"Ain't it a sight for sore eyes?" cried Phineas, his face shining in the sunlight. "You'd hardly expect to see men 'way over there, working as if time was pressing. But see 'em. Gangs at the dam, gangs on the railway, and hundreds hidden from sight in the valley, or 'way up at Culebra. And watch the smoke from the diggers, the locos, and the drillers! It's good to think that it's all American, and that things are going smoothly."
"Thanks to the fact that a rascal has been captured," ventured the Police Major. "Don't forget that, please. The best of energies may be brought to naught if there is a rascal secretly at work attempting to wreck matters. Things were getting to look bad when our prisoner made his last little effort. But Jim has seen to that. Say, lad, was it a section you were bossing?"
Our hero coloured and admitted the fact as if he ought to be ashamed of his advancement.
"Ah, well," went on the Major, smiling slyly, "guess there's other billets going! But there's Gatun: I'll send the sergeant along with Jaime to the station, and then we four will ride to Ancon. There I can report, and hand over the dollars."
Need the reader wonder that the return of the party caused a huge sensation? Indeed the excitement nearly caused a stoppage of work along the zone, a matter almost without precedent. For the hustle and perseverance of the white employees is something out of the ordinary. The fever to press on with an undertaking in which their own personal honour becomes, sooner or later, helplessly involved will hear of no delay, and thrusts aside all obstacles. But the news 'phoned up and down the zone was really too entrancing. Jim's name was soon on every man's lips, while even stolid officials cheered when they heard that the gang of robbers was destroyed, the leader captured, and the dollars recovered. Besides, Sadie was back again, and that caused the utmost satisfaction, her abduction having roused the anger of the workers. A week later found Jim promoted to a still more responsible position, while a reward in money was handed to him, and to his three trusty servants. With the help of Phineas and other people George obtained a post amongst the employees, and should you happen to call in at the isthmus, there you will find him and his brother, as eager as their comrades.
For strenuous work is the order of the day, and every day, along the fifty miles of works. Let Americans not forget it. Let those who can, pay a visit to their kith and kin slaving at the vast project their country has commenced on, and bear in mind that the spirit of dogged courage, of common sense and energy, which won advancement for the hero of this narrative, is possessed by one and all of the workers. For those others, the more numerous body, who for business reasons and others are unable to visit Panama or Colon, we say, let them obtain the fullest information as to the giant canal which is building there. The day is coming, is indeed getting very near at hand, when America will achieve a triumph, and when it will behove each and every citizen to know every detail, so that the boys and girls of the race, the future citizens of America, always eager for knowledge, may be told how the triumph was accomplished, how thousands laboured and slaved for years far from the sight of their fellows, and how by dint of superhuman effort, by astuteness and most praise-worthy perseverance, they brought their task to a successful termination. For ourselves we long for the day when we may board a steamer and voyage on her decks from the Atlantic up through the giant locks of Gatun to that vast lake which will extend to Obispo, and from thence steam through the cutting at Culebra, finally descending through the locks at Pedro Miguel and at Milaflores to Pacific level. We look forward to that great day, knowing that none will admire more than we shall the work which Jim and thousands of others will have helped to accomplish. As for Jim himself, we wish him all prosperity. He is a true American. Idleness he does not know, while a strenuous life attracts him. Our hero is made of the stuff which forces difficulty and danger aside cheerfully, and which points without hesitation the road to success.
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
At the Villafield Press, Glasgow, Scotland