Shaman, by Robert Shea

Note: This work is released under a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike 3.0 license:

Acknowledgments

I'm most grateful for the help given me by Paul Brickman, Julie Garriott, David Hickey, the Illinois Historical Society, Jim and Paula Pettorini, George Weinard, Timothy J Wheeler, and the Wisconsin Historical Society And a special word of thanks to my bonnie wife, Yvonne Shea, who, having a sharp eye for a fine old book, brought Thomas Ford's History of Illinois into our home

"Rock River was beautiful country I loved my towns, my cornfields and the home of my people I fought for them"

—Black Hawk

BOOK 1
1825

Moon of Ice
January

1
The Lodge of the Turtle

The black bearskin, softened by countless wearings, clasped Gray Cloud's arms and shoulders, protecting his body from the cold that cut like knives into his cheeks and forehead The upper half of the bear's skull covered his head and weighed heavily on it, as heavily as the awful fear of the vision quest weighed on his spirit

His moccasins whispered over the fallen brown grass that covered the trail He had walked a long way, and his toes were numb in spite of the leaves stuffed into the moccasins

Abruptly the path stopped, and he was facing sky He stood at the edge of the bluff looking eastward over the frozen Great River He gripped the deerhorn handle of his hunting knife

For the feeling of strength it gave him, he slid the knife out of the sheath of hardened leather tied to his waist The steel blade glistened, colorless as the sky above him, in the fading light

The knife my father left for me, he thought Where are you tonight, my father?

The clouds seemed close enough to touch They rippled like snowdrifts painted with light and shadow Upriver the sky was darkened almost to black, and Gray Cloud smelled snow in the air

He saw the silhouette of a hawk, wing-tip feathers spread, circling over the Illinois country across the river, hunting in the last moments before nightfall

Hawk spirit, help me to live through this testing Help me to see a great vision and grow to be a mighty shaman

He sheathed the knife Turning his back on sky and river, he looked westward over the way he had come A prairie of waving tan grass almost as high as his head stretched as far as he could see Killed by the cold, the grass yet stood, held up by the stiffness in its dead stalks Like a fur cloak, the brown covered the hills that rolled away to the west

He could not see his people's winter hunting camp from here; it nestled back among those hills, sheltered in a forest that grew along the Ioway River Looking in its direction, he saw Redbird in his mind Her eyes, black as obsidian arrowheads, shone at him He felt a powerful yearning just to see her, to speak to her and hear her voice, to touch her cheek with his fingertips The thought that he might never see her again, never go back to his people, chilled him more than the winter cold

He knelt and peered over the edge of the bluff, the bearskin cloak bunching around him Gray limestone, wrinkled and pitted like the face of an old man, swept down to dark masses of leafless shrubbery at the river's edge His eyes searched out and then found an especially black shadow in the bluff wall If he had come any later on this day, he might not have been able to find the cave mouth in the dark

Then he might have had to wait till morning Or, trying to climb down to it, he might have missed the way and fallen to his death A cold hollow swelled in his belly It would be so easy to slip

Enough of what might have been It was what would be that frightened him now He might die, not of falling, but of what he found in the cave

Forcing that thought, too, out of his mind, he lowered his body over the edge of the bluff, dug his toes into footholds and carefully climbed sideways and downward In places, the path along the bluff face widened out and was almost as easy to walk on as a forest trail But then the crumbling stone would slant steeply, so that he had to grip hard with his buckskin-shod feet, feeling as if he were clinging to nothing at all

A wide ledge spread before the entrance to the sacred cave He let out a breath of deep relief as his feet stepped firmly on the flat stone

From outside he could see nothing of the cave But when he entered, he felt a sudden warmth, as if he were walking into a well-sealed lodge with a bright fire going He could smell old fires—and something else An animal smell that sent a ripple of cold through his bones But not a fresh smell He thanked Earthmaker for that, because he was sure it was the smell of bear

But Owl Carver had been using this cave for his vision quests for winters beyond counting And he had never spoken of a bear

Gray Cloud stood uncertain in the entryway, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness He saw round, gleaming shapes clustered against the back wall, and a motionless figure about as high as a man's waist, with a sharply curved beak and spreading wings

Again, seeing these things, he felt the coldness of fear Now he saw that the round objects on the floor were skulls, and he knew them for the skulls of ancestors, great men and women of the tribe Green and white stones that had long ago been necklaces glittered around the jaws of the great dead ones And the winged figure standing over them was the Owl spirit, who guided the footsteps of the dead along the Trail of Souls Owl Carver had earned his name by carving this statue of the spirit and setting it here

From a pouch tied to his belt Gray Cloud took a handful of sacred tobacco grains and sprinkled them on the cave floor as an offering

He said, "Give me leave to enter your cave, Fathers and Mothers You know me I am your child"

He hesitated Only through his mother, Sun Woman, was he the child of these ancestors who guarded the sacred cave His father was a pale eyes, and the pale eyes had no ancestors Would the ancestors reject him?

There was no sign or sound from the skulls on the floor, but now he could see farther into the shadows, and he saw that the cave went on around a bend, and that bend was guarded by another sacred figure He peered at the shadowy figure for a moment and decided that it was a bear, but a bear such as he had never seen before From head to foot this bear was white Owl Carver had said nothing about this statue

It was good for him to be here, he tried to tell himself He had come here to learn the shaman's secrets This was the moment he had dreamed of ever since the first time he had seen Owl Carver, with his long white hair and his necklace of small shells of the lake-dwelling megis and his owl-crested cedar stick, step into the firelight That long-ago night Owl Carver had spoken, not with the voice of a man, but with the voice of a spirit, an eerily high-pitched singsong that frightened and fascinated Gray Cloud

The shaman of the tribe was greater than the bravest brave, greater than any chief He had the power to heal the sick and to foretell the future Gray Cloud wanted to stand high among the Sauk and to go where the shaman went, into the spirit world He wanted to penetrate the deepest mysteries and know the answer to every question

After he began teaching Gray Cloud, Owl Carver had tried to discourage him—as a way of testing him, Gray Cloud was sure

Owl Carver had said, Many times the people do not want to listen to the shaman The truer his words, the less they hear him

The warning had disturbed Gray Cloud But he never saw the people refuse to listen to Owl Carver And he did not lose his determination to become a shaman himself

No one could gain such a great reward without risk A warrior must kill an enemy at great peril to himself to gain the right to wear the eagle feather that marked him as a brave A hunter had to kill an animal that could kill him before the tribe would consider him a man

How, then, could one speak to these spirits of the tribe unless he, too, had faced death?

But what kind of a death? Would he freeze and starve here in this cave, his dead body remaining until Owl Carver came and found it? Or would an evil spirit come and kill him?

Whatever might come, he could only sit and wait for it in the way that Owl Carver had taught him

He turned his back on the unknown depths of the cave and seated himself at its entrance, pulling the bearskin cloak around him for warmth He dipped his fingers into a pouch at his belt and took out the bits of dried mushroom Owl Carver had given him from a medicine bag decorated with a beadwork owl The sacred mushrooms< grew somewhere far to the south and were traded up the Great River One by one he put them into his mouth and slowly chewed them

You do not need to swallow, Owl Carver had said Hold them in your mouth until they slide down your throat without your knowing how it happened

His mouth grew dry as the mushrooms turned to paste And it was as Owl Carver had said; they were gone without his knowing when they disappeared into his body

His stomach heaved once and he thought with terror that he might fail this first small test But he held his breath and slowly the sick feeling died away

The last light faded from the sky, and the far horizon across the river vanished Blackness fell upon him like a blanket, thick, impenetrable It pressed against his face, suffocating him

The notches in Owl Carver's talking stick, which the shaman had taught Gray Cloud to count, said that tonight the full moon would rise It would make no difference Gray Cloud would not see the moon in this sky filled with clouds

A small spot of cold struck his face, then another and another His nose and cheeks felt wet

He must overcome his fear He must enter the other world There, Owl Carver had promised him, he would be safe Without his spirit in his body, he could not be hurt by the cold But if fear kept him tied to this world, the cold would kill him

Something heavy shuffling around that bend He felt his heart beating hard and fast in his chest

There was something in the cave He had smelled it when he first entered All the magic in the world could not save him now

He heard breath being drawn through huge nostrils Long, slow breaths of a creature whose chest took a long time to fill with air He heard a grunting, low and determined

The grunting changed to a rumbling growl that made the floor of the cave tremble beneath him

Gray Cloud's breath came in gasps He wanted to leap up and run, but Owl Carver had said it was forbidden to move once he seated himself in the cave Only his spirit was permitted to move

Perhaps if he did everything exactly as Owl Carver had told him, he would be safe But Owl Carver had not told him to expect such a thing as this

The scratching of those giant claws was right behind him now He could not breathe at all There was a bright light all around him, and yet he could not see anything

He did not willingly turn his head, but his head turned He did not mean to lift his gaze, but his eyes looked up

He saw something like a vast white tree trunk beside his head It was covered with white fur Claws gleamed on his shoulder

Above him, golden eyes blazing, black jaws open and white teeth glistening like spearpoints, towered a Bear

Gray Cloud was in the presence of a spirit so mighty that his whole body seemed to dissolve in dread He wanted to shrink into himself, bury his face in his arms But he had no power over his limbs

The Bear's paw on his shoulder lifted him, raising him to his feet Together they walked out of the cave

The sky was full of stars that swept down to form a bridge ending at his feet The starlight cast a faint glow over the ice on the river, and he could see the horizon and the opposite shore Through the dusting of tiny sparkling lights, he saw the ledge outside the mouth of the sacred cave Two steps forward and he would fall over the edge and be killed

The White Bear, on all fours beside him now, seemed to be waiting for him Gray Cloud knew, somehow, what was expected of him He must put his feet on the bridge of stars and walk out over empty air He could not do it Terror clawed at his stomach as he thought of standing high above the river with nothing to support him

This, too, was a test The bridge would be safe only if Gray< Cloud trusted it From now on everything that happened to him would be a test And if he did not master each one in turn, he would never be a shaman

And what would he be, then, if he lived? Only a half-breed boy, the son of a woman with no husband, the child of a missing father The boy they called Gray Cloud because he was neither one color nor the other, neither white nor red

This trail was the only way for him He must walk on this bridge, and if he fell and died, it would not matter

He took the first step For a terrifying moment his moccasin seemed to sink into the little sparks of light rather than rest upon them But it was as if the bridge were made of some springy substance, and the sole of his foot did not fall through it He took another step Now he had both feet on the bridge His heart was thundering, the blood roaring through his ears

One more step forward His leg shook so hard he could barely put his foot down His knees quivered His body screamed at him to go back

Another step, and this would be the hardest Now he could see the abyss below him He was out over it He looked down, his whole body quaking He breathed in quick bursts, and saw little clouds in front of his face in the starlight

Another step, and another For balance, his trembling hands went out from his sides He looked down The river was solid ice, and the stars reflected on its smooth black surface If he fell he would hit that ice so hard every one of his bones would break

He teetered dizzily He looked to the left and the right and saw that the edges of the bridge were just on either side of him He could topple over and nothing would stop him Where was the White Bear?

Fear would make him fall Even if this bridge of lights still held his weight, it was so narrow that he must surely lose his balance and die

But if it holds me, I must be meant to live And if I am meant to live, I will not be allowed to fall

It was only his fear that was making the bridge feel so precarious He knew that the more he believed, the safer it would be for him

Never turn your back on fear, he remembered Owl Carver saying< Never try to drive it away Fear is your friend It warns you of danger

But what about when I must face the danger and not be warned from it? he asked

As long as you listen to its warning, fear will not stop you from doing what you have to do But if you try to pretend you do not hear it, fear will trip you and bind you with rawhide cords

Gray Cloud, still afraid, stepped forward more boldly Whatever spirits were making this happen to him, surely they were not showing him these wonders only then to destroy him

He was out over the middle of the river, and he heard a deep muttering behind him

He turned, and it was the White Bear, as big as an old bull buffalo, moving with him on its huge, clawed feet It came up beside him, and he reached up to touch its shoulder He knew now that it was a great spirit, and that it was his friend He dug his fingers into the thick fur and felt the warmth and the enormous, powerful muscle underneath

Joy flooded through him Where he had been nearly overcome with fear, strength and excitement had entered He ran up the rising curve of the bridge He felt an impulse to dance, and he broke into the half trot, half shuffle of the men when they welcomed the harvest of good things to eat that the women had planted around Saukenuk village He flapped his arms like the wild goose

The bridge, he saw now, did not cross the river, but followed it He looked up The trail of stars ended at the one star in the sky that, as Owl Carver had pointed out to him, remained fixed when all the other stars danced around it And therefore it was called the Council Fire Star

The little lights twinkled all around him, like flocks of bright birds, and his heart was full of happiness It was all so beautiful, he wanted to sing

And he did sing, the only song he knew that seemed right for this moment, the Song of Creation

"Earthmaker, you fill the world with life
You put life in earth and sky and water
I do not know what you are, Earthmaker,
But you are in me and everything that lives
< Always you have dwelt in life,
Always you will dwell so"

He sang and danced and the White Bear rose up on its hind legs and strode heavily along beside him

The light from the Council Fire Star grew brighter and seemed to dispel the blackness of the sky around it The star grew until it was a sphere of cold fire that filled the sky

He heard a roaring sound and saw that from the bottom of the shining globe water was pouring The water gave off a light of its own His eye followed its plunge He was far, far above the earth now The Great River was a shiny black ribbon, barely visible, winding over the earth Straight as a spear the water from the Council Fire Star was falling down to the place where the Great River began its winding course

He exulted Already he had learned a secret no other Sauk knew, unless it be Owl Carver himself—the true source of the Great River

He saw a square, dark opening in the glowing surface of the star The path led to it Still walking on its hind legs, the White Bear pressed inexorably on toward that doorway, and Gray Cloud walked beside it

The colors of the rainbow shimmered in the light from the star, and it pulsed faintly like a beating heart When he thought of what a mighty spirit must dwell in this magnificent lodge—perhaps Earthmaker himself—Gray Cloud's heart was once again full of fear

He trembled and his steps slowed He could not come face to face with such a being It would be like staring into the sun His eyes would be burned out of his head He felt himself weakening

The star-studded surface under his feet shook a little He took a step and it quivered under his footfall The White Bear was ahead of him now, leaving him out here alone among the stars, high above the earth on a bridge that was beginning to fall apart

He started to run forward after the Bear, his only protector, and his feet were sinking into the bridge The Bear and the doorway and the Council Fire Star itself seemed farther and farther away

It was right that Gray Cloud should be afraid, meeting a spirit so much more powerful than himself And now he must trust that the spirit would not hurt him

With that thought, he felt the bridge growing more solid under his hands He pushed himself back to his feet

He was standing before the doorway All above him and to the sides stretched the curving, shimmering, many-colored surface of the Council Fire Star

