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Show THE JOY GERM S " by hy gage i 1 t WAS breakfast t'J!U j. hour in the rejuve- C? I "T II nated city of Pana- 1 ri ma. This means that . & j Old Sol was flirting 1 -j with the meridian. I In the haif-shel- jftjC ft' Ji.Hfe.O tared harbor back of iffiMMi the ancient Spanish at-u wuii iiasiuiU and glinted the white enamel and polished brass of a 70-foot rnotor-eruisor. Conspicuous by contrast with the nondescript non-descript mosquito liaet that surrounded It, the graceful Tramp seemed suspended In mid-air, so clear was its shimmering reflection. Wafl.ed therefrom on the gcntlo breeze of the Pacific came tho chords of a college col-lege song that would have delighted the ear of any Pennsylvania!!:. "Oo-he! Senor Pemberton!" came a hail from overside, and a barefooted native na-tive lad jumped aboard from a fiat-bottomed rowboat. "Cablegram, Senor Pemberton!" Pem-berton!" "Greetings, oh lemon-skinned bearer of joyful tidings!" bubbled Dick. "Dad'a loosened up again, say we." He danced across tho deck, snatched open tho envelope and read: Sail home immediately. Final thousand Panama Bank. Father. "Listens like papa means business this trip," commented Dick. "We've got to step along to get to Thilly on that thousand. thou-sand. Hey, cap!" he called to tho navigator. navi-gator. "Wo head for home soon as I can slip over to the bank." K. morning saw them locked down yuireo massivo Gatun steps. They ei id into Limon Bay and on to Colon. This cruise in his father's motor-yacht was Dick's final fling before settling down as office boy under pa's paternal wing. His three guests, "Babe" Butler, "Bud" Simpson and "Chick" Wright, had all just graduated in the same class, and were having the great adventura of their lives. The afternoon of the second day the mountains of Costa Rtca pierced the hazy horizon lineand rose steadily until the fringe of palms along the chore was visible. "Another one of those banana burgs, I s'pose!" sniffed Dick, as the white houses of Port Llmbao, the Chiraguan town, began to peep out from the velvety green. "Got a railroad up the mountains to San Illario. Wish we had time to make tho climb. Looks inviting." Before the anchor chain rattled, a rowboat put out from tho jungle above the town and headed for the yacht. Awash with ooze from rowing, the lono boatman tumbled up the companion steps in wild haste to get aboard, and a yellow leather suitcase rolled at his foet. "Gentlcmans oxcuso please Madre de Dios! I am so excite!" this between porpoise por-poise pufts, and ably assisted by eloquent hands. "The robber he has escape-one escape-one hundred thousand dollar not pesos, but dollar of those Estados I'nidos! Car-r-amba! Me? Ah, si, senor excuse! ex-cuse! I am General Alfonso Castillas Jose Gondara Baccallao. It is that I am command the gT-r-reat armee of Chi-ra-gua!" K "Well, General Bock, w-hat's the big row?" blurted Babe. "See that way he vamose in that boat pop-pop-pop-pop. he go like thevs one not yet so much beeg!" and the general gen-eral pointed up the coast. "He is what you call him treasurer of my so glor-r-lous couniree he steal the oh so much dollar, and pouf! He out of sight cro. The fruit ship sail from Greytown at daylight sure he catch ship and we no more see bad mans! ' 'You take me to thoso fruit ship, queeck? Yes? No? We catch we make two piece you gtjt half me I get half, yes?" "Split flty-fifty, eh?" said Dick. "What do you say, boys? Let's catch the fruit ship and see what happens. Can't be over 80 miles to Greytown, and we can do It before daylight in a walk. "You can't get the mud-hook up quick enough to suit me," agreed Babe Butler. The engines throbbed beneath and the chase was on. "General Bock," said Dick Pemberton before they turned in that night, "the motor tender will be overside ready to take you to the steamer In the morning. You will be called as soon as sha is sighted." The general was assigned to bunk with Bud Simpson in the after-cabin. Bud retired early with a headache. Later he decided to take a headache tablet, a package of which he always carried In tho suitcase under his berth. After some fumbling and sleepy swearing swear-ing lie found his tablet and went back to bed. Soon after the general turned in. It seemed to the general that he had gurgled gur-gled and snoozed not more than two minutes min-utes when he was gently shaken by one of the sailors, who said quietly: "Greytown harbor, sir. The fruit ship Is anchored near." "Ah-h! Veree good. The leetle boat he is wait, yes?" "All ready, sir, at the companion ladder." lad-der." When the sailor had left the general took up the yellow leather case, slipped on deck and deposited