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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Earle Harrison 



THE PUBLIC SQUARE, PANAMA CITY 



The cities of Panama and Colon, at the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the Panama Canal, 

 are under the authority of the Republic of Panama, but complete jurisdiction is given the 

 United States in both cities and their harbors in all that relates to sanitation and quarantine. 



job, at my age; and who could I trust? 

 They'd slit your throat for $10 in those 

 days. They murdered the present own- 

 er's father in cold blood. I wouldn't put 

 it beyond 'em to do the same to this one 

 if it wasn't that he's a smart lad and 

 carries the only firearms on the island. 



"No one's come here since, no one that 

 I'd trust. . . . Then, too, what if I 

 found the stuff? What good would it 

 do me — now?" He spread out his deli- 

 cately shaped hands in. a deprecating 

 gesture. "I should die in a month if I 

 left here. Finest climate on earth, this 

 is. . . ." vSuddenly he laughed — a 

 low, reminiscent cackle of mirth. 



"But that wasn't all that decided me. 

 I'd got to the planking, Guayaquil oak 

 it was, and I was steaming it on when 

 a nail drew, and that plank caught me 

 in the chest, knocked me six yards, and 

 broke a rib. It's broken yet, I guess ; 

 there was no one to mend it. Well, that 

 finished it. I wasn't meant to build that 

 ship." 



He stopped abruptly and stared down 

 at his battered, rawhide shoes. 



SHAEE THE DREAM SHIP BECOME A 

 TREASURE SHIP? 



The inference was obvious. 



"Well, what about it?" I suggested. 



He looked up at that. 



"I've been thinking about it ever since 

 you came here," he confessed, "I'll go 

 with you ; but mind this, you musn't curse 

 me if nothing comes of it. I don't prom- 

 ise anything. All I say is I think I know 

 where the stuff is, if some one hasn't 

 gotten it." 



"I'll let you know tomorrow," said I, 

 and left him sitting there. 



Was the man senile ? There was noth- 

 ing to make one think so. Was he a liar? 

 There was equally nothing to prove it. 

 At least half his story was a matter of 

 island history. 



We of the Dream Ship held a committee 

 meeting on the subject of loot that eve- 

 ning. We discussed it from every angle, 



