Boy Scouts in the Philippines

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

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

"There," said Frank, presently, "no person out there in the bay can get
a look at us so long as we remain here."

Indeed the harbor was an ideal hiding place. The stream turned sharply
to the east from its northerly course just before it reached the white
beach, ran a few yards in that direction, and then turned north once
more and emptied into the sea. This placed a dense growth of jungle
between the beach and the position taken by the _Manhattan_, which had
passed into the channel running east and west and was effectively
screened from view on either side by the growths of the jungle.

As soon as the boat was in the position desired, Ned crossed the arm of
land lying between the stream and the beach and looked out with his
glass. The _Miles_ passed while he stood there, the American flag flying
from her masthead. When he went back to the _Manhattan_ there was a
troubled look on his face.

"She's on government service, all right," he said to Pat and Frank, "I
saw men in uniform on her deck."

"I didn't see anybody land," said Pat.

"Did she communicate with the shore in any way?" asked Ned.

"Well, there were native boats plying about and they might have taken
some of the brown men off to her."

"It is all of a piece with the counterfeit instructions," Ned said.
"There is an unknown interest working in this case. If the officers at
Manila suspected or had wind of what is going on here, why didn't they
send a troop ship and capture the chiefs, and so screen out the men
responsible for the conspiracy?"

"That's another thing we've got to find out," Frank said, with a grin.
"We've got a good many things to find out!"

"And the first thing to discover," Ned said, "is what has become of the
boys."

"Right you are!" cried Pat. "I'll go back to the top of the hill and see
if there's any commotion on the island."

"What does the island look like?" asked Frank.

"Looks like a valley with a line of hills shutting it in. Looks like a
saucer with a high rim. The dago chiefs are encamped in the middle of
the saucer."

"In a thicket, of course?"

"It is quite free from jungle growths down there," was the reply--"so
clear that I was able to see the encampment and the people moving about.
And I think I saw the treaty box, at that!"

"Treaty box?" laughed Frank. "Don't you ever think these brown men have
any box to put their treaty in!"

"What do you think about it, Ned?" asked Pat.

"I hardly think they unlock their pocket-books with keys like the one I
found," replied Ned. "And, besides," he added, "the white men back of
this conspiracy would naturally want a treaty signed up with all the
ceremony that could be hatched up, in order to impress the chiefs. Yes,
I think there must be a treaty box!"

"And you think you've got a key to it?" asked Frank.

"I've got a key to something," was the reply.

Frank opened his lips to make some remark, but Ned laid a hand on his
arm and drew closer to him so that a low voice might be heard, at the
same time motioning to Pat to remain quiet.

"Now, don't move, or turn to look," Ned said, "but in a few seconds,
after I have turned away, look, casually, toward the great balete tree
which rises above the jungle straight to the south."

Ned turned away directly and faced the jungle to the north.

"What do you see?" he asked, turning toward the boys again but not
looking at them.

"Monkeys wiggling in the creepers," Frank said.

"Filipinos," answered Pat.

"How many?" asked Ned.

"Well," replied Pat, "I thought I saw two, but I guess there is only
one. We've got to get him," he added.

"Of course!" Frank said. "If we don't, he'll go back to camp and tell
about seeing us here; then they'll swarm down on us, and it will be all
off with the whole bunch of us. We've got to get him!"

"But how?" asked Pat.

In the short silence that followed all three boys cudgeled their brains
for some idea which might serve, but the case was assuming a hopeless
aspect when a shrill voice in pretty good English came from the tree.

"Hi, there!" cried the voice.

"If that's Jimmie, made up as a little brown man," Pat said, "I'll beat
him up when he comes aboard."

"More likely to be Jack," said Frank.

"Hi, there!" repeated the voice from the tree.

"That's not Jimmie, or Jack either," Ned said. "What do you want?" he
asked.

The reply came in the form of a feline growl which might have issued
forth from the throat of a wild cat.

"What does the badge say?" asked the voice, then.

The boys looked at each other in wonder for a moment and then Ned
answered:

"Be prepared!"

"Now, what do you think of that?" Pat demanded. "What do you think of
meeting a Boy Scout out here?"

"What patrol?" asked Frank, half doubting whether the person in the tree
would find the correct answer.

"Wild Cat, Manila!" came the reply.

"Then come out of the tree, Wild Cat," Ned laughed, "and tell us how you
came to be here."

