The Hero of Panama: A Tale of the Great Canal

by F. S. Brereton

  CHAPTER IV

  Relating to Phineas Barton

  Phineas B. Barton was in his own way an extremely pleasant and jollyman, but he required a great deal of knowing. He was moderately tall,clean shaven, as is the typical American of to-day, fairly good-looking,and about forty years of age. When he liked he could be voluble enough,but as a general rule his conversation was chiefly noteworthy by itsabsence; for Phineas was undoubtedly prone to silence and taciturnity.

  "It's like this," he explained to Jim; "I'm boss at the present time ofthe foreign labour we employ on the Panama Canal works, and guess I haveto talk most all the day when I'm at work. So a fellow gets used tokeeping his mouth shut at other times, so as to rest his jaw. Gladyou're coming out to my quarters."

  He had thanked Jim quietly and with apparently little feeling for hisaction in plunging into the sea to save him when the steamer foundered,and after that had said not a word. But that did not imply that Phineaswas ungrateful. It was not in his nature to employ many words; he haddecided to show his gratitude in other ways. It was for that reason, nodoubt, that he had invited our hero to his house. And, now that thewhole party had disembarked, he proceeded to lead the way.

  "Got any traps?" he asked.

  "Not a stick," Jim answered. "We're here as we stand up."

  "Then transport isn't a difficulty. It's nine miles to my quarters, andthe railway will take us there quick. There's cars going one way or theother most always; come along to the terminus."

  Jim and his comrades had no idea of the work which was going on on thisnarrow isthmus of Panama, therefore the reader may imagine that he wasintensely surprised, once he and his friends had left the one-storieddwellings of Colon, to find human beings seething everywhere. Bands oflabourers of every colour were working along the route where the canalwould open into the Caribbean, while heavy smoke and the rattle ofmachinery came from another spot farther on.

  "Where we're getting to work to cut our locks," explained Phineas,nursing his broken arm. "It's there that I broke this arm of mine twoweeks ago. I was fool enough to get in the way of a dirt train, and ofcourse, not having eyes itself, it shunted me off the track with a bang.That's why I was on my way back to the States; but guess that holiday'llhave to wait. I'm keen to get back to work."

  From the open car in which the party was accommodated he pointed out thevarious features of the isthmus, and in particular the works of thecanal. And gradually Jim gathered the fact that this undertaking uponwhich his country had set its heart was gigantic, to say the least ofit.

  "No one knows what we're doing save those who've been here," saidPhineas, a note of pride in his voice. "Back home there's folks readyenough to criticize and shout that things aren't being done right; butthey ought to come right out here before opening their mouths. You'vegot an idea of the canal, of course?"

  Jim reddened. To be truthful, his own struggle to make a way in thisworld had occupied most of his attention. He was naturally interested inall that concerned his own country, but even though so near to theisthmus he had never been farther than Colon when the ship put intoport, and whilst there had merely observed rather a large number ofpolicemen, both white and black. Of the huge army of workmen engaged inthe canal enterprise he had not caught a glimpse.

  "It's an eye-opener, this," he admitted. "I had no idea there were somany men, or so much machinery, though if I had thought for a little Icould have guessed that there must be a bustle. As to the scheme of thecanal, I haven't more than the vaguest idea."

  "And I can't give you much information here. We'll want to get aboard aninspection car and run right through. That'll be a job for to-morrow.We'll have the inspector's car, and run along to the other side. But,see here, this canal's the biggest thing in canals that's ever beenthought of. The Suez Canal don't hold a candle to it. The Kiel Canal isan infant when compared with what this will be when it's finished.There's fifty miles, or thereabouts, of solid dirt between Colon andPanama, and America has decided to get to at that dirt and cut a wayclear through it, a way not only big enough to take ships of to-day,but to take ships of to-morrow, ships that'll make the world open itseyes and exclaim."

