CHAPTER V.
ON THE RIM OF THE CHINA SEA.
The rain fell heavily, persistently, provokingly. Now and then came acrash of thunder which seemed to shake the earth; vivid lightning cutzigzags in the murky sky. The little islands of the Babuyan group in theBalintang channel seemed to rock in the arms of the storm.
The motor boat _Manhattan_ lay tossing and drawing at her anchor in anobscure bay of tiny dimensions on the west coast of a small island whichis a member of the Babuyan group and faces the China Sea. Ned, Frank,Jack and Jimmie sat sweating in the little cabin, which was in the backof the boat, the engine being located toward the center. The day wasdark because of the clouds and the downpour of the rain, and the heavyfoliage of the trees which came down to the very lip of the bay made itdim in the little cabin, but there was no artificial light.
The boys were waiting for the storm to subside. They knew the moods ofthe weather man of the Philippines well enough to understand that therain was likely to continue for several days, it being the opening ofthe rainy season, but they preferred not to face the initial tempest. Ina few hours comparative quiet would come, and there would be only thesteady fall of rain.
Since leaving the little island where the transport had landed them,they had visited three little dots of land in the channel, and on eachone they had found signals in grass pointing to the north and west.
"That Boy Scout, whoever he is," Jimmie said, as they discussed thesignals in the almost stifling atmosphere of the cabin, "is strictlynext to his job! He's showing the way, all right!"
"I'll bet you a can of corn against a bite of canned pie that he's fromNew York," Jack Bosworth observed.
"Speaking of pie," Frank cut in, "there's a little restaurant on Beekmanstreet where they serve hot pies at noon for a dime. You go in there attwelve and get a peach pie, and an apple pie, and a berry pie, hot outof the oven, and buy a piece of cheese, and go back to the office andconsume your frugal repast. What?"
"If you talk about hot pie here," Jack said, threateningly, "I'll tipyou out of the boat. Pie! When I go back to little old New York I'mgoing to have mother meet me at the pier with a pie under each arm!"
"I won't take your bet, Jack," Jimmie said. "I'd lose. I know he's fromNew York, an' he belongs to the Wolf Patrol."
"I thought you left your dream book at home!" cried Frank.
"There was a boy named Pat Mack," Jimmie went on, "who enlisted and wentto the Philippines a year ago. He was sixteen when he enlisted, butlooked older, and so they let him in, he bein' a husky chap. He belongedto the Wolf Patrol, an' was a chum of Ned's. You remember him, Ned?"
"Pat Mack?" repeated Ned. "Who would ever forget him? Why, thatred-headed Irishman is not a person to be forgotten, if once known. Whydo you think he is with the party we are following, Jimmie?"
"Because Captain Godwin said one of the young men with the Lieutenanthas hair so red that he didn't need a light to go to bed by. That's PatMack! And if he is with that bunch there'll be something doing beforelong. That boy will fight a rattlesnake an' give him the first bite."
"He is all to the good as a pugilist," Ned said. "That was the troublewith him in New York. He was always in some kind of a mess because ofhis quick temper and his ready fists. I hope it is Pat who is leavingthese signs."
"You bet it is," Jimmie insisted. "Say, look here! Who's rockin' thisboat?"
The boys were all sitting quietly in their seats, but the _Manhattan_was rocking in a manner not accounted for by the storm. Motioning theothers to remain where they were, Ned arose and passed out of the cabin.
The boat was still swaying violently, and Ned could at first see no goodreason for it, but presently a commotion in the water, a commotion notcaused by the wind and rain, caught his eyes and he advanced to thestern. After looking into the water for a moment he went to the cabinand beckoned to the boys.
"If you don't mind getting soaking wet," he said, "come out here."
"What is it?" asked Frank, lazily.
"Is it anything good to eat?" asked Jimmie.
Jack made no response but bounded forward and looked over the edge ofthe boat into the bay. What he saw was a great head with protruding jawsand a long, dark back covered with enormous half defined scales, likearmor plate.
"What is it?" he asked, drawing a revolver from his pocket.
Ned pushed his hand back and the weapon was returned to a pocket.
