t his wife stepped up. 'There, there,
Mike,' she said, soothingly, 'lie down again. The `doctor knows best.'"

There was a roar at this.

"Ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Hartley, "that's a pretty good one. That man must
have held a large life insurance policy, I should say, judging by his
wife's conduct."

"Very likely," grinned Bert. "But I can't vouch for that."

Mr. Hartley then related one or two of his pet stories, and soon they
were all on the best of terms. After a while the conversation drifted
around to local topics, and the boys were much interested in Mr.
Hartley's description of places and happenings in the country bordering
the "big ditch."

"Yes, there are more curious and unheard of places in this little strip
of country than in any other place I know of, comparable to it in size,"
he said. "Why, if a quarter of the stories the natives tell are true, it
is a veritable wonderland. And I think some of them are true. With my
own eyes I have seen some of the things they talk about."

"Tell us of some of them, won't you?" requested Bert, and the engineer
seemed nothing loath.

"There is one experience in particular that comes to my mind," he said,
"that I have always meant to follow up at the first opportunity. It was
while quite a party of us were out hunting, with three of the natives as
guides. It was along toward the beginning of operations on the canal,
and we were held up by a delay in delivering some of the machinery, so
had plenty of time on our hands. Well, as I say, we started out bright
and early one morning, led by the three guides, who had brought a strange
story into camp. They told us of a ruined city they had discovered in
the heart of the jungle. According to them, this old town covered miles
of territory, and was presided over by some demon who claimed the lives
of all who penetrated within its boundaries. And we were led to give
some credence to their story by the fact that while they agreed to guide
us to the city, they expressly stipulated that we should not require them
to guide us further than its boundaries. They would stay outside, they
said, and take the news of our death back to camp. They seemed to have
no doubt that the demon would 'get us,' and you may be sure our
curiosity was greatly excited.

"I and four others of the corps of construction engineers resolved to run
this mysterious devil to the ground, and so, as soon as we could make the
necessary arrangements,