en off to her."

"It is all of a piece with the counterfeit instructions," Ned said.
"There is an unknown interest working in this case. If the officers at
Manila suspected or had wind of what is going on here, why didn't they
send a troop ship and capture the chiefs, and so screen out the men
responsible for the conspiracy?"

"That's another thing we've got to find out," Frank said, with a grin.
"We've got a good many things to find out!"

"And the first thing to discover," Ned said, "is what has become of the
boys."

"Right you are!" cried Pat. "I'll go back to the top of the hill and see
if there's any commotion on the island."

"What does the island look like?" asked Frank.

"Looks like a valley with a line of hills shutting it in. Looks like a
saucer with a high rim. The dago chiefs are encamped in the middle of
the saucer."

"In a thicket, of course?"

"It is quite free from jungle growths down there," was the reply--"so
clear that I was able to see the encampment and the people moving about.
And I think I saw the treaty box, at that!"

"Treaty box?" laughed Frank. "Don't you ever think these brown men have
any box to put their treaty in!"

"What do you think about it, Ned?" asked Pat.

"I hardly think they unlock their pocket-books with keys like the one I
found," replied Ned. "And, besides," he added, "the white men back of
this conspiracy would naturally want a treaty signed up with all the
ceremony that could be hatched up, in order to impress the chiefs. Yes,
I think there must be a treaty box!"

"And you think you've got a key to it?" asked Frank.

"I've got a key to something," was the reply.

Frank opened his lips to make some remark, but Ned laid a hand on his
arm and drew closer to him so that a low voice might be heard, at the
same time motioning to Pat to remain quiet.

"Now, don't move, or turn to look," Ned said, "but in a few seconds,
after I have turned away, look, casually, toward the great balete tree
which rises above the jungle straight to the south."

Ned turned away directly and faced the jungle to the north.

"What do you see?" he asked, turning toward the boys again but not
looking at them.

"Monkeys wiggling in the creepers," Frank said.

"Filipinos," answered Pat.

"How many?" asked Ned.

"Well," replied Pat, "I thought I saw two, but I guess there is only
one. We've got to get him," he added.

"Of course!" Frank said. "If we don't, he'll go back to camp and t