CHAPTER II.
IT'S UP TO THE BOY SCOUTS.
"Do you mean that he has been murdered?" asked the Major, his face,flushed before, looking gray and old.
"I don't know," was the reply. "I have tried to look on the bright sideof the thing, but there's a subconscious warning in the back of my brainsomewhere. I've tried to be jolly, this morning, but I've about reachedthe end of my store of optimism. It looks to me as if the Lieutenant hadbeen made way with."
"This leaves me stranded," the Major said. "I am ordered to act onlyafter acquiring later information concerning the situation, the same tobe delivered by Lieutenant Rowe. In the absence of that information,what am I to do? My present orders may be all wrong."
"Perhaps," Ned suggested, "it may be well to visit this hut and see whatwe can discover there. The Lieutenant may have gone out for a morning'shunt."
"No such good luck as that," replied the Captain. "Why, the littlefurniture the hut contains is broken to bits, and the floor is streakedwith blood! There was a fight in there last night, depend upon it!"
"And no one heard anything unusual during the night?" asked Ned.
"Not that I know of."
"Are the usual residents of this place, so far as you know, all herethis morning?" was the next question.
"I will ascertain that," said the Captain. "I learned of the strangehappening only a few minutes before your arrival."
The three left the house, the only one of size there, and proceeded downa mushy street between huts and thickets until they came to a littlenipa hut set high on poles. They climbed the bamboo stairs and stood onthe swaying porch in front, seeing no one about the place.
The door stood wide open, and Captain Godwin was first to enter. Therewas only one room in the hut, but there were two alcoves opening fromit--narrow little alcoves in which, evidently, bedding and articles notwanted for immediate use were tucked away during the day.
As the Captain had stated, the apartment was in disorder. The mosquitowiring had been torn from the three windows and the door and now lay ina tangle on the floor. Bamboo chairs had been broken, and there was afaint odor of whisky in the room. Major Ross glanced casually over theinterior and turned away.
"I can't stop here now," he said impatiently. "I've got to write areport of this happening and get it to Manila. I suppose I can depend onone of your men to deliver a letter for me?" he added, turning toCaptain Godwin.
"Yes, but it will mean a great delay," replied Godwin. "It will take atleast a week for a man in a swift canoe to go to Manila and returnhere."
"It is unfortunate," grumbled the Major, "but I must, I suppose, endurethe delay. Unless," he continued, a sudden smile coming to his face ashe 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 Godwin was about to protest against being left alone there undersuch tragic circumstances, but Ned caught his eyes and stopped him. Hehad no idea what the boy had in mind in checking his expression ofregret at the proposed departure of the Major, but he liked theappearance of the lad and closed his teeth on the words he was about tosay.
"And in the meantime," he repeated, "we can look about for some tracesof the missing man," the Captain completed the sentence.
"Exactly," replied the Major. "I regret exceedingly the peril of thesituation 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 nothere. We must start in on this remarkable case right, and I must conferwith 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 thatwhile Major Ross might be an expert in military matters, he did notpossess a particle of the detective instinct so necessary at that time.
"Yes," the Major replied, with his mind fixed on a few days of lazyroutine at Manila, with all the comforts of civilization within reach ofhis hand, "yes, you may be able to accomplish a great deal in the way ofdiscovering clues, and may even be able to locate the missing men--Ihave no idea that they have been murdered, but understand this: You arenot to take any important action without consulting with me."
"Of course not," Ned replied, chuckling in his sleeves at the thought ofwaiting in an emergency for instructions from Manila. "I hope we shallbe able to report good progress upon your return. Shall you go in thelaunch?" he added, hoping with all his strength that the officer wouldnot 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, nowentered and stood by the door. Ned saw them winking knowingly at eachother when the Major spoke of going away in the motor boat, and decidedto prod their inclinations a bit.
"I shall be sorry to have the _Manhattan_ away just now," he said, "forwe might use her to good advantage during your absence. However, thereseems to be no other way."
Jimmie and Jack slid out of the doorway and down the oscillating bamboostairs, and when, an hour later, the Major went to the little dock wherethe _Manhattan_ lay he found the two boys working over her, sweating andcomplaining in loud voices against the inefficiency of modern motor boatmanufacturers. The Major went on with his preparations for departure,never doubting that the _Manhattan_ would be ready for him in a fewminutes. At last Jimmie turned an oil-smeared face toward Ned.
"No use," he exclaimed, "she won't go! The batteries are off and there'ssomething wrong with the carbureter, and the spark-plug is twisted, andthe delivery is all to the bad. Perhaps Major Ross can bring new partsdown from Manila."
"Shut up, you dunce!" whispered Jack. "You'll give yourself away!"
Captain Godwin nudged Ned with an elbow and turned his laughing eyesaway. He saw what the boys were doing, and rather approved of the ideaof journeys among the islands in the motor boat during the Major'sabsence.
"Preposterous!" shouted the Major. "You must get the boat in shape tomake the voyage to Manila! My mission will not endure delay. CaptainGodwin, see what you can do with the boat."
Captain Godwin knew about as much of the running gear of a motor boat asdid Jimmie, but he at once oiled up his hands and his face and tuggedand pulled at the wheel, tapped on the supply pipes, investigated theelectric appliance, and finally announced that the boat was not inrunning order.
The Major blustered about for a few moments and then set forth on hismission in the canoe in which the party had landed.
"Perhaps," he said, at parting, "I may be able to catch a ship atBanglo, or whatever the name of that little pueblo is on the island tothe west. In that case I shall return inside of ten days."
