"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.