be here to help me," said Auguste. "But I don't
know why Greenglove is here." He remembered his conviction that
Greenglove had missed him on purpose, and shrugged. "I haven't got much
to lose."

Ford began with Wegner, asking him how he came to be in Victor when word
was he had emigrated to Texas.

"My family and I only got as far as New Orleans, where we are buying
provisions to join the colony at San Felipe de Austin. Then this
gentleman comes to me." Wegner pointed to Greenglove, now sitting in the
front row of spectators. "He tells me Herr Auguste is to be tried at
Victor. At once we take the steamboat. I pay for both his passage and
mine, using money my family needs. I tell you this not to praise myself
but to show how much that man means to me." Now Wegner pointed to
Auguste, who looked down at the floor, his face hot and his throat
choked.

Ford nodded gravely. "I understand you were at Old Man's Creek, Mr.
Wegner. What happened to you?"

Wegner told the story just as Auguste remembered it, ending, "I lost my
leg, but I still have my life, thanks to Auguste de Marion, for whom I
never did a single thing good."

_If I could have taken him back to the Sauk camp, I might even have
saved his leg._

Ford said, "Mr. Wegner, we've heard that Auguste de Marion is a murderer
and a traitor to his country."

"Lies!" said Otto Wegner firmly. "By the rules of war he had every right
to kill me and he did not. He is the most Christian man I have ever
known."

_I wonder if Wegner knows I have never believed in any spirits but
Earthmaker and the Turtle and the Bear._

Returning from the witness chair, Wegner stopped to take Auguste's hand
in both of his. "I am so glad I could come and speak for you. You are a
_great_ man, Herr Auguste."

Auguste, struggling to hold back tears, murmured his thanks. Perhaps
Elysee could replace the money Wegner had spent getting here, if the
Prussian was not too proud to take it.

Ford began questioning Eli Greenglove about Old Man's Creek.

"Hell, there weren't no Injuns in ambush in the woods," Greenglove
drawled. "'Twas plain as day what was going on. They was a few scouts
that come to watch what happened to the peace party. Most of our men
were carrying a right powerful load of whiskey. Some of the men saw the
scouts hiding in the woods and got excited. Colonel Raoul, he used that
as an excuse to order us to finish off the Injuns with the white flag."

"And you shot Auguste?"