discussed the possibility of finding an unguarded
exit from the series of caverns, another shot sounded, and then
they heard the rattle and crash of rocks falling upon an equally
hard surface.

"There's something doing, now, sure!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Do you know of any other trappers in this section?" asked Will,
turning to Thede. "It seems to me that that shot came from
outside, and I don't believe Pierre would be throwing down his own
barricade."

"I haven't seen anyone else here," replied the boy, "except the one
we saw in front of the fire last night."

"And that might have been Pierre, for all we know!" Tommy declared.

"You don't know whether it was Pierre or some one else," Sandy
observed, "so we don't know whether there's another hunter roaming
around here or not! I hope there is, so far as I'm concerned!"

The question was settled in a moment. Rocks continued to fall from
the barrier, and in a moment a voice called out:

"Who's there?"

"Four of us!" was the reply.

"Why don't you come out?"

The boys detected a faint chuckle in the voice.

"We're willing!" Sandy answered.

"Well, come on, then!"

Sandy stuck his head out of the entrance and turned his searchlight
on the new-comer. After a moment's inspection of the fellow, he
stepped into the outer cavern.

"You look pretty good to me," he said.

Ho was about to say more when he caught sight of the body of the
half-breed lying just inside the cave.

He turned white and for a moment felt dizzy and faint.

He was unfamiliar with death in any form, and this snuffing out of
a life seemed to him particularly horrible.

In a moment the other boys came out and stood looking down upon the
body. They were all deeply affected by what had taken place,
particularly Thede, who had never received anything but the kindest
treatment from the half-breed until the arrival of the Boy Scouts.

"It was my life or his," Antoine explained.

"Did he shoot at you?" asked Will, "we heard only one shot, save
the one fired by Pierre at my hat."

"He didn't get an opportunity to fire!" Antoine answered. "He had
his gun leveled at my head when my bullet ended his life!"

"Now I wonder," thought Will, "whether it was Pierre who sat by the
fire last night, and whether the secret of the Little Brass God
dies with him! I wish there were some way of knowing."

While these thoughts were passing through the brain of the boy,
Thede stood regarding the new-com