CHAPTER XVI.
A MIGHTY JAR IN THE JUNGLE.
It was half-past two in the morning when Ned Nestor and his companions left the cottage in the jungle. A few fleecy clouds were now drifting over the sky, but, on the whole, the night was fairly clear. It was some distance to Gatun, where Ned hoped to secure a railroad motor for the Culebra trip, so the boys moved along at a swift pace.
However, the party was not destined to reach Gatun as speedily as was anticipated. When the boys came to the spot from which Ned and Jimmie had struck off into the jungle, or into the edge of it, rather, in pursuit of the man who had placed the bomb, Jack called Ned’s attention to two skulking figures moving up the swell of the hill which the two boys had climbed the night before.
“There are some of your friends—the bomb-makers,” Jack said.
“Yes,” Ned replied, “they have been in advance of us for some distance.”
“Watching the cottage, I presume,” Jack suggested.
“More likely watching to see if we remained at home or went abroad planning mischief for them,” Ned replied.
“Then they’re next to us,” Jimmie broke in. “I’d like to follow ’em up to the old temple an’ blow ’em up.”