The door stood wide open, and Captain G.o.dwin was first to enter. There was only one room in the hut, but there were two alcoves opening from it--narrow little alcoves in which, evidently, bedding and articles not wanted for immediate use were tucked away during the day.
As the Captain had stated, the apartment was in disorder. The mosquito wiring had been torn from the three windows and the door and now lay in a tangle on the floor. Bamboo chairs had been broken, and there was a faint odor of whisky in the room. Major Ross glanced casually over the interior and turned away.
"I can"t stop here now," he said impatiently. "I"ve got to write a report of this happening and get it to Manila. I suppose I can depend on one of your men to deliver a letter for me?" he added, turning to Captain G.o.dwin.
"Yes, but it will mean a great delay," replied G.o.dwin. "It will take at least a week for a man in a swift canoe to go to Manila and return here."
"It is unfortunate," grumbled the Major, "but I must, I suppose, endure the delay. Unless," he continued, a sudden smile coming to his face as he thought of the cozy club-life he had formerly enjoyed at Manila, "unless I go with the messenger and receive my instructions verbally."
"And in the meantime--"
Captain G.o.dwin was about to protest against being left alone there under such tragic circ.u.mstances, but Ned caught his eyes and stopped him. He had no idea what the boy had in mind in checking his expression of regret at the proposed departure of the Major, but he liked the appearance of the lad and closed his teeth on the words he was about to say.
"And in the meantime," he repeated, "we can look about for some traces of the missing man," the Captain completed the sentence.
"Exactly," replied the Major. "I regret exceedingly the peril of the situation so far as Lieutenant Rowe and his companions are concerned, and sincerely hope that they are all alive and not in serious trouble, but it appears to me that my place is at Manila at this time, and not here. We must start in on this remarkable case right, and I must confer with my superior officers."
"We can put in the time very well, looking up clues in the vicinity,"
said Ned. He wanted to handle the matter in his own way, knowing that while Major Ross might be an expert in military matters, he did not possess a particle of the detective instinct so necessary at that time.
"Yes," the Major replied, with his mind fixed on a few days of lazy routine at Manila, with all the comforts of civilization within reach of his hand, "yes, you may be able to accomplish a great deal in the way of discovering clues, and may even be able to locate the missing men--I have no idea that they have been murdered, but understand this: You are not to take any important action without consulting with me."
"Of course not," Ned replied, chuckling in his sleeves at the thought of waiting in an emergency for instructions from Manila. "I hope we shall be able to report good progress upon your return. Shall you go in the launch?" he added, hoping with all his strength that the officer would not take the motor boat with him.
"Certainly," was the quick reply. "I must make progress, you know!"
Jimmie and Jack, who had followed their chum to the nipa hut, now entered and stood by the door. Ned saw them winking knowingly at each other when the Major spoke of going away in the motor boat, and decided to prod their inclinations a bit.
"I shall be sorry to have the _Manhattan_ away just now," he said, "for we might use her to good advantage during your absence. However, there seems to be no other way."
Jimmie and Jack slid out of the doorway and down the oscillating bamboo stairs, and when, an hour later, the Major went to the little dock where the _Manhattan_ lay he found the two boys working over her, sweating and complaining in loud voices against the inefficiency of modern motor boat manufacturers. The Major went on with his preparations for departure, never doubting that the _Manhattan_ would be ready for him in a few minutes. At last Jimmie turned an oil-smeared face toward Ned.
"No use," he exclaimed, "she won"t go! The batteries are off and there"s something wrong with the carbureter, and the spark-plug is twisted, and the delivery is all to the bad. Perhaps Major Ross can bring new parts down from Manila."
"Shut up, you dunce!" whispered Jack. "You"ll give yourself away!"
Captain G.o.dwin nudged Ned with an elbow and turned his laughing eyes away. He saw what the boys were doing, and rather approved of the idea of journeys among the islands in the motor boat during the Major"s absence.
"Preposterous!" shouted the Major. "You must get the boat in shape to make the voyage to Manila! My mission will not endure delay. Captain G.o.dwin, see what you can do with the boat."
