“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 those of a snake, so full of malice and hatred were they.

“You steal my boy!” he said.

“So this is a trap, is it?” Will demanded.

The half-breed answered by a chuckle of laughter.”

“If you don’t take those stones away,” Will threatened, “I’ll fill you full of lead when I do get out!”

The half-breed patted his gun stock significantly, but made no reply.

The boy heard him rolling rocks along the cavern floor and against the opening, and turned away hoping to find some other means of egress.

It was clear to him that the half-breed thoroughly understood the situation in the hills.  He had no doubt that he had planned to bring him there for the purpose which had developed.  He understood, too, that if there were other openings to the cavern, Pierre knew where they were, and would block them as soon as he had effectually blocked the one by which entrance had been effected.

It was cold and damp in that underground place, but the perspiration actually broke out on the boy’s brow as he considered the fate which might await him in that dreary place of detention.

He had, of course, no means of knowing the whereabouts of any of his chums.  In fact, it seemed to him possible that they, too, had been inveigled into a trap similar to the one which had been set for himself.

The motive for this brutal action on the part of the half-breed was, of course, entirely unknown to the boy.  It will be remembered that he knew nothing whatever of Thede’s suspicions that Pierre actually had the Little Brass God in his possession.

It was black as ink in the passage, but the boy’s flashlight had recently been supplied with a new battery, and he knew that it would not fail for many hours, so he walked along with confidence.

In perhaps a quarter of an hour the boy came to a blank wall.  There appeared to be no way in which the journey could be extended under the hills.  The nearest lateral passage was some distance back.

Realizing that no time should be lost, the lad hastened thither and advanced to the south end of the cross passage.  Here, too, he came upon a blank wall.  While he stood listening a heavy, rumbling voice came to his ears.  There were either crevices in that rocky bulkhead or the wall was very thin.