come plunging through the snow, nearly circled
the camp, and came back toward the fire from the north. Then he
showed the tracks of three heading off to the south.

"Do you think one of those boys was your companion?" asked Will.

The half-breed answered that he was sure of it.

"Then that leaves one of the boys still unaccounted for," Will
mused. "It looks to me," he went on, "as if your friend and George
started away together and got lost. Then your boy came back and
found Tommy and Sandy and started away with them toward the place
where he had left George. Is that the way you look at it?"

The half-breed grunted some sullen reply, and the two walked on
together following the trail which led toward the range of hills.

Instead of directly following the trail left by the boys, however,
Pierre turned frequently to left and right, explaining that if
enemies were about it was a trail which would be watched.

They came to the cavern at last, and stood by the dying embers of
the fire. There was no one in sight. Will examined the sloping
surface of snow in front and found no tracks leading outward.

"They must be in here somewhere!" he exclaimed.

Pierre nodded his fur cap vigorously, and the two began a careful
examination of the underground place.

They found many little caves opening from the larger one, but no
trace of the boys. After a time a shout from Pierre drew Will to
his side. The fellow was peering into a crevice, in the rocky wall
which seemed to lead for some distance under the hill.

"Do you think they are hidden in there?" asked the boy.

Pierre explained in his barely understandable dialect that he
thought the boys might have escaped into the inner cavern and
started to make their way out in another direction.

"Then I'll go in after them," Will decided.

Before entering he called shrilly into the cavern, but only the
echoes came back to him. By considerable squeezing, he managed to
make his way through the opening. He then found himself in a
passage-like place, sloping upward. As he threw his light about
the interior, he heard a chuckle in the outer chamber where he had
left Pierre.

He turned in time to see the half-breed rolling great stones
against the mouth of the narrow opening by means of which he had
entered.

"Hah!" sneered Pierre. "You bring me trouble!"

"What are you doing that for?" demanded Will.

The half-breed peered into the opening with eyes that resembled