CHAPTER XI
THE HALF-BREED
But the way out was not to lie through undiscovered passages! Itwas set by fate that it was to be over the dead body of thehalf-breed!
While the boys discussed the possibility of finding an unguardedexit from the series of caverns, another shot sounded, and thenthey heard the rattle and crash of rocks falling upon an equallyhard 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 fromoutside, and I don't believe Pierre would be throwing down his ownbarricade."
"I haven't seen anyone else here," replied the boy, "except the onewe 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," Sandyobserved, "so we don't know whether there's another hunter roamingaround here or not! I hope there is, so far as I'm concerned!"
The question was settled in a moment. Rocks continued to fall fromthe 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 searchlighton the new-comer. After a moment's inspection of the fellow, hestepped 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 thehalf-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 ofa life seemed to him particularly horrible.
In a moment the other boys came out and stood looking down upon thebody. They were all deeply affected by what had taken place,particularly Thede, who had never received anything but the kindesttreatment 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, savethe one fired by Pierre at my hat."
"He didn't get an opportunity to fire!" Antoine answered. "He hadhis gun leveled at my head when my bullet ended his life!"
"Now I wonder," thought Will, "whether it was Pierre who sat by thefire last night, and whether the secret of the Little Brass Goddies 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-comer in a puzzled way. Slowly theimpression was forming in his mind that it was not Pierre who hadsat before the fire in the chamber where the Little Brass God hadbeen displayed.
"I suppose the next thing on the program," Antoine observed, with asmile, "will be breakfast."
"That suits me!" shouted Tommy and Sandy in a breath.
"Well," Antoine answered, "I have plenty of bear meat, and a fewcanned provisions, and plenty of good, strong tea, so we'll adjournto the dining room and partake."
"Have you seen anything of our chum?" asked Will.
Antoine smiled, but made no reply.
"Look here," Sandy said, pointing down to the moccasin tracks, asthey emerged from the cavern and found themselves on the snowyslope, "this man has passed along here before this morning."
"That's a fact!" Will exclaimed. "So he must be the man whocarried off George. If he is, why doesn't he say so?"
"Perhaps he wants to give us a surprise," observed Tommy.
It was only a short distance from the system of caverns where theboys had been imprisoned to the home of Antoine, which haspreviously been described.
When the boys entered, they looked eagerly around in the hope offinding George, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.
"I thought sure you had found our chum in the cavern," Thedesuggested.
"Why, I thought you boys were all here!" replied Antoine, stillwith that odd smile on his face.
"But there is a boy who was wounded in the bear cavern last night,"Thede explained, "and I left him there while I went after hisfriends, and when I came back, he was gone. We thought sure youtook him away."
Antoine made no reply. Instead, he busied himself with breakfast.
In his efforts in this direction Tommy and Sandy were not slow injoining, and in a short time beautifully broiled bear steaks weresmoking on tin plates which Antoine had taken from a cupboardfastened to the wall. A pot of tea was steeping over a fire builtat one end of the cavern. The boys eyed this with interest.
"We really ought to be going out in search of George," Will finallysaid. "He may be suffering in the cold."
"That's right!" declared Tommy. "I'm going out just as soon as Ifinish eating! The lad was carried off by some one, all right, andbe can't be far away!"
"I wonder why we didn't get our revolvers away from that dead man?"asked Sandy. "We surely ought to have them!"
"I looked for them," Will said quietly, "but they were not there!"
"Then he must have hidden them away somewhere," Tommy declared."We laid them down just before crawling through that hole."
"You will doubtless find them in time," Antoine suggested.
"I should think the half-breed would have kept them pretty close,"Sandy observed. "You don't find automatics like those every day!"
"It strikes me," Antoine said, directly, "that you boys wouldbetter settle down for a little rest previous to going out afteryour chum."
"Aw, we don't need any rest!" declared Tommy.
"Not while George is out in the cold!" Sandy cut in.
"Just as you please," smiled Antoine. "And now," he went on, "ifyou've all had plenty to eat, I'll bring on the tea. Tea alwaystastes better to me when there is no food in my mouth to interferewith the flavor of it. I have a very fine brand here."
"We've been waiting for that tea!" laughed Tommy.
"You can't lose Tommy when it comes to anything good to eat ordrink!" laughed Sandy. "He's always on watch."
Antoine seemed a long time pouring the tea into the tin cups, whichhe had placed on the rough board which served as a table. As hebent over the teapot, a familiar sound caught Will's ears and heturned his head aside to listen.
"Slap, slap, slap!"
The boy nudged Tommy who sat next to him with his elbow and calledhis attention to the sound. Tommy almost sprang to his feet as helistened, but Will forced him back with his hand.
"Slap, slap, slap!" came the signal again.
Sandy and Thede were now sitting with knives and forks suspended inthe air, listening wide-eyed to the sound.
"That's the Beaver call!" declared Will in a whisper.
"That means George!" Tommy whispered back.
"Sure!" was the reply. "There's no one else to give the Beavercall here. I wonder why the boy doesn't show up."
In the meantime, Antoine had been busy over the teapot and had notnoticed what was going on at the table.
"I'm fixing this tea up particularly strong," he said, facing theboys with a smile on his lips, "so you mustn't wonder if it tastesjust a little bit bitter. There's nothing on earth will do a manwho's been exposed to the weather more good than a strong cup oftea!"
The man poured the decoction into the tin cups and brought out acouple of cans of condensed milk and plenty of sugar.
"You see," he laughed, "that I have all the luxuries of an effetecivilization! Put in all the sugar you like, if you find the teatoo strong. I have plenty of it!"
The boys used the sugar and milk liberally, and Will was about tolift his cup to his lips when the Beaver call came again:
"Slap, slap, slap!"
Although the sounds were faint ones, they caught the attention ofAntoine, who, scowling, turned his face in the direction from whichthey had proc
eeded. In a minute, he arose.
"What was that noise?" he asked.
"Did you hear a noise?" questioned Will.
"I thought I did!" replied the man. "Perhaps I'd better take alook about the place. There may be intruders here!"
As Antoine moved about, his footsteps in a measure muffling thesounds which followed, the boys heard a low whisper.
"Don't drink! It's drugged!"
Wondering why the boy did not show himself, and able to understandhis strange conduct only on the theory that he had been gagged andbound, Will overturned his cup of tea by an awkward movement andsprang to his feet as the burning fluid came in contact with hisclothing.
Simultaneously the boys all sprang from the table, taking care toupset the board upon which they had been eating. An angryexclamation came from Antoine's lips as the carefully prepared teawas spilled to the floor. In a moment, however, his face brokeinto a smile.
"Too bad!" he said, "but accidents will happen. I'll make you somemore! I'll have it ready in a moment."
"We really would like some tea, notwithstanding our awkwardness,"laughed Will, listening as he spoke for some further sound from hischum.
"Drugged, drugged, drugged."
The boys heard the whisper floating through the room. Then theyheard a gasp as of some one coming out of a sound sleep, and sawAntoine springing toward a weapon lying on the floor.