Brass God from the polluted hands of an Unbeliever."

"You don't really think there's any of this Hindu temple business
in this Little Brass God case, do you?" asked Tommy.

"Well, the face I saw at the window looked like that of an East
Indian!" declared Will. "His skin was brassy, and his eyes had the
devil's leer in them just as the eyes of the Little Brass God are
said to have."

"Well," Tommy declared with a yawn, "I'm going back to bed!"

"That's what I'm going to do," Will agreed. "If we sit up here
until we solve this new problem, we'll probably never get any more
sleep as long as we live."

Seeing that the door and windows were securely fastened, the boys,
who had been sleeping together, went back to their bunk, and there
was only the crackling of the fire and the roaring of the wind to
break the silence.

Tommy was soon sound asleep, but Will lay awake listening. Again
he heard the window sash rattle, but this time he did not move.

Then he dozed off into slumberland, dreamed that he was on a
tropical island where the perfume of the roses was so heavy on the
air that breathing almost became a task. He opened his eyes
dreamily, saw the fire blazing cheerily, heard the wind roaring
around the corners of the cabin, and closed them to dream the same
dream over and over.

At last he awoke with a start and sensed a peculiar odor in the
room. He lay perfectly still for a moment wondering what it could
all mean, when a voice as smooth and as evil as the hissing of a
snake, cut through the air. He listened but did not move.

"You have hidden it!" the voice said.

There was a long pause and then the voice broke the silence again.

"Arise and come to me."

The next moment the boy heard Thede moving in the bunk above. The
lad first threw his legs over the rail, and Will heard him drawing
away the blankets. Then the boy slipped softly to the floor and
moved, as one who walks in his sleep, toward the north window.

"Come to me, come to me, come to me!" the voice repeated
insistently.

"I'll come to you, all right, in about a minute," Will mused, "if
you try any of that magic business here."

Thede continued to move toward the window, walking with his hands
outstretched, as the somnambulist frequently walks.

When the boy reached the window he staggered back as if from a
blow, then moved forward again, as if bent on leaving the cabin by
way of the narrow opening.

Will raised himself in the bu