CHAPTER XIX.
A GUARDIAN NEEDING GUARDING.
Little realizing the danger in which Jimmie had been left, Ned made whatspeed he could to Gamboa and there looked about for some means of reachingCulebra without delay. It seemed important that he should reach the othermembers of his party as soon as possible and send one of the boys back tokeep watch with Jimmie.
Besides, it was his intention to communicate with Lieutenant Gordonimmediately. He did not expect the lieutenant to call out a squad ofsecret service men and place the big dam under guard. That, he reasoned,would defeat his plans for rounding up the plotters. However, it was hisduty to report progress to the officer and consult with him concerningfuture movements.
At Gamboa he found a telephone and called the Tivoli at Ancon, but, to hisdisgust, Lieutenant Gordon could not be found. He tried the offices ofseveral engineers and canal officials with no better result. At last,exhibiting a secret service badge which had been given him by thelieutenant, he mounted an engine about to leave for Culebra and was soonin that beautiful city.
The boys were at the hotel where he had left them, having declined therepeated offers of hospitality by Mr. Chester, and Tony was with them. Asession was at once held in a private room, and Jack Bosworth and HarryStevens jumped at the chance to load themselves with provisions and travelback to the stone house east of Gamboa. They were given the neededdirections and sent away with a note to an officer of the railroad, who,it may be as well to state here, landed them at Gamboa in quick time andwithout asking any questions.
After the boys had taken their departure Frank Shaw called Ned aside.
"There's something doing here to-night," he said. "Mr. Chester came out ofthe parlor as red as a lobster, about six o'clock, and I guess he had afight with a couple of Japs, Gostel and another chap I've never seenbefore. They parted courteously, but I could see that Tony's father wasangry clear through. After he had gone back to his camp, or started forit, the Japs got a little crowd of gabbers about them and set off down theroad toward Colon. They seemed mighty pleased over something, and I guessthey're going to start something to-night."
"And the other man, this Col. Van Ellis. Did he come here with Chester?"
"Oh, yes; he was here, but I took good care that he did not see me. Ithink he went away with Chester. They were both very angry."
"Angry at the Japanese?"
"Yes; anyway, they disagreed over something. But while the two white menwere angry, the Japs seemed pleased. I'll tell you what I think, Ned. TheJaps are up to something the others do not like."
Ned was beginning to see a great light. Once before, since seeing Gostel,he had studied out the problem of the sincerity of the man, and hadreached the conclusion that he was using Chester--perhaps others--for somesinister purpose of his own. Now he thought he saw the plot in its truelight. However, he did not communicate his thoughts to the others. HadGordon been at hand he would have confided the story to him. But Gordonwas not at the Tivoli at Ancon and no one seemed to know where he was, sohe was obliged to go ahead and exercise his own best judgment.
"What's doing to-night?" Glen Howard asked, when Ned and Frank returned tothe room where the other boys were seated.
"We're going to Gatun," was the reply. "We're going on a special engine,and we're to leave the tracks in the outskirts and get down to the dam."
"Why, this is not the night," Frank said, surprised.
"The date on the drawings was that of to-morrow, Saturday," said Glen."This is Friday. Of course you know what you are doing, but I wouldn'ttake any chances on flushing the game."
"What is it all about?" demanded Tony Chester. "There seems to besomething in the air to-night. Father went away in a grouch and told me toremain with you boys, and Gastong is wandering about the city in ahalf-distracted manner. If you go to Gatun may I go with you?"
Ned pondered a moment before replying. There was in his mind the thoughtthat this boy might work a miracle for his father. He saw one chance forsaving Chester from the results of his connection with the plotters, andresolved to take it, risky to his plans though it was.
"No," he said, in a moment, "you are to go to your camp with a note foryour father. After you deliver the note, you are to come back here andremain until you hear from me. If your father comes with you, so much thebetter."
"Will he tell me what is in the note--why he comes back to the city?"
"I don't think so," was the reply. "If he does come, tell him to remainclose to a 'phone, here, for I may want to talk with him."
"I can't understand what all this mystery is about," Tony exclaimed.
