at case,
their return to the boat is likely to bring about a fight."

The battle was on in a moment, for Ned, Frank and the Filipino boy were
now approaching the boat. It was decidedly a desperate charge they were
making through the jungle when shots from the right of the pursuers
caused the latter to believe that their peril lay in that direction.

When the Filipinos turned to beat off this attack Ned and his companions
made a rush for the boat and reached her in safety. Then the Filipinos
rushed to the bank, a dozen or more of them, in a rash attempt to board
the _Manhattan_.

They were met by a hot fire from the cabin and the cockpit as soon as
they came out on the little rim of clear space on the bank and turned to
the thicket for shelter only to meet a volley of revolver shots from the
interior. This was too much for the untrained natives to endure, and
they fled up the shore of the stream and disappeared.

The boys themselves were uninjured, but spots of blood on the shore and
on the leaves indicated that their bullets had not all gone astray. The
wounded natives, however, had been carried off by their companions.

Of course those on the boat understood where the fire which had assisted
them had come from. Jimmie and Jack were the only persons on the island
who would be apt to come to their aid.

"Come out of that!" Frank called, as the last Filipino disappeared.
"Don't stay there in the thicket all day! We've got to get out!"

"Why don't you get out, then?" demanded Jimmie, with a grin. "We'll stay
here an' run things while you are gone."

The boys were soon on board and the _Manhattan_ was worked out into the
channel. But before she was far away from the shore a volley of shots
came from the jungle, doing no damage except to the beauty of the craft.

"Now run!" advised Jack. "The steamer over on the other side can chase
the legs off us if given half a chance."

Frank took charge of the engine, and Jack stood by to see that he did
the right thing, and the boat purred through the waters at a speed which
she had never been called upon to make before. Presently the steamer
showed up, pumping great columns of smoke into the sweet air, and the
chase was on in earnest.

Ned directed Frank to seek the shelter of a group of islands not far
away and sat down to talk with Jimmie, first explaining to the two who
had just come aboard how the Filipino Boy Scout came to be there.

"We can't miss 'em!" Jimmie excla