Bear Sitting Down glanced nervously 'round the room. The other Indians watched him intently.
"Come," Martin said in his most commanding voice. "Answer quickly. What have you to say?"
Bear Sitting Down shuffled his feet, cleared his throat and at last exclaimed desperately, with the air of a man goaded to action:
"We did not do it. We know we have been arrested on that account. But we had no hand in it."
"No hand in it?"
"No hand in it—none!"
The spokesman's companions seconded him with anxious monosyllables of approval.
Martin's keen eyes flickered.
"Why didn't you tell the Sergeant so when he arrested you?" he asked.
"He told us he was arresting us for horse-stealing. But we know better. We have stolen horses, yes. But we had no hand in the killing of the pony-soldier."