Boy Scouts in the Canal Zone: or, The Plot Against Uncle Sam

After a hard walk of a mile or more the three came out to a little clearing in the jungle and saw a tent with screened openings. Standing in front of the tent, his face turned toward the approaching boys, was a man Jimmie had last seen in the Shaw residence in New York City.

CHAPTER XVI.

A MIGHTY JAR IN THE JUNGLE

It was half-past two in the morning when Ned Nestor and his companions left the cottage in the jungle. A few fleecy clouds were now drifting over the sky, but, on the whole, the night was fairly clear. It was some distance to Gatun, where Ned hoped to secure a railroad motor for the Culebra trip, so the boys moved along at a swift pace.

However, the party was not destined to reach Gatun as speedily as was anticipated. When the boys came to the spot from which Ned and Jimmie had struck off into the jungle, or into the edge of it, rather, in pursuit of the man who had placed the bomb, Jack called Ned’s attention to two skulking figures moving up the swell of the hill which the two boys had climbed the night before.

“There are some of your friends – the bomb-makers,” Jack said.

“Yes,” Ned replied, “they have been in advance of us for some distance.”

“Watching the cottage, I presume,” Jack suggested.

“More likely watching to see if we remained at home or went abroad planning mischief for them,” Ned replied.

“Then they’re next to us,” Jimmie broke in. “I’d like to follow ’em up to the old temple an’ blow ’em up.”

“I have an idea that something of the sort may happen before morning,” Ned said. “I had the idea that the fellows would remain away from the bomb-room for a few days, believing that we were watching it, but it seems that they are back again. We mustn’t permit them to take the stuff away.”

“Goin’ to blow it up to-night?” demanded Jimmie, eagerly. “Gee, but that will make a blow-up for your whiskers. Say! I’d like to sell tickets of admission for this performance. That would be poor, wouldn’t it?”

“It may not be necessary to blow it up,” Ned observed. “If Lieutenant Gordon sent a couple of secret service men back there, as arranged, the fellows have not got into their bomb-chamber. If the secret service men did not arrive, it is likely that the plotters are moving the explosives away. We’ll go and see, anyway.”

“I’ll run on ahead and see what’s doin’,” Jimmie exclaimed, darting away.

Ned caught him by the collar and drew him back, whereat the boy appeared to be very angry.

“You little dunce,” Ned said, “you’ll get a bullet into your anatomy if you don’t be more careful. Now, you boys go on down the road toward Gatun,” he added, turning to the others, “and make all the noise you want to. I’ll go up to the old temple and see what is going on there. One of you would better go with me – not close up with me, but within seeing distance.”

“That’s me,” cried Jimmie. “I’ll stay near enough to see what becomes of you, and go back and tell the boys if they’re needed.”

This arrangement was finally decided on, and Ned and Jimmie dropped into the jungle while the others proceeded on the way to Gatun, making plenty of noise as they walked. As they disappeared the two men who had been seen just before made their appearance at a point half way up the hill.

They stood crouching in the moonlight for a moment, pointing and chattering words which reached the ears of the watchers only faintly, and then turned toward the old temple. They walked with less caution now, and it was plain to the watchers that they believed that all the boys had gone on to Gatun.

When Ned and Jimmie came within sight of the old temple half a dozen shadowy forms were seen moving about on the uneven pavements which had at one time formed the floor of a court. When the two Ned was following approached they advanced to meet them.

A conversation lasting perhaps five minutes followed the meeting, and then, leaving one man on guard, the others passed through the doorway under the vines and disappeared from view. The man who had remained outside was evidently the leader of the party, for the others had listened when he talked and had obeyed his orders, as indicated to Ned by gestures.

This man stood at the doorway behind the vines for a moment after the others had gone below and then seated himself on a crumbling wall not far away.

“Why don’t you geezle him?” whispered Jimmie, who was not staying back very far, much to Ned’s amusement.

“I was thinking of that,” Ned replied. “I shall have to circle around so as to get in on him from behind.”

“You wait a second,” whispered the boy, “and I’ll make him turn around so as to face the other way.”

Before Ned could offer any objections or restrain the boy’s hand, Jimmie launched a stone into the thicket on the other side. The watcher sprang to his feet instantly, moved away a few paces, and turned back.

“He’s goin’ to call the others,” Jimmie whispered.

The fellow approached the doorway as Jimmie spoke, which was exactly what Ned did not want. If the man would remain outside, alone, it might be possible to capture him with little risk. If he called his companions, there would be no hope of taking him prisoner.

Ned motioned to Jimmie and the lad threw another stone into the thicket, and again the watcher moved in that direction. This time he advanced to the edge of the thicket and bent over to peer under the overhanging branches of a tree.

Before he could regain an upright position, or give a cry of warning because of the quick steps he heard behind him, Ned was grappling with him, his fingers closing about the muscular throat. It was a desperate, although a silent, struggle for a minute, and Ned might have been disappointed in the result if Jimmie had not bounced in on the two and terminated the battle by sitting down on the head of the man Ned had already thrown to the ground. As an additional precaution against any noise calculated to alarm the others, Jimmie held his gun close to the captive’s nose.

“Nothin’ stirrin’ here,” he panted. “You lie still.”

“What does this mean?”

The words were English and the voice was certainly that of a man from one of the Eastern states of the North American republic.

Ned drew a noose around the prisoner’s wrists and tied his rather delicate hands together firmly behind his back. Then he searched him for weapons. A revolver was found in a hip pocket, also a package of papers in a breast pocket. The fellow cursed and swore like a pirate when the papers were taken.

“This is highway robbery,” he finally calmed down enough to say. “I am an official of the Zone, and you shall suffer for this.”

“Gee,” said Jimmie, with a chuckle, “you must have a contract to lift the canal an’ the Gatun dam into the blue sky.”

The prisoner snarled at the lad a moment and turned to Ned.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked.

“What are your men doing down there?” Ned asked, ignoring the question.

“They are removing explosives, explosives to be used in the work at Gatun.”

“Why is it stored here?”

“For safety.”

“Were your men storing this bomb,” taking the clumsy exhibit from his pocket, “under my cottage for safety?” Ned demanded.

“I don’t know anything about that,” was the reply. “Return my papers.”

Instead of returning them, Ned took the packet from his pocket and made a quick examination so far as the light would permit, of the half dozen letters it held.

The captive writhed about and cursed fluently until Jimmie touched his forehead with the muzzle of his gun and warned him against “starting anything he couldn’t finish,” as the boy expressed it.

“Now,” Ned said to Jimmie, restoring the letters to his pocket, “you march this pirate off toward the cottage while I scare the others out of the bomb-room and blow it up.”

“Blow it up before they get out,” urged the boy.

“I am no executioner,” Ned replied. “They doubtless deserve to be put to death, but I’m not the one to do it.”

“Wait,” said the captive, as Jimmie motioned him away. “If you will give me a chance to tell my side of the story those letters reveal, I may be able to establish my innocence. I can make it worth your while to listen to me,” he added, significantly.