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 a.s.sume 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 pa.s.sage 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 part.i.tion.

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 pa.s.sage 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 a.s.sistance 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 a.s.sociating 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 hoa.r.s.e 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 Bra.s.s G.o.d.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Certain sure!"

"It wasn't the firelight or anything like that?"

"No, it was the Little Bra.s.s G.o.d!"