He did not see the White Bear It must have gone into the star He took a deep breath, and taking his fear with him, he plunged through the doorway

His eyes grew used to the light and he saw that he stood at the edge of a pool full of fish swimming in circles

They were not fish, he knew, but fish spirits The spirits of trout and salmon and bass and walleye and sunfish and pike, all the fish of lakes and streams that fed his people

The Turtle was frightfully big He was on the other side of the rushing pool, but still he loomed over Gray Cloud, his head high in the air His front feet rested on a blue-white block of ice Behind him rose a mountain of ice crystals The wrinkles around his eyes and mouth told Gray Cloud he was immeasurably old

"Gray Cloud," the Turtle said "You are welcome here" His voice was deep as thunder

He looked up again and saw kindness in the enormous, heavy-lidded yellow eyes The exposed belly of the Turtle was the pale green of spring leaves On his bone-encased chest a bright drop of water formed, like a dewdrop or a teardrop, but big as a man's head After a moment it fell and splashed into the pool Gray Cloud looked into the bottom of the pool and saw the blackness of a deep pit in its center He realized that it must be from this pool that the stream of water poured down into the Great River And the drops< of water falling from the Turtle fed the pool The true source of the Great River was the Turtle spirit's heart

Owl Carver had told him of the Turtle After Earthmaker he was the oldest and most powerful spirit He had helped to create the world and to keep it alive

Scarcely able to believe that he was actually looking upon the Turtle, Gray Cloud lifted his gaze and saw that all manner of beasts and birds occupied the ledges on the ice-crystal mountain All creation was here Trees—maple, ash, elm, oak, hickory, birch, pine and spruce—clustered on the mountainside, roots somehow drawing nourishment from the ice

Instead of answering him, the huge reptilian head swung to one side He followed the gaze of the yellow eye

A man was standing near the Turtle's head on one of the ledges He was tall and thin His eyes were round and blue, his face white A pale eyes! What would a pale eyes be doing here in the lodge of the Turtle? The man had long black hair streaked with gray, tied at the back of his head His thin figure was dressed in a blue coat, pinched at the waist by a black leather belt with a sword and a pistol hanging from it His white trousers were tucked into shiny black boots that came up to his calves Seeing the sword, Gray Cloud thought this man must be one of the long knives, the dreaded pale eyes warriors

The man was looking at Gray Cloud His face was narrow, with deep lines All the pale eyes Gray Cloud had seen had hairy faces—thick mustaches growing under their noses, and sometimes beards that spread out over their chests—but this man's face was clean His nose was large and hooked like a hawk's beak Gray Cloud saw that the man was weeping Tears were running down his creased cheeks as he stared at Gray Cloud The look in those blue eyes, Gray Cloud realized, was not sadness, but love

Returning the man's gaze, Gray Cloud felt a warmth in his own chest like the heat suddenly rising from a fire that has taken hold

"I have brought you to hear a warning," said the Turtle, his voice shaking Gray Cloud's very bones "You must carry my words back to my children, the Sauk and Fox" As the Turtle spoke, another huge drop splashed into the pool, to add itself to the Great River

Gray Cloud quailed, thinking that he did not want to bring that back to his people But perhaps there was some good word he could tell them

At this, Gray Cloud turned to stare at the pale eyes man, who looked sad now, even sombre Who was this man, and why was he here?

"The pale eyes and my children cannot live on the same land," said the Turtle "Because they do not live in the same way Most pale eyes do not wish harm to my children, but they do harm by coming into the land where my children dwell"

Gray Cloud at once grasped what the Turtle spoke of Generations of Sauk and their allies, the Fox, had lived in towns at the joining of the Rock River and the Great River, where in summer they raised corn, beans, squash and pumpkins Each fall they would leave their towns and fields for winter hunting camps in the West But the pale eyes warriors, the long knives, had been telling the Sauk and Fox that they must give up all their land on the east side of the Great River, even their principal town, Saukenuk, and move forever west, into the Ioway country And the war chief Black Hawk had defied the long knives, leading his people each spring back across the river to farm the land around Saukenuk

Gray Cloud knew that even the kindliest pale eyes were not to be trusted Owl Carver was suspicious of the black-robed medicine man, Père Isaac, who talked about the spirit called Jesus and who spent many afternoons with Gray Cloud, teaching him the words and signs of the American pale eyes

The Turtle's voice broke in upon these memories "Tell my children that a great clash is to come between them and the long knives The people will suffer, and many of them will die"

Gray Cloud gasped as the horror of that sank in He looked again at the pale eyes, and now where there had been love he saw lines of sorrow carved deep into the thin face

"The people must walk their path with courage," said the Turtle "Black Hawk will lead them And he and his braves will show the greatest courage, such courage that the name of Black Hawk will never be forgotten in the land where he was born"

"And you will find your own path For some of the people the path you find will be good But many others will journey in sorrow into the setting sun And there they will disappear forever"

Bewildered, Gray Cloud looked from the Turtle to the pale eyes near him and back to the Turtle again These things the Turtle had said were strange, like the words Owl Carver would chant before the council fire Must he bring his people a message of suffering and sorrow? Would they listen?

He wanted to ask more questions but he felt a gentle pressure from the great body of the Bear beside him, and he knew that his visit to the lodge of the Turtle was ended

2
The Spirit Bear

Redbird stood at the edge of the hunting camp, beside the grove of trees where the band's horses were sheltering from the falling snow Her tears mingled with the snowflakes melting on her face Wherever she looked, a white curtain hid the land

Would Gray Cloud die? The thought made her heart feel as if a giant's fist was squeezing it Yesterday, at midday, her father had sent Gray Cloud on his vision quest, and in the most dangerous time of the year, the Moon of Ice, when the spirits harvested the living, leaving only the strongest to survive through to the spring And just as night fell, the snow had begun Would the spirits take Gray Cloud?

Tears burned her eyes and she felt dizzy She had not slept all last night, and she had waited and watched through the day

As she stood looking eastward, where Gray Cloud had gone on his spirit journey, it came to her that he might already be dead The wind must have been blowing snow into the sacred cave all night and all day Gray Cloud, in a trance, might already have frozen to death She might be weeping for a dead man

She sobbed aloud and put her hands, in squirrelskin mittens, to her face The snow on the mittens felt barely colder than her cheeks

A flash of light, brighter than the sun, blinded her A tremendous roar of thunder almost knocked her to the snow-covered ground Another bright flash made her cover her eyes in dismay, and in a moment there was another long, rolling, earth-shaking rumble

People stood at the doorways of their dome-shaped wickiups,< murmuring to one another Thunder with a snowstorm This was the heaviest snowstorm of the year so far, and a snowstorm with thunder and lightning foretold some great event Much snow lay on the rounded roofs of the wickiups, and some women took whisks of bundled twigs to brush it away so that it would not break down the framework of poles or melt through the roofs of elm bark and cattail mats and wet the people inside and their possessions The snow was dry and powdery because the air was so cold, and it brushed away easily

The snow was already halfway up Redbird's laced deerskin boots She felt the bitter cold numbing her feet and legs What must it be like for Gray Cloud?

She saw him as vividly as if he were standing before her How very tall he was, almost as tall as her brother, Iron Knife But Gray Cloud's frame was slender, not broad and powerful like Iron Knife's

She saw Gray Cloud's tender mouth curving in a tentative smile, his sharp nose giving strength to his face, his large eyes glowing His skin so much lighter than any other man's in the British Band of the Sauk and Fox

And—she asked herself—was it not partly because of the mystery of Gray Cloud's father that she found herself drawn to him? Pale eyes fascinated her, the few she had met, Jean de Vilbiss the trader, the black-robed medicine man called Père Isaac

Every summer, when Père Isaac visited Saukenuk village, he took Gray Cloud aside, teaching him strange words, showing him how to understand the meaning of marks on paper and how to make such marks How she envied Gray Cloud, and wished that Père Isaac would teach her those things, too

Redbird wondered why pale eyes were so different and why they had so much power No Sauk craftsman could make anything like the steel swords that pale eyes warriors carried, whence they were called long knives The steel tomahawks that the pale eyes traded for furs could shatter a stone-headed Sauk tomahawk into fragments A pale eyes fire weapon, of course, was something every warrior of the Sauk and Fox tribes yearned for

But what interested Redbird most were the steel sewing needles and iron cooking pots and calico dresses and wool blankets She wondered why Earthmaker had given the knowledge of how to make< such things to the pale eyes, but not to the Sauk and Fox Her people wore the skins of animals, scraped and pushed and pulled and tanned with the animals' brains and women's urine until they were soft and pliant and could be worn comfortably next to the skin But the clothing of the pale eyes was more comfortable, and easier to keep clean And more colorful Sauk and Fox shirts and leggings and skirts, unless painted or decorated with dyed quills, were usually the brown or tan of animal skins The best deerskin garments were worked till they were white The dresses and shawls and blankets the pale eyes traders offered were of many colors—blue and yellow, red and green, with flowers and other pictures and designs on them Redbird often spent long moments staring at the good calico dress her father, Owl Carver, had gotten for her from the pale eyes traders, just delighting in the tiny red roses printed on its pale blue background

For a moment, lost in thought about the pale eyes, she had forgotten Gray Cloud's danger and her own pain Now it came back to her like a war club crushing her chest

Soon it would be night again Gray Cloud had been in the cave a whole night and a whole day, while the snow fell And the snow was falling still If someone did not rescue him, he would surely die

She would go to her father, Owl Carver, and demand that Gray Cloud be brought back from the sacred cave

She turned and pushed her feet through the fresh snow, hurrying past the round-roofed, snow-covered wickiups of the British Band's winter camp in Ioway country A dog burst out of Wolf Paw's doorway and floundered through the snow, its short pointed ears flattened, barking at her Wolf Paw's dogs were a nuisance, barking and snapping at anyone who passed near his dwelling

The dog stopped barking, and she heard footsteps squeaking in the snow She stopped and turned Wolf Paw himself was standing before his wickiup beside the tall pole from whose top hung six Sioux scalps he had taken last winter

Wolf Paw glowered at her, arms folded under a bright red blanket Three short black stripes near one edge were the pale eyes trader's guarantee that the blanket was of highest quality Despite the snow, Wolf Paw's head was uncovered, all shaved except for the stiff-standing crest of red-dyed deer hair in the middle Three black and white eagle feathers were tied into it

Redbird did not like Wolf Paw He never let people forget that he was the son of the great war chief Black Hawk, whose wickiup lay only a short distance from his own He never smiled, and she knew very well what he was thinking when he looked at her

She turned without a greeting and walked on, kicking the snow as she went But the sight of Wolf Paw had reminded her that though Owl Carver was her father, she still had only a woman's influence The spirit journey of Gray Cloud was a matter for men

Owl Carver loved her and was good to her, but if she tried to interfere in his holy calling, he would be furious He would never agree to bring Gray Cloud down from the cave before he came down on his own Such a thing was against the way of the shaman

She was still wondering what she dared say when she came to her family's wickiup and found Owl Carver standing beside it, hands clasped behind his back, staring eastward toward the Great River

As she shuffled through the snow toward him, he turned and held out his hands When she reached him, he put his hands on her shoulders She peered into his face, hard to see now that night had fallen, and tried to read it

Owl Carver's face was flat His long white hair was bound at his forehead with a beaded band and fell from there to his shoulders, spreading like a white shawl His necklace of little round, striped shells of the water creatures called megis rattled in the wind

She trembled inwardly in his presence The shaman of the tribe could both heal and kill

"Did you not see the lightning, my daughter, and hear the thunder? Do you think that merely betokens a young man freezing to death? Hear me—once in a thousand years a man comes among us who is capable of being a Great Shaman Of being to other shamans, like myself, what Earthmaker is to the lesser spirits of beasts and birds But to be known, and to discover the greatness of his powers, such a man must be as greatly tested I saw in Gray Cloud a man beyond the ordinary"

Owl Carver's willingness to talk made Redbird feel bolder "Surely Gray Cloud has been in the sacred cave long enough, my father Will you not go now and bring him down?"

He pushed her away, staring at her "Earthmaker decides what is enough A man must suffer to be worthy of the power his spirit< guide bestows on him When I first began to walk the shaman's path, I wandered far away into the great desert of the West and nearly died of hunger and thirst I did not suffer as much as Gray Cloud is suffering But that is because he can be a much greater shaman than I, if he lives If he does not live, he is like a foal born lame in the springtime The wolves must get him It is Earthmaker's way"

Frightened though she was, Redbird forced herself to speak up "There is suffering that even the strongest cannot bear"

Owl Carver took a step toward her, his eyes round with anger "Remember what the law of the Sauk and Fox decrees for anyone who disturbs a man on a spirit journey, even to help him They take you to the Great River In the summer they would throw you in with rocks tied to you In this season they chop a hole in the ice and they push you in The current flows swiftly under the ice It carries you away from the opening, and you drown there in the cold and dark"

Redbird shrank back Owl Carver had felt her pain when she first came to him, but now he was angry She sensed that behind that anger there lurked fear Fear that she might risk her life for Gray Cloud

Afraid to say any more, Redbird hurried past him and lifted the heavy buffalo skin that covered the doorway of the family's wickiup She looked over her shoulder once and saw that her father was once again looking toward the river where Gray Cloud had gone Owl Carver held his hands behind his back, knotting them together

Entering the wickiup she saw, silhouetted against the light of the low fire in the center, a figure rising up big as a buffalo, her half brother, Iron Knife Redbird took his hands in greeting

Iron Knife was always kind to her She was grateful for his words, but she knew they were no more than a well-meant wish Though Iron Knife was the son of Owl Carver by his first wife, he had not a trace of the shaman's ability to foretell events Iron Knife< could see only with his eyes, hear only with his ears His mother had died giving birth to him, and there were those who said the spirits had chosen to give him no gifts because he had killed his mother Redbird had even heard that while in mourning Owl Carver had predicted that Iron Knife would one day be killed by a man whose mother had also died giving birth to him No one dared speak of these things in Iron Knife's presence

Redbird knew she had more of the shaman in her than Iron Knife She knew, as her father did, that right now Gray Cloud was in terrible danger

"Where have you been?" Wind Bends Grass called out from the shadows She and Redbird's sisters were already bedded down for the night on buffalo-robe pallets along the wall of the wickiup Wind Bends Grass and her two little girls, Wild Grape and Robin's Nest, slept together for greater warmth

"I was down in the woods, seeing to our horses," Redbird lied She had been near the horses, but only to watch for Gray Cloud

"I needed you here," Wind Bends Grass said crossly "I was stringing beads for a new sash for your father, and your sisters are too small to help me"

"The snow was heavy on the horses' backs," Redbird said "They needed someone to brush them off"

