BOY SCOUTS UNEARTH PLOT.
The door was opened instantly, and a man in the uniform of a lieutenant in the United States Navy, stepped forth. He was pale and haggard, and there was a bandage about his head, but his eyes were clear and bright. Even in his emaciated condition his resemblance to the man crouching in his chair was striking.
There was a silence in the cabin for an instant as the man stepped forth. Surprise was depicted on every face except those of Ned and Captain Curtis.
"You see I was right," Ned said.
"You are Lieutenant Carstens?" asked the Captain.
"I am," was the slow reply, "and I ask that the traitor cowering in the chair be placed under arrest."
"That has already been done," the Captain said. "How long have you been confined in the cabin?"
"Several days," was the reply, "ever since the first day out, and each day seemed an eternity of years, for I knew that a treasonable scheme was afoot. If you will open that steel box," he added, "you will find the proof of my words."
"So they tried to corrupt you, did they?" asked Ned, applying the key to the box.
"Indeed they did," was the reply, "and failing, they determined to take my life. Why they delayed doing so is more than I can understand."
"Perhaps it may be well to use the key held by this man Keene, who has been personating me for so many days," Lieutenant Carstens said.
"I know nothing about the box or its contents!" Keene shouted. "It was given to me by the senator's son, and now I command you to restore it to him as I received it, unopened."
Captain Curtis raised his hand and three men sprang upon Keene, who struggled violently for a moment and then dropped back, inert and almost lifeless. A search of his pockets revealed a key which was the exact duplicate of the one in the possession of Ned, and with this the steel box was opened.
Captain Curtis took a sheaf of papers from it and handed them to Ned.
"See if your guess had any merit," he said, with a laugh.
"Here," Ned began, separating the papers one by one, "is a treaty signed by many native chiefs. Under its provisions, a thousand islands in the Philippine group would have been in open revolt within a week."
"This is all news to me!" gasped the senator's son, pale and frightened.
"And yet you claimed the box!" Ned said.
"But only as a piece of property placed in my possession as a sacred charge," the young man answered. "I didn't know what it contained. This man Keene, who has been posing as Lieutenant Carstens, alone knew what was in the box."
"That is false!" shouted Keene, "for you wrote the treaty, and witnessed the signing of it. It was all done in the interest of that gigantic corporation of which your very honorable father is the head!"
"Are you ready to tell the truth at last?" asked the Captain.
"Yes," answered Keene, "I'll tell all I know about it. I was poor and in disgrace in army circles, and this senator offered me more than I could refuse. That is all there is to it. I'll tell the truth, fast enough."
"You're a fool!" shouted the senator's son. "Who will believe what you say? As you said a moment ago, you are in disgrace in army circles now, having been cashiered for cheating at cards. No officer would take your word, or your oath, for that matter."
"And he," Keene faltered, pointing a shaking finger at the young man, "was sent out here to pay me the price of my treachery and to see that I delivered the goods!"
"It is false!" the young man replied. "All a lie! Wait until you hear from Washington! Then you'll see who is a traitor!"
"And this," Ned went on, holding up another paper, "is the order which followed Lieutenant Rowe to Captain Godwin's headquarters. Why they kept it, I do not know, but keep it they did."
"Read it," commanded the Captain.
"It orders Lieutenant Rowe," the boy summarized, "to arrest Tag, Captain Godwin's servant, and half a dozen other Filipinos at Godwin's headquarters and place them in irons. It informs Lieutenant Rowe that he must remain at Godwin's quarters until further instructions are sent to him."
"That paper," Keene said, "was retained to prove to the native chiefs what difficulties we, their friends, were encountering in trying to assist them in building up a confederacy of their own."
"It seems to me that there is nothing more to say about this matter," Ned said. "We boys came to the Philippines to assist the government in unearthing this plot and bringing the leaders to punishment, and there seems to be nothing more to be done."
"But I don't quite understand it yet," Captain Curtis said. "How did you know that this box contained the treaty? How did you know that Keene was personating Lieutenant Carstens?"
