Joe found his voice—­though a faint voice it was.

“Yes—­yes,” he said, slowly.  “I—­I guess I’m all right.”

There seemed to be no broken bones.  Mr. Alcando took charge of the camera.  It was not damaged except as to the tripod.

“What happened?” asked Joe, his voice stronger now.

“You were caught in the slide,” Blake informed him.  “Don’t think about it now.  We’ll have you taken care of.”

“I—­I guess I’m all right,” Joe said, standing upright.  “That coat got wound around my face, and kept the dirt away.  I got a bad whack on the head, though, and then I seemed to go to sleep.  Did I get any pictures?”

“I don’t know.  Don’t worry about them now.”

“We—­we missed the best part of the slide, I guess,” Joe went on.  “Too bad.”

“It’s all right!” his chum insisted.  “I was filming away up to the time you went under.  Now, let’s get back.”

By this time the crowd of men, including Captain Wiltsey, had arrived.  But there was nothing for them to do.  The slide had buried Joe, and another slide had uncovered him, leaving him little the worse, save for a much-muddied suit of clothes, and a bad headache, to say nothing of several minor cuts and bruises.  It was a lucky escape.

Back to the tug they went, taking the cameras with them.  Joe was given such rough and ready surgery and medical treatment as was available, and Captain Wiltsey said he would leave at once for Gatun, where a doctor could be obtained.

Fortunately the blockading of the Canal by the slide did not stop the Bohio from continuing her journey.  The slide was north of her position.

“I do hope we got some good films,” said Joe, when he had been made as comfortable as possible in his berth.

“I think we did,” Blake said.  “Your camera was protected by the rubber coat, and mine wasn’t hurt at all.”

Later the boys learned that though they had missed the very best, or rather the biggest, part of the slide, still they had on their films enough of it to make a most interesting series of views.

Late that afternoon Joe was in the care of a physician, who ordered him to stay in bed a couple of days.  Which Joe was very willing to do.  For, after the first excitement wore off, he found himself much more sore and stiff than he had realized.

They were at Gatun now, and there Blake planned to get some views of the big dam from the lower, or spillway side.

“But first I’m going back to the slide,” he said.  “I want to get some views of the dredgers getting rid of the dirt.”

CHAPTER XXI

MR. ALCANDO’S ABSENCE

Blake spent a week at Culebra Cut, making pictures of the removal of the great mass of earth that had slid into the water.  The chief engineer, General George W. Goethals, had ordered every available man and machine to the work, for though the Canal had not been formally opened, many vessels had started to make trips through it, and some of them had been blocked by the slide.  It was necessary to get the dirt away so they could pass on their voyage.