tightened on the pistol grip.

_How could she turn away from me and take up again with that redskin
bastard?_

"Come on out, mongrel," he said to Auguste. "Maybe a jury found you not
guilty, but we know you're guilty as hell. You sent that Sauk war party
here." He raised his voice. "And you, Papa, Frank--you're fools to
defend him. His Indians were trying to kill you too."

Auguste said, "Raoul, you were the cause of the Sauk coming to Victor.
You are a liar and a fool and a coward. And a thief and a murderer."

Auguste stepped forward and slapped Raoul's face.

The blow came too suddenly for Raoul to react. It wasn't even hard
enough to hurt much. It was purely a gesture of contempt.

Then Raoul's rage came. It flared up like a forest fire. He brought up
the pistol. Auguste's unprotected chest was less than a foot away.

But Auguste spoke again before Raoul could fire. "Will you shoot an
unarmed man now, Raoul? Go ahead, prove yourself a coward. When you took
Victoire away from me, you wouldn't fight me. At Old Man's Creek--de
Marion's Run--I stood before you with my hands empty, and then you tried
to shoot me. You don't have the sand in you to face me fairly."

Raoul sensed that Auguste's words were aimed not at him, but at the men
behind him. He felt angry, trapped.

_Shoot, dammit! Shut him up._

_No, it's too late. All these men heard what he said._

"You're afraid to fight me man to man. I challenged you the day you
drove me away from Victoire, and you backed down. I challenge you again,
Raoul."

An answer sprang into Raoul's mind. "I accept. Let the weapons be your
neck and a rope."

But even as he spoke he had a sinking, uneasy feeling.

He did not hear any of his men laughing.

Armand said, "What the hell, Raoul. You've killed hundreds of Indians,
some of them a lot bigger than this one. Give him his duel."

For a moment Raoul felt like turning his pistol on Armand. The overseer
was paying him back, he realized, for the contempt he'd endured.

"I'm ready to meet you now or any time, mongrel. Let it be tonight. But
where there will be no witnesses to charge the winner with murder."

Auguste said, "I would be a fool to trust you and your men."

"You have to," said Raoul. "I'm not giving you any choice. The men will
see to it that it's a fair fight. That's what they want." He couldn't
keep the bitterness out of his voice. "Come with us, or I'll shoot you
down on this doorstep."

Frank Hopk