"Then we have to take it for granted that the visitor came here with instructions for Lieutenant Rowe. Secret instructions, probably. He either betrayed his trust and assisted in what was done, or was followed here and attacked with the others. It is a great puzzle. One might ask a dozen questions without finding an answer. For instance: Why was the interior of the hut wrecked?"
"There was a fight, of course," Frank said.
"And not a shot fired!" cried the Captain. "I don't believe it! A fight would have led to shooting; shooting would have attracted attention. No, sir, you will find that Lieutenant Rowe stood in with this game! Why should official communications follow so closely on his heels? If the officials who sent him here had anything to add to his orders, they might have sent a messenger on after him, of course, but there are no cables here, so he could not have been notified that the man was coming. Yet it is clear that he expected this man! Oh, he was in it, all right!"
"Did you size him up for that sort of a man?" asked Ned.
"I didn't see much of him," was the reply.
"You may be right," Ned said, "although I can't see why he came here at all if he was to make so sensational a disappearance."
"He wasn't thinking of disappearing when he came here," insisted the Captain. "Something in the instructions the fourth man brought changed his line of action. I'll bet my head on it!"
"Will you kindly talk with the two men who were put to sleep and see if they confirm the story told by Tag?"
The Captain agreed to this, and went away to look the men up. He was back in a few minutes with the report that the men were not to be found.
"They left just after talking with Tag," he added, looking angrily at the Filipino.