"I'm glad, old fellow, that you are the acting first sergeant," grinned comfortable Noll Terry, as his chum came upon deck with forehead, face and neck beaded with perspiration. "Oh, it doesn't hurt a fellow to have a little work to do," replied Overton, smiling. "You see, you've just been loafing this morning, almost ever since inspection, while I have a consciousness of work well performed." "Keep your consciousness and enjoy it," retorted Noll, as the two boyish sergeants stepped along the deck. "I wonder if Captain Cortland is on deck at this moment?" remarked Sergeant Hal. "I saw him five minutes ago," Noll answered. Almost at that moment B Company's commander came to the forward rail of the saloon deck and looked down. Then his glance rested on Hal. "Are the papers ready, Sergeant?" the captain called down. "Yes, sir; I have them with me," replied Hal. Pressing through the throng of soldiers, he ascended the steps to the saloon deck, saluting and passing over the envelope. "Thank you, Sergeant." "I think you'll find them all right, sir. I'm somewhat new at the work, but I've taken a lot of pains." "There's always a lot of pains taken with any work that you do, Sergeant." "Thank you, sir." Hal saluted and was about to turn away when he heard a voice saying: "What we need, in dealing with the Moros in these southern islands, is to show them that----" Just then the speaker happened to turn, and stopped talking for a moment. The voice was new, but Sergeant Overton started at sight of the speaker's face. "Why, that's the same big, florid-faced fellow that I saw in the shed with Tomba, that time it rained so hard," flashed through the young sergeant's astonished mind. "What can he be doing here--a cabin passenger on a United States troop ship?" Unconsciously Hal was staring hard at the stranger. It appeared to annoy the florid-faced man. "Well, my man," he cried impatiently, looking keenly at Hal, "are you waiting to say something to me?" "No, sir," Sergeant Hal replied quickly. "Perhaps you thought you knew me?" "No, sir; I merely remembered having once seen you." "You've seen me before? Then your memory is better than mine, Sergeant. Where have you ever seen me before?" "The other afternoon, sir, on the south side of the Pasig River at Manila. You were in a shed, out of the rain, with a native calling himself Vicente Tomba." The florid-faced man betrayed neither uneasiness nor resentment. Instead, he smiled pleasantly as he replied: "I thought you were in error, Sergeant, and now I'm certain of it, for I don't know any Vicente Tomba." "Then I beg your pardon for the mistake, sir," Hal replied quickly. "No need to apologize, Sergeant, for you have done no harm," replied the florid-faced man. Here Captain Cortland's voice broke in, cool and steady: