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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12526 ***
+
+BOY SCOUTS IN NORTHERN WILDS
+
+Or, The Signal from the Hills
+
+By
+
+MAJOR ARCHIBALD LEE FLETCHER
+
+Author of
+
+"Boy Scout Rivals; or, A Leader of the Tenderfoot Patrol,"
+"Boy Scouts on Old Superior; or, The Tale of The Pictured
+Rocks," "Boy Scouts' Signal Sender; or When Wigwag Knowledge
+Paid," "Boy Scout Pathfinders; or, The Strange Hunt for the
+Beaver Patrol" etc., etc.
+
+Chicago, 1913
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  Chapter
+
+     I--A CAMP ON MOOSE RIVER
+    II--THE LITTLE BRASS GOD
+   III--THE CABIN IN THE SWAMP
+    IV--LOST IN THE STORM
+     V--A BOY SCOUT TRICK
+    VI--THE CAVE OF THE TWO BEARS
+   VII--AM EMPTY CAVERN
+  VIII--A TRAPPER'S TREACHERY
+    IX--TWO HUNGRY BEARS
+     X--BOYS IN A TIGHT PLACE
+    XI--THE HALF-BREED
+   XII--A SURPRISE AT THE CABIN
+  XIII--A FACE AT THE WINDOW
+   XIV--A CALL PROM THE DARKNESS
+    XV--A HUNTING EXPEDITION
+   XVI--ANTOINE ON THE RUN
+  XVII--"BOYS UP A TREE!"
+ XVIII--A PILLAR OF FIRE
+   XIX--THE SIGNAL FROM THE HILLS
+    XX--A SIGHT OF THE GOD
+   XXI--TWO RIFLE SHOTS
+  XXII--THE TWIN BRASS GODS
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A CAMP ON MOOSE RIVER
+
+Four Boy Scouts, of the Beaver Patrol, Chicago, were in camp on
+Moose river.  They were all athletic young fellows, not far from
+seventeen years of age, and were dressed in the khaki uniform
+adopted by the Boy Scouts of America.
+
+If you take a map of the British Northwest Territories and look up
+Moose river, you will discover that it runs through nearly three
+hundred miles of wilderness, from Lake Missinale to Moose Bay.  The
+reader will well understand, then, how far "Sandy" Green, Will
+Smith, George Benton and Tommy Gregory had traveled from
+civilization.
+
+The camp of the Boy Scouts was situated some fifty miles up the
+river from Moose Factory, a trading point famous in old Indian days
+for its adventurous spirits and its profits to the factors.  Those
+who have read the preceding books of this series will doubtless
+remember the four Boy Scouts named above.  Together they had
+visited the Pictured Rocks of Old Superior, the Everglades of
+Florida, and the great Continental Divide.
+
+During all their journeys the boys had shown courage and
+resourcefulness beyond their years, and because of these qualities
+they had been chosen, by Mr. Horton, a noted criminal lawyer of
+Chicago, to undertake a difficult and dangerous mission to the
+Hudson Bay country.
+
+They had traveled by way of the Canadian Pacific to Missanabie,
+from which point they had proceeded to Lake Missinale.  Here they
+had purchased a "Mackinaw," a great flat-bottomed craft, in which
+to transport their tents and supplies down Moose river to the bay
+of the same name.
+
+They had made most of the journey in native canoes, which they had
+learned to handle with considerable skill, but now and then they
+had taken refuge on the big boat, "just to stretch their limbs," as
+they expressed it.  They left Chicago late in September and it was
+now almost the last of October.
+
+Those who live in the Hudson Bay country declare that they have
+three seasons in four months, Spring comes in June, summer in July
+and August, and autumn in September.  At the southern extremity of
+James Bay, October may scarcely be called a winter month, although
+during the latter part of the month ice and snow are not infrequent.
+
+The sun was setting on the lads' first day in camp as the boys
+rested from their labor of dragging in great quantities of both dry
+and green wood.  Their tents were of double canvas, specially
+prepared for cold weather, and their bedding and suits had
+constituted an important part of their baggage.
+
+Almost the entire fronts of the tents were composed of fine, strong
+silk mesh-cloth.  The faces of the boys were well anointed with
+grease, and masks of mesh-cloth hung about the tents ready for use.
+
+Mosquitos and an insect known as the "bull-dog" had driven many a
+trapper and hunter out of the swampy regions around Hudson Bay.
+During the summer it is almost impossible to live in the swamps of
+that country at all.  By protecting their tents and faces, and
+keeping great "smudges" going, the boys hoped to be able to live in
+comparative comfort during their stay in that section.
+
+"Look here, Will," Tommy said, as he laid down a great armful of
+dry wood, "some one ought to invent some kind of a contraption to
+kill these flying pests off by the billion.  Here it is almost cold
+enough to snow, and we're being eaten alive by mosquitos."
+
+"I reckon it wouldn't do much good to invent a way of killing the
+brutes," Will suggested, "as long as the swamps and pools of the
+Northwest Territories are turning them out at the rate of a billion
+a minute."
+
+"I read a story about how to get rid of mosquitos the other day,"
+Sandy said.  "It might be a good idea to try it."
+
+"You can always read how to do things, in the newspapers," Tommy
+argued.  "The only trouble is that the ideas don't work."
+
+"This one will work," declared Sandy.  "The way to kill mosquitos,"
+he continued, "is to throw a great long rope up in the air.  You
+let it stay up in the air; that is, one end of it, and grease it
+carefully with cold cream and tie a piece of raw beefsteak at the
+upper end.  That will attract the mosquitos.  Then when you get
+several millions up the rope, you cut it in two about twenty feet
+from the ground and pull the lower end down."
+
+"It'll be the foolish house for yours!" Tommy laughed.  "How are
+you going to throw one end of a rope up in the air and make it stay
+there?"
+
+"I didn't say how to make it stay up in the air," grinned Sandy.
+"I just said you had to make it stay up in the air.  Then when the
+mosquitos get tired of staying up in the ambient atmosphere,
+they'll come crawling down the rope and fall off where you cut it."
+
+"I guess your dome needs repacking all right!" laughed Tommy.
+
+"And then, when they come to the place where the rope has been cut
+off, they'll take a tumble for themselves, and you stand under the
+line and beat their heads off with an axe."
+
+"Poor child!" laughed Tommy.
+
+"If you leave it to me," George declared with a grin, "that story
+about how to kill mosquitos came out of Noah's ark on crutches."
+
+The sun was setting over the great wilderness to the west, and the
+boys hastened to pile more wood on the fire.  The forest was alive
+with the cries of birds, and the undergrowth showed curious eyes
+peering out at the intruders.
+
+"This beats little old Chicago," cried George, bringing out a great
+skillet of ham.  "When we live in the city, we've got to eat in the
+house and smell dishwater.  When you live out doors, you've got a
+dining room about a thousand miles square."
+
+"And when you live in Chicago," Tommy continued, "you can't get
+fresh fish right out of the brooks.  When you want a fish here, all
+you've got to do is to run out to the river, grab one in your arms,
+and bring him in!"
+
+"Then run out and get one now!" advised Will.
+
+"Perhaps you think I can't!" shouted Tommy.
+
+Seizing a head-net the boy dashed away to the margin of Moose
+river.  His chums saw him walking about in quest of a minnow for a
+moment and then heard the swish of a line.  In ten minutes he was
+back at the camp with a whitefish weighing at least five pounds.
+
+There is incessant fishing in the wilderness north of Lake Superior
+throughout every month of the year.  All through the long winter
+the ice is cut away in order that the fish may be reached, and
+there is every sort of fishing between that which engages the
+labors of sailing vessels and men, down through all the methods of
+fish-taking, by nets, by spearing, still-fishing and fly-fishing.
+
+Though the region has been famous, and therefore much visited, for
+many years, the field is so extensive, so well stocked, and so
+difficult of access, that even today almost the very largest known
+specimens of each class of fish are to be had there.
+
+"These are the kind of fish the Indians live on during the winter,"
+Tommy explained as he scraped the scales from his prize.  "Only,"
+he continued, "the Indians don't clean them at all.  They simply
+make a hole in the tail end of each fish and string them up like
+beads on sticks which they set up in racks."
+
+"I never did like cold-storage fish," Sandy declared, in a tone of
+disgust.  "They taste like dry corn meal!"
+
+While the fish cooked and the boys sat in the protecting smudge of
+the campfire, the sound of paddles was heard up the river.  The
+swish and splash came on steadily for a moment and then suddenly
+ceased.
+
+"I thought we were going to have company," suggested Will.
+
+The boys listened for a time but no further sounds were heard.
+
+"Now what would any one be doing in this wilderness?" Sandy asked.
+"What would any one be sneaking around us for?"
+
+"Perhaps they don't even know we're here!" argued George.
+
+"With that great campfire going?" scoffed Tommy.  "Why, they can
+see the light of that fire for ten miles or more!"
+
+"That's right," replied George.  "I guess that fire wouldn't help
+to hide our presence here any."
+
+"Suppose I go and see what's doing?" asked Tommy.
+
+"You know your failings, young man!" Will cut in.  "If you go out
+in the wilderness to see who's running that canoe, you're likely to
+get lost, or come back here after a couple of days with a broken
+leg or a busted coco!  You'd better stay in camp."
+
+"But I want to know who's sneaking around our tents!" insisted
+Tommy.  "You come along with me, Will, if you think I'm not
+competent to go alone," the boy added with a grin.
+
+Will hesitated for a moment and then providing himself with an
+automatic revolver and an electric searchlight, the two boys left
+the camp and soon disappeared in the darkness.  They had been gone
+scarcely five minutes when a shot came from the thicket.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE LITTLE BRASS GOD
+
+After a time George and Sandy heard some one running through the
+undergrowth, and the next instant Will and Tommy burst into view.
+It was evident that they had been running, for they were panting
+and their clothing was disarranged and torn in places.
+
+The two boys hastened out to meet their chums with question marks
+in their eyes.  Will and Tommy offered no explanation until the
+tents had been reached, then Tommy burst into a low chuckle.
+
+"Can you beat it?" he asked.
+
+"What are you talking about?" demanded George.
+
+"What did you see out there?" asked Sandy.
+
+"We didn't see a thing!" declared Tommy.
+
+"You're wrong there!" Will cut in.  "We saw the flash of a gun!"
+
+"Some one shoot at you?" questioned George.
+
+"Perhaps not," Will replied, "but I heard a bullet whizzing past my
+ear!  That's not a very warm welcome to this blooming country, I
+take it."
+
+"What's it all about?" asked Sandy impatiently.
+
+"That's the answer!" Tommy declared.  "That's all we know about it
+ourselves.  We hear a paddle splash in the water; we go out to see
+what's doing, and we get a chunk of lead plugged at us.  That's the
+answer so far as I know.  Now, how about this fish?"
+
+"Right as a book!" cried Sandy.  "I've been taking care of this
+fish while you've been out there facing some boy with an air gun."
+
+"Yes," laughed Tommy, "if you want to find boys with air guns, come
+out here about three hundred miles north of nowhere!"
+
+The incident did not seem to affect the appetites of the boys, for
+they attacked the fish industriously.  When the meal was finished
+and the dishes cleared away; Will turned to his chums with a sober
+look on his face.  When he spoke it was with suppressed excitement.
+"Do you boys know exactly why we are in the Hudson Bay country?" he
+asked, "How much did Mr. Horton tell you?"
+
+"Nothing at all!" Tommy replied.
+
+"He just told us to come with you!" George cut in.
+
+"When I tried to cross-examine him," laughed Sandy, "he said he was
+afraid we wouldn't go if he told us what sort of a game we were
+mixing in."
+
+"Well," Will went on in a moment, "he told me to tell you after we
+got into camp on Moose river."
+
+"Go on and tell us, then," chuckled Tommy.
+
+"I don't believe it's any great mystery!" Sandy interrupted.
+
+"We came here," Will said, speaking seriously, "to find the Little
+Brass God.  Odd sort of a quest, that, eh?"
+
+"What's the Little Brass God?" demanded Sandy.
+
+"Did you think it was a load of hay?" asked Tommy.  "The Little
+Brass God is the Little Brass God.  Didn't you know that?"
+
+"What does any one want of a Little Brass God?" asked George.
+
+"The Little Brass God," Will explained, "is believed to be
+valuable, chiefly for what is contained in his belly."
+
+"So this is a stuffed god?" cried Tommy.
+
+"Has he eaten something he can't digest?" cut in Sandy.
+
+"That just explains it!" Will exclaimed.  "He has eaten something
+he can't assimilate, and we've been sent up here to relieve him of
+it!"
+
+"How did the Little Brass God ever get into the Hudson Bay
+country?" asked Tommy.  "I should think he'd know better."
+
+"I reckon the Little Brass God had nothing to say regarding his
+journey," replied Will.  "Two months ago the house of Mr. Frederick
+Tupper, on Drexel Boulevard, Chicago, was burglarized.  Besides
+taking considerable money and silver plate, the thief also carried
+away the Little Brass God."
+
+"I don't think any thief in his right mind would do that!" declared
+Sandy.  "What could he do with a Little Brass God?  He couldn't
+pawn it, or sell it, or trade it, without its being traced back to
+him!"
+
+"Well, he took it just the same!" Will replied.
+
+"How much is he worth?" asked George.
+
+"Not more than five dollars."
+
+"Then he isn't one of those East India Little Brass Gods with his
+legs crossed, and his arms folded, and a grin on his face?"
+
+"His legs are crossed, his arms are folded, and there is a grin on
+his face!" replied Will with a smile.  "But he's certainly not one
+of the population of a Hindu temple."
+
+"He's just a common Little Brass God, probably made in Newark, New
+Jersey," suggested George.  "What do they want him for?"
+
+"They want to search him!" replied Will.
+
+"Aw, come on, tell us all about it!" urged Tommy.
+
+"Well," Will explained with a smile, "the tummy of the Little Brass
+God IS supposed to contain the last will and testament of Simon
+Tupper, father of Frederick Tupper."
+
+"Gee!" exclaimed Tommy.  "Can't he get the property until he gets
+the will?  Then we'll have to find it, I guess!"
+
+"No, he can't get the property unless the will is found."
+
+"Who stole the Little Brass God, and also the will?" asked George.
+
+"Did he know he was stealing the will when he stole the Little
+Brass God?" asked Sandy without giving Will an opportunity to reply
+to the previous question.  "How'd he know the will was there?"
+
+"We don't know whether he knew about the will or not," answered the
+boy.  "In fact, we don't know whether the document is still in the
+tummy of the Little Brass God.  That's what we've got to find out."
+
+"You didn't tell me who stole the Little Brass God and the will,"
+insisted George.
+
+"I said it was a burglar!"
+
+"But was it a burglar--a real, genuine burglar?"
+
+"Yes, loosen up!" shouted Tommy.  "Did he go there just to burgle,
+or did he go there to get that will?"
+
+"That's another thing we've got to find out!" Will answered.  "It's
+just this way," the boy continued.  "We've been sent up here to
+find this Little Brass God.  When we find it, we'll know whether
+the man who stole it was a common thief, or whether he was sent by
+interested parties to do the job.  No living person can open the
+Little Brass God without first learning the way to do it.  In fact,
+the only way the toy can be opened by one unfamiliar with the
+secret is to break it open with an axe!  And that would hardly be
+done, as the little fellow is rather a cute plaything."
+
+"And so, if the will is there, a burglar stole it.  And if the will
+is not there, some one interested in the disposition of the
+property walked away with it!  Is that it?"
+
+"That's the way we figure it out!" Will answered.  "And in the
+meantime," he continued, "an older will is being offered for
+probate.  If the Little Brass God fails to disclose the last will,
+the property will go to a young man who was intensely hated and
+despised by the man who built up the fortune.  Simon Tupper will
+turn over in his grave if Howard Sigsbee, his nephew, has the
+handling of that money."
+
+"I can't see how that's going to get Simon anything!" grinned Tommy.
+
+"Now," George asked, "why do they think the Little Brass God was
+brought into the Hudson Bay country?"
+
+"We have traced it to an antique shop on lower State street," Will
+answered.  "From there to the shabby parlor of a fourth rate
+boarding house on Dearborn avenue, from there into the possession
+of a French Canadian who hunts and fishes in the Moose river
+district."
+
+"That's pretty straight!" George agreed.
+
+"How do they know this French Canadian got this Little Brass God
+out of town?" asked Sandy.  "You take a French Canadian of the
+trapper sort, and get him well tanked, and he'll sell the ears off
+his head for another drink of brandy.  Perhaps he hocked the Little
+Brass God."
+
+"If he did," Will answered, "the search must begin all over again!"
+
+"Who put this will in the tummy of this Little Brass God?" asked
+Tommy.
+
+"The man who made it--Simon Tupper," answered Will.
+
+"Did he tell anyone where it was?"
+
+"On his deathbed, he told Frederick Tupper, his nephew, where to
+find it.  It's a pity the young man didn't remove the document and
+file it in probate court.  It would have saved a lot of bother."
+
+"But he didn't," George suggested, "and that gives us a fine trip
+to the Hudson Bay country."
+
+"When was the house of this Frederick Tupper burglarized?" asked
+Sandy.
+
+"On the night following the death of the old gentleman."
+
+"Had the villain of the drama, this Howard Sigsbee, any knowledge
+concerning the hiding place of the will?"
+
+"He was not believed to have."
+
+"Do they think he went there and got the will himself?"
+
+"Huh!" objected Tommy.  "If he'd gone after the will himself, he'd
+have taken it out of the Little Brass God and carried it away with
+him.  And he'd have made a pile of ashes of it in about one minute,
+at that!"
+
+"Perhaps he couldn't open up the merry little chap," Sandy
+suggested.
+
+"We don't know whether he understood the secret or not," Will
+answered.  "All we know is that the Little Brass God was still
+intact a week after it had been stolen."
+
+"Then he knew the combination, or he didn't get the will!" argued
+George.
+
+"Anyhow!" Tommy laughed, "we've got only about a million or more
+miles of country to search over for a little brass god about -----"
+
+"Say, just how big is this Little Brass God?" asked Sandy.
+
+"He's about six inches in height, and three inches across his dirty
+shoulders, and he certainly is about the ugliest specimen of a
+heathen beast that ever came down the pike."
+
+"What would that French Canadian buy him for?" asked George.
+
+"That's another thing we've got to find out," replied Will.
+
+Tommy was about to ask another question when Will held up a hand
+for silence.  The leaping flames were sending long streamers of
+light into the thicket on either side and over the glistening
+waters of Moose river.  The circle of illumination extended for
+some distance on every side, except at the back of the tents, where
+the level ground lay in shadows.
+
+As the boys listened, the soft sound of a moccasined foot came to
+their ears.  It seemed only a yard away, and yet it was not in
+sight.  George dashed to the back of the tents, followed by a sharp
+cry of alarm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE CABIN IN THE SWAMP
+
+When George reached the rear of the tent he saw a crouching figure
+there.  A hole had been cut in the cloth, and the fellow was gazing
+into the tent.  He was dressed in woodsman's attire, leather jacket
+and leggins and fur cap.  The gold rings in his ears quivered and
+glistened as the light of the fire struck them.
+
+As George rounded the tent the spy turned and ran for the forest.
+Without a thought as to the ultimate result, George followed along
+behind.  For some distance the lad kept pace with the mysterious
+visitor, but, of course, it was impossible for him to do so for any
+great length of time, as the fugitive was well versed in woodcraft,
+while George was not.
+
+After a time George lost sight of the fellow entirely, but could
+still keep track of him by the noise he made in passing through the
+thicket.  It was quite evident that the intruder now believed that
+pursuit, had entirely ceased, for he made his way more leisurely
+through the swampy growth, and seemed to pay no attention whatever
+to the sounds of his passage.
+
+Using great caution, the boy finally gained the hummock and stood
+looking at the dark bulk of a log cabin which stood in the center.
+He listened for a long time but all was silent inside.  Presently
+he circled the place and came to a small opening which was more
+like a loop-hole than a window.  There was a glass pane here, and
+through it he saw that there was a fire on the inside.
+
+By this time the lad was shivering with cold, not having taken the
+time to provide himself with heavy clothing before leaving the camp
+in pursuit of the spy.  As he glanced through the glazed opening he
+saw a great fire of logs blazing in a rudely made fireplace at one
+end of the room.  He moved on until he found a door.
+
+"Perhaps the owner of this log mansion will think I'm pretty prompt
+in returning his call," the lad mused as he knocked softly at the
+door.  "But, all the same, I'm going to give him the pleasure of my
+company until I can get warm."
+
+There was no response to the knock, and so George opened the door
+and entered.  There was no one in front of the fire; no one in any
+of the rude chairs.  The boy stood looking about the room for a
+moment and then walked back to three bunks fastened against the
+wall, one above the other.
+
+When he reached the front of the sleeping places an exclamation of
+alarm came from a bundle of furs and blankets on the lower bunk and
+a boy's frightened face gazed up at him.  The boy sat observing the
+other with evident suspicion for a moment, until his eyes caught
+sight of the Boy Scout medals which adorned the sleeve of the lad's
+coat.
+
+Then he extended an arm in the full salute of the Boy Scouts of
+America, and sat back with a grin on his face to note the result.
+
+"Beaver Patrol; Chicago," he said directly.
+
+"I know you," George said with an exclamation of surprise.  "You're
+Thede Carson, and you're about the toughest little wharf rat in
+Chicago!"
+
+"That's a nice recommend for a patrol leader to give one of his
+scouts," grinned the boy.  "You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"
+
+"The last time I saw you," George said, smiling at the memory, "you
+were diving into the South Branch to keep out of sight of a police
+boat."
+
+"I remember that," grinned Thede.  "They said I'd been swiping
+bananas up in Gambler's alley, and that wasn't true."
+
+"Well, how in the name of all the seven wonders of the world did
+you get into the Hudson Bay country?" demanded George.
+
+"Old Finklebaum," answered Thede.
+
+"Old Finklebaum?" repeated George.  "Do you mean the old Shylock
+who does business under the three balls down on State street? You
+can't mean that he had anything to do with your appearance here?"
+
+"You bet he did have something to do with my being here!" Thede
+insisted.  "You see, it's just this way: Old Finklebaum says to me
+one day, 'I'll take the hair off Ikey's head for selling that
+Little Brass God!'"
+
+George gave a quick start of surprise at the mention of the very
+article the Boy Scouts had come to the Hudson Bay country in quest
+of, but checked himself in a second.
+
+"What did he have a--a--what did you say it was?--if he didn't want
+to sell it?" asked the boy in assumed surprise.
+
+"He did want to sell it up to that very day," was the reply, "but
+no one wanted to buy it.  Then a man came into the shop and said
+he'd give a thousand dollars for it on sight.  So Finklebaum,
+having the Little Brass God within a foot of his hawkbill nose,
+takes the man's address and says he'll let him know if he hears
+anything about the thing in demand.  Finklebaum thinks that if the
+man'll pay one thousand dollars for it, he'll pay five, and that's
+why he loses out."
+
+George's interest was now so intense that the boy ceased speaking
+and sat regarding him steadily for a moment.
+
+"What do you know about the Little Brass God?" he demanded.
+
+"Nothing," replied George.  "Never saw it!"
+
+"Seems to me you're pretty much interested in it, though,"
+commented the boy, rising from the bunk and taking a seat before
+the fire.
+
+"I was thinking about Old Finklebaum cheating himself by getting
+too gay," answered George.  "Go on, and tell me about it!"
+
+"So when this man who offers the thousand dollars leaves the shop,"
+Thede continued, "Finklebaum chases out to a dealer in antiques to
+make inquiries about the Little Brass God.  I guess he thinks it's
+some East India idol, or something of that kind, and that his
+fortune is made."
+
+"Supposing it should be an East India idol!" exclaimed George,
+
+"It may be, for all I know," Thede replied.  "Anyhow, while old
+Finklebaum was out trying to find out how much his Little Brass God
+was worth, little Ikey sold it for a ten dollar note."
+
+"Oh my, oh my, oh my!" laughed George.  "I'll bet there was a merry
+old time when Finklebaum returned and found the ten dollar note in
+the drawer and the Little Brass God gone."
+
+"Such a racket as never was!" declared Thede, laughing at the
+recollection of the scene.  "I was in the shop," he went on,
+"getting out some articles Mother Murphy had been borrowing money
+on, and heard all that took place."
+
+"Go on and tell me about it."
+
+"Old Finklebaum said he was just plumb ruined.  He said he'd snatch
+Ikey bald-headed, and do a lot of other things to him, if he didn't
+walk right out into State street and bring back that Little Brass
+God.  Holy Moses!  You ought to have seen how scared Little Ikey
+was!"
+
+"Could he describe the man who bought the Little Brass God?"
+inquired George in a tone intended to be indifferent.
+
+"Oh, yes!" replied Thede.  "Ikey said the man wore a leather jacket
+with a red belt around the waist, a fur cap and rings in his ears.
+So Ikey was sent out to find the fellow, and I asked Old Finklebaum
+what he'd give me if I'd bring back the Little Brass God.  He says
+he'll give me a hundred dollars the minute I put it in his hands,
+and I ducked down State street in search of this gink with the
+rings in his ears."
+
+"And didn't find him?"
+
+"If I had you wouldn't find me up here in this beastly country,"
+replied Thede.  "That is," the boy went on, "if I had found him
+with the Little Brass God in his possession."
+
+"So you really did find him?" questioned George.
+
+"Yes, I ran across him in a saloon down near Twelfth street, and
+stuck to him like a bulldog to a cat's back for two days and
+nights."
+
+"Why didn't you go and tell Finklebaum where he was, and let him do
+the watching?  That's what you should have done!"
+
+"Not for mine!" answered the other.  "Old Finklebaum would have
+taken the case out of my hands, and fooled me out of my hundred
+simoleons.  I follows this gink around until he becomes sociable
+and sort of adopts me.  I gets into his furnished room down on
+Eldridge court and searches it during his absence.  There ain't no
+Little Brass God there!"
+
+'"Did you ever get your eyes on it?" asked George.
+
+"Never!" was the reply.  "But he acts funny all the time, and I
+think he's got it hidden.  When he gets ready to come back to the
+Hudson Bay country he asks me how I'd like to come up north with
+him and learn to be a trapper, so I says that if there's anything
+on earth I want to be it's a trapper, and I come up here, making
+him think I'm after fur, when all the time I'm after the Little
+Brass God."
+
+"Are you sure the man you followed is the man who brought the toy?"
+asked George, "You might have picked up the wrong man, you know."
+
+"No I didn't!" replied Thede.  "I've heard this man, Pierre,
+muttering and talking in his sleep, and I know he has the Little
+Brass God hidden.  I'll go back to Chicago some day with it in my
+possession and Old Finklebaum will pay me a couple of thousand or
+he'll never get hold of it again!  Won't it be a great story to
+tell the boys on State street about the times I'm having up here."
+
+The door opened and Pierre entered, anger flashing from his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+LOST IN THE STORM
+
+"What you do here?" demanded Pierre, standing with his back against
+the door and facing George with a snarl of hate and suspicion.
+
+"I got lost!" was the quick reply.
+
+"You go 'way!" shouted the trapper.
+
+"Aw, what's the matter with letting him stay here all night?" asked
+Thede.  "These boys are hunting and fishing, and the kid got lost
+in the swamp.  He's all right!"
+
+"He follow me!" insisted Pierre.
+
+"Sure, I did!" George replied, trying to give the impression that
+the matter was rather a good joke on himself.  "I heard you
+smashing through the bushes and I thought you were some kind of a
+wild animal, and so I followed you up.  I got so far away from camp
+that I couldn't find my way back.  Then I saw your light and came
+here."
+
+"Where your gun?" demanded Pierre, pointing suspiciously to the
+boy's empty hands.  "You no shoot without gun!"
+
+George drew an automatic from his pocket and held it up in the
+firelight.  Pierre eyed it enviously.
+
+"We hunt with these things!" the boy said.
+
+Pierre continued to regard the boy with suspicion, for a long time
+but he finally seated himself before the fire and began to grumble
+because Thede had not been more active in the preparations for
+supper.
+
+"It's a wonder you wouldn't come home and get supper yourself once
+in a while!" exclaimed the boy, "You needn't think I came up here
+in the cold to wait on you, Old Hoss!" the lad added with a wink at
+George.  "I didn't leave my happy home for any such menial service."
+
+Pierre grumbled out a few sentences in mongrel French and proceeded
+to prepare a solitary meal.  Thede winked at George and began
+cooking enough supper for both of them.
+
+George was thinking fast while the boy was sweating before the
+scorching heat of the fire.  He was wondering whether Thede had
+told him the exact truth concerning his connection with Pierre.  He
+was wondering, too, whether the boy had told all he knew of the
+Little Brass God.
+
+Here were two parties in the Northern wilderness in quest of the
+same thing!  It occurred to the wondering boy that Pierre might
+have been sent into the Hudson Bay country in quest of the
+individual who had purchased the Little Brass God at the
+pawnbroker's shop.
+
+This, he argued, would be just about what Finklebaum would be
+likely to do.  On the discovery of his loss, he would naturally
+seek some one familiar with the northern country and dispatch them
+in quest of the lost prize.  In case this should prove to be the
+fact, the boy Thede might not have been taken into the confidence
+of the two men.
+
+He might be telling what he believed to be the truth concerning the
+matter.  The advantages to the pawnbroker of this secret
+arrangement would be many.  In the first place, anyone following
+Pierre would naturally suppose him to be the person having
+possession of the Little Brass God.  This would naturally cause
+investigators to entirely lose sight of the real possessor in
+shadowing the man sent out to recover the article.
+
+Another point which the boy considered was the possibility of the
+Little Brass God having been robbed of his treasure before being
+placed in the pawnshop.  This idea, however, he soon rejected for
+the reason that no one would know better than the man who inspired
+the larceny whether the will was still retained in the cavity of
+the toy.  Had he secured the document, he would be the last one to
+offer a high reward for the return of the odd casket in which it
+had been contained.
+
+While the boy puzzled over the case, Pierre and Thede sat down to
+their evening meal.  George was invited to join them in the repast,
+but declined on the ground that he had eaten supper not long
+before.  After the meal was over, Pierre took up his rifle and left
+the cabin, scowling at George over his shoulder as he took his
+departure.
+
+"He's pretty sore about your being here," grinned Thede.
+
+"I don't know why he should be."
+
+"Perhaps he thinks you've come up here to steal this little Brass
+God."
+
+The boy was very anxious to get back to his chums in order that the
+situation might be thoroughly discussed.  They were in the Hudson
+Bay country in quest of the Little Brass God, and here was Thede on
+the same mission.  It seemed to him that if Pierre had really had
+the toy in his possession, Thede would have caught sight of it, at
+least,
+
+The more he thought of this phase of the case, the more he was
+inclined to believe that Pierre was also in search of the Little
+Brass God.
+
+"Pierre will be apt to raise a howl if I leave the cabin alone,"
+the boy finally said.  "He's fierce when he gets mad!"
+
+"You don't seem to be afraid of him," replied, George.
+
+"I'm afraid of him all right," the other replied, "but I don't
+intend to let him know it.  I've got one of these billies inside my
+coat, all the time, and if he tries any funny business with me I'll
+knock his block off!"
+
+"He could cut you into shoestrings while you are asleep!"
+
+"Yes, I suppose so, but be won't do anything of the kind!"
+
+"Well, come on over to camp," urged George.  "It isn't so very much
+of a walk.  I guess we can make it in half an hour."
+
+Thede hesitated, but finally dressed himself for a cold journey,
+and fixed the fire so that no damage might be done by it during his
+absence.
+
+"How long has Pierre lived in this cabin?" asked George, as the
+boys started out.  "It looks like an old building."
+
+"I guess he found it standing here deserted and just moved in," was
+the reply.  "I don't think he knows much about this country."
+
+"Do you think he has any idea that the Little Brass God is in such
+great demand?" asked George.  "No, I don't think he has."
+
+"Then, why should he keep it hidden away, even from you, three
+hundred miles away from civilization?  I should think he'd want to
+have the thing out once in a while, just to take a look at it,
+anyway."
+
+"I should think so," agreed Thede.
+
+The boys made their way over the morass and entered the thick
+undergrowth.  Now and then George flashed his electric, but he did
+not keep it burning steadily for the reason that he did not care to
+have Pierre trailing them back to the camp.
+
+"Are you sure you passed this way when you came to the cabin?"
+asked Thede as they walked along.  "I don't seem to find any trail
+here."
+
+"It seems to me I came along here," was the reply.  "If it wasn't
+so blasted dark, we could tell whether we were going in the right
+direction or not, all right!"
+
+As the boy spoke, he lifted a hand to his face and raised the net
+which protected his features from the mosquitos, still flying
+about, although the night, apparently, was cold enough to freeze
+their wings stiff.
+
+"They won't bother you much more," Thede commented.
+
+"How do you know that?"
+
+"Because there's a snow storm coming up!"
+
+"Then we'd better be getting a move on!" advised George.  "If we
+get caught up here in a snow storm, it'll be 'Good-night' for us!"
+
+"We're going as fast as we can," replied Thede, "but I don't know
+whether we're going in the right direction or not.  It seems like
+we've walked far enough to be at the camp."
+
+In five minutes the searchlight revealed a drift of snow in the
+air, and ten minutes later the ground was white.  A cold wind blew
+out of the north, shifting at times to the west, and the boys
+shivered under the chill of it.  Still no welcome light from the
+camp.
+
+"Can you find your way back to the cabin?" asked George after they
+had walked at least an hour.
+
+"We've got to find our way somewhere pretty soon!" the other
+replied.  "If we don't, we'll freeze to death!"
+
+The boys walked for what seemed to them two hours more, and then
+Thede, who was in advance, stumbled over a tree bole lying at the
+foot of a gentle slope.  He rose rubbing his elbow and turned the
+flashlight toward the front.
+
+"I know where we are now," he said.  "We're about eight miles from
+the cabin.  This place here is called Bear Ridge, and it's about
+the only collection of rocks and caverns that I know of in this
+district."
+
+"Can't we find a cavern to crawl into?" asked George, his teeth
+chattering with the cold.
+
+"If we find a cavern," advised Thede, "we're likely to find a
+couple of bears packed away in it!"
+
+"I don't care if there are a hundred bears!" grumbled George.
+"I'll freeze to death if I stay out in this snow another minute!"
+
+After a long and difficult climb the boys came to a ledge of rock
+and crawled into a small opening revealed by the searchlight.
+
+"The beds are all full tonight, I guess," George said shivering.
+"I hear Bruin kicking about being disturbed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A BOY SCOUT TRICK
+
+"Where's that fool boy going now?" asked Tommy as George, in
+pursuit of the spy, dashed into the thicket.
+
+"What did he see back here that caused him to let out a yell like
+that?" asked Sandy.
+
+"I don't believe he saw anything!" Will declared.  "He just thought
+he'd give us a good scare by pretending he'd bumped into a band of
+Indians, or something like that."
+
+The boys looked over the ground in the rear of the tent, and
+finally Tommy came to the place where the spy had punctured the
+canvas.
+
+"Who made this hole in the tent?" he asked.
+
+The boys gathered around the opening through which the spy had
+inspected the interior of the tent, and looked at each other with
+wonder expressed on their faces.  Tommy was first to speak.
+
+"George must have caught a man here looking in," he said.
+
+"That's why he disappeared so suddenly," Will argued.
+
+"Yes, he was chasing the Peeping Tom," Sandy agreed.
+
+"I wish we knew the direction they took," Will mused.  "The boy may
+get into serious trouble, chasing off into the forest along in the
+night.  He should have told us of his discovery so one of us could
+have gone with him!  We may be able to find him yet."
+
+"Aw, he'll come back before long!" Tommy argued.  "He can't make
+any headway out there in the underbrush, and the fellow who was
+here will probably run away from him before he gets three rods from
+the tent."
+
+"I hope so!" answered Will.
+
+"But what was that gink prowling around the tent for?" asked Sandy.
+"That must have been the same fellow we heard using the paddle a
+short time ago.  If it is, he's mighty liberal with his bullets!"
+
+"I'm anxious about that boy," Will broke in.  "I wish he'd come
+back!"
+
+"Yes, this isn't a very desirable country to be lost in in the
+night!" Tommy admitted.  "He ought not to have gone away."
+
+"What do you make of this gink prowling around our tent?" asked
+Sandy.  "Do you think he's doing it out of curiosity, or because he
+has an inkling of what we're up here after?"
+
+"Huh!  How would any one away off up here know anything about the
+Little Brass God?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"Look here," Will argued.  "The Little Brass God is stolen from
+this house on Drexel Boulevard.  Enclosed in a cavity in the toy is
+a will disposing of several million dollars worth of property.  The
+Little Brass God is finally sold to a pawn-broker, who in turn
+disposes of it to a trapper known to belong in the Hudson Bay
+district."
+
+"That's a fair statement," answered Tommy.
+
+"Now, Mr. Horton, attorney for the man who is in quest of the lost
+will, and Sigsbee, the man interested in probating the previous
+will, both know of the final disposition of the Little Brass God.
+At least, Frederick Tupper knows that it was taken from the pawn
+shop by a Hudson Bay trapper, and it is believed that Sigsbee
+possesses the same information."
+
+"Of course, they both know about it," agreed Sandy.
+
+"Now, why shouldn't they both send people up here in quest of the
+Little Brass God?" Will continued.
+
+"But suppose this man Sigsbee doesn't know anything about the will
+being in the belly of the Little Brass God?" suggested Tommy.
+
+"We believe he does know all about it!" said Will.
+
+"And do you believe, too, that he hired a burglar to go and steal
+the Little Brass God?" asked Sandy.
+
+"As I said before," Will answered, "we don't know anything about
+that.  The Little Brass God may have been taken by a burglar who
+was simply in quest of plunder.  The whole thing resolves itself
+into this: If the really, truly burglar stole the toy and sold it
+to the pawn-broker, the will is in the ugly little chap's belly.
+If Sigsbee hired the burglar he took the will out before the
+trinket was sold at the pawn-shop.  In that case, he would be the
+last one to send an expedition up here to retrieve the toy.  And so
+you see," Will continued, "that we don't know anything about it."
+
+"Well it's funny that gink should come prowling around our tents on
+the first night of our arrival!" Tommy exclaimed.  "According to
+all accounts, he should have come sneaking into camp looking for a
+drink of brandy.  The fact that he ran away when discovered shows
+that he wasn't here for any honest purpose."
+
+"Well, what are we going to do?" demanded Sandy.  "Let's give the
+Little Brass God a rest long enough to make up our minds about
+George."
+
+"We can't do anything until morning," Will interposed.
+
+"How do you know we can't?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"Because it's dark, and because we know nothing about the country,"
+replied Will.
+
+The boys sat before the fire until midnight listening for the
+return of their chum.  When it began to snow they reluctantly
+decided that George had crawled into some temporary shelter for the
+night and would not think of trying to make his way home through
+the storm.
+
+"You boys go to bed now," Will advised, "and I'll sit up and keep
+watch.  If you hear me firing how and then, don't think the camp's
+been attacked.  George may be lost in the woods, and I'll be doing
+that to give him the right direction."
+
+"We should have done that before," Tommy suggested.
+
+"Well, get to bed," Will urged, "and I'll run the camp till
+morning."
+
+Tommy and Sandy crawled into the tent which stood nearest to the
+great campfire and cuddled up in the warm blankets.
+
+"Do you believe Will will stay in camp until morning?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Of course I don't," was the reply.  "He'll wait until we're
+asleep, and then he'll go prowling around the camp in search of
+George."
+
+"That's just about what he'll do."
+
+"What's your idea, then?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Well," Tommy whispered, "George may be out in the snow somewhere,
+and it won't take us very long to circle about the camp just to
+make sure."
+
+"I got you!" replied Sandy.  "We'll get out under the back wall,
+and take a little trip with our searchlights."
+
+Half an hour later, when Will, heavily wrapped, glanced in at the
+tent preparatory to going out on his quiet search for the missing
+chum, ho saw that the blankets were empty.
+
+"The little scamps?" he chuckled.  "They've beaten me to it!"
+
+In the meantime, Tommy and Sandy were making their way through the
+wilderness traveling in the narrow light provided by the electrics.
+By this time the snow was quite deep, and the wind appeared to be
+rising every minute.
+
+"We never can get home in this storm if we once lose sight of the
+campfire," Tommy said as the two huddled together in the lee of a
+big tree.
+
+"That's a fact!" Sandy admitted.  "So I guess we'd better be poking
+along.  Which way is the fire?"
+
+"Why, it ought to be right over there!" replied Tommy doubtfully.
+
+"Over where?" demanded Sandy, with a note of alarm in his voice.
+
+"Blessed if I know!" declared Tommy, sitting flat down in the snow.
+
+The boys walked round and round the tree and made little excursions
+in every direction without getting a single trace of the campfire.
+
+"I guess we've gone and done it now!" Tommy grunted.
+
+"Aw, we can find our way back all right enough!" Sandy declared.
+"We came north when we left the camp, didn't we?"
+
+"Guess we did," replied Tommy, his teeth rattling with the cold.
+
+"Then all we've got to do is to follow the wind and we'll strike
+the tents.  That's some Boy Scout forestry sense, isn't it?"
+
+"We'll wait until we see whether it brings us back to camp or not,"
+replied Tommy.  "If it does, it's all right; if it doesn't, it's
+all wrong."
+
+Had the boys proceeded straight north on leaving the camp, they
+would have doubtless returned to the lighted zone by keeping with
+the wind, if the wind had not shifted to the west soon after their
+departure from the camp.
+
+They walked for what seemed to them to be hours.  In fact, more
+than once they glanced about hoping to get their direction from a
+showing of daylight in the sky.
+
+"I don't believe it ever will be daylight again," grumbled Sandy,
+"and I move we stop right here and build a big fire."
+
+"Can we build a fire in all this ruck?" asked Tommy.
+
+"You bet we can!" was the answer.  "What are we Boy Scouts good for
+if we can't build a fire in a storm?"
+
+They cleared a little space in the snow and Tommy brought a handful
+of dry bark.  Shielding the flickering blaze as much as possible,
+the boy applied the match he had struck to the bark.  The fire
+which resulted could have been started in a teacup.
+
+About this he built a skeleton tent of bits of dry soft wood from
+six to nine inches in length.  His fire was now as large as an
+ordinary kettle.  Next, the boys threw larger boughs on the blaze,
+and finally succeeded in surrounding it by large logs.
+
+"There's one thing about it," Tommy declared as they warmed their
+hands over the blaze, "there won't any wild animals take a bite out
+of us as long as we keep near this fire!"
+
+"I wish George would come poking along in," Sandy commented.  "I
+believe I'll go out in the thicket after I get warm and see if he
+isn't somewhere in this vicinity.  I thought I heard a call over
+there just a moment ago."
+
+"Listen, then," Tommy advised.  "If some one called, we're likely
+to hear a repetition of the sound."
+
+Sure enough, the call came again as the boys huddled over the fire.
+It came down with the wind and seemed to be rapidly drawing nearer.
+
+"That sounds to me like a boy's voice," Sandy suggested.
+
+"Sounds more like a half-breed to me!" Tommy answered.
+
+"He's stopped coming on, anyway." Sandy exclaimed in a moment.
+
+"Perhaps he's tumbled down in the snow!" Tommy argued.
+
+"In that case, we'd better be getting out where he is," said Sandy.
+
+The boys both left the fire and darted out into the darkness,
+listening for the call but hearing only the roaring of the wind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE CAVE OP THE TWO BEARS
+
+"Bears?" exclaimed George, as the lads listened in front of the
+cave, "do you think there are polar bears up here?  I think it's
+cold enough for the big white variety."
+
+"Put your head inside the cave," Thede suggested, "and you won't be
+wondering whether there are any bears here."
+
+George did as requested, and soon the warm animal odor noticeable
+in the various zoos of the country attacked his nostrils.
+
+"What kind of bears are they?" he asked.
+
+"I've heard Pierre say there were black and brown bears," replied
+Thede.  "You know I haven't been in here only a few days."
+
+"I wonder if they'll bite."
+
+"Stick your arm in there and find out," Thede answered.
+
+"I don't believe they'll jump on us if we keep our light going,"
+George argued.  "Anyway," he went on, "we've got to get somewhere
+out of this wind and snow.  If we don't, we'll freeze to death!"
+
+Very slowly and cautiously the boys made their way into the cavern.
+It was a small place, not more than six feet in width and twice
+that in depth, and the electric revealed about all there was inside.
+
+Two black huddles of fur showed under the finger of light, and as
+the boys crept on, George with his automatic ready for use, two
+pair of surly, pig-like eyes became visible.
+
+The animals stirred restlessly as the boys advanced and finally
+began edging toward one side of the cave, as if seeking a way out.
+
+"Get out of the entrance," advised George as soon as both animals
+were on their feet, "and we'll give them a chance to escape."
+
+This plan was followed, and, much to the delight of the youngsters,
+the animals sprang outside and for a moment disappeared in the
+darkness.
+
+"It's a shame to turn the poor creatures out in this storm!" George
+declared.  "Perhaps they were just entering upon their long
+winter's sleep."
+
+"We didn't order them out!" grinned Thede.  "It amounts to the same
+thing," George responded.  "They've gone away, and are likely to
+freeze to death."
+
+"If you think they've gone away," Thede replied, "just turn your
+light toward the entrance.  They're not going to give up their warm
+nest without a scrap, and I can't say that I blame them for it."
+
+It was considerably warmer in the cave and, out of the tempest, the
+boys were quite comfortable in their thick clothing.  They huddled
+together at the far end of the cavern, and George kept the light
+turned, on the two bears, who were now growling savagely.
+
+"Why don't you shoot?" asked Thede.
+
+"What's the use of shooting until I have to?" demanded George.
+"They can come in here if they want to, if they'll only behave
+themselves."
+
+"If they try to come in here," declared Thede, "I'll go up in the
+air about nine hundred feet."
+
+Although they did not attempt to re-enter the cavern, the bears
+kept close to the entrance.  It was clear that only the light of
+the electric kept them from attacking the boys.
+
+"They'll stay right there till morning," exclaimed Thede, "and
+we'll have to shoot them anyway before we can get out.  They are
+kicking themselves now," he continued with a grin, "because they
+let us in here without a battle.  I wish we understood bear talk so
+that we could learn what they're saying to each other."
+
+"Nothing very complimentary to us," George declared.
+
+As the night advanced it grew colder and the boys moved about in
+quest of a more sheltered corner.  They could still hear the bears
+moving about outside, but paid no attention to them.
+
+"Look here," George said presently, as the search-light rested for
+a moment on a break in the rock.  "I wouldn't wonder at all if we
+could get further under the hill.  There's an opening here which
+looks wide enough for us to crawl through."
+
+"It's a wonder the bears didn't find it then," commented Thede.
+
+"I'm going to see whether I can get through it or not," George
+insisted.  "It may be a warmer corner.  Anyway, it'll give us
+exercise, and that's what we need about this time."
+
+Throwing the spear of light into the crevice, the boy glanced
+keenly about.  The walls of the opening seemed to be smooth, and to
+extend only a short distance.  Just below where the walls broke he
+could see the brown floor of another cavern."
+
+"I guess it's all right," he said to Thede.  "You take the light
+and hold it down and I'll scramble in.  May as well break my neck
+as to freeze to death."
+
+"Let me take your hand, then," advised Thede, "so yon can be pulled
+back if you don't like the looks of the new furnished room."
+
+"I'd like to be in a furnished room on Washington boulevard just
+this minute," George broke in.
+
+"I wouldn't mind a good box in Gamblers' alley," said Thede.
+
+When all was ready Thede gave one hand to George and lowered him
+down to the full length of both arms.