There was a great rustling of foliage, and then a Filipino boy not more
than fourteen years of age appeared on the trunk. He worked his way down
and disappeared in the jungle. In a moment, however, he made his
appearance on the margin of the little stream and was on board.

He was a rather good looking young fellow, with keen eyes and a lithe,
muscular figure. He was well dressed in a suit of light material, and
wore a Boy Scout badge on the lapel of his coat.

"We're gettin so we find 'em in the woods!" Frank said, as the boy
stepped on the bridge deck. "Did you come to the island on the steamer
which just passed here?" he added, as the lad looked about him with a
grin.

"Yes," was the reply. "Come as servant."

"Well, why aren't you on board now?" asked Frank, suspiciously.

"Run away!" was the short reply.

"What for?" demanded Frank, determined to know all that there was to
know about the new-comer, and urged on by Ned's nods, which told him to
proceed.

"Tired of city," was the grinning reply.

As the boy spoke he turned around to the jungle and waved his hand, as
if taking it all in at one motion. Then he laid a finger on his own
breast and said:

"That for mine!"

"I'm afraid you've been in bad company," laughed Frank. "You're talking
slang! What's your name?"

"Minda," was the reply.

"Sounds like a girl's name," grunted Pat. "What are the chiefs doing on
the island?"

"Conference," was the reply.

"They're forming a confederacy, are they?"

Minda shook his head and looked perplexed.

"Don't know," he replied.

"Where are the two Scouts who went ashore a long time ago?" asked Ned.

"Tied," replied Minda, crossing his wrists to indicate what he meant.

"That's nice!" Pat broke in. "Where are they?"

Again Minda shook his head, saying that he did not know where the boys
were, that they might have been put on board the steamer.

"So the officers on board the steamer communicated with the shore?"
asked Ned.

"Yes; that's how I got away," was the reply.

"Do the officers know what is going on?" continued Ned. Again Minda
shook his head.

"I reckon you're off there," Pat exclaimed. "They do know, and the man
in charge on board the steamer is a traitor! I know him!"

Again the Filipino looked puzzled.

"Good man!" he said, and sat down on the bridge deck.

"Do you really believe the boys were put on board the steamer?" asked
Frank of Ned, in a moment.

"I think the native chiefs would put us all on board the steamer, if
they could do so," was the reply.

Then the patrol leader turned to Minda again.

"What did the steamer come down here for?" he asked.

"Patrol," was the reply.

"On no special mission?" Ned went on.

"Just to patrol," was the reply.

"I don't believe it!" Frank burst out. "That boat was sent down here to
investigate this conspiracy matter, and the man in command is making a
perfunctory job of it. He'll then go back to Manila and report nothing
doing!"

"And the conspiracy will go on, and there'll be war!" Pat added.

"Just so!" Frank commented.

"Well," Ned said, "we can't find out whether you are right or not by
asking the officers, either on the steamer or at Manila. We've got to
find out by watching the brown men! We've got to leave the _Manhattan_
here and go into the jungle and see what is going on, and find out what
company the chiefs receive. It is my idea that some of the men in
uniform are leading double lives!"

CHAPTER XIV.

THE SENATOR'S SON SEEKS A KEY.

Jimmie and Jack were lying behind a great flowing vine which swung from
a balete tree, looking keenly out in the direction in which they
believed the camp to be situated, when four lusty men who appeared to be
Filipinos crept noiselessly out of the jungle and sat down on their
backs with chuckles of satisfaction.

"Quit it!" roared Jimmie, thinking they had been followed from the boat.

Then he saw it was no joke, for Jack was floundering about, and one of
the little brown men was tying his hands with a hard cord. He flopped
over on his back and looked up into the sinister face of a native.

"What's comin' off here?" demanded the boy, trying hard to get a glimpse
of Jack from where he lay.

"We're pinched!" Jack called out.

Then the two were dragged hastily to their feet and pushed through the
jungle toward the camp. Jimmie thought this a place for optimism, and
decided to try it on the low-browed chap who was rather rudely forcing
him along. "I was just thinking of going down to see your camp," he said
with a grin, "but I didn't know the way exactly. I'm glad you happened
along. I've got the left hind foot of a rabbit that was caught by a
black cat at midnight, in the dark of the moon, in a negro cemetery, on
the grave of a black man who was hanged for murder. Guess that's brought
me luck."

"You'll need four rabbits' feet if you get out of this," Jack grumbled.
"Suppose we take a quick hike for the boat, right now?" he added,
believing the Filipinos would not be able to understand English.

