Almost a week after the Juan Lopez had fled so hastily from the Bay of Panama, Walter Goodwin came back in the government tug with a body-guard of devoted marines. Although he had managed to make a good deal of noise in the world for a youth of his years, he had no false ideas of his own importance. As he looked at it, he had made a muddle of things and his friends had pulled him out. He must show them that he could stand on his own feet and they must be given no more trouble in his behalf. Before landing at Balboa, he said to Jack Devlin:  
"Please forget about me. I can jump right in and look for a job."
 
"Not until I have taken you to the colonel. Those were his orders. We'll board the first train to Culebra on the chance of finding him in his office."
 
[Pg 194]
 
"Did he really want to see me?"
 
"Sure. You are the prize disturbance of the Isthmus."
 
Colonel Gunther was in consultation with two of his division engineers when the steam-shovel man led Walter in by the arm. Shoving aside a mass of blue-prints and typewritten data, the colonel stepped forward and heartily exclaimed:
 
"Why, here is the young man who was so handy with the broomstick! I am delighted to know that your latest voyage has turned out so well. I understand that you bagged General Quesada as an incident of the adventure."
 
Walter blushed and replied:
 
"I had a lucky chance to get square with him, sir."
 
"The lad used his head, colonel," put in Devlin, with a broad grin. "It's head-work that counts on the Isthmus, if you please. I have heard you say it yourself."
 
"I can't thank you enough. I wasn't worth all that trouble," said Walter.
 
"Oh, perhaps you were," smiled the colonel. "That remains to be seen. Devlin told me[Pg 195] that you were looking for work when you got into this extraordinary scrape. You have done the Canal Commission a considerable service. Would you like to take a position on the wharf at Balboa?"
 
Walter was about to answer with great fervor when a tall, spare gentleman in khaki entered the office from another room and paused to survey the group. Then he raised his voice abruptly and protested:
 
"Pardon me, colonel, but Goodwin belongs to me. I saw him first. With your permission I will use him in the Cristobal commissary."
 
"Oh, how are you, Major Glendinning," and the colonel chuckled. "Has base-ball anything to do with your lively interest in this young man?"
 
"Officially? No. Between us, as man to man? Yes," frankly returned the major. "The force at Cristobal will be most unhappy if Goodwin is sent to Balboa. They will consider themselves wronged. Their morale will be impaired."
 
"Is it as bad as that?" The colonel tried to look serious. "If base-ball is really involved,[Pg 196] I had better surrender. I would rather not add to my troubles."
 
The major bowed his thanks, and his stern features relaxed in a mischievous smile. Turning to Walter, he said in his curt way:
 
"Glad to see you again. How is the arm? I called at the hospital to see you, but you had flown off on that ridiculous voyage. Can you steer clear of landslides and revolutions for a while?"
 
"I'll try, sir. I should like to lead a very quiet life. I can pitch again before long."
 
The major glanced at the colonel and said impressively to Walter: "I shall give you a job in my department, not on account of your base-ball, mind you, but because you did a clever, plucky piece of work on Balboa wharf. Is that clearly understood?"
 
"Be careful, or you will protest too much," laughed Colonel Gunther, as he returned to his desk. "I think there is no question that Goodwin has earned the right to a job in the Zone."
 
Jack Devlin shook hands with Walter and whispered:
 
"I had it in mind to put in a word [Pg 197]myself. I want to break you in at firing a steam-shovel when you are strong and husky again. But it would have started another row over the base-ball end of it. Major Glendinning is a stubborn man to lock horns with. So long, my boy. Your luck has turned. I'll look you up on my first day off."
 
"You are the best friend a fellow ever had," said Walter.
 
Two days later he was put on the gold roll as a commissary clerk and assigned to the great warehouse in Cristobal, which was filled with groceries, dry-goods, hardware, shoes, crockery, candy, and what-not. It was one depot of the unique system of store-keeping conducted on a vast scale by a paternal government. After his breathless adventures, Walter was glad to work with all his might at the humdrum task of tallying the merchandise as it came in from the railroad cars.
 
He was thus engaged when his father found him. Mr. Horatio Goodwin halted amid the boxes and barrels, and stood staring at his tall son as if to make sure that his vision had not tricked him. Walter dropped his tally-sheet, blinked in his turn and shouted:
 
[Pg 198]
 
"Goodness gracious, father! Is it you or somebody else?"
 
