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!"