"No, he rose from behind it."
"Loring, has it occurred to anybody, except me, that the back of Glory Rock is a sheer drop? Anyone who could rise from behind and shoot over it would have to be at least nine feet tall!"
"I—By gosh, you're right! I knew Al never bush-whacked him! He must have been standing in plain sight when Smoky came up the valley!"
"Smoky never saw who shot him."
"That's not the way he told it."
"Think!" Ted urged. "Think of the sort of man Smoky is. There was bad blood between him and Dad and had been for some time. You were there when Dad dressed him down for setting traps before fur was prime. There was, as you'll remember, talk of shooting even then. Smoky knew Dad had gone up Coon Valley ahead of him; probably he even thinks Dad shot him. He said he saw him because he wanted to be sure of revenge. Smoky would do that."
"Yes, he would. But it seems to me that you're doing a lot of guessing."
"Maybe. You brought Smoky's rifle out?"
"Yes."
"Had it been fired?"