along very well on sh.o.r.e. Only be careful that the little brown men don"t pot you with their funny little guns."
"Oh, we"ll get along with the little brown men, all right," growled Jack. "When are you going to put us ash.o.r.e?"
"Well," was the cool reply, "I want to wait here until I form the acquaintance of Mr. Ned Nestor and Mr. James McGraw. I have long felt a desire to meet them!"
"They"ll feel proud, I know!" Jack said, provokingly. "Pirates and traitors are not so thick that it is not a pleasure to meet them. We"ll all remember, after you are all hanged, that we met you here."
"Thank you!" replied French, not at all indignant at the remark, "and now if you"ll hand over the guns you have, and tell me where the others are hidden, you can walk about the boat in comparative freedom while we get supper. You see it is beginning to get dark, and I"m hungry."
There was nothing to do but to comply with the polite request, and soon the intruders were making themselves at home all over the boat. French brought one of the Filipinos into the cabin, where he sat with his gun pointing ominously at the boys whenever they moved toward the door, while the others were stationed on the prow, where they sat stolidly in the rain, with their guns under their coa.r.s.e coats to keep them dry.
"Rather a scanty supply of provisions!" French said, as he investigated the lockers. "I really think I"ll have to send one of my men ash.o.r.e for dinner. Two men with perfectly good guns and eyesight ought to be able to keep us on friendly terms here. Besides, it seems a waste of good material to feed those fellows from this choice stock when they prefer boiled dog."
"Say, French," Jack said, "if you weren"t crooked enough to make a corkscrew look like a straight-edge, you"d be a pretty good sort of a chap to go on a cruise with."
"Oh, I"m all right when I"m not abused," French replied. "If Dad had presented me with a million instead of a thirst for other people"s property, I"d have had my name in the society columns every day! Isn"t it about time for Ned and Jimmie to come home?" he added. "If you don"t mind, I"ll run the boat out a little farther, so they"ll have to call and signal when they do come."
"They should have been here long ago," was the reply.
"I must insist that you remain perfectly quiet when they do come,"
French said, after the boat had changed position, in a moment. "I don"t want to spoil this pretty boat with dark stains. Perhaps, however, they have been captured."
"You would know if they had, wouldn"t you?" asked Jack.
"Why, no, I think not. You see I have just arrived, coming in the second launch, now over there in the bay. I did not go to the camp, but edged around the hill with half a dozen men in order to see if all was safe.
We"ve got some pretty high-up men in this game with us, and I"m afraid Wall street would stand up on its hind legs and howl if their names were known. Hence this caution."
French seemed to be a college educated man and a gentleman by instinct.
While they were preparing supper he amused them with stories of his travels and adventures, and both boys heartily wished he was with them as a friend instead of an enemy. When it grew dark he sent all the Filipinos away but two, and they sat down to a good meal.
Frank questioned French, cautiously of course, but could gain little information from him. The fellow seemed fully aware of the purpose of the boy, and replied to his questions with the most extravagant stories of the empire that was to be raised in the Philippines after the United States protectorate had ceased.
"You"re a queer chap," Frank said, at the conclusion of one of French"s stories of the grandeur of the coming empire, "and I"d like to hear you spin yarns all night, but, if you don"t mind, I"ll go to bed."
"Just as you like," was the amiable reply. "I"ll sit here and smoke a few more cigarettes and then follow your example. It is such a wild night that your friends may have stopped at a down-town hotel!"
"Perhaps they"ve stepped over to the Waldorf!" Jack replied.
The lads occupied the same bunk, and talked in whispers all through the night. They had no idea what had become of Ned and Jimmie except the supposition that they had been captured by their enemies. French retired about midnight, as calmly as if he were in his own rooms, leaving the two Filipinos on guard in the cabin.
Once Frank arose and tried to slip out, his idea being to reach the sh.o.r.e and look for his chums, but the brown men lifted their guns automatically as he looked out on them. All through the night they sat unblinkingly, looking out in the dim light much as gla.s.s eyes might have looked out of the head of a wooden image.
"We"re sure in a bad box," Jack whispered, after this attempt at escape.
"I don"t believe they"ll turn us loose on the island, knowing what we know. They won"t take any chance of our getting away! If Ned was free, he"d have been here before this, so we may as well make up our minds that he"s in trouble also."
With daylight came a cessation of the storm, and soon the sun was shining smotheringly down on the little bay. Sweltering in the cabin, Frank looked out of a port and saw a pole lifted above a clump of low bushes just back from the distant beach. As he looked the pole moved forward and back, then to the right, ducking three times and coming back to a vertical position. The pole wavered to right and left and to the front for a time, and the boy waved his hand from the open port.
"Wigwag!" he whispered. "It says: "Brace up!" That"s Jimmie!"
CHAPTER IX.
TWO KEYS TO THE TREATY BOX.
The relief of the boys at the information conveyed by the wigwag signals from the sh.o.r.e may well be imagined. The night had been a long and trying one, and they had about abandoned hope when the signals came.
The presence of Ned and Jimmie on the beach meant not only that they were still safe, but that there was a possibility of rescuing the _Manhattan_ from the courteous pirate who had seized it. They did not know exactly how this could be accomplished, but they had every confidence in Ned"s courage and resourcefulness.
The boys knew, however, that what was done must be undertaken at once, for the Filipinos who had been sent away from the boat the night before had doubtless communicated with French"s friends on the island, and it was natural that they, the friends, should hasten down to the little bay soon after sunrise to look over the fortunate capture made by French.
They heard French stirring in his bunk while they were talking over plans for the rescue, and ceased whispering immediately. They knew that Ned, probably from the presence of the Filipinos, who were drying themselves in the scorching sunshine, understood the situation on board.
In fact, they realized that Ned and Jimmie would have come aboard at once if they had not received an inkling of what was going on by the change of position.
French arose, yawning, and looked lazily out of a port. He was a muscular fellow, evidently in first-cla.s.s condition physically, so it was useless to attempt to overpower him, regain their weapons, and drive the Filipinos off the boat. Jack seemed to think that if they could both get hold of him they might accomplish something, but there were the guards to reckon with while the fight was in progress.
So they gave up all idea of rescue until Ned should show his hand.
French glanced keenly about the cabin and then went out into the c.o.c.kpit, taking a seat on the bridge deck and scanning the sh.o.r.e critically. The pole which had been used to convey the wigwag signals was now out of sight.
"Can you boys operate this boat?" he finally asked.
Jack was about to reply in the affirmative but Frank lifted a warning hand.