+
+"All right!" George cried in a moment, "I can feel my toes touching
+the rock.  Let go!  You drop down now, and I'll steady you when you
+light."
+
+Both boys were soon in the lower cavern and a moment following
+their arrival there, they heard the claws of the bears rattling on
+the rocks above.
+
+"I've heard Pierre tell about caves in this range of hills," Thede
+said, "but I never knew that they had caves two stories high."
+
+As the boy ceased speaking, George suddenly shut off his flash
+light and laid a hand on the other's arm.
+
+"What's that for -----"
+
+"Keep still!" whispered George.  "Do you see anything?"
+
+"Looks to me like a light," the other replied.
+
+"Looks like a fire, doesn't it?" asked George.
+
+"It certainly is a fire and there's a man sitting in front of it."
+
+The fire showed at the end of a narrow passage, perhaps ten or
+twelve yards away.  It was blazing vigorously, and the cavern in
+which it stood was well clouded with smoke.  It was evident that
+the watcher by the fire was as yet unconscious of the approach of
+the two boys.
+
+"I wish we could get to that fire!" George said with a shiver.
+
+"And why not?"
+
+"I don't think he'd be hiding here if he was keeping open house,"
+replied George.  "He may be an outlaw hiding from the police.  And
+in that case he wouldn't relish the idea of his underground retreat
+being discovered, even by two boys who want to get warm."
+
+"Anyway," Thede insisted, "I'm going to crawl up close and see what
+I can find out.  That fire looks good to me."
+
+The boys advanced cautiously, with George a little in advance.  The
+man at the fire sat with his chin on his breast as if in sound
+sleep.
+
+"I don't believe he'd say anything if we walked right in on him,"
+Thede declared.  "If he does, we can hold a gun on him and invite
+him to a more friendly mood."
+
+The man did not move as the boys came on, and George was about to
+call out to him when Thede caught him by the shoulder.
+
+"Don't you dare make a motion!" the boy whispered.  "Stand still
+where you are and look to the little shelf of rock on the other
+side of the fire."
+
+George looked, and his automatic and his searchlight almost
+clattered to the floor as his eyes rested on something which
+glittered like gold in the red light of the fire.  He turned to
+Thede, and there was a tremor in his voice as he whispered in his
+ear.
+
+"Do you know what that is?" he asked.
+
+"I think I know what it is!" was the whispered reply.
+
+"It's the Little Brass God!" whispered George excitedly.  "And I'm
+going to sneak over there and lay my hands on it before that fellow
+wakes up!"
+
+"You never can do it!" advised Thede.
+
+"I've just got to do it!"
+
+"If that is the real Little Brass God, how did it ever get here?"
+whispered Thede.  "Strangest thing I ever heard of."
+
+"Gee whiz!" whispered George.  "We mustn't stand around wondering
+how it got here.  The thing for us to do right now is to get
+possession of it.  I believe I can get over there without waking
+that fellow up."
+
+"Let me take your gun, then," Thede advised, "and if he moves or
+makes any funny breaks, I'll keep him under cover!"
+
+George handed his gun over to the boy without a word and moved on
+toward the fire.  It was clear that the man was asleep, his chin
+resting on his breast, his shoulders supported by a wall of rock.
+
+The thing which glittered on the ledge, now almost within reaching
+distance, was unquestionably the Little Brass God, the quest of
+which had brought the boys into the Hudson Bay country.
+
+George had never set eyes on the toy, but there was no mistaking
+the crossed legs, the folded arms, the paunchy stomach, and the
+misshapen, leering face.  The boy heard a soft warning whispered
+from the opposite side of the room and turned his eyes from a
+greedy contemplation of the Little Brass God to the figure of the
+man crouching before the blaze.
+
+The fellow had lifted his head, and now sat staring at the boy with
+a dumb wonder in his eyes.  While the boy looked the expression
+changed from wonder to alarm, from alarm to anger, and then the
+doubled-up figure straightened and sprang forward.
+
+The boy heard a pistol shot, sensed the acrid smell of powder
+smoke, felt a muscular hand grasp the wrist which was extended
+toward the shelf of rock, and then a million stars seemed to be
+falling from the heavens.  There was a roar as of an ocean beating
+against breakers, and then a lull during which he heard another
+pistol shot.
+
+When the boy regained consciousness, daylight was creeping into the
+cavern through an opening much lower down than the one by which the
+boys had entered the upper cavern.
+
+The earth outside was covered with a thick mat of snow, and the
+trees and shrubs of the forest were bending beneath burdens of pure
+white.
+
+The fire had burned to ashes and it was miserably cold.
+
+The Little Brass God was gone!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+AN EMPTY CAVERN
+
+Perhaps a dozen yards from the fire, Tommy stumbled at a figure
+over which the falling snow was fast drifting.  He called out to
+Sandy, who was only a short distance away, and the two lifted the
+unconscious form in their arms and staggered toward the fire.
+
+"Why, it's nothing but a kid!" Sandy exclaimed.
+
+"Don't you know who it is?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"Never saw him before!" was the reply.
+
+"It's Thede Carson!"
+
+"Not that little monkey of a Thede Carson who's always getting the
+Beaver Patrol into trouble?" demanded Sandy.  "What would he be
+doing up here?  I guess you're losing the sense of sight."
+
+"Sure, it's Thede Carson," insisted Tommy.
+
+"Well, I guess he's about all in," Sandy volunteered.
+
+"Get busy then, with your first aid," Tommy ordered.  "Get some of
+his clothes off and get to work with snow, or his fingers and toes
+will drop off as soon as they thaw out."
+
+"I don't believe it's the cold so much as it is exhaustion," Sandy
+ventured.  "He seems to have been running a whole lot, for he's
+still panting, I reckon he just dropped down when he couldn't run
+any further."
+
+"I guess that's about right," Tommy admitted.  "He doesn't seem to
+be very cold.  It may be that wound on his head," the lad added,
+pointing to a long gash in the scalp which, judging from the state
+of the lad's clothing, had bled very freely.
+
+"What do you think of coming away up here in the Hudson Bay country
+and picking a member of the Beaver Patrol right out of the woods?"
+demanded Sandy.  "We seem to find Boy Scouts wherever we go."
+
+The boys worked over the exhausted lad some moments, and then he
+opened his eyes.
+
+"Now for the love of Mike!" exclaimed Tommy, "don't look around and
+say 'Where am I?'  The correct thing to say in these modern days is
+'Vot iss?'  Do you get me, Thede?"
+
+"Why, it's Tommy!" said the boy.
+
+"Betcher life!" returned Tommy.  "Did you run all the way up here
+from Clark street?  Or did you come up in an aeroplane?"
+
+Thede sat up and looked about for the tents and the boats.
+
+"Why, this isn't the camp!" he said.
+
+"We haven't got any more camp than a rabbit!" declared Sandy.
+"We're lost!  We've got to wait till morning to find our way back."
+
+"It's a good thing you're lost!" exclaimed Thede.  "I don't think I
+could have held out until I reached the camp.  You see," he went on
+with a slight shudder at the recollection of his experiences, "I
+left George a long distance off."
+
+"Left George?" repeated Tommy.
+
+"I couldn't bring him with me," answered Thede, with a slow smile,
+
+"Where did you leave him?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"Why didn't he come with you?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Because," replied Thede, "just as he was reaching up to the wall
+of the cavern to take hold of the Little Brass God, he got a tunk
+on the coco that put him out for the count."
+
+"What do you know about the Little Brass God?" asked Tommy.
+
+"I've seen it!" answered Thede.  "It sat up on a shelf on the face
+of the wall, with its legs crossed, and its arms folded, and its
+wicked face telling me where I could go whether I wanted to or not."
+
+"I guess something's gone to your head!" declared Sandy.
+
+"But I'll tell you we found the Little Brass God!" declared Thede.
+"George came to the cabin, and we started out to find the camp, and
+got lost in the storm, and brought up in a cave inhabited by two
+bears."
+
+Sandy regarded Tommy significantly.
+
+"And we found a basement floor to the cavern, and went down the
+elevator and found a man asleep in front of a fire with the Little
+Brass God winking at him.  Funny fellow, that Little Brass God!"
+
+"You for the foolish house!" cried Tommy.
+
+"Honest, boys!" Thede declared.  "George came to the cabin and I
+started home with him after Pierre left us alone together.  The
+storm chased us into a cave, just as I told you, and we kept on
+going until we came to the place where the Little Brass God sat up
+on the wall making faces at a man asleep at the fire.'"
+
+"Go on!" exclaimed Tommy, at last understanding that the boy was in
+his right mind.  "Tell us about it!"
+
+"And George said he would get the Little Brass God without waking
+the man up.  So he gave me his gun, and I was to shoot in case the
+man made any trouble.  Then, just as George was reaching for the
+little Brass God, the man woke up and shot at him, Then the man
+shot at me, and I shot at him, and then he got my gun away from me
+and I ran out to find you."
+
+"And you left George there in the cavern?" asked Sandy.
+
+"I just had to!" was the reply.  "I couldn't do anything with that
+giant of a half-breed, and I didn't have a gun and so I ducked.
+
+"Can you take us back to that cavern now?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Sure I can," was the reply.
+
+"Oughtn't we to let Will know where we are?" asked Sandy.
+
+Tommy looked at Thede questioningly.
+
+"Can you tell us how to find the cavern?" he asked in a moment.
+
+"What for?" demanded the boy.  "I'm going to take you where it is."
+
+"You're about all in," declared Sandy, "and you ought to go to camp
+and rest up and tell Will where we've gone."
+
+"You couldn't find this cave in a thousand years," declared Thede.
+
+While the boys talked the wind died down, and the snow ceased
+falling.
+
+Presently a mist of daylight crept into the forest and then the
+boys crept out on their journey toward into ridge of hills.
+
+"Wasn't that a dream about your seeing the Little Brass God?" asked
+Tommy as they walked along.
+
+"Sure not," was the reply, "we both saw it, didn't we?"
+
+"Well, whoever told you anything about the Little Brass God?"
+demanded Sandy.  "How did you know there was a Brass God?"
+
+"Old Finklebaum told me.  He said he'd give me a hundred dollars if
+I found it, so I started in to earn that mazuma."
+
+In as few words as possible the boy repeated the story he had told
+George on the previous evening.
+
+"I guess you boys came up here looking for the Little Brass God,
+too, didn't you?" the boy asked, shrewdly, after a moment's
+hesitation.
+
+"We came up to hunt and fish!" laughed Tommy.
+
+"To hunt for the Little Brass God and fish for the man who bought
+it of the pawnbroker, I guess," laughed Thede.  "You boys never
+came clear up here just to chase through the snow after game when
+there's plenty of shooting three hundred miles to the south."
+
+"You say you think that Pierre is the man who bought the Little
+Brass God of the pawnbroker?" asked Sandy, as the boys stopped for
+a moment to rest.  "Is that the reason you followed him here?"
+
+"That's the reason!" was the reply.
+
+"He seemed perfectly willing to have you come?"
+
+"He welcomed me like a long lost brother!"
+
+"Then it's a hundred to one shot Pierre never got his hands on the
+Little Brass God!  Don't you see how suspicious he would have been
+if he had had the little brute in his possession?"
+
+"I didn't think of that!" replied Thede.  "Look here," the boy
+continued, "I'd like to know what all this fuss is about, anyway.
+Why should any one in his right mind give old Finklebaum a thousand
+dollars or five thousand dollars, for that piece of brass?  That's
+what gets me!"
+
+Tommy and Sandy looked at each other significantly but made no
+immediate reply.  In a moment Thede went on.
+
+"'Spose this should be a Little Brass God stolen from some temple
+away out in the wilds of India.  Suppose a delegation of East
+Indians should be sent here to get it.  Wouldn't they murder a
+score of men if they had to in order to get possession of it?"
+
+"They probably would," was the reply.
+
+After an hour's hard walking, the boys came to the foot of the
+ridge of hills and looked upward.  Thede pointed to the cavern
+where the two bears had been discovered.
+
+"There's where we went in," he explained, "but the cavern where the
+fire and the Little Brass God were is right under that one."
+
+"How're we going to get to it?"
+
+"If you want to take your chance on meeting the bears, you can drop
+down through the opening from the floor above."
+
+"But isn't there an opening to this lower cavern?"
+
+"Sure there is!  That's the one I ran out of!  Say," he continued,
+"that's the one we saw the man by the fire run out of, too.  You
+can see the tracks of his moccasins in the snow.  He must have left
+after the storm ceased.  My tracks were filled."
+
+"In we go, then!" cried Tommy, advancing lip the slight slope to
+the Up of the cavern.
+
+"Watch out for bears!" cried Thede.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A TRAPPER'S TREACHERY
+
+When Will, watching at the camp, found that Tommy and Sandy had
+disappeared, he had no idea that they would remain more than an
+hour or so.
+
+The long night passed, however, and the boys did not return.  When
+daylight came, Will built up a roaring fire and began preparing
+breakfast.
+
+It was his idea at that time that the boys had come together in the
+forest about the time the snow began falling, and had sought in
+some deserted shack temporary protection from the storm.
+
+"They'll be back here in a short time, hungry as bears!" he thought.
+
+Presently he heard some one advancing through the snow-covered
+thicket, and turned in that direction with an expectant smile.
+
+Instead of his chums he saw a half-breed in leather jacket and
+leggins and a fur cap approaching.  When the fellow reached the
+camp he made a quick and rather impertinent inspection of the tents
+before approaching the spot where the boy stood awaiting him.
+
+"Good morning!" Will said, not without a challenge in his voice.
+
+"Where are the boys?" asked the visitor.
+
+"Who are you?" demanded Will.
+
+"Pierre!" was the short reply.
+
+"Why do you ask about the boys?"
+
+Pierre explained in broken English that one of the boys who
+evidently belonged to the camp had coaxed his companion away.
+
+"Who is your companion?" asked Will, "and why do you come here
+looking for him?  Who was it that visited your cabin?"
+
+Pierre laboriously explained what had taken place on the previous
+evening, and Will listened with an anxious face.
+
+"And you left them there together, and when you returned they had
+disappeared?  Is that what you mean to say?"
+
+Pierre nodded.
+
+"He coax my boy away," he said sullenly.
+
+"Is this boy you speak of your son?" asked Will.
+
+"Chicago boy!" was the reply.
+
+"Why don't you go on and tell me all about the boy and about
+yourself?" inquired Will.  "What's the use of standing there
+grunting and trying to make me understand nods and scowls?"
+
+Pierre explained that he had been in Chicago to see the sights, had
+fallen in with Thede, and agreed to bring him into the forest with
+him.  His explanation was not very clear as he talked more mongrel
+French than English, so Will was not very well informed at the end
+of the recital.  Pierre looked suspicious as well as disappointed.
+
+"Well," Will explained to the half-breed after a moment's
+deliberation, "I suppose you'll turn in now and help me find the
+boys!"
+
+Pierre nodded and pointed toward the campfire.
+
+"Build him big!" he said.  "Boys come cold."
+
+Accepting the hint, Will piled great logs on the fire while the
+half-breed looked sullenly on.  The boy then dressed himself in his
+warmest clothing and the two set out together.
+
+"Have you any idea which way to go?" asked the boy.
+
+Pierre pointed away to the south.
+
+"Wind blow that way," he said.  "They follow the wind."
+
+Numerous times, as the two tramped through the snow together, Will
+caught the half-breed looking in his direction with eyes of hate.
+
+After proceeding some distance, he fell in behind Pierre, and so
+the two traveled through the wilderness, each suspicious and
+watchful of the other.  After walking an hour or more they came to
+a place where Tommy and Sandy had built their fire on the previous
+night.
+
+There the half-breed read the story written upon the snow like a
+book.  Pointing here and there, he explained to Will that two boys
+had been caught in the storm and had built a fire.  He showed, too,
+that a third boy had come plunging through the snow, nearly circled
+the camp, and came back toward the fire from the north.  Then he
+showed the tracks of three heading off to the south.
+
+"Do you think one of those boys was your companion?" asked Will.
+
+The half-breed answered that he was sure of it.
+
+"Then that leaves one of the boys still unaccounted for," Will
+mused.  "It looks to me," he went on, "as if your friend and George
+started away together and got lost.  Then your boy came back and
+found Tommy and Sandy and started away with them toward the place
+where he had left George.  Is that the way you look at it?"
+
+The half-breed grunted some sullen reply, and the two walked on
+together following the trail which led toward the range of hills.
+
+Instead of directly following the trail left by the boys, however,
+Pierre turned frequently to left and right, explaining that if
+enemies were about it was a trail which would be watched.
+
+They came to the cavern at last, and stood by the dying embers of
+the fire.  There was no one in sight.  Will examined the sloping
+surface of snow in front and found no tracks leading outward.
+
+"They must be in here somewhere!" he exclaimed.
+
+Pierre nodded his fur cap vigorously, and the two began a careful
+examination of the underground place.
+
+They found many little caves opening from the larger one, but no
+trace of the boys.  After a time a shout from Pierre drew Will to
+his side.  The fellow was peering into a crevice, in the rocky wall
+which seemed to lead for some distance under the hill.
+
+"Do you think they are hidden in there?" asked the boy.
+
+Pierre explained in his barely understandable dialect that he
+thought the boys might have escaped into the inner cavern and
+started to make their way out in another direction.
+
+"Then I'll go in after them," Will decided.
+
+Before entering he called shrilly into the cavern, but only the
+echoes came back to him.  By considerable squeezing, he managed to
+make his way through the opening.  He then found himself in a
+passage-like place, sloping upward.  As he threw his light about
+the interior, he heard a chuckle in the outer chamber where he had
+left Pierre.
+
+He turned in time to see the half-breed rolling great stones
+against the mouth of the narrow opening by means of which he had
+entered.
+
+"Hah!" sneered Pierre.  "You bring me trouble!"
+
+"What are you doing that for?" demanded Will.
+
+The half-breed peered into the opening with eyes that resembled
+those of a snake, so full of malice and hatred were they.
+
+"You steal my boy!" he said.
+
+"So this is a trap, is it?" Will demanded.
+
+The half-breed answered by a chuckle of laughter."
+
+"If you don't take those stones away," Will threatened, "I'll fill
+you full of lead when I do get out!"
+
+The half-breed patted his gun stock significantly, but made no
+reply.
+
+The boy heard him rolling rocks along the cavern floor and against
+the opening, and turned away hoping to find some other means of
+egress.
+
+It was clear to him that the half-breed thoroughly understood the
+situation in the hills.  He had no doubt that he had planned to
+bring him there for the purpose which had developed.  He
+understood, too, that if there were other openings to the cavern,
+Pierre knew where they were, and would block them as soon as he had
+effectually blocked the one by which entrance had been effected.
+
+It was cold and damp in that underground place, but the
+perspiration actually broke out on the boy's brow as he considered
+the fate which might await him in that dreary place of detention.
+
+He had, of course, no means of knowing the whereabouts of any of
+his chums.  In fact, it seemed to him possible that they, too, had
+been inveigled into a trap similar to the one which had been set
+for himself.
+
+The motive for this brutal action on the part of the half-breed
+was, of course, entirely unknown to the boy.  It will be remembered
+that he knew nothing whatever of Thede's suspicions that Pierre
+actually had the Little Brass God in his possession.
+
+It was black as ink in the passage, but the boy's flashlight had
+recently been supplied with a new battery, and he knew that it
+would not fail for many hours, so he walked along with confidence.
+
+In perhaps a quarter of an hour the boy came to a blank wall.
+There appeared to be no way in which the journey could be extended
+under the hills.  The nearest lateral passage was some distance
+back.
+
+Realizing that no time should be lost, the lad hastened thither and
+advanced to the south end of the cross passage.  Here, too, he came
+upon a blank wall.  While he stood listening a heavy, rumbling
+voice came to his ears.  There were either crevices in that rocky
+bulkhead or the wall was very thin.
+
+Presently the heavy voice ceased speaking, and then a lighter tone
+was heard.  At first Will could not distinguish the words used, but
+directly his heart almost bounded into his throat as he listened to
+Tommy's voice saying:
+
+"I'll break your crust, you old stiff, if you come near me!"
+
+So the boys were still in a position to defend themselves!  Will
+beat frantically on the wall and threw his light hither and yon in
+search of some opening through which his voice might be heard.
+
+Directly there came an answering sound from the other side.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+TWO HUNGRY BEARS
+
+The Little Brass God was gone!
+
+George, still lying upon the floor of the cavern, stretched his
+legs and arms, to see if he was all there, as he mentally commented.
+
+After a time he arose to his feet, clinging desperately to the wall
+because of his weakness, and called to Thede, who, as the reader
+knows, had left hours before, in search of the injured lad's chums.
+There came only echoes in reply to his shouts.
+
+There was a pile of wood near at hand and, gathering numerous dry
+fagots, the boy staggered dizzily toward the heap of ashes in the
+center of the cave.  It seemed to him that the first thing to do
+was to get warm.
+
+He was hungry, too, but warmth was the important thing just then.
+A few red coals still remained, and a blaze soon grew under the
+boy's careful hands.  In a short time there was a roaring fire.
+
+After thawing the chill out of his bones, the boy began looking
+around for his friend of the night before.  He looked at his watch
+and noted that it was eight o'clock.  His revolver was gone but his
+search-light was still in his pocket.
+
+He remembered in a moment that he had handed his revolver to
+Thede before starting to cross the light zone in the center
+of the cavern.  Whatever had taken place during his hours of
+unconsciousness, it was evident that he had not been robbed.
+
+It seemed to the boy, as he stood looking through the opening which
+gave a view of the forest to the north, that he had lain on the
+hard floor of the cavern for countless aeons.  He did not remember
+what had caused the wound on his head.  He only knew that he had
+been seized with a sudden dizziness and had fallen, after hearing
+pistol shots.
+
+Standing before the fire with the cheerful light of the blaze on
+one side and the dazzling light of the sun on the snow on the other
+side, the uncanny incidents of the night before seemed like a dream
+to the boy.
+
+He even found himself wondering whether he had actually caught
+sight of the Little Brass God, leering down upon the watcher from
+the wall.
+
+Then he recollected that Thede had first called his attention to
+the ugly image whose evil eyes seemed to take on malevolent
+expressions in the light of the dancing flames.
+
+"It must be all true, then," he concluded.  "The man by the fire,
+the Little Brass God on the shelf, the pistol shots, and then a
+blank."
+
+He wondered where Thede had gone, and why he had deserted him.
+
+"That's the strangest part of it all," the lad mused.  "I had an
+idea that the boy would stand by me if I got into trouble, and here
+he runs away, leaving me lying unconscious in the freezing
+atmosphere of this desolate old cavern.  I didn't think it of him!"
+
+It occurred to George as he studied over the puzzle that Thede
+might not have been as innocent and loyal as he had pretended to
+be.  He might have been merely an instrument in the hands of a
+cunning man.
+
+"At any rate," the boy pondered, "we have found the Little Brass
+God!"
+
+He had not, of course, secured possession of it, but he had learned
+definitely that it was in that part of the country.  He wondered as
+to the identity of the man who sat watching the fire.  The light
+had been dim, and it might have been Pierre for all he knew.  Or it
+might have been an accomplice of the tricky trapper.
+
+"Now, I wonder how I'm going to get back to camp," the boy mused as
+he piled on more wood and spread his hands to the cheerful warmth
+of the fire.  "Judging from the time it took us to get here, it
+must be ten or twelve miles back to the camp."
+
+"The boys will think I've deserted them, I guess," he added.  "If
+they knew how hungry I am just at this minute, they'd send out a
+relief expedition!"
+
+While the boy warmed himself before the fire a series of growls
+came from the entrance to the cavern, and two black bears looked in
+upon him.
+
+"Now I wonder if you're the same disreputable citizens that tried
+to make a free lunch counter of me last night?" George mused.  "I
+presume you're hungry, all right, but I'd rather not be the person
+to do the feeding this morning.  You look too fierce for me, both
+of you."
+
+The smell of blood evidently excited the bears to unusual feats of
+courage, for they entered the mouth of the cavern and stood
+growling and showing their teeth within a short distance of where
+George stood.
+
+Only for the great blaze which now leaped almost to the roof of the
+cavern, the boy would have been attacked at once.  He glanced at
+the rapidly decreasing pile of wood, and wondered what would take
+place as soon as the fire had died down.  He had no weapon with
+which to defend himself.
+
+For at least a quarter of an hour the bears and the lad gazed at
+each other through the red light of the fire.  The bears were
+gradually moving forward, and every time the lad laid a stick of
+wood on the blaze they seemed to understand more fully that his
+defense was weakening.
+
+George thought he had never seen wood burn away so fast.  The blaze
+seemed to melt it as boiling water melts ice.
+
+Already the blaze was dropping lower, and the pile of wood was
+almost gone.  The bears sniffed at the blood stains where the boy
+had lain on the floor, and turned fierce eyes on the figure by the
+fire.
+
+George estimated that his wood might last ten minutes longer.  Then
+there would be a rush, a crunching of bones and all would be over.
+
+A rifle shot sounded from the outside, and one of the bears dropped
+to the rocky floor, struggled spasmodically for a moment, and then
+straightened out and lay still.  The next instant another shot,
+equally accurate, came and the second bear was dead in a moment.
+
+The boy waited eagerly for the appearance of the man who had done
+the shooting.  He had no idea who the man might be, and was not
+quite certain that the fellow had not taken from him one danger
+only to place him in another.  Still, he looked eagerly forward to
+his appearance.
+
+When the man appeared, a smoking double-barreled rifle in his hand,
+George saw a tall, ungainly figure with long legs, a long, slim
+body, very high cheek bones, and rather stern and uncompromising
+blue eyes.
+
+The newcomer was dressed in the leather jacket usually worn by
+trappers in that district, leather leggins, moccasins, and fur cap.
+A belt of red leather, probably colored and tanned by some Indian
+process, was drawn tightly about his waist.  There were gold rings
+in his ears which swung an inch down on his brown cheeks.
+
+"Hello, sonny!" the man said, advancing into the cavern, standing
+the butt of his rifle on the rock, and leaning on the barrel.
+
+"Say," the boy almost shouted, springing forward and extending his
+hand, "that's about the best shooting I've seen in a year!"
+
+"The place to hit a bear," the new-comer replied, "is in the neck,
+right about where the spinal cord starts to crawl under the skull."
+
+"It's a good thing you came along just as you did," George stated.
+"I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am, and so you'll have to
+take that for granted.  You saved my life!"
+
+"I'm Antoine," the other said, in a moment, after a casual survey
+of the boy.  "I'm a hunter and trapper.  I saw the bears looking
+in, and knew from the smoke coining out that there was a human
+being in here, too.  Knowing that bears and humans don't mix
+remarkably well, I came in, too.  That's all there is to it!"
+
+"I guess they would have mixed with me all right in about a
+minute," George said with a smile.  "I had about abandoned hope!"
+
+"How'd you get here?" asked Antoine.
+
+George related the story of the adventures of the previous night,
+omitting, however, any mention of the Little Brass God.  While he
+talked, there came to his mind an indistinct impression that the
+face of the man he had seen sitting by the fire was the face of the
+man who now stood before him.
+
+He put the thought away instantly, for he did not believe that the
+person who had left him on the floor of the cavern to die of cold
+and exposure, or to be devoured by wild beasts, could be the same
+who had so opportunely rescued him from death.
+
+"You must be hungry, I take it," Antoine said, after the boy bad
+concluded his recital.  "Boys usually are hungry."
+
+"You bet I'm hungry!" George replied.
+
+Antoine glanced smilingly about at the two bears lying on the floor.
+
+"Can you cook bear steak?" he asked.
+
+"Can I?" repeated George.
+
+Antoine pointed to the Boy Scout medals on the lad's coat sleeve.
+
+"You have the Stalker and Pioneer medals," he said.  "You ought to
+know something about forestry."
+
+"How do you know what they are?" smiled George.
+
+"Oh," was the hesitating reply, "I know quite a lot about Boy Scout
+work and training.  Fine lot of fellows, those Boy Scouts!"
+
+"Right you are!" declared George.
+
+Antoine now drew forth a hunting knife which seemed to be as keen
+as a razor and began removing the skins from the dead animals.  He
+worked swiftly and skillfully, and in a short time the making of
+two fine black bear rugs were laying in the sun outside.
+
+"Now," the man said, "you get busy with that steak over the coals,
+and I'll tote in more wood.  You don't seem quite up to carrying
+heavy loads yet.  That must be a bad wound."
+
+"I think I must have lost considerable blood," George answered.
+
+After the steak was nicely broiled, Antoine brought water from a
+nearby stream, and the boy's head was carefully and rather
+skillfully attended to.
+
+"And now," said Antoine, "we'll go to my own home, which isn't far
+away."
+
+Without a word the boy followed the hunter through the deep snow
+which lay on the slope until they came to an opening in the rock.
+Entering, the boy found a very comfortable cavern, almost
+completely lined with fur.  There was a chimney-like crevice in the
+ceiling which permitted the escape of smoke and foul air.  Both
+inside and outside the entrance were great stones by which the
+place might be sealed up from either side.
+
+"Quite a cozy nest!" George ventured, and Antoine nodded.
+
+"We'll celebrate your arrival with a cup of good strong tea," he
+said.
+
+The tea was brewed and drank.  Then the trapper's face began to
+assume grotesque forms.  The boy's head swam dizzily.  He caught a
+cynical smile in Antoine's eyes and dropped back into a drugged and
+dreamless sleep!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BOYS IN A TIGHT PLACE
+
+"Who's there?" asked Tommy's voice, as Will beat frantically
+against the rocky bulkhead against which he stood.
+
+"How do I get in there?" asked Will.
+
+"Go around to the entrance and shoot up this half-breed!" advised
+Sandy.  "He's got us cornered!"
+
+"He's got me cornered, too!" shouted Will.
+
+"Then I guess he's got the high hand," Tommy answered back.
+
+"Say," Thede's voice exclaimed, "the rock at the end of that
+passage isn't more than a foot thick and it's full of cracks, at
+that.  If you had a couple of big whinnicks, you could smash it
+down."
+
+"I can find the whinnicks all right!" answered Will.
+
+"Say!" cried Sandy, "you want to hurry with those whinnicks, for
+Pierre is almost standing on his head, threatening to shoot if you
+try to break through."
+
+Will collected a number of heavy stones which had fallen from the
+walls and threw them with all his strength against the partition.
+
+The cracks widened, and slivers of brittle rock fell away.  His
+efforts were greeted with cheers from the other side, and he
+redoubled them, with the result that in a short time, a passage
+between the two sections of the underground chambers had been made.
+
+When Will stepped through the opening he saw Pierre's fur cap
+sticking up above a barrier which reached almost to the ceiling.
+The long barrel of his rifle protruded threateningly into the room.
+
+"I guess," Will proposed, "that we'd better get out of range of
+that gun.  It doesn't look good to me."
+
+The boys crowded back into the chamber which Will had recently left
+and looked at each other with inquiring eyes.
+
+Pierre's harsh laugh came from the outer room.  "You thieves!" he
+cried.  "You die like bear in a trap."
+
+"What does the old idiot mean by that?" asked Will.
+
+"Search me!" replied Tommy.
+
+"How did he ever get you in here?"
+
+"That's a pretty question to ask of us!" declared Tommy.  "How did
+he ever get you in here?"
+
+"He came to camp and volunteered to help find you run-away boys,"
+replied Will.  "He brought me to the hills and tumbled boulders
+into the entrance to the cavern."
+
+"Well, he came to our assistance almost as soon as we reached the
+hills in search of George," Tommy grinned.  "He was so mighty
+careful to get us into safe quarters that he led us into this
+rotten hole and fixed it so we couldn't get out!"
+
+"What's he doing it all for?" Will asked, turning to Tommy.
+
+"Perhaps Thede Carson can tell you better than I can," replied
+Tommy.  "You remember Thede Carson, don't you, Will?"
+
+"I seem to see a faint, resemblance in this lad to a boy I used to
+know as Thede Carson," Will laughed.  "He looks now, though, as if
+he had plenty to eat, and a good place to sleep!"
+
+"I have been eating regularly," grinned Thede, "but there's no
+knowing whether I'll ever connect with another bear steak."
+
+"He came up here with Pierre," Sandy explained.  "Perhaps he can
+tell you what the half-breed is up to."
+
+"I don't know any more about it than you do!" replied Thede.  "He
+didn't seem to like the idea of my associating with George," the
+boy added with a wink at Will, "and so he bunched us together and
+locked us up."
+
+While Pierre gave vent to hoarse shouts of rage, and many entirely
+unnecessary and insulting taunts, the boys explained the events of
+the past night.  The thing which startled Will most was the story
+Thede told about having caught sight of the Little Brass God.
+
+"Are you sure?" he asked.
+
+"Certain sure!"
+
+"It wasn't the firelight or anything like that?"
+
+"No, it was the Little Brass God!"
+
+"Was it Pierre who sat before the fire?"
+
+Thede shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"I don't think so," he replied.
+
+"Did you see the man's face?"
+
+"Only in the shadows.  His chin was on his breast at first, and
+then, when he looked up, he turned his head the other way."
+
+"Well," Will said, "we have at least located the ugly little beast."
+
+"Did it look complete and whole?" asked Tommy.  "That's one
+question you didn't answer when you told me about having seen it."
+
+"Just as good as new," replied Thede.  "If it had been opened at
+all, the trick was turned by a man who understood the combination."
+
+"And now about George?" Will asked.
+
+"Some one carried him away," Thede declared.
+
+"That's the way I figure it out," Tommy cut in.
+
+"He didn't walk away," Tommy added, "because there were no tracks
+his size.  There were plenty of other tracks, but none which could
+have been made by George's shoes."
+
+"Aw, how do you know anything about that?" demanded Sandy.  "We saw
+a large moccasin track there, and how do we know that some man
+didn't walk behind George and step on all his tracks?"
+
+"Or how do we know that some big chump didn't carry him away in his
+arms?" Tommy admitted.  "I never thought about the means that might
+have been used to conceal the kid's exit.  You're the only real
+live Sherlock Holmes in this crowd," the boy added with a laugh.
+
+"Then it's a cinch that some one carried him away," Will decided.
+
+"Of course it is!" Sandy answered.
+
+"Look here!" Tommy said after a moment's reflection.  "Don't you
+boys remember how mussy that cavern looked.  We were all so anxious
+to chase out and find George that we didn't pay much attention to
+the room, but I begin to remember now that it looked as if some one
+had shot wild game there and cooked meat over the fire."
+
+"I remember something about that now!" Thede said.
+
+"And there was more blood on the floor than ever came from the
+little wound George received, according to the way you describe
+it," Tommy went on.
+
+"And I'll bet if we'd hunted around the cavern, we'd have found
+bear steak and refuse hidden in some of those odd little nooks."
+
+"I guess that's right," Thede declared.
+
+"Now, about those moccasin tracks?" asked Will.
+
+"Let's go out and follow 'em up!" grinned Sandy.
+
+"Sure!" replied Tommy.  "Just bite your way through these rocks and
+go out and follow 'em up."
+
+"It's only a question of time when we'll get out," Will insisted.
+"That crazy half-breed can't keep us in here forever!"
+
+"If he keeps us in much longer," Tommy declared, rubbing the
+waistband of his trousers affectionately, "he'll have me starved
+plumb to death!"
+
+"Me, too!" Sandy cut in.  "I'm shy a breakfast myself!"
+
+"And I'm so hungry that I could eat snowballs!" Thede said, with a
+grin.  "I don't think I ever was so hungry!"
+
+"Why don't you go outside and take a shot at that half-breed?"
+Tommy asked, looking reproachfully at Will.
+
+"Did he get your guns away from you?" asked the boy.
+
+"You bet he did!" replied Tommy.
+
+"How did he do it?"
+
+"He asked us to lay them aside while we crawled through a crack in
+the rock, and then grabbed them.  Oh, he's a foxy old fellow, that!"
+
+"Well, we can't get out if we stand here talking all day," Sandy
+ventured.  "The longer we stay, the hungrier we'll get!"
+
+"What I'd like to know," Will suggested, "is this: Why did he do
+it?  What spite has he against us?"
+
+"If you leave it to me," Thede replied, "the Little Brass God has
+something to do with it!  I don't know whether Pierre has
+possession of the ugly little beast, or whether he is trying to get
+possession of it, but I believe he has a notion that we're trying
+to get bold of it."
+
+"Well, that's a good guess," grinned Tommy.
+
+During all this conversation the voice of the half-breed had been
+frequently heard, alternately cursing and coaxing the lads to enter
+the outer chamber where he could talk with them.
+
+"What do you want?" Will asked finally.
+
+"Come here!" was the answer.
+
+Tommy stepped half-way through the opening and flashed his
+searchlight into the apartment beyond.
+
+"That is better!" shouted Pierre,
+
+"So that's what you want?" demanded Tommy.  "You want light to
+shoot us by!"
+
+"Send the other boy out!" demanded the half-breed.  "Send out the
+one I brought here!"
+
+"He wants you, Will," Tommy said.
+
+As the boy was about to step into the opening, Thede caught him by
+the arm and drew him back.
+
+"Just you wait a minute," he said.
+
+The lad placed a sliver of rock in Will's hat and held it beyond
+the opening, at the same time letting the rays of the searchlight
+fall full upon it.
+
+"I know that half-breed better than you do," Thede said, as he
+pushed the hat out further and further.
+
+When the hat was about as far out as the boy could send it without
+risking his own hands, a rifle shot rang through the cavern and the
+bullet cut its way through the exposed hat.
+
+"Don't you see?" Thede asked.  "He knows you have a gun, and he
+figured that you'd fall into this chamber, and that we wouldn't
+dare reach over for it.  He's a foxy old reprobate!"
+
+"What next?" demanded Will.
+
+"You just wait a minute!" Thede advised.  "I think I know a way
+out!  If we just could get in behind that half-breed and chuck him
+into the prison he prepared for us, it would be a mighty fine joke
+on him!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE HALF-BREED
+
+But the way out was not to lie through undiscovered passages!  It
+was set by fate that it was to be over the dead body of the
+half-breed!
+
+While the boys discussed the possibility of finding an unguarded
+exit from the series of caverns, another shot sounded, and then
+they heard the rattle and crash of rocks falling upon an equally
+hard surface.
+
+"There's something doing, now, sure!" Tommy exclaimed.
+
+"Do you know of any other trappers in this section?" asked Will,
+turning to Thede.  "It seems to me that that shot came from
+outside, and I don't believe Pierre would be throwing down his own
+barricade."
+
+"I haven't seen anyone else here," replied the boy, "except the one
+we saw in front of the fire last night."
+
+"And that might have been Pierre, for all we know!" Tommy declared.
+
+"You don't know whether it was Pierre or some one else," Sandy
+observed, "so we don't know whether there's another hunter roaming
+around here or not!  I hope there is, so far as I'm concerned!"
+
+The question was settled in a moment.  Rocks continued to fall from
+the barrier, and in a moment a voice called out:
+
+"Who's there?"
+
+"Four of us!" was the reply.
+
+"Why don't you come out?"
+
+The boys detected a faint chuckle in the voice.
+
+"We're willing!" Sandy answered.
+
+"Well, come on, then!"
+
+Sandy stuck his head out of the entrance and turned his searchlight
+on the new-comer.  After a moment's inspection of the fellow, he
+stepped into the outer cavern.
+
+"You look pretty good to me," he said.
+
+Ho was about to say more when he caught sight of the body of the
+half-breed lying just inside the cave.
+
+He turned white and for a moment felt dizzy and faint.
+
+He was unfamiliar with death in any form, and this snuffing out of
+a life seemed to him particularly horrible.
+
+In a moment the other boys came out and stood looking down upon the
+body.  They were all deeply affected by what had taken place,
+particularly Thede, who had never received anything but the kindest
+treatment from the half-breed until the arrival of the Boy Scouts.
+
+"It was my life or his," Antoine explained.
+
+"Did he shoot at you?" asked Will, "we heard only one shot, save
+the one fired by Pierre at my hat."
+
+"He didn't get an opportunity to fire!" Antoine answered.  "He had
+his gun leveled at my head when my bullet ended his life!"
+
+"Now I wonder," thought Will, "whether it was Pierre who sat by the
+fire last night, and whether the secret of the Little Brass God
+dies with him!  I wish there were some way of knowing."
+
+While these thoughts were passing through the brain of the boy,
+Thede stood regarding the new-comer in a puzzled way.  Slowly the
+impression was forming in his mind that it was not Pierre who had
+sat before the fire in the chamber where the Little Brass God had
+been displayed.
+
+"I suppose the next thing on the program," Antoine observed, with a
+smile, "will be breakfast."
+
+"That suits me!" shouted Tommy and Sandy in a breath.
+
+"Well," Antoine answered, "I have plenty of bear meat, and a few
+canned provisions, and plenty of good, strong tea, so we'll adjourn
+to the dining room and partake."
+
+"Have you seen anything of our chum?" asked Will.
+
+Antoine smiled, but made no reply.
+
+"Look here," Sandy said, pointing down to the moccasin tracks, as
+they emerged from the cavern and found themselves on the snowy
+slope, "this man has passed along here before this morning."
+
+"That's a fact!" Will exclaimed.  "So he must be the man who
+carried off George.  If he is, why doesn't he say so?"
+
+"Perhaps he wants to give us a surprise," observed Tommy.
+
+It was only a short distance from the system of caverns where the
+boys had been imprisoned to the home of Antoine, which has
+previously been described.
+
+When the boys entered, they looked eagerly around in the hope of
+finding George, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.
+
+"I thought sure you had found our chum in the cavern," Thede
+suggested.
+
+"Why, I thought you boys were all here!" replied Antoine, still
+with that odd smile on his face.
+
+"But there is a boy who was wounded in the bear cavern last night,"
+Thede explained, "and I left him there while I went after his
+friends, and when I came back, he was gone.  We thought sure you
+took him away."
+
+Antoine made no reply.  Instead, he busied himself with breakfast.
+
+In his efforts in this direction Tommy and Sandy were not slow in
+joining, and in a short time beautifully broiled bear steaks were
+smoking on tin plates which Antoine had taken from a cupboard
+fastened to the wall.  A pot of tea was steeping over a fire built
+at one end of the cavern.  The boys eyed this with interest.
+
+"We really ought to be going out in search of George," Will finally
+said.  "He may be suffering in the cold."
+
+"That's right!" declared Tommy.  "I'm going out just as soon as I
+finish eating!  The lad was carried off by some one, all right, and
+be can't be far away!"
+
+"I wonder why we didn't get our revolvers away from that dead man?"
+asked Sandy.  "We surely ought to have them!"
+
+"I looked for them," Will said quietly, "but they were not there!"
+
+"Then he must have hidden them away somewhere," Tommy declared.
+"We laid them down just before crawling through that hole."
+
+"You will doubtless find them in time," Antoine suggested.
+
+"I should think the half-breed would have kept them pretty close,"
+Sandy observed.  "You don't find automatics like those every day!"
+
+"It strikes me," Antoine said, directly, "that you boys would
+better settle down for a little rest previous to going out after
+your chum."
+
+"Aw, we don't need any rest!" declared Tommy.
+
+"Not while George is out in the cold!" Sandy cut in.
+
+"Just as you please," smiled Antoine.  "And now," he went on, "if
+you've all had plenty to eat, I'll bring on the tea.  Tea always
+tastes better to me when there is no food in my mouth to interfere
+with the flavor of it.  I have a very fine brand here."
+
+"We've been waiting for that tea!" laughed Tommy.
+
+"You can't lose Tommy when it comes to anything good to eat or
+drink!" laughed Sandy.  "He's always on watch."
+
+Antoine seemed a long time pouring the tea into the tin cups, which
+he had placed on the rough board which served as a table.  As he
+bent over the teapot, a familiar sound caught Will's ears and he
+turned his head aside to listen.
+
+"Slap, slap, slap!"
+
+The boy nudged Tommy who sat next to him with his elbow and called
+his attention to the sound.  Tommy almost sprang to his feet as he
+listened, but Will forced him back with his hand.
+
+"Slap, slap, slap!" came the signal again.
+
+Sandy and Thede were now sitting with knives and forks suspended in
+the air, listening wide-eyed to the sound.
+
+"That's the Beaver call!" declared Will in a whisper.
+
+"That means George!" Tommy whispered back.
+
+"Sure!" was the reply.  "There's no one else to give the Beaver
+call here.  I wonder why the boy doesn't show up."
+
+In the meantime, Antoine had been busy over the teapot and had not
+noticed what was going on at the table.
+
+"I'm fixing this tea up particularly strong," he said, facing the
+boys with a smile on his lips, "so you mustn't wonder if it tastes
+just a little bit bitter.  There's nothing on earth will do a man
+who's been exposed to the weather more good than a strong cup of
+tea!"
+
+The man poured the decoction into the tin cups and brought out a
+couple of cans of condensed milk and plenty of sugar.
+
+"You see," he laughed, "that I have all the luxuries of an effete
+civilization!  Put in all the sugar you like, if you find the tea
+too strong.  I have plenty of it!"
+
+The boys used the sugar and milk liberally, and Will was about to
+lift his cup to his lips when the Beaver call came again:
+
+"Slap, slap, slap!"
+
+Although the sounds were faint ones, they caught the attention of
+Antoine, who, scowling, turned his face in the direction from which
+they had proceeded.  In a minute, he arose.
+
+"What was that noise?" he asked.
+
+"Did you hear a noise?" questioned Will.
+
+"I thought I did!" replied the man.  "Perhaps I'd better take a
+look about the place.  There may be intruders here!"
+
+As Antoine moved about, his footsteps in a measure muffling the
+sounds which followed, the boys heard a low whisper.
+
+"Don't drink!  It's drugged!"
+
+Wondering why the boy did not show himself, and able to understand
+his strange conduct only on the theory that he had been gagged and
+bound, Will overturned his cup of tea by an awkward movement and
+sprang to his feet as the burning fluid came in contact with his
+clothing.
+
+Simultaneously the boys all sprang from the table, taking care to
+upset the board upon which they had been eating.  An angry
+exclamation came from Antoine's lips as the carefully prepared tea
+was spilled to the floor.  In a moment, however, his face broke
+into a smile.
+
+"Too bad!" he said, "but accidents will happen.  I'll make you some
+more!  I'll have it ready in a moment."
+
+"We really would like some tea, notwithstanding our awkwardness,"
+laughed Will, listening as he spoke for some further sound from his
+chum.
+
+"Drugged, drugged, drugged."
+
+The boys heard the whisper floating through the room.  Then they
+heard a gasp as of some one coming out of a sound sleep, and saw
+Antoine springing toward a weapon lying on the floor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A SURPRISE AT THE CABIN
+
+Will got to the weapon first.
+
+With an exclamation of rage and anger, Antoine drew his hunting
+knife from its sheath and lifted it threateningly.
+
+"Keep back!" he said. "Keep back, every one of you!"
+
+"Throw down the knife, then!" Tommy demanded.
+
+Instead of throwing down the knife, Antoine seemed preparing for a
+spring.  It was evident that he had not yet abandoned the hope of
+gaining his revolver.  The weapon which Will had seized left his
+hand with a swift whirl, and the next moment the knife crashed from
+Antoine's hand to the floor.  The fellow's wrist had been broken.
+
+He fell back with a groan, but remained inactive only a second.
+
+"I'll come back!" he shouted, and disappeared through the entrance.
+
+Tommy followed him out after having secured Will's automatic, but
+he was nowhere in sight on the slope.  The tracks in the deep snow
+showed that he had turned in the direction of the cavern which the
+boys had known to their cost that morning.
+
+"He's gone after our revolvers!" shouted Tommy.
