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."