"Nonsense," said Wind Bends Grass, sitting up "You were waiting and worrying for that pale eyes boy And meanwhile Wolf Paw came again to speak to your father today How can you refuse the son of the mighty Black Hawk and think of marrying that boy who has no father? His mother lay with a pale eyes and got Gray Cloud The pale eyes lived with her only five summers and then ran away He would have run away sooner, but our people held him prisoner because of the war"

Redbird heard muffled giggles from the bedding beside her mother Her little sisters thought the story of Gray Cloud's parentage funny Wind Bends Grass struck with her hand at the two shaking bundles

"He is a man," said Wind Bends Grass "A brave He can make two wives, three wives, four wives happy"

Rage at her mother for belittling Gray Cloud when he might be dying boiled up inside her and almost choked her She bit her lip and held back the angry words She hurt too much to want to quarrel

She took off her fur cap, wet boots and mittens and laid them near the fire Keeping on her buffalo-hide cloak, her doeskin dress and leggings, she lay down on her own pallet, padded with blankets and prairie grass Curling up her legs, she wrapped the heavy cloak around herself

Redbird knew that her fear for Gray Cloud, deepening as the night deepened, would keep her awake She decided that when they were all asleep, she would go back to the wickiup of Sun Woman and watch with her

She lay staring at the blackened ceiling that arched over her head Partly obscured by drifting smoke, the curved poles cast deep shadows in the flickering light Iron Knife had laid fresh branches on the fire Smoke stung her eyes

Sometimes she thought she saw spirit messages above her in the patterns of the twigs interwoven with the larger poles, and in the cracks in the sheets of bark that lined the inside of the wickiup But tonight her mind was too absorbed in Gray Cloud's fate to try to read the patterns

Over the breathing of the others she could hear the voice of the wind humming across the roof From time to time it would rise to a howl, and the framework of the wickiup would creak and crackle under the strain Even though there was a fire and the wickiup was tightly sealed, Redbird felt the cold seeping up from the earth Its icy fingers touched her body through the buffalo robe Her dread for Gray Cloud turned to heart-pounding panic

After the snow stopped falling, the cold of this night would be the cold that killed without mercy Such a deepening cold often seemed to follow a great snow After a night like this, women would find rabbit and deer lying in the drifts near the camp The animals trying to get close to warmth had overcome their fear of people, but the cold had leeched the life from their bodies Even the strongest animals might die Only people, to whom Earthmaker had given< the knowledge of how to shelter themselves and make fire, could withstand this death-dealing cold

Her fists clenched on the blanket Her heart filled up with anger Anger against the cold, against her mother, who despised Gray Cloud, against Owl Carver, who had sent him to almost certain death Against the spirits, who had permitted this Out of her anger blazed up a fierce resolve

If everyone else accepted Gray Cloud's death, she did not She would go to him She would go to Sun Woman and gather what medicines she might have, anything that would keep the cold from draining the last bit of warmth and strength out of Gray Cloud

Have you not been told what the tribe decrees for anyone who disturbs a man on a spirit journey, even to help him?

Her anger turned to fear, and she lay there, not wanting to move, knowing that if she threw off the blankets and stood up, she would be taking the first step on a path that might be her death

But then she thought of that terrible wind, sharp as a pale eyes' steel knife, shrieking around Gray Cloud's body If she did something now, he might live; and if she did nothing, he was sure to die

She had loved Gray Cloud for as long as she could remember To be without him—she could not bear to think of it

She had heard tales of women who died fighting beside their men Yes, better to die with Gray Cloud, to walk the Trail of Souls into the West with him, than live a long life grieving for him

She listened to the sounds of the sleepers, Iron Knife's rumbling snore, Wind Bends Grass's heavy breathing that sounded like her name, the rustlings and murmurings of Wild Grape and Robin's Nest

Owl Carver still had not come in, and he might stay out there most of the night She dared not wait any longer She would have to face him

Silently she pushed off her coverings and stood up She quickly put back on her fur cap, boots and mittens

The deepened cold bit into her cheeks like a weasel's teeth While she had lain in the wickiup the snow, which had been falling continually for a night and a day, had stopped at last The clouds overhead were breaking up, and she could see the full moon, round and bright as a pale eyes' silver coin The Moon of Ice It seemed< frozen in place in the black sky Stars glittered, little chips of ice With her first indrawn breath the insides of her nostrils seemed to freeze, the air burned in her nose and throat Her heart quailed for Gray Cloud

The black figure of Owl Carver stood just where she had left him How could he stand the cold this long?

She hated Owl Carver He was the one who had sent Gray Cloud on this spirit journey, and now would do nothing to save him from death

She wanted to believe him, but she could not She had begged him to help Gray Cloud, and he had commanded her to be silent Now she had no more to say to him She turned from Owl Carver

He could have forbidden her to go to Sun Woman But he would not do that There was an understanding between Redbird and her father that she could not put into words She knew that when he looked at her, he was torn between pride that she, the oldest of his children by Wind Bends Grass, possessed the same gifts he did, and sorrow that she was a woman, and could never be a shaman And she knew that of all his children, he loved her best

The snow, blown off the roofs of the wickiups, piled up in long drifts on their western sides The east wind battered Redbird as she plodded through the winter camp toward one low, rounded black structure that rose out of the snow a bit apart from the others, on the north side of the camp

The skinned quarters of small animals hung frozen from a rack outside Sun Woman's doorway Redbird went up to the flap of buffalo hide and called, "It is Redbird May I come in?"

Redbird heard Sun Woman undoing the sinew laces that held the flap down She bent and entered

In the firelight within Sun Woman's wickiup, Redbird saw agony in the tightness of the older woman's wide mouth and the clenching of her strong jaw Gray Cloud's mother was built big, with broad shoulders and hips and large hands, but there was a helplessness now in the way she stood staring into the fire Hanging from the curving bark wall behind her were her craft objects, a medicine bundle of deerskin, the< carved figures of a naked man and a naked woman, clamshells to mold maple sugar, a horse's tail dyed red, a small drum and a flute

Redbird spoke in a rush "If he dies I do not want to live" She feared that if she tried to address Sun Woman properly, her voice would be choked by sobs before she could say what demanded to be said

She should not even suggest to Gray Cloud's mother that he might die And she should not even hint to his mother of her love for Gray Cloud, when neither Sun Woman nor Owl Carver had spoken to each other of plans for their children The band would be appalled at such rudeness

Sun Woman smiled, but Redbird saw that there was much sadness in the smile "You know you can"

Even though the pale eyes killed your husband, you took a pale eyes into your wickiup

This had happened more than fifteen winters ago, and Redbird knew it only as a story that her mother and other women liked to repeat while they did their work together Sun Woman's husband, a brave named Dark Water, had been killed in a quarrel with pale eyes settlers In spite of that, when Gray Cloud's pale eyes father came to live with the Sauk, Sun Woman had come to love him

"I am different, too," said Redbird She wondered if Sun Woman knew how different she was Most women lived from season to season, while Redbird sometimes thought about what the tribe might be doing, where they might be, ten summers from now

Only two kinds of people thought the kind of long thoughts that came often to Redbird—chiefs and shamans She sometimes imagined what it would be like to be a shaman To live in accord with the gift Earthmaker gave her She thought so often about it that it became a longing within her, even though she knew that such a thing could not be

This, Redbird thought, was the most she could hope for—to become a medicine woman, like Gray Cloud's mother A medicine woman had an important place in the band, but she was not listened to, as the shaman was

Sun Woman reached out and laid her bare hand on top of Redbird's,< which was still in a mitten "That is why I would be pleased if you and my son shared a wickiup"

Redbird was startled and, amidst her fear and grief for Gray Cloud, delighted Truly, no mother ever spoke like this before words between parents had been exchanged And to know that Sun Woman would accept her as her son's wife—wondrous!

But Gray Cloud might already be dead "How can we talk and smile so?" she cried "He is up in the sacred cave, and the snow fell all last night and all day today"

Sun Woman shook her head "When I gave the boy to Owl Carver, I gave up the right to say what was to be done with him Like Owl Carver, Gray Cloud belongs to the spirits now"

"But the spirits—" Redbird waved her hands helplessly "They protect as they like and they let death strike as they like"

Redbird felt tears filling her eyes, burning them She wiped her face "I know you do"

Sun Woman brought her face closer to Redbird's, took Redbird's chin in her hand, and said, "I do not show pain because I do not want to make others suffer with me But you know what I feel"

Sun Woman opened her arms, and Redbird pressed her body against the bigger, older woman's She felt Sun Woman's strength flow into her and she knew that she had found more comfort here than she ever would in the arms of her own mother

In the firelit wickiup, Redbird looked around her, thinking that this was where Gray Cloud had been a baby She looked at the bench where she knew he slept every night Where he must sleep again

"Do you have anything to give a person who has been very cold for a long time?" Redbird asked urgently

"Ah" Sun Woman went to the back of the wickiup and came back with a bundle of long, dark red peppers

"These peppers are grown far to the south, where the sacred mushroom and the bright blue stones come from The longer you boil them, the hotter the water will get He is to drink the water, but not swallow the peppers If he is very cold, give him one pepper< to chew on That would bring the dead back to life If you meet him before I do, this is how you can help him"

Sun Woman stared at her "You must not If you interrupt his spirit journey it might kill him"

"He has been in a cave for a night and a day, and this is the second night, colder than any night I can remember My father watches for him, but he does not come He could still be sitting in that cave He has no fire He has no food or water The wind blows in from the river The snow here at the camp is so deep that in some places the drifts are over my head The cave could be full of snow When he is suffering all this, how can you say that I am a danger to him?"

Sun Woman sat cross-legged on the rush mat floor and stared down at her hands folded in her lap After a silence she looked up, and her grave, dark eyes held Redbird's

"You are a good young woman, and you love my son But you must understand that the greater danger to Gray Cloud is not from the cold If you try to wake Gray Cloud's body when his soul is gone from it, his spirit will never come back to his empty body It will set its feet on the Trail of Souls and walk west, to the land of the dead"

Sun Woman's eyes shone, and the shadows and firelight gave her the face of an angry spirit Redbird drew back

"I will not do that," she said "I promise you" But if she saw that Gray Cloud would surely die anyway, of freezing, would it not then be best to take the risk of waking him?

And what if he did wake on his own, but was too frozen to climb out of the cave and walk back to the camp by himself? Then he would need her help

She decided that if she got to the cave and his spirit was still out of his body, she would do everything to help him short of waking him She would build a fire near him She would cover him with warm cloaks, try to warm his body if she could do that without disturbing him

She boiled the peppers in a small tin pot set on stones over Sun Woman's low fire After she had filled a skin with the pepper water, she rolled tinder and a pale eyes fire striker into a blanket She put< her hand on Sun Woman's snowshoes, leaning against a wall of the little wickiup, and Sun Woman nodded silently

Redbird paddled over the snow with her head down, watching the long shadow she cast under the full moon on the sparkling white surface Ahead, the leeward sides of the wickiups were rows of snowdrifts, all the same size When she looked over her shoulder, their windward sides were like black holes in the snow She could see her family's wickiup, but Owl Carver was no longer standing outside watching She lifted her round wickerwork snowshoes high with each step Even though she could walk over the snow, she would be exhausted, she realized, long before she pushed her way to the sacred cave

Dogs barked Fear made the back of her neck tingle, and she stood motionless They might be Wolf Paw's dogs But they did not come after her

She heard no sounds of voices, or of people moving She felt safe enough to keep walking

But a feeling grew on her that someone was following her She stopped again and listened and looked around The wickiups were silent under their glistening blue-white hummocks Being able to sense when she was being watched was one of the gifts she, like her father, possessed But her eyes and ears did not confirm what her inner sense told her She decided fear was confusing her, and she walked on

She left the camp behind On her right was gently rolling, snow-covered prairie On her left were the woods that grew along the Ioway River She saw the shadows of the horses among the trees, heard them snort and stamp their feet Beside the woods ran the long trail leading to the bluff where the sacred cave overlooked the river This close to the trees, she hoped, the snow would not be so deep

A powerful hand seized her arm She felt paralyzed, like a rabbit about to be torn apart by a wildcat She did not try to pull away She could feel that the grip on her arm was too strong

The moon was behind the man who held her, shadowing his face, but she could make out the glitter of piercing eyes, a stern mouth with strong lips under his brown fur turban

No words came to her Frantically, she tried to think of some excuse for walking out so late on a night like this He could have her killed, she thought, and terror made her feel like sinking into the snow

"My father sent me—to look for a certain herb whose power is greatest when the moon is full"

He brought his face so close to hers that his black eyes seemed to fill the world

"What is this?" With his free hand he tore away the blanket roll she had tied to her back and threw it into the snow "And this?" He jerked on the water skin so hard that the strap broke, and he threw that down, too

Trembling from head to foot, she felt herself starting to cry She hated herself for showing such weakness in front of Wolf Paw If she was to die, she wanted to be strong

To her surprise, the sense that she was being watched from a distance came back again There was someone else out here in the frozen darkness besides herself and Wolf Paw

"It is death to interfere with a spirit quest," Wolf Paw growled "The shaman's daughter of all people should know better than to break a holy law"

Her fear made her feel as cold, as breathless, as if she were already plunged into black, freezing water, swept along, an enormous weight of ice between her and the air

She saw the hunting knife at Wolf Paw's belt She could make a grab for it, try to stab him

No, he was one of the tribe's mightiest braves He would be too quick and strong for her And, at least, up to now she had done no< harm to anyone but herself To try to murder the son of the war leader would be a great crime

His grip on her arm still cruelly tight, he gestured back behind him toward the snow-covered camp "Think of your mother's weeping over what I caught you doing Your father, his heart torn in his chest But he, the shaman, would have to say that you must be killed"

Hopelessness crushed her Now she would never be able to help Gray Cloud He was going to die And she was caught by Wolf Paw and would be dishonored before the whole tribe and then killed

"But it is true, Redbird, you have done nothing," Wolf Paw said more softly "I am the only one who knows that you were about to break the law"

"I do not want you to die, Redbird," said the low voice from the figure towering over her

He said, "It makes me angry that you throw your life away for that fatherless pale eyes boy To wed the son of Black Hawk would bring you honor"

She understood now He was going to offer to spare her life, if she would marry him and give up Gray Cloud He did not understand that she would rather be dead twice over than spend her life mourning Gray Cloud and married to Wolf Paw

She was about to tell him so when she heard a rumble, almost like thunder, from the trees nearer the camp With much whinnying and cracking of shrubbery, all the band's horses burst out of the woods and ran, floundering and kicking up clouds of snow, out on the prairie

"Be still," Wolf Paw cautioned in a low voice, "until we see what frightened them" He stood with his head high, listening

She heard a crashing in the forest, branches breaking, snow crunching Something large was coming toward them

She turned Through the trees she saw a bulky, hunched figure It seemed to be a large animal, but it was walking on its hind legs< It came forward slowly, a step at a time Its forelimbs swung at its sides It was a little taller than a man

It looked very much like a bear A new fear, greater than the fear of what Wolf Paw might do, assailed her

A bear in coldest winter, when all of that people withdrew to their dens and slept? Once in a while, she had heard, a very hungry bear would awaken and forage for food and then go back to sleep again Such a bear would kill anything it met She tensed herself to run, though she knew she could never outrun a hungry bear

The shambling tread of the bear, or whatever it was, had brought it closer, and she saw that it was all white, glittering in the moonlight like a snowdrift

She glanced at Wolf Paw and saw his eyes glisten as they widened The look on his shadowed face was one she never thought to see on him—fear

He sucked in a shuddering breath The hand that had held her arm suddenly released her

No wonder Wolf Paw was afraid This was a white bear, a spirit bear Its eyes, reflecting the moonlight, seemed to glow

Wolf Paw uttered a terrified, inarticulate cry She turned to see him racing over the snow Were she not so frightened herself, she might have laughed to see how his knees flew up, first one, then the other, as white clouds sprayed from his snowshoes Strong as he was, he could never outrun a bear Especially not this bear

As for herself, she was surely doomed She thought, May this be a better death than drowning under the ice

3
Claw Marks

The white bear was out of the forest now Redbird had seen bears run, and she knew it could cover the distance that separated them in a few bounds

It did not seem to be looking at her, and she wondered if it saw her It sparkled in the moonlight Its breath came in huge frosty clouds, obscuring its head Did spirit bears breathe?

