Will seized a searchlight, grabbed Tommy by the shoulder, and pulled him out of the door and around to the north side of the cabin.

The boys were not dressed especially for a midnight excursion in the snow, and their teeth chattered as they made their way against the chilling wind.  However, they stuck to their purpose and soon stood under the window which Will had pointed out.”

“There!” the boy exclaimed in a triumphant tone.  “Now perhaps you’ll tell me I didn’t see anything through the glass.”

A light snow had fallen during the late hours of the night, and there, plainly revealed on the undisturbed surface—­undisturbed only for what they saw—­were clearly outlined the footprints of two people.

One had worn moccasins, the other such shoes as might have been purchased at any department store in Chicago.

“And the tenant came back!” grinned Tommy.

“Then why didn’t he come in?” demanded Will.

“Because he’s scared of us!”

The boys followed the tracks toward the morass some distance and then returned to the cabin.

“Whoever the fellow is,” Will argued, “he found it necessary to get a half-breed or Indian guide.”

“How do you know that?” asked Tommy.  “That may have been Antoine in the moccasins.”

“I give it up!” replied Will.  “I don’t know anything about it.”

“I shouldn’t wonder at all if some faithful Hindu had sailed across the Pacific ocean, and traveled half across the continent, to rescue a faked 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.