BOY SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE.
Ned Nestor and Frank Shaw sat on the porch, that night, for a long time
after the other boys were asleep. It had been decided that Frank should
stand guard until midnight, but Ned was far too anxious to attempt to
sleep. The absence of Jimmie and Peter worried him, and he sat waiting for
some sign of their approach until very late.
"Frank," he said, after a long silence, "there has been some talk in this
case about your father having an interest in an emerald mine down here.
Have you any idea where that mine is?"
"Not the slightest," was the reply. "All I know about it is that it is a
paying proposition, and that foreigners are in the game with him."
"You do not even know whether the mine is situated in the Province of
Panama?"
"I rather think it is."
"I have heard talk," Ned went on, "about mines on the line of the canal.
It may be that this one is."
"I think it is not far from Colon," was the reply.
"Do you know who these foreigners are?"
"Japanese, I think."
Ned was silent for a time, as if studying some proposition over in his
mind. The boys in the cottage were stirring in their sleep, and a
shrill-voiced bird in the jungle was calling to its mate.
"What are you trying to get at?" Frank asked.
"Has it ever occurred to you," Ned replied, "that your father acted rather
strangely on the night he was attacked in his house--the night your
emerald necklace was stolen and the office building searched?"
"I have never thought of his attitude as remarkable," replied Frank, "but,
come to think the matter over from this distance, it does seem that he did
act queerly when asked to reveal the nature of the information he had
received. Lieutenant Gordon was angry with him."
"Yes; the lieutenant believed that the papers would help him a lot if he
could get hold of them. He still thinks so."
"I understand that he still, in his mind, accuses father of disloyalty to
his country," said Frank.
"It seems to me," Ned continued, "that one of two propositions is true.
Either the papers would be useless in revealing the plot, or they deal
with a situation which your father believes himself capable of handling
alone."
"I wonder what he will think when he gets the cable Lieutenant Gordon took
up to Panama for me?" asked Frank.
"What did you say in the message?"
"I told him to keep an army of men in the basement of the newspaper
building--to look out for bombs all over the structure."
"I am glad you were able to warn him," Ned said, "but I can't help
believing that he knew something of the peril he was in before we left New
York. He was altogether too quiet that night when his house and his office
were searched. He appeared to me to be planning a revenge both effective
and secret."
"And he never made a row about Pedro leaving him," 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 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."
"Has it never occurred to you," asked Ned, "that he might have had an
object, besides that of salary, in acting the part of a menial?"
"I have thought, since the night of the robbery, that he might have
scented the necklace from afar off and come there to get it."
"Your father found him on the Isthmus?"
"Yes; on his latest trip."
"He consulted with him, in a way, concerning conditions here?"
"Yes, I think he did. Pedro is a very intelligent man, and proud as the
Son of the Morning. He gave me his pedigree about the first day of his
service in the house."
"Perhaps your father sought his advice regarding the emerald business."
"Yes, I think he did, now and then."
"And Pedro was always ready to advise?"
"Oh, of course."
"And your father grew to put some confidence in his talk?"
"I presume so, for they talked together a good deal. But I don't see what
you are getting at."
"Do you know whether the two discussed the location and opening up of new
mines?"
"Oh, yes. Father is always after new mines."
"Where is he looking for them?"
"On the Isthmus and all through the republic of Colombia, I think."
"And especially on the Isthmus?"
"I believe so."
"And Pedro was active in looking up possible workings?"
"Yes; he used to show father maps and plans, at night, in the study, and
they used to pore over them for hours at a time. But what does that amount
to? Father took him to New York, I have no doubt, because he thought he
would be useful in that way. The fellow knows every inch of the Isthmus
and South America. Now, let me ask you a question. Do you think he stole
my emerald necklace?"
"No, frankly, I do not," replied Ned.
"But you have a notion that he let the others into the house?"
"Well, he might have done so."
"He showed guilt when he ran away."
"Of course. The fact is that if he did let the thieves into the house he
did not do so especially to give them a chance to steal the necklace. At
least that is the way I look at it. And, again, if he did admit them, he
permitted them to do a bungling job."
"You mean that they didn't get what they wanted?"
"Exactly."
"The papers concerning the plot?"
"Probably."
"Well, how could they get them if they weren't in the house?"
"He should have located them before he turned his confederates loose."
"Then you really think Pedro was at the bottom of all that?"
"I have not said so," was the reply. "There is no knowing whether he was
or not."
"I wish you wouldn't be so secretive," Frank said. "You have a straight
out and out theory of that night's work, and you won't tell me what it
is."
"I never form theories," was the reply.
