G. Harvey Ralphson

“ The chug-chug of the stranger’s motor was now heard, and, without waiting for further discussion, the boys ducked away into the jungle, which crowded close on the cut at this point.
They heard the car stop at the point where they had been standing, and heard a low exclamation of impatience, indicative of disappointment, from the lips of the driver, and then crept farther into the tangle of vines.
Finally Peter stopped and faced toward Gatun.
“We’d better be working toward home,” he said. “This thicket is no place for a civilized human being at night.” ”

“ Ned, who had been following along behind the others, broke into a laugh.
“The boy has the situation sized up correctly,” he said.
“Then come along,” growled the lieutenant. “Where are you going?”
“We’re going to have a look at the Culebra cut,” was the reply. “You said we might ramble about the Isthmus all we wanted to.”
“But why go with me, and at night?” asked the officer.
“We want to see the work going on under electricity,” Peter replied.
“Let them go,” advised Ned. “If they can’t take care of themselves it is time we found it out.” ”

“ Peter said.
“Where is the Gatun dam?” asked Jack.
“It is going up over there,” Peter replied, pointing out a low, broad ridge which appeared to link two hills together. “That is what will make the inland sea, and that is the lump of earth we came here to look after.”
“It is a busy place night and day,” Ned said. “See the electric towers and wires? Work never stops.”
“Something like His Nobbs,” grinned Jimmie. ”

“ Gaga gave a cry of terror and the intruder drew back for an instant.
The boy knew that the man whose figure he had seen outlined against the star-sprinkled sky was the man he had seen standing by the couch of the owner of the Daily Planet on the night of the robbery, the man he had seen later in the Chester camp in the jungle. 219
“For the love of Heaven!” the prisoner whispered.
The entreaty struck home to the heart of the boy. He had always prided himself on his love of fair play. ”

“ Ned said, with a laugh. “It looks to me as if you boys had been in something of a mess yourselves.”
“Time enough for that when we get back to the cottage,” Jack said. “Come on, Gastong, and we’ll lead the bunch to the festive board. I hope the cook will be there. Say, but why don’t you fellows compliment me on me fine appearance in this menial rig?”
“You haven’t given us time to say a word,” laughed Jimmie. “You look like the cook, indeed, you do; and you make me hungry.” ”

“ Nestor looked from the lieutenant to the newspaper owner and smiled quietly.
“I wish I knew,” he said, “whether the papers we hear so much about really reveal the details of an alleged plot against the government.”
Mr. Shaw did not reply.
“If they do not,” continued the boy, “do they connect some man, or some group of men, with a plot which may be forming?”
The editor glanced approvingly at Ned, as if rather pleased with his cleverness, but did not speak.
“I have known newspaper men,” Ned went on, “to make mistakes in such matters. ”

“ A low whistle cut the air, and then the creepers parted and a man’s head and shoulders appeared. Ned and Jimmie crouched lower in their dent in the grassy hill.
The man emerged from the thicket and stood with the others, tearing clinging vines and leaves from his clothing as he did so.
“What is wrong?” a voice asked. “There has been no explosion.”
“The fuse was wet,” was the reply.
“Then why didn’t you go back and fix it?” demanded the first speaker. “The sooner the job is done the better.”
“I heard some one stirring in the jungle,” was the reply. ”

“ Ned had figured it out that one attacking the dam would naturally seek to enlarge the locks and the spillway and also to burrow in under the bulk of the dam where the sand and clay had been washed in below sea-level by countless years of flood and storm. The locks and spillway, enlarged, would require years of active work for repair; the sand and clay, if subjected to high explosives, would cause the crest of the dam to drop in on the north side and so enfeeble the entire structure, requiring the gigantic work of constructing new foundations. ”

“ Frank said. “Why, he used to think Pedro was the whole works.”
“You say the fellow’s name is not Pedro at all, but Pedrarias?” asked Ned.
“Yes, that is what father says. I gave him the name of Pedro for short. He is an offshoot of the Spanish family that ruled the Isthmus 153 after Balboa was shot. He claims pure Castilian blood, and all that. How he ever consented to become a servant is more than I can make out.” ”

