Keeping his stride firm and steady, Auguste went around the fence to approach the gate, glancing up at the maple tree under which Pierre had died.
As Auguste got closer, Raoul threw open his jacket, showing his gilt-handled pistol holstered on one hip, his huge knife, the one that had scarred Auguste, sheathed on the other. His eyes were shadowed by his broad-brimmed black hat, and the black mustache hid his mouth. His face was a mask.
When they were about ten feet apart, Raoul spoke. "Now that my brother is in the ground I can speak plain to you. It"s over for you here.
You"re Pierre"s natural son, and this is his burying day, so I won"t kill you unless you force me to it. I want you off de Marion land right now. I want you out of Smith County by sundown. Get back to the woods where you came from."
_You cannot know how happy it would make me to do just that, Raoul._ Auguste stood with his feet planted firmly on the stubble. He did not try to think. He would rely on the spirits for help. He waited for the knowledge of what to do to come to him.
He felt people coming to stand beside him. He heard the creaking of wagon wheels and the soft clip-clop of horses" hooves as the cart carrying Guichard and Elysee rolled past the funeral procession and drew up alongside him. He glanced at the people standing beside him, to his right Frank and Nicole, their children behind them, to his left Nancy Hale and Pere Isaac.
Auguste went colder still as he saw Eli Greenglove, who had been standing by the gate in the fence around the chateau, walk across the open s.p.a.ce, the tail of his c.o.o.nskin cap bobbing. Greenglove carried a long Kentucky rifle. Auguste had heard many a tale about Greenglove"s deadly accuracy. The Missourian took a position to one side, between Raoul and Auguste.
_He won"t even need to be a good shot to kill me from that distance._
Words came suddenly to Auguste"s mind. He spoke loudly, so everyone could hear, and he felt good that his voice was strong. He looked Raoul in the eye as he spoke.
"I am proud to be a son of the Sauk people. But my father told me I was his heir. It is in his will. He gave me this house and all this land.
You have no right to force me to leave."
Raoul laughed and slapped the pistol and the knife. "These give me the right." He waved a hand at the men standing in a line along the fence.
"And them."
Frank Hopkins cleared his throat and spoke. "Raoul, maybe there"s no law around right here and now to make you honor Pierre"s will, but there are courts in Illinois, there"s a legislature, there"s a governor."
Raoul made a sound halfway between a laugh and a grunt. "Take your half-breed friend to the governor. John Reynolds wants the Indians out of Illinois as bad as anybody does. He was there with the militia on Rock River last June. h.e.l.l, go to the President. I"d like to see what an old Indian killer like Andy Jackson would say to you."
All too true, Auguste thought sadly. He had learned in New York of Jackson"s "removal" policy, aiming to drive all the red people to the west side of the Mississippi. The work of the white chiefs was to take land from Indians, not help them keep it.
Pere Isaac said, "To rob the orphan is a sin that cries out to Heaven for vengeance. If you came to me in confession I could not give you absolution."
"My conscience is clear," Raoul said. "Victoire is my rightful heritage.
Do you know that this Indian boy you feel so sorry for isn"t even a Christian? I am, Father. A Catholic."
"A very bad one," said Pere Isaac. "I have known Auguste since he was a small boy. He behaves more like a Christian than you do."
A woman"s voice, Nancy Hale"s, rang out over the field. "Raoul de Marion, if you won"t listen to your own priest, you"ll still have to face my father. When he hears what you"ve done he"ll preach against you and he"ll stir people to make you do the right thing."
Raoul"s face changed. He looked pained.
"Now, Miss Nancy. It isn"t proper for a lady like you to concern herself with what happens to trash like this. You know well and good that your father may have a low opinion of me, but he has an even lower opinion of Indians. He won"t side with this Indian b.a.s.t.a.r.d."
Suddenly Nicole rushed past Auguste.
"You"re the one who"s trash, Raoul!" she cried, and ran across the intervening s.p.a.ce and swung her hand to slap her brother. Raoul grabbed her arm and pushed her away roughly. Frank rushed to her side to hold her, his ink-stained fingers digging into her sleeves.
"I wouldn"t want to fight with you, Nicole," said Raoul with a cruel grin. "I believe you"ve got the weight advantage on me."
"You"re a murderer and a thief, Raoul," she shot back. "And the day will come when people will have enough of you and drive you out of this county."
Waves of heat and cold ran through Auguste"s body, and when he clenched his fists he felt the sweat on his palms. He had to speak out. He owed it to his father to fight, somehow, for this land. But how could he drive away some twenty armed men?
A sudden thought came to him. "Raoul, I challenge you to fight me for the land. With pistols or knives or barehanded. Any way you want it."
Raoul grinned, white teeth appearing suddenly under the black mustache.
"You"ve gotten big in the last six years, but I"m a better shot than you are, and I"d slice you to bits with my knife. In a barehanded fight I"d bite your ears off and ram "em down your throat. We don"t need a fight to prove what anybody can plainly see."
"If you won"t fight me you"re a coward as well as a thief."
Raoul"s eyes narrowed, and his shoulders hunched forward, as if he was about to attack.
"Dueling is also a grave sin," said Pere Isaac. "And it is against the law of this state. I forbid you to fight."
Raoul laughed and lifted his empty hands. "Too bad, mongrel. The father won"t let us fight."
Auguste turned to Pere Isaac. "How can you take from me the only way I have of fighting for this land?"
"If G.o.d wants you to have it, He will see that you get it without doing wrong," said Pere Isaac calmly.
The face of Black Hawk appeared in Auguste"s mind, and suddenly he understood the wrath that had always seemed to smoulder just below the war chief"s skin. This must be how Black Hawk felt when the pale eyes told him he could no longer come to Saukenuk. That was why Black Hawk had been leading his people back to Saukenuk year after year. He would not give up.
And neither would Auguste.
_I must fight. I promised my father I would fight for this land. I smoked the calumet with him._
He remembered Pierre"s words: _Now you have a chance to own land, to be rich and to have power. You can learn how to use your wealth to protect your people._
And he was losing that chance. As he saw these rich acres being torn away from him, more and more he felt himself wanting them.
But how to fight for the land? To charge Raoul"s pistol and the rifles of his men would simply mean death. Surely that was not what Pierre wanted for him.
An unfamiliar voice said, "Is this really how you settle land disputes in Smith County?"
Auguste turned to see David Cooper, a lean, hard-eyed man he had met several weeks earlier when Cooper had visited Pierre to pay his respects.
Raoul said, "Don"t you like the way we do things here, Cooper?"
Cooper"s cold expression did not change. "Just requesting information, Mr. de Marion. That"s all."
Cooper had brought his family to Victor from some place in Indiana three years ago, buying a choice piece of bottomland from Pierre. Auguste had learned that he was a veteran of the War of 1812.
Justus Bennett, the county land commissioner, who Auguste knew to be one of Raoul"s creatures, said, "Mr. Cooper, I"ve been reading law most of my adult life, and I can a.s.sure you Mr. Raoul de Marion has as sound a case under common law and English precedent as I"ve ever seen."
Auguste doubted that anyone here knew what that meant, impressive as it might sound.
_The whites know how to twist any law to their advantage._
Cooper said nothing further.