  The very mention of the work made Jim gasp. He asked for particularspromptly. "It'll take a heap of time, I expect," he said. "Reckon acanal a mile long and fifty feet wide by thirty deep isn't dug in aday."

  "Nor hardly in a year. But we're not digging all the way," explainedPhineas. "America has selected what is known as the high-level canal;that is, she's not just digging a track clear through from Atlantic toPacific, a tide-level canal as you might call it, for there aredifficulties against such a scheme. To begin with, there's a tide to bereckoned with at Panama, while this Atlantic end has none; which meansyour water level at the Pacific side is different from that at theAtlantic. Then there's river water to be contended with. This isthmusgets a full share of rain, particularly near the Atlantic, and therivers get packed with water in a matter of a few hours. Well, you'vegot to do something, or that flood will swamp your canal, wash away yourworks, and do other damage."

  "Then the high level has fewer difficulties?" asked Jim.

  "You may say so, though the job is big enough in all conscience. Shortlyput, it's this. We begin the canal by dredging in Limon Bay, right herebeside Colon, and cut our dirt away, in all for a matter of just overseven miles. Then we build three tiers of double locks, which will takeany vessel, and which will float them up in steps to the 85-foot level.Once up there the ship steams into a huge lake where there's dry landto-day. We get that lake by damming the Chagres River right there beforeus, at Gatun, throwing the water back into a long natural hollow, andwhen the work is finished we shall have a body of water therefour-fifths the size of Lake Geneva. Anyway, it'll allow a steamer toget along under her own power till she arrives at the other end of thelake at Obispo. Even then she uses her own power, though she has to slowdown. She enters what we call the Culebra cut, just nine miles long,where we are burrowing our way through the hills. That's one of thebiggest of our jobs. You'll be interested when you see it. We've a smallarmy of men at work, and rock drills and steam shovels are going allday, while dirt trains travel to and fro more often than electrics inthe New York subway. Then comes a lock at Pedro Miguel, and another atMilaflores, which let our ships down to Pacific level. Way down at thatend we've a lot of dredging to do to clear the below-sea track of thecanal."

  Indeed it was no wonder that Phineas found it a matter of impossibilityto describe the gigantic, herculean task which America has undertaken.Moreover, it may be forgiven our hero if he failed, in such a shortspace of time, fully to comprehend what was being done. A canal wasbeing fashioned, that he knew well enough, and now Phineas had given hima rough idea of its direction, and of the methods to be employed toobtain a waterway from one ocean to the other. The rest had necessarilyto be left to the imagination, and to the moment when clear plans of theworks could be studied.

  "But you know a bit about it, and that's good for the present," saidPhineas. "I'm not going to give you a bad headache right off by throwingmore particulars at you, though I fancy you'd be interested to know justone or two items."

  "And those?" asked Jim, by no means bored with the description. In fact,like any healthy youngster, he was intensely interested in this canal,and was burning with impatience to see all the machinery employed, themethods used by the engineers and their staff to bring about the variousworks. "I'd give something to see the lake," he admitted. "Almost as bigas that of Geneva? Gee! That's a whopper."

  "You may say so," agreed Phineas, again a tinge of pride in his voice."There'll be somewhere about 160 square miles of water in that lake, anda fleet will be able to lie to in it. Those locks at Gatun, which are tobe double--one for steamers going up, and the other for ships comingdown--will each give a usable length of 1100 feet, which is a good 300feet longer than any ship yet afloat. They'll be 110 feet wide, and havea minimum depth of 41 feet. Put that all together, and remember thatwhen the gates of the lo
cks are shut, and water allowed to come down,the biggest battleship yet heard of will be lifted solid just about 32feet, and then warped on into another lock as like the last as two peas.In less than an hour we'll raise a ship up to our high-level canal fromthe Atlantic, and we'll do it, sir, as easy as you lift rowing boatsdown on the rivers."