She looked around again to see where Wolf Paw was He had become a small, dark spot against the white at the edge of the village His snowshoes had carried him far quickly She, too, would have run, if she could run like Wolf Paw

She did not think Wolf Paw a coward His courage was well known Facing a being like this, the bravest man in the world would run

She trembled from head to foot, unable to decide what to do She felt dizzy, as if she might collapse into the snow The bright light that seemed to come from the bear dazzled her

But would a spirit bear attack people in the night and kill them? Devils and cannibal giants would, but she had never heard of a spirit doing any such thing

She was learning to be a medicine woman, and a medicine woman must deal unafraid with the beings of the other world Talk the bad spirits out of a sick person's body and call upon the good spirits to aid in healing

She took a deep breath Whether this be a good spirit or a devil,< she would stand here holding herself proudly Wolf Paw, if he looked back, would see the maiden he had threatened standing in the place he had run from

In spite of her fear, she made herself look at the spirit as it came on It walked so slowly Perhaps, after all, she could run away from it

She saw that its path was taking it past her It—he—did not seem to see her at all But he was close enough now for her to see the face under the bear's skull The large, round eyes, the long, thin features ending in a pointed chin, the bony beak of a nose, the down-curving, tender mouth His face was covered with a mask of frost

How could she have forgotten that when he walked out of the camp yesterday he had worn a black bear's skin draped over his arms and shoulders? Snow and frost had turned the fur white The night and her terror had tricked her into thinking she saw a white bear spirit Wolf Paw, the seasoned warrior, had been tricked and terrified, too

A scream tried to force its way out of her chest, but her windpipe was so tight that all she managed was a gasp

But no—he could not be alive and look like that What she was seeing must be the ghost of Gray Cloud, or his dead body walking The cold and snow had killed him there in the sacred cave, and this shuffling, frozen husk was all that was left of him

If he walked right past her without seeing her, he must be still on his spirit journey She had always heard that the bodies of men on a spirit journey remained motionless, sitting or lying down But she was certain that Gray Cloud was not fully awake

She slowly turned to follow him, and now she was facing into the moonlight and seeing the shadows of the snow-covered wickiups He was walking in that frighteningly slow, measured way toward the village Wolf Paw was nowhere to be seen

The feeling came to her again of other eyes upon her Besides Wolf Paw, besides the strange creature Gray Cloud had become, someone else seemed to be out here in the snow-covered field with her She shuddered

She looked around to see if she could guess where the secret watcher might be hiding Someone might be crouching behind one of the long snowdrifts that rippled across the prairie like waves on a lake Or in the trees by the river

She must not let herself be caught out here She picked up the blanket roll and water skin that Wolf Paw had thrown into the snow and padded on her snowshoes after the lumbering white figure She must hurry and try to get to a place where her presence would be unnoticed, or if noticed, not questioned

Her legs ached She did not have the strength to run Gray Cloud had left a trail of two shallow furrows in the snow where he had pushed his legs through and the snow had fallen in behind him On her snowshoes she pressed on behind him

Even though the snowshoes helped her, her legs ached She wanted to throw down her burdens of blanket roll and water skin, but they were too valuable for her to let them be lost out here Merciless pain shot up from her shins through her knees to her hips Still, the miseries felt by her body could not touch the joy of her spirit Gray Cloud lived

A wall of fur coated with white snow loomed up before her As Gray Cloud lumbered along, she quickly stepped to the side and hurried around him

She turned for a closer look at him His steaming breath obscured his face He stopped He swayed, and the bear's skull fell back from his lolling head She screamed, a sound that rang distantly in her ears

Gray Cloud dropped to his knees, then fell forward on his face, sending up a great puff of powdery snow that glittered in the moonlit air

The silence after his fall was as stunning as thunder Redbird felt tears stream from her eyes—and freeze at once on her cheeks< That he should have lived through two nights of blizzard and cold, that he should come down alive from the sacred cave, only to die within sight of the village under her very eyes, was more than she could stand

He lay face down, half buried She put her hands under his shoulder and pushed to raise his head He was heavy, but her fear and her love for him made her strong enough to move him She lifted his upper body and turned him on his side, and she saw the beloved features, frost-white Hope made her heart beat faster as little clouds of warm air puffed from his nostrils But his breathing was ragged and shallow She had to get him in out of the cold Gasping with the effort, she rolled him over on his back

Sobbing with near-exhaustion, she sat by his head, shoved her hands under his shoulders and tried to stand, pulling him up with her

All at once there was no weight on her arms Someone else was there, lifting Gray Cloud

She looked up, thankful, yet afraid she might see Wolf Paw returned to do them harm

Seeing the broad face of her half brother, a cry of relief burst from her throat

He smiled grimly, grunting as he hauled Gray Cloud to his feet Gray Cloud's eyes were shut, his mouth hanging open

"Lucky for Wolf Paw that Gray Cloud came when he did," Iron Knife said "I was getting an arrow ready for Wolf Paw" He jerked his head at the bow slung over his shoulder

"Even the son of Black Hawk?" She vividly remembered Wolf Paw's threats, but the thought of Iron Knife murdering him horrified her

"Do you think I'd let him drown my sister?" Iron Knife put an arm around Gray Cloud's shoulders, bent down and picked him up under the knees, bearskin cloak and all Blowing a cloud of steam out of his mouth, he straightened, cradling Gray Cloud in his arms Though Gray Cloud was nearly as tall as Iron Knife, he was much lighter

It was Iron Knife, she realized, whose eyes she had felt on her after Wolf Paw ran away

They started off for the camp She heard the voices of men and women raised, calling to one another Wolf Paw must have given the alarm

"How did you know I was out here?" she asked "You were sleeping when I left the wickiup"

"Father woke me," Iron Knife said, striding stolidly along, his calf-high outer moccasins of buffalo hide breaking through the snow "He knew what you were going to do He told me to go after you, to see you came to no harm"

As they plowed steadily onward, Redbird saw figures moving about in the village They must be terribly sleepy, she thought Dawn was still a long way off Still, more and more people were running back and forth among the wickiups They were crowding in this direction, coming to meet Gray Cloud and Iron Knife and Redbird A mass of people, dark against the moonlit snow

In the front rank walked Owl Carver himself The sacred necklace of megis shells swung on his chest In one hand he held his medicine stick, a cedar staff decorated with feathers and beads, topped with the carved head of an owl His long white hair spread out over his shoulders

She could hear a murmuring of voices, and above them, the shaman, her father, singing:

"Let the people welcome him
He has walked the spirit trail
He comes back
From the sky,
From the water,
From under the earth
He comes back from the seven directions
Let the people welcome him"

Owl Carver was dancing as he approached them, a slow, heavy shuffle alternating with sidesteps, his upper body rising and falling His hands, one holding his medicine stick, the other a yellow and red gourd rattle, were lifted high over his head The necklace of small black and white shells bounced on his chest

Iron Knife, carrying Gray Cloud, came to a stop before Owl Carver Redbird, not wanting people to know how she cared for Gray Cloud, drew away from Iron Knife and tried to melt into the crowd

Taking a few more steps, Owl Carver placed himself facing east, with Iron Knife and Gray Cloud on his right He danced in a sunwise circle around them, from east to south to west to north, bobbing his head and singing

"The Great Wise One has sent him
He has walked the spirit trail
He brings wisdom
From the sky,
From the water,
From under the earth
He comes back from the seven directions
The Great Wise One has sent him"

Nine times Owl Carver danced around Gray Cloud and Iron Knife in the circle that represented the sun, the horizon and the cycles of life and the seasons

Then in his normal voice, not breaking step, he said, "Bring him to my medicine wickiup"

He turned abruptly and danced through the crowd that had gathered The people parted to let him through and they stared at Gray Cloud's body in Iron Knife's arms

The people who had followed Owl Carver had stamped down a path through the village No longer needing Sun Woman's snowshoes, Redbird bent and unstrapped them from her feet She was suddenly so exhausted by her efforts and by the fear and sleeplessness of two days that she could hardly stumble along behind Iron Knife She felt that at any moment she might faint

The light of the full moon, shining down from directly overhead and reflecting on the snow, seemed to make the whole village almost as bright as day Sighing, Redbird looked up and saw Wolf Paw staring at her from beside the path

His black eyes pierced her like arrowheads Under his sharp nose his mouth was tight

She nodded her head at him, hoping he would understand that she was saying that they should keep each other's secrets

"Redbird!" A hand seized her arm roughly, and pain shot through up to her shoulder

Redbird felt that if she stopped walking to talk she would never be able to move again She pulled her arm free Her sisters, clinging to either side of her mother, stared up wide-eyed at her as if she herself had returned from a spirit journey

Her mother walked beside her, scolding her in a shrill voice, but her words meant nothing to Redbird She only wanted to see Gray Cloud brought safely to the shaman's wickiup

Someone else took her arm, squeezing it gently, and she looked up into Sun Woman's face Tears streaked the strong cheekbones

"You saved his life," Sun Woman said, so softly only Redbird could hear the words

"I did nothing," Redbird protested Silently, Sun Woman took the snowshoes, the water bag and the blanket roll from her

Owl Carver stopped at the doorway of the medicine wickiup He danced from one foot to the other, shaking his staff

He nodded at Iron Knife, and motioned him to carry Gray Cloud into the dark interior

She turned away from his remoteness and faced her mother's anger Her heart was still full of terror for Gray Cloud, but she knew that the instant she lay down she would fall into an exhausted sleep

"Your father calls the people together," she said in a voice still hard with anger

Redbird's eyelids felt as if they were made of stone She forced herself to sit up, and then with immense effort got to her feet

She was still fully dressed, even in her fur cloak and mittens She had collapsed in the wickiup without removing anything The wickiup was now empty Her mother and her sisters had gone ahead without her

Her heart hammered in her chest Owl Carver might be calling the people to tell them that Gray Cloud was dead

Outside, the air was still deathly cold, but the sun was a bright yellow disk rising above the distant gray line of trees that marked the bluffs overlooking the Great River The light made her blink, and she turned away from it She stumbled in the direction all the other people were going—to the medicine wickiup in the center of the camp circle

She found that the open area before the wickiup was crowded, and she could not get close The spaces between nearby wickiups were also filled with people, all waiting for Owl Carver to speak

She seated herself between two women, both of whom had small children on their laps Redbird knew one of the mothers, Water Flows Fast, a stout woman with a round, cheerful face and shrewd eyes

Water Flows Fast said, "You are the daughter of Owl Carver You should go up and sit close to him" Redbird sliced her hand flat across her body to say no She knew Water Flows Fast to be a keen observer and a gossip, always looking for signs of trouble in other people's families The less Redbird said to her, the better

Redbird looked over her shoulder and saw that now there were many more people packed in behind her Everyone was talking at once, and the hundreds of voices beating upon her ears made her head hurt About five hundred people were here, everyone in this camp, which was one of four that made up the British Band of the Sauk and Fox tribes that would come together in Saukenuk after the winter snow and ice melted

The medicine wickiup was built on a low hill in the center of the camp, and when Owl Carver appeared, everyone who was standing sat down Redbird's eyes devoured Owl Carver's face, trying to read in it whether Gray Cloud was alive or dead

Another man emerged from the medicine wickiup to stand beside Owl Carver His head was bare even on this terribly cold day, and he wore his hair in the manner of a brave, his dark brown scalp shaved except for a long black scalplock that coiled down the side< of his face His eyes were shadowed and sad-looking, and there were heavy blue-black pouches under them His cheekbones jutted out and his mouth was wide, curving down at the corners where it met deep furrows that ran from nose to chin

Redbird's heart beat faster as she saw that to honor this moment he had attached a string of eagle feathers to his scalplock and wore strings of small white beads around the rim of each ear He stood with his arms folded under a buffalo robe, skin side out, painted with a red hand proclaiming that he had killed and scalped his first enemy while still a boy

His sombre gaze fell upon Redbird like a stone striking her from a great height She felt as if the war chief of the British Band knew every one of her secrets She ducked her head and looked down at her mittened hands in her lap

"I have called on Black Hawk, our war chief, to see Gray Cloud, and he has heard great prophecies from Gray Cloud's lips," the shaman cried in a high, chanting voice

Owl Carver blurred in Redbird's sight, and if she had not already been seated, she might have collapsed Relief made her heart swell up in her chest, feeling as if it might burst

Nothing happened for a long moment Then Owl Carver beckoned insistently There was another silence Then Black Hawk's hand emerged from under his buffalo mantle, and he crooked his finger

A tall woman wrapped in a buffalo robe rose from among the seated people People sighed happily and called out a welcome to her

Sun Woman turned to face the crowd To Redbird she seemed calm and unruffled, even though she had hesitated about standing up

"This woman brought her son to me and asked me to train him as a shaman," Owl Carver declared "I did not want to, because he is not a pure Sauk She said to me, only try him for a little time and< see what he can be I tried him for a little time and I saw something in him I saw sleeping powers!"

