Ned replied, "that you will find the real Lieutenant Carstens
on the other side of that door."

CHAPTER XIX.

BOY SCOUTS UNEARTH PLOT.

The door was opened instantly, and a man in the uniform of a lieutenant
in the United States Navy, stepped forth. He was pale and haggard, and
there was a bandage about his head, but his eyes were clear and bright.
Even in his emaciated condition his resemblance to the man crouching in
his chair was striking.

There was a silence in the cabin for an instant as the man stepped
forth. Surprise was depicted on every face except those of Ned and
Captain Curtis.

"You see I was right," Ned said.

"You are Lieutenant Carstens?" asked the Captain.

"I am," was the slow reply, "and I ask that the traitor cowering in the
chair be placed under arrest."

"That has already been done," the Captain said. "How long have you been
confined in the cabin?"

"Several days," was the reply, "ever since the first day out, and each
day seemed an eternity of years, for I knew that a treasonable scheme
was afoot. If you will open that steel box," he added, "you will find
the proof of my words."

"So they tried to corrupt you, did they?" asked Ned, applying the key to
the box.

"Indeed they did," was the reply, "and failing, they determined to take
my life. Why they delayed doing so is more than I can understand."

"Perhaps it may be well to use the key held by this man Keene, who has
been personating me for so many days," Lieutenant Carstens said.

"I know nothing about the box or its contents!" Keene shouted. "It was
given to me by the senator's son, and now I command you to restore it to
him as I received it, unopened."

Captain Curtis raised his hand and three men sprang upon Keene, who
struggled violently for a moment and then dropped back, inert and almost
lifeless. A search of his pockets revealed a key which was the exact
duplicate of the one in the possession of Ned, and with this the steel
box was opened.

Captain Curtis took a sheaf of papers from it and handed them to Ned.

"See if your guess had any merit," he said, with a laugh.

"Here," Ned began, separating the papers one by one, "is a treaty signed
by many native chiefs. Under its provisions, a thousand islands in the
Philippine group would have been in open revolt within a week."

"This is all news to me!" gasped the senator's son, pale and frightened.

"And yet you claimed the box!" Ned said.

"But only as a p