  Phineas went hot at the thought of the undertaking, and, looking at him,Jim could see that the man was filled with a huge pride, with atremendous fixity of purpose, the courage and tenacity to push on with alabour which his country had begun, and which the honour of the nationdemanded should be brought to a satisfactory conclusion. And in a littlewhile Jim understood that there was not a white employee engaged on theisthmus who did not dream of the day when the canal would be opened,when their own countrymen, some of whom at this moment were ready todiscount their labours, would be amongst the keenest admirers of thefinished task.

  "But guess it's time we thought of the house," said Phineas, dragginghis attention away from the works before him. "I've a shanty way up thehill there, with a housekeeper to look to it for me. She'll take care ofMiss Sadie."

  They descended from the car and slowly trudged up the hill. Then Phineasgave them a welcome to his home.

  "Looks cool and nice; don't it?" he remarked, as they ascended a flightof steps leading on to a wide veranda. "I can see you looking at mywindows, young man. Well, we don't have any out here. A chap gets tolive without them easily enough. There's just copper gauze right roundthe veranda, and the same over the window openings. Most days it's sohot one doesn't think of their absence. And if a cold spell comes, onecan easily put on something warmer. Now we'll get along in and feed. Ha,Mrs. Jones, that's you again! You didn't think to see me back so soon,till I telephoned from Colon. This is Miss Sadie, and this is Jim, theyoung man who rescued me. We're just hungry, so we'll come right in ifthings are ready, and Tom here, and Sam, and Ching can get round to thekitchen. You'll find 'em useful boys."

  The widow who looked to Phineas's affairs was a pleasant woman, and gaveour hero and his sister a real welcome. As to the negroes, though shelooked at them askance at first, she rapidly found them a blessing. ForTom installed himself as butler unasked, while Sam carried dishes to andfro. Ching settled down to the work of washing up the things as if hehad been brought to the isthmus for that very purpose.

  "All of which just makes things slide along as if they were oiled," saidPhineas with a glad smile, as he lolled on his veranda afterwards.

  "See here, Jim, them boys of yours can go along helping Mrs. Jones whileyou're here; but of course, if they were at work on the canal, theywould have their own quarters along with the other coloured men. Pityyou're not staying. Where do you go after New York?"

  It was a leading question, and Jim explained his position frankly.

  "I don't complain," he said, "but we certainly have had our share of illfortune. First Father lost his money, then his life. Afterwards mybrother went off his head with fever, and was lost in the forest waydown there below Colon. I've got to find work other than diving."

  "You've done a bit of that, then?" asked Phineas.

  Jim nodded. "A lot," he said. "But I'm not really skilled."

  "You've handled tools and machinery?"

  "Many a time; Father made me learn from the very beginning."

  "See here!" cried Phineas suddenly; "you're after a job, and look toearn dollars. Well, there are dollars to earn here for a good man. Try aspell on the canal works. We've vacancies almost all the while, for menget tired of the job, while others fall sick. Then there's every sort ofwork, to suit the knowledge of everyone. Of course white men have thepick. They're skilled men, and naturally enough they get posts ofresponsibility. Some drive steam navvies, others rock drills, while someare powder men, and place the charges which we fire every night afterfive. At the locks there's pile driving and concrete laying, with whitemen to run the engines or supervise. As to diving--well, there may besome of that, but it's the land we're chiefly engaged with."

  The temptation to accept the proposal right off was strong, and Jimfound it difficult to keep from answering. Then he suddenly asked aquestion.

  "There's my sister," he said. "I suppose Tom and the others could easilyget work, and so stay here; but this place hasn't the best ofreputations for health. I must look after her."

  "And she'll be as well looked after here as anywhere," said Phineaseagerly. "We're high up out of the valley, the house has lately beenbuilt, while that yarn about the health of the isthmus is old history.We've changed all that. An American army surgeon, with others to helphim, discovered that yellow fever was given by a particular form ofmosquito. Well, he set to work to find where that mosquito lived andbred. Then he formed a sanitary corps, drainage was looked to, scrubcut down, windows barred by copper gauze. And we've fixed that mosquito.Yellow fever is now unheard of on the isthmus, while there's very littlemalarial fever. The canal zone, particularly in these high parts, is ashealthy as New York. Come now."