The people murmured in wonder Water Flows Fast and the woman with her whispered to each other, darting curious glances at Redbird, who carefully kept her face as impassive as Sun Woman's

"I tested him and saw that his dreams could foretell the future, that he could send his spirit walking while his body lay still, that he could talk to the spirits in trees and birds I saw that he had the power to be a shaman and more "

"And so I sent him up to the sacred cave, knowing that he might meet spirits so powerful that to encounter them destroys the souls of men

"And Gray Cloud went into the sacred cave, and he met the great spirits, and he journeyed with them," Owl Carver cried People gasped

"He has met the White Bear He has spoken with the Turtle, father of the Great River He has brought back a message for Black Hawk," said Owl Carver "The Turtle told Gray Cloud that Black Hawk might tell others as he saw fit" The rumble of voices rose at this, and then quieted as Owl Carver raised his medicine stick

"After the Turtle created our Mother the Earth, he mated with her, and all tribes were born in her womb," Owl Carver said "They lived there in a warm darkness, but they had to go forth and find their way out of our Mother Then there came to our ancestors an elder spirit, the White Bear, who led them out the womb of our Mother

"When they were in the light, they found themselves in the midst of a ring of fiery mountains Our people are called Osaukawug, or Sauk, the People of the Place of Fire, because that fiery place is where we first walked in the world There was nothing to eat There was nothing around the people but stones and fire And they were hungry and greatly afraid, and they were angry at the White Bear for leading them out of our Mother to this place

"But the White Bear showed them a way through the fiery mountains and over many fields of snow and ice, until he brought our ancestors to this good land where there is fish and game, where the grasslands are green and the woods are full of berries and fruit And< our friends the Fox, the Yellow Earth People, came to be our allies and to unite with us And the Turtle opened his heart and the Great River flowed forth Our ancestors hunted and fished in the land where the Rock River flows into the Great River On the Rock River they built our village of Saukenuk, where they would dwell in the summer and their women would grow the Three Sisters, corn, beans and squash, in the fields around the village And there at Saukenuk, as our ancestors died, they were buried

"The White Bear told us we should spend our summers in that land east of the Great River In the winter it should be our custom to cross to the west of the Great River and hunt here in the Ioway Country And here by the Great River we Sauk, the People of the Place of Fire, have lived ever since"

Redbird felt warmth on her back through her buffalo robe The sun had risen higher

Owl Carver called out in his high voice of prophecy, "The White Bear has come again He has led Gray Cloud on his spirit journey Now Gray Cloud is a true shaman He still must be trained to use his powers, but his powers no longer sleep And in sign that he is a shaman with another self, he shall have a new name Let him be known to all the people as White Bear!"

Owl Carver crossed his arms before his chest to show that he was finished speaking, and turned to Black Hawk

"So let it be," said Black Hawk in his harsh, grating voice "Earthmaker has willed that the British Band shall be blessed with a mighty new spirit walker Let his name hereafter be White Bear"

If I could make a spirit journey, Redbird thought, I too could stand before the people and advise them

"Now you shall see our new shaman," Owl Carver declared He stepped back and pulled aside the buffalo-fur curtain that covered the door of his wickiup

A tall young man came out, stooping to pass through the doorway and then standing straight before the people Redbird's heart beat faster, and she half rose to her feet

His slender body, despite the cold, was bare to the waist Redbird gasped as she saw what was on his chest

Five long, deep scratches, side by side The blood had dried and< turned black Five long black marks down the middle of his pale chest, running almost from the base of his neck to the bottom of his rib cage

Cries of awe and wonder arose from the people They had all seen such marks, sometimes scratched in the bark of trees, sometimes on the half-eaten bodies of animals found in the forest in summer

And now his name was White Bear She whispered it to herself Her eyes saw nothing but the shining slender form, and her ears heard nothing but the sound of his name

4
Master of Victoire

Raoul threw himself into the lake, the giant Potawatomi chief Black Salmon roaring behind him The water resisted his legs like molasses Black Salmon seized Raoul's neck, cutting off his breath Strangling, he was helpless as the Potawatomi dragged him back to shore

The huge Indian's whip tore into Raoul's back Raoul felt the skin ripping and the blood running He was nothing but a helpless lump of bleeding flesh, paralyzed with pain

Other Potawatomi had torn Helene's clothes off The warriors danced around her on the beach as she cowered, white skin, shining blond hair, trying to cover herself

The Indian bucks were naked, too, and flaunted their erect purple cocks, big as war clubs One of them darted into the circle and bit a piece out of poor Helene's shoulder Bright red blood flowed down her arm

Raoul ran to save his sister He broke away from Black Salmon and fought his way through the Potawatomi warriors around her She lay on her back on the sand, twisting her body from side to side in pain Hideous bite wounds all over her body lay open like red mouths silently screaming One breast was covered with blood

The Indians fell upon Raoul They had their scalping knives out and they threw him down on the ground beside Helene Black Salmon caught up with him and whipped him till every inch of his body was slashed The redskins tore away the last few rags of Raoul's clothing

A circle of grimacing dark faces painted with yellow and black stripes closed in on him They bared sharp teeth like snarling dogs They were going to eat him alive

Raoul's father and Raoul's brother, Pierre, faces marble and calm, appeared in the midst of the Indians They looked down at Raoul's agony Just curious

No sound came out of his mouth but a useless little wheeze He had lost his voice

One of the savages, holding high a long, thin skinning knife, seized Raoul's balls He brought the knife down, slowly

Raoul kept trying to scream at his father and brother Again and again he forced air through his aching throat Nothing came but a silly squeak Then a groan, a little louder

Raoul felt the Indian's blade like cold fire slicing through the sac between his legs At last he let out a full-throated scream

His body cold and wet with sweat, he sat up in darkness He felt arms clutching at him and fought them off

Panting, he said his name in his mind I am Raoul François Philippe Charles de Marion He repeated it over and over again to himself

He was sitting in bed in the dark, someone beside him Not an Indian, and not his long-dead sister Helene He gasped again and again, as if he had run a race

He tried to pull his mind together His heart was still pounding against the wall of his chest, his hands trembling, his skin ice cold That terrible dream! He hadn't had it in a year or more

In the dim light seeping in through cracks in the shuttered window, Raoul saw a woman with long blond hair sitting up beside him, staring at him with pale blue eyes

Clarissa Clarissa Greenglove He looked down at her A warmth began to creep back into his body, rising first in his loins, as he remembered what they had done together the night before Five times! No—six! Never before had he done it that many times in one night

He was still panting in the aftermath of the horror, but the sight of her naked body was helping him get the dream out of his mind

He began to rub her breast with the palm of his hand, feeling the nipple get bigger and harder She closed her eyes and gave a little murmur of pleasure

How she'd enjoyed it last night! She'd sighed and groaned and whimpered and screamed and licked him and bit him and twisted her body from side to side like a soul in perdition Her frenzy had fired him up like never before No wonder he'd been able to mount her so many times And somewhere near the end of it all she'd sobbed into his shoulder for what seemed like an hour He figured that was a tribute to what he had done to her The sheets were still damp with their sweat, and the air in the little bedroom was thick with the musky odors of their secret juices

But the redskins were still stalking in his brain, and he was still a little frightened He didn't want to sit here in the dark

"Hell no," he laughed "What difference would that make after last night? I know you outside and in, Clarissa"

"Well, hurry and get that candle lit and get back in bed" The March air whistled in through chinks in the log walls and shutters, and even though the inn's chimney ran up through this room it didn't seem to help He guessed that downstairs in the taproom someone had let the fire die

Clarissa's pale, rounded shape as she moved through the shadows< made him feel stronger by the moment The women he'd had up to now—many of them right here in this bed—had been older and well-used, and he hadn't enjoyed the look of their bodies that much Clarissa was just the right age, old enough to be filled out, young enough to be slender and firm He guessed she must be sixteen or seventeen Raoul had been bedding women since he was sixteen, for seven years now, and he'd never had a better night than this last one, with Clarissa

As the oil-soaked cotton ball flared up and Clarissa held a candlewick to the flame, the nightmare came back to him, and out of the roiling images of red limbs and painted faces and blood and torn white bodies, he dragged the reason for what he had dreamed When he remembered it, he slumped a little, his delight in waking up next to a pretty young woman wiped away

He heard again the stunning, infuriating words that had tumbled out of Armand Perrault's bushy brown beard

I overheard your brother, Monsieur Pierre, talking to your father this morning He spoke of how he has always felt that he had abandoned his Sauk Indian wife and their son, when he came back here and married Madame Marie-Blanche Now that he is a widower, he says, he wants to "do right by her and the boy"

This thing about having a Sauk woman and a son—Pierre had never said anything about that

Armand had remarked sourly to Raoul, "It seems Monsieur Pierre is a great one for doing wrong by women"

Raoul knew what he meant He'd heard the rumor that after Marie-Blanche had died, Pierre, a little crazy in his grief, had taken Armand's wife to bed a time or two, to comfort himself

Indians living in our home! A squaw in the bed where Pierre slept with good Marie-Blanche!

How could Pierre do such a thing, after what the Indians had done to Helene? After Raoul had spent two years beaten and enslaved by Black Salmon? How could Papa permit it?

Clarissa turned, holding out before her a lighted white candle in a little pewter dish She didn't seem so shy now about letting him see her naked He let his eyes linger over her melon-shaped breasts, narrow waist, the brown puff of hair where her long legs joined her wide hips

He'd often felt a hankering for Clarissa since he'd hired her father, Eli Greenglove, to help him run the trading post But he'd thought it unwise to get mixed up with her Eli was a dangerous man Last night that hadn't seemed to matter

After Armand had brought him the bad news, he'd turned to Kentucky whiskey—Old Kaintuck—and to Clarissa, dancing with her to Registre Bosquet's fiddle in the taproom to take his mind off this sudden insult Pierre had flung at him Late in the evening he'd stumbled upstairs behind Clarissa to his bedroom in the inn, his hands up her skirts, feeling the satiny skin of her legs

A squaw and a redskinned mongrel Raoul wouldn't want Indians on the estate even as servants Now Pierre was talking about these savages living in Victoire as part of the family

He felt a sudden, stinging bite down near his rear end, under the covers Angrily, he slapped at himself Damned fleas and bedbugs Levi Pope's wife made a piss-poor job of laundering the bedding for the inn

Clarissa set the candle down on the table and climbed back into bed She ran her hand over his back

She brought her face close to his, and he decided that, though he liked her arms and legs and hips and breasts, he didn't care for her weak chin, her washed-out blond hair and light blue eyes and the brown stain on one of her front teeth

But he's the kind of man who might forget about me for a while Who might let me be captured by Indians in 1812 and not manage to find me and ransom me till 1814

The scars The scars reminded him every day of Fort Dearborn, August 1812 The memories left scars inside Memories of being ten years old, cowering in an Indian encampment with the other white captives from Fort Dearborn while the warriors with their clubs and tomahawks approached, grinning

It hadn't happened the way he dreamed it The Potawatomi had pulled a man, an army private, to his feet, while he begged for his life, and dragged him over to the campfire In an agony of terror Raoul had pressed against Helene, seated beside him on the ground She put her arm around his shoulders and held him tight

His sister Helene had seen her husband's throat cut and his scalp slashed away that very morning, when the Indians fell upon the retreating soldiers of Fort Dearborn and the civilians fleeing the tiny village called Checagou But somehow Helene kept herself calm and strong after witnessing Henri's terrible death Raoul knew it was for his sake

Raoul had shut his eyes, and heard the clubs thud into the head and body of the soldier at the campfire, heard his screams, heard the silence of death when the screams stopped A man's life had ended, just like that Raoul trembled, hiding his face in Helene's side Around him the other prisoners, men and women, sobbed and prayed

The Indians took another soldier They tied him to a stake and cut away bits of his flesh with the sharpened edges of clam shells They worked at him for hours, until he bled to death

The warriors came back for their next victim, sauntering among the prisoners, eyes aglow, painted faces like masks of monsters, stinking of the whiskey they'd been drinking all night This time he was sure they were coming for him

He had never forgotten her last words to him, spoken serenely as the Potawatomi seized her arms

The Potawatomi squaws, seated around a nearby campfire, chattered< among themselves They laughed whenever one of the women in the woods screamed Raoul could not believe that any of those sounds were coming from his sister's throat

The helpless white prisoners covered their faces and prayed and wept—and the men cursed

He had hated himself for not trying to help Helene, but he was too frightened to move Too frightened even to cry out Brooding about it now, nearly thirteen years later, he told himself once again that if he'd tried to help Helene the Indians would have clubbed him to death He told himself that he had been only ten years old That did not make any difference to the shame he felt when he remembered that night He should have gone to her He should have fought to the death for her He could never forgive himself

Why didn't we all fight and die? Wouldn't it have been better to attack the Indians barehanded and be killed than to let that happen?

But neither could he forgive Papa and Pierre His father and brother had left Raoul in Helene's care at Fort Dearborn, where her husband, Henri Vaillancourt, ran the trading post of Papa's Illinois Fur Company When it became apparent that a second war between England and the United States was about to break out, Papa declared that land prices in Illinois were now as low as they would ever be, and he set off in search of likely land to buy for a family seat Pierre had gone to the Sauk and Fox Indians on the Rock River to talk about trade and land purchases with them Raoul had been happy enough to be left with Helene, who had been a mother to him as far back as he could remember His own mother, Helene had gently explained to him, had gone to Heaven when he was born

When Raoul heard no more screams from the woods, he knew Helene had gone to Heaven, too

The next morning, as the Indians began the march back to their village, dragging their bound captives, Raoul had seen Helene's naked body, with stab wounds in a hundred places, lying face down, half submerged in Lake Michigan's surf He saw a round, red patch on top of her head Later he saw a brave who had tied to his belt a long hank of silver-blond hair, surely Helene's, a circular piece of skin dangling down

The Indians had chosen not to kill Raoul, perhaps because at ten he was too young to be a satisfying victim, but old enough to< work And so Black Salmon had taken him for his slave It made no difference whether he worked well or poorly; Black Salmon let not a day go by without whipping him, and fed him entrails and hominy grits Only after Raoul had endured two years of slavery did his father, Elysée, find him and ransom him from Black Salmon

And when Raoul was older he came to understand the full horror of what the Indians had done to Helene They must have raped her over and over again And he hated himself and Pierre and Elysée all the more for letting it happen

Indians living at Victoire? He had to kill that notion of Pierre's right now He would put on his clothes and saddle Banner and ride up to the château and set his father and brother straight

But would they understand? Pierre, with his oh-so-tender conscience, who had lived with the damned Sauk and Fox for years and slept with one of their dirty squaws? Elysée, buried in his books? Raoul remembered their marble faces, as he had seen them in his dream

"Where did you get them scars?" Clarissa asked, interrupting his thoughts as she ran her fingers lightly over the hard ridges on his back

Raoul told her about Black Salmon "He liked whipping me even better than he liked whiskey And when he got hold of whiskey he liked beating me even better"

"Poor Raoul! And such a little boy" Clarissa's face drew down with sympathy "I'm powerful sorry for you" She pulled him to her

He lowered his head to her breast and drew the nipple into his mouth, pressing it with his teeth They lay back together, and he enjoyed the feel of the soft, feather-filled mattress and pillows billowing up around them

By God, if he didn't feel himself getting big and hard to do it again Proudly he threw back the sheet and let her see what he had for her She smiled up at him, welcoming, her pale blue eyes shining in the candlelight

He could use her to help him forget a little longer about Pierre and his redskin wife and son

She sounded frightened—but only a touch frightened, and Raoul eyed her suspiciously Her eyes were wide, like a child trying to deny mischief after being caught red-handed Could Eli and his daughter have planned this?