"What would Pedro want of the papers?" Frank demanded. "Was he in the plot
to blow up the dam, or was he just paid to get them?"
"I can tell you more about that in a few days. It is midnight, and I will
relieve you. Go to bed."
"I shall sleep sounder after I hear from father," the boy said, passing
into the cottage. "He may be having troubles of his own in New York," he
added, pausing at the door for a last word.
Ned sat for a long time on the screened porch with the splendor of the
tropical night about him. The jungle came nearly to the walls of the house
on all sides, save in front, where a little clearing had been made, and
the noises, the creature and vine talk of the thickets, came to his ears
like low music.
He listened constantly for the footsteps of the absent boys, but for a
long time there was no break in the lilt of the forest. Then--it must have
been two o'clock--he heard the quick beat of running feet, and directly
Gastong, as Jack had fancifully named his new acquaintance, came spurting
into the cleared space.
He stopped running when he reached the middle of the cutaway spot and,
seeing Ned on the porch, beckoned to him.
Ned was off the porch in an instant, standing by the exhausted boy, who
was now on the ground, supporting his swaying figure with one hand
clutching the long grass.
"What is it," asked Ned.
"Have you heard anything of the boys, the two who went away in the car?"
asked the other. "Have they come back?"
"No," replied Ned, filled with a sickening sense of helplessness, "they
have not returned. Come inside the screen and speak low, so as not to wake
the others."
Gastong rose slowly to his feet and walked stumblingly to the porch. Once
inside he dropped into a chair.
"I have run a long distance," he said, by way of apology for his weakened
condition. "I'm all in."
"What is it about the boys?" Ned demanded, clutching the other by the
arm.
"I stopped at the old house," began Gastong, but Ned cut him short.
"About the boys," he said, shaking him fiercely. "What about the boys?"
"They are either in the hands of your enemies or lost in the jungle."
The words were spoken shrinkingly, as if the news conveyed might be of his
own making.
"Where did you leave them?"
"I stopped at the old house," began the other again, "and remained there
only a few minutes. Then I went on toward the Culebra cut and came upon a
friend who told me what had taken place."
"Well! Well! Well!"
"The boys stopped at the cut, this side of the high point, and were there
accosted by Gostel. Oh, you don't know Gostel?"
"No, no," was the impatient reply. "Who the dickens is Gostel?"
"He is a spy, a Jap who has been hanging about the Isthmus ever since the
beginning of the work."
Ned was thinking fast. This might mean something tangible. He had never
heard of Gostel before.
"Well, what of Gostel?" he asked.
"He talked with the boys for a time and invited them to become his guests
for the night. He referred them to Lieutenant Gordon. I got it from my
friend who heard all their talk."
"And they went away with him?"
Ned's voice was harsh and high, and the boys in the cottage were heard
moving about, as if awakened by his voice.
"No, they didn't go away with him. They became suspicious of him, and when
he went for his car they ran away into the jungle. A mad thing to do. A
crazy thing for boys to do, for strangers. There is death in the jungle."
"And why didn't you go in after them?" asked Ned.
"What could I do alone?" asked the other, with a little shiver of
apprehension.
"If you know the country--"
Gastong interrupted with a gesture of impatience.
"Knowing the country couldn't help me, not with Gostel and his men
trailing into the jungle after the boys."
There was a new fear creeping into Ned's heart, and he was beginning to
realize that there are perils more to be dreaded than the perils of the
jungles.
"How many went in?" asked Ned, in a moment.
"Oh, half a dozen--I don't know. Some one must go for help. Gostel will
kill the boys. I should think that after the experiences of the
afternoon--"
"I am ready to go this minute," Ned said.
"Oh, but you must have torches, and guns, and stand ready to fight against
wild beasts as well as against men. There are jaguars in there, and
boas--serpents ten yards in length. Natives have been killed by jaguars
within the month."
"Jaguars rarely come as far north as this," Ned said, "and your serpents
are not dangerous," but the other insisted that there were both jaguars
and boas in the jungle.
"This man Gostel may have gone to the rescue of the boys," suggested Ned.
Gastong laughed weakly.
"You don't know him," he said. "I tell you he is a spy, a Japanese spy,
watching every inch of the canal as it is excavated. He is in the pay of
hostile interests, and will work you all a mischief. He knew before you
arrived that you were coming."
"How do you know that?" demanded Ned.
Gastong's replies to the question were not satisfactory, and so Ned gave
over questioning him. The sleeping boys were aroused and in ten minutes,
just as a faint tint of day came into the east, they were away to the
jungle--taking the way to Gatun at first, as the thicket they sought was
far to the southeast of that city.