CHAPTER X.
A DELEGATION OF BOY SCOUTS.
The three men who entered the subterranean chamber where Ned and Jimmiewere hidden did not go to work at the forge, neither did they illuminatethe place with such poor means as were at hand. Instead, they settled downin sullen silence by the dying fire in the forge. What little talk therewas could not be understood by the lads for the reason that it wasconducted in Spanish.
Ned was waiting in the hope that they would soon take their departure, butthey seemed to be in no hurry to do so. Finally it was disclosed, in a fewwords of broken English, that they were waiting for some persons ofimportance to appear.
"If they don't get a move on pretty soon," Jimmie whispered, "we'll haveto make a break of some kind. If we don't get out directly there won't beany newspaper building in the Shaw family, and Uncle Sam won't have anymore Gatun dam than a robin."
"We must wait until the last moment," Ned replied. "The guards out therewould shoot us down before we could reach the head of the stairs. We can'trush them from below."
It was a long and anxious wait there in the underground room, especiallyas so much depended on the boys getting out. They had no idea what hadhappened to the boys left at the cottage, or what was taking place in NewYork. The only thing in their favor was that the workmen did not light thetorches which lay about. Such an act would have led to their discovery andprecipitated a struggle at once.
"See if you can't reach one of them bombs," Jimmie giggled, nudging Ned inthe ribs. "I want to eat it."
"I have about reached that stage myself," Ned replied. "I never was soempty in my life. We'll have to do something before long."
"Suppose I start an' run?" suggested Jimmie.
"You'll get a breakfast of lead if you do," Ned replied. "Sit still."
Again the boys sat back in their corner to wait, huddled together for thesake of companionship, and wondering what had become of their chums at thecottage.
"They ought to be here by this time," Jimmie complained, in a whisper. "Ileft plenty of instructions regarding the route."
The little fellow did not, of course, know that the boys were at thatmoment in the ancient house near the Culebra cut, nor that an automobilewas speeding over a hill to the north of the old structure--watched by hisfriends with anxious interest.
"Something may have happened to them," Ned said. "It seems to me that thiscase is set on automatic springs. The slightest move on our part bringsout a bang from the other side. Our opponents are industrious chaps, andthat's no fabrication. They keep going every minute of the time."
"And they've won every trick so far," grumbled Jimmie.
"Yes, but the game is not out yet," Ned replied, hopefully.
"I should think these gazabos would get tired of waitin' an' go away,"Jimmie said, after another long silence.
"They are taking turns sleeping," Ned replied. "I heard one of themsnoring a few minutes ago."
Jimmie settled back again, rubbing his stomach dolefully, and the placeseemed to grow darker before his eyes. When he awoke again Ned was pullingat his arm, and there was a great shouting and pounding at the door.
"Wake up and get your gun out," Ned said. "There's going to be somethingstarted here in a minute."
"What is it?" demanded the boy, sleepily.
"The others have come," Ned replied, "and there'll be lights in heredirectly."
"I'm so wasted away with hunger," Jimmie said, "that they'll have to shootpretty straight to hit me."
One of the men by the forge now began stirring the embers preparatory tolighting a torch, and the others made for the door.
It looked as if there would be open battle in a moment, but in that momenta shot came from the outside, followed by a faint cheer.
The three men who had waited in the chamber drew together, close to thesullen light of the forge, the torches unlighted in their hands. Theyseemed to be whispering together, and the boys saw them turn their facestoward a corner not far from the forge.
Two more shots came from outside, and then a voice cried, in English:
"Open the door, you chumps."
"That's Jack Bosworth," cried Jimmie, bounding toward the entrance.
Ned followed the boy's movement for an instant, and then faced back towardthe forge, where the three workmen had stood. The last one was justdisappearing through an opening in the wall, and, with a bound the boy wasafter him. A heavy plank door snapped shut in his face.
Then the front door was thrust open, and Frank, and Jack, and Harry, andGlen, and Peter dashed through, shouting at the top of their voices. Jackeven lifted up his chin and howled "In the prison cell I sit."
"Prison nothin'," Jimmie exclaimed, indignantly. "We was just goin' out tofind you fellers."
"That's what the guard at the door said," cried Jack. "He told us that youwere expected out any minute."
The lads danced about like mad creatures for a moment, and then settleddown to meet the situation in which they found themselves.
"Where are the guards?" asked Ned.
"If they are still going at the pace they set out in," laughed Frank,"they must be pretty near up to San Francisco by this time. I never sawsuch running in my life."
"Why didn't you capture them?" asked Jimmie.
"For the same reason you did not capture the men who were inside," laughedFrank.
