ad sign, or a good one," laughed his chum.
"They say when a fellow talks to himself he either has money in
the bank, or he's in love. You can take your choice."

"Not when it's the kind of talk I overheard Alcando having with
himself," Joe resumed. "I went out on the dam yesterday, and I saw
him looking at it. He didn't see me, but I heard him muttering to
himself."

"What did he say?" Blake wanted to know.

"I didn't hear it all," was Joe's answer, "but I caught two
sentences that made me do a lot of thinking. They were these: 'I
just hate to do it, though I'll have to, I suppose. But I'll not
put the blame on'--" and Joe came to a pause.

"Well, go on," urged Blake.

"That's all there was," Joe continued. "I couldn't hear any more.
What do you suppose he meant?"

"He might have meant nothing--or anything," Blake remarked slowly.
"It sounds to me as though he meant that he had made a failure of
the moving picture business, and was going to quit. That must be
it. He meant that he had to give it up, though he hated to, and
that he wouldn't blame us for not giving him better instruction."

"Could he have meant that?"

"He could," Blake replied, "for, to tell you the truth, he'll
never be a good operator. He hasn't a correct eye for details, and
he can't focus worth a cent, though that might be overcome in
time. He does well enough for ordinary work, but when it comes to
fine details he isn't in it. I found that out back there at
Culebra when he was working with me. Of course he was a lot of
help, and all that, but he's a failure as a moving picture
operator."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Joe, with genuine sympathy.

"So am I to have to come to that conclusion," Blake went on. "I
guess he knows it, too, for he said as much to me. So I guess
that's what his talking to himself meant."

"Perhaps it did. Well, we did our best for him."

"We surely did, and I guess he appreciates that. He said so,
anyhow."

"And so you're going to get some Gatun pictures and then
quit--eh?"

"That's it, Joe, and the sooner we get them the sooner we can get
back home. I've had all I want of Panama. Not that it isn't a nice
place, but we've seen all there is to see."

"We might try a little more of the jungle."

"We got enough of those pictures before," Blake declared. "No, the
dam will wind it up, as far as we're concerned."

If Mr. Alcando felt any sorrow over his failure as a moving
picture operator he did not show