Boy Scouts in the Philippines

G >> G. Harvey Ralphson >> Boy Scouts in the Philippines

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"Several days," was the reply, "ever since the first day out, and each
day seemed an eternity of years, for I knew that a treasonable scheme
was afoot. If you will open that steel box," he added, "you will find
the proof of my words."

"So they tried to corrupt you, did they?" asked Ned, applying the key to
the box.

"Indeed they did," was the reply, "and failing, they determined to take
my life. Why they delayed doing so is more than I can understand."

"Perhaps it may be well to use the key held by this man Keene, who has
been personating me for so many days," Lieutenant Carstens said.

"I know nothing about the box or its contents!" Keene shouted. "It was
given to me by the senator's son, and now I command you to restore it to
him as I received it, unopened."

Captain Curtis raised his hand and three men sprang upon Keene, who
struggled violently for a moment and then dropped back, inert and almost
lifeless. A search of his pockets revealed a key which was the exact
duplicate of the one in the possession of Ned, and with this the steel
box was opened.

Captain Curtis took a sheaf of papers from it and handed them to Ned.

"See if your guess had any merit," he said, with a laugh.

"Here," Ned began, separating the papers one by one, "is a treaty signed
by many native chiefs. Under its provisions, a thousand islands in the
Philippine group would have been in open revolt within a week."

"This is all news to me!" gasped the senator's son, pale and frightened.

"And yet you claimed the box!" Ned said.

"But only as a piece of property placed in my possession as a sacred
charge," the young man answered. "I didn't know what it contained. This
man Keene, who has been posing as Lieutenant Carstens, alone knew what
was in the box."

"That is false!" shouted Keene, "for you wrote the treaty, and witnessed
the signing of it. It was all done in the interest of that gigantic
corporation of which your very honorable father is the head!"

"Are you ready to tell the truth at last?" asked the Captain.

"Yes," answered Keene, "I'll tell all I know about it. I was poor and in
disgrace in army circles, and this senator offered me more than I could
refuse. That is all there is to it. I'll tell the truth, fast enough."

"You're a fool!" shouted the senator's son. "Who will believe what you
say? As you said a moment ago, you are in disgrace in army circles now,
having been cashiered for cheating at cards. No officer would take your
word, or your oath, for that matter."

"And he," Keene faltered, pointing a shaking finger at the young man,
"was sent out here to pay me the price of my treachery and to see that I
delivered the goods!"

"It is false!" the young man replied. "All a lie! Wait until you hear
from Washington! Then you'll see who is a traitor!"

"And this," Ned went on, holding up another paper, "is the order which
followed Lieutenant Rowe to Captain Godwin's headquarters. Why they kept
it, I do not know, but keep it they did."

"Read it," commanded the Captain.

"It orders Lieutenant Rowe," the boy summarized, "to arrest Tag, Captain
Godwin's servant, and half a dozen other Filipinos at Godwin's
headquarters and place them in irons. It informs Lieutenant Rowe that he
must remain at Godwin's quarters until further instructions are sent to
him."

"That paper," Keene said, "was retained to prove to the native chiefs
what difficulties we, their friends, were encountering in trying to
assist them in building up a confederacy of their own."

"It seems to me that there is nothing more to say about this matter,"
Ned said. "We boys came to the Philippines to assist the government in
unearthing this plot and bringing the leaders to punishment, and there
seems to be nothing more to be done."

"But I don't quite understand it yet," Captain Curtis said. "How did you
know that this box contained the treaty? How did you know that Keene was
personating Lieutenant Carstens?"

"This man Keene," Ned laughed, "played his hand awkwardly. Through spies
in the offices at Manila, doubtless, he learned that the treachery of
the Filipinos at Godwin's island had been discovered. He knew that the
government would look there first, and determined to block the
investigation until he could accomplish what he had set out to do and
get his blood money."

Keene frowned up from his chair at the boy, but said nothing. The
senator's son smiled weakly and kept his eyes on the floor.

"Go on!" the Captain said, greatly interested.

