d man who was carrying it in the lead.
An intense, uncanny darkness followed the extinction of the torch, and
the two boys took advantage of it to edge around the face of the rock
which had blocked their progress. Without the help of the dog, and
without the torch, the pursuers could do little, and stood on equal
terms with the pursued.

It was impossible, of course, for the boys to make their way through the
jungle without making any noise, and in a moment the pursuing party
showed its temper by firing revengeful shots at the spots from which the
sounds of their progress proceeded. After half a dozen bullets had
clipped the bushes about the heads of the lads two shots came from in
front, the lead whizzing over their heads. A sharp cry of distress was
heard in the rear at the second shot, and then all was still.

The boys crouched in the open space between the "legs" of a balete tree
and waited for some possible explanation of the strange thing that had
taken place. Who had killed the hound, and who was it that was shooting
at the enemy over their heads? These questions were hard to answer.

"It is one of the boys from the _Manhattan_," Jimmie concluded, at last.

"Then why don't he show up?" demanded Pat. "Who is in the _Manhattan_?"

"Ned Nestor and two members of the Black Bear Patrol," was the reply.
"We came over here to sleuth."

"To what?"

"To sleuth. To do the Sherlock Holmes stunt. To put down an insurrection
in the Philippines!"

"You seem to be putting it down," Pat said, in a sarcastic tone.

"We've got it by the neck!" insisted Jimmie.

"Ned's being along will help some," said Pat. "He's the boy to get to
the bottom of a tough case. If he's on this side of the world, that's
him in the shrubbery just ahead. Did you hear the signals a short time
ago?"

"Of course."

"Well, that's the bunch coming."

"What bunch?" demanded Jimmie.

"Why, the Chinks, of course."

"What they coming here for?"

"I guess they expect to take the Philippines home with 'em," was the
reply. "Anyway, they're plotting to take Uncle Sam down and search him
for them."

"Did you hear much of their talk?" asked Jimmie.

"Quite a little, but Lieutenant Rowe made so much noise I couldn't hear
all that was said when they were near me. He's badly wounded."

"I'd like to know just what took place at the hut Captain Godwin put you
fellows in night before last," Jimmie said.

"There's treachery somewhere," began Pat, but