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FRONTISPIECE. Boy Scouts in the Canal Zone;or The Plot Against Uncle Sam.]
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Boy Scouts in the Canal Zone
OrThe Plot Against Uncle Sam
ByScout Master, G. Harvey Ralphson
Author of"Boy Scouts in Mexico; or On Guard with Uncle Sam.""Boy Scouts in the Philippines; or The Key to the Treaty Box.""Boy Scouts in the Northwest; or Fighting Forest Fires."
Embellished with full page and other illustrations.
M. A. Donohue & Company, Chicago
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COPYRIGHT 1911.M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Made in U. S. A.
Electrotyped, Printed and Bound byM. A. Donohue & Co.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE I. The Plot Against the Gatun Dam. 7 II. Theft of the Emerald Necklace. 19 III. How the Trick was Turned. 31 IV. The Man in the Closet. 43 V. At the Great Gatun Dam. 55 VI. A Bomb and a Ruined Temple. 67 VII. Working on Ned's Theory. 79 VIII. Explosives for the Gatun Dam. 93 IX. A Fasting Stunt is Suggested. 105 X. A Delegation of Boy Scouts. 116 XI. Jack and His Friend Gastong. 127 XII. Lost in the Jungle at Night. 139 XIII. Boy Scouts to the Rescue. 150 XIV. The Kill in the Jungle. 161 XV. Signal Fires in the Jungle. 172 XVI. A Mighty Jar in the Jungle. 183 XVII. The Watcher in the Thicket. 194 XVIII. Jimmie Releases a Prisoner. 207 XIX. A Guardian Needing Guarding. 220 XX. The Spoil of the Locks. 233 XXI. The Tangle Straightened Out. 245
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BOY SCOUTS IN THE CANAL ZONEorTHE PLOT AGAINST UNCLE SAM
CHAPTER I
THE PLOT AGAINST THE GATUN DAM.
"Five Black Bears, two Wolves, and a Panther. That would be a choicecollection of wild animals to take to the Canal Zone."
The remark was greeted with shouts of laughter, and then the boys in thehandsome clubroom of the Black Bear Patrol, in the city of New York,settled down to a serious discussion of the topic of the evening. Therewere seven present, Ned Nestor and Jimmie McGraw, of the Wolf Patrol;George Tolford, Harry Stevens, Glen Howard, and Jack Bosworth, of thefamous Black Bear Patrol; and Peter Fenton, of the Panther Patrol. Theyranged in age from thirteen to seventeen, Jimmie being the youngest andNed Nestor the oldest of the group.
They were all enthusiastic Boy Scouts, and their clubrooms were wellsupplied with boxing gloves, foils, and footballs, as well as weapons andarticles necessary on camping expeditions. The clubroom in which the boyswere assembled on this gusty night in early April was situated in theupper part of the fine residence of Jack's father, on Fifth avenue. TheBlack Bear Patrol was composed almost entirely of the sons of very wealthyparents, and the boys were off to the woods and waters wheneveropportunity offered.
In company with Lieutenant Gordon, of the United States Secret Service,and Frank Shaw, a member of the Black Bear Patrol, whose arrival wasmomentarily expected, the boys present had, on the previous day, returnedfrom a series of unusual and exciting experiences in Mexico, and now theywere discussing a proposed plan for an excursion to the Canal Zone. Ofcourse they could make the trip if they desired, but what they wanted wasto go in the company of Lieutenant Gordon, sent there on a secret missionby the Secretary of War.
"Aw, come on, Ned, an' be a good feller," Jimmie McGraw urged, as Nestorexpressed a doubt as to the advisability of taking the boys on the CanalZone trip, to which he had been invited by the lieutenant, both asassistant and companion. "Let us go! We'll talk the lieutenant intoletting us go along if you'll say a good word for us."
During the trip to Mexico to which reference has been made, Ned Nestor hadsucceeded in averting serious complications between the government of thatrebellious republic and the government of the United States. Through hisefforts a threatened raid across the Rio Grande from the Mexican side hadbeen checked on the very border, and the secret service men associatedwith him did not hesitate to declare that his tact and activity had donemuch to prevent a war between the two countries.
Before leaving the scene of their operations in Mexico, Lieutenant Gordonhad been ordered to New York on important official business. Only aninkling of what that official business was contained in his letter ofinstructions. Only the bare fact that complications in the Canal Zone wereplacing the Panama Canal in danger was conveyed to him. Later, after hisarrival in New York, he had learned that the government suspected plots todestroy the great Gatun dam by the use of explosives.