  "I agree to stop if she cares to do so," cried Jim suddenly, for therewas an eagerness about the man before him which captivated him. It wasclear, in fact, that Phineas was anxious that Jim should stay; and sincehe promised work, and stated that no harm could come to Sadie fromresidence there, why, if matters could be arranged, Jim made up his mindhe would stay. Perhaps here he would find the means to cut the firststeps in that flight which was to lead to a revival of his fortunes.

  "Then here's a plan," said Phineas. "I'm real glad you'll stay on here,for I want a companion. I lost my wife five years ago, and by rightsshould be living way over there in one of the hotels the AmericanGovernment has built for its employees. But I chose to have a housealone, and at times it's lonesome. You'll stay along with me, andSadie'll have Mrs. Jones to look after her. There's a Government schoola quarter of a mile away, with plenty of boys and girls going. As forthe darkies and the Chinaman, I can't promise anything at present.Depends on the work they have to do; but I've an idea I could make thatfellow Tom extra useful."

  Exactly what was in the mind of this American official Jim could notguess. He went to bed that night with a feeling of exultation to whichhe had been a stranger for a long while, for Sadie had taken to Mrs.Jones, and was delighted at the thought of remaining.

  "Why trouble to go along to New York?" she asked him, in her wise littleway, when he asked her what she would like. "This place is glorious. Theview from the house is really magnificent, and there's no lonelinessanywhere. Look at the works going on, with thousands of men. Then Mrs.Jones tells me that there are a number of boys and girls, so that I amsure to have companions. You can earn good wages here, Jim, and perhapsrise to a position of responsibility."

  "Rise! that I will!" our hero told himself, for he was bubbling overwith enthusiasm. "I've myself alone to look to, and I'll work and makethose in authority over me see that I'm trustworthy. I'll show 'em I'mnot a skulker. Wonder what job I'll get?"

  It was at an early hour on the following morning that he was up and out,only to find Phineas abroad before him.

  "That you, youngster?" he sang out cheerily, seeing Jim. "I've been downto the office of the Commission doctor, who's fixed this arm for me. Theman who saw to it aboard the ship that brought us in hadn't too muchtime, for there were others who'd been injured by some of thoseSpaniards who'd been fighting. In consequence I had a bit of pain lastnight; but I'm easy now. Let's get some breakfast, then you and I'll beoff."

  An hour later found the two down at the point where the dirt trains werealready dumping their contents, and just where the huge Gatun dam was tobe erected, so, standing on an eminence, Jim was able, with the help ofhis friend, to follow in a logical manner the plans of the Americanengineers. For he could look into the long, winding hollow along whichat that moment flowed the tributaries of the Chagres River.

  "It's just as clear as daylight," said Phineas, his face aglow, foranything to do with the Panama Canal warmed him, so great was hisenthusiasm. "Away there below us, where you
see two rivers comingtogether to form what is known as the Chagres River, you may take itthat the level of the land is just a trifle above that of the sea, andof course the water on this isthmus has found the lowest level possible.It could not get away to the east because of the hill, and west here,where we are, there's another. So that water just flows out betweenthem, the hills themselves forming, as it were, the neck of a bottle.Well, we're just putting a cork into that neck. We're erecting a damacross the valley between these two hills which will be 7700 feet inlength, measured across the top, while its base measurement will be 2060feet."

  "Enormous!" exclaimed Jim. "But surely such a tremendous mass is hardlynecessary?"

  "What! with 164 miles of water behind it? Young sir, let me tell youthat there'll be a clear depth of water of 80 feet all along this end ofthe lake we're forming. A body of water like that exerts terrificpressure, and to make that dam really secure against a fracture, to makean engineering job of it, as we should say, the dam ought to beconstructed of masonry built right into solid rock. But there ain't norock, more's the pity."

