Nestor smiled at the startled face of the boy as he related the
occurrence, but made no comment. He was examining a bundle of
letters at the time, and ended by putting them into a pocket as
if to carry them away with him.
"They concern a proposed transaction in firearms and ammunition,"
the patrol leader said, in answer to Fremont's inquiring look.
"Now, it appears to me," Nestor said, after concluding his examination
of the suite, "that you ought to keep out of the hands of the police
until this affair can be thoroughly looked into. Nothing can prevent
your arrest if you remain here. What about the proposed Black Bear
Patrol trip down the Rio Grande and over into Mexico?"
"I wouldn't like to run away," Fremont replied. "That would show
guilt and cowardice. I'd much rather remain here and take what comes."
"If you are arrested," the patrol leader went on, "the police, instead
of doing honest work in unraveling the mystery, will bend every effort
to convict you. They will not consider any theory other than your guilt.
Every scrap of evidence will be twisted and turned into proof against
you, and in the meantime the real criminal may escape. It is a way the
police have."
"It seems like a confession of guilt to run away," Fremont said.
"Another thing," Nestor went on, "is this. I have made a discovery
here--a very startling discovery--which points to Mexico as my field
of operations. I cannot tell you now anything more about this
discovery, except that it is a most important one.
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