"I say that you are to come," he said. "Do not look so at me—I will not have it. And do not attempt to resist or it will be the worse for you."
In reply, Wild Horse bounded suddenly to his feet, a knife in his hand. The other Indians, muttering fierce threats, stood up behind him. A row of levelled rifles confronted Hector.
"Get out of this lodge!" said Wild Horse.
Instantly Hector closed. A wrench twisted the knife from the Indian's hand. Seizing him, he exerted a supreme effort of his great strength, whirled him off his feet and threw him bodily out of the lodge. Before the murderer's friends could pull a trigger, Hector was also outside.
But it was 'out of the frying-pan into the fire.'
A crowd apparently representing every grown man in camp, to say nothing of women and boys, was thickly clustered round the teepee. The men were all armed and many of them were actually covering the two constables.
One glance revealed all this to Hector; another, that Wild Horse had been promptly and efficiently handcuffed by his men, who held the murderer between them.
What now?
"Take him out of this," Hector ordered coolly. To the crowding Indians, he gave the stern command, "Stand back!"
They answered with a wild yell and one overwhelming rush.