"When did you see Gastong last?" asked Ned.
"Oh, about half an hour ago. He was in the hotel then, flying around likea hen minus her head. He asked for you, and said he'd be in the buffetwhen you came."
Ned lost no time in getting to the buffet, where he found Gastong, sittingin conversation with a trampish-looking fellow who seemed to be somewhatunder the influence of liquor. He beckoned to Ned when he entered the roomand made room for him on the leather rest at his side.
"This is Tommy, the cook," he said, when Ned was seated. "Your cook."
"You ought to join the force," laughed Ned. "I never would have knownyou."
"Lieutenant Gordon told me to keep watch of you boys," laughed Tommy, "butI reckon you're doing pretty well for yourselves."
"You are a secret service man?" asked Ned, satisfied now that Gordon hadindeed thought it necessary to keep them all under surveillance.
"Of course," replied Tommy. "I'm not much of a cook. I guess you foundthat out up at the camp."
"It was thoughtful of the lieutenant," Ned said, "but, as you say, we seemto be getting on very well. Do you happen to know where Gordon is at thepresent moment?"
"He was to meet me here," was the reply, "but has not shown up."
"It is dollars to apples," said Gastong, "that the Japs have cornered him.He told me, on the night you went after the bomb-man, that some one wassleuthing him."
"I didn't know that you knew him," Ned said, wondering if every person hehad come upon since arriving on the Isthmus was in the secret service.
"Well," said Gastong, "Lieutenant Gordon was on the squad here, you know,before he went to Mexico, and I used to meet him now and then."
"And he told you, on the first night of our arrival at camp, that we mightneed looking after?"
"Well, he told me that it would do no harm to let him know if I saw a mobof New York boys wandering about the works," laughed Gastong.
"So that is how you happened to be patrolling the Culebra cut in a motorcar on the day the boys ran into Col. Van Ellis at the old house?"
"Well," said Gastong, "Tommy, here, kept me posted in a way, and I thoughtI might be useful out that direction."
"It was clever of the lieutenant," laughed Ned. "Suppose you now turn yourattention to him? He may need the help of the Boy Scouts to get out of ahole himself."
"I reckon you could help him, all right," Gastong replied, confidently,but still with a look of anxiety on his face. "He has a heap of confidencein you, Mr. Nestor, but he thought best to take every precaution for yourwelfare. That is the reason why he surrounded you, as far as possible,with secret service people."
Ned was more than amused at the statement, for all the discoveries thathad been made had resulted from the activities of the boys and himself. Infact, the only help Gordon's chain of secret service men had given hisparty was the thwarting of the plans of Van Ellis at the old house.
This had been important, in a sense, as the boys would otherwise have beenheld prisoners there and so would not have been able to come to the rescueof Ned and Jimmie at the old temple. Still, Jack Bosworth had been in thatincident, and it was a question in the mind of the patrol leader if theresult would have been the same without him. However, he gave thelieutenant full credit for his cautious way of going at the matter.
"The Japs, as you call them," he said to Gastong and Tommy, "have gone
ontoward Colon. I'm going on after them, but it may be well for you toremain here on the chance of meeting the lieutenant. He may have plans ofhis own for to-night."
"I am sure he has," said Tommy. "He has been active all day, with half adozen men going and coming under his orders. He missed you thisafternoon."
"I had a date to view the scenery up the Chagres river," laughed Ned.
The patrol leader went back to the room where he had left Frank, George,Glen, and Peter. Tony had left for his father's camp and George Tolfordhad gone with him.
"I would give considerable to know what Chester and the Japs, as they arecalled, quarreled about to-night," he said, but of course the boys couldgive him no information on the subject.
As a matter of fact, Ned thought he knew, but the thing was soincomprehensible to him that he doubted, for a time, his own reasoning. Itwas now nine o'clock, and it seemed to him that the time for action hadcome. Whether he was right in his deductions or not, he could not affordto ignore the plans he had made for the night. He did not like the idea ofaccepting responsibility for the important move he was determined to make,but Lieutenant Gordon was not to be found, and there was nothing for himto do but to go ahead.
