CHAPTER X
BOYS IN A TIGHT PLACE
"Who's there?" asked Tommy's voice, as Will beat franticallyagainst 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!" advisedSandy. "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 thatpassage isn't more than a foot thick and it's full of cracks, atthat. If you had a couple of big whinnicks, you could smash itdown."
"I can find the whinnicks all right!" answered Will.
"Say!" cried Sandy, "you want to hurry with those whinnicks, forPierre is almost standing on his head, threatening to shoot if youtry to break through."
Will collected a number of heavy stones which had fallen from thewalls and threw them with all his strength against the partition.
The cracks widened, and slivers of brittle rock fell away. Hisefforts were greeted with cheers from the other side, and heredoubled them, with the result that in a short time, a passagebetween the two sections of the underground chambers had been made.
When Will stepped through the opening he saw Pierre's fur capsticking 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 ofthat gun. It doesn't look good to me."
The boys crowded back into the chamber which Will had recently leftand looked at each other with inquiring eyes.
Pierre's harsh laugh came from the outer room. "You thieves!" hecried. "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 didhe 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 bouldersinto the entrance to the cavern."
"Well, he came to our assistance almost as soon as we reached thehills in search of George," Tommy grinned. "He was so mightycareful to get us into safe quarters that he led us into thisrotten 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," repliedTommy. "You remember Thede Carson, don't you, Will?"
"I seem to see a faint, resemblance in this lad to a boy I used toknow as Thede Carson," Will laughed. "He looks now, though, as ifhe had plenty to eat, and a good place to sleep!"
"I have been eating regularly," grinned Thede, "but there's noknowing whether I'll ever connect with another bear steak."
"He came up here with Pierre," Sandy explained. "Perhaps he cantell you what the half-breed is up to."
"I don't know any more about it than you do!" replied Thede. "Hedidn't seem to like the idea of my associating with George," theboy added with a wink at Will, "and so he bunched us together andlocked us up."
While Pierre gave vent to hoarse shouts of rage, and many entirelyunnecessary and insulting taunts, the boys explained the events ofthe past night. The thing which startled Will most was the storyThede 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, andthen, 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 onequestion you didn't answer when you told me about having seen it."
"Just as good as new," replied Thede. "If it had been opened atall, 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 trackshis size. There were plenty of other tracks, but none which couldhave been made by George's shoes."
"Aw, how do you know anything about that?" demanded Sandy. "We sawa large moccasin track there, and how do we know that some mandidn'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 hisarms?" Tommy admitted. "I never thought about the means that mighthave been used to conceal the kid's exit. You're the only reallive 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 youboys remember how mussy that cavern looked. We were all so anxiousto chase out and find George that we didn't pay much attention tothe room, but I begin to remember now that it looked as if some onehad 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 thelittle wound George received, according to the way you describeit," Tommy went on.
"And I'll bet if we'd hunted around the cavern, we'd have foundbear 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 andgo 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 thewaistband of his trousers affectionately, "he'll have me starvedplumb 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 agrin. "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 inthe 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," Sandyventured. "The longer we stay, the hungrier we'll get!"
"What I'd like to know," Will suggested, "is this: Why did he doit? What spite has he against us?"
"If you leave it to me," Thede replied, "the Little Brass God hassomething to do with it! I don't know whether Pierre haspossession of the ugly little beast, or whether he is trying to getpossession of it, but I believe he has a notion that we're tryingto get bold of it."
"Well, that's a good guess," grinned Tommy.
During all this conversation the voice of the half-breed had beenfrequently heard, alternately cursing and coaxing the lads to enterthe 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 hissearchlight into the apartment beyond.
"That is better!" shouted Pierre,
"So that's what you want?" demanded Tommy. "You want light toshoot us by!"
"Send the other boy out!" demanded the half-breed. "Send out theone I brought here!"
"He wants you, Will," Tommy said.
As the boy was about to step into the opening, Thede caught him bythe 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 beyondthe opening, at the same time letting the rays of the searchlightfall full upon it.
"I know that half-breed better than you do," Thede said, as hepushed the hat out further and further.
When the hat was about as far out as the boy could send it withoutrisking his own hands, a rifle shot rang through the cavern and thebullet cut its way through the exposed hat.
"Don't you see?" Thede asked. "He knows you have a gun, and hefigured that you'd fall into this chamber, and that we wouldn'tdare 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 wayout! If we just could get in behind that half-breed and chuck himinto the prison he prepared for us, it would be a mighty fine jokeon him!"