The Boy Scouts at the Panama Canal

by John Henry Goldfrap

  CHAPTER XXV. A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS.

  In the meantime Rob and Merritt, working waist deep in the muddyshallows, had succeeded, after some rather arduous work, in clearing thestern wheel of its entangling rope. The line had become twisted in andout of the shaft in such a way that it was necessary in places to cut itloose.

  When this had been done, Mr. Mainwaring decided that before blowing thewhistle to summon back the young hunters they would give the machinery atest. Accordingly, when the canoes had been secured to the shore, Robreversed the engine and started it up.

  For a moment it whirled and chugged away, straining to back the launchoff the muddy shallows in which she had grounded. The lightly built crafttrembled under the effort. The engine snorted and puffed as more powerwas applied.

  "Hooray! We're afloat once more!" cried Merritt triumphantly, as thelaunch was caught in the current and swung free. But at the same instantcame an ominous cracking sound. The engine raced wildly and then stoppedas Rob shut off the power.

  "What's the matter now?" cried Mr. Raynor apprehensively, as the launchbegan to drift downstream in a helpless way.

  "Wait a minute. I'll see," cried Rob, and then the next instant, "Thedriving chain has snapped!"

  "Throw out the anchor before we drift any more," cried Mr. Mainwaring.

  This was done and then Rob set about making an investigation. As he haddeclared, the driving chain, which drove the stern wheel just as abicycle sprocket is revolved, had parted in the middle. Undoubtedly thestrain that had been placed on it when they were backing the launch offhad proved too much for its strength.

  They regarded the accident with some dismay.

  "Great Scotland! That means we are stuck," exclaimed Merritt.

  "Unquestionably, unless we can make some repairs," admitted Mr.Mainwaring.

  "Do you think you can fix it, Rob?" asked Mr. Raynor.

  "I might manage to make a temporary link out of wire," replied Rob, "butI'm afraid it wouldn't hold long against the current."

  "Isn't there a spare chain in the tool locker?" asked Merritt.

  Mr. Mainwaring shook his head.

  "There's nothing for it but to turn back and get a new link forged," hesaid. "Too bad!"

  "It is indeed," agreed Rob. "Shall I make a link out of steel wire? Iguess that would be strong enough to carry us down with the stream if wego slowly."

  "Yes, do so," was the reply. "Merritt, will you sound the return whistlefor Bob Hopkins and Fred?"

  Merritt pulled the cord connecting with the compressed air whistle andtugged it lustily. Then he paused and blew again, keeping this up forsome time. No reply had come; but as yet they felt no anxiety. It waslikely that the boys would take some time in returning, and thepossibility of their being out of ear-shot of the whistle did not occurto any of the party.

  But when an hour had passed and then another dragged its slow length awaywithout bringing any signs of the absentees, anxiety gave place to alarmand alarm to genuine fear that harm might have overtaken them. Theylooked blankly at each other. For a time no one spoke.

  Suddenly, from a great distance as it seemed, there came the sound of arifle shot.

  Had they but known it, the sound was caused by Tubby's shot at the bandof monkeys. Although ignorant of its cause, it made the dismayed littleparty's spirits pick up a bit to hear at least some sound of the twoyoung hunters, even though they knew that they must be some distance off.

  "Raynor," ordered Mr. Mainwaring, "I don't know whether that shot wasmerely a signal that they are coming, or a signal of distress. In anyevent I am going ashore. Rob, you may come with me if you like. Bringyour rifle. Merritt, you keep guard with Mr. Raynor."

  The engineer merely nodded in answer to his chief's orders. Merrittlooked rather disappointed. He would have liked to accompany thesearchers, but as he knew that was impossible he put the best facepossible on the matter and helped Rob and Mr. Mainwaring to get ashore bymeans of the plank.

  Almost instantly the jungle swallowed them up. As they vanished fromsight, Raynor sighed. Merritt looking up saw that he looked distressed.He ventured to ask him what was the matter.

  "I don't just know why, my boy, but I've got an idea that the lads are introuble in the woods yonder," he said. "I don't like the idea of thatdistant shot."

  "You--you don't think that there are any Indians off in the forest, doyou?" asked Merritt, turning a shade paler.

  "I don't think anything. I don't want to say anything till I'm sure; butwe're not so far from San Blas country that a wandering hunting partymight not happen along through the forest. They have the junglehoneycombed with paths known only to themselves."

  "But supposing--just supposing that the boys did fall in with them, wouldthe Indians do them any harm?"

  "Impossible to say, Merritt. This I do know, however, that the Indians'minds have been worked on by those who are opposed to the canal untilthey have been taught to regard all white men as their enemies. They havebeen told that the making of the canal will flood out their huntinggrounds and drive them into remoter parts of the country. Naturally, theyregard white men with suspicion and hatred."

