see Raoul's big frame just a
few feet from him, close enough for him to smell whiskey fumes.

"This is none of your business, Davis," Raoul growled.

"General Winfield Scott and Colonel Zachary Taylor commanded me to see
that this man receives a proper trial," said Davis in a calm, steady
voice.

Judge Cooper rapped his mallet. "De Marion, I won't allow you to disrupt
this court."

Raoul shouted at Cooper over Davis's shoulder. "Don't you forget,
Cooper, that when you're not wearing that black robe you're just a small
farmer who bought his land from me and sells his crop to me."

Cooper was standing now, his jaw clenched. "That's enough, de Marion.
Sit down."

Raoul's head turned slowly from side to side. For a moment he stared at
Auguste, his eyes full of hate. Auguste felt an answering hatred boiling
up in his chest.

Raoul and the lieutenant stood facing each other for a long, silent
moment. Then Raoul turned abruptly and strode back to his seat. Auguste,
whose attention had been fixed on Raoul and Davis, became aware of men
sitting down all over the courtroom. He wondered whether they were
Raoul's men.

Auguste felt his guts squirm as he realized what a thin barrier
protected this trial from being abruptly ended. Raoul could call on his
crew of rogues to drag him out and hang him at once. The judge and the
three Federal soldiers might not be able to stop him.

Ford called Auguste to the witness chair. Auguste had sat rigid for so
long that standing up made him stumble, and Ford put a steadying hand on
his arm.

As he sat down he felt himself trembling at the sight of dozens of pale
eyes faces, hard, solemn and expressionless, looking at him. Bearded men
squirting tobacco juice into brass spittoons. Women eyeing him from
under bonnets. He looked for the friendly faces in the room--Nancy,
Woodrow, Elysee, Guichard, Nicole, Frank.

Ford said, "We've heard bits and pieces of your story from many
different people, Auguste. If you were just another Sauk Indian you
wouldn't be on trial here today. You'd be with your people, what's left
of them. But because you've lived with whites and your father was white
and you have a claim to a white man's property, you're accused of being
a traitor and a murderer. I want you to tell us about your life. How
come you're both Indian and white man?"

As Auguste talked he forgot the watching faces and saw again Sun Woman
and Star Arrow, Black Hawk and Owl Carver, Redbird a