MORO BLACKMAIL 141

XIV. THE CALL FOR MIDNIGHT COURAGE 149

XV. IN A CINCH WITH COLD STEEL 161

XVI. DATTO HAKKUT MAKES A NEW MOVE 168

XVII. "LONG" GREEN AND KELLY HAVE INNINGS 177

XVIII. SENTRY MIGGS MAKES A GRUESOME FIND 187

XIX. HAL TURNS THE GATLING GUN LOOSE 196

XX. CORPORAL DUXBRIDGE'S MISTAKE 208

XXI. SCOUTING IN DEADLY EARNEST 220

XXII. PLAYING GOO-GOO IN A GRIM GAME 228

XXIII. DOOMING THE DATTO 236

XXIV. CONCLUSION 246

Uncle Sam's Boys in the Philippines

CHAPTER I

THE FILIPINO DANDY

"We've solved one problem at last, Noll," declared Sergeant Hal Overton
seriously.

"Only one?" demanded young Sergeant Terry quizzically.

But Hal, becoming only the more serious, went on earnestly:

"At last we begin to understand just what the 'lure of the Orient'
means! For years I've been reading about the Orient, and the way that
this part of the world charms men and holds them. Now, that we are here
on the spot, I begin to understand it all. Noll, my boy, the East is a
great and wonderful place! I wonder if I shall ever tire of it?"

"I believe I could tire of it in time," remarked Sergeant Terry, of the
Thirty-fourth United States Infantry.

"But you haven't yet," insisted Sergeant Hal.

"What, when we've been here only three days? Naturally I haven't. And,
besides, all we've seen is Manila, and certainly Manila can't be more
than one little jumping-off corner of the Orient that you're so
enthusiastic about."

"You're wild about the Far East, too--even the one little corner of it
that we've seen," retorted Sergeant Hal. "Don't be a grouch or a
knocker, Noll. Own up that you wouldn't start for the United States
to-morrow if you were offered double pay back in the home country."

"No; I wouldn't," confessed Sergeant Terry. "I want to see a lot more of
these Philippine Islands before I go back to our own land."

"Just halt where you are and look about you," went on enthusiastic
Sergeant Hal. "Try to picture this scene as Broadway, in New York."

"Or Main Street in our own little home city," laughed Sergeant Terry
quietly.

Certainly the scene was entirely different from anything that the two
young Army boys had ever seen before.

They stood on the Escolta, which