The police had endeavored to trace the motor-car that had caused the
accident. But it seemed that nobody had noted the numbers on the
machine, or even the kind of car it was. Ruth had forbidden Wonota to
tell what she revealed to her. If it was Dakota Joe who had run her down
there was no use attempting to fasten the guilt of the incident upon him
unless they were positive and could prove his guilt.

"And you know, Wonota, you cannot be _sure_--"

"I saw him. It was for but a moment, but I _saw_ him," said the Indian
girl positively.

"Even at that, it would take corroborative testimony to convince the
court," mused Ruth.

"I do not understand paleface laws," said Wonota, shaking her head. "If
an Indian does something like that to another Indian, the injured one
can punish his enemy. And he almost always does."

"But we cannot take the law into our own hands that way."

"Why not?" asked Wonota. "Is a redman so much superior to a white man?
If the redman can punish an enemy why cannot a white man?"

"Our law does not leave it in our hands to punish," said Ruth, quietly,
though rather staggered by the Indian girl's question. "We have courts,
and judges, and methods of criminal procedure. A person who has been
injured by another cannot be the best judge of the punishment to be
meted out to the one who has harmed him."