he thicket on the other side. The watcher sprang to
his feet instantly, moved away a few paces, and turned back.

"He's goin' to call the others," Jimmie whispered.

The fellow approached the doorway as Jimmie spoke, which was exactly what
Ned did not want. If the man would remain outside, alone, it might be
possible to capture him with little risk. If he called his companions,
there would be no hope of taking him prisoner.

Ned motioned to Jimmie and the lad threw another stone into the thicket,
and again the watcher moved in that direction. This time he advanced to
the edge of the thicket and bent over to peer under the overhanging
branches of a tree.

Before he could regain an upright position, or give a cry of warning
because of the quick steps he heard behind him, Ned was grappling with
him, his fingers closing about the muscular throat. It was a desperate,
although a silent, struggle for a minute, and Ned might have been
disappointed in the result if Jimmie had not bounced in on the two and
terminated the battle by sitting down on the head of the man Ned had
already thrown to the ground. As an additional precaution against any
noise calculated to alarm the others, Jimmie held his gun close to the
captive's nose.

"Nothin' stirrin' here," he panted. "You lie still."

"What does this mean?"

The words were English and the voice was certainly that of a man from one
of the Eastern states of the North American republic.

Ned drew a noose around the prisoner's wrists and tied his rather delicate
hands together firmly behind his back. Then he searched him for weapons. A
revolver was found in a hip pocket, also a package of papers in a breast
pocket. The fellow cursed and swore like a pirate when the papers were
taken.

"This is highway robbery," he finally calmed down enough to say. "I am an
official of the Zone, and you shall suffer for this."

"Gee," said Jimmie, with a chuckle, "you must have a contract to lift the
canal an' the Gatun dam into the blue sky."

The prisoner snarled at the lad a moment and turned to Ned.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"What are your men doing down there?" Ned asked, ignoring the question.

"They are removing explosives, explosives to be used in the work at
Gatun."

"Why is it stored here?"

"For safety."

"Were your men storing this bomb," taking the clumsy exhibit from his
pocket, "under my cottage for safety?" Ned demanded.

"I don't know anything about th