ng with his back against the door and facin

!" was the

y!" shouted

night?" asked Thede. "These boys are hunting and fishi

me!" insi

f. "I heard you smashing through the bushes and I thought you were some kind of a wild animal, and so I follo

ointing suspiciously to the boy's em

pocket and held it up in the fir

these things!"

ut he finally seated himself before the fire and began to grumble be

the boy, "You needn't think I came up here in the cold to wait on you, Old Hoss!" the la

d proceeded to prepare a solitary meal. Thede winked at

He was wondering whether Thede had told him the exact truth concerning his connection with

d to the wondering boy that Pierre might have been sent into the Hudson Bay country in

ld naturally seek some one familiar with the northern country and dispatch them in quest of the lost prize. In c

d be many. In the first place, anyone following Pierre would naturally suppose him to be the person having possession of the Little Brass Go

idea, however, he soon rejected for the reason that no one would know better than the man who inspired the larceny whether the will was still retained in the

n them in the repast, but declined on the ground that he had eaten supper not long before. After the meal was o

about your being h

now why he

u've come up here to

o

were in the Hudson Bay country in quest of the Little Brass God, and here was Thede on the same mission. It seem

the more he was inclined to believe that Pier

I leave the cabin alone," the boy final

be afraid of him,

let him know it. I've got one of these billies inside my coat, all the ti

nto shoestrings whi

but be won't do an

rge. "It isn't so very much of a walk.

r a cold journey, and fixed the fire so that no

in?" asked George, as the boys started

d and just moved in," was the reply. "I do

ttle Brass God is in such great demand?"

dred miles away from civilization? I should think he'd want to hav

hink so," a

and then George flashed his electric, but he did not keep it burning steadily f

me to the cabin?" asked Thede as they walked

f it wasn't so blasted dark, we could tell whether we

h protected his features from the mosquitos, still flying about, altho

r you much more,"

you kn

e's a snow st

vised George. "If we get caught up here in

't know whether we're going in the right direction or not.

ter the ground was white. A cold wind blew out of the north, shifting at times to the w

the cabin?" asked George after

e pretty soon!" the other replied.

o was in advance, stumbled over a tree bole lying at the foot of a gentle

e cabin. This place here is called Bear Ridge, and it's about the on

awl into?" asked George, his

hede, "we're likely to find a co

re are a hundred bea

if I stay out in thi

came to a ledge of rock and crawled into a

l tonight, I guess,"

icking about be