"Well," Antoine answered, "I have plenty of bear meat, and a few
canned provisions, and plenty of good, strong tea, so we'll adjourn
to the dining room and partake."

"Have you seen anything of our chum?" asked Will.

Antoine smiled, but made no reply.

"Look here," Sandy said, pointing down to the moccasin tracks, as
they emerged from the cavern and found themselves on the snowy
slope, "this man has passed along here before this morning."

"That's a fact!" Will exclaimed. "So he must be the man who
carried off George. If he is, why doesn't he say so?"

"Perhaps he wants to give us a surprise," observed Tommy.

It was only a short distance from the system of caverns where the
boys had been imprisoned to the home of Antoine, which has
previously been described.

When the boys entered, they looked eagerly around in the hope of
finding George, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.

"I thought sure you had found our chum in the cavern," Thede
suggested.

"Why, I thought you boys were all here!" replied Antoine, still
with that odd smile on his face.