ell
about seeing us here; then they'll swarm down on us, and it will be all
off with the whole bunch of us. We've got to get him!"

"But how?" asked Pat.

In the short silence that followed all three boys cudgeled their brains
for some idea which might serve, but the case was assuming a hopeless
aspect when a shrill voice in pretty good English came from the tree.

"Hi, there!" cried the voice.

"If that's Jimmie, made up as a little brown man," Pat said, "I'll beat
him up when he comes aboard."

"More likely to be Jack," said Frank.

"Hi, there!" repeated the voice from the tree.

"That's not Jimmie, or Jack either," Ned said. "What do you want?" he
asked.

The reply came in the form of a feline growl which might have issued
forth from the throat of a wild cat.

"What does the badge say?" asked the voice, then.

The boys looked at each other in wonder for a moment and then Ned
answered:

"Be prepared!"

"Now, what do you think of that?" Pat demanded. "What do you think of
meeting a Boy Scout out here?"

"What patrol?" asked Frank, half doubting whether the person in the tree
would find the correct answer.

"Wild Cat, Manila!" came the reply.

"Then come out of the tree, Wild Cat," Ned laughed, "and tell us how you
came to be here."

There was a great rustling of foliage, and then a Filipino boy not more
than fourteen years of age appeared on the trunk. He worked his way down
and disappeared in the jungle. In a moment, however, he made his
appearance on the margin of the little stream and was on board.

He was a rather good looking young fellow, with keen eyes and a lithe,
muscular figure. He was well dressed in a suit of light material, and
wore a Boy Scout badge on the lapel of his coat.

"We're gettin so we find 'em in the woods!" Frank said, as the boy
stepped on the bridge deck. "Did you come to the island on the steamer
which just passed here?" he added, as the lad looked about him with a
grin.

"Yes," was the reply. "Come as servant."

"Well, why aren't you on board now?" asked Frank, suspiciously.

"Run away!" was the short reply.

"What for?" demanded Frank, determined to know all that there was to
know about the new-comer, and urged on by Ned's nods, which told him to
proceed.

"Tired of city," was the grinning reply.

As the boy spoke he turned around to the jungle and waved his hand, as
if taking it all in at one motion. Then he laid a finger on his own
breast and said:

"