an in his path
settled the problem for him.

"No use to deny it," he said. "You are to come with me."

"Where?" asked Tommy.

"If you have any weapons give them to me," the other said, gruffly, paying
no attention to the question.

"All right," Tommy said, handing out a revolver. "It is a heavy thing to
carry, anyway. Where are you going to take me?"

"Straight ahead," cried the captor, with a frown. "Straight ahead. I'll
tell you when to turn and when to stop."

"You seem to have an accommodating disposition," laughed Tommy. "Why
didn't you stop the cook, who went out a little while ago? Perhaps he
would have been glad of your company."

"We are not interested in the cook," came the answer, and Tommy smiled as
he thought that at least one point of the ruse had met with success.

"That cook will be fired for leaving the cottage," grinned Tommy, making
the deception as complete as possible.

In the meantime the motor car containing the five boys and the messenger
was speeding on its way toward Gatun and the Culebra cut. When Jack came
out on the road the machine was disappearing from sight, but he managed to
keep track of it from the hilltops for a considerable distance.

The messenger was full of talk, his evident intention being to keep the
boys interested. In spite of the attention paid them, however, Frank and
Harry Stevens managed to hold a conversation on the back seat.

"This is carrying out Ned's theory with a vengeance," Harry remarked. "If
we get dumped into the big cut we'll charge it up to him."

"The play opens with plenty of action in the first scene," grinned Frank.

"The adventure would look better to me if I knew what had become of Ned
and Jimmie," Harry said, despondently.

"If we keep up the appearance of being pleased with the ride," Frank said,
"we may be able to learn something of their whereabouts. It is mystery to
me how the plotters got hold of Ned, if they did get hold of him."

"You recall the talk in New York as to whether the men who entered Mr.
Shaw's study were in quest of the plot papers or the emerald necklace?"
asked Harry.

"Yes; and I've been studying over that problem ever since."

"Well, I've been wondering, ever since we started out on this rather risky
trip with the messenger, whether the people Ned encountered last night,
and the people we are likely to meet to-day, are the people of the plot
papers or the people of the emerald necklace. What do you think about