+
+"I'm afraid that's right," Sandy answered, sticking his head
+cautiously out of the opening.  "He's the man who hid them,
+probably!"
+
+"He'll be back directly," Will prophesied, "so one of you would
+better remain on guard at the door.  If he catches us all inside,
+we'll be in the same fix we were when he found us!"
+
+"I'd rather fight bears than a snake like that!" declared Sandy.
+
+A faint voice was now heard calling from some unseen recess.
+
+"Tommy, Sandy, Will!" George's voice called.
+
+Leaving Tommy at the door, the three boys passed around the chamber
+pounding on the walls with little rocks and listening eagerly for
+further words.  At last they came to where a bear skin hung against
+a crevice.  They drew it abide and saw George looking up at them.
+
+"Vot iss?" asked Sandy with a grin.
+
+"So you heard me in time!"
+
+The boy's speech was low and indistinct.
+
+"If we hadn't, we wouldn't be here," answered Sandy.
+
+"That Beaver call sounded good to us, too!" Will observed.
+
+"What about the tea being drugged?" asked Sandy.
+
+"It put me to sleep in a minute!" declared George.  "My head
+whirled for a second, and then I was out for the count."
+
+"I guess he thought he had you laid away for a good long time,"
+suggested Sandy.
+
+"I reckon I woke up too soon for him," George answered with a faint
+smile.  "I heard you boys talking, though you seemed a long way
+off, and at first I thought it was all a dream."
+
+"We got a feed in that dream, anyway!" laughed Sandy.
+
+"I tried to cry out but couldn't," George continued.  "My lips
+seemed frozen into numbness.  I couldn't move hand or foot for a
+time, but finally I managed to clap the palms of my hands together
+in the Beaver call, and that seemed to set the blood circulating
+through my veins."
+
+"What do you make of it?" asked Sandy.
+
+"If you leave it to me," whispered George, still faint from loss of
+blood and the effects of the drug, "I dope it out that this man who
+calls himself Antoine is in possession of the Little Brass God, and
+he has in some way discovered that we are here after it."
+
+"That's a fact!" exclaimed Will, "you saw the Little Brass God,
+too, didn't you?"
+
+"I certainly did!" was the reply.
+
+"Well, was the man who sat before the fire, the same man who gave
+you the drug?" Will went on.  "Did you see him plainly?"
+
+"I've been wondering about that," George replied.  "Sometimes I
+think Antoine is the man who sat before the fire with the ugly
+Little Brass God leering down at him.  Sometimes, I think it was
+Pierre who sat there.  I can't quite make up my mind."
+
+"If it was Pierre," Will said gravely, "the Little Brass God will
+probably never be found!  The man who gave you the drugged drink
+shot the half-breed to death this morning."
+
+"Then I hope it wasn't Pierre who sat by the fire," Sandy declared.
+"We've come a long way after that Little Brass God, and got into
+many a mix-up over it, so we've just got to take it back to Chicago
+with us!"
+
+"Now look here," Will reasoned, "this Antoine had some motive in
+putting us boys to sleep!  We don't know what that motive was, but
+I think I'm giving a pretty good guess when I say that he wanted to
+prevent our interfering with the Little Brass God until he had
+arranged to make anything we might do in that line absolutely
+worthless."
+
+"That listens good to me, too," declared Sandy.  "The man wouldn't
+try to drug us unless he had some strong motive for doing so!"
+
+"We're all together once more, anyhow!" Will observed, "and I think
+we'd better stay together.  I never did like this idea of one boy
+sneaking away in the night and leaving the others to guess where he
+went to.  It isn't safe to go wandering off alone in that way!"
+
+"Yes, I'd talk about that if I were you!" laughed Sandy.  "You go
+wandering off by yourself more than any of the bunch!"
+
+"I think it's a good thing for you boys that I went wandering off
+alone this morning," Will argued.
+
+"You didn't go wandering off alone!" Thede cut in.  "You had Pierre
+with you?  Poor Pierre!" he continued.  "I'm sorry for him! I
+suppose we'll have to make some kind of a grave and give him decent
+burial!"
+
+"Sure, we'll do that!" agreed Will.  "But what is puzzling me just
+now is this," the boy went on, "how are we going to get out of this
+hole with that Antoine watching our every move?  He'll shoot us
+down just as quick as he shot Pierre if he gets a chance."
+
+The boys took short trips out of the cavern in quest of their
+enemy, but were unable to discover any traces of him other than the
+tracks in the snow.  These led toward the chain of caverns which
+the boys had such good reason to remember.
+
+"I think we'd better make for the camp," Will suggested in a moment.
+
+"Why not move over to the cabin?" asked Thede.  "It will be much
+more comfortable there."
+
+"That's a good idea, too," Will agreed, "except that we'd have to
+move all our camp equipage and provisions."
+
+"Well, why not?" asked the boy.  "We can rig up a drag and draw the
+stuff over in two or three loads."
+
+"We can if Antoine isn't shooting at us every minute!" Sandy cut in.
+
+"I don't believe Antoine will trouble us," Thede answered.  "If he
+has the Little Brass God, he'll probably make off with it.  He's
+got to go somewhere to get his injured wrist tended to, and my
+opinion is that he'll simply disappear from this neck of the woods
+until he makes up his mind that we have gone back to Chicago."
+
+"I hope he won't go very far," Will mused.
+
+"If he does, we'll lose the Little Brass God!" Sandy argued.
+
+"I don't agree with Thede," Will said directly.  "If the man has a
+secure hiding place in the hills, he'll manage to treat the injured
+wrist himself and remain hidden until he thinks we have left the
+country."
+
+"It's all a guess, anyway," Sandy exclaimed, "and, whatever takes
+place, I vote for moving our truck over to the cabin and settling
+down there!  We don't want to go back to Chicago as soon as we find
+the Little Brass God, do we?"
+
+"We certainly do not!" shouted Tommy, sticking his head into the
+narrow doorway.  "I haven't had a chance to catch all the fish I
+want yet!"
+
+"Well, we may as well move over to the cabin if that's the general
+opinion," agreed Will.  "I must admit that those tents look pretty
+thin to me.  I didn't expect snow to fall so early."
+
+"Besides," Sandy urged, "if we live in the cabin, we'll be
+perfectly safe from attack.  It would take dynamite to make a hole
+through those great logs, and the door itself is about a foot
+thick!"
+
+"All right," Will replied.  "If we find anything left when we get
+back to our camping place, we'll move it over to the cabin!"
+
+"The first thing to move will be George," laughed Sandy.
+
+"Oh, I can walk all right!" the invalid declared.
+
+"Through this thick snow?  I should say not!  We've got to make up
+some kind of a sled and give you the first sleigh-ride of the
+season!"
+
+"And while we're about it, we can make a sled that we can move the
+tents and provisions on," suggested Will.
+
+The boys had little to make a sled with, but they finally managed
+to bind saplings together with such cord as they had in their
+possession, and so manufacture a "drag" upon which the wounded boy
+could be carried back to camp.  The lads were strongly tempted to
+help themselves to Antoine's provisions before they left, but they
+finally decided not to do so, especially as they believed that they
+had plenty of their own.
+
+"He'll need them all before he gets rid of that sore wrist," Sandy
+laughed.  "He won't be in shape to do much hunting!"
+
+"Now," Thede observed, after wrapping George up in one of the bear
+robes taken from the wall of the cavern, "I've been thinking that
+the cabin is a great deal nearer the camp.  Of course I haven't
+been to the camp, but I've heard the location described and I'm
+positive that it is four or five miles further away from us than
+the cabin."
+
+"So you want to take George directly to the cabin, do you?" asked
+Tommy, who still considered himself on guard and kept a constant
+lookout for Antoine.  "I don't see why we shouldn't do so," he
+added.
+
+"It isn't far out of the way," urged Thede.
+
+"Then here we go to it!" laughed Tommy.  "I'll chase on ahead and
+have a roaring fire built there before you get half way to it!"
+
+"Oh, you will?" grinned Thede.  "I'd like to know how you're going
+to find it!  George and I are the only ones in this party who can
+find the mysterious cabin in the bog!"
+
+"Well, then," Tommy admitted, "perhaps you'd better run on ahead
+and find it, while we come along with the kid!"
+
+It was a long and painful journey to the cabin, but it was finished
+at last.  When the boys came to the edge of the swamp, however,
+they saw a great column of smoke rising from the chimney on the
+roof.
+
+"Now do you suppose Antoine beat us to it?" asked Thede.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A FACE AT THE WINDOW
+
+When the boys came nearer to the cabin, they saw many footprints
+dotting the level surface of the snow.  They peered through the
+window which gave on the side of their approach, but could see no
+one moving about on the inside.  Save for the great fire blazing in
+the rudely-constructed fire-place, the cabin seemed to be
+absolutely deserted.
+
+"Suppose you give me a boost through this window," Thede suggested,
+as the boys at last stood close against the rear wall.
+
+"Why not go around to the door?" George asked.
+
+"I might get a bullet in my coco when I turned the angle of the
+house!" replied Thede.  "There's no knowing who's around there."
+
+"That's a fact!" Will agreed.  "We've got one wounded boy on our
+hands now, and we don't care about having another."
+
+"Look here," George cut in crossly, "if you think I'm too much
+trouble, you can just drop me down in the snow anywhere and I'll
+take care of myself!"
+
+"Aw, cut it out!" roared Tommy.
+
+The boys laughed so heartily at the idea of leaving their chum in
+the snow to care for himself that his mood instantly changed to one
+of apology.  In a moment, he was all smiles again.
+
+"Now, if you've got that little scrap settled, you can give me a
+boost through this window!" suggested Thede.
+
+"Sure the door's closed?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Closed and latched!" was the answer.
+
+The boys had some difficulty in removing the single sash which
+protected the opening, but the task was finally accomplished, and
+then Thede crawled through into the cottage.
+
+The boys heard him drop lightly to the floor and then followed a
+long silence.  Presently Sandy clambered up the log wall and peered
+inside.
+
+He saw Thede standing close against the wall, gazing down at a
+great haunch of venison which lay on the floor.
+
+"If you want to keep that in good condition for eating, hang it out
+in the frost," laughed Sandy.  "We can't afford to lose that!"
+
+Thede beckoned to him to enter, and the boy dropped down on the
+floor.
+
+"Who brought it here?" he asked.
+
+"Search me!" Thede answered.
+
+"It might have been Antoine."
+
+"Aw, he couldn't kill a deer and bring in that big haunch with that
+lame wrist of his!" Thede exclaimed.
+
+Sandy looked out of the window and beckoned to his chums to enter.
+
+They gathered around the haunch of venison with amazement depicted
+on their faces.  The fire still burned brightly, and it was evident
+that it had not been long since new fuel had been laid.
+
+"Some one made us a present, I take it!" Tommy grinned.
+
+"But who?" demanded Will.
+
+"It's one of the mysteries of the British Northwest Territories!"
+replied Sandy.  "Suppose," the boy continued, "we open the door and
+bring George in.  He must be getting cold by this time!"
+
+"Be careful when you open the door, then," Thede warned.
+
+But there was no one at the door or, at first, within view of it.
+There were plenty of tracks, however, which appeared to have been
+recently made.  George was carried into the cabin, and then Sandy
+and Tommy set out to trace some of the foot-prints to their
+destination.
+
+"I'm going to know where that fellow went," the former declared.
+
+"I have an idea he'll come back before long," Sandy suggested.
+"He's built a nice fire and brought in plenty of venison, and won't
+go away and leave the cosy corner just yet."
+
+When the boys came to the edge of the morass, they saw a figure
+flitting into the underbrush on the other side.
+
+"I guess we've frightened him away!" Tommy declared.
+
+"Shall we follow him?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Aw, what's the use?" Tommy questioned.  "You said yourself, a
+little while ago, that he'd come back to get a bite of that haunch
+of venison."
+
+"And I believe he will!" answered the boy.
+
+George was made comfortable in one of the bunks, additional fuel
+brought in for the night, and then Will, Tommy and Sandy set out to
+bring the supplies and tents from the camp.
+
+"Suppose Antoine, or some one else, should bring the Little Brass
+God to this cabin," George began.
+
+"I wish we knew whether it was Antoine who sat before the fire last
+night," Thede puzzled.  "If I could just get my hands on that
+idiotic little plaything, I'd sneak back to old Finklebaum and get
+his hundred dollars so quick it would make his head swim."
+
+"His hundred dollars!" repeated George.  "I thought I heard you
+saying last night if you got hold of the Little Brass God, you'd
+make him put up a thousand dollars for it!"
+
+"So I would, too," declared Thede.  "And he wouldn't pay the
+thousand dollars, either, unless he saw a chance to make ten out of
+it!"
+
+During the entire absence of the boys George and Thede discussed
+the mystery of the Little Brass God.  They wondered how it had made
+such good time into that country, and puzzled over the strange fact
+that they had blundered upon it on the very night of their arrival.
+
+But when at last the boys returned with the tents and a part of the
+provisions, drawn along on the "drag," they had reached no
+conclusion whatever.
+
+It was all a mystery which time alone could solve!
+
+Although it was now the middle of the afternoon, Will and Sandy
+insisted on making another trip to the old camp.
+
+"If we're going to stay in the cabin," Will urged, "we've got to do
+the job some time and we may as well do it now."
+
+"I guess you'll have a good load if you get it all!" Tommy
+suggested.
+
+The boys insisted that they were able to bring in the remaining
+stock and set off through the snow.  Tommy and Thede continued to
+drag in wood until there was a great stack of it piled against the
+cabin.  Every time they opened the door, they looked in vain for
+the appearance of the man they had seen running away through the
+underbrush on the other side of the swamp, but he was not seen.
+
+"I'd like to know what's the matter with that fellow!" Tommy
+observed as darkness settled down and the two boys returned to the
+cabin.
+
+In half an hour Sandy and Will came in with the provisions which
+they had brought from the camp, They reported that quite a large
+share of the tinned stuff had been cached in the snow about half
+way between the cabin and the site of the old camp.
+
+"We couldn't bring it all in," Sandy announced.
+
+"I hope the man we drove out of the cabin will find it if he needs
+it," Will observed.
+
+After a hearty meal they cleared away the dishes and sat around the
+fire discussing the situation until ten o'clock.  Then they secured
+the door and windows of the cabin and crawled into their bunks,
+which were remarkably well supplied with blankets and tanned bear
+skins.
+
+In the middle of the night the fire died down to embers and Will
+arose to pile on more wood.  He moved softly about in order not to
+disturb the sleep of his chums, and finally sat down by the blaze
+to enter anew upon a mental discussion of the mystery which
+surrounded them.
+
+Will heard the sash rattling, as if in the light wind which was
+blowing, and glanced toward it.
+
+What he saw was not the velvet darkness of the night laying against
+the glass.  The firelight which shone through the glazed sash
+revealed the outlines of a human face looking in upon him.
+
+It was an ugly face, with dusky skin, narrow slits of eyes, and
+straight black hair which seemed to wind and coil about the
+repulsive countenance as a collection of serpents might have done.
+
+The face disappeared as the boy looked, and Will tiptoed softly to
+the bunk where Tommy lay and awoke him with a violent shake.
+
+"Get up!" he said.
+
+"Aw, go chase yourself!" answered Tommy not very politely.
+
+"It's worth seeing," Will assured the lad.  Tommy seized a shoe
+from the floor, hurled it at the head of his chum, and then rose to
+sitting position, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
+
+"What have you found now?" he demanded.
+
+"There's a new one on us!" Will declared.
+
+Tommy opened his eyes wide in wonder.
+
+"Not a new Boy Scout?" he asked.
+
+"We seem to pick up plenty of new Boy Scouts," laughed Will, "but
+this isn't a new Boy Scout.  This is the Little Brass God given the
+power of expression and the use of his legs!"
+
+"So you've gone and got 'em too, have you?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"When I got up to renew the fire," Will answered, "I heard the
+window sash to the north rattling.  Thinking that I ought to go and
+fix it, I glanced that way and saw the Little Brass God looking
+down upon me."
+
+"Was he sitting up in the window with his legs crossed, and his
+arms folded, and his face making you think of the Old Nick?" asked
+Tommy.
+
+"I could see only the head, but the head looked exactly as I
+imagine the Little Brass God looks; with the firelight shining on
+the yellowish hide, the face gave me the impression of being made
+out of brass!"
+
+"You better read another page out of the dream book and go back to
+bed!" laughed Tommy.  "You've been laboring under strong excitement
+lately and I think you need a long rest."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+A CALL FROM THE DARKNESS
+
+"Perhaps you don't believe I saw anything at the window," replied
+Will, somewhat indignantly.
+
+"Oh, I don't doubt that you think you saw something at the window."
+
+Will seized a searchlight, grabbed Tommy by the shoulder, and
+pulled him out of the door and around to the north side of the
+cabin.
+
+The boys were not dressed especially for a midnight excursion in
+the snow, and their teeth chattered as they made their way against
+the chilling wind.  However, they stuck to their purpose and soon
+stood under the window which Will had pointed out."
+
+"There!" the boy exclaimed in a triumphant tone.  "Now perhaps
+you'll tell me I didn't see anything through the glass."
+
+A light snow had fallen during the late hours of the night, and
+there, plainly revealed on the undisturbed surface--undisturbed
+only for what they saw--were clearly outlined the footprints of two
+people.
+
+One had worn moccasins, the other such shoes as might have been
+purchased at any department store in Chicago.
+
+"And the tenant came back!" grinned Tommy.
+
+"Then why didn't he come in?" demanded Will.
+
+"Because he's scared of us!"
+
+The boys followed the tracks toward the morass some distance and
+then returned to the cabin.
+
+"Whoever the fellow is," Will argued, "he found it necessary to get
+a half-breed or Indian guide."
+
+"How do you know that?" asked Tommy.  "That may have been Antoine
+in the moccasins."
+
+"I give it up!" replied Will.  "I don't know anything about it."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder at all if some faithful Hindu had sailed across
+the Pacific ocean, and traveled half across the continent, to
+rescue a faked Brass God from the polluted hands of an Unbeliever."
+
+"You don't really think there's any of this Hindu temple business
+in this Little Brass God case, do you?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Well, the face I saw at the window looked like that of an East
+Indian!" declared Will.  "His skin was brassy, and his eyes had the
+devil's leer in them just as the eyes of the Little Brass God are
+said to have."
+
+"Well," Tommy declared with a yawn, "I'm going back to bed!"
+
+"That's what I'm going to do," Will agreed.  "If we sit up here
+until we solve this new problem, we'll probably never get any more
+sleep as long as we live."
+
+Seeing that the door and windows were securely fastened, the boys,
+who had been sleeping together, went back to their bunk, and there
+was only the crackling of the fire and the roaring of the wind to
+break the silence.
+
+Tommy was soon sound asleep, but Will lay awake listening.  Again
+he heard the window sash rattle, but this time he did not move.
+
+Then he dozed off into slumberland, dreamed that he was on a
+tropical island where the perfume of the roses was so heavy on the
+air that breathing almost became a task.  He opened his eyes
+dreamily, saw the fire blazing cheerily, heard the wind roaring
+around the corners of the cabin, and closed them to dream the same
+dream over and over.
+
+At last he awoke with a start and sensed a peculiar odor in the
+room.  He lay perfectly still for a moment wondering what it could
+all mean, when a voice as smooth and as evil as the hissing of a
+snake, cut through the air.  He listened but did not move.
+
+"You have hidden it!" the voice said.
+
+There was a long pause and then the voice broke the silence again.
+
+"Arise and come to me."
+
+The next moment the boy heard Thede moving in the bunk above.  The
+lad first threw his legs over the rail, and Will heard him drawing
+away the blankets.  Then the boy slipped softly to the floor and
+moved, as one who walks in his sleep, toward the north window.
+
+"Come to me, come to me, come to me!" the voice repeated
+insistently.
+
+"I'll come to you, all right, in about a minute," Will mused, "if
+you try any of that magic business here."
+
+Thede continued to move toward the window, walking with his hands
+outstretched, as the somnambulist frequently walks.
+
+When the boy reached the window he staggered back as if from a
+blow, then moved forward again, as if bent on leaving the cabin by
+way of the narrow opening.
+
+Will raised himself in the bunk, drew an automatic from under his
+pillow, and fired point blank at the glass.  There was a crash and
+the cabin grew cloudy with powder smoke.
+
+Thede sat down on the floor abruptly and began rubbing his eyes.
+
+"I guess I walked in my sleep," he said.  "I do sometimes."
+
+The shot had awakened Tommy and Sandy, who came bounding to the
+floor.
+
+"What'd you shoot at?" they asked.
+
+"The Little Brass God!"
+
+"I guess you've got the Little Brass God on the brain!'' grinned
+Sandy.
+
+"Yes," Tommy cut in, "you've gone and busted a perfectly good pane
+of glass when there isn't another one within a hundred miles."
+
+"Did you hit any one?" George called feebly from the bunk.
+
+"I don't know!" replied Will.  "I'm going out to see in a minute."
+
+But Tommy and Sandy were out of the door and chasing around the
+corner of the house before Will could disentangle himself from the
+blanket.
+
+Instead of passing outside, then, he stepped over to the window and
+looked out.  The boys were there looking over the freshly fallen
+snow with an electric searchlight.
+
+"Did I see anything?" asked Will with a note of victory in his
+voice.
+
+"Somebody saw something!" answered Sandy.  "There's blood on the
+snow!  Some one found a bullet!"
+
+"I'm going to dress and find out where these tracks lead to!" Tommy
+declared.  "This is too much mischief for me!"
+
+"Stick your face up in the air," advised Will with a grin.
+
+"Snow!" shouted Tommy with a gesture of disgust.  "These tracks'll
+be full of the beautiful before we could walk forty rods!"
+
+"That's about the size of it!" agreed Will.  "So you may as well
+come back into the house and we'll go back to bed."
+
+When the boys entered and closed the door again, it was four
+o'clock and they decided not to go back to bed again that night.
+
+"How'd you know there was some one there?" Sandy asked of Will.
+
+"I heard the window sash rattle, then a strong perfume--something
+like opium or hasheesh--was forced into the room, then the fellow
+on the outside began to work his hypnotic spell."
+
+"You say it right!" exclaimed Tommy.
+
+"It's just as simple as anything you ever read in a daily
+newspaper," declared Will.  "This Little Brass God we are tracing
+up belongs either in a Hindu temple in India, or the Hindus think
+it belongs there.  At any rate, some dusky old hypnotizer has been
+sent after it!"
+
+"You'd better get a new dream book!" Sandy broke in.  "Whoever came
+to the window tonight, came there to find out what we were doing in
+this cabin!  That's all there is to that!"
+
+"Whoever came to the window tonight," Will repeated, "came there
+for the purpose of hypnotizing one of us boys into telling where
+the Little Brass God is hidden!"
+
+"Then he must be about fourteen miles off his trolley," laughed
+Sandy.  "We don't know where the Little Brass God is hidden."
+
+"He threw an Oriental perfume or narcotic of some, kind into the
+room and let out his persuasive language," Will went on.  "If you
+don't believe he hypnotized Thede, just ask him what he heard just
+before he got out of bed."
+
+"I heard some one calling to me," Thede answered.
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+"He told me to come to him."
+
+"And you was obeying that command when you started toward the
+window?"
+
+"I guess that's right," answered the boy, "but it's all so hazy
+that I don't know much about it."
+
+"And then I fired at the window and broke the spell and also the
+pane of glass!" explained Will.  "If he comes back here again, I'll
+shoot from the outside!  We can't be kept awake nights by any East
+Indian magic."
+
+"East Indian granny!" declared Sandy.
+
+"You read about such occurrences in the newspapers every day!"
+declared Will.  "We see people hypnotized and forced to obey the
+commands of others, not only in the private parlor but on the open
+stage.  Sometimes, too, the hypnotic influence is assisted by
+strange Oriental perfume.  There's nothing extraordinary about it
+at all!  In fact, there is only one word that describes it, and
+that is the word uncanny."
+
+"Fix it anyway you want it!" grinned Tommy.  "There's a broken
+window, and there's blood on the snow, and we found Thede lying on
+the floor when we sprang out of bed.  If that doesn't make a good
+case of circumstantial evidence, I don't know what does!"
+
+"This Little Brass God is getting on my nerves!" declared Sandy
+after a short pause.  "We've been up against smugglers on Lake
+Superior; up against rattlers and wreckers in the Florida
+Everglades, and up against train robbers on the Great Divide, but
+this ghost business gets my goat!"
+
+"Perhaps you'd like to go back to Chicago empty-handed?" asked
+Tommy.
+
+"Not so you could notice it!" was the reply.  "If there's anything
+I like, it's nice little Boy Scout excursions like this.  All we
+have to do to get busy is to get a camping outfit together and
+march off into the wilderness.  Everything else comes right along
+as a matter of course.  Everything else, from magic haunches of
+venison, which appear when you wave your hand, to Little Brass
+Gods, which grin down from the wall one second and vanish in smoke
+the next!"
+
+"Aw, come on to bed!" cried George.
+
+"I'm going to sit up and get breakfast!" declared Tommy.  "Sandy's
+got a grouch on, and there's nothing on earth so good for a grouch
+as a slice of broiled venison."
+
+Tommy dressed himself and chased outdoors in order to bring in the
+meat supply.  He returned without it.  The venison was gone!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A HUNTING EXPEDITION
+
+The boys remained at the cabin all the next day stirring out only
+for wood and game.  Without going, more than a dozen yards from the
+habitation, the boys shot three rabbits and half a dozen squirrels.
+
+These were taken about noon, and the boys immediately began the
+preparation of a stew.  There were a few potatoes left, and these
+they pared and sliced into the savory dish when it was nearing
+completion.
+
+They expected, every one of them, to receive another visit from the
+mysterious persons who had appeared at the cabin on the previous
+night, yet they did not talk of what was in their thoughts.  They
+discussed the sad plight of Antoine, wandering about in the forest
+with a broken wrist, and wondered if the cached provisions were
+still intact.
+
+The following night was a quiet one.  Snow fell heavily, and the
+small streams of that section took on icy blankets.
+
+When they awoke the following morning, the sun was shining
+brightly, and there were many signs of a pleasant week.
+
+"After breakfast," Tommy declared, as he sent his plate over for
+the third helping of the rejuvenated stew, I'm going out and get a
+specimen of every wild animal in the woods.  Then I'm going to put
+them all into this stew!"
+
+"You might put a wolverine into it!" suggested Thede.
+
+"Are they good to eat?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"They're good to eat game out of the traps, I understand," replied
+the boy.  "Or, just for a change," Thede continued, "how'd you like
+an owl in your stew? I guess that wouldn't put you wise or
+anything!"
+
+"You seem to know quite a lot about this country," Will suggested.
+
+"Poor Pierre taught me quite a lot during our rambles," Thede
+answered sorrowfully.
+
+"Then perhaps you'd better come along with Tommy and me and show us
+where to get these different kinds of animals the kid wants to put
+into his stew.  That will help some."
+
+After breakfast the three boys started out with their automatics.
+
+They crossed the morass to the higher ground beyond and passed
+along in the direction of the camp.  There might be duck over Moose
+river, Thede suggested, and Tommy certainly would want a duck for
+his stew.  Also there might be wild geese there.
+
+When they came to the place where the provisions had been cached,
+they found the surface of the ground broken and the provisions
+gone.  Not a single can remained.
+
+"Now, we'll have to shoot all the more game," declared Tommy.  "We
+haven't got many beans or tomatoes left, so we'll have to forage on
+the country."
+
+The loss was not considered a serious one, for the boys had plenty
+of provisions at the cabin and game was very plentiful.
+
+As they passed through the country signs of the wild creatures of
+the woods were numerous.  There were few spaces of a length of
+twenty-five feet in which the track of some wild beast or bird did
+not cross their path.
+
+Thede read this writing in the snow so understandingly that the
+boys actually paid more attention to his explanations than to the
+discovery of the game he was talking about.
+
+"What crossed there?" Will would ask.
+
+"That must have been a red deer!"
+
+"And this track, here?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Probably a fox."
+
+"Well, what do you make of this?" Will demanded with a wink at
+Tommy.
+
+"That must have been a moose, but he passed here some time before
+the last fall of snow!" replied Thede.
+
+"Well, what's this wobbly little mark here?" Tommy asked.
+
+"Partridge!" replied Thede readily.
+
+"Well, here's another odd little mark.  Looks like some one had
+been dragging a rail fence.  What's that?"
+
+"You ought to know that!" answered Thede.
+
+"I ought to know lots of things that I don't know!" commented the
+boy.
+
+"Well," Thede said with a laugh, "the wild animal that passed along
+there was a Beaver!"
+
+"I wonder if he belongs to our patrol!" chuckled Tommy.
+
+"I should think the little fellow would freeze to death," Will
+objected.
+
+"Pierre said it was pretty cold for them to be out when he saw
+tracks two or three days ago!" replied Thede.  "They're building a
+dam over on the river some place, and I suppose they think they've
+got to finish the job before real winter sets in."
+
+After a long ramble through the forest, the boys came to the site
+of the old camp.  The snow which covered the ground here had been
+well trodden down, and many tracks led in the direction of Moose
+river.
+
+"I suppose they've been hunting for deserted provisions," Will
+suggested.  "I'd like to know who it was that made the search!"
+
+"It might have been your Hindu friend," suggested Tommy.
+
+"Look here, kid," Will said in a moment.  "Now that this Hindu
+discussion has broken out again, I'd like to know what you think
+the chances are for locating that little brown man."
+
+"Well," Tommy answered, "I believe you were right when you said
+that the Little Brass God meant something more than intrinsic value
+to at least one of the men who are chasing it up.  Now," the boy
+went on, "if this brass-faced fellow has the sacred idol nut in his
+head, he won't leave this section of the country until he finds it."
+
+"That's the way I figure it out!" Will answered.
+
+"And this adds another interesting feature to the case," Tommy
+continued.  "When we started out we were alone in pursuit of the
+Little Brass God.  Then we came upon Pierre, and we were just
+beginning to believe that he also was in search of the merry little
+jigger when Antoine murdered him.  Now, here comes a third
+interest, and, if you are anywhere near correct in your
+conclusions, he comes all the way from India."
+
+"You don't know where he comes from!" Will interrupted.  "The
+question we want to ask ourselves now is this:
+
+"Have we any chance of recovering the article we were sent after if
+we remain in this district?  In other words, ought we to settle
+down here and wait for things to quiet, or ought we to make an
+effort to discover the whereabouts of the two men who have
+expressed such decided opinions regarding the value of the Little
+Brass God?"
+
+"Meaning Antoine and the alleged Hindu?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Exactly," was the reply.  "You see," Will went on, "there's no use
+of our remaining in camp here if the person who has the stolen
+article in his possession has taken it away."
+
+"I believe Antoine has it!" declared Tommy.
+
+"If Antoine has it, if that was Antoine sitting before the fire
+that night, why did he take the Little Brass God there instead of
+concealing it in his own cavern?"
+
+"The more we talk about it, the less we know," grinned Tommy.
+
+"Night before last," Will began, "the Little Brass God was in a
+cave only a few miles from this spot.  I don't believe it has been
+taken out of the district!  If you boys leave it to me, we'll stay
+in the cabin for a few days, and take quiet trips about the
+country, particularly the hilly country to the south, in search of
+Antoine and the Hindu."
+
+"That suits me!" Tommy declared, "and I know it'll suit George and
+Sandy, too!  There'll be a lot of fun in tramping about."
+
+"Then why not make a trip to the range of hills right now?" asked
+Will.  "We can be back long before night."
+
+"I don't know about that," replied Thede who had been listening to
+the conversation without speaking.  "It's a long way over to the
+hills and the snow's deep."
+
+"Then I'll tell you what we'll do!" Tommy exclaimed excitedly.
+"We'll get a lot of game and send you back with it, and you tell
+the boys that if we don't return tonight, we'll be camping in some
+of those caverns in the hills."
+
+"I thought you'd be ready for another runaway night excursion!"
+laughed Will.
+
+"I suppose I don't run away when I'm with you!" commented Tommy.
+
+Will only laughed, and the boys began the collection of rabbits and
+squirrels and ducks until Thede was pretty well loaded down.  They
+all walked along together until they came to where it would be
+necessary to part company because of the different directions to be
+taken.
+
+There Will and Tommy turned toward the south while Thede kept
+straight on toward the cottage on the island in the swamp.
+
+"There's one thing we forgot," Tommy suggested as the boys tramped
+laboriously through the snow.  "We forgot to bring along anything
+to eat!"
+
+"Yes, we did!" laughed Will.  "Don't you think I'll ever start out
+on a tramp with you without plenty of provisions."
+
+The boy opened his heavy coat and revealed inside pockets packed
+with sandwiches made of venison steak and bread, with now and then
+a sandwich composed of stewed meat and griddle cakes, for variety.
+
+"We won't have to go home tonight, now, will we?" laughed Tommy.
+
+"In Chicago," Will began, "we had a boy in our office we used to
+call The-Young-Man-Afraid-Of-His-Bed.  You must be related to him,
+for I have never known you to go to bed without objecting, or to
+get up without thinking how much time you had wasted!"
+
+"Never you mind me!" replied Tommy.  "You wait till you get into
+some of those caverns in the hills and build a roaring fire, and
+I'll show you that you're not the only boy that can provide
+provisions."
+
+"You mustn't do any shooting over there!" warned Will.  "We might
+as well go in quest of the Little Brass God with a band!"
+
+"That's a fact!" agreed Tommy in a discouraged tone.
+
+The boys first visited the cave where George had seen the Little
+Brass God grinning down from the wall.  There seemed to be no one
+within miles of them.
+
+While they talked, however, a shadow fell on the oblong bit of
+light which marked the entrance, and a tall figure with one
+bandaged wrist, leaning on the barrel of a rifle, stood gazing down
+upon them with hatred flashing from his eyes.
+
+"It's Antoine!" whispered Will.
+
+"Yes, and he won't do a thing to us now!" whispered Tommy.
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+ANTOINE ON THE RUN
+
+Antoine regarded the boys steadily for a moment without moving a
+muscle.  Will and Tommy believed that the fellow meant mischief,
+and were wondering if they would be able to get their automatics
+from their pockets before he could bring his rifle to a shooting
+level.
+
+One question had at least been answered.  The boys had been
+wondering ever since settling at the cabin whether Antoine had not
+taken his departure from that country.  His presence there at that
+time answered this question in the most uncomfortable manner.  The
+man was evidently there on a mission not to be interfered with by
+so simple a thing as a broken wrist.
+
+"Well, boys," Antoine said in a moment, his face relaxing into a
+smile which was far more terrifying than the previous look of
+hatred, "it seems that we have come together again!"
+
+"Welcome to our midst!" grinned Tommy.
+
+Antoine eyed the lad keenly for an instant and then turned his eyes
+toward Will.
+
+"What are you doing in this country?" he asked.
+
+"Fishing and bunting!" was the reply.
+
+"Hunting for what?"
+
+"Do you think we're looking for a forty story skyscraper?" demanded
+Tommy.
+
+Again Antoine glanced sharply at the boy, but seemed determined not
+to give the slightest attention to his irrelevant observation.
+
+"Who sent you here?" he asked of Will.
+
+"Gee-whiz!" exclaimed Tommy angrily.  "Is this the third degree?"
+
+"How long are you going to remain here?" asked Antoine, without
+paying any attention to the boy's question.
+
+"Gee!" exclaimed Tommy.  "You make me think of the stories of
+little Clarence in the newspapers!  You're the original little
+interrogation point."
+
+"You'd better answer my questions!" thundered Antoine, losing his
+temper at last.
+
+Now this was exactly what Tommy had been hoping for.  Antoine angry
+might prove to be more communicative than Antoine in a pleasant
+temper.
+
+"Will you answer a few of my questions?" asked Will, wondering if
+it would be possible for him to spring upon the trapper and bring
+him down before his rifle could be brought into use.
+
+"If you'll keep that impertinent little gutter-snipe still,"
+Antoine snarled, "I'll answer such questions as seem to me to be
+worth answering."
+
+"Are you the man who was seen sitting half-asleep before a fire in
+a cavern three nights ago?" asked the boy.
+
+The man hesitated for a moment, as if in deep thought, and then
+answered with an exclamation of impatience.
+
+"Were you in the cave that night?"
+
+"No, but my chums were," Will replied.
+
+"What did they see there?"
+
+"A man asleep by the fire!"
+
+"Perhaps the man wasn't asleep at all.  What else did they see?"
+
+It was Will's turn to hesitate now.  He was wondering if he ought
+to mention the fact of the presence in that cavern of the Little
+Brass God.
+
+At first it seemed to him that he ought to do so, that he might be
+able to secure information as to the exact situation from Antoine
+by facing him with the fact of the discovery of the ugly little
+idol.
+
+Then he reasoned that an acknowledgment that they knew anything
+whatever of the Little Brass God would be likely to get them into
+deeper trouble, if possible, than that which they now faced.
+
+So the boy decided to say nothing whatever of what George and Thede
+had seen shining in the light of the fire.
+
+During this brief time of silence Antoine brought his rifle into a
+more menacing position and began stirring about angrily.
+
+"Are you going to answer my question?" the man finally demanded.
+
+"That's about all so far as I know!" replied the boy.
+
+Of course Will was not telling the exact truth, but he believed
+that, under the circumstances, he was privileged to shade the exact
+facts a trifle in the interest of his own safety.
+
+"What was it you put in the tea you gave George?" asked Tommy with
+a mischievous grin on his freckled face.
+
+"I put nothing whatever in it!" replied Antoine, "that is, I put
+nothing in it calculated to do the boy any harm."
+
+It seemed to the boys that Antoine's manner was becoming more
+conciliatory every moment.
+
+"The lad was worn out, weak from loss of blood, and sadly in need
+of attention," the man went on, "and so, after caring for his wound
+and giving him a good breakfast, I gave him a mild sleeping potion,
+which, as you already know, affected him only a short time."
+
+"You say it well!" grinned Tommy.
+
+Antoine threw an angry glance at the provoking youngster, but soon
+turned to Will once more.
+
+"I didn't quite understand the sudden attack the boys made on me,"
+he said.  "I was astonished when I received the blow which broke my
+wrist."
+
+"Who set your wrist?" asked Will.
+
+"There was only one bone broken, and I set it myself!" was the
+reply.
+
+"Perhaps we did wrong in taking it for granted that George had
+been drugged to get him out of the way, and that we would share
+the same fate," Will admitted after a moment.  "But, under the
+circumstances, I don't see how we could have done any differently."
+
+"I'm sorry you were so precipitous," Antoine said with what was
+intended for a suave smile.  "You boys, I understand," he went on,
+"are now occupying the cabin on the island in the marsh."
+
+"Who told you that?" asked Will.
+
+"No one!" was the reply.  "I have been near the place twice since
+you took possession.
+
+"Why didn't you call?" demanded Tommy.
+
+Again the boy's question was ignored.
+
+"Did you see any one loitering about the cottage when you were
+there?" asked Will.  "You were there in the daytime, I suppose."
+
+"Why do you ask that question?" demanded Antoine, giving a quick
+start.  "Have you been annoyed by people hanging about the cabin?"
+
+Will didn't know whether to relate the story of the midnight visit
+or not.  He finally decided that the least he said to Antoine the
+better it would be for him, so he replied that they had passed two
+very restful nights in the deserted log house on the island.
+
+"Did you find it deserted?" asked Antoine.
+
+"It had the appearance of having been recently occupied," replied
+Will.  "I understand from one of the boys that Pierre formerly
+lived there."
+
+"So I understand!" Antoine replied grimly.  "The point now is,
+whether it was occupied by any one after Pierre left it."
+
+Not caring to tell the exact facts.  Will said nothing whatever,
+and for a moment there was a rather embarrassed silence.
+
+"What do you say about that?" demanded Antoine.
+
+"Why, I think there was a little fire left when we went into the
+place," Will replied, "but that might have been a left-over from
+the day before.  Those large fires burn a long time."
+
+"And you say that you have not been disturbed at all during your
+occupancy of the place?" Antoine continued.
+
+"Now I wonder how much this fellow knows," Will asked himself while
+Antoine stood gazing curiously down upon him.  "I wonder if he
+knows about the people who came there that night?  He seems to have
+a suspicion that some person is wandering about the country, and
+keeping pretty well out of sight.  I wish I knew how much he knows."
+
+"Oh, we have slept all right," he finally said, in reply to the
+man's question.  "A mess of healthy boys will sleep under the noise
+of battle!"
+
+"I ask these questions," Antoine said directly, "because I have
+seen strange foot-prints in the snow at different times, and it
+seems to me that some person or persons are skulking through the
+woods and, for some reason known only to themselves, keeping out of
+sight of honest men."
+
+"He knows all about that affair at the cabin," Will concluded.
+"Now," he went on, "I wonder why he's so very much interested in
+these strangers, whoever they are?"
+
+"Oh, come on!" Tommy exclaimed.  "Don't stand here all day!  We've
+got to get back to the cabin before it gets too dark to make our
+way through the woods."
+
+The two boys took a couple of steps forward at a venture, without
+knowing whether Antoine would oppose their leaving the cavern.
+
+"Well," he said, as he stepped to one side, "if you boys see any
+strangers loitering about, I wish you'd let me know."
+
+The two lads amazed departed without making any promise, but they
+did not at once turn in the direction of the cabin.  Instead, they
+plunged through the snow in a southerly direction, after seeing
+that Antoine had gone the other way.
+
+"Where are you headed for now?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Just wandering about on general principles," replied Will, at the
+same time turning into one of the eaves belonging to the system of
+underground passages.  "Thought I'd look in here first!"
+
+The lads entered the cavern as noiselessly as possible and looked
+guardedly about.  A great heap of furs lay on the floor, and two
+figures rested upon them apparently lost in slumber.
+
+Tommy pointed to the modern shoes on the feet of one of the
+sleepers.  Then he silently called attention to the bloody bandage
+wrapped about the man's head.  He looked at Will inquiringly.
+
+"Do you suppose," he whispered, "that these, fellows are here after
+the Little Brass God, too?"
+
+The men seemed willing to answer the question for themselves, for
+they sprang to their feet and glared at the intruders angrily.
+
+One of the men was dressed as a trapper, although he did not look
+the part.  He was tall and angular, with sharp features and keen
+black eyes.
+
+His companion was shorter, but equally slender.  His eye orbits
+were small and oval in shape, his face was a dusky brown, and there
+was, somehow, about the man an atmosphere of the Orient.
+
+While the four people glared at each other a step was heard in the
+narrow entrance, and in a moment Antoine's face was clearly
+outlined against the narrow slit of light.
+
+The trapper took in the group at one quick glance, and, turning in
+his tracks, fled precipitately down the slope.  Without speaking a
+word, the two men who had been found in the cavern, turned and
+followed him.
+
+"Now what do you think of that?" demanded Tommy.
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+"BOYS UP A TREE!"
+
+When Thede returned to the cabin with numerous squirrels, rabbits
+and ducks, Sandy greeted him with a shout of joy.
+
+"This will seem like living in the north woods!" he cried.  "We'll
+have all kinds of game from this time on!"
+
+"You bet we will!" replied Thede.  "I'm some hungry myself, when it
+comes to that!  I guess I can get a few!"
+
+"You never shot all these!" Sandy doubted, poking the squirrels and
+rabbits about with a finger.  "You never got them all by yourself!"
+
+"How do you know I didn't?" asked Thede, with a provoking grin.
+
+"Because you couldn't," Sandy answered.
+
+"All right, then," admitted the boy.  "We all had a share in the
+shooting, and Will and Tommy sent me back with the game."
+
+"Where have they gone?" asked Sandy, a look of indignation
+over-spreading his face.  "They're always running away and leaving
+me to watch the camp! I wish they'd give me a chance sometime."
+
+Thede sat down in one of the clumsy chairs which the cabin afforded
+and laughed until his sides shook.
+
+"I don't think any of you boys are famishing for fresh air and
+adventure," he said in a moment.  "You seem to me to be kept pretty
+busy."
+
+"Well," Sandy exclaimed, "they might let me go with them when they
+start off on a tour like that.  Where have they gone, anyway?"
+
+"They said they were going out in search of the Little Brass God!"
+laughed Thede.
+
+"Honest?" demanded Sandy.
+
+"That's what they said!"
+
+"I hope they don't find it!" Sandy exclaimed.
+
+The boys cooked a liberal supply of game for dinner and then began
+restlessly walking to and fro over the cabin floor.
+
+"What's the matter with you fellows?" asked George in a moment,
+speaking from the bunk.
+
+"Hello, you've woke up, have you?" demanded Sandy.  "I thought
+perhaps you'd sleep all day!  How's your head feel?"
+
+"Rotten, thank you!" answered George.
+
+Sandy took a couple more turns about the room and then sat down by
+the side of the bunk where George lay.
+
+"I know what's the matter with you!" George said, directly.
+
+"What's the answer!" asked Sandy, rather sourly.
+
+"You need exercise!" replied George.  "You've been ramming about
+the cabin all the morning, and I've been wishing for the last three
+hours that you'd take to the tall timber."
+
+"Is that so?" shouted Sandy springing to his feet.
+
+"Yes, that's so!" answered George.  "I wish you and Thede would go
+out for a ramble.  If you don't know what else to do, walk over to
+the river and catch a fish.  That'll go all right for supper."
+
+"You're on!" cried Sandy.
+
+The boys were ready for the trip in a very few moments.  It was not
+necessary now to provide against mosquitoes and "bull-dogs," for
+the sudden cold spell had effectually silenced them for the winter.
+
+"Now don't you fellows come home unless you bring about twenty
+pounds of trout," George directed as the two lads opened the door
+and disappeared from sight.
+
+The boys had proceeded but a short distance when Sandy called his
+companion's attention to a peculiar foot-print in the snow.
+
+"I guess we must be approaching the corner of State and Madison
+again!" he laughed.  "We come out into the woods to commune with
+nature, and find some new party butting in every time we turn
+around."
+
+"That's an Indian's foot-print!" declared Thede.
+
+"How do you know that?" demanded Sandy.  "You haven't seen any
+Indian, have you?  How can you tell an Indian's foot-print from any
+one else's?  That may be a white man's step, for all we know!"
+
+"Nay, nay, me son!" laughed Thede.  "I know by the shape of the
+moccasin and by the way the fellow walks."
+
+"You know a whole lot of things!" laughed Sandy.  "If you keep on
+accumulating knowledge, you'll beat Tommy out of his job as the
+Sherlock Holmes of the party!"
+
+"Well, if you don't believe he's an Indian, you'd better go and ask
+him!" Thede argued.  "He's right over there in the thicket!"
+
+Sandy gave a quick start of alarm and put his hand back to his
+automatic.  Thede motioned him to leave his gun where it was.
+
+"This is a friendly Indian," the boy explained.  "I've often heard
+Pierre refer to him.  He's called Oje, but I don't know whether
+that's his name or not.  He's said to be the champion fisherman of
+this section, and if you really want to get fish for supper, we'd
+better get him interested."
+
+Oje was not a very romantic looking Indian, his general appearance
+being that of a bear fitted out with about three hides.  The boys
+noticed, however, that none of the clothing he wore was fastened
+closely about his waist or throat.  In fact, as he joined them with
+a grunt, they saw that the roughly-made garments were nearly all
+open.
+
+The Indian knows better than to bring his clothing where it will
+come in contact with either his breath or with perspiration.
+Should he do this in very severe weather, he would soon find
+everything about him frozen stiff.  He is sure, however, to carry
+enough clothing with him to keep him warm in repose and during the
+long nights.
+
+"How do you know that's Oje?" whispered Sandy, as the Indian stood
+looking questioningly at the two boys.
+
+"Because he answers to the description."
+
+"Howdy!" the Indian exclaimed in a moment.
