There are men whose regular duty it is to
list and take care of his possessions down to the last lead
pencil, and to forward them to the legal heirs. A year's pay goes
to his family--were as much required of every employer and his the
burden of proving the accident the fault of the employee, how the
safety appliances in factories would multiply. There is a man
attached to Ancon hospital whose unenviable duty it is to write a
letter of condolence to the relatives in the States.
And so the "Kangaroos" or the "Red Men" or whatever his lodge was
filed behind the I. C. C. casket to the church in Ancon, and
"Andy" was laid away under another of the simple white iron
crosses that thickly populate many a Zone hillside, and he was
charged up to the big debit column of the costs of the canal. On
the cross is his new number; for officially a "Zoner" is always a
number; that of the brass-check he wears as a watch-charm alive,
that at the head of his grave when his canal-digging is over.
Late one unoccupied afternoon I picked up the path behind the
Administration Building and, skirting a Zone residence, began to
climb that famous oblong mound that dominates the Pacific end of
the landscape from every direction,--Ancon Hill. For a way a
fairly steep and stony path lead through thick undergrowth.
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