f a man who was desperate enough to take his
life at any moment. Indeed, the renegade might not be taking him to
the border at all. Fremont suspected another purpose. With this
thought came the memory of the signals he had heard on the mountain,
and he arose and went to the window opening, barren of sash and glass,
and looked out, hoping to again hear, above the rain, the calls of the
Black Bears. But no such sounds greeted his ears. There was only the
rush of the rain.

Fremont knew that the renegade would not be paid the reward until after
conviction, and he did not believe that any jury would convict him. It
was not the fear of a penalty that had caused him to consent to flight,
but the dread of the waiting in prison. He had an idea that Big Bob
knew that he could not secure the reward at all unless he succeeded in
securing a confession, and that he had given this up.

Under these circumstances the renegade might not go to the trouble of
taking him to the border. Still, he seemed to be making for Texas with
all secrecy and speed. Was there some other motive for landing him on
Texas soil? The renegade had shown a strange familiarity with
conditions in the Cameron building, and might be in some way interested
in some other affair there. There seemed to be no answer to the
puzzling questions the boy asked himself.

Looking into the immediate future, the boy could see but one ray of
hope, and that centered about Nestor, Jimmie, and the Boy Scouts. He
knew, from the call of the Black Bear Patrol signal, on the mountain,
that his friends, loyal to the core, were not far away, but he did not
know how many there were in the party, or what chances of success they
had.

"Good old Black Bears!" the boy whispered. "They are in the hills
somewhere, and will make themselves known when the right time comes."

After a couple of hours of such unpleasant thoughts as no boy of his
years ought to be obliged to entertain, Fremont arose and again went to
the window looking out on the mountain. The rain came a little less
swiftly now, and the thunder heads were rolling away in heavy masses,
leaving lighter spaces in the sky. He knew that a guard was at the
angle of the building, placed there to prevent his escape, for he could
hear the angry mutterings of the fellow as he moved about.

While he stood before the small window, he heard the call of a wolf not
far away on the mountain. He bent nearer to the window and lis