Only a hint of the threatened danger had been conveyed to the Wardepartment, but that was enough to set on foot the investigation of whichLieutenant Gordon was to be the head. One of the lieutenant's first actsafter receiving his instructions was to secure the services of Ned Nestor,being guided in this by the wonderful success of the boy's efforts inMexico.
Thus it chanced that on this night every boy who had had the good fortuneto share in the Mexican adventures was importuning Nestor to use hisinfluence with the lieutenant in order that they might all be taken intothe party. They had already gained the consent of their parents, Nestor,individually, was willing, and it only remained to convince LieutenantGordon that they could be of use to him and the government on the CanalZone.
"If you don't loosen up and take us with you," Harry Stevens declared,with a grin in the direction of his companions, "we'll give you a chase tothe equator. You know how you found Jimmie in George's bed? Well, if youdon't take us along with you, you'll find us all in your bed before youget to Panama."
"It seems a pity to unload such a mess of wild animals on the people ofthe Zone," laughed Nestor, "but we'll leave it all to Lieutenant Gordon.Lavish your honeyed words and smiles on him!"
"What's it all about, anyway?" demanded Jimmie. "It's something concerningthe big canal, I know, for I heard you two talking of explosives at theGatun dam."
"We all heard that," cried Jack Bosworth. "You can't keep secrets from us.What is it all about? Is some one trying to blow up the big dam?"
Nestor looked into the faces of the boys with serious eyes. He had notsuspected that they knew anything definite regarding the secret mission,and was annoyed to think that he in part might be to blame for the leakwhich had been discovered.
"Is that what you're going for?" asked Harry Stevens. "Are you going tomix with governmental affairs again? Because we've got to go if you are.Honest, now, we won't say a word if you tell us."
"Do you all promise that?" asked Nestor.
"Sure we do," came in chorus.
"Well, then," Nestor went on, "we don't know much about the matter, exceptthat there are hostile influences at work down there, directed against thecanal. We do not know the proposed point of attack, but presume that thebig dam is in the greatest danger. We do not even know where to look forthe plotters, or whether they are Americans or of foreign birth. Themotive for the contemplated destruction of the great waterway is not evensurmised. In fact, for all we know, this may be a scare, but the thing isserious enough to call for rigid investigation, so down there we go."
"Sure you can't get along without us!" cried Jimmie. "If you want to knowwho is a
t the bottom of it all, just ask me. It's the railroads. I'veheard men say the canal would have been finished years ago only for thedetermined opposition of the transcontinental lines."
"Much you know about it!" cried Harry Stevens. "If anybody should ask youwhere to look for the trouble, put your finger on the map of Japan. Thelittle brown men are digging under the Gatun dam if any one is."
"It does not seem possible that either the Japanese government or therailroad interests would descend to such despicable work," Nestor said. "Iwon't believe it of either of them until I have absolute proof."
"It would be going some to blow up the Gatun dam," Peter Fenton cut in."Why, when finished, that dam will be more than a hundred feet high, andwill cover one hundred and sixty-four square miles with water. Its purposeis to huddle the highland streams into a lake which will become a part ofthe canal. This lake will cover plantations, small farms, villages, andeven the present right of way of the Panama railroad."
"If they succeed in blowing up the Gatun dam," Jack said, "there will beno Canal Completion Exposition in San Francisco in four years. That wouldbe a shame, for we were all going."
"Think of all that land being put down in the bed of a lake!" HarryStevens exclaimed. "We ought to have taken a tip when the canal was firsttalked about and bought up that property. Uncle Sam would have bought itof us at a fancy price. Just think of a sure-thing speculation likethat."
Peter Fenton, known as the Encyclopedia, sat back in his chair and laugheduntil his face was as red as the painted snout of the black bear whichlooked down from a shield on the wall. The boys shook him up until heregained the power of speech.
"If you boys had been one year old when the Panama Canal was firstmentioned," he managed to say, choking back his laughter, "you would nowstand at the venerable age of four hundred and sixteen years."
"I guess you get your history in the dream book," Jimmie cried.
"Nixy dream book," declared Peter, with the dignity which comes of muchknowledge. "The Spaniards who lived in the Province of New Granada, on theIsthmus of Darien, as it was then called, planned a ship canal across theneck in the year 1518, and there has been talk of the big ditch eversince."