"Now, boys," he said to his chums, "we are going into a game to-night thatmay lead to bloodshed. Again, it may prove a farce. I have only my ownjudgment to go on, but the matter is so serious that I'm going to take arisk. I should prefer to have Lieutenant Gordon with us, but that seems tobe impossible. Get your guns ready, and I'll arrange for a railroad motorcar to take us to Gatun."
"I just believe Lieutenant Gordon is in trouble," Peter said. "He was inthe hotel this afternoon, just before they carried the sick man out, buthas not been seen since."
Ned sprang to his feet, all excitement.
"When did they carry a sick man out?" he asked.
"Oh, it must have been about five o'clock," was the reply. "He was plumbsick, too, for they carried him out in a wheel-chair, with a sheet overhis face."
"Who carried him out?"
"Why, the men from the hospital who were sent for."
"What floor?" demanded Ned, a thought he did not care to put into wordscoming to his mind.
"Third floor," replied Peter. "I stood out there, looking around, when thechair was brought down on the freight elevator."
Greatly to the amazement of the boys Ned darted away. In a minute he stoodbefore the clerk's desk.
"Will you have a boy show me to Lieutenant Gordon's room?" he asked.
"Certainly," was the reply, "but you won't find him in. There have beenrepeated inquiries, for him this afternoon."
"Has any one been to his room?" asked Ned.
"Yes, but it is locked and the key is not here. I was up on that floorabout five o'clock, when the hospital people took a man out of the roomnext to his, and his door was locked then."
Ned stood for a moment in deep thought, hesitating, wondering if the clerkwas a man to be trusted in a great emergency.
"You look to me like a dependable man," he finally said to the clerk,"anyway, I've got to take you into my confidence. Will you take duplicatekeys to the lieutenant's room and the room next to it and come with me?"
"Of course, if it is anything important," replied the clerk, "but you'llhave to give some good reason before I can admit you to either room."
"Step in here," Ned said, motioning toward a little check room at the endof the counter. "You saw the sick man carried out?" he asked, as the clerkwonderingly stepped into the designated room.
"Yes, I saw him taken out. He was a stranger--took the room about noonthrough a friend. I did not see him at all, that is, until he was carriedout, and then I did not see his face."
"You are sure it was not Lieutenant Gordon who was carried out?" askedNed.
"Why, why, he wasn't sick. He said nothing to me of being ill."
"But he has enemies on the Isthmus," Ned went on, "and is now at work on avery delicate and dangerous job for the government. Suppose--"
The clerk waited to hear no more. He seized the keys asked for and boundedtoward the elevator, taking Ned with him. When they entered thelieutenant's room they found it in great disorder. There were many signsof a desperate struggle. On the floor was a three-cornered slip of paperwhich had evidently, judging from the quality and thickness, been tornfrom a drawing roll. The scrap showed only two irregular lines, but Nedrecognized them.
Lieutenant Gordon had taken into his possession the crude map of the Gatundam which Ned had discovered in the old temple bomb-room. The next room,the one from which the alleged sick man had been taken, was also indisorder, and the door which connected the two apartments had been forcedopen. There was a strong odor of chloroform in both rooms.
The clerk did not need to be told what had taken place. His face turnedwhite as chalk and his voice trembled as he asked:
"What is to be done? Think of the lieutenant being carried off from thishotel in the daytime. It will ruin us."
"First," Ned replied, "you must make up your mind to keep what has beendone a profound secret. You may tell the proprietor if you see fit to doso, but no one else must know."
"But the secret service men must be told."
"Not now," Ned replied. "I have an idea that I can restore the lieutenantto his friends without any row being made over the matter."
"But how? I don't understand."
"At least," Ned urged, "wait until two o'clock to-morrow morning. I amgoing out now on an expedition which may reveal many things, if I succeed.If I fail, why, then you must notify the secret service men and look forme in some of the pools about Gatun."
The clerk finally consented to this arrangement, and in ten minutes Nedand his chums were speeding toward Gatun on a railroad motor car.
Boy Scouts in the Canal Zone; Or, The Plot Against Uncle Sam Page 19