With his first breath he asked a question.
"Have you seen anything of those confounded boys ?" "The drummer and the Bowery lad ?" asked the lieutenant.

"Why, we left them with you when we went down the hill." "Well, they're gone!" exclaimed the guard, despondently.
"Gone!" repeated Nestor, stepping forward.

"Where have they gone?
Has anything been heard of Fremont ?" "Not a word," said the guard, answering only the last question.

"It is my idea that the other boys sneaked off in the hope of finding him.

I sent them into one of the tents to sleep, and when I looked in a short time later, they were not there." "It is certain that they were not carried off ?" asked Lieutenant Gordon.
"Certain," was the reply.