The fourth man had declared, when seen by by Ned at Manila, that he had managed to follow on the heels of the Lieutenant with the supplemental instructions, and had reached the island at midnight. He said that he had entered by way of the window because the front of the house seemed to be watched with hostile intent, and because there was a ladder there ready to his hand.
This story seemed a little fishy to Ned, but he had no means of proving that the man was not telling the truth. The fellow certainly had been given despatches to deliver to Lieutenant Rowe, with orders to follow him and place them in his hands personally. But the instructions received by the Lieutenant were not, it was a.s.serted, the ones sent to him.
The supplemental instructions would have taken him back to Manila at once, as has been said, without conferring with Major Ross and the a.s.sistants he had brought with him. It was insisted at the military office that the instructions sent out had increased rather than diminished the Lieutenant"s authority to act.
One of two things seemed to be true. Either there was a traitor in the office, or the instructions had been changed. The envelope might have been shifted after reaching the man"s hands or he might have subst.i.tuted the counterfeit ones for the original ones. In this latter case the messenger was himself a traitor, and would bear watching.
Ned would have liked nothing better than to have remained in Manila for the purpose of investigating this phase of the case, but he believed that the mystery would be solved eventually where the work was being done--on the ground with the native tribes which were being urged into revolt. So he had provisioned the _Manhattan_ and, much to the joy of the boys, headed for the group of islands north of Luzon.
It was glorious there in the channel, with the green islands lifting from the lacquered sea, bluer than any sky the lads had ever seen. From the bow of the _Manhattan_ spread two thin emerald lines curling transparently and tipped with foam. Upon the immensity of the sea there would be for hours no other movement, and upon the immensity of the sky there would not be a fleck of cloud. At night the boys slept in their bunks with the waves whispering to the sand of some sheltered bay.
"I hope we"ll never find the island where the treaty is to be signed,"
Jack said, one morning. "I"d like to stay here forever."
"Why don"t you build a hut on one of the islands and stay there, then?"
asked Jimmie.
"I guess you"d soon get weary of doin" the Robinson Crusoe act an" get back to the Great White Way!"
"I"m not looking for life in the jungle," Jack replied. "The water is good enough for me."
One morning when the _Manhattan_ lay in a bay on the eastern sh.o.r.e of an island of good size and Jack proposed a trip to the sh.o.r.e.
"There"s game up there," he said, pointing to an elevation not far from the beach. "Unless I"m very much mistaken there is a line of hills on the other side of this bit of land, with a valley in between the two. If this is right, that valley will be well stocked with game, and I"m getting hungry for fresh meat."
"There"s surely one cla.s.s of animal life there," Frank said. "Hear the monkeys! They must be holding some kind of a convention!"
While the boys were talking Ned came out of the cabin with his gla.s.s. He gazed landward for a long time and then handed the gla.s.s to Jack.
"There"s something stirring up the little chaps," he said.
"They"re always wigglin" like a basket of snakes," Jimmie observed.
"Sounds like they were calling the police," Frank put in.
"I"ll tell you about it when I return," Jack said. "If there"s anything grand, gloomy or peculiar over there I"ll be sure to find it. Want to go along with me, little boy?" he added, turning to Jimmie, who at once resented this manner of address by trying to push Jack overboard.
"Of course I"m goin"," Jimmie declared, giving over his benevolent intentions with regard to Jack. "I reckon you"ll get lost if you go six yards away from the _Manhattan_ alone."
"Run along, both of you!" Ned said. "And don"t get into trouble. We"ve got no time to waste looking up runaway boys."
"If the native tribes are holding a convention there," Frank said, as the boys slipped into the boat which they were to row ash.o.r.e, "just give them my compliments and ask them to dinner."
For some moments after the boys reached the white beach and disappeared in the jungle Ned stood scanning the island with his gla.s.s.
"I half believe the chiefs are there," he said, turning to Frank.
"Then why did you let the boys go?" asked the latter.
"I wish now that I hadn"t," Ned replied.
"Say," Pat called out, "I can go and bring "em back. They can"t be very far away. Shall I?"
"Yes," was the hesitating reply, "and bring back all the news you can about what is going on on the island. There"s something unusual taking place there, judging from the row the monkeys are making."
"How you going to get ash.o.r.e?" asked Frank. "The boat is over there on the beach."
"I"ll show you," Pat replied.
The next moment he was in the water, striking out with l.u.s.ty strokes for the sh.o.r.e, only a few rods away.
"There"s a crocodile coming!" Frank called out to him.
The call was designed to make Pat show a burst of speed, but it did indeed serve as a warning to the swimmer, for a huge crocodile separated himself from a point a few paces away and started to make a breakfast of the boy.
Pat saw the danger and hesitated an instant, uncertain whether to turn back to the _Manhattan_ or to strike out for the sh.o.r.e. This second of hesitation would have cost him his life if Ned had not acted promptly.
When he saw that the crocodile was sure to win in the race, he fired one shot and the saurian disappeared beneath the surface of the water, shot through the eye. Pat turned back to the _Manhattan_, but Ned directed him to go on to the sh.o.r.e, find the boys, and return as quickly as possible.
"And row back here before you go," continued Ned.
"And swim to the beach again?" called Pat, glancing cautiously about.
"Not on your whiskers!"
"Afraid of a little crocodile not more then forty feet long!" laughed Frank, as Pat reached the beach and entered the boat.
"Here"s the boat," Pat called, in a few moments, touching the bow of the _Manhattan_. "What next!"
"I"m going with you and bring it back," Ned replied. "When you boys reach the beach you"ll have to call out. I"m going to take the _Manhattan_ out farther."
"All right!" Pat said. "I think you need to after that shot!"
"And tell the boys," Ned went on, "that they"ll have the chiefs of a hundred tribes of dog-eaters after them if they don"t get to the boat right quick!"
"I guess that ought to bring them!" Frank said.
Ned accompanied Pat to the beach, brought the boat back, and then moved the _Manhattan_ some distance out in the bay.
"Do you really think the boys are in danger?" asked Frank, after they had settled down to a careful watch of the beach.
"They certainly are," was the reply.
"Do you think the chiefs are really on that island?"
"Yes; in fact, I am quite certain of it."
"Oh, a wild cat might have stirred up the monkeys," Frank said, hardly believing the lame explanation of the disturbances which he was making.
Ned pointed off to the west.