drawn some money from the bank--sufficient
to cover expenses on an extended trip. His servants said he was in the
habit of taking such trips alone. Generally he went to the Rocky
Mountains in his automobile every summer. He was accustomed to life in
the open and generally carried a camping outfit. His description tallied
with that which had been sent. He had left definite instructions with a
trust company about the disposal of his fortune, and about his burial,
in case of his death. Would the county authorities at White Lodge please
forward remains without delay?

While the inquiry was in progress, Walter Lowell spent much of his time
at White Lodge, and caught the brunt of the bitter feeling against the
Indians. It seemed as if at least three out of four residents of the
county had mentally tried and convicted Fire Bear and his companions.

"And if there is one out of the four that hasn't told me his opinion,"
said Lowell to the sheriff, "it's because he hasn't been able to get to
town."

Sheriff Tom Redmond, though evidently firm in his opinion that Indians
were responsible for the crime, was not as outspoken in his remarks as
he had been at the scene of the murder. The county attorney, Charley
Dryenforth, a young lawyer who had been much interested in the progress
of the Indians, had counseled less assumption on the sheriff's part.

"Whoever did this," said the young attorney, "is going to be found,
either here in this county or on the Indian reservation. It wasn't any
chance job--the work of a fly-by-night tramp or yeggman. The Dollar Sign
is too far off the main road to admit of that theory. It's a home job,
and the truth will come out sooner or later, just as Lowell says, and
the only sensible thing is to work with the agent and not against
him--at least until he gives some just cause for complaint."

Like the Indian agent, the attorney had a complete understanding of the
prejudices in the case. There is always pressure about any Indian
reservation. White men look across the line at unfenced acres, and
complain bitterly against a policy that gives so much land to so few
individuals. There are constant appeals to Congressmen. New treaties,
which disregard old covenants as scraps of paper, are constantly being
introduced. Leasing laws are being made and remade and fought over. The
Indian agent is the local buffer between contending forces. But, used as
he was to unfounded complaint and criticism, Walter Lowell w