aid.

"Then come along," growled the lieutenant. "Where are you going?"

"We're going to have a look at the Culebra cut," was the reply. "You said
we might ramble about the Isthmus all we wanted to."

"But why go with me, and at night?" asked the officer.

"We want to see the work going on under electricity," Peter replied.

"Let them go," advised Ned. "If they can't take care of themselves it is
time we found it out."

The fact was that the boys had learned from the cook that the lieutenant
had come to the vicinity of the cottage in an automobile, and they thought
this a fine chance to secure a ride to the famous excavation. There was at
least another member of the party who seemed to think just as they did,
for when the machine purred out into the rough road leading from the path
to Gatun the slight figure of Gastong vaulted into the back seat with the
boys and motioned to them to remain quiet.

"What's up?" whispered Jimmie.

"Perhaps he wouldn't let me go," suggested the other.

"You've ducked an' dodged so long that you're afraid of everybody,"
returned Jimmie. "I guess any of our friends can go where we can."

Gastong, however, had not given the true reason for wishing to keep his
presence in the car a secret from the lieutenant. The boy had been so
considerately treated by the Boy Scouts that he was infatuated with them,
and wished to serve them in some important way.

Not having any steady occupation or place of residence, the boy had been
driven about alike by the native authorities and the army officers until
he was, as Jimmie declared, afraid of any one having authority. He had
been treated as an equal by the boys, and was determined to serve them. He
had heard the talk of enlisting the dwarf, Jumbo, in the cause represented
by the secret service men, and was now resolved to return to the deserted
house and look the little fellow up.

Therefore, when the machine drew near to the house which the lads had
visited that day under such unfavorable circumstances he dropped out and
was soon lost in the shadows of the jungle.

"What do you think of that?" Jimmie demanded.

"I think he can do a better job there than either of us could," was the
reply.

"Well, when we come back from the cut," Jimmie said, "I'm goin' to drop
off here an' see how the chump is gettin' along."

Looking back, they saw a light flare up in the house, and then die out!

CHAPTER XII.

LOST IN THE JUNGLE AT NIGHT.