"Then it takes a long time to get at the job," suggested Jimmie. "Thetrench could have been scooped out with a teaspoon in less than fourhundred years."
"Wait until you get down there! You'll see what impression your teaspoonwould make. I've been reading up since I've returned to New York, and knowsomething about the size of the job. The canal will cost millions morethan Congress figured on, and the job is going ahead without graft, atthat."
"Still," Harry Stevens interrupted, "it would have been a wise move tohave annexed a lot of that land."
"If your speculation had developed when the first talk of the canal washeard," Peter went on, "you would have had to do business with KingFerdinand, of Spain. He would have put the soil on the bargain counter foryou one day and shot you up the next. That wouldn't have been socheerful."
"Nice party to do business with," laughed Harry.
"He was next to his king job, all right," Peter continued. "He was therewith the gunpowder when any subject stood to put anything over on him. Hecaused Columbus to be returned to Spain in chains, and permitted one ofhis officials to shoot up the first white man who ever looked out on thePacific from the divide of the Isthmus. He carried things by a largemajority, did Ferdinand."
"It was his queen who put her jewels in soak to buy a ship for Columbus,"commented Jack Bosworth. "I read about it when I was laid up with mybroken arm. You remember the time the horse climbed into my motor car?"
"The police say you never stopped running until you bumped against one ofthe White Mountains," laughed Harry. "Who was this white man who firstclimbed the divide?" he asked; "as I'm going down there, I want to know. Imay set up a monument to his memory."
"Don't be too sure about going," warned Glen Howard. "Lieutenant Gordonmay kick on the whole bunch of us."
"Then we'll all go down in my motor boat," replied Harry. "You can't keepme out of the Canal Zone when there's things doing."
"The man's name was Balboa," said Peter, in answer to the question, as hesmiled at this tardy recognition of the services of the explorer. "He wentbroke at St. Domingo, one day in the year 1510, and hired a fellow to headhim up in a wine cask and put the cask on board a ship bound for Darien.He made the trip, all right, and landed broke, but in three years he wascaptain of the precinct, as they say in Manhattan, and on his way to thePacific. He looked out on the big ocean for the first time on the 26th ofSeptember, 1513. Some say it was the 25th. I don't know which is right."
The door of the clubroom now opened and Lieutenant Gordon entered. He wasa man of not more than thirty, with a stern though not forbidding face andan alert military figure. His brown eyes lighted up with sudden humor ashe dodged the clamorous boys, and dropped into a chair.
"What about it?" asked Jimmie, who seemed to be a favorite with theofficer. "Do we go with you, or do we trail along in the motor boat?"
"The man higher up," began the lieutenant, "says you may go with me if youwill try to--"
There was no necessity for the lieutenant going on with the sentence. Hehad warned the boys so many times as to their conduct on the Isthmus, ifpermitted to go with the secret service men, that they now knew in advancewhat he was going to say, and they repeated his former admonitions withshouts of laughter.
"All right," said the lieutenant, trying to look dignified, "if you won'tlisten you can't go."
"Go on an' talk your chin off," shouted Jimmie. "We'll listen to everyword until our arms drop to the floor."
"Never mind that now," laughed the officer. "I'm too busy at present tospeak the advice you'll all forget before I'm out of the room. Where isFrank Shaw? I came here to see him."
"He was coming down to-night," George Tolford replied, "but it is so latenow that he may not be here. Anything special?"
"Why, yes," was the reply. "I want to know what he has been saying to hisfather about the difficulty in the Canal Zone."
"Why, he doesn't know anything to tell," said Nestor, "not even as much asthe boys here now know, for I have talked the situation over with them butnot with him."
"What do they know regarding the situation?" asked the lieutenant,apprehensively.
"Nothing except that the Panama canal is threatened by some unknowninfluence."
"Well," said the lieutenant, thoughtfully, "some one has been leaking, andit seems as if our first move in the game must be made right here in NewYork."
"It wasn't Frank that leaked," Jimmie asserted, in defense of his friend."He wouldn't do such a thing, and he couldn't tell what he didn't know,anyway," with which logical conclusion the boy turned his back to thegroup.
"There is something wrong somewhere," Lieutenant Gordon said. "Wait untilI tell you what took place this afternoon and you will agree with me."