aited about
the agency for a glimpse of the gun-fighter who had slain the
redoubtable Bill Talpers in such a manner. None of them could get near
the jail, but they stood in picturesque groups about the agency,
listening to the talk of Andy Wolters and others who had been on more or
less intimate terms with the principals in the affair.

"And there was me a-snoozin' in that breed's camp the very day before he
done this shootin'," said Andy to an appreciative circle. "He must have
had this thing stewin' in his head at the time. It's a wonder he didn't
throw down on me, jest for a little target practice. But I guess he
figgered he didn't need no practice to get Bill Talpers, and judgin'
from the way things worked out, his figgerin' was right. Some artist
with the little smoke machine, that boy, 'cause Bill Talpers wasn't no
slouch at shootin'! I remember seein' Bill shoot the head off a
rattlesnake at the side of the road, jest casual-like, and when it come
to producin' the hardware he was some quick for a big man. He more than
met his match this time, old Bill did. And, by gosh! you can bet that
nobody after this ever sends me out to any dry camps in the brush to
take supplies to any gunman who may be hid out there. Next time I might
snooze and never wake up."

All was not adulation for Jim McFann. Because of the Indian strain in
his blood a minor undercurrent of prejudice had set in against him, more
particularly among the white settlers and the cattlemen who were casting
covetous eyes on reservation lands. While McFann was not strictly a ward
of the Government, he had land on the reservation. His lot was cast with
the Indians, chiefly because he found few white men who would associate
with him on account of his Indian blood. Talpers was not loved, but the
killing of any white man by some one of Indian ancestry was something to
fan resentment without regard to facts. Bets were made that McFann would
not live to be tried on the second homicide charge against him, many
holding the opinion that he would be hanged, with Fire Bear, for the
first murder. Also wagers were freely made that Fire Bear would not be
produced in court by the Indian agent, and that it would be necessary to
send a force of officers to get the accused Indian.

Lowell apparently paid no attention to the rumors that were flying
about. A mass of reservation detail had accumulated, and he worked hard
to get it out of the way before the trial. He had made