“ The men who had operated the bomb factory had escaped, every one of them, and Ned turned away in disgust at the luck which seemed to pursue him.
“Every man of them got away,” he grumbled. 122
“What you kicking about?” demanded Jack, pulling away at the pile of pipe which was evidently the makings of a supply of bombs. “You captured their artillery.”
“They can make more,” Ned replied.
“And the maps he found,” Jimmie cried. “Maps showing how to blow up a Gatun dam and a New York newspaper office. All marked out. Just like lessons on blowing things up from a correspondence school.” ”

“ At the foot of the staircase, they heard the telephone ringing, and Frank went into the closet. When he came out again he seemed excited and unnerved.
“I guess there’s something more than the necklace at stake to-night,” he said, “for Dad’s rooms in the newspaper building have been ransacked. I guess we won’t have to go down to Gatun to lock horns with the men who are in this plot against Uncle Sam. If the Gatun dam was in New York, they might have blown it up to-night, for all that has been done to thwart them.” ”

“ Before leaving the scene of their operations in Mexico, Lieutenant Gordon had been ordered to New York on important official business. Only an inkling of what that official business was contained in his letter of instructions. Only the bare fact that complications in the Canal Zone were placing the Panama Canal in danger was conveyed to him. Later, after his arrival in New York, he had learned that the government suspected plots to destroy the great Gatun dam by the use of explosives. ”

“ Frank said.
“This old house,” the Colonel began, a sneer on his thin lips, “is larger than you may think. At the top of a wing which stretches back toward the jungle there is a room where Spanish prisoners were once confined. With your permission I’ll escort you boys there, advising you, in the meantime, to think the situation over carefully.”
The puff of dust on the distant hilltop grew more pronounced, and the chug-chug of a swiftly moving motor reached the ears of those in the ancient structure. ”

“ Then Ned sat down on the tool-box and told Welch the story of the abduction of the lieutenant, and also the story of what was going on there that night, as he understood it. To say that Welch was profoundly excited does not half express the foreman’s state of mind as he listened.
“My God!” he cried, when Ned paused. 240 “To think of the wickedness of the thing. To destroy the work of years. To delay the completion of the canal for a decade. What can we do? In this darkness, the spoilers can work their will.” ”

“ Lieutenant Gordon had taken into his possession the crude map of the Gatun dam which Ned had discovered in the old temple bomb-room. The next room, the one from which the alleged sick man had been taken, was also in disorder, and the door which connected the two apartments had been forced open. There was a strong odor of chloroform in both rooms.
The clerk did not need to be told what had 232 taken place. His face turned white as chalk and his voice trembled as he asked:
“What is to be done? Think of the lieutenant being carried off from this hotel in the daytime. It will ruin us.” ”

“ The noises of the digging, the dynamiting, the pounding of the steam shovels, the nervous tooting of the dirt trains, might have been a thousand miles away.
“You’ve got to show me,” Peter said, after studying over the matter for a moment. “That moon isn’t on no stick on a Bowery stage. It is there in the south, where it belongs, and if we continue to keep it on our right we’ll come to the canal in time. We are farther away than we thought for.” 163
They struggled on through the jungle for another half hour, and then stopped while Jimmie looked reproachfully at the moon. ”

“ Ned said. “You fellows are cranks! You would have worked great harm to your Emperor if you had succeeded. By the way,” he added, “what did you do with Lieutenant Gordon?”
Gostel glared at his questioner, but Itto beckoned Ned to his side.
“The old stone house on the road to Las Cruces!” he whispered.
“Where is that?” asked Welch, who had bent over the wounded man and heard the words.
“I know,” replied Ned. “One act of this tragedy has already been pulled off there. Have your men take these cranks to Gatun and get a railroad motor. We must get to Gamboa without loss of time. ”

“ Ned said, “but there is one ray of light in the situation. If the plotters find out that the editor of the Daily Planet has documentary evidence against them, they may 22 try to steal the papers, and so disclose their identity.”
“I would steal them myself if I got a chance,” laughed Gordon. “The government needs every pointer it can get.”
“Better let the others try first,” advised Nestor, with a smile. “It really does begin to look as if the first move in this Panama game might be made right here in New York.”
“I’d like to know where Shaw got the pointer,” Gordon said, in a moment. ”

