SURROUNDING THE PANAMA CANAL
57
to the shop proper. I examined the assortment in the case, count
ing a total of twenty-eight shirts.
"I
don
"No
t
especially like these," I said.
one of them giggled.
"Got
any
others?"
more,"
"Where s Lola?"
the other said, motioning with her
"Upstairs,"
thumb
to the
ceiling.
like you re doing a rushing business,
They looked
and I explained: "Busy,
puzzled
No. No busy."
"Busy?
There is little work for them and neither Lola nor they care
a whoop whether or not you buy any of the shop s stock of
"Looks
eh?"
eh?"
twenty-eight shirts. Lola herself pays little attention to the busi
from which she obviously cannot earn enough to pay the
ness
rent, let alone
keep herself and her husband, pay two
girls
and a
lookout.
The
a cubbyhole about nine feet square,
walls painted a pale, washed-out blue. A deck which
cuts the store s height in half, forms a little balcony which is
its
little shirt
shop
is
wooden
covered by a green and yellow print curtain stretched across it.
To the right, casually covered by another print curtain, is a red
painted ladder by which the deck is reached. On the deck, at
the extreme left, where it is not perceptible from the street or
the shop,
is
another tiny ladder which reaches to the ceiling.
you stand on the ladder and press against the ceiling di
rectly over it, a well-oiled trap door will open soundlessly and
If
lead you into Lola s bedroom above the shop. In front of the
the blue curtain is a worn bed, the hard mattress
covered with a counterpane. At the head of the mattress
neatly
window with
is
a
mended
tear.
It is in this
mattress that Lola hides photo
and naval importance. I saw
graphs of extraordinary military
four of them.
The charming little
seamstress
is
one of the most capable of the