"
"Who is it?" asked Jimmie.
"I don't know," was the reply. "It seems to me that I have seen
him before, but I can't place him now."
"What hurt the man?" asked Jimmie. "Is he shot?"
"He says he fell down the mountain," was the reply. "He heard the
shooting, and made his way here. Come on. Let's go and bring
him into our hospital!"
Three minutes later Fremont sprang to his feet as the man's face
showed in the light.
"The night watchman!" he cried, and Jimmie echoed the identification.
CHAPTER XXIII.
SOME UNEXPECTED ARRIVALS.
Nestor gazed into the pain-drawn face of the newcomer with
a feeling akin to awe. There seemed something uncanny in
the fellow being there at all. Had there come some new and
unexpected development, in consequence of which he had been
released by the secret service men? Or had he managed to elude
their vigilance? If the latter, had Don Miguel and Felix also
gained their freedom?
And how had the man succeeded in crossing the mountain in the
weakened condition he was in? He was now so weak and faint
from loss of blood and long suffering that he dropped to the
floor like a dead man. Had he escaped, or been released soon
after the departure of the party for San Jose, and spent the
entire day among the crags and canyons? The man on the floor
seemed a trick of the imagination, or, at least, a case of
mistaken identity.
Nestor did not believe that Lieutenant Gordon would release
the fellow under any circumstances.
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