g they went, taking the cameras with them. Joe was
given such rough and ready surgery and medical treatment as was
available, and Captain Wiltsey said he would leave at once for
Gatun, where a doctor could be obtained.

Fortunately the blockading of the Canal by the slide did not stop
the _Bohio_ from continuing her journey. The slide was north of
her position.

"I do hope we got some good films," said Joe, when he had been
made as comfortable as possible in his berth.

"I think we did," Blake said. "Your camera was protected by the
rubber coat, and mine wasn't hurt at all."

Later the boys learned that though they had missed the very best,
or rather the biggest, part of the slide, still they had on their
films enough of it to make a most interesting series of views.

Late that afternoon Joe was in the care of a physician, who
ordered him to stay in bed a couple of days. Which Joe was very
willing to do. For, after the first excitement wore off, he found
himself much more sore and stiff than he had realized.

They were at Gatun now, and there Blake planned to get some views
of the big dam from the lower, or spillway side.

"But first I'm going back to the slide," he said. "I want to get
some views of the dredgers getting rid of the dirt."

CHAPTER XXI

MR. ALCANDO'S ABSENCE

Blake spent a week at Culebra Cut, making pictures of the removal
of the great mass of earth that had slid into the water. The chief
engineer, General George W. Goethals, had ordered every available
man and machine to the work, for though the Canal had not been
formally opened, many vessels had started to make trips through
it, and some of them had been blocked by the slide. It was
necessary to get the dirt away so they could pass on their voyage.

So with dredges, with steam shovels, and hydraulic pumps, that
sucked through big flexible pipes mud and water, spraying it off
to one side, the work went on. Blake had Mr. Alcando to help him,
and the Spaniard was now expert enough to render valuable
assistance. While Blake was at one scene, getting views of the
relief work, his pupil could be at another interesting point.

Blake had telegraphed to New York that the one picture above all
others desired had been obtained--that of a big slide in the
Culebra Cut. He did not tell how Joe had nearly lost his life in
helping get the films, for Blake was modest, as was his chum, and,
as he said, it was "all in the day's work."

Joe was