With this he made a violent assault on his parent, swung him clear of the floor in a bear-like hug, and set him down in a rumpled condition.
 
"Are you really all right, Walter?" gasped Mr. Goodwin.
 
"Of course I'm all right. Can't you see it for yourself? You can't lose me," Walter kept repeating as if he were firing minute-guns. "And what brought you way down here from Wolverton?"
 
Mr. Goodwin tried to explain, but both were too excited to weave a coherent narrative, and after waving his hands helplessly the father cried:
 
"We can tell all this later. I have come to take you home with me. A steamer sails for New York to-morrow."
 
"To take me home with you?" Walter's face was dismal beyond words. This was a worse catastrophe than the landslide. "Why, father, you don't understand. Everything is coming my way. I am on the gold roll at seventy-five per month, and I intend to send[Pg 199] 'most half of it home. I had a few little upsets, but that's all past. Do you honestly mean it?"
 
"It is why I made the long journey," firmly answered Mr. Goodwin. "Your mother and I cannot stand it, Walter. After she hears of the dynamite and the landslide and the pirates she will never forgive me if I leave you here."
 
"But you will give me a chance to talk it over with you?" implored Walter. "A fellow can't afford to have his career smashed all to flinders. Please look around first and see what a fine country this is to live in. It is as quiet and safe as Wolverton, and a good deal healthier."
 
"Your adventures sound like it," was Mr. Goodwin's dry comment. "Can you quit work at once and come over to the hotel with me?"
 
"Not until noon and then I will knock off for dinner, father. It wouldn't be square to leave my job, even to talk things over with you. Excuse me, but I must keep this car-load of stuff moving."
 
Mr. Horatio Goodwin was repulsed, but by[Pg 200] no means vanquished. For all his mild demeanor, he had an obstinate streak, and his purpose of taking Walter home was unshaken. As a dutiful son, Walter was sorely distressed. He had never defied his father, nor did he wish to do so now. But he could not bear to think of leaving the Isthmus with success in his grasp. Resorting to strategy, he said to his father when next they met:
 
"Now that you are here, why don't you spend a week in seeing the canal? It is the greatest show on earth. You ought not to miss it. You needn't worry about me. I am as safe as if I were clerking in a corner grocery in Wolverton."
 
The suggestion delighted Mr. Goodwin, although he had a struggle with his conscience on the score of expense. He ought to hasten back to his desk in the coal-dealer's office. But never again would he have such a vacation as this, and it would be easier to persuade Walter by pressing the argument gradually. Next morning Mr. Goodwin, eager and alert, went out to view the Gatun locks and dam.
 
Walter toiled in the commissary and [Pg 201]meditated great thoughts. There must be some way to solve the problem. He bided his time until Major Glendinning, passing through the warehouse on a tour of inspection, halted to ask:
 
"How are you going to like the job?"
 
"Tremendously, sir, thank you. But I may have to resign this week. My father has come after me."
 
"What? Does he think you are incapable of taking care of yourself?" thundered the major. "What's the matter with him?"
 
"They want me with them at home. I am too far away from the family."
 
"Pshaw! Does your father need you in his own business?"
 
"No, sir. His business doesn't amount to much at present. He was with the Wolverton Mills for twenty years as accountant and book-keeper——"
 
"The mills closed down," interrupted the major. "I used to purchase from them."
 
"Yes, sir. My father is a first-class man in every way, but times are dull at home and—and—" Walter mopped his face and floundered on, "you see, I happened to think that instead[Pg 202] of my going home to the family, I might somehow manage to bring the family down here. It sounds foolish, but——"
 
Major Glendinning was both touched and amused. He had heard of Walter's ambition to "give his father a lift."
 
"You mean to insinuate that there might possibly be an opening for a first-class accountant and book-keeper in the canal organization?" he queried. "Can you recommend him?"
 
"Very highly," was Walter's grave reply. "I have known him for seventeen years, and he can furnish the very best of references."
 
"Bless me, but you are a sort of continuous performance," exclaimed Major Glendinning. "A really first-class accountant and book-keeper! Um-m! If you are a chip of the old block, your father deserves careful consideration. Such men are not any too easy to find for the office work of the various departments, even though the pay-rolls are full."
 
"He is at the Washington Hotel in Colon," hopefully suggested Walter. "Of course, I am very anxious to stay on the job, and I don't want to disobey him——"
............