+
+The boys returned the greeting, and then followed a conversation
+which was almost entirely expressed by signs.
+
+Oje was invited to proceed with the boys on a fishing trip, and,
+later, to accept of their hospitality at the cabin.  The Indian
+gave a grunt of assent, and at once turned toward the river.
+
+As they passed the spot where the cache had been, Sandy glanced
+curiously toward the Indian, as though wondering whether he had not
+been the one to dig out the provisions.  The Indian, however,
+walked on without appearing to notice either the rifled cache or
+the suspicious glances of the boy.  Arrived at the river, the
+Indian, after carefully testing the ice, walked to a small island
+near the shore.
+
+The boys looked on while he began his preparations for fishing.  He
+went about the work quietly, yet seemed to be remarkably exact in
+all his motions.  First he cut about twenty feet of fish-line in
+two in the middle of the piece and tied one end of each part to one
+end of a stick which he cut from the shore.
+
+The knots he made in the fastening seemed primitive, but it was
+discovered later that they held very firmly.  After a time he tied
+a bass hook to each fish-line, and on each hook he speared a little
+cube of fat pork which he drew from his pocket, and which had
+evidently done service through a long series of fishing expeditions.
+
+Next he cut two holes in the ice, which was not very thick at that
+point, and over these the boys were invited to stand, sticks in
+hand, lines dangling from the poles.
+
+Hardly had Sandy lowered his line which had a bullet flattened
+around it for a sinker, when he felt it jerk to one side, and
+almost immediately drew up a three-pound trout.
+
+"Now, what do you think of that for catching fish?" demanded the
+boy.
+
+Oje gave a satisfied grunt at this evident appreciation of his
+services, and motioned the lads to continue their sport.
+
+Next Thede caught a gray trout somewhat smaller than the fish
+landed by Sandy, and then another three-pound speckled trout was
+landed.
+
+"I guess if some of these fellows with hundred dollar fishing
+outfits could see us hauling beauties out of the water like this,
+they'd begin to understand what real fishing means!" Sandy
+exclaimed.
+
+It was a glorious day for fishing, although a trifle cold.  The sun
+shone down with a brilliance unequaled in more tropical climates,
+and there was little wind to send the chill through the clothing.
+After the boys had caught plenty of fish they started back toward
+the cabin.
+
+Oje walked through the wilderness with a different manner from that
+with which he had accompanied the boys in the journey toward the
+river.  He glanced sharply about, and frequently stopped to examine
+trifling marks in the snow.  After a time he pointed to the track
+of a rabbit which had apparently departed from the faint trail in
+extreme terror, judging from the speed which had been made.
+
+"Strange man!" he said significantly.  "Find track soon!"
+
+"Do you mean," asked Sandy, "that there's some one chasing us up?"
+
+"Find track soon," was all the explanation the Indian would make.
+
+"Of course!" Sandy declared.  "We couldn't think of going back to
+the cabin without butting into some new combination!"
+
+In a short time the Indian discovered the footprints he was looking
+for, and pointed them out to the boys.  Two persons had passed that
+way not long before.  The tracks in the snow showed that one had
+worn moccasins and the other ordinary shoes.
+
+"I should think that fellow's feet would freeze!" Sandy observed.
+"He don't seem to have any overshoes on!"
+
+"How do you know?" asked Thede.  "He may have a small foot and wear
+overshoes shaped like a shoe itself."
+
+"I wish we could follow the trail and find out where they're
+going!" Sandy observed.
+
+"I'm game for it!" declared Thede.
+
+The two boys pointed to the foot-prints and started to follow them.
+
+The Indian seemed pleased at the idea, and soon led the way toward
+the range of hills whither the foot-prints pointed.
+
+"The first thing we know," Thede suggested, "we'll be running into
+a nest of black bears.  They're thick as bees up in this country,
+and they'll be hungry, too, with all this snow on the ground."
+
+The words were hardly out of his mouth before a succession of low,
+angry growls came to the ears of the boys, and the next moment they
+saw Oje springing into the lower branches of a great fir tree.
+
+"I guess he knows what's good for his health!" shouted Sandy.  "Me
+for a tree, too!"
+
+The boys probably never made quicker motions in their lives.
+
+"Have you got a searchlight with you?" asked Thede.
+
+Sandy shook his head sadly.
+
+"Then we can't see to shoot the beasts," wailed Thede, "and it
+looks to me like one of those long, cold nights in a tree!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A PILLAR OF FIRE
+
+"Can you build a fire with one match?" asked Thede, after a short
+silence, during which the boys had been trying in vain to get a
+shot at the bears.
+
+"Of course I can!" answered Sandy.  "What's the good of going
+through all those Boy Scout examinations, if a fellow can't build a
+fire with one match?  Of course I can build a fire with one match!"
+
+"Can you build a fire with one match up in a tree?" asked Thede,
+with a suspicion of mirth in his voice.
+
+"Of course I can!" answered Sandy.
+
+"Up in a tree in the darkness, on a windy night?" asked Thede.
+
+"If this thing is going to your head, you'd better drop down and
+make a run for the camp!" advised Sandy.
+
+"Honest, now," asked Thede, "can you make a fire with one match in
+a green tree, in a high wind, on a dark night?"
+
+"Cut it out!" roared Sandy.
+
+"Because if you can," Thede explained, "I think I can show you a
+way out of this mess!"
+
+"Well, go on and show it, then!"
+
+"All you've got to do," Thede went on, "is to build a fire and drop
+the burning brands down on top of the bears.  That will bring them
+out into the light for a second or two, and perhaps we can drop
+them with our automatics."
+
+The boys heard the Indian moving softly about in the branches of
+the tree he had selected as a refuge, but paid little attention to
+what he was doing.  Afterwards, they discovered that he had dropped
+his rifle at the foot of the tree, and was trying to secure it.
+
+"Why did you say build a fire with one match?" asked Sandy.  "I
+always carry a lot of matches," the boy added, feeling in his
+pocket.
+
+"Find any?" asked Thede.
+
+"Not a match!"
+
+"I knew you wouldn't!" Thede said.
+
+"How'd you happen to know so much?" grunted Sandy.
+
+"Because," Thede replied, "I saw you feeling in your pocket for a
+match and bring your fingers out empty while at the cabin.  Then
+you went to a match box and laid a great heap of 'em on the table.
+I thought of it while we stood there, but it never occurred to me
+to tell you to stow them away."
+
+"I remember now!" Sandy said regretfully.
+
+"Well," Thede responded cheerfully, "I've got just one match.  I
+wonder if you can light a fire with that!"
+
+"You just wait a minute and I'll tell you!" replied Sandy.
+
+Thede heard him moving about over the limbs of the tree, his every
+motion being punctuated by growls from below.  Then came an
+exclamation of satisfaction from the darkness, and Thede heard the
+boy declaring that it was a dead tree they were in, and that there
+was plenty of dry wood.
+
+"All right, start your fire, then," suggested Thede, "and we'll see
+if we can't burn the backs off some of those bears!"
+
+"Perhaps we can break off enough dry limbs to make a rousing old
+fire that will keep till morning," Sandy said in a moment.  "If
+this old tree is really dead to the heart, it'll make quite a
+blaze."
+
+Sandy gathered a great handful of twigs not more than a couple of
+inches in length and placed them in a sheltered position in the lee
+of the tree.  Then he added dry boughs of larger size and made
+ready to use the precious match.
+
+"Now you know what'll happen if that match goes out!" said Thede.
+
+"This match," said Sandy confidently, "is not the kind of a match
+that goes out.  I'd be a healthy old Boy Scout if I couldn't build
+a fire in the top of a tree with one match!"
+
+The boy waited until there came a brief lull in the wind, then with
+the match protected as much as possible by his hat he struck it.
+
+The flame spluttered for an instant, died down, crawled around to
+the windward side of the stick, crawled back again, and then flared
+up gloriously.  At first the dry twigs refused to ignite, but
+presently one caught the blaze, then another, and directly Sandy
+was obliged to draw his face away from the growing heat.
+
+"There!" he exclaimed triumphantly.  "Didn't I tell you I could do
+it?"
+
+"You said you could," answered Thede, "but I didn't believe it!"
+
+"Look here," Tommy said in a minute, sheltering his face from the
+smoke.  "First thing we know, we'll have this whole blooming tree
+on fire."
+
+"If it gets good and hot, we can fry fish after the bears go away,"
+suggested Thede.  "I'm hungry!  By the way," he added with a grin,
+"where are those fish?"
+
+"Do you think I brought 'em up in the tree?" demanded Sandy.
+
+"You never left 'em down there?" asked Thede.
+
+"Didn't I?" exclaimed Sandy.  "What did you do with the ones you
+were carrying?"
+
+"Why," replied Thede, "I guess I left 'em in the thicket where we
+stood when we made a hop-skip-and-jump for the tree."
+
+"We certainly are a bright mess!" cried Sandy.
+
+"Say," Thede said in a moment, "I'll just bet that's what kept the
+bears so still while we've been up here building the fire.  They've
+been eating our fish!  That's why we couldn't get sight of them!"
+
+"Can you see the bears now?" asked Sandy.  "I'm sure I can't!"
+
+"They're still back in there eating our trout!' wailed Thede.
+
+"Unless you want a leg burned off," advised Sandy, "you'd better
+work around on another limb!"
+
+"Aw, this limb is all right!" argued Thede.
+
+The light from the fire now illuminated quite a little circle
+around the tree, and the boys saw 0je sliding cautiously down the
+trunk of the tree where he had taken refuge.
+
+"He's after his gun!" declared Sandy.  "Just watch out and you'll
+see him get one of those bears!"
+
+Oje certainly was after his rifle, for he slid down cautiously,
+keeping the bole of the tree between himself and the bears.
+
+Much to the surprise of the lads, the Indian did not again climb
+into the shelter of the branches.  Instead, he stood peering around
+the trunk of the tree as if waiting for the wild animals to make
+their appearance.  The flame blazed higher and higher and the boys
+began to feel uncomfortable.
+
+"I'll bet there ain't any bears here!" Sandy exclaimed after a
+moment's silence.  "I guess we run away from a rabbit!"
+
+"I guess we didn't!" insisted Thede.
+
+The boy's opinion was verified a moment later by the appearance of
+three shambling figures in the lighted zone.  The bear is noted for
+his curiosity, and the boys realized, too, that the feast of fish
+must have been devoured.
+
+"We might have sneaked away while they were eating that fine
+supper!" Sandy said, in a tone of disgust.  "I think we ought to
+have medals made out of a cow's ear!  That would be a good medal,
+wouldn't it, for boys who showed such courage in the face of the
+enemy?"
+
+"Never you mind!" Thede answered.  "I guess the bears are next to
+their job.  We wouldn't have gone far before they'd been after us."
+
+As the bears appeared in the light of the fire, now blazing
+fiercely and fast climbing from one dry limb to another, the lads
+saw the Indian raise his rifle to his shoulder and fire.
+
+Instead of taking to their legs, the bears grouped themselves
+around their fallen mate and snarled savagely up into the tree.
+
+"Oje will get another one in a minute," Thede ventured, overjoyed
+at the success of the first shot, "and then we can open fire with
+our automatics."
+
+"Holy Moses!" cried Sandy.  "Here we've been sitting here watching
+the panorama with our guns in our pockets!  I guess we don't know
+much about hunting bears, when it comes down to cases."
+
+"Well, it isn't too late to shoot yet," Thede declared.
+
+"It's getting pretty hot here, anyhow," said Sandy, "and we'll have
+to drop in a minute, whether we shoot or not.  This old tree seems
+to be as dry as tinder!"
+
+"Yes," Thede agreed, "I guess you started something when you made
+such good use of that one match."
+
+The boys moved about on the limb in order to get at their
+automatics.  They noted then, for the first time, that the perch
+upon which they rested was burning close to the trunk.  They called
+out to each other, almost simultaneously, to shift to the trunk of
+the tree.
+
+But it was too late.  They felt themselves swinging through, the
+air, and the next moment there was such a mixture of boy and bear
+at the bottom of the tree as has rarely been seen in the British
+Territories.
+
+Both boys landed squarely on the back of one of the animals.  Of
+course, they rolled to the ground instantly and grabbed for their
+automatics, but their movements were no quicker than those of the
+astonished bear.
+
+"Woof!" he said.  "Woof!"
+
+Translated into boy-talk, this read "Good-night!" and a second
+later they heard both bears tramping through the forest as if
+pursued by a pack of hounds.
+
+"What do you know about that?" demanded Tommy.
+
+Without replying, Thede scrambled to his feet and dashed into the
+thicket where he had left the fish.  He returned in a moment with a
+woeful face which set his chum into roars of laughter.
+
+"They ate our fish!" he said,
+
+"What'd you think they'd do with them?" demanded Sandy.  "Did you
+think they'd put 'em in cold storage and keep 'em for next summer?"
+
+"What I'm sobbing about," Thede went on, "is that the bears
+certainly made a monkey of me.  They weren't after us.  They were
+after the fish!"
+
+"Well, they got the fish, didn't they?" asked Sandy.
+
+"And we might have been on our way while they were devouring them!"
+wailed Thede.
+
+The tree was now virtually a pillar of fire, and the boys moved out
+from under it.  They found the Indian standing, stolid and
+indifferent, just out of the circle of light.
+
+"Just think of all that funny thing happening and he never seeing
+any humor in it!" exclaimed Sandy.
+
+The Indian lifted his hand for silence, and pointed off toward the
+hills.  Then, motioning the boys to follow him, he led the way into
+a thicket and crouched down.
+
+Directly the panting and puffing of a man exhausted from a long
+run, was heard, and the familiar figure of Antoine dashed into the
+circle of light!  He glared about for a moment and then dropped
+down on the snow, evidently completely exhausted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE SIGNAL FROM THE HILLS
+
+"That's a funny proposition, too!" whispered Sandy.
+
+"That's the gink who tried to feed us poisoned tea," Thede
+whispered back.  "I wonder what he's running for."
+
+The Indian drew at the boys' sleeves to enforce silence, and all
+three sat perfectly still for some moments.  Then Antoine lifted
+himself to his feet and looked cautiously about.
+
+They saw him examine the bear tracks and heard him muttering to
+himself as he followed with trained eyes the trail leading into the
+thicket where the boys and the Indian were hiding.
+
+He drew quite close to the bushes where the three lay; so close,
+indeed, that they could hear him muttering as he lost the trail
+because of the darkness.  Presently, he turned back.
+
+"I think I understand," he said hoarsely.  "Two of the boys were
+treed by bears and Oje rescued them.  I presume they are half way
+to the cabin before this."
+
+He started along the trail by which the boys had reached the tree
+but presently turned back.  He stood in the light of the fire for a
+moment and then set off in the direction of the hills.
+
+"Safer there than here!" they heard him growl as he passed them by.
+
+Oje waited until the sound of the fellow's footsteps were heard no
+more, and then arose to his feet, Without speaking a word, he, too,
+faced toward the hills, passing through the snow at a swinging gait.
+
+"What's he going to do now?" queried Sandy.
+
+"I wish I knew!" replied Thede.  "Say, look here!" the boy
+continued, "hadn't we better make a break for the cabin?  I don't
+see any sustenance in wandering around in the snow all night!"
+
+"Oje has something on his mind!" Sandy declared.  "And I think we'd
+better find out where he's going."
+
+"All right!" answered Thede.  "I'm game, only I'm wondering what
+George is thinking about all this time."
+
+It was cold and dark in the forest, and the snow was deep, but the
+boys trudged bravely on in the direction of the hills.  At least
+they supposed that they were going in the direction of the hills.
+They could scarcely see a yard in advance of their noses under the
+thick foliage and so trusted entirely to the Indian, who led them
+along at a pace which was exhausting to say the least.
+
+There would be a moon shortly after eight, but soon after that time
+they hoped to be snugly tucked in their blankets in the cottage.
+For a time they could see the dry tree which they had fired blazing
+in the distance, but at length it dropped out of sight.
+
+"How long do you think that blooming savage will keep this up?"
+asked Sandy of Thede, as the two boys struggled along through snow
+nearly up to their knees.  "I'm about all in!"
+
+"He's capable of keeping it up all night!" Thede answered in a
+dejected tone, "but I hope he'll stop when we come to the hills."
+
+"He does seem to be heading for the hills," Sandy replied.  "If
+he'll only stop when he gets there, I may be able to catch my
+breath again!"
+
+"Cheer up!" laughed Thede.  "The worst is yet to come!"
+
+"Doesn't that look like the moon coming up?" asked Sandy an hour
+later as they came to a slope which gradually led up to the hills.
+
+"That's the moon, all right!" replied Thede.  "But it won't do much
+good if we keep on walking under the trees.  We ought to be home
+now."
+
+"Does the moon rise in the south?" asked Sandy,
+
+"There's no knowing what will take place in this part of the
+country," answered Thede.  "Me for little old Chicago right soon!"
+
+"I think it's about time we headed for Chicago," Sandy agreed.
+"When a couple of Boy Scouts who are supposed to be in their right
+minds climb a tree to get away from bears who are so busy eating
+stolen fish that they don't know there is a boy within a hundred
+miles, I think it is about time they headed for civilization."
+
+"What did you mean about the moon rising in the south?" asked Thede.
+
+"Well," Sandy answered, "it looks to me as if there were two moons
+rising, one in the east and one in the south!"
+
+There certainly was a light growing far up on the hills.  In a
+moment the Indian came back to the boys and pointed out the strange
+illumination.
+
+"Fire there!" he said.
+
+"What do you think it means?" asked Thede.
+
+"Heap campfire!" was the reply.
+
+Oje held up three fingers to indicate that he saw three fires.  His
+eyes were sharper than those of the boys, who at first saw only a
+blur of light.  Before long, however, they caught sight of three
+points of flame lifting above the hills.  As the boys looked the
+blazes seemed to die down, or to be obscured by additional material
+being thrown upon them.  As the moon rose, sending a wintry light
+over the great slope, three gigantic columns of smoke stood where
+the flames had shown a minute before.
+
+"What do you make of it?" asked Thede.
+
+"Can you read the signal?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Do you really think it is a signal?"
+
+"Of course it's a signal!" cried Sandy.  "That's the Boy Scout
+signal.  Do you know what it says?"
+
+"Three smoke columns mean 'Good News!' answered Thede.
+
+"Do you suppose those crazy boys are still in the hills?" asked
+Sandy.  "If they are, George will think we've all deserted him."
+
+"Of course they're still in the hills!" declared Thede.  "No one
+but Boy Scouts would be sending up those signals!"
+
+"Aw, what good news would they have to communicate?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Perhaps they've found the Little Brass God!" suggested Thede.
+
+"Found your Little Brass Uncle!" cried Sandy.
+
+"Well, it's good news anyhow!" insisted Thede.  "If it wasn't the
+boys wouldn't be taking the pains to build three big fires in order
+to tell us about it."
+
+The Indian appeared to be suspicious of the campfires ahead until
+the boys explained to him, with much difficulty, that the fires had
+undoubtedly been built by their friends, and that they conveyed the
+information that agreeable developments awaited them.
+
+The slope of the hills was now bathed in moonlight, and the Indian
+hesitated about advancing over the many clear places from which the
+timber fell away.  Urged on by the boys, however, he finally
+proceeded cautiously in the direction of the fires, keeping out of
+the moonlight as far as possible.
+
+"Oje's afraid we'll bunt into something," Thede said, as they
+clambered up the slope.  "I wonder what he'd think if he should be
+called out of his bed by a blooming magician from the East Indies."
+
+The signal coming from the hills was farther to the east than the
+boys had ventured before.  The fires seemed to have been built high
+up on a shelf of rock facing the north.
+
+When the boys came closer they saw two figures moving about in
+front of the flames.  Directly they bad no difficulty whatever in
+recognizing Will and Tommy, as they heaped great piles of green
+boughs on the coals in order to create dense smoke.
+
+"The kids are in the center of the stage all right!" laughed Sandy.
+
+"I don't see how they dare build fires out in that exposed place,"
+Thede suggested.  "There's no knowing who may be prowling around."
+
+"Perhaps they know where the few enemies we have found in this
+section are keeping themselves!"
+
+"Perhaps they've got 'em shut up in some of their own caverns!"
+Thede suggested.  "Anyway," he went on, "there's something doing,
+or they wouldn't be talking Boy Scout to us at this time of night."
+
+As the boys drew still closer they heard the labored breathing of
+some one running, apparently only a short distance away.
+
+Oje darted away in the direction of the sounds, but soon returned
+to where the boys waited and headed once more for the Boy Scout
+signal.
+
+"What did you see, Oje?" Thede asked.
+
+The Indian turned and pointed back over the snowy trail they had
+followed from the burning tree.
+
+"Man from there!" he said.
+
+"Antoine?" asked Sandy.
+
+The Indian nodded and continued up the slope as if the matter were
+unworthy of further attention.
+
+"Now, what do you suppose Antoine came here for?" asked Thede.
+
+"Attracted by the fire, probably,"
+
+"I don't understand what he's roaming about so much for," Thede
+continued.  "What was he doing out at the burning tree?"
+
+"From the appearance of things," Sandy answered, "I should say that
+he hot-footed it out there in order to get away from some one who
+was chasing him, though I can't understand why anyone should be
+chasing him."
+
+"Anyway, he seems to be back here now," Thede said.  "It's dollars
+to buttons, though, that he doesn't go up to the fire where the
+boys are."
+
+"Look here," Sandy said in a moment, '"I just believe that Antoine
+has the Little Brass God in his possession, and that the two men
+who came to the cabin that night are after it!"
+
+"I hope they don't get it!"
+
+"Of course they won't get it," Sandy answered.  "Didn't we come
+away up here into this desolate land to get it ourselves?"
+
+When a few yards from the blazing fires, Sandy paused long enough
+to give the Beaver call and hear the answer given.  Then the lads
+trooped up to the circle of light and warmth.
+
+"What's the idea?" Sandy asked after greetings had been exchanged.
+"Did you build these fires so we could cook supper?"
+
+"You're not hungry, I hope!" grinned Tommy.
+
+"Starved to death!" answered Sandy.  "We've been treed by bears,
+and dumped down on the back of a great beast about nine feet long,
+and had our fish devoured, and there's been nothing doing in the
+eating line since noon!"
+
+"Never you mind the hardships of life!" grinned Will.  "We've got
+great news for you, so get ready to shout!"
+
+"What's the great news?" demanded Sandy.
+
+"We've got the Little Brass God penned up in the cavern just under
+this rock!  We've got a cinch on him this time!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A SIGHT OF THE GOD
+
+"All quiet at the cabin?" asked Tommy.
+
+"All quiet when we left," Sandy replied.
+
+"What time did you leave?" demanded Tommy, suspiciously.
+
+"Shortly after dinner."
+
+"And you've gone and left George alone all this time!" exclaimed
+Tommy indignantly.  "You're a bright lot!"
+
+"We thought you boys would be back to the cabin long before this!"
+Sandy declared.  "But what is it about this Little Brass God?"
+
+"When we reached the system of caverns which we visited not long
+ago, and in which we were held prisoners for a short time," Will
+said, "we found two men, well bundled up in furs, lying asleep, or
+apparently asleep, in one of the smaller rooms.  They sprang up
+when they saw us and seemed about to engage in conversation with us
+when Antoine made his appearance.  Antoine seemed to want to talk
+with us, too, but when he saw the two men who had been asleep in
+the cavern he hot-footed down the slope, with the two fellows after
+him.  I never saw a man run so fast in my life."
+
+"I bet they chased him clear to our tree!" Thede cut in.
+
+"I guess he never stopped running until be got there anyway!" Sandy
+grinned.  "But why should he come right back here after being
+chased away?"
+
+"I don't think he did!" "Will replied.
+
+"Oje saw him out here not long ago!" Sandy insisted.
+
+"What was he doing?"
+
+"I presume he was watching the fire."
+
+"The two men who pursued him are back, too!" Will continued.
+"Tommy and I found them in a cute little nest in the rocks not more
+than an hour ago.  Just before we built these fires, in fact."
+
+"I suppose you built the fires to lure us from the cabin!" laughed
+Sandy.  "Well, we wasn't at the cabin, but we saw the signals just
+the same!"
+
+"We wanted you to come and help capture the men who have the Little
+Brass God," Will answered.
+
+"So you've got the Little Brass God penned up under the hill!"
+laughed Sandy.  "You've got it, and yet you haven't got it!"
+
+"I never said we had it!" Will replied.  "I said we had it penned
+up under the hill.  You didn't give me time to explain that there
+were two men penned up with it."
+
+"All right!" Sandy said.  "You've come to the right shop for
+fighting men.  I can see those two fellows fading away at my
+approach!"
+
+"Then you go in ahead," advised Tommy.  "They seem to be well armed
+and may shoot, if you don't scare them into fits with one of your
+fierce glances!  They're bold, bad men!"
+
+"How do you know they haven't disappeared while you've been making
+signals?" asked Sandy.  "They've had time enough to be five miles
+away!"
+
+"We nailed 'em in with a couple of boulders!" grinned Tommy.
+
+"You followed Pierre's example, did you?"
+
+"Yes, we just blocked 'em in."
+
+"Well, I think we'd better be getting them out, then!" Sandy urged.
+"And also be moving toward the cabin.  George'll think we've got
+killed or something."
+
+"Come on, then," Will exclaimed.  "I'll show you where they are!"
+
+The boy led the way down the slope for some distance and then
+paused at a boulder which blocked the entrance to what seemed to be
+a cavern of good size.  They listened for a moment, but could hear
+no sounds coming from the interior.
+
+"How're you going to get them out?" asked Thede.
+
+"We ain't going to get 'em out!" replied Will.  "What do you think
+we brought you boys here for?  We know they can't get out, so we're
+just going to sit down here and wait for them to get good and
+hungry."
+
+"All right!" Sandy answered.  "Two can watch and two can go back to
+the cabin!  George will be good and anxious by this time."
+
+"I was thinking of asking Oje to watch a short time," Will said.
+"It's a good thing the Indian came along with you."
+
+Oje was called down to the barricaded entrance and the situation
+briefly explained to him.  The Indian stepped close to the boulder
+and listened for a long time for sounds from the inside.
+
+Then he turned to, the boys and shook his head gravely.
+
+"Don't you ever tell me they've gone and got away!" exclaimed
+Tommy.  "Why, they couldn't get away unless they walked through
+forty feet of solid rock!  And they couldn't do that!"
+
+"I'm going to find out!" declared Will.
+
+The lads pried the boulder away, blocking it so that it could not
+crash down the slope and so warn the men inside of the approach of
+the boys.  Then Will crept cautiously into the dark passage.
+
+The others were at his heels in a moment.  On the previous visit of
+Will and Tommy, there had been the light of a torch in the cavern,
+but there was no illumination of any kind now.
+
+"I guess they've gone, all right!" Tommy, whispered.
+
+"Why didn't you get the Little Brass God while the getting was
+good?" demanded Sandy.
+
+"The guns those fellows carried didn't look good to me!" was the
+reply.
+
+"It's a mystery to me how they ever got out of this cavern," Will
+observed.
+
+"Perhaps they are still here, waiting to get a shot at us!"
+suggested Thede.  "This would be a bad place for an attack."
+
+As the boys advanced they heard a whisper of voices farther in, and
+what seemed to be the rattle of footsteps over the uneven floor.
+
+Then from some, apparently, distant comer of the cavern came a cry
+in an unknown tongue.  The next instant the place was illuminated
+by two great torches of resinous wood.
+
+They flamed high in the hands of the men who had been discovered in
+the cavern during the first visit.
+
+"Look!" cried Will, pointing.  "Look!"
+
+The eyes of the boys followed the pointing finger dimly outlined in
+the light of the torches, and saw the Little Brass God swinging to
+and fro in an uplifted hand!
+
+"There!" exclaimed Tommy.  "I told you we'd got the Little Brass
+God!"
+
+"But you haven't got it yet!" taunted Sandy.
+
+"We'll have it in a minute!" replied the boy confidently.
+
+The ugly little image remained in sight for perhaps half a minute,
+and then the cavern became dark as pitch again.
+
+The boys heard a quick rush of footsteps, apparently passing
+further into the cavern, and then all was silent.
+
+"That isn't the man who had the Little Brass God the other time I
+saw it!" Thede declared.  "I guess these fellows must have got it
+away from Antoine, or whoever it was who had it at that time."
+
+"I wish we had a searchlight," suggested Sandy.
+
+"I've got a little one for a cent," Tommy answered.  "I never leave
+the camp without one.  No knowing when one may be needed,"
+
+"Strike a light then!" whispered Sandy.
+
+"That would be a fine way to get a bullet into my coco!" Tommy
+whispered back.  "I'll just wait a while and see what's doing."
+
+There was nothing doing--nothing whatever!  The boys, after waiting
+some ten minutes, advanced into the cavern which was now perfectly
+still.
+
+Directly Tommy turned on his electric.  The little flame revealed
+no presence there save that of the boys themselves.  They searched
+every nook and corner of the place, believing it impossible that
+the two men could have escaped.  At last, however, they were forced
+to the conclusion that once more they had lost track of the object
+of their search.
+
+"But where did they go?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"I guess that's what no fellow can find out," replied Will.
+
+The boys continued their search in the hope of finding the passage
+by which the two men had escaped.  At last they came to a small
+opening in the floor of the cavern which apparently led to a cavity
+farther down.
+
+"They didn't wait for the elevator!" laughed Tommy.  "Shall we go
+down after them?" asked Sandy.
+
+"I think we'd better get back to the cabin." Will argued.  "It must
+be after ten o'clock now, and George may be in trouble for all we
+know."
+
+"Three times and out!" exclaimed Sandy.  "The next time we catch
+sight of the Little Brass God, we'll sure get out fingers on it!"
+
+"I'd be happy just now if I could get my fingers on something to
+eat!" Thede declared.  "I'm about starved!"
+
+"We've got a few sandwiches, if they'll do any good," suggested
+Will.
+
+"If they'll do any good!" repeated Sandy.  "You bring 'em out here
+and we'll see whether they will or not."
+
+"Thede ran to the door of the cavern and looked out, calling softly
+to the Indian as he did so.  Oje was nowhere to be seen!
+
+"I wonder where that Indian went?" the boy asked.
+
+"He probably got busy after some one!" Will replied.
+
+The boys devoured the sandwiches which remained from the supply
+provided by Will and then started back to the cabin.
+
+The moon was now high up in the heavens, and the boys could trace
+foot tracks in the snow quite distinctly.  For a time they saw the
+prints of Oje's moccasins.   They seemed to be following another
+track which was obliterated by his passage.
+
+"Perhaps he's chasing the two fellows who had the Little Brass
+God!" suggested Sandy.  "If he is, I hope he gets 'em."
+
+After a time the tracks swung away to the left and the boys saw
+them no more.  When they came in view of the cabin a bright light
+was reflected through the broken window pane, but there seemed to
+be no evidences of motion on the inside.
+
+"I presume George has gone to sleep," Will said.  "I should think
+he'd be tired of waiting.  It must be somewhere about one o'clock!"
+
+When the boys came up to the cottage they saw a figure detach
+itself from the shadows which lay against the west wall and dash
+precipitously into the thicket.  Will hastened to throw the door
+open.
+
+The boy started back in alarm, as he noted the condition of the
+interior.  The bunks lay broken on the floor, and it was plain that
+the whole apartment had been most thoroughly pillaged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+TWO RIFLE SHOTS
+
+As the boys stepped into the room George arose from a heap of
+blankets near a broken bunk and stood regarding them with a
+quizzical smile on his face.  The boys at once clustered around him
+with dozens of questions on their lips.
+
+"What's been doing here?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"You missed the biggest sensation of the excursion!" exclaimed
+George.
+
+"Where are the fellows who busted up the furniture?" asked Sandy.
+
+"You ought to know," replied George.  "They ran out just before you
+entered.  It's a wonder you didn't meet them."
+
+"Who are they?" asked Will.
+
+"You remember the two men who came to the window that night?" asked
+George.  "Well, these were the two men!"
+
+"Did one of 'em have his head in a sling?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Sure he did!" was the reply.
+
+"Why don't you sit down and tell us all about it?" asked Sandy.
+
+"That won't take long," replied George.  "They came in here
+something like half an hour ago and began mixing up with the
+furniture.  They searched everything in sight and out of sight, and
+were about to take up the floor, I reckon, when they heard you
+coming."
+
+"Did they say what they were searching for?" asked Will.
+
+"Not directly," was the reply, "but I know from expressions I heard
+that they were searching for the Little Brass God."
+
+"The Little Brass God?" repeated Will.  "Why, they've got it now!"
+
+"You bet they have!" Tommy joined in.
+
+"How do you know they have?"
+
+"Because we saw them have it in the cavern!" answered Will.  "They
+were in that cavern not more than five minutes before we left the
+hills.  They must have hustled to beat us to the cabin and make a
+half hour's search before we arrived."
+
+"I think we've all got a lot of guesses coming," Sandy observed.
+
+"Yes, but what I can't get through my head is why those fellows
+should be searching through the cabin for the Little Brass God when
+they have it in their possession," Will said.
+
+"You're sure they had it?" asked George.
+
+"I saw them have it in the cavern earlier in the evening," was the
+reply.  "When we went to try to make them give it up, they vanished
+as if they had gone up in the air!"
+
+The boys began straightening things in the cabin, and Sandy busied
+himself in the corner where the provisions were stored.
+
+"I'd like to know where that Indian went," Thede said, as he
+assisted Sandy in preparing some of the game which had been caught
+early the morning before.  "He won't go far away, I'm thinking."
+
+Before the words were off the boy's lips the door was pushed gently
+open and Oje looked in.  He made a gesture asking for silence and
+went out again, softly closing the door behind him.
+
+"That's a funny proposition!" whispered Tommy.  "Why don't he come
+in and get some of the supper Sandy is getting ready?"
+
+The door opened again, then, and Antoine staggered inside.  His
+face was bloodless and his eyes seemed starting from their sockets.
+His clothing was slit in places as if he had been attacked with a
+knife, and he staggered about while searching for a chair.
+
+Will sprang forward to the man's assistance, helped him to a chair,
+and poured a cup of strong coffee, which the roan drank greedily.
+
+The man's eyes roved wildly about the room for a second then he
+turned anxiously to Will.
+
+"Did they get it?" he asked.
+
+"Did they get what?" asked the boy.
+
+"What they came to search for."
+
+Will turned inquiringly toward George.
+
+"Did they find anything during their search?" he asked.
+
+George shook his head.
+
+"They hadn't concluded their search," he replied.  "Then they
+failed to find the Br----"
+
+There was a movement at the window followed by a rifle shot.
+
+Antoine sitting before the fire by George's side crumpled up and
+dropped to the floor, a stream of blood oozing from his temple.
+
+Before the lads could quite comprehend what had taken place, a
+second shot came from outside.  Then Oje's face appeared in the
+doorway again, beckoning to those inside.
+
+Tommy and Sandy stepped into the open air and were directed around
+to the rear of the house.
+
+There, face up in the moonlight, lay the man whom Will had
+described as an East Indian.  The bandage was still around his
+head, but a new wound was bleeding now.  His eyes were already
+fixed and glassy.  The bullet had entered the center of the
+forehead.
+
+"He shoot man inside!" the Indian grunted.
+
+"And he killed him, too!" answered Tommy.
+
+Entirely unconcerned, the Indian would have struck off into the
+forest, but the boys urged upon him the necessity of partaking of
+food.  With a stoical exclamation of indifference, Oje finally
+followed them into the cabin and seated himself before the open
+fire.
+
+Antoine was quite dead.  The boys straightened his still figure
+upon the floor and placed by its side the body of the man who had
+been his murderer.
+
+"We must give them decent burial in the morning," Will decided,
+"and in order to do so, we must keep them away from the wild
+animals of the wilderness tonight."
+
+There was a hushed silence for a long time in the room.  The boys
+involuntarily turned their eyes away from the two inanimate objects
+which had so recently possessed the power of speech and motion.
+
+Presently Sandy saw something glistening at the breast of the dark
+man.  Where his heavy coat of fur dropped back the boy thought he
+distinguished a gleam of gold.  Thinking that it might possibly be
+some trinket calculated to reveal the identity of the man, Sandy
+advanced to the body and threw the coat open.
+
+There was the Little Brass God!
+
+"We didn't have to find it," Tommy said slowly after a short pause.
+"The fellow brought it to us!"
+
+Will took it into his hand and made a careful examination of it.
+
+"Do you think this is the one we are after?" he asked.
+
+"Holy Moses!" exclaimed Sandy.  "You don't think there are two
+Little Brass Gods, do you?  One seems to have kept us pretty busy!"
+
+"I've heard of their traveling in pairs," Thede suggested.
+
+"Is this the man who made the search of the house?" asked Will of
+George.
+
+"That is one of them!" was the reply.  "The other seemed to be a
+man in the employ of this man.  He was dressed like a trapper and
+acted like one.  They quarreled over some suggestion made by this
+man and the one whom I took to be a guide went away in a rage."
+
+"You are sure he didn't find what he was looking for?"
+
+"Dead sure!"
+
+"Then there are two Little Brass Gods!" insisted Tommy.
+
+"Yes, and I guess the one we want is the one we haven't got!" Will
+said.
+
+"I don't see how this fellow could have the one containing the last
+will of Simon Tupper," Tommy argued.  "Can you open the tummy of
+the Little Brass God, Will?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Mr. Frederick Tupper showed me how to do the trick," Will answered.
+
+"Then why don't you see whether this is the right one or not?"
+asked Sandy.  "If you can open it, it's the one; if you can't, it
+isn't the one!"
+
+"Wise little boy!" exclaimed Will taking the ugly image into his
+hands again.
+
+He pressed here and there on the surface of the Little Brass God,
+touching now a shoulder, now a foot, now the top of the head, for
+all the world like one operating the combination of a safe.
+
+"You see," he said, as he continued his strange employment, "the
+shell of the image is not very thick and when I press on certain
+parts, certain things take place on the inside."
+
+He put his ear to the side of the image and listened intently.
+
+"There!" he said.  "You can hear a click like the dropping of a
+tumbler when I press here at the back."
+
+"If the combination works, then," shouted Tommy, "it must be that
+we have the Little Brass God holding the will."
+
+"It works all right enough," Will replied.
+
+With the final pressure on an elbow Will turned a foot to the right
+and the Little Brass God opened exactly in the center.
+
+But no will was found in the cavity.  Instead a mass of diamonds,
+emeralds, pearls, rubies, amethysts glittered out upon the floor.
+
+The boys stood looking at the shining mass with wide open eyes.
+
+"There must be a million dollars there!" Tommy said almost in a
+whisper.
+
+"I wasn't thinking of that!" Will said.  "I was thinking that,
+after all our labor and pains, we have unearthed the wrong Brass
+God."
+
+"But we've just got to find the right Brass God," Sandy insisted.
+
+"Yes, and we'll have a sweet old time doing it!" exclaimed George.
+"The poor fellow who lies dead there searched every bit of space
+inside the cabin, yet he didn't find it!"
+
+"But it may not be anywhere near the cabin!" exclaimed "Will.
+
+"If we knew whether Antoine ever had it in his possession," Tommy
+said, "we'd know better where to look."
+
+"Of course he had it in his possession!" said Sandy.  "I'm sure
+he's the man who took it from the pawnbroker's shop on State
+street.  Now let's see," the boy went on, "what were the last words
+he spoke?"
+
+"He started in to say Brass!" replied Will.
+
+"Then you see, don't you, that that proves that he knew all about
+it?"
+
+"Yes, and he asked if they found what they were looking for," Tommy
+contributed, "and that shows that the Little Brass God he brought
+from Chicago is some where about this palatial abode."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE TWIN BRASS GODS
+
+Oje, who had been sitting by the fire, waiting for his supper, long
+delayed by the rush of events, now arose and took the Little Brass
+God into his dusky hands.
+
+"Have you ever seen one like that before?" asked Will.
+
+The Indian shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the body of
+Antoine.
+
+"Dead man have one!" he said.
+
+"Like this?" asked Will.
+
+The Indian grunted an assent.
+
+"Then I'll tell you what took place, boys," Will said.  "When
+Antoine shot Pierre, he came here and took possession of the cabin
+and provisioned it, He had had the Little Brass God in the cavern
+where George and Thede saw it, and he thought a safer place for it
+would be the cabin."
+
+"So he moved in here and hid it!" Tommy went on.  "And we boys
+chased along and drove him out into the wide, wide world.  Now the
+question is whether he took the Little Brass God back to the cavern
+or whether he left it hidden about the cabin."
+
+"It's a hundred to one shot," Sandy observed, "that this dead East
+Indian knew that the image he sought was in or about this cabin.
+The first night we came here he prowled about looking for it and
+tried to get one of us boys into a hypnotic trance.  We don't know
+how many times he has been back here since that night."
+
+"But who sent the fellow up here after the Little Brass God,
+anyway?" asked George.  "How did he come to get on the track of the
+ugly little devil."
+
+"I guess that's something we'll have to find out in Chicago,"
+replied Will.  "All we know is that Antoine was scared to death of
+him, as shown by his sudden flight from the cavern when he looked
+in and saw the East Indian and his guide standing looking out at
+him."
+
+"And they chased him clear up to our burning tree!" Thede cut in.
+
+"That's a fact," Sandy replied.  "That dusky faced chap certainly
+had Antoine buffaloed!"
+
+"Well," Will went on, "the East Indian kept returning to the cabin
+and Antoine kept returning to the cabin, so it's a pretty safe bet
+that the Little Brass God we seek is here.  Besides, the fact that
+Antoine asked if the East Indian found anything proves that it is
+in or about the cabin."
+
+"Well, we're going to find it if we tear the cabin to pieces,"
+Tommy said.  '"As Will says, it is a sure thing it is not far away."
+
+There was not much sleep in the cabin that night, and it was a
+dreary supper the boys ate.  Before daylight the Indian lay down
+upon the floor in a blanket, but the other boys remained awake
+until morning.
+
+Then they began the search for the Little Brass God.  They were
+satisfied now that Pierre had never had possession of it, that he
+had been despatched as one familiar with the woods and the ways of
+Antoine, in the Sigsbee interests to secure it from the man who had
+purchased it at the pawn shop.  Everything pointed, as has been
+stated, to Antoine's being the man who had taken it out of Chicago.
+
+The boys searched the cabin for two days until not a sliver of the
+inside remained uninvestigated.  Then, after putting up their
+tents, they began taking the structure down, log by log.
+
+On the third day they found what they sought in the heart of a
+rotten log.  Antoine had hidden it in a secure place.  Will had no
+difficulty in opening the belly of the little image, and there he
+found the last will of Simon Tupper, bequeathing his entire
+property to Frederick Tupper.
+
+"That settles the case, boys, so far as we are concerned," Will
+said, "and I think we'd better be getting back to Chicago in order
+to straighten things out."
+
+"You talk about getting back to Chicago like we could take the
+elevated and get there in an hour!" laughed Sandy.  "I guess that
+you forget that we've got three hundred miles of wilderness to
+travel before we reach the railroad station!"
+
+"Well, we've got our canoes, haven't we?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Yes," Will answered, "and if we want to use the canoes, we'll have
+to wait until the river opens in the spring.  We can get out on the
+ice all right, I guess."
+
+At the end of two weeks the boys found themselves at a way station
+on the Canadian Pacific road.  After that it did not take them long
+to reach Chicago.  During the trip down they had rather enjoyed the
+hunting and fishing.  Once or twice they had caught sight of a man
+whom they believed to be the guide the East Indian had secured, but
+after a time the man disappeared entirely and was seen no more.
+Oje accompanied them part of the way and then much to their regret,
+turned back.
+
+The finding of the will, of course, settled the Tupper estate for
+good and all, and the boys were well rewarded for what they had
+done.
+
+"There's one thing I'd like to know," Will said, as they sat in Mr.
+Horton's office after all the adventures of the trip had been
+related, "and that is where this second Little Brass God came from,
+and how this East Indian got into the Hudson Bay country in quest
+of the other Brass God about as quick as we did."
+
+"That has all been explained," the attorney replied.  "From your
+description, Antoine is undoubtedly the man who took the Little
+Brass God in which we were interested from the pawn shop.  The
+evening papers of that day described the burglary of the Tupper
+home and referred particularly to the taking of the Little Brass
+God from the mantle in the library.
+
+"The newspapers said at that time that the taking of the image
+would doubtless result in the discovery of the burglar.  In this,
+the newspapers were wrong.  The burglar has never been brought to
+punishment.
+
+"On the other hand, however, the taking of the Brass God led to the
+recovery of two sacred ornaments belonging in a Hindu temple in
+India.  It seems that two prominent Hindus read the article
+concerning the Little Brass God and made inquiries at police
+headquarters and at all the pawn shops in the city concerning it.
+The idols had been stolen years before and these men considered it
+their duty to restore them to the temple if in their power to do so.
+
+"They found one of the Little Brass Gods without difficulty, it
+having been purchased a few months ago by a dealer in antiques.
+They might have known of the wealth contained in the belly of the
+idol, but it is certain that the dealer in antiques never did.  Of
+course the East Indians learned all that any one knew concerning
+the destination of the image taken from the pawnshop, and so one of
+them, the man who was killed, went north in quest of it.
+
+"So far as Pierre is concerned, it is probable that he was picked
+up here in Chicago and sent north by Sigsbee.  Of course we shall
+never know the truth of that matter, but it is plain that he is not
+the man who took the idol from the pawnbrokers' shop.
+
+"Well, that ends the case so far as we're concerned," George
+replied, "and if you've got any more Boy Scout excursions in view,
+Mr. Horton, I wish you'd suggest a hot climate for the next one.
+It seems to me like I never would get warm again!"
+
+"What do you think of the people who live up in the Hudson Bay
+country all the year round?" asked Mr. Horton.  "How would you like
+to wander around there year after year, as Oje does?"
+
+"Say that Oje's a good Indian!" Tommy exclaimed.  "I tried to get
+him to come on down to Chicago with me, but he said he wouldn't
+live here on a bet."
+
+"What are you going to do with the two Little Brass Gods and all
+the precious stones?" asked Sandy.
+
+"I would suggest," Mr. Horton replied, "that the two idols be
+returned to the Hindu still remaining in the city, the companion of
+the one who was killed, and that the jewels be returned with them."
+
+"That's a lot of money to give away," Sandy suggested.
+
+"There's nothing compulsory about it!" laughed Mr. Horton.  "If you
+boys want to run the risk of being chased up by those Hindus until
+they finally get their hands on the idols, you may do so."
+
+"Not for mine!" exclaimed Thede.  "I don't want any dusky East
+Indians chasing me up!"
+
+It was finally decided to restore the two little Brass Gods with
+the jewels to the Hindu.  Later the body of the East Indian was
+taken from its grave near James Bay and transferred to his own
+country.
+
+"There's one little commission I'd like to have you boys
+undertake," Mr.  Horton said, after all the details of the Tupper
+case had been settled.  "There's quite a bunch of trouble down here
+in a coal mine that I'd like to have you boys look into."
+
+"Is it good and warm down there?" asked George.
+
+"Suppose you walk down a few thousand feet under ground, some day,
+and make a note of the temperature!" laughed Tommy.
+
+"Of course we want to go!" replied Will.
+
+After a few days in Chicago, the Boy Scouts were off on their
+travels again.  The story of their adventures will be found in the
+next volume of this series entitled.
+
+"Boy Scouts in the Coal Caverns; or, The Light in Tunnel Six."
