THE MIDNIGHT VISITOR.
There was silence on the unsteady porch of the nipa hut for some moments, and then Frank Shaw asked:
"Is there any proof at all that any government is trying to arm the native tribes against the United States?"
"If there is," the Captain replied, "I do not know of it."
"It may be simply a commercial conspiracy," said Jack.
"Go on!" exclaimed Jimmie. "If anybody should ask you about it, it is the Japs, or the Chinks!"
"When a play fails in New York, or a man jumps off one of the East River bridges, if you leave it to Jimmie, the Japs or the Chinks are at the bottom of it."
This from Jack, who ducked low to avoid a blow from the newsboy, and wandered off down the stairs leading to the porch.
"Yes," the Captain said, "it may be a conspiracy for the acquisition of wealth. I am not an anarchist, but it is my belief that there are many corporations in the world who would set the nations at each other's throats if a profit could be made out of it. But, after all, there is no need of guessing. You boys are here to find out what is going on, and you may now do it in your own way."
Ned left the Captain talking with Frank and Jimmie on the porch and went into the one room of the hut. Everything was in disorder there, as has been said, and Ned moved about cautiously in order that nothing might be disturbed. The Major and Captain Godwin, on their visit of the morning, had been careful to leave the place just as it had been on the discovery of the strange happening.
There was a rough table in the center of the room, and three bamboo chairs were overturned beside it. It was in front of one of the chairs that the spots of blood had been found. The light matting which had covered the floor here was torn and twisted, as if a heavy person had clung to it and had been dragged away by superior strength.
Under the edge of this piece of matting Ned found long scratches, as if shoe heels had slipped there and protruding nails had furrowed the floor. There were also various oblong papers and numerous match ends. On the floor, under the rolling back of another chair, were the scattered remnants of a pack of playing cards. Mixed with these, and lying between the ace of clubs and the jack of diamonds, were half a dozen pieces of gilt paper, seemingly torn from an official seal.
In a corner of one of the alcoves, where it had been thrown or wafted by the fan which swung from the ceiling at the middle of the room, was a twisted piece of letter paper burned at one end. It seemed to the boy that the paper had been twisted in the form of a torch and lighted to give a more satisfactory illumination than that provided by the matches which had been burned. It was about half consumed.
After spending half an hour in the room Ned went back to the porch and sat down.
"What about it?" asked Frank.
"The mud is settling," laughed Ned.
"But not so the bottom can be seen?" asked Captain Godwin with a smile.
"Not yet," was the reply. "Perhaps a little talk with the servant who was sent here with Lieutenant Rowe last night might help to clear the case," he added.
Captain Godwin beckoned to a short, squatty Filipino who stood leaning against a tree not far away and the fellow advanced deferentially up the bamboo stairs, evidently much in awe of the Americanos.
"Tag," the Captain said to him, as he stood with one brown hand clinging to one of the roof supports, "this gentleman wants to ask you a few questions about what took place last night."
"Yes; I have been waiting."
The English was almost perfect, and the fellow's appreciation of the gravity of the situation was apparent. It was later explained to Ned that Tag, as he was called by the Captain, had been educated in an English school at Manila, and had lived in army circles nearly all his life until he had taken service with Captain Godwin.
"First," the Captain put in, "I want to say that it was not my fault that Lieutenant Rowe did not lodge in my own quarters last night. I proposed that to him, and he said that he had a great deal of work to do, should be moving about more or less during the night, might be detained here several weeks, and so preferred to set up a small establishment of his own. This was the best that could be provided on a moment's notice."
"He was served with supper at your house?" asked Ned.
"Yes; and he was to have desayuno there this morning. That is, he was to have his first breakfast with me. Later he was to arrange for a table of his own."
"You came here with them?" asked Ned of the Filipino.
"I came on in advance to clear up the place."
"I see. Who came with you?"
"Two servants."
"Did they come into this room—the room occupied by the Lieutenant and his companions, I mean?"
"No; they were working the fan from the porch."
"Are those men in the place to-day?"
"Yes; but they know nothing."
"But they were to remain here during the night?"
"They did, but they slept."
"Drugged?"
"I don't know. From the complaints they have of their heads I suspect that they were."
"And you were to remain here during the night?"
"Yes, that was the understanding, but I was sent away about midnight."
"By whom?"
"By Lieutenant Rowe."
"Did he give any reason for sending you away?"
"He said they were going to bed and would not need me."
"And did they go to bed as soon as you left? You, of course, remained about the hut for a short time?"
"Yes, I remained about the hut for half an hour. They did not go to bed."
"What were they doing?"
"The Lieutenant was working over papers and the others were playing cards."
"Could you hear what they were talking about?"
"Yes, until the other man came."
Ned and the others bent forward with new interest. Here was a fresh feature in the case—a man who had not been referred to before coming into the hut about midnight.
"Who," asked Ned, "was this other man?"
"An Americano."
"Had you seen him about the place before?"
"Never. He came in the night and went in the night."
"Was he in uniform—the uniform of a soldier?"
"No; he wore citizen's clothes."
"Which way did he come from?"
"I don't know," was the surprising reply. "I first saw him when he was climbing in at the window."
"Climbing in at the window!" repeated Captain Godwin. "If he climbed in at the window when the others were awake, he must have been expected!"
"Yes; I should think so."
"I can't understand this at all!" exclaimed Captain Godwin, his good-natured face looking anxious. "Lieutenant Rowe said nothing to me about expecting company. And why should he conceal the fact from me? Why, indeed, should a visitor come crawling in at a window at midnight? Are you sure it wasn't one of the three men I conducted to the hut that you saw at the window?" he added, turning to the Filipino.
