Produced by Jim Ludwig
Bert Wilson at Panama
BY J.W. Duffield
Copyright, 1914, By
Published and Printed, 1924 by
Western Printing & Lithographing Company
Racine, Wisconsin
Printed in U.S.A.
CHAPTERS
I. The Hold-Up
II. The Pursuit
III. A Gallant Comrade
IV. The Captured Sentry
V. A Fiendish Torture
VI. The Execution of El Tigre
VII. Off for Panama
VIII. The Great Canal
IX. The Treacherous Bog
X. A Perilous Adventure
XI. The Deserted City
XII. Wah Lee's Boss
XIII. Marked for Destruction
XIV. Snatched from the Sea
XV. Cutting the Wires
XVI. The Foiling of the Plot
"Hands up! Quick!"
Now, in wild countries, such a command is never disobeyed, except by afool or a would-be suicide. As Dick Trent was neither, his hands went upat once. And as he looked into the wicked muzzles of two bulldogrevolvers, he inwardly cursed the carelessness that had led him so farafield, unarmed.
For that he had been careless there was not the shadow of a doubt. Allthat morning, as his train wound its way through Central Mexico, therehad been unmistakable evidence on every side of the disturbed state ofthe nation. From the car windows he had seen a fertile country turnedinto a desert. The railroad line itself had been fairly well guarded bystrong detachments of Federal forces; but outside the direct zone oftravel there were abundant witnesses of strife and desolation. Smoke wasrising from the remains of burned villages, the fields were bare ofcattle driven off by marauding bands, harvests remained ungatheredbecause the tillers of the soil had either fled for safety to the largertowns or been forced to take up arms with one of the contending factions.There were at least four important leaders, backed by considerableforces, who claimed to represent the people of Mexico, while countlessbands of guerillas hung on the flanks of the regular armies. These lastwere murderers, pure and simple. It mattered nothing to them which sidewon. They robbed and slaughtered impartially, wherever booty or victimsawaited them, and their ranks were recruited from the very scum of theearth.
Only that morning a brisk action had taken place at a small town on theline, and although the guerillas had been driven off they had managed toinflict considerable damage. A desperate attempt to destroy a bridge hadbeen foiled, but one of the trestles had been so weakened that the heavytrain did not dare to cross until repairs were made. This caused a delayof an hour or two, and, in the meantime, most of the passengers left thetrain and strolled about, watching the progress of the work.
Among these had been Bert Wilson and Tom Henderson, Dick's inseparablefriends and companions. A strong bond of friendship united the three andthis had been cemented by many experiences shared in common. They wereso thoroughly congenial, had "summered and wintered" each other so longthat each almost knew what the others were thinking. Together they hadfaced dangers: together they had come to hand grips with death andnarrowly escaped. Each knew that the others would back him to the limitand would die rather than desert him in an emergency. By dint ofstrength and natural capacity Bert was the leader, but the