rted 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 wh