Now he'd go up to the mine entrance, and if it was nighttime he'd leave.
The Flemings had their cabin about a mile from here. Their men had
joined the Regulators, so they deserved to have him take a horse from
them. Then he'd ride north to Galena.

He hefted the other saddlebag, loaded with gold and silver coins and
Bank of Illinois paper. He'd had to leave a lot behind in his office
safe, and they'd probably steal it from him. But he'd get it all back.

Because this was enough to buy him an army.

Galena would be crowded with the roughest men in the Northwest Territory
right now. Surely more men than could make a living in the mines around
there, boom or no boom. Rough and hungry, just what he needed.

_I'll yet see that high-and-mighty Cooper swinging from a tree. And I'll
piss on Auguste's grave._

He bit into a slice of dried beef. It was tough as rawhide, but he
forced it down.

_When I'm running things in Smith County again, Nicole and Frank and
that pack of squalling brats are leaving. I've put up with Frank and his
damned newspaper long enough, just because he's married to my sister._

If Frank gave any trouble, his new press, the one Papa helped him buy,
would end up at the bottom of the Mississippi. Or maybe he'd even be
Cooper's dancing partner on that tree.

_I've knocked my father down. I've killed my brother's squaw and his
mongrel bastard son. Why put up with my sister and her husband? What
have they ever done, except hate me?_

And the old man would have to go, too, if he was still alive, and that
brandy-pickled bag of bones, Guichard. Time to be rid of them all. De
Marion would still be the foremost name in Smith County, but it would be
a new de Marion family, not this old Injun-loving bunch that understood
nothing.

Nancy. What about her?

The teacher needed to be taught a lesson or two. If she hadn't let
Auguste service her when she was captured by the Injuns, then she'd
probably never had a man's cock up inside her. Once she found out what
pleasure he could give her, she'd forget about Auguste. She was still
young enough for children, good-looking children, and smart.

That brat Woodrow that she had living with her. Imagine him saying in
court that the redskins treated him better than his parents did. Send
him packing, just like the Hopkinses.

With Smith County and with Nancy all his, it would be time to rebuild
Victoire.

He'd put that off because he wanted to do it right. And