h had been
engaged in a small hotel while Nestor went out into the city, "to spy
out the resources of the land," as he declared.

Fremont, however, knew that his friend was very anxious over something.
There appeared to be some new complication which the patrol leader was
having a hard time puzzling out. It may well be imagined that his
return was awaited with impatience. His face was very grave when at
last he entered the room.

"I'm sorry I have no better report to make," Nestor said, throwing
himself into a chair, "but the fact is that we've got to lose ourselves
in the mountains across the river as soon as we can do so. We can get
across to-night, of course, but must hustle after we get across. We
can get provisions at San Jose."

"We've got to carry the provisions into the mountains on our backs?"
asked Fremont.

"We surely have," was the reply, "and we've got to lay low while we are
cooking and eating them. The Sierra del Fierro mountains, where we are
going, are lined with insurrectos, and they are not in good humor just
now."

"I'm game for anything, so long as we can get out of the beaten way,"
replied Fremont. "I've felt all the way down that we were being
followed. Anyway," he continued, more cheerfully, "I shall enjoy the
sight of a mountain campfire again. We don't have to take any matches
with us. I can build a fire, Indian-fashion, with dry sticks and a
cord. My Boy Scout experiences will be of service now, I take it."

"And you must fix up a little disguise to get over the river in,"
continued Nestor. "The New York police are in communication with the
officers here, and the latter are out for the $10,000 reward. As you
suspected, we have been shadowed from New York. More than once I threw
the shadows off the track, but they landed again. There are most
unusual conditions around us, and we must be very discreet. After we
get across the Rio Grande the danger will decrease."

"It makes me feel happy again," Fremont said, after putting on a new,
cheap suit and tinting his face, "this idea of meeting a different sort
of danger. I can't stand this lurking peril--this obsession that some
one may spring out upon me from some dark corner at any minute. Get me
out by a mountain camp-fire, old fellow, and I'll be game for anything."

There was a short silence, and then the boy went on.

"I don't understand exactly why you are heading for Mexico, but one
country is as good as another just n