"This man Keene," Ned laughed, "played his hand awkwardly. Through spies in the offices at Manila, doubtless, he learned that the treachery of the Filipinos at Godwin's island had been discovered. He knew that the government would look there first, and determined to block the investigation until he could accomplish what he had set out to do and get his blood money."
Keene frowned up from his chair at the boy, but said nothing. The senator's son smiled weakly and kept his eyes on the floor.
"Go on!" the Captain said, greatly interested.
"Lieutenant Rowe was detailed to investigate the matter, and ordered to the Godwin island. If the isle has another name I have never learned of the fact."
"It is called Penalty Island," smiled the Captain, "because the man sent there is supposed to be given the detail for some oversight of duty. However, in the case of Captain Godwin, I do not think this holds good."
"After the Lieutenant left for Penalty Island, then," Ned went on, "Keene discovered what was going on and feared that Tag and his fellows, if arrested, would snitch, as the boys have it. Then the messenger was sent after Rowe with more definite instructions. That is, he was given more positive instructions and sent out in haste. On the way to Penalty Island the instructions were stolen and another paper substituted.
"While the original order required Rowe to arrest Tag and his fellow conspirators, the false one required the Lieutenant to return at once to Manila. This would indeed have blocked the investigation and given Keene and his confederates time in which to complete their work of organizing the tribes.
"But the messenger knew what the papers he had been given contained, and when they were read by the Lieutenant—exactly opposite to the instructions given him—there was a pretty row. He informed Rowe of the substitution and advised him not to obey the orders delivered.
"Tag and his men, clustered about the windows and porch of the nipa hut, heard what was going on and decided to get rid of Lieutenant Rowe and his party by assassination. This plan was not carried out because this young man Clem, whom we know only as the senator's son, arrived with a party of Americans and Filipinos.
"This man Keene might have been with the party, but I'm not sure of that. I don't know the date when he left Manila, or when he took charge of the Clara as Lieutenant Carstens."
"I was not there!" Keene gritted out.
"Oh, yes, you were!" insisted the senator's son. "You were in command of the Clara at that time, with Lieutenant Carstens locked up in his cabin."
"That is a falsehood," Keene said, turning to Ned. "I was there at Penalty Island, but I was not at that time in command of the Clara."
"And only for me," Clem went on, "the Lieutenant and his men would have been shot instead of being taken prisoners."
Keene settled back into his chair without replying to this.
"Why did you go to Yokohama?" asked Ned.
"So you recognized me?" growled Keene. "You knew me when you saw me in the tea house? Well, I went there to kill Brown!"
The assertion was made so savagely, so recklessly, that the listeners gazed at the speaker in wonder.
"Brown," continued Keene, "was blackmailing me. He was at Penalty Island and was threatening to reveal what he knew unless I gave him a large sum of money. He went to Japan and I followed and caused him to be killed."
"And then you went back to Manila and went aboard the Clara?" asked Ned.
"Yes; and came down to witness the signing of the treaty."
"Where did you get the guns?" asked Ned.
Captain Curtis gave a quick start at the question.
"The guns?" he asked. "What guns?"
"The guns which were unloaded here to-night," was the reply, "and turned over to the chiefs. If you will look through Keene's pockets again you will find drafts in payment for them."
"Where did you get the guns?" demanded the Captain.
"Stole them from the government!" was the reply. "We caused them to be loaded on board at Manila, before Carstens went aboard. He never knew they were in the hold. We were to pick up a lot of tinned provisions on the China coast—left there by a wrecked supply boat—and carry them to natives supposed to be on the verge of starvation. I took Carstens' place just before we reached the place where the tinned goods were. What I want to know is this," he added. "How did you learn so much about what we were doing, and intended to do?"
"This young man," pointing to Clem, "had a battle with one of the men at the nipa hut," was the reply. "He was not so strong as his opponent, and was dragged about the floor. If you will look at his heels you will see three large nails protruding from the right one. I saw them when he first came out of the cabin, when he lifted his shoe to strike a match for his cigarette.
"During this struggle his right hand was injured a bit, cut so that the blood ran from the wound. Now, after getting the prisoners to the canoe, he opened the treaty box in order to place therein the original instructions given to the messenger. If you will look at the paper you will observe a slight smear of blood.
