ee," the Captain said, then. "I've heard of the Boy Scouts! And now
we'll go up to the house. Never saw a Black Bear or a Wolf that wasn't
hungry!"

The jolly Captain gave instructions to his servants and they promised,
with many native grimaces and a waste of tribal vocabulary, to have a
satisfying breakfast ready in half an hour. Then Godwin drew Major Ross
and Ned to one side, his good-natured face assuming a grave expression
as he seated them in a private room of the rambling and wobbly old
house.

"There's something unexpected here," he began, as the Major sat with his
sealed instructions in hand, "and I wish you would open your packet
immediately. To tell you the truth, I'm not a little worried."

The Major opened the packet and glanced hastily through several typed
sheets. Then his keen eyes grew puzzled and he arose to his feet and
looked out of the window.

"Something here I don't understand," he said. "Where's this Lieutenant
Rowe?"

"You are to confer with him here?" asked the Captain, and Major Ross
nodded assent. "Do you know what information he possesses?" continued
the Captain, "what papers he has in his possession?"

"My instructions say he has important documents."

"Well," said the Captain, arising to his feet, "now I'll take you to the
place where I last saw Lieutenant Rowe. He came here in the launch
_Manhattan_, which you are to have use of, last night, and went to bed
without talking much with me. I suspect that he brought the boat from
Manila, though I can't be sure. Anyway, he brought with him only two
young men who did not seem to know much about the boat--Americans."

"Have you seen him, the Lieutenant, or either of the young men, this
morning?" asked the Major, impatiently. "And why do you say you will
take us to the place where you saw him last? What is wrong here?"

"I don't know," was the reply. "There are no known hostile elements
here, and yet the little nipa hut where Rowe and his men lodged last
night was found empty this morning--empty and the contents in disorder,
the floor spotted with blood."

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 side
of the thing, but there's a subconscious warning in the back of my brain
somewhere. I've tried to be jolly, this morning, but I've about reached
the en