noon
That afternoon one of the Falins , who had grown bolder , and in twos and threes were always at the trial , shot at a Tolliver on the edge of town and there was an immediate turmoil between the factions that the Red Fox had been waiting for and that suited his dark purposes well . That very night , with his big rifle , he slipped through the woods to a turn of the road , over which old Dave Tolliver was to pass next morning , and built a `` blind '' behind some rocks and lay there smoking peacefully and dreaming his Swedenborgian dreams . And when a wagon came round the turn , driven by a boy , and with the gaunt frame of old Dave Tolliver lying on straw in the bed of it , his big rifle thundered and the frightened horses dashed on with the Red Fox 's last enemy , lifeless . Coolly he slipped back to the woods , threw the shell from his gun , tirelessly he went by short cuts through the hills , and at noon , benevolent and smiling , he was on guard again . The little Court Room was crowded for the afternoon session . Inside the railing sat Rufe Tolliver , white and defiant -- manacled . Leaning on the railing , to one side , was the Red Fox with his big pistols , his good profile calm , dreamy , kind -- to the other , similarly armed , was Hale .