Two days later, Hale heard by accident that the old
man had been seen near the place of the ambush about sunset of the
day before the tragedy, which was on his way home, and he now
learned straightway for himself that the Red Fox had not been home
for a month--which was only one of his ways of mistreating the
patient little old woman in black.
A little later, the Red Fox gave it out that he was trying to
ferret out the murderer himself, and several times he was seen
near the place of ambush, looking, as he said, for evidence. But
this did not halt Hale's suspicions, for he recalled that the
night he had spent with the Red Fox, long ago, the old man had
burst out against old Dave and had quickly covered up his
indiscretion with a pious characterization of himself as a man
that kept peace with both factions. And then why had he been so
suspicious and fearful when Hale told him that night that he had
seen him talking with a Falin in town the Court day before, and
had he disclosed the whereabouts of Rufe Tolliver and guided the
guard to his hiding-place simply for the reward? He had not yet
come to claim it, and his indifference to money was notorious
through the hills.
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