In this he was mistaken, for one of the men said:

"Don't you ever try it. Your left hind foot won't protect you if you
do."

The boys gazed about the group, now halted, trying to pick out the
speaker.

"But this is a magic rabbit-foot," Jimmie retorted, scornfully as if any
sane person ought to know of the virtues of a left hind rabbit-foot. "It
used to be owned by an armless man who rowed over the Great American
Desert in an open boat!"

This, of course, was all for the purpose of inducing the one who had
spoken in English to speak again, in order that he might be sorted out
of the others. Jimmie's imaginative powers proved equal to the occasion.

A man who, regarded closely, did not look at all like a Filipino--a
slender, though broad-shouldered, man with sharp gray eyes and the
awkward manner of one unused to disguise--laughed lightly at the boy's
odd conceit and said:

"That will be about enough of that Bowery lingo. What are you boys doing
here?" he added.

"We came over to see about puttin' up a couple of skyscrapers!" replied
Jimmie. "The air seems nice an' high here. Guess we wouldn't have to
push it up any to build fifty stories. Where you takin' us?" he went on.
"If I owned this shrubbery we're borin' through, I'd have it manicured."

"Where did you leave the _Manhattan_?" asked the other, without taking
the trouble to answer Jimmie's question.

"We didn't leave her," Jimmie lied, cheerfully arguing with himself that
it wasn't any of the other man's business where they had left the boat.
"She's left us, an' gone off on a cruise to the South; left us to reign
on this island. She'll be back in a couple of days, an' then you'll get
what's comin' to you."

"I'm glad you took over the government of the island," the other
laughed. "Only for your appearance here we should not have known about
the _Manhattan_ being in these waters. Now we can look her up. We have a
steamer here for that purpose."

"I guess I ought to have remained on board," Jimmie said, ruefully.

"It is a wonder that Nestor permitted you to leave the boat," observed
the other. "It is said of the lad that he makes few mistakes," he went
on, glancing from one boy to the other.

"So you know Ned, do you?" asked Jack. "Well, you know a good fellow. If
you stay about here you'll be likely to know more about him before
long."

"Oh, I mean to remain," was the cool reply. "Nestor is wanted at Manila
for disobeying orders, and I'll take him along with me when I go.
There's a steamer out here looking for him."

The boys knew that Ned had left Manila in defiance of the orders of
Major John Ross, but they did not believe that a steamer had been sent
out to arrest him. They knew that he had received his original orders
from Washington, and believed that when Ross communicated with the
authorities there he would be instructed to keep his hands off so far as
Ned was concerned.

The man was, of course, lying, doubtless in the hope of creating the
impression in the minds of the boys that he was still in the service of
the government, and there on official business. The boys had no fear of
their leader being taken back to Manila under arrest. They were more
concerned for his life if he fell into the hands of this traitor.

"You know a fat lot about it," Jack said, disdainfully. "What you know
about Ned's business won't swell your head any. Where's this steamer
you're talking about?"

"I suspect," replied the other, "that she is now circling the island in
order to pick up the _Manhattan_. Nestor was wrong to run away with a
government boat. He'll serve time for it, I reckon."

"I suppose," Jimmie said, in as sarcastic a tone as he could bring
forth, "that you're lookin' among these bushes for the _Manhattan_. She
might have climbed one of these big trees," he added, with a grin.

The leader made no reply, none being required, and the party pressed
forward toward the center of the island. The jungle grew thinner as they
advanced, and presently the encampment came into view.

It was evident to the boys that some of the native chiefs were there in
state, for some of the tents--doubtless stolen from the government--were
gaudily decorated, and attendants were flying about as if their lives
depended on the speed with which they covered the ground. It seemed to
the boys that there could not be less than three hundred persons
present, and the decorated tents, marking the stopping place of a chief,
indicated a large collection of native rulers.

The boys were not taken through the encampment, but led into a tent on
the outskirts, where they were securely tied up and left alone.

"Cripes!" Jimmie said, when the flap of the tent fell behind the figure
of the disguised man, "this reminds me of a drammer we used to have on
the good old Bowery. In this play there was a girl that was always bein'
captured an' rescued. Any scene that didn't witness a couple of captures
and a couple of rescues was no good. This is just like that. We're bein'
captured, all right, but we ain't bein' rescued--not just yet!"

"Ned's somewhere about," Jack said, confidently. "He'll manage to turn
us loose before long."

