They appeared to be greatly excited, and it was only when the heavy voice of the leader boomed forth that they reverted to silence.
Jimmie could not understand what the prisoner had been brought there for.

If the idea of his captors was to restore him to his friends, that would be the work of only a minute.

They would only have to cut the bonds and Fremont would do the rest.

If the idea was to murder him, why the delay?
It had been hours since his capture, and it would have taken only a minute to discover that the wrong boy had been taken.
If, as Jimmie considered gravely, the big man should prove to be a civil officer from Texas, a a man with a warrant for Fremont, then it seemed that he would be getting him across the border as quickly as possible, taking no chances with slow Mexican criminal procedure.

This last view of the case was the one which Jimmie feared most.