it carefully in the tender, throwing his linen coat over it. Then he hurried back to tho after-cabin and scrambled into his clothes. s,Vereo quiet! Do not those splash-ings splash-ings make with suclvloudness!" hissed the general as he was rowed under the great ship's stern. "I will in go by those beeg hole," indicating where side plates had been removed. Noiselessly he poked the case in on the green bananas and crawled after it. The sailors returned to the Tramp. For an hour the captain of the yacht watched the fruiter for the general's signal, sig-nal, but no flag fluttered up to the yard arm. Then he noted a hurried closing of plates and hatches, and a long blast from the steamer's whistle. The steam capstan cap-stan hoisted anchor, and the great rusty-brown, rusty-brown, red-spotted hulk vanished seaward sea-ward in tho morning mist. "Well, what d'you know about that?" he queried of the rising sun, and slipped hurriedly to the owner's cabin. "She's gone! Vamosed!" he spluttered in Dick's ear, at the same time shaking him out of his sleep. "Whassamatter? Who's gone?" gurgled gur-gled Dick, half awake. "We put the general aboard, and he's still aboard! Ho never gave us the signal!" sig-nal!" "Dunho whasher talkin 'bout. G'way 'n' lemrue sleep!" Two hours later breakfast was served. "Where's his royal nibs?" interrogated Babe. "Gone." Dick blew a farewell kiss by way of illustration. "Steamer kidnapr-d him. Yee lice! The old duffer got aboard and they trotted off with him. O-ho, ho! Isn't that rich!" "Waw hoo, hoo!" roared Babe. "Honest? "Hon-est? I'll bet there's some hct spinarh lingo flying about that old tub right now!" and the boys rolled around the cabin in delight- "May be rich, but it leaves us poor!" exclaiijied Bud suddenly sobering. "How about the reward, and our extra month's cruise?" "Oi yoi! Never thought of that!" burst from one of the crew. "What's the idea, anyway?" inquired Chick Wright. "D'you s'pose the general found tho" crook aboard, and stuck so as not to lose the money? Maybe it . had been hidden in tho bananas or something." some-thing." "Ye-as, and maybe he did It so as to cut us out of the divvy!" ventured Dick, as if seeing a sudden light. "Oh, let's forget it. Ho's skipped, and that ends It. Ends our cruise, too, more's the pity," added Chick. Thf-y breakfasted dolefully while Old Man Gloom stalked through the cabin. "This'Ii never do, mates," piped Bud Simpson. "I've somolhing that'll inoculate inocu-late this undertakers' convention with the joy germ. "Steward, bring my suitcase from the after cabin, will you? It's a bottle of ruurfiioni e got it in Panama guaranteed guaran-teed to curl the hair on a bold-headrd man. Ah, here we come! Open the ca50 ;md ditto the bottle, friend steward!" "it's locked, sir." "Locked? Na-ah! I never locked it. Hey, lt's s:e. That isn't my cas! What the-how the Oh, that belongs to the g-cneral. Get mine. It's under the other berth." In five minutes Die .steward returned. "It's gone, su. The sailors who rowed the g'neral say ho took a yellow suitcase suit-case with him, sir." "Took it with him!" exploded Bud. "What possible use " . "Steward, a hammer and chisel, quick!" interrupted Dick. The tools brought, Dick" dismissed the man, clipped off -the look with one blow, placed the case on tho table and opened it. A few shirts and ties and a white crash suit were in evidence. Those removed, re-moved, there were revealod to the' startled star-tled gaze of the four university graduates gradu-ates more bundles of bank notes than they imagined existed in the world! Packages of .hundreds, five hundreds, and yes of thousand-dollar bills filled all but one corn nr. "Well, Bud," drawled Babe, "guo.-n you kept your promise when you said something about joy gurms. There they are, in tho ori;mal packages." "H'ys," said Dirk, "we've got the swag, even if we did help that fake general gen-eral to make bin getaway. Not a word of this!" and he shut the case and pluced It under the table. le sent for the cuptoin. "Cap, give her full .speed bank to Port Llmbao. We inust make it before dark!" Ami they did. Before tho Tramp lost headway Dick had selected two sailors to go ashurtTund bring the American consul aboard. The story was soon told and tho money counted. It so happened that tho Chi-ra Chi-ra guan president had rome down from the capital to help in the search for the misMng treasure, and their late guoot, t'n? iiJiJHjpg 1 f-'Otffirer. 1 '.y the con j 1 " h r-'pjext he h u pried aboard th- Tramp. The reward was paid immed in tHy by the president's own hand, "Now, boy 8," la ugh ed Dick, waving the bank nots. "nil we've got to do is to keep shy of dad's cablegram. Cap, back to the Pacific." ft |