  While this conversation was going on, Mr. Mainwaring, whose face wassadly troubled, and his young companion, had been pushing their waythrough the jungle. Fortunately the trail of Tubby and Fred was prettywell marked where they had shoved their way through the underbrush.Finally they came to the spot where the two boys had met with theserpent. Rob examined the ground with the instinct of a true scout andskillful trapper. Traces of a sudden stoppage and a precipitate flightoff into the jungle were plainly visible.

  But what had caused the boys to beat such a rapid retreat was by no meansso plain.

  "Can you make out anything, Rob?" asked Mr. Mainwaring, after a pause.

  "No, sir," said Rob perplexedly, "except that something appears to havefrightened them just at this point. You can see by their footmarks inthis soft mud that they were running fast when they made off. And seehere, sir, where one of them fell and scrambled up again, going on asquickly as before."

  "Jove, you can read all that in those tracks?"

  "That's part of the Boy Scout training, sir," rejoined Rob modestly.

  "It's wonderful! Wonderful! But tell me, can you see the signs of anywild beasts?"

  "Not one. That's what makes it so mysterious. It is plain that somethingwas after them and yet there are no tracks."

  "Well, we had better follow up the trail they have left through thejungle. That is our only course, in fact."

  On and on they pursued the trail, going slowly of necessity. Here theywould lose the trail for a time and then again in a few minutes Rob'scleverness as a Scout would pick it up again by means of a broken bladeof grass or a creeper that had been brushed aside. Never had the youngleader's well-trained faculties been more on the alert than now as hefollowed his chum's trail through the trackless jungle.

  And all the while poor Tubby and Fred were wandering further and furtherfrom them. At length they reached the open space where the boys hadpaused a while and Tubby had shot at the monkeys overhead. All at onceRob darted forward. On the ground he had spied a brass shell. Theyexamined it and found that it tallied with the caliber of Tubby's rifle,but beyond this there was no further clue.

  Suddenly Rob gave a cry of delight. He eagerly examined what appeared toMr. Mainwaring to be nothing more than a clump of pampas grass slightlybent over to the left. But Rob's quick eye had caught sight of a band ofgrass tied round its top just below the bend. To an ordinary person's eyethis would have meant nothing. But to Rob, trained in scouting, it meantthat the two lads they were pursuing had turned to the left.

  On they went again, never flagging through the hot noonday, but patientlypicking up the trail as they went along. Now a scratch on the bark of alimb would show Rob the direction, presently some trampled grass orflowers led him on, again he would stumble on one of Tubby's stone orgrass signs.

>   All the time the trail kept getting fresher. Their hopes rose high.

  "We're catching up on them," cried Rob. "It's slow but sure; we'recatching up."

  Presently they stood in the space under the tall trees where Tubby andFred had paused and where the San Blas Indians had surprised them. Rob,like a pointer dog, went rapidly hither and thither, crouched low,looking for the tiny signs which mean so little to an untrained and somuch to a carefully educated eye.

  Suddenly he gave a sharp cry. It brought Mr. Mainwaring to his side in aninstant.

  "Look, sir! Here in this soft earth! The print of bare feet! Very smallbare feet! What does it mean?"

  "Indians!" exclaimed Mr. Mainwaring, his face working. "The trail endshere, Rob. Oh, my poor boy! My poor boy!"

  And, quite overcome, Mr. Mainwaring sank down on the same log on which,had he but known it, his son Fred had collapsed but a short time before.It was a long time that he sat there with his head buried in his hands,and when he raised his face Rob saw that it was white and strangelydrawn, but full of determination.

  "What are we to do, sir?" demanded Rob. "I'm afraid that, as you say,there is no doubt they have been carried off; but luckily, I see no signsof a struggle. Perhaps there is hope."

  Mr. Mainwaring had said nothing and Rob had not told him of his discoveryof a spear that still stuck in the tree into which it had dartedquivering above Tubby's head. He could not find it in his heart toincrease Mr. Mainwaring's distress, and, agitated as he himself was, Robhad still thoughtfulness enough not to add to another's burdens.

  Presently he repeated his question.

  "Have you any plan, sir?"

  Mr. Mainwaring sprang to his feet; his eyes had a hard glint in them.

  "Yes, I have a plan," he exclaimed, "the only plan that can save them. Wemust return at once, get a powerful force and ransack this forest fromend to end. Perhaps if the Indians learn of this, and learn of it theywill quick enough, they will give the boys up."

  Slowly, each busied with his own thoughts, they made their way backtoward the river. But before they reached it, it began to grow dusk. Anuneasy wind sighed in the tops of the forest trees. But for this adeath-like stillness prevailed.

  "We must hurry. A storm is coming on," said Mr. Mainwaring lookingupward.

  Before long they could catch the glint of the river through the trees.But here a fresh surprise awaited them. There lay the canoes, just asthey had left them; everything looked the same, but of the launch therewas not a sign!

  They could hardly believe their eyes, but the fact remained that the_Pathfinder_ had vanished; nor was there any trace of its two occupants.It was at this moment that Rob noticed that the river seemed to beflowing more swiftly and that its level had risen.