Part 25 (2/2)
I'm putting it by against a rainy day.”
And here was promotion! By now he had learned the scale of wages and salaries that were paid all along the ca.n.a.l. Such matters were laid down definitely, and were decidedly on the liberal side. With a flush of joy he realized that, as chief of a section, he would be in receipt of just double the amount he had had when working the rock drill.
”And of course there'll be compensation for the accident, just the same as in the case of any other employee,” added Phineas, trying to appear as if he had not noticed the tears of joy which had risen to Jim's eyes.
For who is there of his age, imbued with the same keenness, with greater responsibilities on his young shoulders than falls to the lot of the average lad, who would not have gulped a little and felt unmanned by such glorious news? Consider the circ.u.mstances of our hero's life for some little time past. It had been a struggle against what had at times seemed like persistent bad fortune. First his father ruined, then the whole family compelled to leave their home and drift on the Caribbean.
The loss of his father and then of his brother had come like final blows which, as it were, drove the lessons of his misfortunes home to Jim. And there was Sadie, at once a comfort and an anxiety. Jim alone stood between her and charity.
”There'll be compensation for the accident,” continued Phineas, ”and reward from the Commissioners for saving that train of pa.s.senger cars.
You've got to remember that it is cheaper any day to smash up a spoil train than it is to wreck one carrying people. One costs a heap more to erect than the other. So there you saved America a nice little sum. I needn't say that if the people aboard had been killed, compensation would have amounted to a big figure. So the Commission has received powers from Was.h.i.+ngton to pay over 500 dollars. I rather think that'll make a nice little nest egg against the day you get married.”
Phineas roared with laughter as he caught a glimpse of Jim's face after those last words. Indignation and contempt were written on the flushed features. Then our hero joined in the merriment. ”Gee! If there ever was a lucky dog, it's me!” he cried. ”Just fancy getting a reward for such a job! As for the nest egg and marrying, I've better things to do with that money. I'll invest it, so that Sadie shall have something if I'm unlucky enough next time not to escape under similar circ.u.mstances.
Bein' married can wait till this ca.n.a.l's finished. Guess I've enough to do here. I'm going to stay right here till the works are opened and I've sailed in a s.h.i.+p from Pacific to Atlantic.”
Phineas smiled, and, leaning across, gripped his young friend's hand and shook it hard. Open admiration for the pluck which our hero had displayed, now on more than one occasion, was transparent in the eyes of this American official. But there was more. Jim had caught that strange infection which seemed to have taken the place of the deadly yellow fever. It was like that pestilence, too, in this, that it was wonderfully catching, wonderfully quick to spread, and inflicted itself upon all and sundry, once they had settled down in the zone. But there the simile between this infection and that of the loathsome yellow fever ended. That keenness for the work, that determination to relax no energy, but to see what many thought a hopeless undertaking safely and surely accomplished, had, in the few months since he came to the ca.n.a.l zone, fastened itself upon Jim, till there was none more eager all along the line between the Pacific and the Atlantic.
”Yes,” he repeated, ”I'll stay right here till the ca.n.a.l's opened. By then that nest egg ought to be of respectable proportions.”
A week later there was a vast gathering at the clubhouse, when one of the chief officials of the ca.n.a.l works presented Jim with a fine gold watch and chain to the accompaniment of thunderous applause from the a.s.sembled employees. At the same time the reward sent or sanctioned by the Government at Was.h.i.+ngton was handed over to him. A merry concert followed, and then the meeting broke up. It was to be Jim's last evening in the neighbourhood of Gatun.
”Of course you'll have to live in one of the hotels at Ancon,” said Phineas, when discussing the matter, ”for it is too long a journey from there to this part to make every day. It would interfere with your work.
You can come along weekends, and welcome. Sadie'll stop right here; I won't hear of her leaving.”