Then through the jungle, and ringing snappingly on the clear air, came
the snorting of the _Manhattan's_ engines. At that moment she was
entering the little creek which Pat had pointed out. In a moment the
explosions ceased.

"If they didn't know before," Jack said, "they know now. It won't take
them long to geezle the _Manhattan_ now. Say," he added, "roll over here
and eat these cords. If I could get down to them I'd soon be free."

"I wonder if I could?" asked Jimmie.

The cords were hard and strong and tightly knotted, but after a long
time the boy succeeded in releasing Jack's hands, and the rest was easy
as they were alone in the tent. In a very short time both boys were free
of bonds.

The tent did not seem to be guarded, as the captors doubtless believed
escape from the island impossible, even if the boys succeeded in getting
away from the camp. They did not know, of course, that the member of the
Wild Cat Patrol from Manila had noted the capture of the lads, and had
started away to notify their friends as soon as the explosions heard so
plainly by the boys notified him of the whereabouts of the _Manhattan_.

Jimmie and Jack remained quietly in the tent for some moments after
their freedom from their bonds had been gained, then Jimmie crawled to
the wall nearest the center of the camp, lifted the canvas and looked
out. He crouched there a moment and then dropped the canvas and turned
to his chum.

"You remember the night in Yokohama?" he asked.

"I should say so," Jack replied. "Didn't I wait around a bum old hotel
until almost morning for you to come back?"

"Well," Jimmie went on, "the man that sat in disguise in the tea house,
and the men who were there with him, are out there."

Jack approached the little opening made by the lifting of the canvas and
looked out.

"Which one?" he asked. "Which one was disguised!"

"The military-lookin' chap," was the reply.

"On the night them gazabos chased us down the Street of a Thousand Steps
he was made up like a Jap. When we came to the marines he ducked, as if
afraid of Uncle Sam's uniforms."

"Ned rather thought he'd be down to this conference," Jack said.

The man to whom the boy called special attention was in the garb of a
civilian, but the military manner was unmistakable. He now stood talking
with half a dozen Filipinos, occasionally pointing to the eastern coast
of the island.

"He's sendin' his natives after the _Manhattan_, all right," Jimmie
said. "There's goin' to be somethin' doin here before long. Look who's
here!" he added, as a young man of perhaps twenty-five sauntered toward
the tent.

Under his arm the young man carried a steel box, like those used as
receptacles for cash and important papers in safe deposit vaults. The
box seemed to be quite heavy, for the young man frequently shifted it
from one side to the other.

"There's your treaty box!" laughed Jack, poking Jimmie in the ribs.

"It may be, at that," the boy replied.

The young man passed from group to group in front of the tents,
apparently seeking some one. Occasionally he pointed to the keyhole of
the box and the others felt in their pockets.

"He's lost the key to the treaty box," Jimmie grinned.

"Probably he's got cigarettes in there and wants to dope himself with
one," Jack replied.

"Anyway," Jimmie went on, "I wish Ned was here. I'll bet he could open
that box for him."

"Now he's talking with the man who chased you out of the tea house in
the Street of a Thousand Steps," Jack said, "and the fellow is raving
about something."

"They can't open the treaty box!" laughed Jimmie.

"You'll be seeing things next," Jack grunted. "Now, what do you think of
that?" he added. "The chap is bringing his box here."

"Then fix yourself up so you'll look like you was in captivity," Jimmie
advised. "If he finds out we've released ourselves he'll tie us up
again."

The boys found pieces of the cord with which they had been tied and
managed to put up a very fair imitation of being bound good and hard.
When the young man entered the tent he stood over them for a moment with
a supercilious grin on his face.

"How do you like it, boys?" he finally asked.

"Fine!" Jimmie sang out.

"Isn't it most dinner time?" Jack added.

The young man sat down on a bundle of freshly cut grass, placed the box
by his side, placed his chin on his hands, his elbows on his knees, and
sat for some moments regarding the boys with an amused smile on his
rather weak face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"We're doin' acrobatic stunts on a high wire just now," scorned Jimmie.

"Don't get gay, now," the other growled. "I'm the son of a United States
senator."

"I'm the sister of the sun an' moon," Jimmie replied. "So don't be
givin' me no guff."

"You're a cheeky little baggage," the son of the senator replied, rising
to his feet.

"You might leave that box here," Jimmie called out, "if it's got
anythin' to eat in it. We could eat a crocodile."

"Be careful that the crocodiles don't eat you," warned the other and,
seizing the box in a firmer grasp, walked out of the tent.

