tammered Joe. "Perhaps that was a--"

"Who's getting suspicious now?" demanded Blake with a laugh. "Talk
about me! Why, you're way ahead!"

"Oh, well, I guess I did imagine too much," admitted Joe with a
little laugh. "It probably is an alarm clock, as you say. I wonder
what we'd better do with it? If we leave it there--"

He was interrupted by the opening of the stateroom door and as
both boys turned they saw their Spanish friend standing on the
threshold staring at them.

"Well!" he exclaimed, and there was an angry note in his voice--a
note the boys had never before noticed, for Mr. Alcando was of a
sunny and happy disposition, and not nearly as quick tempered as
persons of his nationality are supposed to be.

"I suppose it does look; as though we were rummaging in your
things," said Blake, deciding instantly that it was best to be
frank. "But we heard a curious ticking noise when we came down
here, and we traced it to your bunk. We didn't know what it might
be, and thought perhaps you had put your watch in the bed, and
might have forgotten to take it out. We looked, and found this--"

"Ah, my new alarm clock!" exclaimed Mr. Alcando, and what seemed
to be a look of relief passed over his face. He reached in among
the bed clothes and picked up the curious brass-bound ticking box,
with its many little metallic projections.

"I perhaps did not tell you that I am a sort of inventor," the
Spaniard went on. "I have not had much success, but I think my new
alarm clock is going to bring me in some money. It works on a new
principle, but I am giving it a good test, privately, before I try
to put it on the market."

He took the brass-bound, ticking box from the bed, and must have
adjusted the mechanism in a way Blake or Joe did not notice, for
the "click-click" stopped at once, and the room seemed curiously
still after it.

"Some day I will show you how it works," the young Spaniard went
on. "I think, myself, it is quite what you call--clever."

And with that he put the box in a trunk, and closed the lid with a
snap that threw the lock.

"And now, boys, we will soon be there!" he cried with a gay laugh.
"Soon we will be in the beautiful land of Panama, and will see the
marvels of that great canal. Are you not glad? And I shall begin
to learn more about making moving pictures! That will please me,
though I hope I shall not be so stupid a pupil as to make trouble
for you, my friends, to whom I owe so much."

He