er that afternoon--not long before sundown--while the "Warren"
was still ploughing her way through the sea, the little brown spy drew
Vicente Tomba to one side in the native steerage.

To make assurance doubly sure, both Filipinos spoke in their own Malay
dialect, the Tagalos.

"Tomba!"

"Luis?"

"Tomba, the Senor Draney is greatly disturbed. Sergeant Overton and
Sergeant Terry have recognized him as one whom they saw with you in
Manila."

"Bah! That amounts to little. Senor Draney can deny."

"But they have recognized you also, my Tomba, and so has Corporal Hyman.
More, they have told Captain Cortland all they know, and all they can
guess."

"The dogs!" growled Vicente Tomba, his snarl showing his fine, white
teeth.

"You do well to call them dogs," grinned Luis. "Senor Draney bids me to
remind you what becomes of dogs that are troublesome. You have others
here with you who can help. At the first chance, then, Overton, Terry
and Hyman are to bite the bone that kills--and Captain Cortland, too, if
you can manage it!"

CHAPTER IV

CERVERRA'S INNOCENT SHOP

"D'ye know what I'm thinking about?" demanded Private Kelly, as he
turned to look out southward from Fort Benjamin Franklin.

"Not being a mind reader--no," replied Hal.

"I'm thinking this country is a fine place to dream about."

"It's worth it," declared Sergeant Overton, with unsullied boyish
enthusiasm.

"Worth it--huh!" retorted Kelly, who had served longer in the Army.
"Mind ye, I said this was a good country to dream about. But to live
in--give me 'God's country.'"

The United States soldier on foreign service, invariably alludes to home
in this way.

Send him to the fairest spot on which the human eye ever rested, and the
soldier will still longingly speak of home as "God's country."

"Then I'll be polite," retorted Sergeant Hal, "and say that I wish,
Kelly, that you could be at home. But as for me, I'm glad I'm here."

"Wait until you are in your third enlistment, and have put in another
two years in the islands, after this time," growled Kelly.

"Why, where can you find a more beautiful spot than this?" demanded Hal
Overton, gazing across the fields toward the town of Bantoc. "I never
saw a more beautiful spot. I wonder if there are many like it in the
tropics?"

"Beautiful?" rumbled Kelly. "Sure! But ye can't eat beauty. 'Tis a long
way from anywhere, this spot, and that's what I've got against it."

"Grumbling again,