"First-cla.s.s," 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 the _Manhattan_ doesn"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 a.s.sembled, 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 the _Clara_ and stepped ash.o.r.e. 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 the _Manhattan_," 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 pa.s.s 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 a.s.sistance 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.
The _Manhattan_ had found the gunboat and was using the signals.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE MAN BEHIND THE DOOR.
It was a second later that the puff of the exploding rocket reached the ears of those gathered about the boxes on the island, for sound does not travel as rapidly as light. When it came, Lieutenant Carstens made a dash for the side of the mountain and began the ascent. After ten anxious minutes he was back again with a malevolent grin on his face.
"The gunboat has captured the _Manhattan_," he said, facing Ned.
Ned made no reply, for he was not a little puzzled at the remark. It indicated that the speaker believed that he had as complete control over the actions of those on the gunboat as he had over the conduct of those on board the _Clara_ and the _Martha_. If this was true, there was nothing more to hope for. The gunboat would bring Pat, Jack, and Jimmie back as prisoners, and the drum-head would deal with five prisoners instead of two.
The Lieutenant now dispatched a man to the shelf of rock on the mountain which Ned had previously occupied, instructing him to report the progress of the gunboat, supposed to be bringing in her prize. From time to time the watchman called out that the two boats were rapidly nearing the harbor, and Ned listened to the reports with varying emotions. Now he was certain that the officer in charge of the gunboat would understand the situation; now he was almost sure that the officer and Carstens had had an understanding with each other from the first.
Two chiefs, evidently men of distinction among the native tribes, now approached the Lieutenant and spoke to him in Spanish. After replying Carstens turned to the son of the senator.
"Clem," he said, "perhaps you would better bring the box from the cabin.
These men are satisfied with the goods they have received, and are ready to sign."
And so the treaty was to be executed there--after the receipt of sufficient arms and ammunition to make the revolt against the government formidable. Ned saw the craft with which the game had been played, and wondered if the officer who was coming on the gunboat could be induced to make an examination of the boxes on the beach and the box about to be brought from the cabin.
If he could, that would end the trouble so far as Ned and his companions were involved in it. If he stood hand-in-glove with Carstens, however, he would pretend to doubt the statements offered by the prisoners and refuse to make any investigation at all. In this case, there was likely to be murder done before morning.
"Gunboat rounding the point!" called the lookout.
The critical moment was near at hand, and Frank and Ned looked into each other"s faces with apprehension in their eyes. Still, there was no weakening, no outward sign of the mental commotion within.
Presently the gunboat rounded the point to the north and slid into the harbor between the Tusks, followed closely by the _Manhattan_. Ned saw that the boys were still on the _Manhattan_, but that two men in uniform were there with them. It looked to him as if the lads had been placed under arrest, for they did not appear as jubilant as they would doubtless have looked if their story had been taken at its full face value.
Lieutenant Carstens appeared to be astonished and decidedly out of temper when the commander of the gunboat stepped out on the north Tusk.
He was nervous, too, and cursed roundly at one of the men who crossed his path as he advanced to meet the officer. The three boys, who did not now act like prisoners, flocked off the _Manhattan_ and gathered around Ned and Frank. Their faces, however, still showed anxiety rather than joy at the success of their efforts to bring the gunboat to the island.
"I presume you have your instructions regarding the _Manhattan_ and her crew?" Lieutenant Carstens said, after the formalities had been gone through with.
"I understand that the boys took the boat out without permission," was the reply. "I am ordered to return her to Manila and to place the boys under arrest."
This was encouraging, for Ned knew that they would be safer under the guard of the captain of the gunboat than that of Carstens. Everything could be explained if they were taken back to Manila, and not shot like dogs, without a trial.
"Since leaving Manila," Carstens went on, "they have attacked several native settlements and murdered several persons. I already have them under arrest for piracy."
"What is the proposition?" asked the other.
"In my judgment they should be tried here, and, if convicted, executed at the scene of their latest crime."
"I protest against that," said the other.
"See here, Curtis," Carstens said, roughly, "these fellows are my prisoners, and I am here with special orders. That will be all."
"Hardly all," was the cool reply, "for I have my gunboat in the harbor."
Encouraged by this statement, Ned stepped forward and raised his bound hands.
"May I speak a word?" he asked.
"Certainly not!" said Carstens.