"Don't shoot," he said. "We are not yet ready to announce our presencehere."
"But what is that thing?" demanded Jack. "Is he trying to eat up theboat?"
"That is a crocodile," Ned replied. "Corker, eh?"
"Will he bite?" asked Jack, reaching for a boathook.
"Jump in and see," laughed Ned. "They live on fish, but eat dogs and menwhen they feel just right. The rivers and lakes of the Philippines swarmwith them."
Jimmie and Frank now came out of the cabin and looked down at thecrocodile.
"He's scratching his old nose on the boat!" Jimmie said. "That's whatmakes it rock so!"
"He thinks it's a sandwich, with meat inside," laughed Frank. "Supposewe give him a poke in the ribs?"
He reached forward with the boathook, which he took from Jack's hand,and jabbed at the creature, which did not appear to mind the presence ofthe boys at all, but continued his nosing of the boat.
"His hide is as tough as the crust of the pies Bridget used to make!"the boy said, jabbing harder than before and throwing his weight on thehandle of the hook.
Just then the boat shunted to one side, the crocodile swished away, andFrank fell headlong into the agitated waters of the little bay. Jack sawhim going and tried to catch him, but did not succeed.
The crocodile had turned away from the boat when Frank struck the waterwith a great splash, but he turned back and surveyed the submergedfigure with some degree of interest.
Frank of course went down under the surface as he fell, and remainedthere for a second. When his body rose toward the surface the crocodileapproached him. Jimmie and Jack drew their revolvers.
"Don't shoot!" commanded Ned.
"He'll eat Frank alive!" whispered Jimmie.
"He's making a grab for his leg now!" Jack added.
Frank came to the surface and struck out for the boat, which was only afew strokes away, the crocodile following in his wake, the giantarmor-plated body moving through the water stolidly and without visiblemeans of motion. The rough back looked like a log which had lain long inthe waters of a swamp and had caught rust from mineral deposits and anasty brown from decaying vegetation.
Frank knew the danger he was in, but did not seem to understand that theboys on the boat were aware of his peril, for he swung his body out ofthe water and whirling, pointed to the crocodile. As he did so themonster speeded forward and snapped at his arm.
"Shoot! Shoot!" cried Jimmie.
But no shots were fired. When the great mouth of the monster openedsomething shot out from the boat and landed squarely between theextended jaws of the crocodile. There was a snap, a crunching sound,then the water was whipped into commotion by the writhing body of themonster.
A rope was thrown to Frank and he was soon on board, not much wetterthan his chums, standing in the driving rain, and not at all injured byhis adventure.
"Cripes!" Jimmie cried, as Frank stood panting by his side, "I thoughthe had you where the whale had Jonah."
"What was that you fed him?" asked Frank of Ned.
"Just a bottle of gasoline which lay here," was the reply.
"You couldn't make a throw like that again in a hundred years!" Franksaid.
"If you're goin' to feed gasoline to the crocodiles," grinned Jimmie,"I'll notify the government."
"If the breed listens to what that fellow has to say of gasoline as anarticle of food," Ned laughed, "there won't be much demand for it."
"He'd have had my arm if you hadn't hit the mark," Frank said. "I'll oweyou an arm as long as I live, old man!"
"And that big fish o
wes Uncle Sam a quart of gasoline and a good blueglass bottle," laughed Jack. "I wonder how it will set on his tummy?"
"Now," Ned said, "I'm as wet as it is possible to get, so I'm going onshore to see if our Boy Scout left any mail for us. I'm getting anxiousto catch up with the Lieutenant and his abductors."
"I'm goin' too!" said Jimmie.
"You're not," Ned replied. "I'm not going to the trouble of keepingtrack of you in that wilderness."
"All right!" Jimmie grunted, apparently resigned to his fate, but whenNed rowed ashore and disappeared in the thicket which skirted the baythe little fellow recklessly slipped into the water and came outunharmed on the beach farther to the south than Ned had landed. He stoodfor a moment with the salt water running out of his hair and over hisfreckled face, made an amusing grimace at the boys in the boat, andscurried into the jungle.
"The little dunce!" Jack exclaimed.
