"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.