"Well, Ned, I don't know, exactly. You see, the government
isn't telling all its secrets. I assume that it is, and that's
why I'm anxious to see what sort of a gun it is.

"As a matter of fact, I'm going into this thing on a sort of
chance, just as dad did when he invested in Mr. Peterson's opal
mine."

"Do you think anything will come of that, Tom?"

"I don't know. If we get down to Panama, after I have made my
big gun, we may take a run over, and see how he is making out.
But, as I said, I'm going into this big cannon business on a sort
of gamble. I have heard, indirectly, that Uncle Sam intends to
use a new type of gun in fortifying the Panama Canal. It's about
forty-nine miles long, you know, and it will take many guns to
cover the whole route, as well as to protect the two entrances."

"Not so very many if you make a gun that will shoot thirty
miles," remarked Ned, with a smile.

"I'm not so sure I can do it," went on Tom. "But, even at that,
quite a number of guns will be needed. For if any foreign nation,
or any combination of nations, intend to get the canal away from
us, they won't make the attack from one point. They'll come at us
seven different ways for Sunday, and I've never heard yet of a
gun that can shoot seven ways at once. That's why so many will be
needed.

"But, as I said, I don't know just what type the Ordnance