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12526 ***
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #12526 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12526)
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Boy Scouts in Northern Wilds, by Archibald
+Lee Fletcher
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Boy Scouts in Northern Wilds
+
+Author: Archibald Lee Fletcher
+
+Release Date: June 5, 2004  [eBook #12526]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY SCOUTS IN NORTHERN WILDS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+
+BOY SCOUTS IN NORTHERN WILDS
+
+Or, The Signal from the Hills
+
+By
+
+MAJOR ARCHIBALD LEE FLETCHER
+
+Author of
+
+"Boy Scout Rivals; or, A Leader of the Tenderfoot Patrol,"
+"Boy Scouts on Old Superior; or, The Tale of The Pictured
+Rocks," "Boy Scouts' Signal Sender; or When Wigwag Knowledge
+Paid," "Boy Scout Pathfinders; or, The Strange Hunt for the
+Beaver Patrol" etc., etc.
+
+Chicago, 1913
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  Chapter
+
+     I--A CAMP ON MOOSE RIVER
+    II--THE LITTLE BRASS GOD
+   III--THE CABIN IN THE SWAMP
+    IV--LOST IN THE STORM
+     V--A BOY SCOUT TRICK
+    VI--THE CAVE OF THE TWO BEARS
+   VII--AM EMPTY CAVERN
+  VIII--A TRAPPER'S TREACHERY
+    IX--TWO HUNGRY BEARS
+     X--BOYS IN A TIGHT PLACE
+    XI--THE HALF-BREED
+   XII--A SURPRISE AT THE CABIN
+  XIII--A FACE AT THE WINDOW
+   XIV--A CALL PROM THE DARKNESS
+    XV--A HUNTING EXPEDITION
+   XVI--ANTOINE ON THE RUN
+  XVII--"BOYS UP A TREE!"
+ XVIII--A PILLAR OF FIRE
+   XIX--THE SIGNAL FROM THE HILLS
+    XX--A SIGHT OF THE GOD
+   XXI--TWO RIFLE SHOTS
+  XXII--THE TWIN BRASS GODS
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A CAMP ON MOOSE RIVER
+
+Four Boy Scouts, of the Beaver Patrol, Chicago, were in camp on
+Moose river.  They were all athletic young fellows, not far from
+seventeen years of age, and were dressed in the khaki uniform
+adopted by the Boy Scouts of America.
+
+If you take a map of the British Northwest Territories and look up
+Moose river, you will discover that it runs through nearly three
+hundred miles of wilderness, from Lake Missinale to Moose Bay.  The
+reader will well understand, then, how far "Sandy" Green, Will
+Smith, George Benton and Tommy Gregory had traveled from
+civilization.
+
+The camp of the Boy Scouts was situated some fifty miles up the
+river from Moose Factory, a trading point famous in old Indian days
+for its adventurous spirits and its profits to the factors.  Those
+who have read the preceding books of this series will doubtless
+remember the four Boy Scouts named above.  Together they had
+visited the Pictured Rocks of Old Superior, the Everglades of
+Florida, and the great Continental Divide.
+
+During all their journeys the boys had shown courage and
+resourcefulness beyond their years, and because of these qualities
+they had been chosen, by Mr. Horton, a noted criminal lawyer of
+Chicago, to undertake a difficult and dangerous mission to the
+Hudson Bay country.
+
+They had traveled by way of the Canadian Pacific to Missanabie,
+from which point they had proceeded to Lake Missinale.  Here they
+had purchased a "Mackinaw," a great flat-bottomed craft, in which
+to transport their tents and supplies down Moose river to the bay
+of the same name.
+
+They had made most of the journey in native canoes, which they had
+learned to handle with considerable skill, but now and then they
+had taken refuge on the big boat, "just to stretch their limbs," as
+they expressed it.  They left Chicago late in September and it was
+now almost the last of October.
+
+Those who live in the Hudson Bay country declare that they have
+three seasons in four months, Spring comes in June, summer in July
+and August, and autumn in September.  At the southern extremity of
+James Bay, October may scarcely be called a winter month, although
+during the latter part of the month ice and snow are not infrequent.
+
+The sun was setting on the lads' first day in camp as the boys
+rested from their labor of dragging in great quantities of both dry
+and green wood.  Their tents were of double canvas, specially
+prepared for cold weather, and their bedding and suits had
+constituted an important part of their baggage.
+
+Almost the entire fronts of the tents were composed of fine, strong
+silk mesh-cloth.  The faces of the boys were well anointed with
+grease, and masks of mesh-cloth hung about the tents ready for use.
+
+Mosquitos and an insect known as the "bull-dog" had driven many a
+trapper and hunter out of the swampy regions around Hudson Bay.
+During the summer it is almost impossible to live in the swamps of
+that country at all.  By protecting their tents and faces, and
+keeping great "smudges" going, the boys hoped to be able to live in
+comparative comfort during their stay in that section.
+
+"Look here, Will," Tommy said, as he laid down a great armful of
+dry wood, "some one ought to invent some kind of a contraption to
+kill these flying pests off by the billion.  Here it is almost cold
+enough to snow, and we're being eaten alive by mosquitos."
+
+"I reckon it wouldn't do much good to invent a way of killing the
+brutes," Will suggested, "as long as the swamps and pools of the
+Northwest Territories are turning them out at the rate of a billion
+a minute."
+
+"I read a story about how to get rid of mosquitos the other day,"
+Sandy said.  "It might be a good idea to try it."
+
+"You can always read how to do things, in the newspapers," Tommy
+argued.  "The only trouble is that the ideas don't work."
+
+"This one will work," declared Sandy.  "The way to kill mosquitos,"
+he continued, "is to throw a great long rope up in the air.  You
+let it stay up in the air; that is, one end of it, and grease it
+carefully with cold cream and tie a piece of raw beefsteak at the
+upper end.  That will attract the mosquitos.  Then when you get
+several millions up the rope, you cut it in two about twenty feet
+from the ground and pull the lower end down."
+
+"It'll be the foolish house for yours!" Tommy laughed.  "How are
+you going to throw one end of a rope up in the air and make it stay
+there?"
+
+"I didn't say how to make it stay up in the air," grinned Sandy.
+"I just said you had to make it stay up in the air.  Then when the
+mosquitos get tired of staying up in the ambient atmosphere,
+they'll come crawling down the rope and fall off where you cut it."
+
+"I guess your dome needs repacking all right!" laughed Tommy.
+
+"And then, when they come to the place where the rope has been cut
+off, they'll take a tumble for themselves, and you stand under the
+line and beat their heads off with an axe."
+
+"Poor child!" laughed Tommy.
+
+"If you leave it to me," George declared with a grin, "that story
+about how to kill mosquitos came out of Noah's ark on crutches."
+
+The sun was setting over the great wilderness to the west, and the
+boys hastened to pile more wood on the fire.  The forest was alive
+with the cries of birds, and the undergrowth showed curious eyes
+peering out at the intruders.
+
+"This beats little old Chicago," cried George, bringing out a great
+skillet of ham.  "When we live in the city, we've got to eat in the
+house and smell dishwater.  When you live out doors, you've got a
+dining room about a thousand miles square."
+
+"And when you live in Chicago," Tommy continued, "you can't get
+fresh fish right out of the brooks.  When you want a fish here, all
+you've got to do is to run out to the river, grab one in your arms,
+and bring him in!"
+
+"Then run out and get one now!" advised Will.
+
+"Perhaps you think I can't!" shouted Tommy.
+
+Seizing a head-net the boy dashed away to the margin of Moose
+river.  His chums saw him walking about in quest of a minnow for a
+moment and then heard the swish of a line.  In ten minutes he was
+back at the camp with a whitefish weighing at least five pounds.
+
+There is incessant fishing in the wilderness north of Lake Superior
+throughout every month of the year.  All through the long winter
+the ice is cut away in order that the fish may be reached, and
+there is every sort of fishing between that which engages the
+labors of sailing vessels and men, down through all the methods of
+fish-taking, by nets, by spearing, still-fishing and fly-fishing.
+
+Though the region has been famous, and therefore much visited, for
+many years, the field is so extensive, so well stocked, and so
+difficult of access, that even today almost the very largest known
+specimens of each class of fish are to be had there.
+
+"These are the kind of fish the Indians live on during the winter,"
+Tommy explained as he scraped the scales from his prize.  "Only,"
+he continued, "the Indians don't clean them at all.  They simply
+make a hole in the tail end of each fish and string them up like
+beads on sticks which they set up in racks."
+
+"I never did like cold-storage fish," Sandy declared, in a tone of
+disgust.  "They taste like dry corn meal!"
+
+While the fish cooked and the boys sat in the protecting smudge of
+the campfire, the sound of paddles was heard up the river.  The
+swish and splash came on steadily for a moment and then suddenly
+ceased.
+
+"I thought we were going to have company," suggested Will.
+
+The boys listened for a time but no further sounds were heard.
+
+"Now what would any one be doing in this wilderness?" Sandy asked.
+"What would any one be sneaking around us for?"
+
+"Perhaps they don't even know we're here!" argued George.
+
+"With that great campfire going?" scoffed Tommy.  "Why, they can
+see the light of that fire for ten miles or more!"
+
+"That's right," replied George.  "I guess that fire wouldn't help
+to hide our presence here any."
+
+"Suppose I go and see what's doing?" asked Tommy.
+
+"You know your failings, young man!" Will cut in.  "If you go out
+in the wilderness to see who's running that canoe, you're likely to
+get lost, or come back here after a couple of days with a broken
+leg or a busted coco!  You'd better stay in camp."
+
+"But I want to know who's sneaking around our tents!" insisted
+Tommy.  "You come along with me, Will, if you think I'm not
+competent to go alone," the boy added with a grin.
+
+Will hesitated for a moment and then providing himself with an
+automatic revolver and an electric searchlight, the two boys left
+the camp and soon disappeared in the darkness.  They had been gone
+scarcely five minutes when a shot came from the thicket.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE LITTLE BRASS GOD
+
+After a time George and Sandy heard some one running through the
+undergrowth, and the next instant Will and Tommy burst into view.
+It was evident that they had been running, for they were panting
+and their clothing was disarranged and torn in places.
+
+The two boys hastened out to meet their chums with question marks
+in their eyes.  Will and Tommy offered no explanation until the
+tents had been reached, then Tommy burst into a low chuckle.
+
+"Can you beat it?" he asked.
+
+"What are you talking about?" demanded George.
+
+"What did you see out there?" asked Sandy.
+
+"We didn't see a thing!" declared Tommy.
+
+"You're wrong there!" Will cut in.  "We saw the flash of a gun!"
+
+"Some one shoot at you?" questioned George.
+
+"Perhaps not," Will replied, "but I heard a bullet whizzing past my
+ear!  That's not a very warm welcome to this blooming country, I
+take it."
+
+"What's it all about?" asked Sandy impatiently.
+
+"That's the answer!" Tommy declared.  "That's all we know about it
+ourselves.  We hear a paddle splash in the water; we go out to see
+what's doing, and we get a chunk of lead plugged at us.  That's the
+answer so far as I know.  Now, how about this fish?"
+
+"Right as a book!" cried Sandy.  "I've been taking care of this
+fish while you've been out there facing some boy with an air gun."
+
+"Yes," laughed Tommy, "if you want to find boys with air guns, come
+out here about three hundred miles north of nowhere!"
+
+The incident did not seem to affect the appetites of the boys, for
+they attacked the fish industriously.  When the meal was finished
+and the dishes cleared away; Will turned to his chums with a sober
+look on his face.  When he spoke it was with suppressed excitement.
+"Do you boys know exactly why we are in the Hudson Bay country?" he
+asked, "How much did Mr. Horton tell you?"
+
+"Nothing at all!" Tommy replied.
+
+"He just told us to come with you!" George cut in.
+
+"When I tried to cross-examine him," laughed Sandy, "he said he was
+afraid we wouldn't go if he told us what sort of a game we were
+mixing in."
+
+"Well," Will went on in a moment, "he told me to tell you after we
+got into camp on Moose river."
+
+"Go on and tell us, then," chuckled Tommy.
+
+"I don't believe it's any great mystery!" Sandy interrupted.
+
+"We came here," Will said, speaking seriously, "to find the Little
+Brass God.  Odd sort of a quest, that, eh?"
+
+"What's the Little Brass God?" demanded Sandy.
+
+"Did you think it was a load of hay?" asked Tommy.  "The Little
+Brass God is the Little Brass God.  Didn't you know that?"
+
+"What does any one want of a Little Brass God?" asked George.
+
+"The Little Brass God," Will explained, "is believed to be
+valuable, chiefly for what is contained in his belly."
+
+"So this is a stuffed god?" cried Tommy.
+
+"Has he eaten something he can't digest?" cut in Sandy.
+
+"That just explains it!" Will exclaimed.  "He has eaten something
+he can't assimilate, and we've been sent up here to relieve him of
+it!"
+
+"How did the Little Brass God ever get into the Hudson Bay
+country?" asked Tommy.  "I should think he'd know better."
+
+"I reckon the Little Brass God had nothing to say regarding his
+journey," replied Will.  "Two months ago the house of Mr. Frederick
+Tupper, on Drexel Boulevard, Chicago, was burglarized.  Besides
+taking considerable money and silver plate, the thief also carried
+away the Little Brass God."
+
+"I don't think any thief in his right mind would do that!" declared
+Sandy.  "What could he do with a Little Brass God?  He couldn't
+pawn it, or sell it, or trade it, without its being traced back to
+him!"
+
+"Well, he took it just the same!" Will replied.
+
+"How much is he worth?" asked George.
+
+"Not more than five dollars."
+
+"Then he isn't one of those East India Little Brass Gods with his
+legs crossed, and his arms folded, and a grin on his face?"
+
+"His legs are crossed, his arms are folded, and there is a grin on
+his face!" replied Will with a smile.  "But he's certainly not one
+of the population of a Hindu temple."
+
+"He's just a common Little Brass God, probably made in Newark, New
+Jersey," suggested George.  "What do they want him for?"
+
+"They want to search him!" replied Will.
+
+"Aw, come on, tell us all about it!" urged Tommy.
+
+"Well," Will explained with a smile, "the tummy of the Little Brass
+God IS supposed to contain the last will and testament of Simon
+Tupper, father of Frederick Tupper."
+
+"Gee!" exclaimed Tommy.  "Can't he get the property until he gets
+the will?  Then we'll have to find it, I guess!"
+
+"No, he can't get the property unless the will is found."
+
+"Who stole the Little Brass God, and also the will?" asked George.
+
+"Did he know he was stealing the will when he stole the Little
+Brass God?" asked Sandy without giving Will an opportunity to reply
+to the previous question.  "How'd he know the will was there?"
+
+"We don't know whether he knew about the will or not," answered the
+boy.  "In fact, we don't know whether the document is still in the
+tummy of the Little Brass God.  That's what we've got to find out."
+
+"You didn't tell me who stole the Little Brass God and the will,"
+insisted George.
+
+"I said it was a burglar!"
+
+"But was it a burglar--a real, genuine burglar?"
+
+"Yes, loosen up!" shouted Tommy.  "Did he go there just to burgle,
+or did he go there to get that will?"
+
+"That's another thing we've got to find out!" Will answered.  "It's
+just this way," the boy continued.  "We've been sent up here to
+find this Little Brass God.  When we find it, we'll know whether
+the man who stole it was a common thief, or whether he was sent by
+interested parties to do the job.  No living person can open the
+Little Brass God without first learning the way to do it.  In fact,
+the only way the toy can be opened by one unfamiliar with the
+secret is to break it open with an axe!  And that would hardly be
+done, as the little fellow is rather a cute plaything."
+
+"And so, if the will is there, a burglar stole it.  And if the will
+is not there, some one interested in the disposition of the
+property walked away with it!  Is that it?"
+
+"That's the way we figure it out!" Will answered.  "And in the
+meantime," he continued, "an older will is being offered for
+probate.  If the Little Brass God fails to disclose the last will,
+the property will go to a young man who was intensely hated and
+despised by the man who built up the fortune.  Simon Tupper will
+turn over in his grave if Howard Sigsbee, his nephew, has the
+handling of that money."
+
+"I can't see how that's going to get Simon anything!" grinned Tommy.
+
+"Now," George asked, "why do they think the Little Brass God was
+brought into the Hudson Bay country?"
+
+"We have traced it to an antique shop on lower State street," Will
+answered.  "From there to the shabby parlor of a fourth rate
+boarding house on Dearborn avenue, from there into the possession
+of a French Canadian who hunts and fishes in the Moose river
+district."
+
+"That's pretty straight!" George agreed.
+
+"How do they know this French Canadian got this Little Brass God
+out of town?" asked Sandy.  "You take a French Canadian of the
+trapper sort, and get him well tanked, and he'll sell the ears off
+his head for another drink of brandy.  Perhaps he hocked the Little
+Brass God."
+
+"If he did," Will answered, "the search must begin all over again!"
+
+"Who put this will in the tummy of this Little Brass God?" asked
+Tommy.
+
+"The man who made it--Simon Tupper," answered Will.
+
+"Did he tell anyone where it was?"
+
+"On his deathbed, he told Frederick Tupper, his nephew, where to
+find it.  It's a pity the young man didn't remove the document and
+file it in probate court.  It would have saved a lot of bother."
+
+"But he didn't," George suggested, "and that gives us a fine trip
+to the Hudson Bay country."
+
+"When was the house of this Frederick Tupper burglarized?" asked
+Sandy.
+
+"On the night following the death of the old gentleman."
+
+"Had the villain of the drama, this Howard Sigsbee, any knowledge
+concerning the hiding place of the will?"
+
+"He was not believed to have."
+
+"Do they think he went there and got the will himself?"
+
+"Huh!" objected Tommy.  "If he'd gone after the will himself, he'd
+have taken it out of the Little Brass God and carried it away with
+him.  And he'd have made a pile of ashes of it in about one minute,
+at that!"
+
+"Perhaps he couldn't open up the merry little chap," Sandy
+suggested.
+
+"We don't know whether he understood the secret or not," Will
+answered.  "All we know is that the Little Brass God was still
+intact a week after it had been stolen."
+
+"Then he knew the combination, or he didn't get the will!" argued
+George.
+
+"Anyhow!" Tommy laughed, "we've got only about a million or more
+miles of country to search over for a little brass god about -----"
+
+"Say, just how big is this Little Brass God?" asked Sandy.
+
+"He's about six inches in height, and three inches across his dirty
+shoulders, and he certainly is about the ugliest specimen of a
+heathen beast that ever came down the pike."
+
+"What would that French Canadian buy him for?" asked George.
+
+"That's another thing we've got to find out," replied Will.
+
+Tommy was about to ask another question when Will held up a hand
+for silence.  The leaping flames were sending long streamers of
+light into the thicket on either side and over the glistening
+waters of Moose river.  The circle of illumination extended for
+some distance on every side, except at the back of the tents, where
+the level ground lay in shadows.
+
+As the boys listened, the soft sound of a moccasined foot came to
+their ears.  It seemed only a yard away, and yet it was not in
+sight.  George dashed to the back of the tents, followed by a sharp
+cry of alarm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE CABIN IN THE SWAMP
+
+When George reached the rear of the tent he saw a crouching figure
+there.  A hole had been cut in the cloth, and the fellow was gazing
+into the tent.  He was dressed in woodsman's attire, leather jacket
+and leggins and fur cap.  The gold rings in his ears quivered and
+glistened as the light of the fire struck them.
+
+As George rounded the tent the spy turned and ran for the forest.
+Without a thought as to the ultimate result, George followed along
+behind.  For some distance the lad kept pace with the mysterious
+visitor, but, of course, it was impossible for him to do so for any
+great length of time, as the fugitive was well versed in woodcraft,
+while George was not.
+
+After a time George lost sight of the fellow entirely, but could
+still keep track of him by the noise he made in passing through the
+thicket.  It was quite evident that the intruder now believed that
+pursuit, had entirely ceased, for he made his way more leisurely
+through the swampy growth, and seemed to pay no attention whatever
+to the sounds of his passage.
+
+Using great caution, the boy finally gained the hummock and stood
+looking at the dark bulk of a log cabin which stood in the center.
+He listened for a long time but all was silent inside.  Presently
+he circled the place and came to a small opening which was more
+like a loop-hole than a window.  There was a glass pane here, and
+through it he saw that there was a fire on the inside.
+
+By this time the lad was shivering with cold, not having taken the
+time to provide himself with heavy clothing before leaving the camp
+in pursuit of the spy.  As he glanced through the glazed opening he
+saw a great fire of logs blazing in a rudely made fireplace at one
+end of the room.  He moved on until he found a door.
+
+"Perhaps the owner of this log mansion will think I'm pretty prompt
+in returning his call," the lad mused as he knocked softly at the
+door.  "But, all the same, I'm going to give him the pleasure of my
+company until I can get warm."
+
+There was no response to the knock, and so George opened the door
+and entered.  There was no one in front of the fire; no one in any
+of the rude chairs.  The boy stood looking about the room for a
+moment and then walked back to three bunks fastened against the
+wall, one above the other.
+
+When he reached the front of the sleeping places an exclamation of
+alarm came from a bundle of furs and blankets on the lower bunk and
+a boy's frightened face gazed up at him.  The boy sat observing the
+other with evident suspicion for a moment, until his eyes caught
+sight of the Boy Scout medals which adorned the sleeve of the lad's
+coat.
+
+Then he extended an arm in the full salute of the Boy Scouts of
+America, and sat back with a grin on his face to note the result.
+
+"Beaver Patrol; Chicago," he said directly.
+
+"I know you," George said with an exclamation of surprise.  "You're
+Thede Carson, and you're about the toughest little wharf rat in
+Chicago!"
+
+"That's a nice recommend for a patrol leader to give one of his
+scouts," grinned the boy.  "You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"
+
+"The last time I saw you," George said, smiling at the memory, "you
+were diving into the South Branch to keep out of sight of a police
+boat."
+
+"I remember that," grinned Thede.  "They said I'd been swiping
+bananas up in Gambler's alley, and that wasn't true."
+
+"Well, how in the name of all the seven wonders of the world did
+you get into the Hudson Bay country?" demanded George.
+
+"Old Finklebaum," answered Thede.
+
+"Old Finklebaum?" repeated George.  "Do you mean the old Shylock
+who does business under the three balls down on State street? You
+can't mean that he had anything to do with your appearance here?"
+
+"You bet he did have something to do with my being here!" Thede
+insisted.  "You see, it's just this way: Old Finklebaum says to me
+one day, 'I'll take the hair off Ikey's head for selling that
+Little Brass God!'"
+
+George gave a quick start of surprise at the mention of the very
+article the Boy Scouts had come to the Hudson Bay country in quest
+of, but checked himself in a second.
+
+"What did he have a--a--what did you say it was?--if he didn't want
+to sell it?" asked the boy in assumed surprise.
+
+"He did want to sell it up to that very day," was the reply, "but
+no one wanted to buy it.  Then a man came into the shop and said
+he'd give a thousand dollars for it on sight.  So Finklebaum,
+having the Little Brass God within a foot of his hawkbill nose,
+takes the man's address and says he'll let him know if he hears
+anything about the thing in demand.  Finklebaum thinks that if the
+man'll pay one thousand dollars for it, he'll pay five, and that's
+why he loses out."
+
+George's interest was now so intense that the boy ceased speaking
+and sat regarding him steadily for a moment.
+
+"What do you know about the Little Brass God?" he demanded.
+
+"Nothing," replied George.  "Never saw it!"
+
+"Seems to me you're pretty much interested in it, though,"
+commented the boy, rising from the bunk and taking a seat before
+the fire.
+
+"I was thinking about Old Finklebaum cheating himself by getting
+too gay," answered George.  "Go on, and tell me about it!"
+
+"So when this man who offers the thousand dollars leaves the shop,"
+Thede continued, "Finklebaum chases out to a dealer in antiques to
+make inquiries about the Little Brass God.  I guess he thinks it's
+some East India idol, or something of that kind, and that his
+fortune is made."
+
+"Supposing it should be an East India idol!" exclaimed George,
+
+"It may be, for all I know," Thede replied.  "Anyhow, while old
+Finklebaum was out trying to find out how much his Little Brass God
+was worth, little Ikey sold it for a ten dollar note."
+
+"Oh my, oh my, oh my!" laughed George.  "I'll bet there was a merry
+old time when Finklebaum returned and found the ten dollar note in
+the drawer and the Little Brass God gone."
+
+"Such a racket as never was!" declared Thede, laughing at the
+recollection of the scene.  "I was in the shop," he went on,
+"getting out some articles Mother Murphy had been borrowing money
+on, and heard all that took place."
+
+"Go on and tell me about it."
+
+"Old Finklebaum said he was just plumb ruined.  He said he'd snatch
+Ikey bald-headed, and do a lot of other things to him, if he didn't
+walk right out into State street and bring back that Little Brass
+God.  Holy Moses!  You ought to have seen how scared Little Ikey
+was!"
+
+"Could he describe the man who bought the Little Brass God?"
+inquired George in a tone intended to be indifferent.
+
+"Oh, yes!" replied Thede.  "Ikey said the man wore a leather jacket
+with a red belt around the waist, a fur cap and rings in his ears.
+So Ikey was sent out to find the fellow, and I asked Old Finklebaum
+what he'd give me if I'd bring back the Little Brass God.  He says
+he'll give me a hundred dollars the minute I put it in his hands,
+and I ducked down State street in search of this gink with the
+rings in his ears."
+
+"And didn't find him?"
+
+"If I had you wouldn't find me up here in this beastly country,"
+replied Thede.  "That is," the boy went on, "if I had found him
+with the Little Brass God in his possession."
+
+"So you really did find him?" questioned George.
+
+"Yes, I ran across him in a saloon down near Twelfth street, and
+stuck to him like a bulldog to a cat's back for two days and
+nights."
+
+"Why didn't you go and tell Finklebaum where he was, and let him do
+the watching?  That's what you should have done!"
+
+"Not for mine!" answered the other.  "Old Finklebaum would have
+taken the case out of my hands, and fooled me out of my hundred
+simoleons.  I follows this gink around until he becomes sociable
+and sort of adopts me.  I gets into his furnished room down on
+Eldridge court and searches it during his absence.  There ain't no
+Little Brass God there!"
+
+'"Did you ever get your eyes on it?" asked George.
+
+"Never!" was the reply.  "But he acts funny all the time, and I
+think he's got it hidden.  When he gets ready to come back to the
+Hudson Bay country he asks me how I'd like to come up north with
+him and learn to be a trapper, so I says that if there's anything
+on earth I want to be it's a trapper, and I come up here, making
+him think I'm after fur, when all the time I'm after the Little
+Brass God."
+
+"Are you sure the man you followed is the man who brought the toy?"
+asked George, "You might have picked up the wrong man, you know."
+
+"No I didn't!" replied Thede.  "I've heard this man, Pierre,
+muttering and talking in his sleep, and I know he has the Little
+Brass God hidden.  I'll go back to Chicago some day with it in my
+possession and Old Finklebaum will pay me a couple of thousand or
+he'll never get hold of it again!  Won't it be a great story to
+tell the boys on State street about the times I'm having up here."
+
+The door opened and Pierre entered, anger flashing from his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+LOST IN THE STORM
+
+"What you do here?" demanded Pierre, standing with his back against
+the door and facing George with a snarl of hate and suspicion.
+
+"I got lost!" was the quick reply.
+
+"You go 'way!" shouted the trapper.
+
+"Aw, what's the matter with letting him stay here all night?" asked
+Thede.  "These boys are hunting and fishing, and the kid got lost
+in the swamp.  He's all right!"
+
+"He follow me!" insisted Pierre.
+
+"Sure, I did!" George replied, trying to give the impression that
+the matter was rather a good joke on himself.  "I heard you
+smashing through the bushes and I thought you were some kind of a
+wild animal, and so I followed you up.  I got so far away from camp
+that I couldn't find my way back.  Then I saw your light and came
+here."
+
+"Where your gun?" demanded Pierre, pointing suspiciously to the
+boy's empty hands.  "You no shoot without gun!"
+
+George drew an automatic from his pocket and held it up in the
+firelight.  Pierre eyed it enviously.
+
+"We hunt with these things!" the boy said.
+
+Pierre continued to regard the boy with suspicion, for a long time
+but he finally seated himself before the fire and began to grumble
+because Thede had not been more active in the preparations for
+supper.
+
+"It's a wonder you wouldn't come home and get supper yourself once
+in a while!" exclaimed the boy, "You needn't think I came up here
+in the cold to wait on you, Old Hoss!" the lad added with a wink at
+George.  "I didn't leave my happy home for any such menial service."
+
+Pierre grumbled out a few sentences in mongrel French and proceeded
+to prepare a solitary meal.  Thede winked at George and began
+cooking enough supper for both of them.
+
+George was thinking fast while the boy was sweating before the
+scorching heat of the fire.  He was wondering whether Thede had
+told him the exact truth concerning his connection with Pierre.  He
+was wondering, too, whether the boy had told all he knew of the
+Little Brass God.
+
+Here were two parties in the Northern wilderness in quest of the
+same thing!  It occurred to the wondering boy that Pierre might
+have been sent into the Hudson Bay country in quest of the
+individual who had purchased the Little Brass God at the
+pawnbroker's shop.
+
+This, he argued, would be just about what Finklebaum would be
+likely to do.  On the discovery of his loss, he would naturally
+seek some one familiar with the northern country and dispatch them
+in quest of the lost prize.  In case this should prove to be the
+fact, the boy Thede might not have been taken into the confidence
+of the two men.
+
+He might be telling what he believed to be the truth concerning the
+matter.  The advantages to the pawnbroker of this secret
+arrangement would be many.  In the first place, anyone following
+Pierre would naturally suppose him to be the person having
+possession of the Little Brass God.  This would naturally cause
+investigators to entirely lose sight of the real possessor in
+shadowing the man sent out to recover the article.
+
+Another point which the boy considered was the possibility of the
+Little Brass God having been robbed of his treasure before being
+placed in the pawnshop.  This idea, however, he soon rejected for
+the reason that no one would know better than the man who inspired
+the larceny whether the will was still retained in the cavity of
+the toy.  Had he secured the document, he would be the last one to
+offer a high reward for the return of the odd casket in which it
+had been contained.
+
+While the boy puzzled over the case, Pierre and Thede sat down to
+their evening meal.  George was invited to join them in the repast,
+but declined on the ground that he had eaten supper not long
+before.  After the meal was over, Pierre took up his rifle and left
+the cabin, scowling at George over his shoulder as he took his
+departure.
+
+"He's pretty sore about your being here," grinned Thede.
+
+"I don't know why he should be."
+
+"Perhaps he thinks you've come up here to steal this little Brass
+God."
+
+The boy was very anxious to get back to his chums in order that the
+situation might be thoroughly discussed.  They were in the Hudson
+Bay country in quest of the Little Brass God, and here was Thede on
+the same mission.  It seemed to him that if Pierre had really had
+the toy in his possession, Thede would have caught sight of it, at
+least,
+
+The more he thought of this phase of the case, the more he was
+inclined to believe that Pierre was also in search of the Little
+Brass God.
+
+"Pierre will be apt to raise a howl if I leave the cabin alone,"
+the boy finally said.  "He's fierce when he gets mad!"
+
+"You don't seem to be afraid of him," replied, George.
+
+"I'm afraid of him all right," the other replied, "but I don't
+intend to let him know it.  I've got one of these billies inside my
+coat, all the time, and if he tries any funny business with me I'll
+knock his block off!"
+
+"He could cut you into shoestrings while you are asleep!"
+
+"Yes, I suppose so, but be won't do anything of the kind!"
+
+"Well, come on over to camp," urged George.  "It isn't so very much
+of a walk.  I guess we can make it in half an hour."
+
+Thede hesitated, but finally dressed himself for a cold journey,
+and fixed the fire so that no damage might be done by it during his
+absence.
+
+"How long has Pierre lived in this cabin?" asked George, as the
+boys started out.  "It looks like an old building."
+
+"I guess he found it standing here deserted and just moved in," was
+the reply.  "I don't think he knows much about this country."
+
+"Do you think he has any idea that the Little Brass God is in such
+great demand?" asked George.  "No, I don't think he has."
+
+"Then, why should he keep it hidden away, even from you, three
+hundred miles away from civilization?  I should think he'd want to
+have the thing out once in a while, just to take a look at it,
+anyway."
+
+"I should think so," agreed Thede.
+
+The boys made their way over the morass and entered the thick
+undergrowth.  Now and then George flashed his electric, but he did
+not keep it burning steadily for the reason that he did not care to
+have Pierre trailing them back to the camp.
+
+"Are you sure you passed this way when you came to the cabin?"
+asked Thede as they walked along.  "I don't seem to find any trail
+here."
+
+"It seems to me I came along here," was the reply.  "If it wasn't
+so blasted dark, we could tell whether we were going in the right
+direction or not, all right!"
+
+As the boy spoke, he lifted a hand to his face and raised the net
+which protected his features from the mosquitos, still flying
+about, although the night, apparently, was cold enough to freeze
+their wings stiff.
+
+"They won't bother you much more," Thede commented.
+
+"How do you know that?"
+
+"Because there's a snow storm coming up!"
+
+"Then we'd better be getting a move on!" advised George.  "If we
+get caught up here in a snow storm, it'll be 'Good-night' for us!"
+
+"We're going as fast as we can," replied Thede, "but I don't know
+whether we're going in the right direction or not.  It seems like
+we've walked far enough to be at the camp."
+
+In five minutes the searchlight revealed a drift of snow in the
+air, and ten minutes later the ground was white.  A cold wind blew
+out of the north, shifting at times to the west, and the boys
+shivered under the chill of it.  Still no welcome light from the
+camp.
+
+"Can you find your way back to the cabin?" asked George after they
+had walked at least an hour.
+
+"We've got to find our way somewhere pretty soon!" the other
+replied.  "If we don't, we'll freeze to death!"
+
+The boys walked for what seemed to them two hours more, and then
+Thede, who was in advance, stumbled over a tree bole lying at the
+foot of a gentle slope.  He rose rubbing his elbow and turned the
+flashlight toward the front.
+
+"I know where we are now," he said.  "We're about eight miles from
+the cabin.  This place here is called Bear Ridge, and it's about
+the only collection of rocks and caverns that I know of in this
+district."
+
+"Can't we find a cavern to crawl into?" asked George, his teeth
+chattering with the cold.
+
+"If we find a cavern," advised Thede, "we're likely to find a
+couple of bears packed away in it!"
+
+"I don't care if there are a hundred bears!" grumbled George.
+"I'll freeze to death if I stay out in this snow another minute!"
+
+After a long and difficult climb the boys came to a ledge of rock
+and crawled into a small opening revealed by the searchlight.
+
+"The beds are all full tonight, I guess," George said shivering.
+"I hear Bruin kicking about being disturbed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A BOY SCOUT TRICK
+
+"Where's that fool boy going now?" asked Tommy as George, in
+pursuit of the spy, dashed into the thicket.
+
+"What did he see back here that caused him to let out a yell like
+that?" asked Sandy.
+
+"I don't believe he saw anything!" Will declared.  "He just thought
+he'd give us a good scare by pretending he'd bumped into a band of
+Indians, or something like that."
+
+The boys looked over the ground in the rear of the tent, and
+finally Tommy came to the place where the spy had punctured the
+canvas.
+
+"Who made this hole in the tent?" he asked.
+
+The boys gathered around the opening through which the spy had
+inspected the interior of the tent, and looked at each other with
+wonder expressed on their faces.  Tommy was first to speak.
+
+"George must have caught a man here looking in," he said.
+
+"That's why he disappeared so suddenly," Will argued.
+
+"Yes, he was chasing the Peeping Tom," Sandy agreed.
+
+"I wish we knew the direction they took," Will mused.  "The boy may
+get into serious trouble, chasing off into the forest along in the
+night.  He should have told us of his discovery so one of us could
+have gone with him!  We may be able to find him yet."
+
+"Aw, he'll come back before long!" Tommy argued.  "He can't make
+any headway out there in the underbrush, and the fellow who was
+here will probably run away from him before he gets three rods from
+the tent."
+
+"I hope so!" answered Will.
+
+"But what was that gink prowling around the tent for?" asked Sandy.
+"That must have been the same fellow we heard using the paddle a
+short time ago.  If it is, he's mighty liberal with his bullets!"
+
+"I'm anxious about that boy," Will broke in.  "I wish he'd come
+back!"
+
+"Yes, this isn't a very desirable country to be lost in in the
+night!" Tommy admitted.  "He ought not to have gone away."
+
+"What do you make of this gink prowling around our tent?" asked
+Sandy.  "Do you think he's doing it out of curiosity, or because he
+has an inkling of what we're up here after?"
+
+"Huh!  How would any one away off up here know anything about the
+Little Brass God?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"Look here," Will argued.  "The Little Brass God is stolen from
+this house on Drexel Boulevard.  Enclosed in a cavity in the toy is
+a will disposing of several million dollars worth of property.  The
+Little Brass God is finally sold to a pawn-broker, who in turn
+disposes of it to a trapper known to belong in the Hudson Bay
+district."
+
+"That's a fair statement," answered Tommy.
+
+"Now, Mr. Horton, attorney for the man who is in quest of the lost
+will, and Sigsbee, the man interested in probating the previous
+will, both know of the final disposition of the Little Brass God.
+At least, Frederick Tupper knows that it was taken from the pawn
+shop by a Hudson Bay trapper, and it is believed that Sigsbee
+possesses the same information."
+
+"Of course, they both know about it," agreed Sandy.
+
+"Now, why shouldn't they both send people up here in quest of the
+Little Brass God?" Will continued.
+
+"But suppose this man Sigsbee doesn't know anything about the will
+being in the belly of the Little Brass God?" suggested Tommy.
+
+"We believe he does know all about it!" said Will.
+
+"And do you believe, too, that he hired a burglar to go and steal
+the Little Brass God?" asked Sandy.
+
+"As I said before," Will answered, "we don't know anything about
+that.  The Little Brass God may have been taken by a burglar who
+was simply in quest of plunder.  The whole thing resolves itself
+into this: If the really, truly burglar stole the toy and sold it
+to the pawn-broker, the will is in the ugly little chap's belly.
+If Sigsbee hired the burglar he took the will out before the
+trinket was sold at the pawn-shop.  In that case, he would be the
+last one to send an expedition up here to retrieve the toy.  And so
+you see," Will continued, "that we don't know anything about it."
+
+"Well it's funny that gink should come prowling around our tents on
+the first night of our arrival!" Tommy exclaimed.  "According to
+all accounts, he should have come sneaking into camp looking for a
+drink of brandy.  The fact that he ran away when discovered shows
+that he wasn't here for any honest purpose."
+
+"Well, what are we going to do?" demanded Sandy.  "Let's give the
+Little Brass God a rest long enough to make up our minds about
+George."
+
+"We can't do anything until morning," Will interposed.
+
+"How do you know we can't?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"Because it's dark, and because we know nothing about the country,"
+replied Will.
+
+The boys sat before the fire until midnight listening for the
+return of their chum.  When it began to snow they reluctantly
+decided that George had crawled into some temporary shelter for the
+night and would not think of trying to make his way home through
+the storm.
+
+"You boys go to bed now," Will advised, "and I'll sit up and keep
+watch.  If you hear me firing how and then, don't think the camp's
+been attacked.  George may be lost in the woods, and I'll be doing
+that to give him the right direction."
+
+"We should have done that before," Tommy suggested.
+
+"Well, get to bed," Will urged, "and I'll run the camp till
+morning."
+
+Tommy and Sandy crawled into the tent which stood nearest to the
+great campfire and cuddled up in the warm blankets.
+
+"Do you believe Will will stay in camp until morning?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Of course I don't," was the reply.  "He'll wait until we're
+asleep, and then he'll go prowling around the camp in search of
+George."
+
+"That's just about what he'll do."
+
+"What's your idea, then?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Well," Tommy whispered, "George may be out in the snow somewhere,
+and it won't take us very long to circle about the camp just to
+make sure."
+
+"I got you!" replied Sandy.  "We'll get out under the back wall,
+and take a little trip with our searchlights."
+
+Half an hour later, when Will, heavily wrapped, glanced in at the
+tent preparatory to going out on his quiet search for the missing
+chum, ho saw that the blankets were empty.
+
+"The little scamps?" he chuckled.  "They've beaten me to it!"
+
+In the meantime, Tommy and Sandy were making their way through the
+wilderness traveling in the narrow light provided by the electrics.
+By this time the snow was quite deep, and the wind appeared to be
+rising every minute.
+
+"We never can get home in this storm if we once lose sight of the
+campfire," Tommy said as the two huddled together in the lee of a
+big tree.
+
+"That's a fact!" Sandy admitted.  "So I guess we'd better be poking
+along.  Which way is the fire?"
+
+"Why, it ought to be right over there!" replied Tommy doubtfully.
+
+"Over where?" demanded Sandy, with a note of alarm in his voice.
+
+"Blessed if I know!" declared Tommy, sitting flat down in the snow.
+
+The boys walked round and round the tree and made little excursions
+in every direction without getting a single trace of the campfire.
+
+"I guess we've gone and done it now!" Tommy grunted.
+
+"Aw, we can find our way back all right enough!" Sandy declared.
+"We came north when we left the camp, didn't we?"
+
+"Guess we did," replied Tommy, his teeth rattling with the cold.
+
+"Then all we've got to do is to follow the wind and we'll strike
+the tents.  That's some Boy Scout forestry sense, isn't it?"
+
+"We'll wait until we see whether it brings us back to camp or not,"
+replied Tommy.  "If it does, it's all right; if it doesn't, it's
+all wrong."
+
+Had the boys proceeded straight north on leaving the camp, they
+would have doubtless returned to the lighted zone by keeping with
+the wind, if the wind had not shifted to the west soon after their
+departure from the camp.
+
+They walked for what seemed to them to be hours.  In fact, more
+than once they glanced about hoping to get their direction from a
+showing of daylight in the sky.
+
+"I don't believe it ever will be daylight again," grumbled Sandy,
+"and I move we stop right here and build a big fire."
+
+"Can we build a fire in all this ruck?" asked Tommy.
+
+"You bet we can!" was the answer.  "What are we Boy Scouts good for
+if we can't build a fire in a storm?"
+
+They cleared a little space in the snow and Tommy brought a handful
+of dry bark.  Shielding the flickering blaze as much as possible,
+the boy applied the match he had struck to the bark.  The fire
+which resulted could have been started in a teacup.
+
+About this he built a skeleton tent of bits of dry soft wood from
+six to nine inches in length.  His fire was now as large as an
+ordinary kettle.  Next, the boys threw larger boughs on the blaze,
+and finally succeeded in surrounding it by large logs.
+
+"There's one thing about it," Tommy declared as they warmed their
+hands over the blaze, "there won't any wild animals take a bite out
+of us as long as we keep near this fire!"
+
+"I wish George would come poking along in," Sandy commented.  "I
+believe I'll go out in the thicket after I get warm and see if he
+isn't somewhere in this vicinity.  I thought I heard a call over
+there just a moment ago."
+
+"Listen, then," Tommy advised.  "If some one called, we're likely
+to hear a repetition of the sound."
+
+Sure enough, the call came again as the boys huddled over the fire.
+It came down with the wind and seemed to be rapidly drawing nearer.
+
+"That sounds to me like a boy's voice," Sandy suggested.
+
+"Sounds more like a half-breed to me!" Tommy answered.
+
+"He's stopped coming on, anyway." Sandy exclaimed in a moment.
+
+"Perhaps he's tumbled down in the snow!" Tommy argued.
+
+"In that case, we'd better be getting out where he is," said Sandy.
+
+The boys both left the fire and darted out into the darkness,
+listening for the call but hearing only the roaring of the wind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE CAVE OP THE TWO BEARS
+
+"Bears?" exclaimed George, as the lads listened in front of the
+cave, "do you think there are polar bears up here?  I think it's
+cold enough for the big white variety."
+
+"Put your head inside the cave," Thede suggested, "and you won't be
+wondering whether there are any bears here."
+
+George did as requested, and soon the warm animal odor noticeable
+in the various zoos of the country attacked his nostrils.
+
+"What kind of bears are they?" he asked.
+
+"I've heard Pierre say there were black and brown bears," replied
+Thede.  "You know I haven't been in here only a few days."
+
+"I wonder if they'll bite."
+
+"Stick your arm in there and find out," Thede answered.
+
+"I don't believe they'll jump on us if we keep our light going,"
+George argued.  "Anyway," he went on, "we've got to get somewhere
+out of this wind and snow.  If we don't, we'll freeze to death!"
+
+Very slowly and cautiously the boys made their way into the cavern.
+It was a small place, not more than six feet in width and twice
+that in depth, and the electric revealed about all there was inside.
+
+Two black huddles of fur showed under the finger of light, and as
+the boys crept on, George with his automatic ready for use, two
+pair of surly, pig-like eyes became visible.
+
+The animals stirred restlessly as the boys advanced and finally
+began edging toward one side of the cave, as if seeking a way out.
+
+"Get out of the entrance," advised George as soon as both animals
+were on their feet, "and we'll give them a chance to escape."
+
+This plan was followed, and, much to the delight of the youngsters,
+the animals sprang outside and for a moment disappeared in the
+darkness.
+
+"It's a shame to turn the poor creatures out in this storm!" George
+declared.  "Perhaps they were just entering upon their long
+winter's sleep."
+
+"We didn't order them out!" grinned Thede.  "It amounts to the same
+thing," George responded.  "They've gone away, and are likely to
+freeze to death."
+
+"If you think they've gone away," Thede replied, "just turn your
+light toward the entrance.  They're not going to give up their warm
+nest without a scrap, and I can't say that I blame them for it."
+
+It was considerably warmer in the cave and, out of the tempest, the
+boys were quite comfortable in their thick clothing.  They huddled
+together at the far end of the cavern, and George kept the light
+turned, on the two bears, who were now growling savagely.
+
+"Why don't you shoot?" asked Thede.
+
+"What's the use of shooting until I have to?" demanded George.
+"They can come in here if they want to, if they'll only behave
+themselves."
+
+"If they try to come in here," declared Thede, "I'll go up in the
+air about nine hundred feet."
+
+Although they did not attempt to re-enter the cavern, the bears
+kept close to the entrance.  It was clear that only the light of
+the electric kept them from attacking the boys.
+
+"They'll stay right there till morning," exclaimed Thede, "and
+we'll have to shoot them anyway before we can get out.  They are
+kicking themselves now," he continued with a grin, "because they
+let us in here without a battle.  I wish we understood bear talk so
+that we could learn what they're saying to each other."
+
+"Nothing very complimentary to us," George declared.
+
+As the night advanced it grew colder and the boys moved about in
+quest of a more sheltered corner.  They could still hear the bears
+moving about outside, but paid no attention to them.
+
+"Look here," George said presently, as the search-light rested for
+a moment on a break in the rock.  "I wouldn't wonder at all if we
+could get further under the hill.  There's an opening here which
+looks wide enough for us to crawl through."
+
+"It's a wonder the bears didn't find it then," commented Thede.
+
+"I'm going to see whether I can get through it or not," George
+insisted.  "It may be a warmer corner.  Anyway, it'll give us
+exercise, and that's what we need about this time."
+
+Throwing the spear of light into the crevice, the boy glanced
+keenly about.  The walls of the opening seemed to be smooth, and to
+extend only a short distance.  Just below where the walls broke he
+could see the brown floor of another cavern."
+
+"I guess it's all right," he said to Thede.  "You take the light
+and hold it down and I'll scramble in.  May as well break my neck
+as to freeze to death."
+
+"Let me take your hand, then," advised Thede, "so yon can be pulled
+back if you don't like the looks of the new furnished room."
+
+"I'd like to be in a furnished room on Washington boulevard just
+this minute," George broke in.