The arrangement fell in with our hero's wishes, for there was no doubt but that his sister was in excellent hands. She had taken a liking to Phineas's housekeeper, and was happy amongst her playmates at the Commission school close at hand. Jim left her, therefore, in the care of his friend, and was soon established in his quarters in a vast Commission hotel at Ancon, within easy distance of Milaflores, the part where he was to be chief of a section of workers. He found that the latter were composed for the most part of Italians, though there were a few other European nationalities, as well as some negroes.
”You'll have plans given you and so get to know what the work is,” said his immediate superior. ”Of course what we're doing here is getting out foundations for the two tiers of double locks. You'll have a couple of steam diggers to operate, besides a concrete mill; for we're putting tons of concrete into our foundations. A young chap like you don't want to drive. Though it's as well to remember that foreigners same as these ain't got the same spirit that our men have. They don't care so much for the building of the ca.n.a.l as for the dollars they earn, but if you take them the right way you can get a power of work out of them.”
The advice given was, as Jim found, excellent, and with his sunny nature and his own obvious preference for hard work, in place of idleness, he soon became popular with his section, and conducted it for some weeks to the satisfaction of those above him. Nor did he find the work less interesting. The huge concrete mill was, in itself, enough to rivet attention, though there was a sameness about its movements which was apt to become monotonous when compared with the varied, lifelike motions of the steam diggers. Rubble and cement were loaded into its enormous hopper by the gangs of workmen, and ever there was a ma.s.s of semi-fluid concrete issuing from the far side, ready mixed for the foundations of the locks which, when the hour arrives, will carry the biggest s.h.i.+ps the world is capable of building. On Sat.u.r.day afternoon, when the whistles blew earlier than on weekdays, Jim would return to his hotel, wash and change, and take the first available car down the tracks to Gatun. A concert at the club was usually arranged for Sat.u.r.day night, while on Sunday he went to the nearest church with Phineas and Sadie, and then returned in the evening to Ancon.
”Strange that we should never be able to get any information about that runaway spoil train,” said Phineas, on one of the occasions when Jim went over to Gatun. ”There's never been a word about it. The police have failed to fathom what is at this day still a mystery. But there's a rascal at work somewhere. There's been a severe fire down Colon way, sleepers near pitched a pa.s.senger train from the rails opposite the dam there, while one night, when the works were deserted, someone took the brakes off a hundred-ton steam digger, and sent her running down the tracks. She smashed herself to pieces, besides wrecking a dozen cars.”
The news was serious, in fact, and pointed unmistakably to a criminal somewhere on the ca.n.a.l, someone with a grudge against the undertaking, or against the officials. It made Jim think instantly of Jaime de Oteros, though why he could not imagine. But he was soon to know; little time was to pa.s.s before he was to come face to face with the miscreant.
CHAPTER XV
Jaime de Oteros forms Plans
If ever there were a rascal it was Jaime de Oteros, the Spaniard, who, if his past history were but fully known, had left his own native country, now many years ago, a fugitive from justice. Armed with sufficient money to obtain an entrance into the United States of America, he had quickly re-embarked upon the course he had been following, and with the gang he had contrived to gather about him had committed many burglaries. Then, the police being hot on his track, he had left the country, and had begun operations again in southern America.
”That is our information about the man,” said the police major, as he was discussing the matter with Phineas and Jim one Sat.u.r.day evening, when the latter was over at Gatun for the usual weekend stay. ”The rascal knew that the police in New York State were making anxious search for him, and with his usual astuteness--for the man is astute without a doubt, and is, indeed, well educated--he slipped away before the net closed round him. Later we hear of him at various ports along the Mexican Gulf, and then in the ca.n.a.l zone. Tom brings us news of great importance.”
The big negro stood before them, looking magnificent in his police uniform, and with an air of authority about him which was entirely new, and which caused Jim to struggle hard to hide his mirth; for he knew Tom so well. Severity did not match well with the huge negro's jolly nature.
”I'se seed dis sc.u.m ob a man,” he declared to them all, rolling his eyes. ”Yo tink Tom make one big mistake. Not 'tall; noding of de sort.
Me sartin sure. Him come out ob a house in Colon. Same man, but different. No beard, face clean shaved; but scowl all de same. Tom know de blackguard when he see um.”
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