s hands tingled
and his whole body felt as if it were growing bigger. He wanted to kill
Indians. He wanted to wade in their blood. Maybe find Black Hawk himself
and take his scalp with the big Bowie knife. He hoped there would be
hundreds of redskins still alive, cowering on that island. He needed to
kill them by the hundreds.

The ship's progress down the length of the island seemed to take
forever.

He tried to calm himself. After that bombardment with grapeshot, after
so many Indians had been shot trying to swim away, there probably
wouldn't be many left alive on the island. It wouldn't really be a
fight; they'd be close to helpless.

"After we're ashore," he said to Helmer, "take the ship over to the
troops on the Mississippi bank and tell General Atkinson we've found the
main body of the Sauk. Tell him to send as many men as the _Victory_
will carry."

* * * * *

The steamboat's shallow draft allowed her to move in close, so Raoul and
his dozen Smith County boys could jump down into knee-deep water,
holding rifles, bayonets screwed in place, and pistols and cases of
cartridges and shot over their heads. The water was cold and clammy
through Raoul's flannel trousers, and his feet squelched in his boots.

The _Victory_ drew away with a thumping of her engine and puffs of
thick, black smoke from her two smokestacks. Just the sight of that
steamship should have been enough to scare hell out of the Indians,
Raoul thought.

He and his men clambered up sloping rocks to stand in a clear area of
level ground. Just where the woods started, the upper half of an Indian
lay on his back, trailing long, bloody ribbons of gut. The eyes were
open, staring.

_Now, that's what I wanted to see._

"Remember that we take no prisoners," he said.

Hodge Hode said, "Well, come on, let's knock them 'coons out of the
trees."

An arrow punched through Hodge's neck from front to back.

Raoul's heart stopped, then thumped so hard with fear that he thought it
might split his chest open.

Hodge dropped his rifle and fell to the ground, gagging.

Raoul went down on his knees beside Hodge, seized the arrow just under
its knife-sharp flint head and pulled it through. As the feathered end
went through his neck Hodge made a retching sound. His tongue stuck out
of his mouth.

Raoul cursed under his breath as he bent over Hodge. This couldn't be
happening.

More arrows were flying past them. Raoul's