Did Eli know that Clarissa was in here? Raoul had been too drunkenly careless to worry about who was watching when he took her upstairs last night

Feeling a quaking in his stomach, Raoul walked over to the door "What, Eli?" He hoped his voice sounded strong He no longer took pleasure and pride in his nakedness

"Who's minding the furs now?" The place was full of bundles of pelts, beaver, badger, fox, raccoon, skunk And valuable trade goods Indian bucks walking in and out all the time, this time of year Raoul had been happy to turn most of the fur trade work over to Eli He couldn't stomach dealing with Indians

At once Raoul forgot his fear of being caught with Clarissa In its place he felt a rage so powerful his body seemed to fill up with boiling oil Indians, more Indians! Worming their way into his family, and now stealing from his mine

"Came looking for lead, did they?" he growled "We'll give them lead Round me up a couple of good marksmen and I'll meet you down in the taproom"

He heard no sound for a moment, and wondered what Eli was doing and thinking on the other side of the plank door

But if Eli and Clarissa were planning to try to push him into a marriage, he knew he wouldn't get out of this that easy

Pierre bringing an Indian wife and son home, Clarissa trying to trap him into a marriage—he began to feel as if he had walked into some kind of an ambush

He eyed Clarissa, who sat with a pillow between her bare back and the rough-hewn log wall, sheet and blanket pulled up to her shoulders He walked over to her to make sure he could not be heard from outside

"I'm going to have to ride out to the mine, and I'll be taking your father with me," he said, keeping his voice soft "Wait till you hear us ride away, then get out of here And make sure nobody sees you"

She was still wide-eyed "Oh, Raoul, if he was to catch me with you he'd beat me worse'n that Injun ever beat you"

Raoul leaned forward and put his hand, gently but firmly, on her throat "If he ever finds out from you that you and I were together," he said softly, "I'll beat you even worse than that"

In the taproom on the first floor of the inn, Eli, a short, skinny man whose thinning blond hair was turning gray, gave no sign of knowing that Clarissa was in the room upstairs Where did he think she was? Raoul wondered Maybe he knew, but was biding his time

"Winnebago with a bundle of beaver pelts come in this morning," Eli said "Said that for an extra cupful of whiskey he'd tell me a thing I might like to know I obliged, and he told me riding over here yesterday he'd seen smoke rising from the prairie He went for a look-see and it was three Sauk bucks carrying galena out of the mine and smelting it down"

Eli had rounded up three big men to ride out with Raoul Levi Pope, a tall, hatchet-faced Sucker, an Illinois man, carried a Kentucky rifle that almost came up to his shoulder Otto Wegner, a veteran of the army of the King of Prussia, was six foot three with broad shoulders He wore his brown mustache thick and let it grow back over his cheeks to join his sideburns Hodge Hode, like Eli, was a Puke, a Missourian Huge as a grizzly bear, he dressed in fringed buckskins Under his coonskin cap red hair, wild and knotted,< hung down to his shoulders, and his red beard hid three quarters of his face Besides their long rifles, Eli, Levi, Hodge and Otto had pistols stuck through their belts, powder horns slung over their shoulders, hunting knives sheathed in pockets in the front of their buckskin shirts

Raoul let them each have a glass of whiskey, his good whiskey, Old Kaintuck from a canvas-wrapped stone jug, not the terrible-tasting corn liquor he dispensed from the barrel in the taproom Then the five of them went out to mount their horses in the courtyard of the trading post Raoul rode his chestnut stallion, Banner

My domain, Raoul thought proudly, as he looked around Surrounding the trading post was a palisade twenty feet high made of logs set vertically, with a catwalk running all around it and a guard tower in each corner From a pole atop the southwest tower flew the flag of the United States, thirteen stripes and twenty-four stars, and below it the flag of the de Marions' Illinois Fur Company, an arrow and a musket crossing behind a beaver pelt

Dominating the buildings inside the palisade was a blockhouse, limestone at ground level, with an overhanging second story of logs and rifle slits all around Raoul had built it to fortify the trading post against his memories of Checagou Pierre and Papa might have thought it foolish expense and effort, but where had they been when he needed them?

Near the east side of the blockhouse was the inn they'd just left, a log house, food and drink on the ground floor and lodgings above On the west side, the fur store Over in the northwest corner was the magazine, a windowless cube of limestone blocks, surrounded by its own little palisade the height of a man Here were stored the bags and barrels of gunpowder that passed through the trading post

They rode out through the gateway, arched over by the name DE MARION, formed out of small bits of log by Raoul's brother-in-law, Frank Hopkins, carpenter and printer Raoul glanced down at the town of Victor, built on the steep slope below the trading post From here he could see mostly half-log roofs and clay-lined log chimneys following the road that zigzagged across the face of the bluff The houses all faced west, with their backs to the limestone slope North and south from the base of the bluff stretched miles of bottomland along the Mississippi River The spring floods that left the bottom some of the richest farmland in the world also made it< necessary to build almost everything on the bluff above the high-water line

Raoul pulled Banner's head around and led his little troop at a trot along the ridge that ran east Now Victoire came into view, the château his father and brother had built on the edge of the prairie, its first floor, like that of the blockhouse, of stone, its upper two stories of square-hewn timber Some day, he thought, as he rode past the hill crowned by the great house, he would enter Victoire as master

They rode on, passing big log barns and animal sheds Raoul had helped build They followed a narrow trail through fields planted in corn and wheat, through orchards, the trees as yet only a little higher than a man but already yielding apples and peaches Farther out still, cattle and horses grazed on grassland that rolled eastward like the waves of the ocean

Five miles from the Mississippi they came to the boundary stone with an M carved on it that marked Victoire's easternmost extent From there Raoul could see, a good ten miles or more away, the sign of the Indians, a long finger of gray smoke leaning northeastward among the fluffy white clouds The mine entrance was at the bottom of a ravine carved in the prairie by the Peach River, and the smoke doubtless meant the Indians were smelting lead

After a long ride they reached the little river The five men reined up and tethered their horses downwind from the smoke; an Indian, it was said, had a sense of smell as keen as a dog's Raoul led his men to the edge of the ravine

They walked quietly along the ravine until they sighted Indians down at the bottom Sauk or Fox, Raoul saw, recognizing their shaven heads with tufts of hair in the center One of the bucks was standing at the mine entrance holding a skin sack that appeared to be full of chunks of galena, lead ore The other two were adding logs to the smelter's fire Their six horses—three for riding and three for carrying lead—were standing at the edge of the river about ten feet from the smelter

The Indians' smelter was simply a square pit dug in the hillside, lined with rocks at the bottom and filled with logs and brushwood They were melting down the galena, letting it flow through the rocks into a slanting trench that led to a square mold dug in the earth Raoul counted five pigs of lead already formed, cooled and stacked< beside the mold They'd probably been at this ever since the end of winter, thinking the mine was so far from town that no white man would notice

Lead was selling at seventeen dollars per thousand pounds at the pit head up north in Galena, the new boom town named for the ore, and if these Indians had been working since the snow melted, they might have robbed Raoul of as much as two hundred dollars

Raoul thought he recognized the two bucks at the smelter Last fall they had come to him as he was bossing the crew he'd put to work expanding the mine before he shut it down for the winter The Indians had claimed it was their mine He had told them to be off, and when they hadn't moved quickly enough, he and his men had cocked their flintlocks Should have killed them then

Raoul gripped the gilded butt of the cap-and-ball pistol that hung at his waist and slid it out of its holster

"Get them!" he called, standing up suddenly He stretched out his arm, sighted along the barrel of his pistol and fired at the nearer Indian standing by the smelter

Four rifles went off at once Raoul was enveloped in the bitter smell of gunpowder and a cloud of smoke The Indian Raoul had aimed at jerked, fell to his knees, then collapsed face forward beside the smelter The other one at the smelter ran for his horse and leaped on its back They must have all aimed at the same one, Raoul thought, cursing himself for not thinking of pointing out targets for each man

The third Indian had disappeared The skin sack of galena lay beside the mine entrance

"Dammit," said Raoul "If that redskin on the horse gets away there'll be raiding parties coming here Whoever digs here'll have to have eyes in the back of his head"

"I'll put an eye in the back of his head," said Eli as he poured powder from his measure down the muzzle of his rifle He grinned at Raoul—two upper front teeth missing and one lower Did he know about Clarissa? Raoul still couldn't tell

The other men were also reloading Raoul pushed powder and shot down the muzzle of his pistol, then took a percussion cap out of a pouch at his belt and pressed it onto the nipple in the breach By the time he was ready to fire, the Indian was galloping down the riverbed and had disappeared around a bend

Hodge Hode, Levi Pope and Otto Wegner ran for their horses Eli stayed where he was, smiling down at the rifle in his hands as if he were holding a baby

"If we all chase after the one on horseback," Eli said, "the one that's hiding will run off in the other direction"

"Another thing," Eli said "Our boys is on the wrong side of the ravine When the Injun comes out, he'll come out on the south side By the time they ride down and in, and up and out again, he'll be a mile away"

Before Raoul could demand an explanation of that, he saw the fleeing Indian on his mount scramble out of the ravine and ride southward, just as Eli had predicted Raoul glanced at his men as they came to a halt, puzzlement showing in their gestures Hodge fired at the Indian, who rode on unharmed Though Raoul would not have known what else to do, he despised his two men for their uselessness

Soon the Indian, riding hell-bent south, was a tiny dark silhouette against the yellow prairie Eli raised the barrel of his Kentucky long rifle It was an impossible shot, Raoul thought, but he said nothing Eli seemed to be aiming slightly high, not straight at the redskin Raoul heard the Puke suck in a deep breath through his missing front teeth

The rifle boomed The muzzle flash made Raoul blink, and a cloud of blue-white smoke drifted across the canyon

A long time seemed to pass with nothing happening But maybe it was only a heartbeat or two Then the dark, distant figure threw up his arms and toppled sideways from his horse The horse kept running and was gone over the horizon a moment later

"Right through his noodle," Eli said "I couldn't of made that shot if he hadn't been riding due south Too hard to get a lead on him and arch the bullet just right"

Eli made it seem just a simple matter of skill, but Raoul felt as if he had just seen a miracle

The faces of the other men, as they climbed down from their horses, showed as much awe as Raoul felt

Otto Wegner turned at once to remount his horse Raoul liked the way the Prussian obeyed every order instantly

But Hodge Hode glowered at Raoul "Waste of time Coyotes and buzzards have a taste for Injun meat"

Annoyed at being questioned, Raoul said, "I don't want anybody to know what happened to these redskins"

As Otto rode off, Eli, pointing to the mine entrance, said, "We got one still alive At least one"

Eli's fine shot had not only awed him; he felt it, uneasily, as a challenge The law was absent in Smith County, which was the way Raoul liked it Gave an edge to a man who could handle a rifle as well as Eli But now, to make sure his own word remained the closest thing to law in these parts, Raoul felt he had to equal Eli's accomplishment

He checked the load in his pistol He gripped the hilt of the thirteen-inch knife at his belt and loosened it in its sheath A blacksmith in St Louis had made it for him, assuring him it was an exact replica of the knife designed a couple of years ago by the famed Arkansas frontiersman Jim Bowie

Raoul's mouth was dry His heart was beating so hard he thought his men must be able to see his woollen coat quivering His hands were cold and sweaty

"Ain't but one way out of that mine, is there?" said Eli "If we go in four abreast he can't get past us, and it's a hell of a sight safer"

"I'll take care of him," Raoul repeated Every word Eli said against his going into the mine alone made him even more determined to do it He needed to keep Eli in line, especially if it should turn out that Eli knew about him and Clarissa

And fighting for it will make it more truly my property than any government grant could

But that Indian in there—what was he armed with? Rifle, knife, bow, tomahawk? How strong was he, how fast, how skilled in fighting hand to hand?

Raoul felt the blood run hot through his veins as he thought of Pierre's bastard son, of Black Salmon, of the Potawatomi who raped and murdered Helene His men had killed two Indians today, but there was a third waiting in that mine, and Raoul de Marion meant to be the death of him

He walked slowly, pistol at waist level He needed his knife out, too, he decided Even though he was right-handed, it would be better to have a second weapon ready than have his left hand empty He drew his knife, taking heart from its well-balanced feel

He stepped under the logs he'd set last fall to brace the entrance Should he light a candle? No, that would make him an even better target He tried to pierce the blackness with his eyes; it was thick as a wool curtain

This was foolish, he thought If they all went in together, the way Eli said, a couple of men could carry candles, and they could flush out the Indian in no time This way, he was going to get himself killed If the Indian had a rifle, Raoul was dead for sure He felt an urge to back out and call the others to help him He stood there a moment, legs trembling

He forced his feet to slide forward as silently as he could manage His hesitation had given his eyes a chance to get used to the dark He tried to remember the layout of the mine In the dim light from the entrance he made out the downward slope of the long tunnel About twenty feet in, another tunnel branched off to his left His eyes ached as they tried to find the enemy hiding somewhere ahead of him

He could see nothing but black walls lined with logs to brace the ceiling, a floor littered with chunks of rock As he moved forward,< the tunnel got narrower, the ceiling lower He could almost feel the weight of the rock and earth above him; these logs could suddenly give way and the prairie come down on him like a boot on a bug He began to be more afraid of the mine than he was of the hidden Indian

Raoul glimpsed a steel tomahawk edge coming at his head He jerked the pistol's trigger and jabbed with the knife in his left hand to parry the axe blade

The blast of the pistol deafened Raoul, and in the momentary blaze of light he saw the face of a young Indian, distorted with anger and fear

It was a face he hated on sight—dark skin, narrow black eyes, flat but for a beak of a nose, shaven skull A face like those in his nightmares It stayed vivid in his mind's eye when the flash of light was gone

Got the sonofabitch! Raoul exulted He'd been holding his pistol low, must have hit the Indian in the gut

The flash had temporarily blinded him, but reflexes honed in dozens of riverfront brawls took over He jammed his pistol into its holster and switched the knife to his right hand Every fiber of him hungered to kill He lunged forward, knife straight out in front of him He could feel his lips stretching in a grin

The knife hit something solid, yet yielding With a yell of triumph he drove the point in, was rewarded with a scream of agony He was beginning to see again The shadow facing him lifted the tomahawk Raoul jerked the knife free and swung; it chunked into the Indian's arm like a meat cleaver He heard the tomahawk clang on the rock floor

