besides, he could look
around him and judge pretty well how those he was following, foot by
foot, must have gone.

And finally Thad saw something just beyond that told him he had reached
the end of the faint trail. It was a gloomy looking hole among the rocks
that stared him in the face, with the trail leading straight toward it.

If ever there was a bear that had its den on that island, surely this
must have been the spot; for it far excelled anything else that the
scout had seen since he had started to prowl around.

As he crept closer he was astonished to see what a peculiar condition
existed with regard to that open mouth of the bear den. Just above hung
an immense stone that ordinarily several men could never have turned
over, or even moved; yet by some convulsion of nature far back, this
rock had been so delicately poised above the mouth of the cave that
Thad believed even a boy could send it crashing down, if he but hurled
his strength against it.

"And if it _did_ fall," he said to himself, with a sudden shiver of
delight, "I honestly believe it would fill in that hole, so that not
even a rattlesnake could crawl out. Oh! if those men are in there, as I
hope, and I could start that cap-stone rolling, wouldn't they be shut up
as snug as if they were in a bottle, with the cork shoved in?"

But fascinating as that possibility appeared to Thad, he must remember
that the men had Smithy with them as a hostage. They could dictate terms
of surrender so long as they held the tenderfoot scout a prisoner. And
unless he could manage in some clever way to effect the release of
Smithy, he had better go slow about trying to bottle them up in that
bear's den.

He crept still closer, and lying there on his breast, listened
anxiously, his ear close to the black opening. A regular sound came
stealing out that, for a short time, puzzled him; and then Thad decided
that it must be the snoring of a man who was asleep, and lying on his
back.

Dare he try and crawl into the cave, to ascertain how the land lay? Thad
was anything but a coward; but he could be excused for hesitating, and
taking stock of the chances before deciding this important matter. But
after a little he must have made up his mind; for he crept past the
guardian rocks, and slipped into the entrance of the bear's den!

CHAPTER XXIX.

SPRINGING THE TRAP.

When Thad Brewster was thus making his way into the hole in the rocks,
perhaps he may have remem