"Lieutenant Rowe was detailed to investigate the matter, and ordered to
the Godwin island. If the isle has another name I have never learned of
the fact."

"It is called Penalty Island," smiled the Captain, "because the man sent
there is supposed to be given the detail for some oversight of duty.
However, in the case of Captain Godwin, I do not think this holds good."

"After the Lieutenant left for Penalty Island, then," Ned went on,
"Keene discovered what was going on and feared that Tag and his fellows,
if arrested, would snitch, as the boys have it. Then the messenger was
sent after Rowe with more definite instructions. That is, he was given
more positive instructions and sent out in haste. On the way to Penalty
Island the instructions were stolen and another paper substituted.

"While the original order required Rowe to arrest Tag and his fellow
conspirators, the false one required the Lieutenant to return at once to
Manila. This would indeed have blocked the investigation and given Keene
and his confederates time in which to complete their work of organizing
the tribes.

"But the messenger knew what the papers he had been given contained, and
when they were read by the Lieutenant--exactly opposite to the
instructions given him--there was a pretty row. He informed Rowe of the
substitution and advised him not to obey the orders delivered.

"Tag and his men, clustered about the windows and porch of the nipa hut,
heard what was going on and decided to get rid of Lieutenant Rowe and
his party by assassination. This plan was not carried out because this
young man Clem, whom we know only as the senator's son, arrived with a
party of Americans and Filipinos.

"This man Keene might have been with the party, but I'm not sure of
that. I don't know the date when he left Manila, or when he took charge
of the _Clara_ as Lieutenant Carstens."

"I was not there!" Keene gritted out.

"Oh, yes, you were!" insisted the senator's son. "You were in command of
the _Clara_ at that time, with Lieutenant Carstens locked up in his
cabin."

"That is a falsehood," Keene said, turning to Ned. "I was there at
Penalty Island, but I was not at that time in command of the _Clara_."

"And only for me," Clem went on, "the Lieutenant and his men would have
been shot instead of being taken prisoners."

Keene settled back into his chair without replying to this.

"Why did you go to Yokohama?" asked Ned.

"So you recognized me?" growled Keene. "You knew me when you saw me in
the tea house? Well, I went there to kill Brown!"

The assertion was made so savagely, so recklessly, that the listeners
gazed at the speaker in wonder.

"Brown," continued Keene, "was blackmailing me. He was at Penalty Island
and was threatening to reveal what he knew unless I gave him a large sum
of money. He went to Japan and I followed and caused him to be killed."

"And then you went back to Manila and went aboard the _Clara_?" asked
Ned.

"Yes; and came down to witness the signing of the treaty."

"Where did you get the guns?" asked Ned.

Captain Curtis gave a quick start at the question.

"The guns?" he asked. "What guns?"

"The guns which were unloaded here to-night," was the reply, "and turned
over to the chiefs. If you will look through Keene's pockets again you
will find drafts in payment for them."

"Where did you get the guns?" demanded the Captain.

"Stole them from the government!" was the reply. "We caused them to be
loaded on board at Manila, before Carstens went aboard. He never knew
they were in the hold. We were to pick up a lot of tinned provisions on
the China coast--left there by a wrecked supply boat--and carry them to
natives supposed to be on the verge of starvation. I took Carstens'
place just before we reached the place where the tinned goods were. What
I want to know is this," he added. "How did you learn so much about what
we were doing, and intended to do?"

"This young man," pointing to Clem, "had a battle with one of the men at
the nipa hut," was the reply. "He was not so strong as his opponent, and
was dragged about the floor. If you will look at his heels you will see
three large nails protruding from the right one. I saw them when he
first came out of the cabin, when he lifted his shoe to strike a match
for his cigarette.

"During this struggle his right hand was injured a bit, cut so that the
blood ran from the wound. Now, after getting the prisoners to the canoe,
he opened the treaty box in order to place therein the original
instructions given to the messenger. If you will look at the paper you
will observe a slight smear of blood.

