on't blow yourself up with it," warned Frank.

"There are no cigarette smokers in the party, and so there is no danger,"
was the reply.

"I'll be here listening when the explosion comes," grinned Frank.

The sounds out in the jungle were now growing fainter. The man was either
finding the way easier or he was getting some distance away.

"Come on," Jimmie urged. "He'll get away from us."

"If you make as much noise as he does," Frank said, "he'll stop and shoot
you before you get anywhere near him."

It was no part of Ned's intention, however, to follow the intruder through
the jungle. He was now waiting to make sure of the general direction the
fellow was taking. He listened some moments longer, until the sounds grew
very faint indeed, and then took the path which led from the cottage to a
fairly well-made road ending five miles away at one of the streets of
Gatun.

"You're gettin' the wrong steer," Jimmie said, as they moved along.
"You'll have to go around the world if you catch him by going this way."

"The fellow is making for the hills," explained Ned, "and we may be able
to catch him as he comes out of the jungle."

The boys made good speed along the cleared lane until they came to a
rolling, grassy hill, one of many leading up to the summit. Then they
turned off to the east, still keeping their pace but taking precautions
against being seen, as the night was clearer now than before, and a moon
looked down from the sky.

Finally Ned paused in a little valley on a gentle slope.

It was one of the wonderful nights rarely experienced save under the
equator, or very close to the middle girdle of the globe. The luxuriant
growths of the jungle seemed to be breathing in long, steady pulsations,
so uniform was the lifting and falling of the night breeze.

Now and then the call of a night bird or the cry of a wild animal in the
thickets came through the heavy air. From the distance came the clamor of
the greatest work the world has ever undertaken. The thud and creaking of
machinery mingled with the primitive noises of the forest. And far away
over the cut flared the white light of the great electric globes which
lighted the workers on their tasks.

As the boys looked forth from their depression in the side of the slope,
two men came around the rise of the hill and stood at the edge of the
jungle, not more than half a dozen yards away. Almost at the same instant
it became apparent that some one was flounderi