WE LEAVE PANAMA
Well, the story is told, as you may easily guess.
Uncle Naboth and I ran up to Colon, and not liking that city took a
train across the isthmus to Panama, which we liked no better. The
half-caste Spaniards and natives are a miserable lot, and do not compare
either in intelligence or dignity with the isolated tribes of the San
Blas. Some day, however, when the great canal is built, Americans will
invade these parts in such numbers that the present population will
disappear.
It is a mistake to think the climate of Panama unhealthful. On the
uplands, both north and south of the depression where the canal zone is
established, it is as healthful as any tropical country in the world. In
the zone itself, which is ten miles wide, bad sanitation caused by the
carelessness of the French workmen used constantly to breed fevers and
disease. The Americans are now busily cleansing the Augean stables and
good sanitary conditions are rapidly being established. But I will say
this: that unless one has business in Panama he may readily discover a
more desirable location for a residence.
We soon returned to the wreck, which we preferred to the towns of the
isthmus, and there amused ourselves until the _Carmenia_ arrived at
Colon. Then her captain, an active and energetic young man named Colton,
took charge of the remains of the _Gladys H._ He had received orders to
remove the cargo, strip the wreck of all valuables and then abandon her
where she lay.
He brought his ship alongside with ease and as soon as he was in charge
and had given me a receipt, our people removed their personal
possessions and were rowed round to Colon, where a steamer was shortly
due that would carry us to New Orleans.
I kept an eye upon the forest for Moit, thinking he might appear to bid
us good-bye; but he did not. We warned Captain Colton not to land in the
San Blas country, but did not confide to him any part of our recent
remarkable experiences.
A few days later we caught the steamer and made a quick voyage across
the gulf. We reached Chelsea on the twelfth day of February, and were
warmly welcomed by my father, who reported the _Seagull_ nearing
completion.
The diamonds were sold for a surprising amount of money, because the
stones proved exceptionally large and perfect, and the proceeds were
equally divided between Ned Britton, Uncle Naboth and myself. We had
selected three good specimens of the “white pebbles” to sell for the
benefit of our faithful seamen, and the amount of prize money they
received from this source greatly delighted them. Nux and Bryonia would
never accept anything in the way of money at all. They said that they
belonged to Uncle Naboth and “Mars Sam,” and they knew very well that
whatever we had they were welcome to.
Neither Mr. Harlan nor his company ever blamed me for the loss of the
_Gladys H._ It was one of those fateful occurrences that mortal man is
powerless to control.
I may add that “The Boy Fortune Hunters” are still fortune hunting.
Perhaps you have read in “The Boy Fortune Hunters in Alaska” of our trip
to the gold fields. Some of the adventures we have had in the trim and
speedy _Seagull_, since our return from Panama, I have set forth in “The
Boy Fortune Hunters in Egypt”, where we discovered buried treasure in
the great desert, and in “The Boy Fortune Hunters in China”, where we
penetrated to the dangerous interior and rifled the ancestral halls of a
mighty Prince.
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AUNT JANE’S NIECES
How Louise, Beth and Patsy were invited by their Aunt Jane to visit
her at Elmhurst; how one of them missed becoming her heiress, and how
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AUNT JANE’S NIECES ABROAD
How Uncle John took the three girls to Europe, where they witnessed
the eruption of Vesuvius and had many exciting adventures in Sicily.
AUNT JANE’S NIECES AT MILLVILLE
How the three girls spent a delightful summer vacation at Uncle John’s
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AUNT JANE’S NIECES AT WORK
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Transcriber’s Notes
--Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public
domain in the country of publication.
--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and
dialect unchanged.
--In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the
HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)
End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Fortune Hunters in Panama, by Floyd Akers