"When he opened the box he took from it a very rough draft of the treaty
and threw it away, after burning it about half up. I found what was left
of it, bearing his mark, the bloody smear, and so learned what was in
the box--beyond all reasonable doubt. He lost his key there, and I found
it. The other key was in the possession of Keene, as you know."

"But why did you go to Yokohama?" asked Keene.

"I followed Brown there. At least I followed you and him to Manila.
There you both disappeared, and I was told that Brown had gone to
Yokohama. Do you remember of having trouble with him in a saloon at
Manila, and threatening him? Well, I found that out, and I found out
that you had been having trouble with him ever since returning to the
city.

"It was easy to get his description, and so I followed him to Yokohama,
believing that I could get his confession. He fled to Japan because of
his fear of you, I take it?"

"He went to Japan because I promised to meet him there and give him a
large sum of money," was the sullen reply. "I went there to kill him!"

"And then you got the _Clara_, and circulated about the islands in her
launch, and conferred with the native chiefs. I frightened you away from
a couple of the conferences, as you know. You were betraying your
country, and trying to place the crime on the hands of Lieutenant
Carstens!"

"I should have succeeded, and got away with a fortune only for you!"
growled the fellow. "Well," he added, "it is all in the game. I lost out
and you won out. Good luck to you!"

They were too late to stop the sudden lifting of the hand to the mouth,
and when they lifted him from the floor of the cabin he was dead. The
senator's son stood over the body for a moment and turned to Captain
Curtis.

"You know all about it now," he said. "If I am under arrest, take me to
Manila. I can get bail there."

The guns were reloaded on the _Clara_, the ammunition on the _Martha_,
and the ships sailed at once for Manila, with half a dozen native chiefs
who had come to receive the arms locked up in the cabin formerly
occupied by Lieutenant Carstens. The removal of the arms and the capture
of the leaders brought the conspiracy to a close and the matter was
hushed up. Tag and his companions were arrested and punished.

The young man who claimed to be the son of a senator pleaded guilty to
receiving stolen arms, stolen from the government, and was sentenced to
a long term in a federal prison. When it was all over, after Major John
Ross had condescendingly admitted the great value of Ned's services,
after the government had paid the boy a large sum for his work, the five
lads, Ned, Frank, Jack, Jimmie and Pat, arranged to spend a month among
the islands in the _Manhattan_.

"Bounding from isle to isle!" Jack cried. "Lying in the boat when you
don't know whether the sea is the sky or the sky is the sea, both being
so blue!"

"Well," Jimmie said, "I'll go along to see that you don't get captured
again."

"I'd like to know whatever became of that man French," Ned said,
laughing.

"Oh, he ducked," Frank said. "I heard Captain Curtis asking about him
last night. He was just a paid thief, and jumped his parole."

"And we'll take Pat along," Jack said, "to leave signs in grass and send
up smoke signals of distress. How did you get the two columns to
working, Pat?" he added.

"The natives are lazy and didn't like to work, so I offered to bring the
wood for them and build a fire. Well, I built two fires, as you know,
and they suspected something and tied me up again."

"You're a handy Irishman, all right!" laughed Jack. "What have you done
with the Filipino Boy Scout? I saw him with you last night!".

"He's going back to Washington," was the reply. "We may meet him over
there."

On the following morning the boys would have been away in the
_Manhattan_, but that night Captain Curtis visited them and left a
sealed envelope with Ned.

"You are to open that at Portland, Oregon," he said.

Ned did not look altogether pleased when he read the papers contained in
the sealed envelope.

"There's going to be trouble up in the Northwest," he said, "and we're
going there on government service. And we're going to have aeroplanes!
Think of it!"

There was a shout, and Ned was almost buried under a collection of legs
and arms.

"Whoop--ee!" cried Jack. "Me for the aeroplanes!"

THE END.

The story of the Boy Scouts' adventures in the Northwest will be found
in the next book of the series, "Boy Scouts in the Northwest, or,
Fighting Forest Fires." Chicago, M. A. Donohue & Co.. publishers.

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