  "None?" asked Jim. "Then you won't be able to use masonry?"

  "Right, siree! But we're going to fix the business, and reckon, when thedam's finished, nothing'll move it. Listen here, and jest look awaywhere I'm pointing. There's an army of niggers and European spademen atwork along the line the dam's to follow. They're working a trench rightacross, 40 feet down into the soil. Those engines you can see smokingalong there are driving sheet piling of 4-inch timbers 40 feet downbelow the bottom of that trench. When they have finished the job ofpiling, the trench'll be filled chuck up with a puddled core of claythat'll act like a sheet anchor."

  "And so hold the dam in position," suggested Jim.

  "Just what I thought you'd say. No doubt that puddled core will help tohold the huge mass of earth that we're going to dump around it. Butwe're working that piling in and making the core for another purposealso. With a huge body of water in this hollow there'll be a certainamount of soaking into the subsoil--seepage we call it. It might loosenthe ground underneath our dam, and so cause the thing to burst; but witha 40-foot trench, filled with a puddled core which'll stop any water,and this extra 40 feet of piling--just 80 feet of materialaltogether--we stop that seepage, and at the same time kind of fix atooth into the ground that'll hold the weight of New York city."

  The whole thing was gigantic, or, rather, the scheme of it all; for thereader must realize that Jim and his friend were looking down upon anunfinished undertaking. But those smoking engines and the army of menat work were an indication of the enormous labour and skill required inthe erection of this Gatun dam, itself only one item in the numerousworks of the canal, though, to be sure, one of the vastest. In fact,When Jim learned that from base to summit the dam would measure no lessthan 135 feet, and would be 50 feet above the level of the water inGatun Lake, there was no wonder that he gasped.

  "It just makes a man scratch his head," laughed Phineas. "And sometimesit makes one inclined to swear, for there's folks in the States whocan't cotton to what we're doing here, and who wonder why there are somany men employed and so much money being spent. They seem to think thatthe canal ought to be finished in a matter of three or four years."

  "Then the sooner they come out here and see for themselves what ishappening the better for everyone," cried Jim indignantly. "That damalone will take a vast amount of time, I imagine."

  "Then you come along down here, sir, and I'll show you a work that'sjust as gigantic."

  Phineas took our hero to the western end of the trench across which thedam would lie, and there caused him more astonishment. For here anotherarmy of labourers was employed in delving, while enormous steam diggerstore huge mouthfuls of earth and rock away from the sides of the cuttingthat was being made to accommodate the double line of three locks which,when America has completed her self-imposed undertaking, will raise thebiggest vessel ever thought of to the surface of the lake above, or willdrop her with equal facility down on to the bosom of the Atlantic.

  "There's those steam navvies," observed Phineas, halting in front of oneand surveying it reflectively. "A man who runs a machine like that canearn good dollars, and there's competition for the post. Say, Jim, how'dyou care to try your hand at it?"

  The very suggestion caused our hero to hold his breath. It was not thathe was frightened by the mass of machinery; it was merely the novelty ofthe work. He stepped a pace or two nearer before he answered, andwatched closely what happened. A young American, only a few years olderthan himself, sat on a seat beside the gigantic main beam of the digger,his head within a few inches of the flying gear wheels which transmittedmovement, while right beside him, fixed to the base of the steel-girdedbeam, was the engine. One hand was on the throttle, while the otheroperated a lever. Down came the huge bucket attached to the secondarybeam, the chains which supported it clanking over their stout metalpulleys; then the hand operating the lever moved ever so little, thechains tautened, and the hardened-steel cutting lip of the digger bitinto the bank which was being excavated. Deeper and deeper it went.Glug! glug! glug! the machine grunted, while the tip of the main steelgirder, where the hauling chains passed over it, bent downwards ever solittle. A shower of broken earth burst over the edge of the digger, afaint column of dust blew into the air, while the engine gave forthanother discordant glug. Then up came the huge bucket, crammed to thevery top with debris, the whole machine shuddering as the strain wassuddenly taken off it. But the man remained as composed as ever. Hetouched another lever, causing the apparatus to swing round on its axis.Almost instantly a movement from his other hand released the triggerholding the bottom of the huge earth receptacle in place, so that,before the machine had actually finished swinging, the huge mouth ofthis wonderful invention was disgorging its contents into a dirt caralongside.

