ately it was the opening of many seams, caused by the
crushing process, rather than any great hole stove in her, that
had brought about the end of the _Nama_. She began to sink slowly
at the pier, and there was time for the removal of most of the
articles of value belonging to the boys and Mr. Alcando.

Hastily the cameras, the boxes of exposed and unexposed film, were
hoisted out, and then when all had been saved that could be
quickly put ashore, the tug was slowly towed out of the way, where
it could sink and not be a menace to navigation, and without
blocking the locks.

"Poor _Nama_" murmured Captain Watson. "To go down like that, and
not your own fault, either," and he looked over with no very
friendly eyes toward the Brazilian steamer, which had suffered no
damage more than to her paint.

"You can raise her again," suggested one of the lock men.

"Yes, but she'll never be the same," sorrowfully complained her
commander. "Never the same!"

"How did it happen?" asked Blake. "Was there a misunderstanding in
signals?"

"Must have been something like that," Captain Watson answered.
"That vessel ought to have stayed tied up on her own side of the
lock. Instead she came over here under her own steam and crashed
into me. I'm going to demand an investigation. Do you know anyone
on board her?" he asked quickly of the Spaniard. "I saw you waving
to someone."

"Why, yes, the captain is a distant relative of mine," was the
somewhat unexpected answer. "I did not know he was going to take
his vessel through the Canal, though. I was surprised to see him.
But I am sure you will find that Captain Martail will give you
every explanation."

"I don't want explanations--I want satisfaction!" growled the tug
captain.

"There goes the _Nama_," called Blake, pointing to the tug.

As he spoke she began to settle more rapidly in the water, but she
did not sink altogether from sight, as she was towed toward the
shore, and went down in rather shallow water, where she could be
more easily reached for repairs.

"It was a narrow escape," Joe said. "What are we to do now, Blake?
Too bad we didn't get some moving pictures of that accident."

"Well, maybe it's a good thing we didn't," returned his chum. "The
Canal is supposed to be so safe, and free from the chance of
accidents, that it might injure its reputation if a picture of a
collision like that were shown. Maybe it's just as well."

"Better," agreed Captain Watson. "As you