Captain G.o.dwin knew about as much of the running gear of a motor boat as did Jimmie, but he at once oiled up his hands and his face and tugged and pulled at the wheel, tapped on the supply pipes, investigated the electric appliance, and finally announced that the boat was not in running order.
The Major bl.u.s.tered about for a few moments and then set forth on his mission in the canoe in which the party had landed.
"Perhaps," he said, at parting, "I may be able to catch a ship at Banglo, or whatever the name of that little pueblo is on the island to the west. In that case I shall return inside of ten days."
And so the Major went away, urging the rowers to greater exertions and wiping his red face with a red handkerchief. Then a strange thing happened. Jack drove Jimmie away from the _Manhattan_, asked Captain G.o.dwin to bring him a wrench, and in ten minutes, or as soon as the canoe bearing the disgusted Major was conveniently around a bend, the boat was sailing about on the river like a bird in the sky.
Captain G.o.dwin started to censure the boys for the deception they had practiced on the Major, but his severe words ended in a laugh.
"You helped!" Jimmie said, accusingly. "You knew what was up! Why didn"t you tell him?"
"We"ll discuss that later," was the smiling reply.
"Anyway," Jimmie said, "we"re rid of the old bluffer, and may be able to do somethin", if he stays away long enough."
"You came near spoiling the whole thing," declared Jack, grinning at Jimmie. "You and your talk about twisted spark-plugs! You"d have been finding worn places in the spark next! You know about as much of a motor boat as a pig knows of the hobble skirt. Good thing the Major knows less about a boat than you do!"
"Why didn"t he use the wire, instead of going off on that long journey?"
asked Jimmie.
"The government can"t lay cables to all these tiny islands," Captain G.o.dwin replied, "but we are promised a wireless outfit before the season closes. Now, if you are ready," he added, turning to Ned, "we"ll go back to the hut and make the examination suggested. I"m afraid there was a tragedy there last night."
"Are any of the people missing from the pueblo?" asked Ned, as the boat came to the dock and they all stepped ash.o.r.e.
"Not a man missing," was the reply.
"Have you talked with the man who was sent to the hut to wait on the Lieutenant and his companions?"
"Only briefly," was the reply, "but he will be at the hut when we get there. He is rather above the average native in intelligence, and may be able to throw some light on the mystery."
"Is he dependable?" asked Ned.
"I think so. He has been with me for a long time, ever since I came to this out-of-the-way jumping-off place."
"Well," Ned said, "you go back to the hut, if you will be so kind, and take the boys with you. I want to look about a little."
Captain G.o.dwin hesitated, but Jack started away.
"Let Ned alone," he said. "He"ll be giving us the shape of the aeroplane the Lieutenant and his men sailed away in before long!"
"He wants to consult the dream book," added Jimmie.
Frank Shaw, who had been sitting on the bridge deck of the _Manhattan_ during this conversation, now sprang ash.o.r.e and followed along after Ned.
"You ginks do a lot of talking!" he said. "Run along with the Captain and I"ll take care of Ned."
Ned and Frank examined the ground around the pier and walked up and down the river bank for some distance. Save here and there where the natives drew up their canoes, and where the women came down with the meager family washing, the bank on the pueblo side was covered with a growth of bushes except where the little pier ran out in front of the house with the tin roof.
Several times Frank saw his companion take out a rule and measure impressions he found in the soft earth under the thickets, and once he saw him put something he had picked up in his pocketbook. Knowing well the methods of his chum, Frank looked on with interest and maintained a discreet silence.
When the two reached the hut at last they found Captain G.o.dwin and Jimmie and Jack sitting on the porch with a government map of the islands before them.
"That is just what I was thinking of," Ned said, taking a seat by their side. "I have yet to learn in what portion of the Philippines we are stopping."
"Strange the Major did not inform you as to that," Captain G.o.dwin said.
"I have an idea that he knew very little of our future movements when we landed here," Ned said. "His instructions were unopened, remember, besides being a month or more old."