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Sergeant Overton is one of our best and most capable soldiers, and he rarely makes a mistake of any kind." "I'm glad to hear that he's one of your best soldiers," replied Draney pleasantly. "It seems odd, doesn't it, Captain, to see so boyish a chap wearing sergeant's chevrons?" "Sergeant Overton, Mr. Draney, is more than merely a sergeant.
Still later 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 Señor Draney is greatly disturbed.
"Whatever his motive for standing in with the worst of the Moros, and plotting against the government that we represent, there is sure to be something that he regards as being in line with his own advantage." "Everything connected with this fellow, Draney, seems to be a puzzle," muttered Lieutenant Hampton.
"What part is Draney playing with you brown-skinned men?" Tomba again shrugged his shoulders, this time more mockingly. "Señor Draney serves the same cause that I do," laughed the Filipino. "And what cause is that?" "His purse." "Then, in other words, Tomba, you are not even a Filipino patriot. You are merely a twentieth-century type of pirate."
"We cannot doubt Sergeant Overton, and he tells us that Tomba boasted that Draney is in league with the natives in some conspiracy here." "It is a matter of evidence," replied Captain Cortland musingly. "Not one of you gentlemen would doubt Sergeant Overton's word on any question of fact on which he has knowledge. But his report is based only on what Vicente Tomba told him.
"Is your sergeant," asked Draney, "a young man much interested in the joys of life, or is he of the quiet, studious sort who seldom care for good times?" "You seem to be uncommonly interested in Sergeant Overton, Mr. Draney," remarked the captain almost testily. "Only as a type of American soldier," replied Draney blandly.
"His loyalty has often been tested, I presume?" persisted the florid-faced fellow. "He's a very thoroughly trustworthy young man, if that's what you mean." Captain Cortland was beginning to feel somewhat annoyed, for, truth to tell, he did not like Draney very well.
"It's the easiest way in the world of sending the news to the brown fiends swarming around Seaforth's that a military column has passed Draney's place." "I could take a few men, sir, go back and arrest Draney and bring him to you," suggested Hal quietly. "What would be the use?" demanded the young officer, a scowl of disgust settling on his face.
"You do well to call them dogs," grinned Luis. "Señor 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!"
"A trick?" laughed Tomba softly. "Is that what you think it is? My friend, you will find that it is much more than a trick it is a decree!" "A decree?" raged Sergeant Overton. "What do you mean?" "It is a decree from Señor Draney," went on Tomba coldly, maliciously.
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