"What do you make of it?" asked Jack.

"The son of a senator," Jimmie replied, "is here representin' some big
interest, an' that's the treaty box he's got. Say, if they ever get all
these native kings an' queens an' prime ministers to goin', there'll be
bloody war in the Philippines, an' Japan, or China, or Germany, or
France will butt in, an' there'll be a fine time."

"Of course," Jack replied. "That's why we've got to stop it."

"It might be stopped by scatterin' these chiefs, an' kings, an' all the
rest," Jimmie concluded.

"Not so you could notice it," Jack insisted. "Didn't we scatter them
when they met on that other island? Well, they've come together again,
haven't they? I've heard Ned say that the only way to stop this thing is
to get a good grip on the man at the head of it. The thing now is to
find who that man is."

"I should say so, with the military men all mixed up in it!" Jimmie
said. "It seems to me that the head of it must be in Washington, in
Manila, or in Yokohama. I wish Ned was here."

"Tied up?" echoed Jack. "If he was, we'd never get out. Let me tell you
this, little man," he went on, the tan on his cheeks showing browner
than ever against the sudden paleness of his face, "let me tell you
this: These men are here in the guise of soldiers to put this treaty
through. These chiefs think they represent men high up in our
government. If they didn't think so they wouldn't listen.

"When it is all over, and war has been declared, and our title to the
islands has gone up in smoke, these traitors will go back to their posts
in the army. Now, this being the case, they won't want to see us around,
will they?"

"Hardly," was the reply.

Jimmie saw what his chum was coming to and opened his eyes wider than
ever.

"You mean," he added, "that when the ruction breaks out, or even before,
we'll be put out of the way?"

"Of course."

"Then I'm goin' to duck right now!" Jimmie said, moving toward the wall
of the tent. "I'm not goin' to stay here an' be bolo meat. If we can get
to the first thicket we stand a chance of gettin' to the _Manhattan_."

"That's all right, but it won't do," Jack said. "Don't you suppose these
gazabos heard the fuss the engine was makin'? Well, then! But we've got
to go somewheres, so come on. Me for a point opposite to the direction
of the sounds we heard."

There was a sudden commotion in the camp just then, and the boys reached
the first thicket.

CHAPTER XV.

SIGNAL LIGHTS IN THE CHINA SEA.

The boys reached the first thicket and quickly disappeared from the
sight of those in the camp. There they listened for an instant, but
heard nothing which sounded like pursuit. Then they dug into the jungle
and worked around toward the bay where they had left the _Manhattan_.

There came no alarm from the camp as they passed through the thickets,
using only their hands in fighting the creepers and snake-like vines. It
was afterwards learned that the arrival of a particularly powerful chief
had caused the commotion which had so assisted in the escape.

Luckily the attentions paid to the new arrival stretched over a long
period of time, otherwise the boys would certainly have been retaken.
Disturbed by the noise made by the lads in pushing through the jungle,
the monkeys, birds, and other creatures of the forest lifted up their
voices and seemed to point out the path of flight. Jimmie declared that
a brass band could have done no more to locate them.

It was after noon when they came to the little bay where they had left
the _Manhattan_. There was the bay, shimmering in the sun, there was the
beach where they had landed. But where was the motor boat?

"They've had to run for it," Jimmie decided, gazing gloomily over the
waste of sea and back to the jungle. "What's the next move? This spot
must be watched, so we've got to get out of here. I guess we're in for
it, all right."

The situation seemed to be a desperate one, and the boys crept back into
the jungle to study it out. If the _Manhattan_ had left the vicinity of
the island there was no hope for them; still, they decided to make sure
that it had before giving over the search for it. In considering the
situation they did not at all censure Ned, for they saw that he might
have been obliged to take the _Manhattan_ away from the little bay in
order to avoid capture.

At last when, in their tracing of the coast in the faint hope of finally
coming upon the _Manhattan_, the boys came upon the little stream where
the boat was hidden, they remained concealed from the sight of those on
board while they took careful note of the surroundings. It did not seem
possible that the _Manhattan_ had not been discovered by the Filipinos,
and naturally the boys suspected that some trick to gain possession of
her without an open fight was being worked.

The boat lay quietly drawing at the cable which held her to the bank of
the little stream, with everything apparently in order in the cockpit
and in the cabin, but there were at first no signs of the boys.
Presently, however, Pat's red head shot up out of the cockpit, where he
had evidently been lying down.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11