Ned would have liked nothing better than to have remained in Manila for the purpose of investigating this phase of the case, but he believed that the mystery would be solved eventually where the work was being done—on the ground with the native tribes which were being urged into revolt. So he had provisioned the Manhattan and, much to the joy of the boys, headed for the group of islands north of Luzon.
It was glorious there in the channel, with the green islands lifting from the lacquered sea, bluer than any sky the lads had ever seen. From the bow of the Manhattan spread two thin emerald lines curling transparently and tipped with foam. Upon the immensity of the sea there would be for hours no other movement, and upon the immensity of the sky there would not be a fleck of cloud. At night the boys slept in their bunks with the waves whispering to the sand of some sheltered bay.
"I hope we'll never find the island where the treaty is to be signed," Jack said, one morning. "I'd like to stay here forever."
"Why don't you build a hut on one of the islands and stay there, then?" asked Jimmie.
"I guess you'd soon get weary of doin' the Robinson Crusoe act an' get back to the Great White Way!"
"I'm not looking for life in the jungle," Jack replied. "The water is good enough for me."
One morning when the Manhattan lay in a bay on the eastern shore of an island of good size and Jack proposed a trip to the shore.
"There's game up there," he said, pointing to an elevation not far from the beach. "Unless I'm very much mistaken there is a line of hills on the other side of this bit of land, with a valley in between the two. If this is right, that valley will be well stocked with game, and I'm getting hungry for fresh meat."
"There's surely one class of animal life there," Frank said. "Hear the monkeys! They must be holding some kind of a convention!"
While the boys were talking Ned came out of the cabin with his glass. He gazed landward for a long time and then handed the glass to Jack.