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diff --git a/12526-0.txt b/12526-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f615cf4 --- /dev/null +++ b/12526-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5346 @@ +*** 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 *** |