at that!"

"Of course he can," Jack replied, "but I'm not kicking at this way of
doing things. I'm thinking of the motor boat, and the long days and
moony nights in the seas among these islands!"

"It will be great!" Jimmie admitted.

There was a short pause, and then he added, thoughtfully:

"Who's goin' to run the boat?"

"I can run it," was the reply.

"Yes, you can!"

"I own one," insisted Jack.

"Yes, an' you hire a man to run it!" Jimmie grinned. "I don't believe
you can run a hand cultivator!"

"Of course not!" laughed Jack. "But I can operate a motor boat," he
added.

"You can?" demanded Jimmie, with an exasperating grin. "Then perhaps you
can tell me if the motor boat we're goin' to have has pneumatic brakes?"

"Sure it has!" laughed Jack. "And it also has a rudder that you can
unship and use as a safety razor. You might open up a barber shop with
it, only the eminent citizens over here don't have any more whiskers
than a squash."

"You're gettin' dippy!" Jimmie shouted, darting away to the spot where
Ned and the Major were standing.

Directly a flag broke out over the tin roof and in a short time the boat
was at the transport's side. Full of enthusiasm, and with high hopes for
the immediate future, the boys and the Major descended to the shaky
little craft and the transport steamed off, her rails lined with
soldiers and civilians cheering the boys and wishing them good luck.

The last voice they heard as the boat crossed the bar and swung into the
sluggish current of the river was that of Captain Helmer, who had made
chums and companions of the boys on the way over.

"Good hunting!" he cried, through his megaphone, and the marine band
struck up "Home, Sweet Home," "just to give us a cheerful mood on
entering this desolate land!" as Major Ross declared.

"Do they all think we're goin' huntin'?" asked Jimmie, as the windrows
of salt water heaped up by the transport grew smaller and lapped on the
beach.

"Sure they do," replied Jack. "Do you think the Major told them we were
going into the jungles to catch a few recruits for the federal prison at
Manila? Nice thing, that would be!"

"There are just two persons, so far as I know, outside of the Secret
Service headquarters at Washington, who know what we are up to," Major
Ross said. "These are Colonel Hill, of the Canal Zone force, and Captain
Godwin, who is to receive us here."

The brown oarsmen tugged and strained at the oars, and the wa