  "Fine!" cried Jim delightedly. "That's a job I should like immensely,but I guess it requires a little training."

  "Practice, just practice," smiled Phineas. "See here, Jim; this arm ofmine has started in aching again. How'd you care to stay along here andhave a lesson? That young chap's a friend of mine, so there'll be nodifficulty about the matter."

  It may be imagined that Jim eagerly accepted the offer. He was keenenough to accompany Phineas on his promised trip right along the canalworks, but already the sight of all that was happening round about Gatunhad been sufficient for one day, while the huge machine before him andits cool and unruffled operator fascinated him.

  "Gee! nothing I'd like better," he cried.

  "Then come along." Phineas at once went close up to the machine, and ata signal from him the operator brought it to a rest.

  "Howdy?" asked the young fellow. "Getting in at it, Mr. Barton?"

  Under the tan which covered face and arms there was a sudden flush ofpride which an ordinary individual might well have passed unnoticed.But Jim was slowly beginning to understand and realize something of thespirit that seemed to pervade every member of the whole staff engaged onthe isthmus. For there was no doubt that the completion of the canal wasa pet object to them one and all, an undertaking the gradual progress ofwhich filled them with an all-absorbing interest. Each mouthful of dirt,for instance, which this steam digger tore from the ground and shot fromits capacious maw into the earth trains was a little more progress,something further attained towards that grand and final completion towhich all were sworn.

  "Howdy? Say, Harry boy, this here's Jim. You've heard of that littlebusiness we had on the way to New York?"

  The young man nodded, and regarded Jim critically. "Wall?" he askedcurtly.

  "He's the lad that came along after me when I was left aboard thefoundering vessel."

  The one who had been addressed as Harry dropped his hands from thelevers, swung round on his seat the better to gaze at our hero, and,still with his eyes on Jim, replied to Phineas.

  "I read it in the paper," he admitted. "How did it happen?"

  Phineas promptly gave him the narrative, Harr
y meanwhile keeping hiseyes on Jim. Then, when he learned that our hero had decided to stay onthe isthmus, and seek work there, he climbed out of the narrow cabbolted to the side of the digger, dropped lightly to the ground, and,walking straight up to Jim, held out his hand.

  "It's men we want here," he said pleasantly. "Guess you're one. Glad toshake hands with an American who's done a good turn for my friendPhineas. What job are you after?"

  Jim told him promptly, while he exchanged his handshake vigorously; forhe liked the look of this young American, and took to him instantly.

  "I'm not sure yet exactly what job I'll ask for," he answered. "GuessI'm ready to take anything that's going; but I was wondering whetheryou'd give me a lesson on the digger."

  "Know anything about engines and suchlike?" asked Harry sharply.

  Jim nodded. "Guess I do," he said, with that delightful assurance socommon to the Americans. "I've handled engines of many sorts,particularly those aboard ship; and for some months past I've been doingdiving."

  "Git in there," said Harry, motioning to the cab, "I'll larn you to workthis plant inside an hour or two. Then all that's wanted is jest nativegumption, gumption, siree, spelt with a big G, 'cos a man ain't no goodon these here chugging machines unless he can keep his head cool.There's times when the digger pulls through the earth quicker than youcan think, and when, if you didn't cut off steam, you'd overwind andchaw up all the chain gear. Then the lip of the digger may happen to gethold on a rock that wants powder to shift it, and if there's steam stillon, and the engines pulling, you're likely as not to break up some ofthe fixings, and tip the whole concern over on to its nose. Hop rightin; Mr. Barton, I'll see to this here Jim till evening."