"Great waves rolled directly into the harbour, breaking over the water-front, and even the streets were filled with water. From a number of houses the people had to get out."
"It doesn't look now as if the sea ever could do such harm, does it?" said Vasco.
"Indeed it does not. It is very calm and gentle this afternoon. Father told me that one of the plans in connection with digging the canal is the building of a big breakwater here."
"If that is done the harbour will be much safer, won't it?" asked Vasco.
"Yes, and the entrance to the canal will be less likely to suffer damage in a storm," said Harlan.
"It looks as if a number of old wrecks were strewn along the shore now," said Vasco, indicating at the time numerous hulks that appeared just above the surface of the water along the shore.
"Those are relics of the French effort to dig a canal here. Scores of scows were built by the De Lesseps company, and when work was given up they were left to decay and sink."
"Why didn't some one take care of them?" asked Vasco. "They must have cost a lot of money."
"That's one of the questions no one can answer, any more than one can tell why so many costly engines and steam-shovels and dredges were left to rust and grow useless by exposure."
"I remember we saw some of them near the railway. A good many were more than half-buried in the sand, too," said Vasco.
Thus the boys whiled away the afternoon, and at night, with Mr. Andrews, turned into their berths in the "sleeper."
In the morning, after an early breakfast, the boys started to explore the town. They found that most of the buildings were mere wooden shanties.
"This city makes me think of some of the beach resorts in my country," said Harlan. "The houses are just such flimsy affairs."
There were no cellars, and the houses were set up on stakes. The streets hardly deserved the name, and were littered with all kinds of dirt and filth.
Even Vasco, who could not be accused of being particular, said that he much preferred to live in his own city of Panama.
After dinner, during the hottest part of the day, the boys indulged in a _siesta_, and later took a walk to Coconut Point, where the French had built a number of fine houses, and cleared and drained the land to make healthful surroundings for the officers of the canal company.