e did
not believe that Ned would leave the deadly material there, to be used at
will by the conspirators, so he was wondering now if the stuff had not
been set off by his friends.

After a hard walk of a mile or more the three came out to a little
clearing in the jungle and saw a tent with screened openings. Standing in
front of the tent, his face turned toward the approaching boys, was a man
Jimmie had last seen in the Shaw residence in New York City.

CHAPTER XVI.

A MIGHTY JAR IN THE JUNGLE.

It was half-past two in the morning when Ned Nestor and his companions
left the cottage in the jungle. A few fleecy clouds were now drifting over
the sky, but, on the whole, the night was fairly clear. It was some
distance to Gatun, where Ned hoped to secure a railroad motor for the
Culebra trip, so the boys moved along at a swift pace.

However, the party was not destined to reach Gatun as speedily as was
anticipated. When the boys came to the spot from which Ned and Jimmie had
struck off into the jungle, or into the edge of it, rather, in pursuit of
the man who had placed the bomb, Jack called Ned's attention to two
skulking figures moving up the swell of the hill which the two boys had
climbed the night before.

"There are some of your friends--the bomb-makers," Jack said.

"Yes," Ned replied, "they have been in advance of us for some distance."

"Watching the cottage, I presume," Jack suggested.

"More likely watching to see if we remained at home or went abroad
planning mischief for them," Ned replied.

"Then they're next to us," Jimmie broke in. "I'd like to follow 'em up to
the old temple an' blow 'em up."

"I have an idea that something of the sort may happen before morning," Ned
said. "I had the idea that the fellows would remain away from the
bomb-room for a few days, believing that we were watching it, but it seems
that they are back again. We mustn't permit them to take the stuff away."

"Goin' to blow it up to-night?" demanded Jimmie, eagerly. "Gee, but that
will make a blow-up for your whiskers. Say! I'd like to sell tickets of
admission for this performance. That would be poor, wouldn't it?"

"It may not be necessary to blow it up," Ned observed. "If Lieutenant
Gordon sent a couple of secret service men back there, as arranged, the
fellows have not got into their bomb-chamber. If the secret service men
did not arrive, it is likely that the plotters are moving the explosives
away. We'll go an