ss!"

Stuart expected to see violence follow these words, but the Cuban only
moved restlessly under the insult; the Englishman smiled. It was a
pleasant smile, but Stuart was keen enough to grasp that a man who
smiles when he is insulted must either be a craven or a dangerous man
with an inordinate gift of self-control. Cecil could not be a coward, or
such men as Manuel and Leborge would not so evidently fear him,
therefore the other character must befit him.

Another word which repeated itself frequently was----

"Panama."

This confirmed Stuart in his suspicions that the conspiracy, whatever it
might portend, was directed against the authority of the United States,
since the Panama Canal Zone is under American jurisdiction.

The conference was evidently coming to a crisis. The negro was becoming
excited, the Cuban nervous, the Englishman more immovable than ever.

Came a sudden movement, following upon some phrase uttered by Manuel,
but unheard by the boy, and the Cuban and Leborge leaped to their feet,
a revolver in each man's right hand.

Spoke the Englishman, in a quiet voice, but sufficiently deepened by
excitement to reach the boy's ears:

"Is there any reason, Gentlemen, why I should not shoot both of you and
finish this little affair myself?"

A revolver glittered in his hand, though no one had seen the action of
drawing.

In the flash of a second, Stuart understood Manuel's plot. It was the
Cuban who had provoked the negro to draw his weapon, counting on the
boy's shooting his supposed enemy, as had been agreed upon. Then Manuel
would drag him out of his hiding-place and kill him for an eavesdropper.
He crouched, motionless, and watched.

"Sit down, and put up your weapons," continued Cecil, his voice still
tense enough to be heard clearly. "This is childishness. Our plans need
all three of us. It will be time enough to quarrel when we come to
divide the spoils. First, the spoils must be won."

Negro and Cuban, without taking their eyes from other, each fearing that
the other might take an advantage, realized from Cecil's manner, that he
must have the drop on them. With a simultaneous movement, they put away
their guns. The negro sat down, beaten. Manuel, with a swift and hardly
noticeable side-step, moved a little nearer to Cecil, putting himself
almost within knife-thrust distance.

A slight, a very slight elevation of the barrel of the tiny revolver
glittering in the Englishman's hand warned