+
+"I wouldn't mind a good box in Gamblers' alley," said Thede.
+
+When all was ready Thede gave one hand to George and lowered him
+down to the full length of both arms.
+
+"All right!" George cried in a moment, "I can feel my toes touching
+the rock.  Let go!  You drop down now, and I'll steady you when you
+light."
+
+Both boys were soon in the lower cavern and a moment following
+their arrival there, they heard the claws of the bears rattling on
+the rocks above.
+
+"I've heard Pierre tell about caves in this range of hills," Thede
+said, "but I never knew that they had caves two stories high."
+
+As the boy ceased speaking, George suddenly shut off his flash
+light and laid a hand on the other's arm.
+
+"What's that for -----"
+
+"Keep still!" whispered George.  "Do you see anything?"
+
+"Looks to me like a light," the other replied.
+
+"Looks like a fire, doesn't it?" asked George.
+
+"It certainly is a fire and there's a man sitting in front of it."
+
+The fire showed at the end of a narrow passage, perhaps ten or
+twelve yards away.  It was blazing vigorously, and the cavern in
+which it stood was well clouded with smoke.  It was evident that
+the watcher by the fire was as yet unconscious of the approach of
+the two boys.
+
+"I wish we could get to that fire!" George said with a shiver.
+
+"And why not?"
+
+"I don't think he'd be hiding here if he was keeping open house,"
+replied George.  "He may be an outlaw hiding from the police.  And
+in that case he wouldn't relish the idea of his underground retreat
+being discovered, even by two boys who want to get warm."
+
+"Anyway," Thede insisted, "I'm going to crawl up close and see what
+I can find out.  That fire looks good to me."
+
+The boys advanced cautiously, with George a little in advance.  The
+man at the fire sat with his chin on his breast as if in sound
+sleep.
+
+"I don't believe he'd say anything if we walked right in on him,"
+Thede declared.  "If he does, we can hold a gun on him and invite
+him to a more friendly mood."
+
+The man did not move as the boys came on, and George was about to
+call out to him when Thede caught him by the shoulder.
+
+"Don't you dare make a motion!" the boy whispered.  "Stand still
+where you are and look to the little shelf of rock on the other
+side of the fire."
+
+George looked, and his automatic and his searchlight almost
+clattered to the floor as his eyes rested on something which
+glittered like gold in the red light of the fire.  He turned to
+Thede, and there was a tremor in his voice as he whispered in his
+ear.
+
+"Do you know what that is?" he asked.
+
+"I think I know what it is!" was the whispered reply.
+
+"It's the Little Brass God!" whispered George excitedly.  "And I'm
+going to sneak over there and lay my hands on it before that fellow
+wakes up!"
+
+"You never can do it!" advised Thede.
+
+"I've just got to do it!"
+
+"If that is the real Little Brass God, how did it ever get here?"
+whispered Thede.  "Strangest thing I ever heard of."
+
+"Gee whiz!" whispered George.  "We mustn't stand around wondering
+how it got here.  The thing for us to do right now is to get
+possession of it.  I believe I can get over there without waking
+that fellow up."
+
+"Let me take your gun, then," Thede advised, "and if he moves or
+makes any funny breaks, I'll keep him under cover!"
+
+George handed his gun over to the boy without a word and moved on
+toward the fire.  It was clear that the man was asleep, his chin
+resting on his breast, his shoulders supported by a wall of rock.
+
+The thing which glittered on the ledge, now almost within reaching
+distance, was unquestionably the Little Brass God, the quest of
+which had brought the boys into the Hudson Bay country.
+
+George had never set eyes on the toy, but there was no mistaking
+the crossed legs, the folded arms, the paunchy stomach, and the
+misshapen, leering face.  The boy heard a soft warning whispered
+from the opposite side of the room and turned his eyes from a
+greedy contemplation of the Little Brass God to the figure of the
+man crouching before the blaze.
+
+The fellow had lifted his head, and now sat staring at the boy with
+a dumb wonder in his eyes.  While the boy looked the expression
+changed from wonder to alarm, from alarm to anger, and then the
+doubled-up figure straightened and sprang forward.
+
+The boy heard a pistol shot, sensed the acrid smell of powder
+smoke, felt a muscular hand grasp the wrist which was extended
+toward the shelf of rock, and then a million stars seemed to be
+falling from the heavens.  There was a roar as of an ocean beating
+against breakers, and then a lull during which he heard another
+pistol shot.
+
+When the boy regained consciousness, daylight was creeping into the
+cavern through an opening much lower down than the one by which the
+boys had entered the upper cavern.
+
+The earth outside was covered with a thick mat of snow, and the
+trees and shrubs of the forest were bending beneath burdens of pure
+white.
+
+The fire had burned to ashes and it was miserably cold.
+
+The Little Brass God was gone!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+AN EMPTY CAVERN
+
+Perhaps a dozen yards from the fire, Tommy stumbled at a figure
+over which the falling snow was fast drifting.  He called out to
+Sandy, who was only a short distance away, and the two lifted the
+unconscious form in their arms and staggered toward the fire.
+
+"Why, it's nothing but a kid!" Sandy exclaimed.
+
+"Don't you know who it is?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"Never saw him before!" was the reply.
+
+"It's Thede Carson!"
+
+"Not that little monkey of a Thede Carson who's always getting the
+Beaver Patrol into trouble?" demanded Sandy.  "What would he be
+doing up here?  I guess you're losing the sense of sight."
+
+"Sure, it's Thede Carson," insisted Tommy.
+
+"Well, I guess he's about all in," Sandy volunteered.
+
+"Get busy then, with your first aid," Tommy ordered.  "Get some of
+his clothes off and get to work with snow, or his fingers and toes
+will drop off as soon as they thaw out."
+
+"I don't believe it's the cold so much as it is exhaustion," Sandy
+ventured.  "He seems to have been running a whole lot, for he's
+still panting, I reckon he just dropped down when he couldn't run
+any further."
+
+"I guess that's about right," Tommy admitted.  "He doesn't seem to
+be very cold.  It may be that wound on his head," the lad added,
+pointing to a long gash in the scalp which, judging from the state
+of the lad's clothing, had bled very freely.
+
+"What do you think of coming away up here in the Hudson Bay country
+and picking a member of the Beaver Patrol right out of the woods?"
+demanded Sandy.  "We seem to find Boy Scouts wherever we go."
+
+The boys worked over the exhausted lad some moments, and then he
+opened his eyes.
+
+"Now for the love of Mike!" exclaimed Tommy, "don't look around and
+say 'Where am I?'  The correct thing to say in these modern days is
+'Vot iss?'  Do you get me, Thede?"
+
+"Why, it's Tommy!" said the boy.
+
+"Betcher life!" returned Tommy.  "Did you run all the way up here
+from Clark street?  Or did you come up in an aeroplane?"
+
+Thede sat up and looked about for the tents and the boats.
+
+"Why, this isn't the camp!" he said.
+
+"We haven't got any more camp than a rabbit!" declared Sandy.
+"We're lost!  We've got to wait till morning to find our way back."
+
+"It's a good thing you're lost!" exclaimed Thede.  "I don't think I
+could have held out until I reached the camp.  You see," he went on
+with a slight shudder at the recollection of his experiences, "I
+left George a long distance off."
+
+"Left George?" repeated Tommy.
+
+"I couldn't bring him with me," answered Thede, with a slow smile,
+
+"Where did you leave him?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"Why didn't he come with you?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Because," replied Thede, "just as he was reaching up to the wall
+of the cavern to take hold of the Little Brass God, he got a tunk
+on the coco that put him out for the count."
+
+"What do you know about the Little Brass God?" asked Tommy.
+
+"I've seen it!" answered Thede.  "It sat up on a shelf on the face
+of the wall, with its legs crossed, and its arms folded, and its
+wicked face telling me where I could go whether I wanted to or not."
+
+"I guess something's gone to your head!" declared Sandy.
+
+"But I'll tell you we found the Little Brass God!" declared Thede.
+"George came to the cabin, and we started out to find the camp, and
+got lost in the storm, and brought up in a cave inhabited by two
+bears."
+
+Sandy regarded Tommy significantly.
+
+"And we found a basement floor to the cavern, and went down the
+elevator and found a man asleep in front of a fire with the Little
+Brass God winking at him.  Funny fellow, that Little Brass God!"
+
+"You for the foolish house!" cried Tommy.
+
+"Honest, boys!" Thede declared.  "George came to the cabin and I
+started home with him after Pierre left us alone together.  The
+storm chased us into a cave, just as I told you, and we kept on
+going until we came to the place where the Little Brass God sat up
+on the wall making faces at a man asleep at the fire.'"
+
+"Go on!" exclaimed Tommy, at last understanding that the boy was in
+his right mind.  "Tell us about it!"
+
+"And George said he would get the Little Brass God without waking
+the man up.  So he gave me his gun, and I was to shoot in case the
+man made any trouble.  Then, just as George was reaching for the
+little Brass God, the man woke up and shot at him, Then the man
+shot at me, and I shot at him, and then he got my gun away from me
+and I ran out to find you."
+
+"And you left George there in the cavern?" asked Sandy.
+
+"I just had to!" was the reply.  "I couldn't do anything with that
+giant of a half-breed, and I didn't have a gun and so I ducked.
+
+"Can you take us back to that cavern now?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Sure I can," was the reply.
+
+"Oughtn't we to let Will know where we are?" asked Sandy.
+
+Tommy looked at Thede questioningly.
+
+"Can you tell us how to find the cavern?" he asked in a moment.
+
+"What for?" demanded the boy.  "I'm going to take you where it is."
+
+"You're about all in," declared Sandy, "and you ought to go to camp
+and rest up and tell Will where we've gone."
+
+"You couldn't find this cave in a thousand years," declared Thede.
+
+While the boys talked the wind died down, and the snow ceased
+falling.
+
+Presently a mist of daylight crept into the forest and then the
+boys crept out on their journey toward into ridge of hills.
+
+"Wasn't that a dream about your seeing the Little Brass God?" asked
+Tommy as they walked along.
+
+"Sure not," was the reply, "we both saw it, didn't we?"
+
+"Well, whoever told you anything about the Little Brass God?"
+demanded Sandy.  "How did you know there was a Brass God?"
+
+"Old Finklebaum told me.  He said he'd give me a hundred dollars if
+I found it, so I started in to earn that mazuma."
+
+In as few words as possible the boy repeated the story he had told
+George on the previous evening.
+
+"I guess you boys came up here looking for the Little Brass God,
+too, didn't you?" the boy asked, shrewdly, after a moment's
+hesitation.
+
+"We came up to hunt and fish!" laughed Tommy.
+
+"To hunt for the Little Brass God and fish for the man who bought
+it of the pawnbroker, I guess," laughed Thede.  "You boys never
+came clear up here just to chase through the snow after game when
+there's plenty of shooting three hundred miles to the south."
+
+"You say you think that Pierre is the man who bought the Little
+Brass God of the pawnbroker?" asked Sandy, as the boys stopped for
+a moment to rest.  "Is that the reason you followed him here?"
+
+"That's the reason!" was the reply.
+
+"He seemed perfectly willing to have you come?"
+
+"He welcomed me like a long lost brother!"
+
+"Then it's a hundred to one shot Pierre never got his hands on the
+Little Brass God!  Don't you see how suspicious he would have been
+if he had had the little brute in his possession?"
+
+"I didn't think of that!" replied Thede.  "Look here," the boy
+continued, "I'd like to know what all this fuss is about, anyway.
+Why should any one in his right mind give old Finklebaum a thousand
+dollars or five thousand dollars, for that piece of brass?  That's
+what gets me!"
+
+Tommy and Sandy looked at each other significantly but made no
+immediate reply.  In a moment Thede went on.
+
+"'Spose this should be a Little Brass God stolen from some temple
+away out in the wilds of India.  Suppose a delegation of East
+Indians should be sent here to get it.  Wouldn't they murder a
+score of men if they had to in order to get possession of it?"
+
+"They probably would," was the reply.
+
+After an hour's hard walking, the boys came to the foot of the
+ridge of hills and looked upward.  Thede pointed to the cavern
+where the two bears had been discovered.
+
+"There's where we went in," he explained, "but the cavern where the
+fire and the Little Brass God were is right under that one."
+
+"How're we going to get to it?"
+
+"If you want to take your chance on meeting the bears, you can drop
+down through the opening from the floor above."
+
+"But isn't there an opening to this lower cavern?"
+
+"Sure there is!  That's the one I ran out of!  Say," he continued,
+"that's the one we saw the man by the fire run out of, too.  You
+can see the tracks of his moccasins in the snow.  He must have left
+after the storm ceased.  My tracks were filled."
+
+"In we go, then!" cried Tommy, advancing lip the slight slope to
+the Up of the cavern.
+
+"Watch out for bears!" cried Thede.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A TRAPPER'S TREACHERY
+
+When Will, watching at the camp, found that Tommy and Sandy had
+disappeared, he had no idea that they would remain more than an
+hour or so.
+
+The long night passed, however, and the boys did not return.  When
+daylight came, Will built up a roaring fire and began preparing
+breakfast.
+
+It was his idea at that time that the boys had come together in the
+forest about the time the snow began falling, and had sought in
+some deserted shack temporary protection from the storm.
+
+"They'll be back here in a short time, hungry as bears!" he thought.
+
+Presently he heard some one advancing through the snow-covered
+thicket, and turned in that direction with an expectant smile.
+
+Instead of his chums he saw a half-breed in leather jacket and
+leggins and a fur cap approaching.  When the fellow reached the
+camp he made a quick and rather impertinent inspection of the tents
+before approaching the spot where the boy stood awaiting him.
+
+"Good morning!" Will said, not without a challenge in his voice.
+
+"Where are the boys?" asked the visitor.
+
+"Who are you?" demanded Will.
+
+"Pierre!" was the short reply.
+
+"Why do you ask about the boys?"
+
+Pierre explained in broken English that one of the boys who
+evidently belonged to the camp had coaxed his companion away.
+
+"Who is your companion?" asked Will, "and why do you come here
+looking for him?  Who was it that visited your cabin?"
+
+Pierre laboriously explained what had taken place on the previous
+evening, and Will listened with an anxious face.
+
+"And you left them there together, and when you returned they had
+disappeared?  Is that what you mean to say?"
+
+Pierre nodded.
+
+"He coax my boy away," he said sullenly.
+
+"Is this boy you speak of your son?" asked Will.
+
+"Chicago boy!" was the reply.
+
+"Why don't you go on and tell me all about the boy and about
+yourself?" inquired Will.  "What's the use of standing there
+grunting and trying to make me understand nods and scowls?"
+
+Pierre explained that he had been in Chicago to see the sights, had
+fallen in with Thede, and agreed to bring him into the forest with
+him.  His explanation was not very clear as he talked more mongrel
+French than English, so Will was not very well informed at the end
+of the recital.  Pierre looked suspicious as well as disappointed.
+
+"Well," Will explained to the half-breed after a moment's
+deliberation, "I suppose you'll turn in now and help me find the
+boys!"
+
+Pierre nodded and pointed toward the campfire.
+
+"Build him big!" he said.  "Boys come cold."
+
+Accepting the hint, Will piled great logs on the fire while the
+half-breed looked sullenly on.  The boy then dressed himself in his
+warmest clothing and the two set out together.
+
+"Have you any idea which way to go?" asked the boy.
+
+Pierre pointed away to the south.
+
+"Wind blow that way," he said.  "They follow the wind."
+
+Numerous times, as the two tramped through the snow together, Will
+caught the half-breed looking in his direction with eyes of hate.
+
+After proceeding some distance, he fell in behind Pierre, and so
+the two traveled through the wilderness, each suspicious and
+watchful of the other.  After walking an hour or more they came to
+a place where Tommy and Sandy had built their fire on the previous
+night.
+
+There the half-breed read the story written upon the snow like a
+book.  Pointing here and there, he explained to Will that two boys
+had been caught in the storm and had built a fire.  He showed, too,
+that a third boy had come plunging through the snow, nearly circled
+the camp, and came back toward the fire from the north.  Then he
+showed the tracks of three heading off to the south.
+
+"Do you think one of those boys was your companion?" asked Will.
+
+The half-breed answered that he was sure of it.
+
+"Then that leaves one of the boys still unaccounted for," Will
+mused.  "It looks to me," he went on, "as if your friend and George
+started away together and got lost.  Then your boy came back and
+found Tommy and Sandy and started away with them toward the place
+where he had left George.  Is that the way you look at it?"
+
+The half-breed grunted some sullen reply, and the two walked on
+together following the trail which led toward the range of hills.
+
+Instead of directly following the trail left by the boys, however,
+Pierre turned frequently to left and right, explaining that if
+enemies were about it was a trail which would be watched.
+
+They came to the cavern at last, and stood by the dying embers of
+the fire.  There was no one in sight.  Will examined the sloping
+surface of snow in front and found no tracks leading outward.
+
+"They must be in here somewhere!" he exclaimed.
+
+Pierre nodded his fur cap vigorously, and the two began a careful
+examination of the underground place.
+
+They found many little caves opening from the larger one, but no
+trace of the boys.  After a time a shout from Pierre drew Will to
+his side.  The fellow was peering into a crevice, in the rocky wall
+which seemed to lead for some distance under the hill.
+
+"Do you think they are hidden in there?" asked the boy.
+
+Pierre explained in his barely understandable dialect that he
+thought the boys might have escaped into the inner cavern and
+started to make their way out in another direction.
+
+"Then I'll go in after them," Will decided.
+
+Before entering he called shrilly into the cavern, but only the
+echoes came back to him.  By considerable squeezing, he managed to
+make his way through the opening.  He then found himself in a
+passage-like place, sloping upward.  As he threw his light about
+the interior, he heard a chuckle in the outer chamber where he had
+left Pierre.
+
+He turned in time to see the half-breed rolling great stones
+against the mouth of the narrow opening by means of which he had
+entered.
+
+"Hah!" sneered Pierre.  "You bring me trouble!"
+
+"What are you doing that for?" demanded Will.
+
+The half-breed peered into the opening with eyes that resembled
+those of a snake, so full of malice and hatred were they.
+
+"You steal my boy!" he said.
+
+"So this is a trap, is it?" Will demanded.
+
+The half-breed answered by a chuckle of laughter."
+
+"If you don't take those stones away," Will threatened, "I'll fill
+you full of lead when I do get out!"
+
+The half-breed patted his gun stock significantly, but made no
+reply.
+
+The boy heard him rolling rocks along the cavern floor and against
+the opening, and turned away hoping to find some other means of
+egress.
+
+It was clear to him that the half-breed thoroughly understood the
+situation in the hills.  He had no doubt that he had planned to
+bring him there for the purpose which had developed.  He
+understood, too, that if there were other openings to the cavern,
+Pierre knew where they were, and would block them as soon as he had
+effectually blocked the one by which entrance had been effected.
+
+It was cold and damp in that underground place, but the
+perspiration actually broke out on the boy's brow as he considered
+the fate which might await him in that dreary place of detention.
+
+He had, of course, no means of knowing the whereabouts of any of
+his chums.  In fact, it seemed to him possible that they, too, had
+been inveigled into a trap similar to the one which had been set
+for himself.
+
+The motive for this brutal action on the part of the half-breed
+was, of course, entirely unknown to the boy.  It will be remembered
+that he knew nothing whatever of Thede's suspicions that Pierre
+actually had the Little Brass God in his possession.
+
+It was black as ink in the passage, but the boy's flashlight had
+recently been supplied with a new battery, and he knew that it
+would not fail for many hours, so he walked along with confidence.
+
+In perhaps a quarter of an hour the boy came to a blank wall.
+There appeared to be no way in which the journey could be extended
+under the hills.  The nearest lateral passage was some distance
+back.
+
+Realizing that no time should be lost, the lad hastened thither and
+advanced to the south end of the cross passage.  Here, too, he came
+upon a blank wall.  While he stood listening a heavy, rumbling
+voice came to his ears.  There were either crevices in that rocky
+bulkhead or the wall was very thin.
+
+Presently the heavy voice ceased speaking, and then a lighter tone
+was heard.  At first Will could not distinguish the words used, but
+directly his heart almost bounded into his throat as he listened to
+Tommy's voice saying:
+
+"I'll break your crust, you old stiff, if you come near me!"
+
+So the boys were still in a position to defend themselves!  Will
+beat frantically on the wall and threw his light hither and yon in
+search of some opening through which his voice might be heard.
+
+Directly there came an answering sound from the other side.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+TWO HUNGRY BEARS
+
+The Little Brass God was gone!
+
+George, still lying upon the floor of the cavern, stretched his
+legs and arms, to see if he was all there, as he mentally commented.
+
+After a time he arose to his feet, clinging desperately to the wall
+because of his weakness, and called to Thede, who, as the reader
+knows, had left hours before, in search of the injured lad's chums.
+There came only echoes in reply to his shouts.
+
+There was a pile of wood near at hand and, gathering numerous dry
+fagots, the boy staggered dizzily toward the heap of ashes in the
+center of the cave.  It seemed to him that the first thing to do
+was to get warm.
+
+He was hungry, too, but warmth was the important thing just then.
+A few red coals still remained, and a blaze soon grew under the
+boy's careful hands.  In a short time there was a roaring fire.
+
+After thawing the chill out of his bones, the boy began looking
+around for his friend of the night before.  He looked at his watch
+and noted that it was eight o'clock.  His revolver was gone but his
+search-light was still in his pocket.
+
+He remembered in a moment that he had handed his revolver to
+Thede before starting to cross the light zone in the center
+of the cavern.  Whatever had taken place during his hours of
+unconsciousness, it was evident that he had not been robbed.
+
+It seemed to the boy, as he stood looking through the opening which
+gave a view of the forest to the north, that he had lain on the
+hard floor of the cavern for countless aeons.  He did not remember
+what had caused the wound on his head.  He only knew that he had
+been seized with a sudden dizziness and had fallen, after hearing
+pistol shots.
+
+Standing before the fire with the cheerful light of the blaze on
+one side and the dazzling light of the sun on the snow on the other
+side, the uncanny incidents of the night before seemed like a dream
+to the boy.
+
+He even found himself wondering whether he had actually caught
+sight of the Little Brass God, leering down upon the watcher from
+the wall.
+
+Then he recollected that Thede had first called his attention to
+the ugly image whose evil eyes seemed to take on malevolent
+expressions in the light of the dancing flames.
+
+"It must be all true, then," he concluded.  "The man by the fire,
+the Little Brass God on the shelf, the pistol shots, and then a
+blank."
+
+He wondered where Thede had gone, and why he had deserted him.
+
+"That's the strangest part of it all," the lad mused.  "I had an
+idea that the boy would stand by me if I got into trouble, and here
+he runs away, leaving me lying unconscious in the freezing
+atmosphere of this desolate old cavern.  I didn't think it of him!"
+
+It occurred to George as he studied over the puzzle that Thede
+might not have been as innocent and loyal as he had pretended to
+be.  He might have been merely an instrument in the hands of a
+cunning man.
+
+"At any rate," the boy pondered, "we have found the Little Brass
+God!"
+
+He had not, of course, secured possession of it, but he had learned
+definitely that it was in that part of the country.  He wondered as
+to the identity of the man who sat watching the fire.  The light
+had been dim, and it might have been Pierre for all he knew.  Or it
+might have been an accomplice of the tricky trapper.
+
+"Now, I wonder how I'm going to get back to camp," the boy mused as
+he piled on more wood and spread his hands to the cheerful warmth
+of the fire.  "Judging from the time it took us to get here, it
+must be ten or twelve miles back to the camp."
+
+"The boys will think I've deserted them, I guess," he added.  "If
+they knew how hungry I am just at this minute, they'd send out a
+relief expedition!"
+
+While the boy warmed himself before the fire a series of growls
+came from the entrance to the cavern, and two black bears looked in
+upon him.
+
+"Now I wonder if you're the same disreputable citizens that tried
+to make a free lunch counter of me last night?" George mused.  "I
+presume you're hungry, all right, but I'd rather not be the person
+to do the feeding this morning.  You look too fierce for me, both
+of you."
+
+The smell of blood evidently excited the bears to unusual feats of
+courage, for they entered the mouth of the cavern and stood
+growling and showing their teeth within a short distance of where
+George stood.
+
+Only for the great blaze which now leaped almost to the roof of the
+cavern, the boy would have been attacked at once.  He glanced at
+the rapidly decreasing pile of wood, and wondered what would take
+place as soon as the fire had died down.  He had no weapon with
+which to defend himself.
+
+For at least a quarter of an hour the bears and the lad gazed at
+each other through the red light of the fire.  The bears were
+gradually moving forward, and every time the lad laid a stick of
+wood on the blaze they seemed to understand more fully that his
+defense was weakening.
+
+George thought he had never seen wood burn away so fast.  The blaze
+seemed to melt it as boiling water melts ice.
+
+Already the blaze was dropping lower, and the pile of wood was
+almost gone.  The bears sniffed at the blood stains where the boy
+had lain on the floor, and turned fierce eyes on the figure by the
+fire.
+
+George estimated that his wood might last ten minutes longer.  Then
+there would be a rush, a crunching of bones and all would be over.
+
+A rifle shot sounded from the outside, and one of the bears dropped
+to the rocky floor, struggled spasmodically for a moment, and then
+straightened out and lay still.  The next instant another shot,
+equally accurate, came and the second bear was dead in a moment.
+
+The boy waited eagerly for the appearance of the man who had done
+the shooting.  He had no idea who the man might be, and was not
+quite certain that the fellow had not taken from him one danger
+only to place him in another.  Still, he looked eagerly forward to
+his appearance.
+
+When the man appeared, a smoking double-barreled rifle in his hand,
+George saw a tall, ungainly figure with long legs, a long, slim
+body, very high cheek bones, and rather stern and uncompromising
+blue eyes.
+
+The newcomer was dressed in the leather jacket usually worn by
+trappers in that district, leather leggins, moccasins, and fur cap.
+A belt of red leather, probably colored and tanned by some Indian
+process, was drawn tightly about his waist.  There were gold rings
+in his ears which swung an inch down on his brown cheeks.
+
+"Hello, sonny!" the man said, advancing into the cavern, standing
+the butt of his rifle on the rock, and leaning on the barrel.
+
+"Say," the boy almost shouted, springing forward and extending his
+hand, "that's about the best shooting I've seen in a year!"
+
+"The place to hit a bear," the new-comer replied, "is in the neck,
+right about where the spinal cord starts to crawl under the skull."
+
+"It's a good thing you came along just as you did," George stated.
+"I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am, and so you'll have to
+take that for granted.  You saved my life!"
+
+"I'm Antoine," the other said, in a moment, after a casual survey
+of the boy.  "I'm a hunter and trapper.  I saw the bears looking
+in, and knew from the smoke coining out that there was a human
+being in here, too.  Knowing that bears and humans don't mix
+remarkably well, I came in, too.  That's all there is to it!"
+
+"I guess they would have mixed with me all right in about a
+minute," George said with a smile.  "I had about abandoned hope!"
+
+"How'd you get here?" asked Antoine.
+
+George related the story of the adventures of the previous night,
+omitting, however, any mention of the Little Brass God.  While he
+talked, there came to his mind an indistinct impression that the
+face of the man he had seen sitting by the fire was the face of the
+man who now stood before him.
+
+He put the thought away instantly, for he did not believe that the
+person who had left him on the floor of the cavern to die of cold
+and exposure, or to be devoured by wild beasts, could be the same
+who had so opportunely rescued him from death.
+
+"You must be hungry, I take it," Antoine said, after the boy bad
+concluded his recital.  "Boys usually are hungry."
+
+"You bet I'm hungry!" George replied.
+
+Antoine glanced smilingly about at the two bears lying on the floor.
+
+"Can you cook bear steak?" he asked.
+
+"Can I?" repeated George.
+
+Antoine pointed to the Boy Scout medals on the lad's coat sleeve.
+
+"You have the Stalker and Pioneer medals," he said.  "You ought to
+know something about forestry."
+
+"How do you know what they are?" smiled George.
+
+"Oh," was the hesitating reply, "I know quite a lot about Boy Scout
+work and training.  Fine lot of fellows, those Boy Scouts!"
+
+"Right you are!" declared George.
+
+Antoine now drew forth a hunting knife which seemed to be as keen
+as a razor and began removing the skins from the dead animals.  He
+worked swiftly and skillfully, and in a short time the making of
+two fine black bear rugs were laying in the sun outside.
+
+"Now," the man said, "you get busy with that steak over the coals,
+and I'll tote in more wood.  You don't seem quite up to carrying
+heavy loads yet.  That must be a bad wound."
+
+"I think I must have lost considerable blood," George answered.
+
+After the steak was nicely broiled, Antoine brought water from a
+nearby stream, and the boy's head was carefully and rather
+skillfully attended to.
+
+"And now," said Antoine, "we'll go to my own home, which isn't far
+away."
+
+Without a word the boy followed the hunter through the deep snow
+which lay on the slope until they came to an opening in the rock.
+Entering, the boy found a very comfortable cavern, almost
+completely lined with fur.  There was a chimney-like crevice in the
+ceiling which permitted the escape of smoke and foul air.  Both
+inside and outside the entrance were great stones by which the
+place might be sealed up from either side.
+
+"Quite a cozy nest!" George ventured, and Antoine nodded.
+
+"We'll celebrate your arrival with a cup of good strong tea," he
+said.
+
+The tea was brewed and drank.  Then the trapper's face began to
+assume grotesque forms.  The boy's head swam dizzily.  He caught a
+cynical smile in Antoine's eyes and dropped back into a drugged and
+dreamless sleep!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BOYS IN A TIGHT PLACE
+
+"Who's there?" asked Tommy's voice, as Will beat frantically
+against the rocky bulkhead against which he stood.
+
+"How do I get in there?" asked Will.
+
+"Go around to the entrance and shoot up this half-breed!" advised
+Sandy.  "He's got us cornered!"
+
+"He's got me cornered, too!" shouted Will.
+
+"Then I guess he's got the high hand," Tommy answered back.
+
+"Say," Thede's voice exclaimed, "the rock at the end of that
+passage isn't more than a foot thick and it's full of cracks, at
+that.  If you had a couple of big whinnicks, you could smash it
+down."
+
+"I can find the whinnicks all right!" answered Will.
+
+"Say!" cried Sandy, "you want to hurry with those whinnicks, for
+Pierre is almost standing on his head, threatening to shoot if you
+try to break through."
+
+Will collected a number of heavy stones which had fallen from the
+walls and threw them with all his strength against the partition.
+
+The cracks widened, and slivers of brittle rock fell away.  His
+efforts were greeted with cheers from the other side, and he
+redoubled them, with the result that in a short time, a passage
+between the two sections of the underground chambers had been made.
+
+When Will stepped through the opening he saw Pierre's fur cap
+sticking up above a barrier which reached almost to the ceiling.
+The long barrel of his rifle protruded threateningly into the room.
+
+"I guess," Will proposed, "that we'd better get out of range of
+that gun.  It doesn't look good to me."
+
+The boys crowded back into the chamber which Will had recently left
+and looked at each other with inquiring eyes.
+
+Pierre's harsh laugh came from the outer room.  "You thieves!" he
+cried.  "You die like bear in a trap."
+
+"What does the old idiot mean by that?" asked Will.
+
+"Search me!" replied Tommy.
+
+"How did he ever get you in here?"
+
+"That's a pretty question to ask of us!" declared Tommy.  "How did
+he ever get you in here?"
+
+"He came to camp and volunteered to help find you run-away boys,"
+replied Will.  "He brought me to the hills and tumbled boulders
+into the entrance to the cavern."
+
+"Well, he came to our assistance almost as soon as we reached the
+hills in search of George," Tommy grinned.  "He was so mighty
+careful to get us into safe quarters that he led us into this
+rotten hole and fixed it so we couldn't get out!"
+
+"What's he doing it all for?" Will asked, turning to Tommy.
+
+"Perhaps Thede Carson can tell you better than I can," replied
+Tommy.  "You remember Thede Carson, don't you, Will?"
+
+"I seem to see a faint, resemblance in this lad to a boy I used to
+know as Thede Carson," Will laughed.  "He looks now, though, as if
+he had plenty to eat, and a good place to sleep!"
+
+"I have been eating regularly," grinned Thede, "but there's no
+knowing whether I'll ever connect with another bear steak."
+
+"He came up here with Pierre," Sandy explained.  "Perhaps he can
+tell you what the half-breed is up to."
+
+"I don't know any more about it than you do!" replied Thede.  "He
+didn't seem to like the idea of my associating with George," the
+boy added with a wink at Will, "and so he bunched us together and
+locked us up."
+
+While Pierre gave vent to hoarse shouts of rage, and many entirely
+unnecessary and insulting taunts, the boys explained the events of
+the past night.  The thing which startled Will most was the story
+Thede told about having caught sight of the Little Brass God.
+
+"Are you sure?" he asked.
+
+"Certain sure!"
+
+"It wasn't the firelight or anything like that?"
+
+"No, it was the Little Brass God!"
+
+"Was it Pierre who sat before the fire?"
+
+Thede shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"I don't think so," he replied.
+
+"Did you see the man's face?"
+
+"Only in the shadows.  His chin was on his breast at first, and
+then, when he looked up, he turned his head the other way."
+
+"Well," Will said, "we have at least located the ugly little beast."
+
+"Did it look complete and whole?" asked Tommy.  "That's one
+question you didn't answer when you told me about having seen it."
+
+"Just as good as new," replied Thede.  "If it had been opened at
+all, the trick was turned by a man who understood the combination."
+
+"And now about George?" Will asked.
+
+"Some one carried him away," Thede declared.
+
+"That's the way I figure it out," Tommy cut in.
+
+"He didn't walk away," Tommy added, "because there were no tracks
+his size.  There were plenty of other tracks, but none which could
+have been made by George's shoes."
+
+"Aw, how do you know anything about that?" demanded Sandy.  "We saw
+a large moccasin track there, and how do we know that some man
+didn't walk behind George and step on all his tracks?"
+
+"Or how do we know that some big chump didn't carry him away in his
+arms?" Tommy admitted.  "I never thought about the means that might
+have been used to conceal the kid's exit.  You're the only real
+live Sherlock Holmes in this crowd," the boy added with a laugh.
+
+"Then it's a cinch that some one carried him away," Will decided.
+
+"Of course it is!" Sandy answered.
+
+"Look here!" Tommy said after a moment's reflection.  "Don't you
+boys remember how mussy that cavern looked.  We were all so anxious
+to chase out and find George that we didn't pay much attention to
+the room, but I begin to remember now that it looked as if some one
+had shot wild game there and cooked meat over the fire."
+
+"I remember something about that now!" Thede said.
+
+"And there was more blood on the floor than ever came from the
+little wound George received, according to the way you describe
+it," Tommy went on.
+
+"And I'll bet if we'd hunted around the cavern, we'd have found
+bear steak and refuse hidden in some of those odd little nooks."
+
+"I guess that's right," Thede declared.
+
+"Now, about those moccasin tracks?" asked Will.
+
+"Let's go out and follow 'em up!" grinned Sandy.
+
+"Sure!" replied Tommy.  "Just bite your way through these rocks and
+go out and follow 'em up."
+
+"It's only a question of time when we'll get out," Will insisted.
+"That crazy half-breed can't keep us in here forever!"
+
+"If he keeps us in much longer," Tommy declared, rubbing the
+waistband of his trousers affectionately, "he'll have me starved
+plumb to death!"
+
+"Me, too!" Sandy cut in.  "I'm shy a breakfast myself!"
+
+"And I'm so hungry that I could eat snowballs!" Thede said, with a
+grin.  "I don't think I ever was so hungry!"
+
+"Why don't you go outside and take a shot at that half-breed?"
+Tommy asked, looking reproachfully at Will.
+
+"Did he get your guns away from you?" asked the boy.
+
+"You bet he did!" replied Tommy.
+
+"How did he do it?"
+
+"He asked us to lay them aside while we crawled through a crack in
+the rock, and then grabbed them.  Oh, he's a foxy old fellow, that!"
+
+"Well, we can't get out if we stand here talking all day," Sandy
+ventured.  "The longer we stay, the hungrier we'll get!"
+
+"What I'd like to know," Will suggested, "is this: Why did he do
+it?  What spite has he against us?"
+
+"If you leave it to me," Thede replied, "the Little Brass God has
+something to do with it!  I don't know whether Pierre has
+possession of the ugly little beast, or whether he is trying to get
+possession of it, but I believe he has a notion that we're trying
+to get bold of it."
+
+"Well, that's a good guess," grinned Tommy.
+
+During all this conversation the voice of the half-breed had been
+frequently heard, alternately cursing and coaxing the lads to enter
+the outer chamber where he could talk with them.
+
+"What do you want?" Will asked finally.
+
+"Come here!" was the answer.
+
+Tommy stepped half-way through the opening and flashed his
+searchlight into the apartment beyond.
+
+"That is better!" shouted Pierre,
+
+"So that's what you want?" demanded Tommy.  "You want light to
+shoot us by!"
+
+"Send the other boy out!" demanded the half-breed.  "Send out the
+one I brought here!"
+
+"He wants you, Will," Tommy said.
+
+As the boy was about to step into the opening, Thede caught him by
+the arm and drew him back.
+
+"Just you wait a minute," he said.
+
+The lad placed a sliver of rock in Will's hat and held it beyond
+the opening, at the same time letting the rays of the searchlight
+fall full upon it.
+
+"I know that half-breed better than you do," Thede said, as he
+pushed the hat out further and further.
+
+When the hat was about as far out as the boy could send it without
+risking his own hands, a rifle shot rang through the cavern and the
+bullet cut its way through the exposed hat.
+
+"Don't you see?" Thede asked.  "He knows you have a gun, and he
+figured that you'd fall into this chamber, and that we wouldn't
+dare reach over for it.  He's a foxy old reprobate!"
+
+"What next?" demanded Will.
+
+"You just wait a minute!" Thede advised.  "I think I know a way
+out!  If we just could get in behind that half-breed and chuck him
+into the prison he prepared for us, it would be a mighty fine joke
+on him!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE HALF-BREED
+
+But the way out was not to lie through undiscovered passages!  It
+was set by fate that it was to be over the dead body of the
+half-breed!
+
+While the boys discussed the possibility of finding an unguarded
+exit from the series of caverns, another shot sounded, and then
+they heard the rattle and crash of rocks falling upon an equally
+hard surface.
+
+"There's something doing, now, sure!" Tommy exclaimed.
+
+"Do you know of any other trappers in this section?" asked Will,
+turning to Thede.  "It seems to me that that shot came from
+outside, and I don't believe Pierre would be throwing down his own
+barricade."
+
+"I haven't seen anyone else here," replied the boy, "except the one
+we saw in front of the fire last night."
+
+"And that might have been Pierre, for all we know!" Tommy declared.
+
+"You don't know whether it was Pierre or some one else," Sandy
+observed, "so we don't know whether there's another hunter roaming
+around here or not!  I hope there is, so far as I'm concerned!"
+
+The question was settled in a moment.  Rocks continued to fall from
+the barrier, and in a moment a voice called out:
+
+"Who's there?"
+
+"Four of us!" was the reply.
+
+"Why don't you come out?"
+
+The boys detected a faint chuckle in the voice.
+
+"We're willing!" Sandy answered.
+
+"Well, come on, then!"
+
+Sandy stuck his head out of the entrance and turned his searchlight
+on the new-comer.  After a moment's inspection of the fellow, he
+stepped into the outer cavern.
+
+"You look pretty good to me," he said.
+
+Ho was about to say more when he caught sight of the body of the
+half-breed lying just inside the cave.
+
+He turned white and for a moment felt dizzy and faint.
+
+He was unfamiliar with death in any form, and this snuffing out of
+a life seemed to him particularly horrible.
+
+In a moment the other boys came out and stood looking down upon the
+body.  They were all deeply affected by what had taken place,
+particularly Thede, who had never received anything but the kindest
+treatment from the half-breed until the arrival of the Boy Scouts.
+
+"It was my life or his," Antoine explained.
+
+"Did he shoot at you?" asked Will, "we heard only one shot, save
+the one fired by Pierre at my hat."
+
+"He didn't get an opportunity to fire!" Antoine answered.  "He had
+his gun leveled at my head when my bullet ended his life!"
+
+"Now I wonder," thought Will, "whether it was Pierre who sat by the
+fire last night, and whether the secret of the Little Brass God
+dies with him!  I wish there were some way of knowing."
+
+While these thoughts were passing through the brain of the boy,
+Thede stood regarding the new-comer in a puzzled way.  Slowly the
+impression was forming in his mind that it was not Pierre who had
+sat before the fire in the chamber where the Little Brass God had
+been displayed.
+
+"I suppose the next thing on the program," Antoine observed, with a
+smile, "will be breakfast."
+
+"That suits me!" shouted Tommy and Sandy in a breath.
+
+"Well," Antoine answered, "I have plenty of bear meat, and a few
+canned provisions, and plenty of good, strong tea, so we'll adjourn
+to the dining room and partake."
+
+"Have you seen anything of our chum?" asked Will.
+
+Antoine smiled, but made no reply.
+
+"Look here," Sandy said, pointing down to the moccasin tracks, as
+they emerged from the cavern and found themselves on the snowy
+slope, "this man has passed along here before this morning."
+
+"That's a fact!" Will exclaimed.  "So he must be the man who
+carried off George.  If he is, why doesn't he say so?"
+
+"Perhaps he wants to give us a surprise," observed Tommy.
+
+It was only a short distance from the system of caverns where the
+boys had been imprisoned to the home of Antoine, which has
+previously been described.
+
+When the boys entered, they looked eagerly around in the hope of
+finding George, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.
+
+"I thought sure you had found our chum in the cavern," Thede
+suggested.
+
+"Why, I thought you boys were all here!" replied Antoine, still
+with that odd smile on his face.
+
+"But there is a boy who was wounded in the bear cavern last night,"
+Thede explained, "and I left him there while I went after his
+friends, and when I came back, he was gone.  We thought sure you
+took him away."
+
+Antoine made no reply.  Instead, he busied himself with breakfast.
+
+In his efforts in this direction Tommy and Sandy were not slow in
+joining, and in a short time beautifully broiled bear steaks were
+smoking on tin plates which Antoine had taken from a cupboard
+fastened to the wall.  A pot of tea was steeping over a fire built
+at one end of the cavern.  The boys eyed this with interest.
+
+"We really ought to be going out in search of George," Will finally
+said.  "He may be suffering in the cold."
+
+"That's right!" declared Tommy.  "I'm going out just as soon as I
+finish eating!  The lad was carried off by some one, all right, and
+be can't be far away!"
+
+"I wonder why we didn't get our revolvers away from that dead man?"
+asked Sandy.  "We surely ought to have them!"
+
+"I looked for them," Will said quietly, "but they were not there!"
+
+"Then he must have hidden them away somewhere," Tommy declared.
+"We laid them down just before crawling through that hole."
+
+"You will doubtless find them in time," Antoine suggested.
+
+"I should think the half-breed would have kept them pretty close,"
+Sandy observed.  "You don't find automatics like those every day!"
+
+"It strikes me," Antoine said, directly, "that you boys would
+better settle down for a little rest previous to going out after
+your chum."
+
+"Aw, we don't need any rest!" declared Tommy.
+
+"Not while George is out in the cold!" Sandy cut in.
+
+"Just as you please," smiled Antoine.  "And now," he went on, "if
+you've all had plenty to eat, I'll bring on the tea.  Tea always
+tastes better to me when there is no food in my mouth to interfere
+with the flavor of it.  I have a very fine brand here."
+
+"We've been waiting for that tea!" laughed Tommy.
+
+"You can't lose Tommy when it comes to anything good to eat or
+drink!" laughed Sandy.  "He's always on watch."
+
+Antoine seemed a long time pouring the tea into the tin cups, which
+he had placed on the rough board which served as a table.  As he
+bent over the teapot, a familiar sound caught Will's ears and he
+turned his head aside to listen.
+
+"Slap, slap, slap!"
+
+The boy nudged Tommy who sat next to him with his elbow and called
+his attention to the sound.  Tommy almost sprang to his feet as he
+listened, but Will forced him back with his hand.
+
+"Slap, slap, slap!" came the signal again.
+
+Sandy and Thede were now sitting with knives and forks suspended in
+the air, listening wide-eyed to the sound.
+
+"That's the Beaver call!" declared Will in a whisper.
+
+"That means George!" Tommy whispered back.
+
+"Sure!" was the reply.  "There's no one else to give the Beaver
+call here.  I wonder why the boy doesn't show up."
+
+In the meantime, Antoine had been busy over the teapot and had not
+noticed what was going on at the table.
+
+"I'm fixing this tea up particularly strong," he said, facing the
+boys with a smile on his lips, "so you mustn't wonder if it tastes
+just a little bit bitter.  There's nothing on earth will do a man
+who's been exposed to the weather more good than a strong cup of
+tea!"
+
+The man poured the decoction into the tin cups and brought out a
+couple of cans of condensed milk and plenty of sugar.
+
+"You see," he laughed, "that I have all the luxuries of an effete
+civilization!  Put in all the sugar you like, if you find the tea
+too strong.  I have plenty of it!"
+
+The boys used the sugar and milk liberally, and Will was about to
+lift his cup to his lips when the Beaver call came again:
+
+"Slap, slap, slap!"
+
+Although the sounds were faint ones, they caught the attention of
+Antoine, who, scowling, turned his face in the direction from which
+they had proceeded.  In a minute, he arose.
+
+"What was that noise?" he asked.
+
+"Did you hear a noise?" questioned Will.
+
+"I thought I did!" replied the man.  "Perhaps I'd better take a
+look about the place.  There may be intruders here!"
+
+As Antoine moved about, his footsteps in a measure muffling the
+sounds which followed, the boys heard a low whisper.
+
+"Don't drink!  It's drugged!"
+
+Wondering why the boy did not show himself, and able to understand
+his strange conduct only on the theory that he had been gagged and
+bound, Will overturned his cup of tea by an awkward movement and
+sprang to his feet as the burning fluid came in contact with his
+clothing.
+
+Simultaneously the boys all sprang from the table, taking care to
+upset the board upon which they had been eating.  An angry
+exclamation came from Antoine's lips as the carefully prepared tea
+was spilled to the floor.  In a moment, however, his face broke
+into a smile.
+
+"Too bad!" he said, "but accidents will happen.  I'll make you some
+more!  I'll have it ready in a moment."
+
+"We really would like some tea, notwithstanding our awkwardness,"
+laughed Will, listening as he spoke for some further sound from his
+chum.
+
+"Drugged, drugged, drugged."
+
+The boys heard the whisper floating through the room.  Then they
+heard a gasp as of some one coming out of a sound sleep, and saw
+Antoine springing toward a weapon lying on the floor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A SURPRISE AT THE CABIN
+
+Will got to the weapon first.
+
+With an exclamation of rage and anger, Antoine drew his hunting
+knife from its sheath and lifted it threateningly.
+
+"Keep back!" he said. "Keep back, every one of you!"
+
+"Throw down the knife, then!" Tommy demanded.
+
+Instead of throwing down the knife, Antoine seemed preparing for a
+spring.  It was evident that he had not yet abandoned the hope of
+gaining his revolver.  The weapon which Will had seized left his
+hand with a swift whirl, and the next moment the knife crashed from
+Antoine's hand to the floor.  The fellow's wrist had been broken.
+
+He fell back with a groan, but remained inactive only a second.
+
+"I'll come back!" he shouted, and disappeared through the entrance.
+
+Tommy followed him out after having secured Will's automatic, but
+he was nowhere in sight on the slope.  The tracks in the deep snow
+showed that he had turned in the direction of the cavern which the
+boys had known to their cost that morning.
