He could have shot it
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Em resposta a esta ameaça, o índio empurrou desdenhosamente com a ponta do pé a clavina que estava atirada ao chão, como para exprimir que, se ele o quisesse, já teria abatido o tigre de um tiro. Os cavaleiros compreenderam o gesto, porque, além da precaução necessária para o caso de algum ataque direto, não fizeram a menor demonstração ofensiva.
In answer to this threat, the Indian disdainfully shoved aside, with the tip of his foot, the carbine that lay flung on the ground — as if to express that, had he wished it, he would already have felled the tiger with a single shot. The riders understood the gesture, for, beyond the precaution necessary in case of some direct attack, they made not the least offensive show.
In answer, Peri disdainfully shoves aside the carbine with his toe — as if to say that, had he wished, he'd already have felled the tiger with a shot. The riders take the point and make no move.
Peri proves his choice is not weakness: he owns a gun and spurns it. To meet the jaguar with the fork is a deliberate, aristocratic self-imposition of risk — and the armed men read it correctly, and defer.
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