“I’m going to find out!” declared Will.

The lads pried the boulder away, blocking it so that it could not crash down the slope and so warn the men inside of the approach of the boys.  Then Will crept cautiously into the dark passage.

The others were at his heels in a moment.  On the previous visit of Will and Tommy, there had been the light of a torch in the cavern, but there was no illumination of any kind now.

“I guess they’ve gone, all right!” Tommy, whispered.

“Why didn’t you get the Little Brass God while the getting was good?” demanded Sandy.

“The guns those fellows carried didn’t look good to me!” was the reply.

“It’s a mystery to me how they ever got out of this cavern,” Will observed.

“Perhaps they are still here, waiting to get a shot at us!” suggested Thede.  “This would be a bad place for an attack.”

As the boys advanced they heard a whisper of voices farther in, and what seemed to be the rattle of footsteps over the uneven floor.

Then from some, apparently, distant comer of the cavern came a cry in an unknown tongue.  The next instant the place was illuminated by two great torches of resinous wood.

They flamed high in the hands of the men who had been discovered in the cavern during the first visit.

“Look!” cried Will, pointing.  “Look!”

The eyes of the boys followed the pointing finger dimly outlined in the light of the torches, and saw the Little Brass God swinging to and fro in an uplifted hand!

“There!” exclaimed Tommy.  “I told you we’d got the Little Brass God!”

“But you haven’t got it yet!” taunted Sandy.

“We’ll have it in a minute!” replied the boy confidently.

The ugly little image remained in sight for perhaps half a minute, and then the cavern became dark as pitch again.

The boys heard a quick rush of footsteps, apparently passing further into the cavern, and then all was silent.

“That isn’t the man who had the Little Brass God the other time I saw it!” Thede declared.  “I guess these fellows must have got it away from Antoine, or whoever it was who had it at that time.”

“I wish we had a searchlight,” suggested Sandy.

“I’ve got a little one for a cent,” Tommy answered.  “I never leave the camp without one.  No knowing when one may be needed,”

“Strike a light then!” whispered Sandy.

“That would be a fine way to get a bullet into my coco!” Tommy whispered back.  “I’ll just wait a while and see what’s doing.”

There was nothing doing—­nothing whatever!  The boys, after waiting some ten minutes, advanced into the cavern which was now perfectly still.

Directly Tommy turned on his electric.  The little flame revealed no presence there save that of the boys themselves.  They searched every nook and corner of the place, believing it impossible that the two men could have escaped.  At last, however, they were forced to the conclusion that once more they had lost track of the object of their search.