And so the Major went away, urging the rowers to greater exertions andwiping his red face with a red handkerchief. Then a strange thinghappened. Jack drove Jimmie away from the _Manhattan_, asked CaptainGodwin to bring him a wrench, and in ten minutes, or as soon as thecanoe bearing the disgusted Major was conveniently around a bend, theboat was sailing about on the river like a bird in the sky.
Captain Godwin started to censure the boys for the deception they hadpracticed on the Major, but his severe words ended in a laugh.
"You helped!" Jimmie said, accusingly. "You knew what was up! Why didn'tyou 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 todo somethin', if he stays away long enough."
"You came near spoiling the whole thing," declared Jack, grinning atJimmie. "You and your talk about twisted spark-plugs! You'd have beenfinding worn places in the spark next! You know about as much of a motorboat as a pig knows of the hobble skirt. Good thing the Major knows lessabout 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," CaptainGodwin replied, "but we are promised a wireless outfit before the seasoncloses. Now, if you are ready," he added, turning to Ned, "we'll go backto the hut and make the examination suggested. I'm afraid there was atragedy there last night."
"Are any of the people missing from the pueblo?" asked Ned, as the boatcame to the dock and they all stepped ashore.
"Not a man missing," was the reply.
"Have you talked with the man who was sent to the hut to wait on theLieutenant and his companions?"
"Only briefly," was the reply, "but he will be at the hut when we getthere. He is rather above the average native in intelligence, and may beable 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 tothis out-of-the-way jumping-off place."
"Well," Ned said, "you go back to the hut, if you will be so kind, andtake the boys with you. I want to look about a little."
Captain Godwin hesitated, but Jack started away.
"Let Ned alone," he said. "He'll be giving us the shape of the aeroplanethe 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 ashore and followed along afterNed.
"You ginks do a lot of talking!" he said. "Run along with the Captainand I'll take care of Ned."
Ned and Frank examined the ground around the pier and walked up and downthe river bank for some distance. Save here and there where the nativesdrew up their canoes, and where the women came down with the meagerfamily washing, the bank on the pueblo side was covered with a growth ofbushes except where the little pier ran out in front of the house withthe tin roof.
Several times Frank saw his companion take out a rule and measureimpressions he found in the soft earth under the thickets, and once hesaw him put something he had picked up in his pocketbook. Knowing wellthe methods of his chum, Frank looked on with interest and maintained adiscreet silence.
When the two reached the hut at last they found Captain Godwin andJimmie and Jack sitting on the porch with a government map of theislands before them.
"That is just what I was thinking of," Ned said, taking a seat by theirside. "I have yet to learn in what portion of the Philippines we arestopping."
"Strange the Major did not inform you as to that," Captain Godwin said.
"I have an idea that he knew very little of our future movements when welanded here," Ned said. "His instructions were unopened, remember,besides being a month or more old."
"I see," observed the Captain. "Well, you are on a little island of theBabuyan group, in the Balintang channel, north of the island of Luzonand southeast of the coast of China and Hong Kong. The transport saileddue west from Honolulu and to the north of Luzon. The nearest station ofany size is Pata, on Luzon. The Major left without informing you as tohis instructions?"
"Yes, he was in such haste to get away that he left us here without aword of information as to what we were to do. Rotten, don't you think?"
"He was in a hurry to get back to the soft side of military life atManila," laughed the Captain. "Well, before you investigate the hut itmay be well for me to give you some idea as to the situation. What Ihave to say may give direction to your search of the place."
"Everything is as when the discovery of the absence of the men was made,I hope," Ned said.
"Nothing has been touched," was the reply.
"Then go ahead with your story," Ned replied. "I have come a long way onspeculation, and am anxious for something tangible."
"Some months ago," the Captain began, "it was discovered that hostileinfluences--hostile to the United States Government--were at work amongthe outer islands of the Philippine group."
"I was told that much."
"Yes; well, investigation--and a crude and indifferent investigation itwas--developed the fact that the tribes on some of the islands wereforming an alliance against Uncle Sam."
"Now," said Ned, "you have come to the end of my information of thesubject. What comes next?"
"At first little attention was given to the matter. Some of the nativetribes are always in revolt, though the news of the battles andskirmishes are kept off the wires. Finally, however, it was learned thatrifles were being received by the tribes belonging to this alliance."
"Then some nation alleged to be civilized must be at the bottom of thematter," Ned suggested. "I am anxious for you to come to that point."
"Well," hesitated the Captain, "I don't know what nation to suspect. Itseems that no one does. I think that is the problem you were broughthere to solve."
"It seems to me that the wise men at Washington ought to be able tosecure information on the subject," Ned ventured.
"I half believe that the state department does know a lot about thematter," the Captain replied, "but does not see fit to act in theabsence of conclusive proof."
"But how can a mess of Boy Scouts get the truth?" demanded Ned.
"By being Boy Scouts," was the smiling reply. "The launch was broughthere for your convenience, and you are to go floating about among theislands north of Luzon, hunting, fishing, gathering specimens, and allthat until you find out what sort of people it is that is doing thistrading with the natives."
"That was the idea in the Canal Zone," laughed Ned, "but we had littlehunting to do! It was quick action down there."
"And I hope it will be here," said the Captain. "Military detectiveshave been sent down here, but have gone back as ignorant as when theycame, for the seasoned secret service man shows what his occupation isand betrays himself at the start. Now it is up to you. And you must goahead without further instructions, for Lieutenant Rowe, who was to haveposted you as to recent developments, is either dead or a prisoner inthe hands of the plotters!"