Raoul threw himself on the Indian, stabbing, stabbing His enemy's body, smaller and lighter than his, crumpled under his weight The fingers of his left hand dug into smooth skin and hard muscle He felt hands pushing against him, but their efforts were weak, the struggles of a dying creature The cries and groans of pain made him eager to hurt the Indian more It was too dark to see where his knife was going in, but he brought it down again and again His hands felt wet Some of his thrusts sank deep, others were stopped by bone

A pulse pounded in his brain It did not matter that he was fighting in the dark; fury blinded him anyway He forgot everything but the knife in his hand and the soft, bloody body under him He screamed with rage and triumph, drowning out the agonized shrieks of his enemy

After a while, no more cries The body under him did not move Raoul lay on top of the Indian, panting

He began to think again Carefully he slid his hand over the Indian's chest, the buckskin shirt slippery with warm blood No heartbeat, no lifting of lungs

By God, I did it, I killed him! He felt as if rockets were going off in his head, and he laughed aloud He'd fought for his mine and spilled his enemy's blood to make it his own

His head ached so badly he felt as if his eyes were being pushed out of his skull He realized that in the fight he'd completely lost control of himself He'd become a wild thing, a creature without a mind It had happened to him several times before, in fights that had ended with his killing a man

Thoughts of triumph that he had killed his enemy, of terror at the realization that this fight could have gone the other way, chased each other around in his brain, but he felt even more alive and happier than he had last night with Clarissa

His eyes adjusted, and he could see Eli, Hodge Hode and Levi Pope standing at the entrance to the side tunnel They looked at the body at his feet and the bloody knife in his hand, and then up at him and their eyes were wide and their lips parted

"You really chopped him into mincemeat," Eli said "I'll have to get me one of them Arkansas toothpicks"

"Get the other two bodies in here," Raoul said, making an effort to keep his voice steady "We'll find some place to bury them"

Raoul agreed, but he felt certain this one he'd killed was the< only one in the mine He looked down at the dead face The Indian wasn't much more than fifteen or sixteen years old Good, he thought Hadn't had long enough to do much harm

But why, Raoul wondered, had this young buck thrown his life away attacking him near the entrance to the mine? He'd have had more of a chance of escaping if he'd hidden deeper

Maybe he'd figured there was at least a little light to see and fight by near the entrance If he'd gotten Raoul, then somehow managed to get away, he'd probably have claimed the right to wear a brave's feather

The thought of himself lying dead in the dark and his scalp hanging on a pole in front of a lodge down at Saukenuk made Raoul shudder

But it was Raoul who'd won his feather No Indian would ever kill Raoul de Marion

And any redskin sluts, and any mongrel bastards, that showed their face around Victoire would have to deal with a man who killed Indians as easily as he killed any other sort of vermin

Pierre wanted to weep as he saw what was about to happen He rushed forward and thrust out his hand to stop Raoul

Raoul was too close to the mantel for Pierre to reach him in time He got to it in two strides and, just as Pierre had expected, seized the vase that had been in the family for four generations, had stood on the mantel ever since they built this château

Raoul turned, holding the vase high over his head He fixed Pierre with the wide-eyed stare of a madman His teeth flashed under his black mustache in a grimace of fury

He dashed the vase to the flagstone floor The white egg shape vanished with a hollow crack, and shards scattered, some hitting Raoul's boots, others flying into the huge stone hearth

A sudden silence filled the great hall of Victoire Pierre felt as if his heart had broken with the vase

You killed Maman, he wanted to cry out, now you would kill the memory of her

But he held his tongue and hated himself for even thinking what he had almost said What an evil thought! How could he blame Raoul because Maman died giving birth to him?

Think what you are doing! Papa had cried That was precisely what Raoul never did Thought was for afterward, for escaping the consequences of his actions Now he had worked himself into a rage, lost all governing of himself, because, somehow, he had heard about Sun Woman and Gray Cloud

Pierre had to try to win Raoul over, to find a way to break through the anger that divided him from his younger brother Raoul had to be persuaded that it was only right that Sun Woman and the boy be brought here to Victoire If Raoul did not accept that, his rage would tear their family apart

But how, in one afternoon, batter down a wall that had been building over the past dozen years?

Pierre realized that he was still standing with his hand held out to Raoul He lowered it slowly, feeling his shoulders slump at the same time He had been reading with Papa when Raoul came in Now he took off his spectacles, put them in the silver case that hung from his neck by a velvet cord and dropped the case in his vest pocket

Elysée de Marion clutched the arms of his leather wing chair with clawlike hands, half rising from it Raoul stood staring at the two of them, panting and trembling

"To make you listen" Raoul's voice was deep and strong, and it resounded powerfully against the beamed ceiling and stone walls of the great hall But in its tones Pierre heard the screams of that hysterical boy whose tantrums and nightmares, after they'd finally succeeded in ransoming him from the Potawatomi, had wrenched the hearts of the whole household and renewed their grief over the loss of Helene

But now that painfully thin, frightened child was a broad-shouldered man over six feet tall with a knife as big as a broadsword and a pistol strapped to his waist A very dangerous man A man who, they said, had killed half a dozen or more opponents in fights up and down the Mississippi

"Pierre hasn't," Raoul said resentfully "You tell him, Papa Tell< him he'd better leave his damned squaw in the woods where she belongs"

Elysée sat back down in his wing chair and stroked his jaw He looked like an old turkey cock, with fierce eyes, a hooked nose and a long, wrinkled neck The leather-bound copy of Montaigne's essays that had been lying in his lap had slipped to the floor to join newspapers piled around his feet like autumn leaves, a mixture of local papers like Frank Hopkins's Victor Visitor, and the Galena Miners Journal, months-old papers from the East—the New York Evening Post, the Boston Evening Transcript, the National Intelligencer from Washington City, the even older copies of Mercure de France from Paris

Hoping his father could reconcile them where he had failed so dismally, Pierre went to stand before Elysée's chair After a moment's hesitation Raoul approached too But Pierre saw that he was pointedly keeping more than an arm's-length distance between the two of them

Elysée said, "That's better I can't see you when you stand far from me These eyes are good for very little but reading, and when I can no longer read, I will shoot myself And if I cannot see well enough to load the pistol, one of you must do it for me"

As he often did, Elysée was attempting to use humor to put out the fire Pierre glanced at Raoul to see if their father had drawn a smile from him But Raoul stood with arms folded across his chest, his mouth hidden under his black mustache, his eyes narrowed Except when he smiled—and today he was far from any smiling—the mustache made him look perpetually angry

"Raoul," Elysée said "Be assured that we are listening to you Tell us what has driven you to destroy one of our family treasures"

"Just because Pierre soiled himself with a squaw," Raoul demanded, "do we have to live with what came of it?"

He forced himself to control his temper If he became as angry as Raoul was, this day would surely be the ruin of the house of de Marion

Pierre felt a sudden twinge of pain in his belly He fought down an urge to rub himself there He wanted no one to know about his illness Worse than the pain was the fear it brought on, the chilling suspicion that he was a dying man

Fearfully he wondered what death would be like Though Père Isaac said such notions were foolish, he could not help seeing God the Father as an enormous white-bearded judge, seated among the clouds And what would the Father's sentence be if Pierre de Marion turned his back on a wife and a son?

He wished he could tell Raoul that he thought he was dying Then perhaps his brother would understand why he had to do his duty to Sun Woman and the boy But he feared that if Raoul was aware of his weakness, he would try to take over the whole estate at once

Praying that his brother would understand, he said, "Ever since Marie-Blanche died, I have been thinking of Sun Woman After five years of life together, I left her and our little son Lately I have been seeing her and my son, Gray Cloud, in dreams I know God wants me to make amends to them"

Pierre felt sweat break out on his forehead and upper lip Why must Raoul stir up such turmoil with his hatred? Couldn't Raoul understand that not all red people were like the ones he had encountered? Pierre saw Sun Woman in his mind, so strong and wise, holding the hand of their grave, brown-eyed boy How beautiful they were

Elysée said, "I do not believe that Le Bon Dieu announces his intentions in dreams, Pierre"

Elysée turned to Raoul "But, Raoul, it does seem simple justice, what Pierre wants to do"

"What about justice for me?" Raoul came back "Isn't this my home as much as Pierre's?"

Stung by Raoul's bluster, Pierre said, "Raoul, you live more at your trading post than you do in this home"

To Pierre's surprise, Raoul's face reddened, making Pierre wonder what, exactly, Raoul was doing at the trading post It had seemed natural that he would spend most of his time there, since Papa had given him the Illinois Fur Company when he divided his property between the two of them But perhaps it was not only work< that kept Raoul at the trading post night after night A woman? Pierre found himself hoping it might be A woman could be good for Raoul, civilize him a bit

He had slept there last night How, then, could he have learned about Pierre's plans for Sun Woman and Gray Cloud?

Pierre turned to Raoul "How did you learn about this? I was going to tell you, but you found out before I could"

Pierre took some small satisfaction in seeing Raoul's cheeks flush a deeper red, in seeing his hesitation He had come storming in here unprepared to explain just how he knew about Pierre's plans

Armand must certainly know about Marchette, Pierre thought But he knew Armand would never directly attack him Armand's ancestors had come to America when this part of the country was still New France, and such people retained a feudal outlook The poor fellow doubtless considered him far superior in birth and breeding But he was capable of seeking some kind of revenge, such as turning Raoul against him

Pierre opened his mouth to chide Raoul for setting one of the servants to spy on him, but he closed it again when he saw the look of self-righteous reproach in Raoul's face

His brother felt betrayed too He had never stopped feeling betrayed since the massacre at Checagou Then how could Pierre expect him to be reconciled to what must be done now?

Perhaps it would be best to leave Sun Woman and Gray Cloud where they were He could just send them gifts Doubtless they were content His own years with the Sauk and Fox had shown him what a good life they had, so simple, so closely attuned to Nature, so constantly aware of the things of the spirit Those years had been the happiest of his life

No, sending gifts from afar would not be enough It would be as if he was hiding his Indian wife and son away, concealing his sin in the wilderness As he had been doing all these years, to his shame The boy, Gray Cloud, was flesh of his flesh, the only child he had in the world He was a de Marion as much as he was a Sauk Indian< He had a right to come here and to know what his heritage was He had a right to know his father, in the time his father had left to him

And that beautiful Sauk way of life, what a fragile thing it was! Powers were massing, Pierre knew, to drive them from their homeland, to force them to choose—exile in the Great American Desert, or annihilation Knowledge might help Gray Cloud meet that threat

From the depths of his chair Elysée said, "Pierre, it is quite obvious what is at the bottom of this It is distasteful to speak of wills and inheritances, but it is best to be candid Raoul is afraid that you will marry this Indian woman and make her son your heir in place of him Can you set his mind at rest?"

Pierre stared at Raoul Ten years ago, on the day of Pierre's wedding to Marie-Blanche Gagner, Papa announced that he was getting on in years and was transferring ownership of the de Marion estate to Pierre, the older of his sons This January, consumption had taken poor, frail Marie-Blanche, still childless The place of Raoul, fourteen years younger than Pierre, in the line of inheritance was now a certainty

Surely Raoul could not be afraid that Pierre would take a Sauk Indian boy who knew no other life but woodland and make him heir to the de Marion fortune The notion was so bizarre that it had never even crossed Pierre's mind Papa, sitting in his chair by the fire day after day, reading, reading, would sometimes entertain the most ridiculous fantasies

Then Pierre saw Raoul's expression change from surprise to dawning anger Papa had inadvertently given Raoul a new reason to be angry

Hoping to pluck out the suspicion before it took root, Pierre quickly said, "My God, Raoul, I have no intention of changing my will The boy, who is called Gray Cloud, is my natural son, that is all Since I have no legitimate children, you are my heir Surely you see that"

Raoul's black mustache drew back from his teeth "What I don't see, brother of mine, is why in hell you couldn't get a proper son in almost ten years of marriage with Marie-Blanche That squaw use you up?"

Pierre frowned, subtracting dates "He was born in 1810 So he would have just turned fifteen" He turned again to Raoul Perhaps knowing what he really did have in mind for Gray Cloud would calm his brother somewhat

He said, "Père Isaac, the Jesuit, visits the British Band regularly I make offerings to the Jesuit mission in Kaskaskia, and I've asked him to teach the boy a little English, some elementary letters and ciphering Now I want to see Gray Cloud for myself See what sort of person he has become And I want him to know me And, if I thought he could benefit from it, I might help him to be educated I might send him to that secondary school in New York where our cousin Emilie's husband is headmaster"

"Educate him so he can take over here?" Raoul demanded, and Pierre's heart sank Perhaps he should not have said anything about educating the boy He had momentarily forgotten what a disaster Raoul's year in New York had been, what with whores, drink, money thrown away at cards, brawls with street toughs and the police The effort to educate Raoul had ended when he beat his Latin teacher so badly the man was in New York Hospital for a month It had cost Papa a fortune to persuade the teacher not to press charges Of course Raoul would be insulted at the suggestions that a savage Indian boy might succeed where he had disgraced himself

"No, Raoul" Pierre shook his head vigorously "At the most, I might want his mother and him to have a small bequest Not even as much as will go to Nicole So little you would never miss it Surely you would not let greed for wealth and property come between us"

"I came here today to protect our family honor, and you call me greedy!" Raoul's broad chest heaved

"How could you consider it honorable to make Indians part of our family after what they did to us?"

It hurt Pierre to call those awful memories to mind Yes, perhaps if he had been there and suffered as Raoul had, and had seen Helene raped and murdered, he might hate Indians as his brother did

Pierre said, "Raoul, when I was with Sun Woman I knew nothing of what happened to Helene and you Once the war broke out in 1812 I was in effect a prisoner and had no word from the white< world The Sauk held me for three years from the start of the war And then, when I found out—why do you think I left Sun Woman and Gray Cloud? And never returned, only sent messages through the priest, never tried to see them? It was because after I learned about Helene—about what they did to you—I, even I, Raoul, could not be with Indians anymore It has taken all these years before I could face them again"

Elysée said with a frown, "Raoul, you keep mentioning that this woman and her child whom your brother wishes to help are Indians, as if that in itself made them intolerable Now, I could quite agree, if they were Englishmen—"

Raoul spoke in a low, steady growl "Being Indians does make them intolerable They're animals"

Pierre felt anger growing inside him He was trying to understand Raoul, but Raoul's insults were becoming more provocation than he could endure

"Animals?" said Elysée incredulously "Come now, Raoul Surely you do not believe that The red people are as human as we are"

Raoul laughed bitterly "Sure, you'd have to say they're human Otherwise Pierre's mating with one of them would be like a half-witted farmer mounting one of his sheep"

Something exploded in Pierre's brain and he heard his own cry of anguish as if from a long way off He felt tears running from eyes blinded with fury

And when his eyes cleared, all he could see was Raoul's sneer He burned to smash his fist into those so-white teeth under that black mustache, silence that filthy tongue He lunged forward, fist drawn back

Raoul caught his arm in an iron grip, but the force of Pierre's rush threw his brother back against the great chimney Pierre reached to grab Raoul's neck and slam his head against the stone

The old man stood up more quickly than Pierre had seen him do in years and pushed himself between them

Suddenly afraid that his father might be hurt, Pierre forced himself to let go of Raoul Every muscle in his body went rigid, and he trembled from head to foot

"You must control yourselves," Elysée said "Pierre, you raised your hand against your brother"

Pierre took a step backward, still shaking How could this father reproach him, after what Raoul had just said?