"When he opened the box he took from it a very rough draft of the treaty and threw it away, after burning it about half up. I found what was left of it, bearing his mark, the bloody smear, and so learned what was in the box—beyond all reasonable doubt. He lost his key there, and I found it. The other key was in the possession of Keene, as you know."
"But why did you go to Yokohama?" asked Keene.
"I followed Brown there. At least I followed you and him to Manila. There you both disappeared, and I was told that Brown had gone to Yokohama. Do you remember of having trouble with him in a saloon at Manila, and threatening him? Well, I found that out, and I found out that you had been having trouble with him ever since returning to the city.
"It was easy to get his description, and so I followed him to Yokohama, believing that I could get his confession. He fled to Japan because of his fear of you, I take it?"
"He went to Japan because I promised to meet him there and give him a large sum of money," was the sullen reply. "I went there to kill him!"
"And then you got the Clara, and circulated about the islands in her launch, and conferred with the native chiefs. I frightened you away from a couple of the conferences, as you know. You were betraying your country, and trying to place the crime on the hands of Lieutenant Carstens!"
"I should have succeeded, and got away with a fortune only for you!" growled the fellow. "Well," he added, "it is all in the game. I lost out and you won out. Good luck to you!"
They were too late to stop the sudden lifting of the hand to the mouth, and when they lifted him from the floor of the cabin he was dead. The senator's son stood over the body for a moment and turned to Captain Curtis.
"You know all about it now," he said. "If I am under arrest, take me to Manila. I can get bail there."
The guns were reloaded on the Clara, the ammunition on the Martha, and the ships sailed at once for Manila, with half a dozen native chiefs who had come to receive the arms locked up in the cabin formerly occupied by Lieutenant Carstens. The removal of the arms and the capture of the leaders brought the conspiracy to a close and the matter was hushed up. Tag and his companions were arrested and punished.
The young man who claimed to be the son of a senator pleaded guilty to receiving stolen arms, stolen from the government, and was sentenced to a long term in a federal prison. When it was all over, after Major John Ross had condescendingly admitted the great value of Ned's services, after the government had paid the boy a large sum for his work, the five lads, Ned, Frank, Jack, Jimmie and Pat, arranged to spend a month among the islands in the Manhattan.
"Bounding from isle to isle!" Jack cried. "Lying in the boat when you don't know whether the sea is the sky or the sky is the sea, both being so blue!"
"Well," Jimmie said, "I'll go along to see that you don't get captured again."
"I'd like to know whatever became of that man French," Ned said, laughing.
"Oh, he ducked," Frank said. "I heard Captain Curtis asking about him last night. He was just a paid thief, and jumped his parole."
"And we'll take Pat along," Jack said, "to leave signs in grass and send up smoke signals of distress. How did you get the two columns to working, Pat?" he added.
"The natives are lazy and didn't like to work, so I offered to bring the wood for them and build a fire. Well, I built two fires, as you know, and they suspected something and tied me up again."
"You're a handy Irishman, all right!" laughed Jack. "What have you done with the Filipino Boy Scout? I saw him with you last night!".
"He's going back to Washington," was the reply. "We may meet him over there."
On the following morning the boys would have been away in the Manhattan, but that night Captain Curtis visited them and left a sealed envelope with Ned.
"You are to open that at Portland, Oregon," he said.
Ned did not look altogether pleased when he read the papers contained in the sealed envelope.
"There's going to be trouble up in the Northwest," he said, "and we're going there on government service. And we're going to have aeroplanes! Think of it!"
There was a shout, and Ned was almost buried under a collection of legs and arms.
"Whoop—ee!" cried Jack. "Me for the aeroplanes!"
THE END.
The story of the Boy Scouts' adventures in the Northwest will be found in the next book of the series, "Boy Scouts in the Northwest, or, Fighting Forest Fires." Chicago, M. A. Donohue & Co.. publishers.
[1] Boy Scouts In Mexico; or, On Guard with Uncle Sam. Boy Scouts in the Canal Zone; or, The Plot Against Uncle Sam.
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