+
+"He's gone after our revolvers!" shouted Tommy.
+
+"I'm afraid that's right," Sandy answered, sticking his head
+cautiously out of the opening.  "He's the man who hid them,
+probably!"
+
+"He'll be back directly," Will prophesied, "so one of you would
+better remain on guard at the door.  If he catches us all inside,
+we'll be in the same fix we were when he found us!"
+
+"I'd rather fight bears than a snake like that!" declared Sandy.
+
+A faint voice was now heard calling from some unseen recess.
+
+"Tommy, Sandy, Will!" George's voice called.
+
+Leaving Tommy at the door, the three boys passed around the chamber
+pounding on the walls with little rocks and listening eagerly for
+further words.  At last they came to where a bear skin hung against
+a crevice.  They drew it abide and saw George looking up at them.
+
+"Vot iss?" asked Sandy with a grin.
+
+"So you heard me in time!"
+
+The boy's speech was low and indistinct.
+
+"If we hadn't, we wouldn't be here," answered Sandy.
+
+"That Beaver call sounded good to us, too!" Will observed.
+
+"What about the tea being drugged?" asked Sandy.
+
+"It put me to sleep in a minute!" declared George.  "My head
+whirled for a second, and then I was out for the count."
+
+"I guess he thought he had you laid away for a good long time,"
+suggested Sandy.
+
+"I reckon I woke up too soon for him," George answered with a faint
+smile.  "I heard you boys talking, though you seemed a long way
+off, and at first I thought it was all a dream."
+
+"We got a feed in that dream, anyway!" laughed Sandy.
+
+"I tried to cry out but couldn't," George continued.  "My lips
+seemed frozen into numbness.  I couldn't move hand or foot for a
+time, but finally I managed to clap the palms of my hands together
+in the Beaver call, and that seemed to set the blood circulating
+through my veins."
+
+"What do you make of it?" asked Sandy.
+
+"If you leave it to me," whispered George, still faint from loss of
+blood and the effects of the drug, "I dope it out that this man who
+calls himself Antoine is in possession of the Little Brass God, and
+he has in some way discovered that we are here after it."
+
+"That's a fact!" exclaimed Will, "you saw the Little Brass God,
+too, didn't you?"
+
+"I certainly did!" was the reply.
+
+"Well, was the man who sat before the fire, the same man who gave
+you the drug?" Will went on.  "Did you see him plainly?"
+
+"I've been wondering about that," George replied.  "Sometimes I
+think Antoine is the man who sat before the fire with the ugly
+Little Brass God leering down at him.  Sometimes, I think it was
+Pierre who sat there.  I can't quite make up my mind."
+
+"If it was Pierre," Will said gravely, "the Little Brass God will
+probably never be found!  The man who gave you the drugged drink
+shot the half-breed to death this morning."
+
+"Then I hope it wasn't Pierre who sat by the fire," Sandy declared.
+"We've come a long way after that Little Brass God, and got into
+many a mix-up over it, so we've just got to take it back to Chicago
+with us!"
+
+"Now look here," Will reasoned, "this Antoine had some motive in
+putting us boys to sleep!  We don't know what that motive was, but
+I think I'm giving a pretty good guess when I say that he wanted to
+prevent our interfering with the Little Brass God until he had
+arranged to make anything we might do in that line absolutely
+worthless."
+
+"That listens good to me, too," declared Sandy.  "The man wouldn't
+try to drug us unless he had some strong motive for doing so!"
+
+"We're all together once more, anyhow!" Will observed, "and I think
+we'd better stay together.  I never did like this idea of one boy
+sneaking away in the night and leaving the others to guess where he
+went to.  It isn't safe to go wandering off alone in that way!"
+
+"Yes, I'd talk about that if I were you!" laughed Sandy.  "You go
+wandering off by yourself more than any of the bunch!"
+
+"I think it's a good thing for you boys that I went wandering off
+alone this morning," Will argued.
+
+"You didn't go wandering off alone!" Thede cut in.  "You had Pierre
+with you?  Poor Pierre!" he continued.  "I'm sorry for him! I
+suppose we'll have to make some kind of a grave and give him decent
+burial!"
+
+"Sure, we'll do that!" agreed Will.  "But what is puzzling me just
+now is this," the boy went on, "how are we going to get out of this
+hole with that Antoine watching our every move?  He'll shoot us
+down just as quick as he shot Pierre if he gets a chance."
+
+The boys took short trips out of the cavern in quest of their
+enemy, but were unable to discover any traces of him other than the
+tracks in the snow.  These led toward the chain of caverns which
+the boys had such good reason to remember.
+
+"I think we'd better make for the camp," Will suggested in a moment.
+
+"Why not move over to the cabin?" asked Thede.  "It will be much
+more comfortable there."
+
+"That's a good idea, too," Will agreed, "except that we'd have to
+move all our camp equipage and provisions."
+
+"Well, why not?" asked the boy.  "We can rig up a drag and draw the
+stuff over in two or three loads."
+
+"We can if Antoine isn't shooting at us every minute!" Sandy cut in.
+
+"I don't believe Antoine will trouble us," Thede answered.  "If he
+has the Little Brass God, he'll probably make off with it.  He's
+got to go somewhere to get his injured wrist tended to, and my
+opinion is that he'll simply disappear from this neck of the woods
+until he makes up his mind that we have gone back to Chicago."
+
+"I hope he won't go very far," Will mused.
+
+"If he does, we'll lose the Little Brass God!" Sandy argued.
+
+"I don't agree with Thede," Will said directly.  "If the man has a
+secure hiding place in the hills, he'll manage to treat the injured
+wrist himself and remain hidden until he thinks we have left the
+country."
+
+"It's all a guess, anyway," Sandy exclaimed, "and, whatever takes
+place, I vote for moving our truck over to the cabin and settling
+down there!  We don't want to go back to Chicago as soon as we find
+the Little Brass God, do we?"
+
+"We certainly do not!" shouted Tommy, sticking his head into the
+narrow doorway.  "I haven't had a chance to catch all the fish I
+want yet!"
+
+"Well, we may as well move over to the cabin if that's the general
+opinion," agreed Will.  "I must admit that those tents look pretty
+thin to me.  I didn't expect snow to fall so early."
+
+"Besides," Sandy urged, "if we live in the cabin, we'll be
+perfectly safe from attack.  It would take dynamite to make a hole
+through those great logs, and the door itself is about a foot
+thick!"
+
+"All right," Will replied.  "If we find anything left when we get
+back to our camping place, we'll move it over to the cabin!"
+
+"The first thing to move will be George," laughed Sandy.
+
+"Oh, I can walk all right!" the invalid declared.
+
+"Through this thick snow?  I should say not!  We've got to make up
+some kind of a sled and give you the first sleigh-ride of the
+season!"
+
+"And while we're about it, we can make a sled that we can move the
+tents and provisions on," suggested Will.
+
+The boys had little to make a sled with, but they finally managed
+to bind saplings together with such cord as they had in their
+possession, and so manufacture a "drag" upon which the wounded boy
+could be carried back to camp.  The lads were strongly tempted to
+help themselves to Antoine's provisions before they left, but they
+finally decided not to do so, especially as they believed that they
+had plenty of their own.
+
+"He'll need them all before he gets rid of that sore wrist," Sandy
+laughed.  "He won't be in shape to do much hunting!"
+
+"Now," Thede observed, after wrapping George up in one of the bear
+robes taken from the wall of the cavern, "I've been thinking that
+the cabin is a great deal nearer the camp.  Of course I haven't
+been to the camp, but I've heard the location described and I'm
+positive that it is four or five miles further away from us than
+the cabin."
+
+"So you want to take George directly to the cabin, do you?" asked
+Tommy, who still considered himself on guard and kept a constant
+lookout for Antoine.  "I don't see why we shouldn't do so," he
+added.
+
+"It isn't far out of the way," urged Thede.
+
+"Then here we go to it!" laughed Tommy.  "I'll chase on ahead and
+have a roaring fire built there before you get half way to it!"
+
+"Oh, you will?" grinned Thede.  "I'd like to know how you're going
+to find it!  George and I are the only ones in this party who can
+find the mysterious cabin in the bog!"
+
+"Well, then," Tommy admitted, "perhaps you'd better run on ahead
+and find it, while we come along with the kid!"
+
+It was a long and painful journey to the cabin, but it was finished
+at last.  When the boys came to the edge of the swamp, however,
+they saw a great column of smoke rising from the chimney on the
+roof.
+
+"Now do you suppose Antoine beat us to it?" asked Thede.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A FACE AT THE WINDOW
+
+When the boys came nearer to the cabin, they saw many footprints
+dotting the level surface of the snow.  They peered through the
+window which gave on the side of their approach, but could see no
+one moving about on the inside.  Save for the great fire blazing in
+the rudely-constructed fire-place, the cabin seemed to be
+absolutely deserted.
+
+"Suppose you give me a boost through this window," Thede suggested,
+as the boys at last stood close against the rear wall.
+
+"Why not go around to the door?" George asked.
+
+"I might get a bullet in my coco when I turned the angle of the
+house!" replied Thede.  "There's no knowing who's around there."
+
+"That's a fact!" Will agreed.  "We've got one wounded boy on our
+hands now, and we don't care about having another."
+
+"Look here," George cut in crossly, "if you think I'm too much
+trouble, you can just drop me down in the snow anywhere and I'll
+take care of myself!"
+
+"Aw, cut it out!" roared Tommy.
+
+The boys laughed so heartily at the idea of leaving their chum in
+the snow to care for himself that his mood instantly changed to one
+of apology.  In a moment, he was all smiles again.
+
+"Now, if you've got that little scrap settled, you can give me a
+boost through this window!" suggested Thede.
+
+"Sure the door's closed?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Closed and latched!" was the answer.
+
+The boys had some difficulty in removing the single sash which
+protected the opening, but the task was finally accomplished, and
+then Thede crawled through into the cottage.
+
+The boys heard him drop lightly to the floor and then followed a
+long silence.  Presently Sandy clambered up the log wall and peered
+inside.
+
+He saw Thede standing close against the wall, gazing down at a
+great haunch of venison which lay on the floor.
+
+"If you want to keep that in good condition for eating, hang it out
+in the frost," laughed Sandy.  "We can't afford to lose that!"
+
+Thede beckoned to him to enter, and the boy dropped down on the
+floor.
+
+"Who brought it here?" he asked.
+
+"Search me!" Thede answered.
+
+"It might have been Antoine."
+
+"Aw, he couldn't kill a deer and bring in that big haunch with that
+lame wrist of his!" Thede exclaimed.
+
+Sandy looked out of the window and beckoned to his chums to enter.
+
+They gathered around the haunch of venison with amazement depicted
+on their faces.  The fire still burned brightly, and it was evident
+that it had not been long since new fuel had been laid.
+
+"Some one made us a present, I take it!" Tommy grinned.
+
+"But who?" demanded Will.
+
+"It's one of the mysteries of the British Northwest Territories!"
+replied Sandy.  "Suppose," the boy continued, "we open the door and
+bring George in.  He must be getting cold by this time!"
+
+"Be careful when you open the door, then," Thede warned.
+
+But there was no one at the door or, at first, within view of it.
+There were plenty of tracks, however, which appeared to have been
+recently made.  George was carried into the cabin, and then Sandy
+and Tommy set out to trace some of the foot-prints to their
+destination.
+
+"I'm going to know where that fellow went," the former declared.
+
+"I have an idea he'll come back before long," Sandy suggested.
+"He's built a nice fire and brought in plenty of venison, and won't
+go away and leave the cosy corner just yet."
+
+When the boys came to the edge of the morass, they saw a figure
+flitting into the underbrush on the other side.
+
+"I guess we've frightened him away!" Tommy declared.
+
+"Shall we follow him?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Aw, what's the use?" Tommy questioned.  "You said yourself, a
+little while ago, that he'd come back to get a bite of that haunch
+of venison."
+
+"And I believe he will!" answered the boy.
+
+George was made comfortable in one of the bunks, additional fuel
+brought in for the night, and then Will, Tommy and Sandy set out to
+bring the supplies and tents from the camp.
+
+"Suppose Antoine, or some one else, should bring the Little Brass
+God to this cabin," George began.
+
+"I wish we knew whether it was Antoine who sat before the fire last
+night," Thede puzzled.  "If I could just get my hands on that
+idiotic little plaything, I'd sneak back to old Finklebaum and get
+his hundred dollars so quick it would make his head swim."
+
+"His hundred dollars!" repeated George.  "I thought I heard you
+saying last night if you got hold of the Little Brass God, you'd
+make him put up a thousand dollars for it!"
+
+"So I would, too," declared Thede.  "And he wouldn't pay the
+thousand dollars, either, unless he saw a chance to make ten out of
+it!"
+
+During the entire absence of the boys George and Thede discussed
+the mystery of the Little Brass God.  They wondered how it had made
+such good time into that country, and puzzled over the strange fact
+that they had blundered upon it on the very night of their arrival.
+
+But when at last the boys returned with the tents and a part of the
+provisions, drawn along on the "drag," they had reached no
+conclusion whatever.
+
+It was all a mystery which time alone could solve!
+
+Although it was now the middle of the afternoon, Will and Sandy
+insisted on making another trip to the old camp.
+
+"If we're going to stay in the cabin," Will urged, "we've got to do
+the job some time and we may as well do it now."
+
+"I guess you'll have a good load if you get it all!" Tommy
+suggested.
+
+The boys insisted that they were able to bring in the remaining
+stock and set off through the snow.  Tommy and Thede continued to
+drag in wood until there was a great stack of it piled against the
+cabin.  Every time they opened the door, they looked in vain for
+the appearance of the man they had seen running away through the
+underbrush on the other side of the swamp, but he was not seen.
+
+"I'd like to know what's the matter with that fellow!" Tommy
+observed as darkness settled down and the two boys returned to the
+cabin.
+
+In half an hour Sandy and Will came in with the provisions which
+they had brought from the camp, They reported that quite a large
+share of the tinned stuff had been cached in the snow about half
+way between the cabin and the site of the old camp.
+
+"We couldn't bring it all in," Sandy announced.
+
+"I hope the man we drove out of the cabin will find it if he needs
+it," Will observed.
+
+After a hearty meal they cleared away the dishes and sat around the
+fire discussing the situation until ten o'clock.  Then they secured
+the door and windows of the cabin and crawled into their bunks,
+which were remarkably well supplied with blankets and tanned bear
+skins.
+
+In the middle of the night the fire died down to embers and Will
+arose to pile on more wood.  He moved softly about in order not to
+disturb the sleep of his chums, and finally sat down by the blaze
+to enter anew upon a mental discussion of the mystery which
+surrounded them.
+
+Will heard the sash rattling, as if in the light wind which was
+blowing, and glanced toward it.
+
+What he saw was not the velvet darkness of the night laying against
+the glass.  The firelight which shone through the glazed sash
+revealed the outlines of a human face looking in upon him.
+
+It was an ugly face, with dusky skin, narrow slits of eyes, and
+straight black hair which seemed to wind and coil about the
+repulsive countenance as a collection of serpents might have done.
+
+The face disappeared as the boy looked, and Will tiptoed softly to
+the bunk where Tommy lay and awoke him with a violent shake.
+
+"Get up!" he said.
+
+"Aw, go chase yourself!" answered Tommy not very politely.
+
+"It's worth seeing," Will assured the lad.  Tommy seized a shoe
+from the floor, hurled it at the head of his chum, and then rose to
+sitting position, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
+
+"What have you found now?" he demanded.
+
+"There's a new one on us!" Will declared.
+
+Tommy opened his eyes wide in wonder.
+
+"Not a new Boy Scout?" he asked.
+
+"We seem to pick up plenty of new Boy Scouts," laughed Will, "but
+this isn't a new Boy Scout.  This is the Little Brass God given the
+power of expression and the use of his legs!"
+
+"So you've gone and got 'em too, have you?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"When I got up to renew the fire," Will answered, "I heard the
+window sash to the north rattling.  Thinking that I ought to go and
+fix it, I glanced that way and saw the Little Brass God looking
+down upon me."
+
+"Was he sitting up in the window with his legs crossed, and his
+arms folded, and his face making you think of the Old Nick?" asked
+Tommy.
+
+"I could see only the head, but the head looked exactly as I
+imagine the Little Brass God looks; with the firelight shining on
+the yellowish hide, the face gave me the impression of being made
+out of brass!"
+
+"You better read another page out of the dream book and go back to
+bed!" laughed Tommy.  "You've been laboring under strong excitement
+lately and I think you need a long rest."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+A CALL FROM THE DARKNESS
+
+"Perhaps you don't believe I saw anything at the window," replied
+Will, somewhat indignantly.
+
+"Oh, I don't doubt that you think you saw something at the window."
+
+Will seized a searchlight, grabbed Tommy by the shoulder, and
+pulled him out of the door and around to the north side of the
+cabin.
+
+The boys were not dressed especially for a midnight excursion in
+the snow, and their teeth chattered as they made their way against
+the chilling wind.  However, they stuck to their purpose and soon
+stood under the window which Will had pointed out."
+
+"There!" the boy exclaimed in a triumphant tone.  "Now perhaps
+you'll tell me I didn't see anything through the glass."
+
+A light snow had fallen during the late hours of the night, and
+there, plainly revealed on the undisturbed surface--undisturbed
+only for what they saw--were clearly outlined the footprints of two
+people.
+
+One had worn moccasins, the other such shoes as might have been
+purchased at any department store in Chicago.
+
+"And the tenant came back!" grinned Tommy.
+
+"Then why didn't he come in?" demanded Will.
+
+"Because he's scared of us!"
+
+The boys followed the tracks toward the morass some distance and
+then returned to the cabin.
+
+"Whoever the fellow is," Will argued, "he found it necessary to get
+a half-breed or Indian guide."
+
+"How do you know that?" asked Tommy.  "That may have been Antoine
+in the moccasins."
+
+"I give it up!" replied Will.  "I don't know anything about it."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder at all if some faithful Hindu had sailed across
+the Pacific ocean, and traveled half across the continent, to
+rescue a faked Brass God from the polluted hands of an Unbeliever."
+
+"You don't really think there's any of this Hindu temple business
+in this Little Brass God case, do you?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Well, the face I saw at the window looked like that of an East
+Indian!" declared Will.  "His skin was brassy, and his eyes had the
+devil's leer in them just as the eyes of the Little Brass God are
+said to have."
+
+"Well," Tommy declared with a yawn, "I'm going back to bed!"
+
+"That's what I'm going to do," Will agreed.  "If we sit up here
+until we solve this new problem, we'll probably never get any more
+sleep as long as we live."
+
+Seeing that the door and windows were securely fastened, the boys,
+who had been sleeping together, went back to their bunk, and there
+was only the crackling of the fire and the roaring of the wind to
+break the silence.
+
+Tommy was soon sound asleep, but Will lay awake listening.  Again
+he heard the window sash rattle, but this time he did not move.
+
+Then he dozed off into slumberland, dreamed that he was on a
+tropical island where the perfume of the roses was so heavy on the
+air that breathing almost became a task.  He opened his eyes
+dreamily, saw the fire blazing cheerily, heard the wind roaring
+around the corners of the cabin, and closed them to dream the same
+dream over and over.
+
+At last he awoke with a start and sensed a peculiar odor in the
+room.  He lay perfectly still for a moment wondering what it could
+all mean, when a voice as smooth and as evil as the hissing of a
+snake, cut through the air.  He listened but did not move.
+
+"You have hidden it!" the voice said.
+
+There was a long pause and then the voice broke the silence again.
+
+"Arise and come to me."
+
+The next moment the boy heard Thede moving in the bunk above.  The
+lad first threw his legs over the rail, and Will heard him drawing
+away the blankets.  Then the boy slipped softly to the floor and
+moved, as one who walks in his sleep, toward the north window.
+
+"Come to me, come to me, come to me!" the voice repeated
+insistently.
+
+"I'll come to you, all right, in about a minute," Will mused, "if
+you try any of that magic business here."
+
+Thede continued to move toward the window, walking with his hands
+outstretched, as the somnambulist frequently walks.
+
+When the boy reached the window he staggered back as if from a
+blow, then moved forward again, as if bent on leaving the cabin by
+way of the narrow opening.
+
+Will raised himself in the bunk, drew an automatic from under his
+pillow, and fired point blank at the glass.  There was a crash and
+the cabin grew cloudy with powder smoke.
+
+Thede sat down on the floor abruptly and began rubbing his eyes.
+
+"I guess I walked in my sleep," he said.  "I do sometimes."
+
+The shot had awakened Tommy and Sandy, who came bounding to the
+floor.
+
+"What'd you shoot at?" they asked.
+
+"The Little Brass God!"
+
+"I guess you've got the Little Brass God on the brain!'' grinned
+Sandy.
+
+"Yes," Tommy cut in, "you've gone and busted a perfectly good pane
+of glass when there isn't another one within a hundred miles."
+
+"Did you hit any one?" George called feebly from the bunk.
+
+"I don't know!" replied Will.  "I'm going out to see in a minute."
+
+But Tommy and Sandy were out of the door and chasing around the
+corner of the house before Will could disentangle himself from the
+blanket.
+
+Instead of passing outside, then, he stepped over to the window and
+looked out.  The boys were there looking over the freshly fallen
+snow with an electric searchlight.
+
+"Did I see anything?" asked Will with a note of victory in his
+voice.
+
+"Somebody saw something!" answered Sandy.  "There's blood on the
+snow!  Some one found a bullet!"
+
+"I'm going to dress and find out where these tracks lead to!" Tommy
+declared.  "This is too much mischief for me!"
+
+"Stick your face up in the air," advised Will with a grin.
+
+"Snow!" shouted Tommy with a gesture of disgust.  "These tracks'll
+be full of the beautiful before we could walk forty rods!"
+
+"That's about the size of it!" agreed Will.  "So you may as well
+come back into the house and we'll go back to bed."
+
+When the boys entered and closed the door again, it was four
+o'clock and they decided not to go back to bed again that night.
+
+"How'd you know there was some one there?" Sandy asked of Will.
+
+"I heard the window sash rattle, then a strong perfume--something
+like opium or hasheesh--was forced into the room, then the fellow
+on the outside began to work his hypnotic spell."
+
+"You say it right!" exclaimed Tommy.
+
+"It's just as simple as anything you ever read in a daily
+newspaper," declared Will.  "This Little Brass God we are tracing
+up belongs either in a Hindu temple in India, or the Hindus think
+it belongs there.  At any rate, some dusky old hypnotizer has been
+sent after it!"
+
+"You'd better get a new dream book!" Sandy broke in.  "Whoever came
+to the window tonight, came there to find out what we were doing in
+this cabin!  That's all there is to that!"
+
+"Whoever came to the window tonight," Will repeated, "came there
+for the purpose of hypnotizing one of us boys into telling where
+the Little Brass God is hidden!"
+
+"Then he must be about fourteen miles off his trolley," laughed
+Sandy.  "We don't know where the Little Brass God is hidden."
+
+"He threw an Oriental perfume or narcotic of some, kind into the
+room and let out his persuasive language," Will went on.  "If you
+don't believe he hypnotized Thede, just ask him what he heard just
+before he got out of bed."
+
+"I heard some one calling to me," Thede answered.
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+"He told me to come to him."
+
+"And you was obeying that command when you started toward the
+window?"
+
+"I guess that's right," answered the boy, "but it's all so hazy
+that I don't know much about it."
+
+"And then I fired at the window and broke the spell and also the
+pane of glass!" explained Will.  "If he comes back here again, I'll
+shoot from the outside!  We can't be kept awake nights by any East
+Indian magic."
+
+"East Indian granny!" declared Sandy.
+
+"You read about such occurrences in the newspapers every day!"
+declared Will.  "We see people hypnotized and forced to obey the
+commands of others, not only in the private parlor but on the open
+stage.  Sometimes, too, the hypnotic influence is assisted by
+strange Oriental perfume.  There's nothing extraordinary about it
+at all!  In fact, there is only one word that describes it, and
+that is the word uncanny."
+
+"Fix it anyway you want it!" grinned Tommy.  "There's a broken
+window, and there's blood on the snow, and we found Thede lying on
+the floor when we sprang out of bed.  If that doesn't make a good
+case of circumstantial evidence, I don't know what does!"
+
+"This Little Brass God is getting on my nerves!" declared Sandy
+after a short pause.  "We've been up against smugglers on Lake
+Superior; up against rattlers and wreckers in the Florida
+Everglades, and up against train robbers on the Great Divide, but
+this ghost business gets my goat!"
+
+"Perhaps you'd like to go back to Chicago empty-handed?" asked
+Tommy.
+
+"Not so you could notice it!" was the reply.  "If there's anything
+I like, it's nice little Boy Scout excursions like this.  All we
+have to do to get busy is to get a camping outfit together and
+march off into the wilderness.  Everything else comes right along
+as a matter of course.  Everything else, from magic haunches of
+venison, which appear when you wave your hand, to Little Brass
+Gods, which grin down from the wall one second and vanish in smoke
+the next!"
+
+"Aw, come on to bed!" cried George.
+
+"I'm going to sit up and get breakfast!" declared Tommy.  "Sandy's
+got a grouch on, and there's nothing on earth so good for a grouch
+as a slice of broiled venison."
+
+Tommy dressed himself and chased outdoors in order to bring in the
+meat supply.  He returned without it.  The venison was gone!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A HUNTING EXPEDITION
+
+The boys remained at the cabin all the next day stirring out only
+for wood and game.  Without going, more than a dozen yards from the
+habitation, the boys shot three rabbits and half a dozen squirrels.
+
+These were taken about noon, and the boys immediately began the
+preparation of a stew.  There were a few potatoes left, and these
+they pared and sliced into the savory dish when it was nearing
+completion.
+
+They expected, every one of them, to receive another visit from the
+mysterious persons who had appeared at the cabin on the previous
+night, yet they did not talk of what was in their thoughts.  They
+discussed the sad plight of Antoine, wandering about in the forest
+with a broken wrist, and wondered if the cached provisions were
+still intact.
+
+The following night was a quiet one.  Snow fell heavily, and the
+small streams of that section took on icy blankets.
+
+When they awoke the following morning, the sun was shining
+brightly, and there were many signs of a pleasant week.
+
+"After breakfast," Tommy declared, as he sent his plate over for
+the third helping of the rejuvenated stew, I'm going out and get a
+specimen of every wild animal in the woods.  Then I'm going to put
+them all into this stew!"
+
+"You might put a wolverine into it!" suggested Thede.
+
+"Are they good to eat?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"They're good to eat game out of the traps, I understand," replied
+the boy.  "Or, just for a change," Thede continued, "how'd you like
+an owl in your stew? I guess that wouldn't put you wise or
+anything!"
+
+"You seem to know quite a lot about this country," Will suggested.
+
+"Poor Pierre taught me quite a lot during our rambles," Thede
+answered sorrowfully.
+
+"Then perhaps you'd better come along with Tommy and me and show us
+where to get these different kinds of animals the kid wants to put
+into his stew.  That will help some."
+
+After breakfast the three boys started out with their automatics.
+
+They crossed the morass to the higher ground beyond and passed
+along in the direction of the camp.  There might be duck over Moose
+river, Thede suggested, and Tommy certainly would want a duck for
+his stew.  Also there might be wild geese there.
+
+When they came to the place where the provisions had been cached,
+they found the surface of the ground broken and the provisions
+gone.  Not a single can remained.
+
+"Now, we'll have to shoot all the more game," declared Tommy.  "We
+haven't got many beans or tomatoes left, so we'll have to forage on
+the country."
+
+The loss was not considered a serious one, for the boys had plenty
+of provisions at the cabin and game was very plentiful.
+
+As they passed through the country signs of the wild creatures of
+the woods were numerous.  There were few spaces of a length of
+twenty-five feet in which the track of some wild beast or bird did
+not cross their path.
+
+Thede read this writing in the snow so understandingly that the
+boys actually paid more attention to his explanations than to the
+discovery of the game he was talking about.
+
+"What crossed there?" Will would ask.
+
+"That must have been a red deer!"
+
+"And this track, here?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Probably a fox."
+
+"Well, what do you make of this?" Will demanded with a wink at
+Tommy.
+
+"That must have been a moose, but he passed here some time before
+the last fall of snow!" replied Thede.
+
+"Well, what's this wobbly little mark here?" Tommy asked.
+
+"Partridge!" replied Thede readily.
+
+"Well, here's another odd little mark.  Looks like some one had
+been dragging a rail fence.  What's that?"
+
+"You ought to know that!" answered Thede.
+
+"I ought to know lots of things that I don't know!" commented the
+boy.
+
+"Well," Thede said with a laugh, "the wild animal that passed along
+there was a Beaver!"
+
+"I wonder if he belongs to our patrol!" chuckled Tommy.
+
+"I should think the little fellow would freeze to death," Will
+objected.
+
+"Pierre said it was pretty cold for them to be out when he saw
+tracks two or three days ago!" replied Thede.  "They're building a
+dam over on the river some place, and I suppose they think they've
+got to finish the job before real winter sets in."
+
+After a long ramble through the forest, the boys came to the site
+of the old camp.  The snow which covered the ground here had been
+well trodden down, and many tracks led in the direction of Moose
+river.
+
+"I suppose they've been hunting for deserted provisions," Will
+suggested.  "I'd like to know who it was that made the search!"
+
+"It might have been your Hindu friend," suggested Tommy.
+
+"Look here, kid," Will said in a moment.  "Now that this Hindu
+discussion has broken out again, I'd like to know what you think
+the chances are for locating that little brown man."
+
+"Well," Tommy answered, "I believe you were right when you said
+that the Little Brass God meant something more than intrinsic value
+to at least one of the men who are chasing it up.  Now," the boy
+went on, "if this brass-faced fellow has the sacred idol nut in his
+head, he won't leave this section of the country until he finds it."
+
+"That's the way I figure it out!" Will answered.
+
+"And this adds another interesting feature to the case," Tommy
+continued.  "When we started out we were alone in pursuit of the
+Little Brass God.  Then we came upon Pierre, and we were just
+beginning to believe that he also was in search of the merry little
+jigger when Antoine murdered him.  Now, here comes a third
+interest, and, if you are anywhere near correct in your
+conclusions, he comes all the way from India."
+
+"You don't know where he comes from!" Will interrupted.  "The
+question we want to ask ourselves now is this:
+
+"Have we any chance of recovering the article we were sent after if
+we remain in this district?  In other words, ought we to settle
+down here and wait for things to quiet, or ought we to make an
+effort to discover the whereabouts of the two men who have
+expressed such decided opinions regarding the value of the Little
+Brass God?"
+
+"Meaning Antoine and the alleged Hindu?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Exactly," was the reply.  "You see," Will went on, "there's no use
+of our remaining in camp here if the person who has the stolen
+article in his possession has taken it away."
+
+"I believe Antoine has it!" declared Tommy.
+
+"If Antoine has it, if that was Antoine sitting before the fire
+that night, why did he take the Little Brass God there instead of
+concealing it in his own cavern?"
+
+"The more we talk about it, the less we know," grinned Tommy.
+
+"Night before last," Will began, "the Little Brass God was in a
+cave only a few miles from this spot.  I don't believe it has been
+taken out of the district!  If you boys leave it to me, we'll stay
+in the cabin for a few days, and take quiet trips about the
+country, particularly the hilly country to the south, in search of
+Antoine and the Hindu."
+
+"That suits me!" Tommy declared, "and I know it'll suit George and
+Sandy, too!  There'll be a lot of fun in tramping about."
+
+"Then why not make a trip to the range of hills right now?" asked
+Will.  "We can be back long before night."
+
+"I don't know about that," replied Thede who had been listening to
+the conversation without speaking.  "It's a long way over to the
+hills and the snow's deep."
+
+"Then I'll tell you what we'll do!" Tommy exclaimed excitedly.
+"We'll get a lot of game and send you back with it, and you tell
+the boys that if we don't return tonight, we'll be camping in some
+of those caverns in the hills."
+
+"I thought you'd be ready for another runaway night excursion!"
+laughed Will.
+
+"I suppose I don't run away when I'm with you!" commented Tommy.
+
+Will only laughed, and the boys began the collection of rabbits and
+squirrels and ducks until Thede was pretty well loaded down.  They
+all walked along together until they came to where it would be
+necessary to part company because of the different directions to be
+taken.
+
+There Will and Tommy turned toward the south while Thede kept
+straight on toward the cottage on the island in the swamp.
+
+"There's one thing we forgot," Tommy suggested as the boys tramped
+laboriously through the snow.  "We forgot to bring along anything
+to eat!"
+
+"Yes, we did!" laughed Will.  "Don't you think I'll ever start out
+on a tramp with you without plenty of provisions."
+
+The boy opened his heavy coat and revealed inside pockets packed
+with sandwiches made of venison steak and bread, with now and then
+a sandwich composed of stewed meat and griddle cakes, for variety.
+
+"We won't have to go home tonight, now, will we?" laughed Tommy.
+
+"In Chicago," Will began, "we had a boy in our office we used to
+call The-Young-Man-Afraid-Of-His-Bed.  You must be related to him,
+for I have never known you to go to bed without objecting, or to
+get up without thinking how much time you had wasted!"
+
+"Never you mind me!" replied Tommy.  "You wait till you get into
+some of those caverns in the hills and build a roaring fire, and
+I'll show you that you're not the only boy that can provide
+provisions."
+
+"You mustn't do any shooting over there!" warned Will.  "We might
+as well go in quest of the Little Brass God with a band!"
+
+"That's a fact!" agreed Tommy in a discouraged tone.
+
+The boys first visited the cave where George had seen the Little
+Brass God grinning down from the wall.  There seemed to be no one
+within miles of them.
+
+While they talked, however, a shadow fell on the oblong bit of
+light which marked the entrance, and a tall figure with one
+bandaged wrist, leaning on the barrel of a rifle, stood gazing down
+upon them with hatred flashing from his eyes.
+
+"It's Antoine!" whispered Will.
+
+"Yes, and he won't do a thing to us now!" whispered Tommy.
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+ANTOINE ON THE RUN
+
+Antoine regarded the boys steadily for a moment without moving a
+muscle.  Will and Tommy believed that the fellow meant mischief,
+and were wondering if they would be able to get their automatics
+from their pockets before he could bring his rifle to a shooting
+level.
+
+One question had at least been answered.  The boys had been
+wondering ever since settling at the cabin whether Antoine had not
+taken his departure from that country.  His presence there at that
+time answered this question in the most uncomfortable manner.  The
+man was evidently there on a mission not to be interfered with by
+so simple a thing as a broken wrist.
+
+"Well, boys," Antoine said in a moment, his face relaxing into a
+smile which was far more terrifying than the previous look of
+hatred, "it seems that we have come together again!"
+
+"Welcome to our midst!" grinned Tommy.
+
+Antoine eyed the lad keenly for an instant and then turned his eyes
+toward Will.
+
+"What are you doing in this country?" he asked.
+
+"Fishing and bunting!" was the reply.
+
+"Hunting for what?"
+
+"Do you think we're looking for a forty story skyscraper?" demanded
+Tommy.
+
+Again Antoine glanced sharply at the boy, but seemed determined not
+to give the slightest attention to his irrelevant observation.
+
+"Who sent you here?" he asked of Will.
+
+"Gee-whiz!" exclaimed Tommy angrily.  "Is this the third degree?"
+
+"How long are you going to remain here?" asked Antoine, without
+paying any attention to the boy's question.
+
+"Gee!" exclaimed Tommy.  "You make me think of the stories of
+little Clarence in the newspapers!  You're the original little
+interrogation point."
+
+"You'd better answer my questions!" thundered Antoine, losing his
+temper at last.
+
+Now this was exactly what Tommy had been hoping for.  Antoine angry
+might prove to be more communicative than Antoine in a pleasant
+temper.
+
+"Will you answer a few of my questions?" asked Will, wondering if
+it would be possible for him to spring upon the trapper and bring
+him down before his rifle could be brought into use.
+
+"If you'll keep that impertinent little gutter-snipe still,"
+Antoine snarled, "I'll answer such questions as seem to me to be
+worth answering."
+
+"Are you the man who was seen sitting half-asleep before a fire in
+a cavern three nights ago?" asked the boy.
+
+The man hesitated for a moment, as if in deep thought, and then
+answered with an exclamation of impatience.
+
+"Were you in the cave that night?"
+
+"No, but my chums were," Will replied.
+
+"What did they see there?"
+
+"A man asleep by the fire!"
+
+"Perhaps the man wasn't asleep at all.  What else did they see?"
+
+It was Will's turn to hesitate now.  He was wondering if he ought
+to mention the fact of the presence in that cavern of the Little
+Brass God.
+
+At first it seemed to him that he ought to do so, that he might be
+able to secure information as to the exact situation from Antoine
+by facing him with the fact of the discovery of the ugly little
+idol.
+
+Then he reasoned that an acknowledgment that they knew anything
+whatever of the Little Brass God would be likely to get them into
+deeper trouble, if possible, than that which they now faced.
+
+So the boy decided to say nothing whatever of what George and Thede
+had seen shining in the light of the fire.
+
+During this brief time of silence Antoine brought his rifle into a
+more menacing position and began stirring about angrily.
+
+"Are you going to answer my question?" the man finally demanded.
+
+"That's about all so far as I know!" replied the boy.
+
+Of course Will was not telling the exact truth, but he believed
+that, under the circumstances, he was privileged to shade the exact
+facts a trifle in the interest of his own safety.
+
+"What was it you put in the tea you gave George?" asked Tommy with
+a mischievous grin on his freckled face.
+
+"I put nothing whatever in it!" replied Antoine, "that is, I put
+nothing in it calculated to do the boy any harm."
+
+It seemed to the boys that Antoine's manner was becoming more
+conciliatory every moment.
+
+"The lad was worn out, weak from loss of blood, and sadly in need
+of attention," the man went on, "and so, after caring for his wound
+and giving him a good breakfast, I gave him a mild sleeping potion,
+which, as you already know, affected him only a short time."
+
+"You say it well!" grinned Tommy.
+
+Antoine threw an angry glance at the provoking youngster, but soon
+turned to Will once more.
+
+"I didn't quite understand the sudden attack the boys made on me,"
+he said.  "I was astonished when I received the blow which broke my
+wrist."
+
+"Who set your wrist?" asked Will.
+
+"There was only one bone broken, and I set it myself!" was the
+reply.
+
+"Perhaps we did wrong in taking it for granted that George had
+been drugged to get him out of the way, and that we would share
+the same fate," Will admitted after a moment.  "But, under the
+circumstances, I don't see how we could have done any differently."
+
+"I'm sorry you were so precipitous," Antoine said with what was
+intended for a suave smile.  "You boys, I understand," he went on,
+"are now occupying the cabin on the island in the marsh."
+
+"Who told you that?" asked Will.
+
+"No one!" was the reply.  "I have been near the place twice since
+you took possession.
+
+"Why didn't you call?" demanded Tommy.
+
+Again the boy's question was ignored.
+
+"Did you see any one loitering about the cottage when you were
+there?" asked Will.  "You were there in the daytime, I suppose."
+
+"Why do you ask that question?" demanded Antoine, giving a quick
+start.  "Have you been annoyed by people hanging about the cabin?"
+
+Will didn't know whether to relate the story of the midnight visit
+or not.  He finally decided that the least he said to Antoine the
+better it would be for him, so he replied that they had passed two
+very restful nights in the deserted log house on the island.
+
+"Did you find it deserted?" asked Antoine.
+
+"It had the appearance of having been recently occupied," replied
+Will.  "I understand from one of the boys that Pierre formerly
+lived there."
+
+"So I understand!" Antoine replied grimly.  "The point now is,
+whether it was occupied by any one after Pierre left it."
+
+Not caring to tell the exact facts.  Will said nothing whatever,
+and for a moment there was a rather embarrassed silence.
+
+"What do you say about that?" demanded Antoine.
+
+"Why, I think there was a little fire left when we went into the
+place," Will replied, "but that might have been a left-over from
+the day before.  Those large fires burn a long time."
+
+"And you say that you have not been disturbed at all during your
+occupancy of the place?" Antoine continued.
+
+"Now I wonder how much this fellow knows," Will asked himself while
+Antoine stood gazing curiously down upon him.  "I wonder if he
+knows about the people who came there that night?  He seems to have
+a suspicion that some person is wandering about the country, and
+keeping pretty well out of sight.  I wish I knew how much he knows."
+
+"Oh, we have slept all right," he finally said, in reply to the
+man's question.  "A mess of healthy boys will sleep under the noise
+of battle!"
+
+"I ask these questions," Antoine said directly, "because I have
+seen strange foot-prints in the snow at different times, and it
+seems to me that some person or persons are skulking through the
+woods and, for some reason known only to themselves, keeping out of
+sight of honest men."
+
+"He knows all about that affair at the cabin," Will concluded.
+"Now," he went on, "I wonder why he's so very much interested in
+these strangers, whoever they are?"
+
+"Oh, come on!" Tommy exclaimed.  "Don't stand here all day!  We've
+got to get back to the cabin before it gets too dark to make our
+way through the woods."
+
+The two boys took a couple of steps forward at a venture, without
+knowing whether Antoine would oppose their leaving the cavern.
+
+"Well," he said, as he stepped to one side, "if you boys see any
+strangers loitering about, I wish you'd let me know."
+
+The two lads amazed departed without making any promise, but they
+did not at once turn in the direction of the cabin.  Instead, they
+plunged through the snow in a southerly direction, after seeing
+that Antoine had gone the other way.
+
+"Where are you headed for now?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Just wandering about on general principles," replied Will, at the
+same time turning into one of the eaves belonging to the system of
+underground passages.  "Thought I'd look in here first!"
+
+The lads entered the cavern as noiselessly as possible and looked
+guardedly about.  A great heap of furs lay on the floor, and two
+figures rested upon them apparently lost in slumber.
+
+Tommy pointed to the modern shoes on the feet of one of the
+sleepers.  Then he silently called attention to the bloody bandage
+wrapped about the man's head.  He looked at Will inquiringly.
+
+"Do you suppose," he whispered, "that these, fellows are here after
+the Little Brass God, too?"
+
+The men seemed willing to answer the question for themselves, for
+they sprang to their feet and glared at the intruders angrily.
+
+One of the men was dressed as a trapper, although he did not look
+the part.  He was tall and angular, with sharp features and keen
+black eyes.
+
+His companion was shorter, but equally slender.  His eye orbits
+were small and oval in shape, his face was a dusky brown, and there
+was, somehow, about the man an atmosphere of the Orient.
+
+While the four people glared at each other a step was heard in the
+narrow entrance, and in a moment Antoine's face was clearly
+outlined against the narrow slit of light.
+
+The trapper took in the group at one quick glance, and, turning in
+his tracks, fled precipitately down the slope.  Without speaking a
+word, the two men who had been found in the cavern, turned and
+followed him.
+
+"Now what do you think of that?" demanded Tommy.
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+"BOYS UP A TREE!"
+
+When Thede returned to the cabin with numerous squirrels, rabbits
+and ducks, Sandy greeted him with a shout of joy.
+
+"This will seem like living in the north woods!" he cried.  "We'll
+have all kinds of game from this time on!"
+
+"You bet we will!" replied Thede.  "I'm some hungry myself, when it
+comes to that!  I guess I can get a few!"
+
+"You never shot all these!" Sandy doubted, poking the squirrels and
+rabbits about with a finger.  "You never got them all by yourself!"
+
+"How do you know I didn't?" asked Thede, with a provoking grin.
+
+"Because you couldn't," Sandy answered.
+
+"All right, then," admitted the boy.  "We all had a share in the
+shooting, and Will and Tommy sent me back with the game."
+
+"Where have they gone?" asked Sandy, a look of indignation
+over-spreading his face.  "They're always running away and leaving
+me to watch the camp! I wish they'd give me a chance sometime."
+
+Thede sat down in one of the clumsy chairs which the cabin afforded
+and laughed until his sides shook.
+
+"I don't think any of you boys are famishing for fresh air and
+adventure," he said in a moment.  "You seem to me to be kept pretty
+busy."
+
+"Well," Sandy exclaimed, "they might let me go with them when they
+start off on a tour like that.  Where have they gone, anyway?"
+
+"They said they were going out in search of the Little Brass God!"
+laughed Thede.
+
+"Honest?" demanded Sandy.
+
+"That's what they said!"
+
+"I hope they don't find it!" Sandy exclaimed.
+
+The boys cooked a liberal supply of game for dinner and then began
+restlessly walking to and fro over the cabin floor.
+
+"What's the matter with you fellows?" asked George in a moment,
+speaking from the bunk.
+
+"Hello, you've woke up, have you?" demanded Sandy.  "I thought
+perhaps you'd sleep all day!  How's your head feel?"
+
+"Rotten, thank you!" answered George.
+
+Sandy took a couple more turns about the room and then sat down by
+the side of the bunk where George lay.
+
+"I know what's the matter with you!" George said, directly.
+
+"What's the answer!" asked Sandy, rather sourly.
+
+"You need exercise!" replied George.  "You've been ramming about
+the cabin all the morning, and I've been wishing for the last three
+hours that you'd take to the tall timber."
+
+"Is that so?" shouted Sandy springing to his feet.
+
+"Yes, that's so!" answered George.  "I wish you and Thede would go
+out for a ramble.  If you don't know what else to do, walk over to
+the river and catch a fish.  That'll go all right for supper."
+
+"You're on!" cried Sandy.
+
+The boys were ready for the trip in a very few moments.  It was not
+necessary now to provide against mosquitoes and "bull-dogs," for
+the sudden cold spell had effectually silenced them for the winter.
+
+"Now don't you fellows come home unless you bring about twenty
+pounds of trout," George directed as the two lads opened the door
+and disappeared from sight.
+
+The boys had proceeded but a short distance when Sandy called his
+companion's attention to a peculiar foot-print in the snow.
+
+"I guess we must be approaching the corner of State and Madison
+again!" he laughed.  "We come out into the woods to commune with
+nature, and find some new party butting in every time we turn
+around."
+
+"That's an Indian's foot-print!" declared Thede.
+
+"How do you know that?" demanded Sandy.  "You haven't seen any
+Indian, have you?  How can you tell an Indian's foot-print from any
+one else's?  That may be a white man's step, for all we know!"
+
+"Nay, nay, me son!" laughed Thede.  "I know by the shape of the
+moccasin and by the way the fellow walks."
+
+"You know a whole lot of things!" laughed Sandy.  "If you keep on
+accumulating knowledge, you'll beat Tommy out of his job as the
+Sherlock Holmes of the party!"
+
+"Well, if you don't believe he's an Indian, you'd better go and ask
+him!" Thede argued.  "He's right over there in the thicket!"
+
+Sandy gave a quick start of alarm and put his hand back to his
+automatic.  Thede motioned him to leave his gun where it was.
+
+"This is a friendly Indian," the boy explained.  "I've often heard
+Pierre refer to him.  He's called Oje, but I don't know whether
+that's his name or not.  He's said to be the champion fisherman of
+this section, and if you really want to get fish for supper, we'd
+better get him interested."
+
+Oje was not a very romantic looking Indian, his general appearance
+being that of a bear fitted out with about three hides.  The boys
+noticed, however, that none of the clothing he wore was fastened
+closely about his waist or throat.  In fact, as he joined them with
+a grunt, they saw that the roughly-made garments were nearly all
+open.
+
+The Indian knows better than to bring his clothing where it will
+come in contact with either his breath or with perspiration.
+Should he do this in very severe weather, he would soon find
+everything about him frozen stiff.  He is sure, however, to carry
+enough clothing with him to keep him warm in repose and during the
+long nights.
