time he had come upon signs
in stones left by Shaw and Fenton, and had followed them to the place
of meeting.

"What's the matter with the secret service men?" asked Shaw.

"Aw, they're jealous of Nestor!" Jimmie put in. "I reckon they
wouldn't much care if Nestor had been geezled instead of Fremont."

"They did all they were ordered to do," Nestor replied. "It is now up
to us to release Fremont. I'm glad he knows we are here," Nestor
added, after due explanation had been made by Jimmie and Shaw. "He'll
be on the lookout for us."

"How are you going to get him?" asked Fenton.

"You've heard of cutting cattle out of a herd?" smiled Nestor. "Well,
that is the way we are going to get Fremont. We're going to cut him
out."

CHAPTER XVII.

PLENTY OF BLACK BEARS.

"There's four of us now," Jimmie urged, "and we've all got guns, so we
ought to go after the lobsters and get Fremont away from them."

"They look like dubs," Frank put in, "and I believe they'll run when
they hear us shooting. If you won't let me drum, you must let me
shoot."

"You got no drum!" grinned Jimmie.

"I'm afraid they would turn their guns on their prisoner if we attached
them," said Nestor. "We've just got to wait until we can cut him out."

"I'm hungry enough to eat 'em all alive," cried Frank.

"I could get along pretty well if I had a couple of gallons of water,"
said Peter.

"If them lobsters find anything to eat or drink down there," Frank
said, "we'll go down and take it away from them. Looks like they were
making for a feed."

The boys now clambered cautiously to the summit and looked down the
slope to the east. The renegade and his men were slowly making their
way toward the bottom. The prisoner was moving forward as briskly as
any of them, and the big fellow appeared to be paying special attention
to him, as he was walking by his side most of the time.

The distance to the level plain below did not seem to be great.
Although the peaks of the Sierra del Fierro range seem high when looked
upon from the level of the Rio Grande, they do not appear to be so
lofty when viewed from the plateau upon which the actual ascent begins.

The level table-lands or plateaux of Mexico lie from four to nine
thousand feet above sea level, making many distinct climates as one
goes up or down. These plateaux are girt by mountain chains. The high
summits are those of Cofre del Perote, 13,400 feet; Origava, 17,870
feet; Istaccihua