Hank nodded his head, but qualified his assent:
"He could have picked you off, but not me, and he knows that he would have had me on his trail without waiting for the officers to help."
"But he must face the same thing as it is."
"Don't you see that he had to make the ch'ice atween doing nothing at all or tackling the younker? The Sioux is such an imp and is so crazy for revenge that he made up his mind to chance it the least he could, and he went for the tenderfoot that he hates the most."
Jack tremblingly asked the question that had been in his mind for some minutes.
"Do you think he shot Fred?"
The guide slowly turned his head and looked fixedly at the youth before replying:
"Wouldn't you've heerd his gun?"
The question sent a thrill of hope through the heart of Jack, but it was quickly succeeded by the dull torture that was there before. True, he would have heard the report of a rifle if fired anywhere near him during the afternoon, but a treacherous Sioux like Motoza was too cunning to expose himself in that manner, and would have resorted to a different method.
"He could have slain poor Fred in some other way, but do you believe he has done so?"