"I said it was a burglar!"

"But was it a burglar--a real, genuine burglar?"

"Yes, loosen up!" shouted Tommy. "Did he go there just to burgle,
or did he go there to get that will?"

"That's another thing we've got to find out!" Will answered. "It's
just this way," the boy continued. "We've been sent up here to
find this Little Brass God. When we find it, we'll know whether
the man who stole it was a common thief, or whether he was sent by
interested parties to do the job. No living person can open the
Little Brass God without first learning the way to do it. In fact,
the only way the toy can be opened by one unfamiliar with the
secret is to break it open with an axe! And that would hardly be
done, as the little fellow is rather a cute plaything."

"And so, if the will is there, a burglar stole it. And if the will
is not there, some one interested in the disposition of the
property walked away with it! Is that it?"

"That's the way we figure it out!" Will answered. "And in the
meantime," he continued, "an older will is being offered for
probate. If the Little Brass God fails to disclose the last will,
the property will go to a young man who was intensely hated and
despised by the man who built up the fortune. Simon Tupper will
turn over in his grave if Howard Sigsbee, his nephew, has the
handling of that money."

"I can't see how that's going to get Simon anything!" grinned Tommy.