to get back into the good
graces of the Lieutenant!" said Ben. "I'm not quite so green as that."

"What sort of a reputation does this man Carstens bear in army circles?"
asked Ned, presently, seeing that it was of no use to argue with the
sailor, who was afraid of being brought into trouble if he tried to aid
the boy.

"First-class," was the reply. "He is known as a brave and dependable
officer."

"And any action he might take here would be endorsed at Manila?"

"Yes; I think so."

"Then," Ned said, grimly, "if the _Manhattan_ doesn't get within
speaking distance of the gunboat very soon there will be a couple of
funerals on this island."

"I am afraid you are right," said Ben. "If I could do anything for you I
would, but--"

"Stop that clatter there!" shouted Carstens, pointing the end of his
pencil toward Ned. "Didn't I tell you to put a stick in his mouth if he
opened it again?"

Ben saluted and said that he was trying to get a confession out of the
prisoner, and the Lieutenant turned back to the work of tallying the
tinned goods. It was quite evident that he did not intend to leave that
important duty to any subordinate.

Ned knew that he was in the tightest hole his love for detective work
had ever fitted him into. He knew that the Lieutenant suspected him, and
would not hesitate to order him shot after a mock trial. He had little
doubt that the officer had, after his return from Yokohama, managed to
poison the minds of the officers at Manila against him. That was why, he
thought, he had been ordered by Major John Ross to remain at Manila
until instructions could be received from Washington.

He understood that Carstens might murder him there at will and so close
his mouth forever. After the murder there would be no one to tell of the
secret meetings on the islands where the rebel chiefs were assembled, no
one to tell of the murder of Brown at the Yokohama tea house, no one to
tell of the arms unloaded there and turned over to the Filipinos--unless
the sailors should take it into their heads to investigate the long
boxes and take their lives in their hands by reporting their
discoveries.

Lieutenant Carstens certainly had everything to his taste there, and Ned
was of the opinion that he would not be very long in exercising his
authority to the limit. While the boy was thinking over the situation,
trying to find some way out of the peril he was in, a sleepy-looking
young man came out of the cabin of