linked in the light of a dozen candles set on a circular
chandelier. Across the room by the fireplace a book fell to the rug, a
Kentucky quilt was swept back and a pair of long, skinny legs draped in
a nightshirt swung over the side of a chaise longue.

"Grandpapa, don't get up." But Elysee was already hobbling across the
room to Auguste's outstretched arms.

Elysee buried his white head in his grandson's chest. Auguste held his
grandfather tightly; the answering embrace was not as strong as it had
been even a few months ago when the old man had visited him in his cell.
The fragility and weakness saddened Auguste.

Bare feet peeping from under another nightshirt pattered down a ladder
from the second-story loft. Before he reached the bottom, Woodrow jumped
and rushed to hug Auguste.

"I been staying here ever since we found out you were coming. So I could
tell Miss Nancy right away when you got here."

Nancy. His heart raced as he remembered her in the witness chair
defending him and standing up to Raoul's abuse. He badly wanted to see
her, to hold her in his arms.

But could he allow himself to feel so much for Nancy, when he hoped to
bring Redbird here?

_That is looking too far down the trail. I may not live to see Redbird
again._

Out there in the dark the enemy might be gathering even now.

"You still live with Miss Nancy, Woodrow?"

"She's adopted me." The boy stared down at Elysee's small Chinese rug.
"I guess that makes me your son too."

Auguste understood what Woodrow meant. Auguste had taken Nancy as his
wife according to Sauk custom, and Woodrow knew it. He saw Elysee's
puzzled look, and knew that he might have difficulty explaining later.
But he must not hesitate now. He squeezed Woodrow's bony shoulder.

"I'm proud."

"I'm proud of you, White Bear. I'm glad you came back. I'm off to Miss
Nancy's soon as I get my britches on." The boy scampered back up the
ladder.

"Guichard, go get Nicole and Frank," said Elysee as he drew Auguste
across the room and gently pushed him into a chair.

"They'll be sleeping, Grandpapa," Auguste protested.

"They would be furious if we did not wake them," said Elysee, his
falcon's face severe. "And it is safest that we meet late at night."

Auguste wondered, was any time safe? Did not the enemy have eyes and
ears for the night?

Auguste threw off the riding coat Guichard had given him in Galena and
sat down in a straight wooden chair by the chaise longue,