"That's the advantage of scouting within the lines of an enemy where many tongues are spoken," whispered Noll in his chum's ear.
The Army boys had not gone twenty feet, however, when they ran into another Moro sentry, who stood under a tree evidently trying to keep out of the rain.
This sentry addressed them with two or three words in the Moro tongue.
"Banda nokku him slengo mat," replied Hal.
Again the sentry spoke to them, accompanying his words with a gesture that seemed to order them to pass on. The Army boys were glad enough to obey.
"We're right in the middle of the hornet's nest," whispered Noll.
Fifty feet further on the Army boys came upon a rudely built shack under which a number of brown men were huddled to escape the rain.
"The outpost crowd," whispered Hal. "Noll, I believe we're getting into the heart of the Moros' camp."
Noll was about to answer, but at that moment discerning another sentry, a few yards ahead, checked his reply. This sentinel they managed to pass without words. Being well within the enemy's lines now, and apparently natives themselves, the Army boys were not as likely to attract suspicion to themselves.
A heavier downpour of rain drove the young scouts for a moment under the spreading branches of a large tree.