“ There were giant ceiba trees, with trunks as smooth as if they had been polished by human hands, tremendous cotton-trees, their branches bowed down with air plants, palms, to which clung clusters of wild nuts, thick, bulbous trees, taller trees with buttressed roots, as if Nature knew the strain that was to be placed upon them and braced them up accordingly, trees with bark like mirrors, and trees with six-inch spike growing from the bark. ”

“ Peter replied. “There’s no sight of the canal yet. If we could only get out to the cut we’d soon be home.”
“Home?” repeated Jimmie, in disgust, “we’re more’n fifty miles from camp, the way the roads run. If we can get a train at Culebra, we may be able to get home by dark. You must remember that we rode a long way with the lieutenant. Culebra is almost to the Pacific. The locks are there, or near there.” ”

“ The attempt to capture the two boys, as previously told by Gastong, on the 197 previous night, and the unmistakable anxiety of Chester to remain in their company, had led Ned to believe that at last he was getting to some of the people “high up” in the conspiracy against the canal. Surely a man of the education and evident wealth of Harvey Chester was not loitering along the Culebra cut just for the excitement there was in it. It was plain that he was there for a purpose, and the arrival of a man Jimmie declared to be Gostel had convinced Ned that the heads of the plot were not far away. ”

“ Lieutenant Gordon said, “we’ll go after the men higher up.”
He started back as he uttered the words, for Mr. Shaw, Harvey Chester, Col. Van Ellis, George Tolford, and Tony Chester came hastening toward him.
“There are three of the men higher up!” the lieutenant shouted. “I arrest you, gentlemen, for treason!”
The three men drew back in surprise and Mr. Shaw stepped forward.
“What does it mean?” he asked. “I sailed from New York the day after the boys left, but reached Culebra only to-night. When I came here I found Mr. Chester and Mr. Van Ellis waiting for news from Ned Nestor. ”

“ The boys fairly shrieked their appreciation of the information that they were to depart for the Isthmus so soon, and gathered about Lieutenant Gordon with extended hands.
“But you must understand this,” the lieutenant said, returning the greetings heartily, “you are not supposed to be in my company at all. I may need to talk with some of you, but if I do it will be in a casual manner, just as one tourist might address another. I am traveling alone, understand. I shall stop at the Tivoli, at Ancon, a short distance from Panama, and you will have a cottage in the jungle, near Gatun.” ”

“ The cook goes to Gatun and Culebra and Jack Bosworth remains at the cottage. They won’t think of molesting the cook.”
“I would rather go with you.”
“But some one ought to remain here,” urged Jack.
Tommy thought over the proposition for a moment and smiled.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll remain here, as long as necessary,” he added.
The exchange of clothing was quickly made and Jack managed to darken his face with a stain made of crushed leaves which Tommy gathered for him.
“Now, you’ll stay right here, won’t you?” Jack asked, as he passed out of the doorway. “Ned and Jimmie may return, you know.” ”

“ Even Lieutenant Gordon seemed inclined to think that some huge joke was being pulled off.
“The man who came in at six,” Ned replied, “came in out of the rain, and left marks showing the height and breadth of his shoulders on a wall against which he leaned. These marks show a man tall and slender. He entered the house dripping with water, moving about like a street sprinkler and leaving signs of his presence in the places he visited. He seems to be a person of rather refined tastes, inclined to be neat in personal appearance, for he went to Frank’s bathroom to clean up. ”

“ The little fellow did not, of course, know that the boys were at that moment in the ancient house near the Culebra cut, nor that an automobile was speeding over a hill to the north of the old structure—watched by his friends with anxious interest.
“Something may have happened to them,” Ned said. “It seems to me that this case is set on automatic springs. The slightest move on our part brings out a bang from the other side. Our opponents are industrious chaps, and that’s no fabrication. They keep going every minute of the time.”
“And they’ve won every trick so far,” grumbled Jimmie. ”

“ He did not like the idea of accepting responsibility for the important move he was determined to make, but Lieutenant Gordon was not to be found, and there was nothing for him to do but to go ahead.
“Now, boys,” he said to his chums, “we are going into a game to-night that may lead to bloodshed. Again, it may prove a farce. I have only my own judgment to go on, but the matter is so serious that I’m going to take a risk. I should prefer to have Lieutenant Gordon with us, but that seems to be impossible. Get your guns ready, and I’ll arrange for a railroad motor car to take us to Gatun.” ”