"Oh, yes; I am quite sure it was a fourth man. He mounted to the window-ledge on a ladder, pushed the screen aside and vaulted over the sill."
"And how was he received?" asked Ned.
"He was welcomed, and given a chair at the table. But first he went back to the window and made some sort of a signal to those waiting outside."
"Oh, so there were others waiting outside!" grated out the Captain. "Why didn't you come and tell me what was going on? Why didn't you tell me about this the first thing this morning? That is the trouble with these made-over men," he continued, half angrily as he looked at Ned. "You can teach them to do things by rote, but when an emergency comes they are like putty."
"I had no instructions to report what I saw at the hut—no orders to play the spy," answered Tag, indignant that his conduct should be criticized. "And this morning you gave me no chance to talk with you."
"How many people were there outside?" demanded the Captain.
"I don't know," was the reply. "There was the flash of a match to show that the signals from the hut were understood, and then I went to bed. There is no accounting for the freaks of these military Americanos, so I went to my bed. If I sat up at night taking note of the movements of the soldiers sent here, I should get no rest at all, besides laughing myself sick over the foolishnesses of them."
Ned was watching the fellow with interest. He had no doubt that he was telling the truth about what he had seen there the previous night—that is, the truth so far as he went in the recital. Still, Ned did not trust the fellow. He believed that he had seen more than he had described, even if he had not been a party to what had taken place.
"What else did you see here last night?" he asked.
"Nothing—nothing at all."
"And you say you went to bed without satisfying your natural curiosity as to what you had seen?" roared the Captain. "I don't believe it! Buck up now, and tell us what was done after the fourth man entered the hut, or I'll send you to the military prison at Manila."
"I have told everything," said Tag with a sniffle. "You Americanos expect us to see everything and know everything! If we are so wise and capable, why don't you permit us to govern ourselves—send away your soldiers and let us handle the situation here?"
The Captain frowned and fumed about for a moment, and Ned was afraid he would carry out his threat of placing the Filipino under arrest. This, he believed, would be about the worst move that could be made. Seeking to conciliate the fellow, he said:
"There is a great deal of sense in what you say, and I honor you for not playing the spy on the officers. Captain Godwin will not send you to prison, I am sure, as we need you here. For instance, we want the story of the men who worked the fan. Will you talk with them and tell us what they say?"
Tag hastened away, somewhat mollified, and Ned turned to the Captain.
"The fellow knows more than he pretends to," he said. "We must keep him here, and make him think that we trust him."
"I can talk with the fanmen myself," grunted the Captain, not very well pleased with Ned's interference. "I know the lingo."
"Of course," Ned replied, "but I want to know if Tag will tell us the same story, as coming from them, that they will tell you under a rigid cross-examination. In other words, I think Tag, as you call him, will shape their stories to suit his own purposes."
"And so you want to set a trap for him? All right! Go ahead, lad, and make what you can out of this mess. What do you think those visitors came here for at midnight? And do you believe they are responsible for the disappearance of Lieutenant Rowe and his companions?"
"Here comes Tag," Ned said. "Suppose we wait and see what he says of the experiences of the fanmen."
The Filipino had in a measure recovered his good humor and was very respectful to the Captain. He addressed him instead of Ned when he spoke.
"They say they were given drink after the fourth man arrived and went to sleep."
"That accounts for the strange odor about the place!" cried the Captain. "Now, what the dickens does it all mean?"
"Cripes!" broke in Jimmie. "I wish I had as many dollars as times I don't know. Say, when we goin' to get a ride in the Manhattan? Me for the rollin' deep whenever you get this thing doped out."
"It looks like we had work cut out for us here," Ned replied. "Now, Captain," he went on, "it looks as if the late arrivals last night drugged the servants and took the secret service men away by main force."
"Main force!" roared the Captain. "Why didn't they shoot, or yell, or make some sort of a row that would have brought help? I've got a lot of old women here who could have stood off an attacking party! Force—nothing! Lieutenant Rowe was in the deal. He wanted to disappear with something he had in his possession, and he worked the abduction dodge."
"You may be right," the boy replied, "still, that does not change the fact that there were enough men about this hut last night to make just such a capture—with the assistance of a clever man on the inside—a man pretending to be friendly to the Lieutenant—say, for instance, the fourth man, or—Tag."
"How do you know how many men there were about here?" asked the Captain.
"If you will go to the river bank a few rods south of the pier," was the reply, "you will discover that a large canoe beached there last night. You will see that it was drawn far up into the thicket, a task which must have taxed the strength of at least eight men. Then, about the hut, and especially under the windows which the visitor entered, there are plenty of footprints."
"Footprints!" echoed the Captain. "My people don't wear footgear that leaves prints!"
"There were at least three pair of European shoes in the group," Ned went on, "Now, the next query is this: Why did the visitor enter by the window? If you will notice the floor in there, below the two front windows, you will see that the shades were drawn there last night, and that they were pulled down when this other wreck was produced and torn from the rollers."
"I hadn't noticed that," the Captain said.
"This shows that some one in this hut was expecting a visit, and also that the visit was to be kept a secret from you. The front windows overlook your quarters, and the window entered is the one most protected from view from your place. Now, this precaution may have been taken by the midnight visitor, coming here as a friend, or by an enemy, for the purpose of concealing from you what went on here."
"And that is why the Lieutenant did not sleep under my roof!" said the Captain. "He was expecting the fellow. Well, what do you say, did the fellow betray his confidence and bring enemies to carry him away?"
"His friend might have been followed here," Ned replied. "He might have been the person sought by the intruders. The next question is: Who was this visitor?"