When the boy regained consciousness, daylight was creeping into the
cavern through an opening much lower down than the one by which the
boys had entered the upper cavern.

The earth outside was covered with a thick mat of snow, and the
trees and shrubs of the forest were bending beneath burdens of pure
white.

The fire had burned to ashes and it was miserably cold.

The Little Brass God was gone!




CHAPTER VII

AN EMPTY CAVERN

Perhaps a dozen yards from the fire, Tommy stumbled at a figure
over which the falling snow was fast drifting. He called out to
Sandy, who was only a short distance away, and the two lifted the
unconscious form in their arms and staggered toward the fire.

"Why, it's nothing but a kid!" Sandy exclaimed.

"Don't you know who it is?" demanded Tommy.

"Never saw him before!" was the reply.