"But we did capture 'em," insisted Jimmie. "We've got 'em locked up in achamber that opens from that corner."
"Is that true?" asked Frank.
"Yes," replied Ned. "It is true that they went into a chamber over there,but the door is locked on the other side."
"We'll soon remedy that," Jack observed, and in a short time the boys werepounding away at the plank door with a heavy sledge which had evidentlybeen used in cutting up the gas-pipe.
When the door was down a narrow passage was revealed. This, followed bythe boys, led to an opening at the bottom of the knoll on which the templehad been built. The men who had operated the bomb factory had escaped,every one of them, and Ned turned away in disgust at the luck which seemedto pursue him.
"Every man of them got away," he grumbled.
"What you kicking about?" demanded Jack, pulling away at the pile of pipewhich was evidently the makings of a supply of bombs. "You captured theirartillery."
"They can make more," Ned replied.
"And the maps he found," Jimmie cried. "Maps showing how to blow up aGatun dam and a New York newspaper office. All marked out. Just likelessons on blowing things up from a correspondence school."
Frank was all attention immediately. He had heard something like thatbefore that day, and asked a score of questions in a breath.
When the story of the drawings was told the boys gathered about Ned whilehe pointed out the lines drawn in what purported to be a sketch of thebasement of the _Daily Planet_ building. Frank declared that the dots madein the drawing were located exactly at steel and concrete foundationpoints. The plan of destruction had evidently been prepared by some onefamiliar with the structure.
"It strikes me," Frank said, after a moment's inspection of the drawings,"that we'd better get out of here and reach a cable office. One of theplotters was kind enough to tell me what they were about to do, and thislooks like they mean to keep their word, for once in their lives, atleast."
"We'd better be getting out of this, anyway," Jack put in, "for thosechaps are sure to come back and bring a gang with them. Suppose we go backto the cottage and see what has been doing there?"
"I thought you came from the cottage here," Ned said.
"No," was the reply. "We left the road leading from Gatun at the pointwhere you two left it last night."
"I'll bet you saw my signs in twigs," Jimmie said.
"We sure did," was the reply, "and we found your signs in stone out thereon the stone pavement, and Jack bunted one of the guards in the head withthe third rock."
"But I don't understand this," Ned said. "Where have you boys been thismorning?"
/>
"This morning," declared Frank. "It is most night now."
"I'll tell you," grinned Jack, "they went and got taken prisoners by amartinet of a fellow and a dwarf, and I had to go and get them out. Say!But you wait a second, and I'll produce my modest assistant."
He stepped to the edge of the jungle and whistled shrilly, and the nextmoment a slender boy of perhaps fifteen stood by his side, gazing at thegroup, now on the pavement of what had at one time been the court of thetemple, with something of fear in his dark eyes. He was dressed in clotheswhich were much too large for him, and his manner indicated that he wasnot at ease in the company of the well-dressed Boy Scouts.
"This is Gastong," Jack explained. "He's capable of doing a running stuntthat would make an express train look like it was hitched to the scenery.Gastong," he added, turning the boy around so that he faced the others,"this is the company of bold, bad men you've enlisted in. What patrol didyou say you belonged to?"
"The Owl, Philadelphia," was the reply.
"Gee," cried Jimmie. "Looks to me like he was a piece of the Isthmus."
"This," explained Jack, with the voice and manner of one standing on a boxbefore a tent and touting for a curiosity, "is Gastong, the boy tramp ofthe Isthmus. If he had a place to sleep he would run away from it beforenight. If he went to bed with a dime in his pocket he'd dream it was thereand get up and spend it. If he was set to digging in a mine he'd chop hisway through and come out on the other side and run away. If he was--"
Frank clapped a hand over the speaker's mouth and marched him away.
"We've got no time for stump speeches," he said. "The gazabos we drove offwhen we arrived will come back with reinforcements, and--and there youare."
"I'm dying to know what has been happening," Ned said, with a laugh. "Itlooks 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. "Comeon, Gastong, and we'll lead the bunch to the festive board. I hope thecook will be there. Say, but why don't you fellows compliment me on mefine appearance in this menial rig?"
"You haven't given us time to say a word," laughed Jimmie. "You look likethe cook, indeed, you do; and you make me hungry."
"That is another story for the cottage," Jack said, and the boys hastenedoff toward the camp which had proved such a source of danger to them.
When they came in sight of the place they were astonished at seeingLieutenant Gordon and the cook sitting side by side on the screened porch.The cook was still dressed in Jack's clothes, and the lieutenant, who hadevidently just arrived, was speaking rapidly, as if laboring under greatexcitement.