came in and we were geezled. Looked like a raid on a
pool room in little old New York!"

"But this false messenger--the wrong man, or the right man with the
wrong instructions--was captured also?"

"Yes, he was; and he made a row about it. I'll tell you what I think.
There's treachery in the secret service somewhere. Some interest or some
nation is trying to take the Philippines away from Uncle Sam."

"And receiving assistance from those in the employ of Uncle Sam!" Ned
said, musingly. "Well, I'm here to see what can be done in the line of
locking the traitors up in a nice hot cell at Manila."

"You needn't look much farther," Jimmie said. "There's a second motor
boat out in a bay west of the island, and I'm tellin' you that it came
across from China. It is the washee-washee people who are kicking up
this mess, all right."

"You seem to have solved the mystery," laughed Ned. "From the first we
have known that there was a conspiracy against Uncle Sam, but the
question has always been 'Who?' and not 'What for?' The purpose of the
alleged treaty has never been a mystery. What we are here for is to
catch the conspirators with the goods, as Inspector Byrnes used to say.
And now you've solved the puzzle!"

"Quit yer kiddin'!" exclaimed Jimmie. "I can say what I think, can't I?
Besides, if it ain't the Chinks, who is it?"

"That is just what we want to know," Ned replied, more soberly. "There
is a notion at Washington that it may be some financial interest. The
newspapers were saying, when we left civilization, that a certain
monopoly was financing the Mexican revolution, and there is a suspicion
that some disloyal men in the United States are doing the same with the
ignorant natives of the Philippines--urging them on and supplying them
with guns and ammunition."

"Well," Pat observed, "whoever it is that is doing the business, there
are traitors in the secret service department. The Americans who acted
with the Filipinos who captured us are posted as to what is going on at
Washington, all right."

"Let's go and get them," suggested Jimmie. "I guess the third degree
would make them tell all about it!"

"Yes," suggested Pat, "you run out and get them while we find the
_Manhattan_! That will be a nice little job for you!"

"I wouldn't let them tie me up, anyway," growled Jimmie, annoyed at the
chaffing of his friends. "Say!" he added, "here's our little bay now,
but where is that bloomin' motor boat? Some one's com