ed for him to furnish some amusement, such as having splinters
stuck into him and bein' set afire by the squaws."

"They probably thought they seen some one coming," said the sheriff,
"and shot him after they got him tied down, and then made a quick
getaway."

"That man was shot before he was tied down," interposed Lowell quietly.

"What makes you think that?" Redmond said quickly.

"There are no powder marks on his face. And any one shot at such close
range, by some one standing over him, would have had his head blown
away."

Redmond assented, grudgingly.

"What does Plenty Buffalo think about it all?" he asked.

Lowell called the police chief and the interpreter. Plenty Buffalo
declared that he was puzzled. He was not prepared to make any statement
at all as yet. He might have something later on.

"Very well," said the agent, motioning to Plenty Buffalo to go on with
the close investigations he had been silently carrying on. "We may get
something of value from him when he has finished looking. But there's no
use coaxing him to talk now."

"I s'pose not," rejoined Redmond sneeringly. "What's more, I s'pose he
can't even see them Injun pony tracks around the body."

"He called my attention to them as soon as we arrived here," said
Lowell. "But as far as that goes he didn't need to. Those things are as
evident as the bald fact that the man has been killed."

"Well, that's about the only clue there is, as far as I can figger out,"
remarked the sheriff testily, "and that points straight and clean to
some of your wards on the reservation."

"Count on me for any help," replied Lowell crisply. "All I'm interested
in, of course, is seeing the guilty brought out into the light."

Turning away and ending a controversy, which he knew would be fruitless,
Lowell made another searching personal examination of the scene. He
examined the stakes, having in mind the possibility of finger-prints.
But no tell-tale mark had been left behind. The stakes were too rough to
admit the possibility of any finger-prints that might be microscopically
detected. The road and prairie surrounding the automobile were examined,
but nothing save pony tracks, numerous and indiscriminately mingled,
rewarded his efforts.

"Them Injuns jest milled around this machine and the body of that
hombrey," said Talpers. "There must have been twenty-five of 'em in the
bunch, anyway, ain't I right, Plenty Buffalo?" added the trader,
repeating his remark