"If he keeps close to Ned he will be all right," Frank observed, "but ifhe goes to wandering about on his own account he will get into trouble.I've got a hunch that the people we are following are on that island."
In five minutes Ned made his appearance, rowing swiftly out to the boat.
"They are there!" he exclaimed. "I found the trail mark and thedirection. A yard from the last direction I found the triple warningthree times repeated. You know what that means?"
"Life or death," was the reply, and the three boys stood looking intoeach other's faces for a moment without speaking.
"I guess they're going to murder the prisoners," Jack said, presently,breaking the painful silence.
"That is what the sign seems to read," Ned said, gravely.
"Then we may as well be getting out our guns," Frank said.
Ned nodded, and turned toward the shore again. In a moment he faced hischums again, his eyes startled and anxious.
"Where's Jimmie?" he asked.
"He went ashore!"
"Didn't you see him?"
Ned turned from Frank to Jack and then pointed toward an elevationtoward the center of the island.
The clouds hung low and the rain was still falling in torrents, butunder the gray sky and through the downpour of the rain two columns ofsmoke lifted an eloquent voice.
"That's a Boy Scout call!" exclaimed Jack.
"Two columns of smoke," Frank said, "mean 'Help'! Jimmie couldn't havekindled two fires since he has been gone, could he?"
"Of course not," Jack replied. "That's Pat Mack, the red-headed rascal!"
"I bet he wishes he was back on Chatham Square!" observed Frank.
The boys waited ten minutes, but Jimmie did not make his appearance.
"He's in trouble!" cried Frank. "We better go and see what kind of a fixhe's gotten into."
"It may be," Ned said, after a short pause, "that he has seen the callfor help, and is making his way in that direction."
"That is just like him!" Jack burst out.
"Are we going in there after him?" Frank asked.
"We are likely to lose him in the thicket if we go," Ned cautioned, "andit seems to me that we ought to wait a short time. He is wise enough notto go butting into a camp."
"What sort of a place is it in there?" asked Jack.
"It is one of the nameless islands of the Babuyan group," Ned answered."Like most of the others, it is of volcanic formation. There is acentral elevation, and a stream of good size starts up there somewhereand runs into a bay farther north. I was thinking of speeding up andtrying to get into the interior by way of the river."
"With the engine barking like a terrier in a rat pit!" said Frank.
"For once," said Ned, with a smile, "you have said a good thing! We'vegot to lie here and wait until dark. Then we can advance through thejungle and look for their campfire."
"Perhaps they won't build a fire."
This from Frank, who was stuffing his pockets with cartridges.
"Of course they will!" Jack put in. "They will have to keep the wildcatsaway."
"Wildcats!" laughed Frank. "There isn't a wildcat within a thousandmiles of this island."
"Don't you ever think it," Jack insisted. "There are plenty of wildcatsin the Philippines, and snakes, and lizards. In fact, the islands arenot unlike the Isthmus of Panama in this regard. And monkeys! Well,we've heard enough chattering already to put us wise to them."
As the boy spoke a great chattering broke out in a thicket only a fewrods away from the beach. The monkeys seemed frightened, and movingtoward the shore.
"Jimmie is in there!" Ned exclaimed. "I wish I could chloroform thelittle pests. They will betray the presence of the lad."
While the boys waited, wondering what was to be the outcome of thedangerous situation, the sharp whistle of a launch came from theopposite side of the island. The first blast was followed by threeothers, in quick succession, and then a shot was heard from theinterior.
"This must be receiving day for the little brown men!" said Jack."There's a boat over there talking to them. What about it, Ned?"
"If you boys will promise not to leave the boat," Ned said, "I'll goashore and try to find out what is going on. This island lies on the rimof the China Sea, and that boat may be from the land of the Celestials!"
"Bringing arms to put Uncle Sam to the bad!" exclaimed Frank. "I'd liketo pull their pigtails!"
The boys promised not to leave the _Manhattan_, and Ned rowed ashore andstruck into the jungle. There was now an uproar of chattering all overthe island, it seemed, and he walked swiftly under cover of the racket.In half an hour he was on an elevation which gave him a view of theChina Sea. What he saw caused him to drop suddenly to the ground.