distant camp, and
then hastened into the valley below. When he struck the rock-strewn
gulch which lay to the south of the wide opening in the hills he paused
and looked cautiously about.

"There may be plenty more bears here!" he mused.

But no bears or hostile animals of any kind were in sight, so the boy
passed along to the cavern which George and Will had visited on the
previous night--the cavern where the escaped convict and his son had
made their home. Tommy glanced curiously into the opening in the rocky
wall as he halted in front of it.

On the previous night he had passed this cavern in company with Sandy
without observing it. At this time he was not certain that it was not
the cave where he had met the bears, so he stepped inside after a
moment's thought and advanced toward the rear wall.

A semi-twilight lay over the interior, and the boy brought out his
searchlight. By its rays he saw a break in the rock of the north wall
and stepped closer. The place was merely an alcove eight or ten feet in
size, doubtless carved out by the action of water.

In the alcove the boy saw the embers of a fire. Then he turned about and
inspected the outer cave more carefully. He saw the rude furniture which
his chums had observed the night before, and the pitifully small supply
of cooking utensils. Lying on the table was a generous supply of fresh
meat, evidently taken from the carcass of one of the bears.

Tommy had heard little said concerning the cave which had been occupied
by Wagner and his son, but quite enough to understand that he had
stumbled upon the place.

What puzzled him now was the presence of the bear meat. He knew very
well that neither Wagner nor his son had occupied the place since the
disappearance of the father. He understood, too, that if there had been
provisions in the cave at the time of the visit of his chums, they would
have referred to the fact. Besides all this, the bear which had probably
supplied the meat had been killed only a few hours before.

"I guess some one's moved in!" the boy mused.

He went into the alcove and examined the embers of the fire. It had been
built of dry pine and spruce boughs and had evidently burned brightly an
hour before.

"Now I wonder," the boy puzzled, "whether Wagner isn't hiding some where
in the cave. It doesn't seem to me that any one else would take
possession of the blooming old flat."

Resolved to return to the cavern later, the lad hastened outside