+
+"How do you know that's Oje?" whispered Sandy, as the Indian stood
+looking questioningly at the two boys.
+
+"Because he answers to the description."
+
+"Howdy!" the Indian exclaimed in a moment.
+
+The boys returned the greeting, and then followed a conversation
+which was almost entirely expressed by signs.
+
+Oje was invited to proceed with the boys on a fishing trip, and,
+later, to accept of their hospitality at the cabin.  The Indian
+gave a grunt of assent, and at once turned toward the river.
+
+As they passed the spot where the cache had been, Sandy glanced
+curiously toward the Indian, as though wondering whether he had not
+been the one to dig out the provisions.  The Indian, however,
+walked on without appearing to notice either the rifled cache or
+the suspicious glances of the boy.  Arrived at the river, the
+Indian, after carefully testing the ice, walked to a small island
+near the shore.
+
+The boys looked on while he began his preparations for fishing.  He
+went about the work quietly, yet seemed to be remarkably exact in
+all his motions.  First he cut about twenty feet of fish-line in
+two in the middle of the piece and tied one end of each part to one
+end of a stick which he cut from the shore.
+
+The knots he made in the fastening seemed primitive, but it was
+discovered later that they held very firmly.  After a time he tied
+a bass hook to each fish-line, and on each hook he speared a little
+cube of fat pork which he drew from his pocket, and which had
+evidently done service through a long series of fishing expeditions.
+
+Next he cut two holes in the ice, which was not very thick at that
+point, and over these the boys were invited to stand, sticks in
+hand, lines dangling from the poles.
+
+Hardly had Sandy lowered his line which had a bullet flattened
+around it for a sinker, when he felt it jerk to one side, and
+almost immediately drew up a three-pound trout.
+
+"Now, what do you think of that for catching fish?" demanded the
+boy.
+
+Oje gave a satisfied grunt at this evident appreciation of his
+services, and motioned the lads to continue their sport.
+
+Next Thede caught a gray trout somewhat smaller than the fish
+landed by Sandy, and then another three-pound speckled trout was
+landed.
+
+"I guess if some of these fellows with hundred dollar fishing
+outfits could see us hauling beauties out of the water like this,
+they'd begin to understand what real fishing means!" Sandy
+exclaimed.
+
+It was a glorious day for fishing, although a trifle cold.  The sun
+shone down with a brilliance unequaled in more tropical climates,
+and there was little wind to send the chill through the clothing.
+After the boys had caught plenty of fish they started back toward
+the cabin.
+
+Oje walked through the wilderness with a different manner from that
+with which he had accompanied the boys in the journey toward the
+river.  He glanced sharply about, and frequently stopped to examine
+trifling marks in the snow.  After a time he pointed to the track
+of a rabbit which had apparently departed from the faint trail in
+extreme terror, judging from the speed which had been made.
+
+"Strange man!" he said significantly.  "Find track soon!"
+
+"Do you mean," asked Sandy, "that there's some one chasing us up?"
+
+"Find track soon," was all the explanation the Indian would make.
+
+"Of course!" Sandy declared.  "We couldn't think of going back to
+the cabin without butting into some new combination!"
+
+In a short time the Indian discovered the footprints he was looking
+for, and pointed them out to the boys.  Two persons had passed that
+way not long before.  The tracks in the snow showed that one had
+worn moccasins and the other ordinary shoes.
+
+"I should think that fellow's feet would freeze!" Sandy observed.
+"He don't seem to have any overshoes on!"
+
+"How do you know?" asked Thede.  "He may have a small foot and wear
+overshoes shaped like a shoe itself."
+
+"I wish we could follow the trail and find out where they're
+going!" Sandy observed.
+
+"I'm game for it!" declared Thede.
+
+The two boys pointed to the foot-prints and started to follow them.
+
+The Indian seemed pleased at the idea, and soon led the way toward
+the range of hills whither the foot-prints pointed.
+
+"The first thing we know," Thede suggested, "we'll be running into
+a nest of black bears.  They're thick as bees up in this country,
+and they'll be hungry, too, with all this snow on the ground."
+
+The words were hardly out of his mouth before a succession of low,
+angry growls came to the ears of the boys, and the next moment they
+saw Oje springing into the lower branches of a great fir tree.
+
+"I guess he knows what's good for his health!" shouted Sandy.  "Me
+for a tree, too!"
+
+The boys probably never made quicker motions in their lives.
+
+"Have you got a searchlight with you?" asked Thede.
+
+Sandy shook his head sadly.
+
+"Then we can't see to shoot the beasts," wailed Thede, "and it
+looks to me like one of those long, cold nights in a tree!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A PILLAR OF FIRE
+
+"Can you build a fire with one match?" asked Thede, after a short
+silence, during which the boys had been trying in vain to get a
+shot at the bears.
+
+"Of course I can!" answered Sandy.  "What's the good of going
+through all those Boy Scout examinations, if a fellow can't build a
+fire with one match?  Of course I can build a fire with one match!"
+
+"Can you build a fire with one match up in a tree?" asked Thede,
+with a suspicion of mirth in his voice.
+
+"Of course I can!" answered Sandy.
+
+"Up in a tree in the darkness, on a windy night?" asked Thede.
+
+"If this thing is going to your head, you'd better drop down and
+make a run for the camp!" advised Sandy.
+
+"Honest, now," asked Thede, "can you make a fire with one match in
+a green tree, in a high wind, on a dark night?"
+
+"Cut it out!" roared Sandy.
+
+"Because if you can," Thede explained, "I think I can show you a
+way out of this mess!"
+
+"Well, go on and show it, then!"
+
+"All you've got to do," Thede went on, "is to build a fire and drop
+the burning brands down on top of the bears.  That will bring them
+out into the light for a second or two, and perhaps we can drop
+them with our automatics."
+
+The boys heard the Indian moving softly about in the branches of
+the tree he had selected as a refuge, but paid little attention to
+what he was doing.  Afterwards, they discovered that he had dropped
+his rifle at the foot of the tree, and was trying to secure it.
+
+"Why did you say build a fire with one match?" asked Sandy.  "I
+always carry a lot of matches," the boy added, feeling in his
+pocket.
+
+"Find any?" asked Thede.
+
+"Not a match!"
+
+"I knew you wouldn't!" Thede said.
+
+"How'd you happen to know so much?" grunted Sandy.
+
+"Because," Thede replied, "I saw you feeling in your pocket for a
+match and bring your fingers out empty while at the cabin.  Then
+you went to a match box and laid a great heap of 'em on the table.
+I thought of it while we stood there, but it never occurred to me
+to tell you to stow them away."
+
+"I remember now!" Sandy said regretfully.
+
+"Well," Thede responded cheerfully, "I've got just one match.  I
+wonder if you can light a fire with that!"
+
+"You just wait a minute and I'll tell you!" replied Sandy.
+
+Thede heard him moving about over the limbs of the tree, his every
+motion being punctuated by growls from below.  Then came an
+exclamation of satisfaction from the darkness, and Thede heard the
+boy declaring that it was a dead tree they were in, and that there
+was plenty of dry wood.
+
+"All right, start your fire, then," suggested Thede, "and we'll see
+if we can't burn the backs off some of those bears!"
+
+"Perhaps we can break off enough dry limbs to make a rousing old
+fire that will keep till morning," Sandy said in a moment.  "If
+this old tree is really dead to the heart, it'll make quite a
+blaze."
+
+Sandy gathered a great handful of twigs not more than a couple of
+inches in length and placed them in a sheltered position in the lee
+of the tree.  Then he added dry boughs of larger size and made
+ready to use the precious match.
+
+"Now you know what'll happen if that match goes out!" said Thede.
+
+"This match," said Sandy confidently, "is not the kind of a match
+that goes out.  I'd be a healthy old Boy Scout if I couldn't build
+a fire in the top of a tree with one match!"
+
+The boy waited until there came a brief lull in the wind, then with
+the match protected as much as possible by his hat he struck it.
+
+The flame spluttered for an instant, died down, crawled around to
+the windward side of the stick, crawled back again, and then flared
+up gloriously.  At first the dry twigs refused to ignite, but
+presently one caught the blaze, then another, and directly Sandy
+was obliged to draw his face away from the growing heat.
+
+"There!" he exclaimed triumphantly.  "Didn't I tell you I could do
+it?"
+
+"You said you could," answered Thede, "but I didn't believe it!"
+
+"Look here," Tommy said in a minute, sheltering his face from the
+smoke.  "First thing we know, we'll have this whole blooming tree
+on fire."
+
+"If it gets good and hot, we can fry fish after the bears go away,"
+suggested Thede.  "I'm hungry!  By the way," he added with a grin,
+"where are those fish?"
+
+"Do you think I brought 'em up in the tree?" demanded Sandy.
+
+"You never left 'em down there?" asked Thede.
+
+"Didn't I?" exclaimed Sandy.  "What did you do with the ones you
+were carrying?"
+
+"Why," replied Thede, "I guess I left 'em in the thicket where we
+stood when we made a hop-skip-and-jump for the tree."
+
+"We certainly are a bright mess!" cried Sandy.
+
+"Say," Thede said in a moment, "I'll just bet that's what kept the
+bears so still while we've been up here building the fire.  They've
+been eating our fish!  That's why we couldn't get sight of them!"
+
+"Can you see the bears now?" asked Sandy.  "I'm sure I can't!"
+
+"They're still back in there eating our trout!' wailed Thede.
+
+"Unless you want a leg burned off," advised Sandy, "you'd better
+work around on another limb!"
+
+"Aw, this limb is all right!" argued Thede.
+
+The light from the fire now illuminated quite a little circle
+around the tree, and the boys saw 0je sliding cautiously down the
+trunk of the tree where he had taken refuge.
+
+"He's after his gun!" declared Sandy.  "Just watch out and you'll
+see him get one of those bears!"
+
+Oje certainly was after his rifle, for he slid down cautiously,
+keeping the bole of the tree between himself and the bears.
+
+Much to the surprise of the lads, the Indian did not again climb
+into the shelter of the branches.  Instead, he stood peering around
+the trunk of the tree as if waiting for the wild animals to make
+their appearance.  The flame blazed higher and higher and the boys
+began to feel uncomfortable.
+
+"I'll bet there ain't any bears here!" Sandy exclaimed after a
+moment's silence.  "I guess we run away from a rabbit!"
+
+"I guess we didn't!" insisted Thede.
+
+The boy's opinion was verified a moment later by the appearance of
+three shambling figures in the lighted zone.  The bear is noted for
+his curiosity, and the boys realized, too, that the feast of fish
+must have been devoured.
+
+"We might have sneaked away while they were eating that fine
+supper!" Sandy said, in a tone of disgust.  "I think we ought to
+have medals made out of a cow's ear!  That would be a good medal,
+wouldn't it, for boys who showed such courage in the face of the
+enemy?"
+
+"Never you mind!" Thede answered.  "I guess the bears are next to
+their job.  We wouldn't have gone far before they'd been after us."
+
+As the bears appeared in the light of the fire, now blazing
+fiercely and fast climbing from one dry limb to another, the lads
+saw the Indian raise his rifle to his shoulder and fire.
+
+Instead of taking to their legs, the bears grouped themselves
+around their fallen mate and snarled savagely up into the tree.
+
+"Oje will get another one in a minute," Thede ventured, overjoyed
+at the success of the first shot, "and then we can open fire with
+our automatics."
+
+"Holy Moses!" cried Sandy.  "Here we've been sitting here watching
+the panorama with our guns in our pockets!  I guess we don't know
+much about hunting bears, when it comes down to cases."
+
+"Well, it isn't too late to shoot yet," Thede declared.
+
+"It's getting pretty hot here, anyhow," said Sandy, "and we'll have
+to drop in a minute, whether we shoot or not.  This old tree seems
+to be as dry as tinder!"
+
+"Yes," Thede agreed, "I guess you started something when you made
+such good use of that one match."
+
+The boys moved about on the limb in order to get at their
+automatics.  They noted then, for the first time, that the perch
+upon which they rested was burning close to the trunk.  They called
+out to each other, almost simultaneously, to shift to the trunk of
+the tree.
+
+But it was too late.  They felt themselves swinging through, the
+air, and the next moment there was such a mixture of boy and bear
+at the bottom of the tree as has rarely been seen in the British
+Territories.
+
+Both boys landed squarely on the back of one of the animals.  Of
+course, they rolled to the ground instantly and grabbed for their
+automatics, but their movements were no quicker than those of the
+astonished bear.
+
+"Woof!" he said.  "Woof!"
+
+Translated into boy-talk, this read "Good-night!" and a second
+later they heard both bears tramping through the forest as if
+pursued by a pack of hounds.
+
+"What do you know about that?" demanded Tommy.
+
+Without replying, Thede scrambled to his feet and dashed into the
+thicket where he had left the fish.  He returned in a moment with a
+woeful face which set his chum into roars of laughter.
+
+"They ate our fish!" he said,
+
+"What'd you think they'd do with them?" demanded Sandy.  "Did you
+think they'd put 'em in cold storage and keep 'em for next summer?"
+
+"What I'm sobbing about," Thede went on, "is that the bears
+certainly made a monkey of me.  They weren't after us.  They were
+after the fish!"
+
+"Well, they got the fish, didn't they?" asked Sandy.
+
+"And we might have been on our way while they were devouring them!"
+wailed Thede.
+
+The tree was now virtually a pillar of fire, and the boys moved out
+from under it.  They found the Indian standing, stolid and
+indifferent, just out of the circle of light.
+
+"Just think of all that funny thing happening and he never seeing
+any humor in it!" exclaimed Sandy.
+
+The Indian lifted his hand for silence, and pointed off toward the
+hills.  Then, motioning the boys to follow him, he led the way into
+a thicket and crouched down.
+
+Directly the panting and puffing of a man exhausted from a long
+run, was heard, and the familiar figure of Antoine dashed into the
+circle of light!  He glared about for a moment and then dropped
+down on the snow, evidently completely exhausted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE SIGNAL FROM THE HILLS
+
+"That's a funny proposition, too!" whispered Sandy.
+
+"That's the gink who tried to feed us poisoned tea," Thede
+whispered back.  "I wonder what he's running for."
+
+The Indian drew at the boys' sleeves to enforce silence, and all
+three sat perfectly still for some moments.  Then Antoine lifted
+himself to his feet and looked cautiously about.
+
+They saw him examine the bear tracks and heard him muttering to
+himself as he followed with trained eyes the trail leading into the
+thicket where the boys and the Indian were hiding.
+
+He drew quite close to the bushes where the three lay; so close,
+indeed, that they could hear him muttering as he lost the trail
+because of the darkness.  Presently, he turned back.
+
+"I think I understand," he said hoarsely.  "Two of the boys were
+treed by bears and Oje rescued them.  I presume they are half way
+to the cabin before this."
+
+He started along the trail by which the boys had reached the tree
+but presently turned back.  He stood in the light of the fire for a
+moment and then set off in the direction of the hills.
+
+"Safer there than here!" they heard him growl as he passed them by.
+
+Oje waited until the sound of the fellow's footsteps were heard no
+more, and then arose to his feet, Without speaking a word, he, too,
+faced toward the hills, passing through the snow at a swinging gait.
+
+"What's he going to do now?" queried Sandy.
+
+"I wish I knew!" replied Thede.  "Say, look here!" the boy
+continued, "hadn't we better make a break for the cabin?  I don't
+see any sustenance in wandering around in the snow all night!"
+
+"Oje has something on his mind!" Sandy declared.  "And I think we'd
+better find out where he's going."
+
+"All right!" answered Thede.  "I'm game, only I'm wondering what
+George is thinking about all this time."
+
+It was cold and dark in the forest, and the snow was deep, but the
+boys trudged bravely on in the direction of the hills.  At least
+they supposed that they were going in the direction of the hills.
+They could scarcely see a yard in advance of their noses under the
+thick foliage and so trusted entirely to the Indian, who led them
+along at a pace which was exhausting to say the least.
+
+There would be a moon shortly after eight, but soon after that time
+they hoped to be snugly tucked in their blankets in the cottage.
+For a time they could see the dry tree which they had fired blazing
+in the distance, but at length it dropped out of sight.
+
+"How long do you think that blooming savage will keep this up?"
+asked Sandy of Thede, as the two boys struggled along through snow
+nearly up to their knees.  "I'm about all in!"
+
+"He's capable of keeping it up all night!" Thede answered in a
+dejected tone, "but I hope he'll stop when we come to the hills."
+
+"He does seem to be heading for the hills," Sandy replied.  "If
+he'll only stop when he gets there, I may be able to catch my
+breath again!"
+
+"Cheer up!" laughed Thede.  "The worst is yet to come!"
+
+"Doesn't that look like the moon coming up?" asked Sandy an hour
+later as they came to a slope which gradually led up to the hills.
+
+"That's the moon, all right!" replied Thede.  "But it won't do much
+good if we keep on walking under the trees.  We ought to be home
+now."
+
+"Does the moon rise in the south?" asked Sandy,
+
+"There's no knowing what will take place in this part of the
+country," answered Thede.  "Me for little old Chicago right soon!"
+
+"I think it's about time we headed for Chicago," Sandy agreed.
+"When a couple of Boy Scouts who are supposed to be in their right
+minds climb a tree to get away from bears who are so busy eating
+stolen fish that they don't know there is a boy within a hundred
+miles, I think it is about time they headed for civilization."
+
+"What did you mean about the moon rising in the south?" asked Thede.
+
+"Well," Sandy answered, "it looks to me as if there were two moons
+rising, one in the east and one in the south!"
+
+There certainly was a light growing far up on the hills.  In a
+moment the Indian came back to the boys and pointed out the strange
+illumination.
+
+"Fire there!" he said.
+
+"What do you think it means?" asked Thede.
+
+"Heap campfire!" was the reply.
+
+Oje held up three fingers to indicate that he saw three fires.  His
+eyes were sharper than those of the boys, who at first saw only a
+blur of light.  Before long, however, they caught sight of three
+points of flame lifting above the hills.  As the boys looked the
+blazes seemed to die down, or to be obscured by additional material
+being thrown upon them.  As the moon rose, sending a wintry light
+over the great slope, three gigantic columns of smoke stood where
+the flames had shown a minute before.
+
+"What do you make of it?" asked Thede.
+
+"Can you read the signal?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Do you really think it is a signal?"
+
+"Of course it's a signal!" cried Sandy.  "That's the Boy Scout
+signal.  Do you know what it says?"
+
+"Three smoke columns mean 'Good News!' answered Thede.
+
+"Do you suppose those crazy boys are still in the hills?" asked
+Sandy.  "If they are, George will think we've all deserted him."
+
+"Of course they're still in the hills!" declared Thede.  "No one
+but Boy Scouts would be sending up those signals!"
+
+"Aw, what good news would they have to communicate?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Perhaps they've found the Little Brass God!" suggested Thede.
+
+"Found your Little Brass Uncle!" cried Sandy.
+
+"Well, it's good news anyhow!" insisted Thede.  "If it wasn't the
+boys wouldn't be taking the pains to build three big fires in order
+to tell us about it."
+
+The Indian appeared to be suspicious of the campfires ahead until
+the boys explained to him, with much difficulty, that the fires had
+undoubtedly been built by their friends, and that they conveyed the
+information that agreeable developments awaited them.
+
+The slope of the hills was now bathed in moonlight, and the Indian
+hesitated about advancing over the many clear places from which the
+timber fell away.  Urged on by the boys, however, he finally
+proceeded cautiously in the direction of the fires, keeping out of
+the moonlight as far as possible.
+
+"Oje's afraid we'll bunt into something," Thede said, as they
+clambered up the slope.  "I wonder what he'd think if he should be
+called out of his bed by a blooming magician from the East Indies."
+
+The signal coming from the hills was farther to the east than the
+boys had ventured before.  The fires seemed to have been built high
+up on a shelf of rock facing the north.
+
+When the boys came closer they saw two figures moving about in
+front of the flames.  Directly they bad no difficulty whatever in
+recognizing Will and Tommy, as they heaped great piles of green
+boughs on the coals in order to create dense smoke.
+
+"The kids are in the center of the stage all right!" laughed Sandy.
+
+"I don't see how they dare build fires out in that exposed place,"
+Thede suggested.  "There's no knowing who may be prowling around."
+
+"Perhaps they know where the few enemies we have found in this
+section are keeping themselves!"
+
+"Perhaps they've got 'em shut up in some of their own caverns!"
+Thede suggested.  "Anyway," he went on, "there's something doing,
+or they wouldn't be talking Boy Scout to us at this time of night."
+
+As the boys drew still closer they heard the labored breathing of
+some one running, apparently only a short distance away.
+
+Oje darted away in the direction of the sounds, but soon returned
+to where the boys waited and headed once more for the Boy Scout
+signal.
+
+"What did you see, Oje?" Thede asked.
+
+The Indian turned and pointed back over the snowy trail they had
+followed from the burning tree.
+
+"Man from there!" he said.
+
+"Antoine?" asked Sandy.
+
+The Indian nodded and continued up the slope as if the matter were
+unworthy of further attention.
+
+"Now, what do you suppose Antoine came here for?" asked Thede.
+
+"Attracted by the fire, probably,"
+
+"I don't understand what he's roaming about so much for," Thede
+continued.  "What was he doing out at the burning tree?"
+
+"From the appearance of things," Sandy answered, "I should say that
+he hot-footed it out there in order to get away from some one who
+was chasing him, though I can't understand why anyone should be
+chasing him."
+
+"Anyway, he seems to be back here now," Thede said.  "It's dollars
+to buttons, though, that he doesn't go up to the fire where the
+boys are."
+
+"Look here," Sandy said in a moment, '"I just believe that Antoine
+has the Little Brass God in his possession, and that the two men
+who came to the cabin that night are after it!"
+
+"I hope they don't get it!"
+
+"Of course they won't get it," Sandy answered.  "Didn't we come
+away up here into this desolate land to get it ourselves?"
+
+When a few yards from the blazing fires, Sandy paused long enough
+to give the Beaver call and hear the answer given.  Then the lads
+trooped up to the circle of light and warmth.
+
+"What's the idea?" Sandy asked after greetings had been exchanged.
+"Did you build these fires so we could cook supper?"
+
+"You're not hungry, I hope!" grinned Tommy.
+
+"Starved to death!" answered Sandy.  "We've been treed by bears,
+and dumped down on the back of a great beast about nine feet long,
+and had our fish devoured, and there's been nothing doing in the
+eating line since noon!"
+
+"Never you mind the hardships of life!" grinned Will.  "We've got
+great news for you, so get ready to shout!"
+
+"What's the great news?" demanded Sandy.
+
+"We've got the Little Brass God penned up in the cavern just under
+this rock!  We've got a cinch on him this time!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A SIGHT OF THE GOD
+
+"All quiet at the cabin?" asked Tommy.
+
+"All quiet when we left," Sandy replied.
+
+"What time did you leave?" demanded Tommy, suspiciously.
+
+"Shortly after dinner."
+
+"And you've gone and left George alone all this time!" exclaimed
+Tommy indignantly.  "You're a bright lot!"
+
+"We thought you boys would be back to the cabin long before this!"
+Sandy declared.  "But what is it about this Little Brass God?"
+
+"When we reached the system of caverns which we visited not long
+ago, and in which we were held prisoners for a short time," Will
+said, "we found two men, well bundled up in furs, lying asleep, or
+apparently asleep, in one of the smaller rooms.  They sprang up
+when they saw us and seemed about to engage in conversation with us
+when Antoine made his appearance.  Antoine seemed to want to talk
+with us, too, but when he saw the two men who had been asleep in
+the cavern he hot-footed down the slope, with the two fellows after
+him.  I never saw a man run so fast in my life."
+
+"I bet they chased him clear to our tree!" Thede cut in.
+
+"I guess he never stopped running until be got there anyway!" Sandy
+grinned.  "But why should he come right back here after being
+chased away?"
+
+"I don't think he did!" "Will replied.
+
+"Oje saw him out here not long ago!" Sandy insisted.
+
+"What was he doing?"
+
+"I presume he was watching the fire."
+
+"The two men who pursued him are back, too!" Will continued.
+"Tommy and I found them in a cute little nest in the rocks not more
+than an hour ago.  Just before we built these fires, in fact."
+
+"I suppose you built the fires to lure us from the cabin!" laughed
+Sandy.  "Well, we wasn't at the cabin, but we saw the signals just
+the same!"
+
+"We wanted you to come and help capture the men who have the Little
+Brass God," Will answered.
+
+"So you've got the Little Brass God penned up under the hill!"
+laughed Sandy.  "You've got it, and yet you haven't got it!"
+
+"I never said we had it!" Will replied.  "I said we had it penned
+up under the hill.  You didn't give me time to explain that there
+were two men penned up with it."
+
+"All right!" Sandy said.  "You've come to the right shop for
+fighting men.  I can see those two fellows fading away at my
+approach!"
+
+"Then you go in ahead," advised Tommy.  "They seem to be well armed
+and may shoot, if you don't scare them into fits with one of your
+fierce glances!  They're bold, bad men!"
+
+"How do you know they haven't disappeared while you've been making
+signals?" asked Sandy.  "They've had time enough to be five miles
+away!"
+
+"We nailed 'em in with a couple of boulders!" grinned Tommy.
+
+"You followed Pierre's example, did you?"
+
+"Yes, we just blocked 'em in."
+
+"Well, I think we'd better be getting them out, then!" Sandy urged.
+"And also be moving toward the cabin.  George'll think we've got
+killed or something."
+
+"Come on, then," Will exclaimed.  "I'll show you where they are!"
+
+The boy led the way down the slope for some distance and then
+paused at a boulder which blocked the entrance to what seemed to be
+a cavern of good size.  They listened for a moment, but could hear
+no sounds coming from the interior.
+
+"How're you going to get them out?" asked Thede.
+
+"We ain't going to get 'em out!" replied Will.  "What do you think
+we brought you boys here for?  We know they can't get out, so we're
+just going to sit down here and wait for them to get good and
+hungry."
+
+"All right!" Sandy answered.  "Two can watch and two can go back to
+the cabin!  George will be good and anxious by this time."
+
+"I was thinking of asking Oje to watch a short time," Will said.
+"It's a good thing the Indian came along with you."
+
+Oje was called down to the barricaded entrance and the situation
+briefly explained to him.  The Indian stepped close to the boulder
+and listened for a long time for sounds from the inside.
+
+Then he turned to, the boys and shook his head gravely.
+
+"Don't you ever tell me they've gone and got away!" exclaimed
+Tommy.  "Why, they couldn't get away unless they walked through
+forty feet of solid rock!  And they couldn't do that!"
+
+"I'm going to find out!" declared Will.
+
+The lads pried the boulder away, blocking it so that it could not
+crash down the slope and so warn the men inside of the approach of
+the boys.  Then Will crept cautiously into the dark passage.
+
+The others were at his heels in a moment.  On the previous visit of
+Will and Tommy, there had been the light of a torch in the cavern,
+but there was no illumination of any kind now.
+
+"I guess they've gone, all right!" Tommy, whispered.
+
+"Why didn't you get the Little Brass God while the getting was
+good?" demanded Sandy.
+
+"The guns those fellows carried didn't look good to me!" was the
+reply.
+
+"It's a mystery to me how they ever got out of this cavern," Will
+observed.
+
+"Perhaps they are still here, waiting to get a shot at us!"
+suggested Thede.  "This would be a bad place for an attack."
+
+As the boys advanced they heard a whisper of voices farther in, and
+what seemed to be the rattle of footsteps over the uneven floor.
+
+Then from some, apparently, distant comer of the cavern came a cry
+in an unknown tongue.  The next instant the place was illuminated
+by two great torches of resinous wood.
+
+They flamed high in the hands of the men who had been discovered in
+the cavern during the first visit.
+
+"Look!" cried Will, pointing.  "Look!"
+
+The eyes of the boys followed the pointing finger dimly outlined in
+the light of the torches, and saw the Little Brass God swinging to
+and fro in an uplifted hand!
+
+"There!" exclaimed Tommy.  "I told you we'd got the Little Brass
+God!"
+
+"But you haven't got it yet!" taunted Sandy.
+
+"We'll have it in a minute!" replied the boy confidently.
+
+The ugly little image remained in sight for perhaps half a minute,
+and then the cavern became dark as pitch again.
+
+The boys heard a quick rush of footsteps, apparently passing
+further into the cavern, and then all was silent.
+
+"That isn't the man who had the Little Brass God the other time I
+saw it!" Thede declared.  "I guess these fellows must have got it
+away from Antoine, or whoever it was who had it at that time."
+
+"I wish we had a searchlight," suggested Sandy.
+
+"I've got a little one for a cent," Tommy answered.  "I never leave
+the camp without one.  No knowing when one may be needed,"
+
+"Strike a light then!" whispered Sandy.
+
+"That would be a fine way to get a bullet into my coco!" Tommy
+whispered back.  "I'll just wait a while and see what's doing."
+
+There was nothing doing--nothing whatever!  The boys, after waiting
+some ten minutes, advanced into the cavern which was now perfectly
+still.
+
+Directly Tommy turned on his electric.  The little flame revealed
+no presence there save that of the boys themselves.  They searched
+every nook and corner of the place, believing it impossible that
+the two men could have escaped.  At last, however, they were forced
+to the conclusion that once more they had lost track of the object
+of their search.
+
+"But where did they go?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"I guess that's what no fellow can find out," replied Will.
+
+The boys continued their search in the hope of finding the passage
+by which the two men had escaped.  At last they came to a small
+opening in the floor of the cavern which apparently led to a cavity
+farther down.
+
+"They didn't wait for the elevator!" laughed Tommy.  "Shall we go
+down after them?" asked Sandy.
+
+"I think we'd better get back to the cabin." Will argued.  "It must
+be after ten o'clock now, and George may be in trouble for all we
+know."
+
+"Three times and out!" exclaimed Sandy.  "The next time we catch
+sight of the Little Brass God, we'll sure get out fingers on it!"
+
+"I'd be happy just now if I could get my fingers on something to
+eat!" Thede declared.  "I'm about starved!"
+
+"We've got a few sandwiches, if they'll do any good," suggested
+Will.
+
+"If they'll do any good!" repeated Sandy.  "You bring 'em out here
+and we'll see whether they will or not."
+
+"Thede ran to the door of the cavern and looked out, calling softly
+to the Indian as he did so.  Oje was nowhere to be seen!
+
+"I wonder where that Indian went?" the boy asked.
+
+"He probably got busy after some one!" Will replied.
+
+The boys devoured the sandwiches which remained from the supply
+provided by Will and then started back to the cabin.
+
+The moon was now high up in the heavens, and the boys could trace
+foot tracks in the snow quite distinctly.  For a time they saw the
+prints of Oje's moccasins.   They seemed to be following another
+track which was obliterated by his passage.
+
+"Perhaps he's chasing the two fellows who had the Little Brass
+God!" suggested Sandy.  "If he is, I hope he gets 'em."
+
+After a time the tracks swung away to the left and the boys saw
+them no more.  When they came in view of the cabin a bright light
+was reflected through the broken window pane, but there seemed to
+be no evidences of motion on the inside.
+
+"I presume George has gone to sleep," Will said.  "I should think
+he'd be tired of waiting.  It must be somewhere about one o'clock!"
+
+When the boys came up to the cottage they saw a figure detach
+itself from the shadows which lay against the west wall and dash
+precipitously into the thicket.  Will hastened to throw the door
+open.
+
+The boy started back in alarm, as he noted the condition of the
+interior.  The bunks lay broken on the floor, and it was plain that
+the whole apartment had been most thoroughly pillaged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+TWO RIFLE SHOTS
+
+As the boys stepped into the room George arose from a heap of
+blankets near a broken bunk and stood regarding them with a
+quizzical smile on his face.  The boys at once clustered around him
+with dozens of questions on their lips.
+
+"What's been doing here?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"You missed the biggest sensation of the excursion!" exclaimed
+George.
+
+"Where are the fellows who busted up the furniture?" asked Sandy.
+
+"You ought to know," replied George.  "They ran out just before you
+entered.  It's a wonder you didn't meet them."
+
+"Who are they?" asked Will.
+
+"You remember the two men who came to the window that night?" asked
+George.  "Well, these were the two men!"
+
+"Did one of 'em have his head in a sling?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Sure he did!" was the reply.
+
+"Why don't you sit down and tell us all about it?" asked Sandy.
+
+"That won't take long," replied George.  "They came in here
+something like half an hour ago and began mixing up with the
+furniture.  They searched everything in sight and out of sight, and
+were about to take up the floor, I reckon, when they heard you
+coming."
+
+"Did they say what they were searching for?" asked Will.
+
+"Not directly," was the reply, "but I know from expressions I heard
+that they were searching for the Little Brass God."
+
+"The Little Brass God?" repeated Will.  "Why, they've got it now!"
+
+"You bet they have!" Tommy joined in.
+
+"How do you know they have?"
+
+"Because we saw them have it in the cavern!" answered Will.  "They
+were in that cavern not more than five minutes before we left the
+hills.  They must have hustled to beat us to the cabin and make a
+half hour's search before we arrived."
+
+"I think we've all got a lot of guesses coming," Sandy observed.
+
+"Yes, but what I can't get through my head is why those fellows
+should be searching through the cabin for the Little Brass God when
+they have it in their possession," Will said.
+
+"You're sure they had it?" asked George.
+
+"I saw them have it in the cavern earlier in the evening," was the
+reply.  "When we went to try to make them give it up, they vanished
+as if they had gone up in the air!"
+
+The boys began straightening things in the cabin, and Sandy busied
+himself in the corner where the provisions were stored.
+
+"I'd like to know where that Indian went," Thede said, as he
+assisted Sandy in preparing some of the game which had been caught
+early the morning before.  "He won't go far away, I'm thinking."
+
+Before the words were off the boy's lips the door was pushed gently
+open and Oje looked in.  He made a gesture asking for silence and
+went out again, softly closing the door behind him.
+
+"That's a funny proposition!" whispered Tommy.  "Why don't he come
+in and get some of the supper Sandy is getting ready?"
+
+The door opened again, then, and Antoine staggered inside.  His
+face was bloodless and his eyes seemed starting from their sockets.
+His clothing was slit in places as if he had been attacked with a
+knife, and he staggered about while searching for a chair.
+
+Will sprang forward to the man's assistance, helped him to a chair,
+and poured a cup of strong coffee, which the roan drank greedily.
+
+The man's eyes roved wildly about the room for a second then he
+turned anxiously to Will.
+
+"Did they get it?" he asked.
+
+"Did they get what?" asked the boy.
+
+"What they came to search for."
+
+Will turned inquiringly toward George.
+
+"Did they find anything during their search?" he asked.
+
+George shook his head.
+
+"They hadn't concluded their search," he replied.  "Then they
+failed to find the Br----"
+
+There was a movement at the window followed by a rifle shot.
+
+Antoine sitting before the fire by George's side crumpled up and
+dropped to the floor, a stream of blood oozing from his temple.
+
+Before the lads could quite comprehend what had taken place, a
+second shot came from outside.  Then Oje's face appeared in the
+doorway again, beckoning to those inside.
+
+Tommy and Sandy stepped into the open air and were directed around
+to the rear of the house.
+
+There, face up in the moonlight, lay the man whom Will had
+described as an East Indian.  The bandage was still around his
+head, but a new wound was bleeding now.  His eyes were already
+fixed and glassy.  The bullet had entered the center of the
+forehead.
+
+"He shoot man inside!" the Indian grunted.
+
+"And he killed him, too!" answered Tommy.
+
+Entirely unconcerned, the Indian would have struck off into the
+forest, but the boys urged upon him the necessity of partaking of
+food.  With a stoical exclamation of indifference, Oje finally
+followed them into the cabin and seated himself before the open
+fire.
+
+Antoine was quite dead.  The boys straightened his still figure
+upon the floor and placed by its side the body of the man who had
+been his murderer.
+
+"We must give them decent burial in the morning," Will decided,
+"and in order to do so, we must keep them away from the wild
+animals of the wilderness tonight."
+
+There was a hushed silence for a long time in the room.  The boys
+involuntarily turned their eyes away from the two inanimate objects
+which had so recently possessed the power of speech and motion.
+
+Presently Sandy saw something glistening at the breast of the dark
+man.  Where his heavy coat of fur dropped back the boy thought he
+distinguished a gleam of gold.  Thinking that it might possibly be
+some trinket calculated to reveal the identity of the man, Sandy
+advanced to the body and threw the coat open.
+
+There was the Little Brass God!
+
+"We didn't have to find it," Tommy said slowly after a short pause.
+"The fellow brought it to us!"
+
+Will took it into his hand and made a careful examination of it.
+
+"Do you think this is the one we are after?" he asked.
+
+"Holy Moses!" exclaimed Sandy.  "You don't think there are two
+Little Brass Gods, do you?  One seems to have kept us pretty busy!"
+
+"I've heard of their traveling in pairs," Thede suggested.
+
+"Is this the man who made the search of the house?" asked Will of
+George.
+
+"That is one of them!" was the reply.  "The other seemed to be a
+man in the employ of this man.  He was dressed like a trapper and
+acted like one.  They quarreled over some suggestion made by this
+man and the one whom I took to be a guide went away in a rage."
+
+"You are sure he didn't find what he was looking for?"
+
+"Dead sure!"
+
+"Then there are two Little Brass Gods!" insisted Tommy.
+
+"Yes, and I guess the one we want is the one we haven't got!" Will
+said.
+
+"I don't see how this fellow could have the one containing the last
+will of Simon Tupper," Tommy argued.  "Can you open the tummy of
+the Little Brass God, Will?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Mr. Frederick Tupper showed me how to do the trick," Will answered.
+
+"Then why don't you see whether this is the right one or not?"
+asked Sandy.  "If you can open it, it's the one; if you can't, it
+isn't the one!"
+
+"Wise little boy!" exclaimed Will taking the ugly image into his
+hands again.
+
+He pressed here and there on the surface of the Little Brass God,
+touching now a shoulder, now a foot, now the top of the head, for
+all the world like one operating the combination of a safe.
+
+"You see," he said, as he continued his strange employment, "the
+shell of the image is not very thick and when I press on certain
+parts, certain things take place on the inside."
+
+He put his ear to the side of the image and listened intently.
+
+"There!" he said.  "You can hear a click like the dropping of a
+tumbler when I press here at the back."
+
+"If the combination works, then," shouted Tommy, "it must be that
+we have the Little Brass God holding the will."
+
+"It works all right enough," Will replied.
+
+With the final pressure on an elbow Will turned a foot to the right
+and the Little Brass God opened exactly in the center.
+
+But no will was found in the cavity.  Instead a mass of diamonds,
+emeralds, pearls, rubies, amethysts glittered out upon the floor.
+
+The boys stood looking at the shining mass with wide open eyes.
+
+"There must be a million dollars there!" Tommy said almost in a
+whisper.
+
+"I wasn't thinking of that!" Will said.  "I was thinking that,
+after all our labor and pains, we have unearthed the wrong Brass
+God."
+
+"But we've just got to find the right Brass God," Sandy insisted.
+
+"Yes, and we'll have a sweet old time doing it!" exclaimed George.
+"The poor fellow who lies dead there searched every bit of space
+inside the cabin, yet he didn't find it!"
+
+"But it may not be anywhere near the cabin!" exclaimed "Will.
+
+"If we knew whether Antoine ever had it in his possession," Tommy
+said, "we'd know better where to look."
+
+"Of course he had it in his possession!" said Sandy.  "I'm sure
+he's the man who took it from the pawnbroker's shop on State
+street.  Now let's see," the boy went on, "what were the last words
+he spoke?"
+
+"He started in to say Brass!" replied Will.
+
+"Then you see, don't you, that that proves that he knew all about
+it?"
+
+"Yes, and he asked if they found what they were looking for," Tommy
+contributed, "and that shows that the Little Brass God he brought
+from Chicago is some where about this palatial abode."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE TWIN BRASS GODS
+
+Oje, who had been sitting by the fire, waiting for his supper, long
+delayed by the rush of events, now arose and took the Little Brass
+God into his dusky hands.
+
+"Have you ever seen one like that before?" asked Will.
+
+The Indian shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the body of
+Antoine.
+
+"Dead man have one!" he said.
+
+"Like this?" asked Will.
+
+The Indian grunted an assent.
+
+"Then I'll tell you what took place, boys," Will said.  "When
+Antoine shot Pierre, he came here and took possession of the cabin
+and provisioned it, He had had the Little Brass God in the cavern
+where George and Thede saw it, and he thought a safer place for it
+would be the cabin."
+
+"So he moved in here and hid it!" Tommy went on.  "And we boys
+chased along and drove him out into the wide, wide world.  Now the
+question is whether he took the Little Brass God back to the cavern
+or whether he left it hidden about the cabin."
+
+"It's a hundred to one shot," Sandy observed, "that this dead East
+Indian knew that the image he sought was in or about this cabin.
+The first night we came here he prowled about looking for it and
+tried to get one of us boys into a hypnotic trance.  We don't know
+how many times he has been back here since that night."
+
+"But who sent the fellow up here after the Little Brass God,
+anyway?" asked George.  "How did he come to get on the track of the
+ugly little devil."
+
+"I guess that's something we'll have to find out in Chicago,"
+replied Will.  "All we know is that Antoine was scared to death of
+him, as shown by his sudden flight from the cavern when he looked
+in and saw the East Indian and his guide standing looking out at
+him."
+
+"And they chased him clear up to our burning tree!" Thede cut in.
+
+"That's a fact," Sandy replied.  "That dusky faced chap certainly
+had Antoine buffaloed!"
+
+"Well," Will went on, "the East Indian kept returning to the cabin
+and Antoine kept returning to the cabin, so it's a pretty safe bet
+that the Little Brass God we seek is here.  Besides, the fact that
+Antoine asked if the East Indian found anything proves that it is
+in or about the cabin."
+
+"Well, we're going to find it if we tear the cabin to pieces,"
+Tommy said.  '"As Will says, it is a sure thing it is not far away."
+
+There was not much sleep in the cabin that night, and it was a
+dreary supper the boys ate.  Before daylight the Indian lay down
+upon the floor in a blanket, but the other boys remained awake
+until morning.
+
+Then they began the search for the Little Brass God.  They were
+satisfied now that Pierre had never had possession of it, that he
+had been despatched as one familiar with the woods and the ways of
+Antoine, in the Sigsbee interests to secure it from the man who had
+purchased it at the pawn shop.  Everything pointed, as has been
+stated, to Antoine's being the man who had taken it out of Chicago.
+
+The boys searched the cabin for two days until not a sliver of the
+inside remained uninvestigated.  Then, after putting up their
+tents, they began taking the structure down, log by log.
+
+On the third day they found what they sought in the heart of a
+rotten log.  Antoine had hidden it in a secure place.  Will had no
+difficulty in opening the belly of the little image, and there he
+found the last will of Simon Tupper, bequeathing his entire
+property to Frederick Tupper.
+
+"That settles the case, boys, so far as we are concerned," Will
+said, "and I think we'd better be getting back to Chicago in order
+to straighten things out."
+
+"You talk about getting back to Chicago like we could take the
+elevated and get there in an hour!" laughed Sandy.  "I guess that
+you forget that we've got three hundred miles of wilderness to
+travel before we reach the railroad station!"
+
+"Well, we've got our canoes, haven't we?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Yes," Will answered, "and if we want to use the canoes, we'll have
+to wait until the river opens in the spring.  We can get out on the
+ice all right, I guess."
+
+At the end of two weeks the boys found themselves at a way station
+on the Canadian Pacific road.  After that it did not take them long
+to reach Chicago.  During the trip down they had rather enjoyed the
+hunting and fishing.  Once or twice they had caught sight of a man
+whom they believed to be the guide the East Indian had secured, but
+after a time the man disappeared entirely and was seen no more.
+Oje accompanied them part of the way and then much to their regret,
+turned back.
+
+The finding of the will, of course, settled the Tupper estate for
+good and all, and the boys were well rewarded for what they had
+done.
+
+"There's one thing I'd like to know," Will said, as they sat in Mr.
+Horton's office after all the adventures of the trip had been
+related, "and that is where this second Little Brass God came from,
+and how this East Indian got into the Hudson Bay country in quest
+of the other Brass God about as quick as we did."
+
+"That has all been explained," the attorney replied.  "From your
+description, Antoine is undoubtedly the man who took the Little
+Brass God in which we were interested from the pawn shop.  The
+evening papers of that day described the burglary of the Tupper
+home and referred particularly to the taking of the Little Brass
+God from the mantle in the library.
+
+"The newspapers said at that time that the taking of the image
+would doubtless result in the discovery of the burglar.  In this,
+the newspapers were wrong.  The burglar has never been brought to
+punishment.
+
+"On the other hand, however, the taking of the Brass God led to the
+recovery of two sacred ornaments belonging in a Hindu temple in
+India.  It seems that two prominent Hindus read the article
+concerning the Little Brass God and made inquiries at police
+headquarters and at all the pawn shops in the city concerning it.
+The idols had been stolen years before and these men considered it
+their duty to restore them to the temple if in their power to do so.
+
+"They found one of the Little Brass Gods without difficulty, it
+having been purchased a few months ago by a dealer in antiques.
+They might have known of the wealth contained in the belly of the
+idol, but it is certain that the dealer in antiques never did.  Of
+course the East Indians learned all that any one knew concerning
+the destination of the image taken from the pawnshop, and so one of
+them, the man who was killed, went north in quest of it.
+
+"So far as Pierre is concerned, it is probable that he was picked
+up here in Chicago and sent north by Sigsbee.  Of course we shall
+never know the truth of that matter, but it is plain that he is not
+the man who took the idol from the pawnbrokers' shop.
+
+"Well, that ends the case so far as we're concerned," George
+replied, "and if you've got any more Boy Scout excursions in view,
+Mr. Horton, I wish you'd suggest a hot climate for the next one.
+It seems to me like I never would get warm again!"
+
+"What do you think of the people who live up in the Hudson Bay
+country all the year round?" asked Mr. Horton.  "How would you like
+to wander around there year after year, as Oje does?"
+
+"Say that Oje's a good Indian!" Tommy exclaimed.  "I tried to get
+him to come on down to Chicago with me, but he said he wouldn't
+live here on a bet."
+
+"What are you going to do with the two Little Brass Gods and all
+the precious stones?" asked Sandy.
+
+"I would suggest," Mr. Horton replied, "that the two idols be
+returned to the Hindu still remaining in the city, the companion of
+the one who was killed, and that the jewels be returned with them."
+
+"That's a lot of money to give away," Sandy suggested.
+
+"There's nothing compulsory about it!" laughed Mr. Horton.  "If you
+boys want to run the risk of being chased up by those Hindus until
+they finally get their hands on the idols, you may do so."
+
+"Not for mine!" exclaimed Thede.  "I don't want any dusky East
+Indians chasing me up!"
+
+It was finally decided to restore the two little Brass Gods with
+the jewels to the Hindu.  Later the body of the East Indian was
+taken from its grave near James Bay and transferred to his own
+country.
+
+"There's one little commission I'd like to have you boys
+undertake," Mr.  Horton said, after all the details of the Tupper
+case had been settled.  "There's quite a bunch of trouble down here
+in a coal mine that I'd like to have you boys look into."
+
+"Is it good and warm down there?" asked George.
+
+"Suppose you walk down a few thousand feet under ground, some day,
+and make a note of the temperature!" laughed Tommy.
+
+"Of course we want to go!" replied Will.
+
+After a few days in Chicago, the Boy Scouts were off on their
+travels again.  The story of their adventures will be found in the
+next volume of this series entitled.
+
+"Boy Scouts in the Coal Caverns; or, The Light in Tunnel Six."
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY SCOUTS IN NORTHERN WILDS***
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