I
never heard a man who knew him by night ask why. It was close upon
criminal negligence on the part of the I.C.C. to overlook its
opportunity in this matter. There were so many, many uninhabited
hilltops on the Zone where a private Sloth-dwelling might have
been slapped together from the remains of falling towns at Gatun
end; near it a grandstand might even have been erected and
admission charged. Or at least the daily climb to it would have
helped to reduce a push-ball figure, and thereby have improved the
general appearance of the Canal Zone force.
CHAPTER IV
One morning early in March "the boss" and I crossed the suspension
bridge over the canal. A handcar and six husky negroes awaited us,
and we were soon bumping away over temporary spurs through the
jungle, to strike at length the "relocation" opposite the giant
tree near Bas Obispo that marked the northern limit of our
district.
The P.R.R., you will recall, has been operating across the Isthmus
since 1855. When the United States took over the Zone in 1904 it
built a new double-tracked line of five-foot gauge for nearly the
whole forty-seven miles. Much of this, however, runs through
territory soon to be covered by Gatun Lake, nearly all the rest of
it is on the wrong side of the canal. An almost entirely new line,
therefore, is being built through the virgin jungle on the South
American side of the canal, which is to be the permanent line and
is known in Zone parlance as the "relocation.
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