ntly he came upon a group of four people, standing, somewhat
protected from the storm, under a great tree. He drew as close as he
dared, even risking discovery, and listened. He could hear voices above
the wailing of the wind and the patter of the rain, but could not
understand what was being said. The conversation was being carried on in
a tongue with which he was unfamiliar.

"Three of them are Chinks," he mused, when, in moving about, the men
came between his line of vision and the slow flame of the fire. "They
wear their shirts outside their trousers and have their hair done up
like the Chinese in Pell street!"

Directly the fourth man of the party, who seemed to be an American, or,
at least, an Englishman, asked:

"And the treaty? Will they sign?"

The others nodded and chattered away in their own tongue.

"When will they be here?" he then asked.

More chattering followed, and then the four hastened to the shelter
which was being constructed. Jimmie gathered from the two questions he
had heard that the island had been chosen as a meeting place, and that
the shelter was being built for the accommodation of those expected.

He had heard something of the purpose of the government in sending Ned
to the Philippines, and remembered now that there had been talk of a
possible organization of the native tribes against the United States
government. Now he suspected that the chiefs were to meet there to
execute the treaty which was to tie the tribes together and bring about
an armed revolt against American occupancy.

"It looks to me," he thought, "like the Chinese were at the bottom of
the trouble. I guess China would like to get a foothold here!"

There was nothing more to be learned from the position he occupied, and
so he moved on, always keeping to the right of the campfire, blazing
dimly in the rain and requiring constant care, until he came out in a
thicket close to the rear of the shelter where the men he believed to be
prisoners lay. In five minutes he was at the canvas wall of the refuge,
listening.

All was still inside, and it was evident that the conspirators did not
suspect that they had been followed to their retreat. Looking about, he
saw that most of the men of the party were still busily engaged in
constructing the shelter and that no one was near the place he wished to
investigate, so he cautiously lifted a corner of the canvas and looked
inside.

The men there were four in number, and all seem