The voice of Reason, Pierre thought bitterly He does not know there are some feelings that cannot be reasoned with

Pierre realized that he was still crying Raoul, having let go of his arm, was looking at him with disgust

"I loved Sun Woman," Pierre stammered "For him to speak of her so—to speak so of our love—"

But, though it was hard to read the features behind that fierce black mustache, Pierre thought he saw uncertainty in Raoul's face As if Raoul finally understood that he had gone too far

Perhaps, Pierre thought, Raoul would now apologize Appalled at his own words, he might seek to be reconciled

Pierre waited He could see Raoul struggling within himself Perhaps Papa's suggestion that he might lose his inheritance had made him realize what consequences a rift between them could have

Of course, I would never disinherit Raoul There's no one else who could manage the estate after I die And I may be gone sooner than anyone expects

Pierre saw Raoul's broad chest swell as he took a deep breath Now, thought Pierre, surely Raoul was going to apologize and ask forgiveness, and they would work out some way that Sun Woman and Gray Cloud could be brought here without stirring up old hatreds

Raoul said, "Don't bring Indians into this house, Pierre, I warn you If any Indian tries to claim he's a member of my family, I'll make him wish he had never been born at all"

The pain that might one day kill him sank its teeth deep into his guts Raoul's words seared him like a branding iron He felt his shoulders sag

Raoul turned his back on his brother and his father, and the clump of his hard leather boot heels echoed through the great hall

"Raoul!" Elysée cried He held his hand outstretched, as Pierre had when Raoul was about to smash the Limoges vase

Looking down at those glistening white shards scattered over the flagstones, Pierre wondered what would happen when Raoul inherited the de Marion fortune Would he destroy it in one of his rages as he had this beautiful object that had been part of the family treasure? Or would he use its power as he used his fists and pistol and knife, to destroy others?

The de Marion fortune Once it had been a huge tract of land in northeastern France dominated by the château of the Counts de Marion, held by them so long that no one knew when or how they first obtained it Just as the origin of the de Marions themselves was something of a mystery

Converted into gold, the de Marion fortune had sailed, with Elysée, the last Count de Marion, his countess and his children, across the Atlantic Elysée, in the early 1780s, had foreseen the bloody upheaval that would sweep away the king and the nobility of France He had made a friend of the American ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson, and had thought much about Jefferson's new nation Their revolution was over and done with The de Marion fortune might thrive in those United States

And on the American prairie the de Marion fortune had purchased a vast new estate and built a new château

Elysée sighed and took a step toward his chair Pierre turned the chair toward the fire so that its wings would gather in the warmth of the small fire and hold it around his father's body

"Would you consider not bringing this woman and this boy here?" Elysée said as he sat down "To keep the peace in our family?"

Pierre hesitated For ten years Sun Woman and Gray Cloud had lived in their world, and he in his Why provoke so much strife now by trying to change that?

But Gray Cloud was the only son he would ever have, and if he left things as they were, he would die without knowing him

"She is my woman—in truth, my wife—and the boy is my child," Pierre said "Raoul has much They have little Raoul is wrong to cling to this hatred To give in to him would mean abandoning these two people to whom I owe so much As soon as the weather is a little warmer, Papa, I mean to leave for Saukenuk And I do dread what may happen, but, yes, I still mean to come back with my wife and my son"

5
Star Arrow

The sun, shining down through branches dotted with budding leaves, warmed his back He wore the knife his father had left him sheathed at his waist His eyes searched among the branches of the trees He did not know exactly what he was looking for, but Owl Carver said that he would know it when he found it He stopped at the base of an oak tree and looked up

He thought he heard something moving through the bushes on the upriver side of the island He stopped peering at the branches and looked up at the sky

The black trunks of the oaks and hickories rose above him He felt as if he were standing in a circle of wise old men, who were there to advise and protect him Ever since that time of sitting in the sacred cave when his soul had gone out of his body, whenever he was by himself he never felt alone He felt the presence of spirits in all things—trees, birds, plants, rocks, rivers

After a moment's listening he heard nothing strange and went back to his search He had chosen this island because he had come here many times at different seasons with his mother, gathering plants for medicines Today he was looking for one thing Somewhere on this island grew the branch from which he would cut his medicine stick Owl Carver had carefully instructed him

It will call to you out of the forest It may be of oak or maple or ash or cedar or even hickory You will know it because it will not be like any other branch you see, and your eye will be drawn to it

A cloud drifted over the sun, and his arms and shoulders suddenly felt cold The coldness felt strange, and he remembered that his spirit guide, the White Bear, was said to live in a very cold place He stood still He felt he should wait for something to happen

A shaft of sunlight fell on the black trunk of a tree a short distance in front of him Where the light struck the tree, a branch was growing out, pointing right at him He might not have noticed it if the light had not fallen in just that way

At the end of the branch three bright bur oak leaves were growing This was the Moon of Buds, and the limbs of most trees bore only the many round swellings that would, as the days grew warmer, open and spread into the first leaves

But the three oak leaves at the end of this branch were fully grown, fat leaves with deep, irregular lobes

He went up to the tree, and as Owl Carver had taught him, he said, "Grandfather Oak, please let me have your arm, to take with me to make strong medicine for our tribe I promise I will not hurt you, and I will leave all your other arms untouched so that you can grow strong in this place"

It was a small, new branch growing out of the tree at eye level When trimmed and stripped it would be just the right size for a medicine stick He would dry the leaves and keep them, too, he decided, as part of his medicine bundle

At once he recognized Sun Woman's voice As always, a warmth flooded through him at the sound

Still, he was angry with himself How could he let someone slip up on him like that?

He turned He looked into his mother's brown eyes, level with his Not so long ago, he remembered, he had to look up to see into her eyes

He saw pain tightening the muscles of her face Her lips trembled as they parted Only a few times had he seen her in such distress, and his heart beat harder What was wrong?

"I have found my medicine stick, Mother But now I must trim it here and peel the bark in the place where I found it Owl Carver told me how it must be done"

She swept a hand across her body to say no to that "It is Owl Carver who says you must come now Leave the stick here The spirits will protect it, and you can come back to it later A man has come to our village You must meet him"

Again the hand gesture, rejecting his question "It is better you see for yourself"

He laid the severed oak branch at the base of the tree he had cut it from, and with thanks to Grandfather Oak, turned away

Baffled and apprehensive, he followed Sun Woman through the forest to the edge of the island, where he saw her small elm-bark canoe pulled up beside his

Silently they paddled their canoes side by side upstream along the narrow stretch of black-green water that separated the island from the riverbank The Rock River was in its spring flood Paddling against the powerful current strained White Bear's muscles He glanced over at his mother and saw with envy how easily she wielded her paddle She seemed to know how to do everything well But an expression of sorrow was frozen on her face

They left the island behind, and soon White Bear saw the hundred lodges of Saukenuk through the weeping willows, hackberries, maples and oaks that grew along the riverbank

They grounded their canoes on tree roots growing on the edge of the river Sun Woman beckoned, turned her back on him abruptly and started walking through the woods by the riverbank White Bear followed

They passed two newly made graves in the shelter of the trees, mounds of earth, each marked with a willow wand with a strip of deerskin attached to it Coming out of the woods, they walked, amidst the band's grazing horses, through the blue-grass meadow surrounding the village Beyond the meadows, as far up and down the river as White Bear could see, stretched stockade-fenced fields< where the first shoots of corn, beans, squash and sweet potatoes dotted the freshly turned black earth like pale green stars in a night sky

White Bear followed Sun Woman into the concentric rings of long lodges with peaked roofs, built of wooden poles and walled with bark sheets, laid out in the sacred circular pattern Here the Sauk lived all summer, three or four families to a lodge But today the outskirts of Saukenuk seemed empty White Bear was surprised to see no one at the riverbank or about the lodges

Sun Woman walked past the lodges with back straight, legs stiff, her arms rigid at her sides, her head high Never once did she look back at him

Reaching the heart of Saukenuk, he saw that all the people were gathered in the central clearing around Owl Carver's medicine lodge As Sun Woman approached the crowd, a child spied her and tugged its mother's skirt The mother looked first at Sun Woman, then at White Bear, then whispered to another woman standing next to her That woman turned, and then the whispers spread in every direction and more and more people looked The crowd parted, making a path through which Sun Woman walked with her stiff stride White Bear followed

At the end of the pathway through the crowd sat Owl Carver and another man, side by side at the door of the sacred lodge Owl Carver's long white hair spread like a snow-covered spruce tree His chest was bare save for his necklace of megis shells, and was painted with diagonal stripes of blue and green, the colors of hope and fear

White Bear slowed his steps, studying the man seated beside Owl Carver His heart thumped hard when he saw who it was

This was the man he had seen in his vision with the White Bear and the Turtle He stood still, his mouth open

The vision-man had black hair streaked with white, tied with a ribbon at the back His face was dominated by a powerful beak of a nose He must have spent much time in the sun; his skin was tan, though not as rich and dark as the skins of White Bear's people

A beloved face caught White Bear's eye Redbird was standing among the people, looking not at the stranger, but at White Bear Their eyes met, and hers were wide with worry He wanted to take Redbird's hand and run with her into the forest, away from all these< people and from whatever made Redbird and his mother look so miserable

And especially away from the thin, pale man who was now staring at him as intently as a hunter with drawn bow watches a stag

And yet, the pale eyes stranger had been part of the vision that had given White Bear his new name and put him on the path to becoming a shaman

He must be a good man if he appeared to me with the White Bear and the Turtle And he must be important to me

"Sit here, White Bear," said Owl Carver, and White Bear walked slowly toward him Owl Carver gestured that he was to sit beside the pale eyes White Bear felt his heart fluttering as he sat down Owl Carver pointed to a place beside himself for Sun Woman The four formed a semicircle, backs to the medicine lodge, faces toward the crowd of curious people

As was the way of the Sauk, the four sat for a long time with no one speaking White Bear's body grew colder and colder, and he had to fight to keep from trembling

After a time, White Bear turned to the stranger and saw in the gaunt face a mixture of pain and joy The man's pupils were a strange, almost frightening gray-blue color From such eyes, White Bear knew, the Sauk took their name for this man's people

As the man looked at White Bear and then over at Sun Woman, it seemed that his heart was glowing with happiness But it was a happiness tinged by regret, the glow of a setting sun

White Bear's inner sense told him that something was hurting more than the pale eye's spirit, was draining his life away White Bear wished at once that he could work a healing of this good man's body

Now the shaman sat nodding his head slowly White Bear could see that Owl Carver stood at the branching of several paths and was trying to decide which one to take White Bear's fear grew

Taught by Owl Carver that rather than puzzle over a vision it is< best to let it reveal its meaning in its own time, White Bear had chosen months ago not to ponder who the pale eyes in the Turtle's lodge might be Owl Carver must have known when White Bear described the vision to him, but thought it better not to tell him

White Bear turned and looked again at the man seated beside him, who raised his arms tentatively, as if he wanted to reach out to him White Bear kept his hands in his lap, and the man lowered his arms again

White Bear felt a strangeness, such as he had never known before This man looked at him with love He was certain, now, that because this man had come today, everything was going to be changed

"Your father is called Star Arrow," said Owl Carver He turned to Star Arrow and said, "Your son is called White Bear"

"I greet you, White Bear," Star Arrow said White Bear was glad to hear this man speaking the Sauk language

"I greet you, Star Arrow, my father," White Bear said The word father felt strange on his tongue

Star Arrow He liked that name and wondered what it meant Father A shiver of joy went through him

"My son," said Star Arrow in the same tongue White Bear saw now that tears were running down his father's face, just as they had in the vision

A thrill went through White Bear as he saw that Black Hawk was coming toward them The leader's careworn face glowed as if he were seeing a long-lost brother He shifted his feather-adorned war club to his left hand and raised his empty right hand in greeting to Star Arrow White Bear was amazed He could not remember seeing Black Hawk smile so happily

Star Arrow raised his hand in reply White Bear felt himself surrounded by giants—Black Hawk, Star Arrow, Owl Carver He remembered the circle of trees he had been standing in when Sun Woman called to him

Wolf Paw, Black Hawk's oldest son, now strode down the line of people His presence, as always, made White Bear uneasy

Sun Woman made room for Black Hawk to sit beside Owl Carver The chief handed his feathered war club to Wolf Paw, who sat down behind him and rested the club across his knees

Three more men pushed their way through the crowd When they came to the front, White Bear saw that they were three chiefs, members of the council that ruled the day-to-day affairs of the Sauk and Fox in peacetime One, Jumping Fish, was older than Black Hawk Another, Broth, was a deep-chested man and a well-known orator The third, Little Stabbing Chief, was a prominent member of the Fox tribe

With a courteous gesture Black Hawk invited the three chiefs to join the sitting circle

The nine sat quietly for a time before their people while a breeze whistled over the bark rooftops of Saukenuk

Black Hawk broke the silence "Our fathers and our grandfathers have known many kinds of pale eyes The French pale eyes traded with us The British pale eyes made us their allies in war But the American pale eyes drive us from our land and kill us when we resist American pale eyes are not our friends But this man, Star Arrow, we call friend We trust Star Arrow

"Thirteen summers ago the British long knives made war on the American long knives The great Shawnee chief, Shooting Star, led braves and warriors of many tribes to fight on the side of the British against the Americans We among the Sauk and Foxes who followed Shooting Star have been known ever since as the British Band This man was living among us then, seeking to trade with us and to know us better When the war began there were some who said, 'He is an enemy Kill him' And I might have said so, too, but I did not, because already I knew that he was a good man We could not send him back to the Americans, but we let him live among us We even let him share the bed of Sun Woman

"After the war, when Star Arrow went back to his own people, he left with us this boy, White Bear" Black Hawk turned to White Bear, and when their eyes met, White Bear trembled under Black Hawk's gaze The chief's eyes were infinitely black, like a night without stars

He reached into a beaded bag hanging at his belt He took out< a shining metal disk on a thin silvery chain and held it up so that the people could see it

"Inside this disk of metal there is an arrow that points always to the north Even on a day when I cannot see the sun, on a night when I cannot see the stars, I know where the sun should be and I know where the Council Fire Star is, the star that does not move all night long He gave us this magical gift And so we give him his name among the Sauk—Star Arrow His heart is as constant as the Council Fire Star and as true as the arrow"

Black Hawk raised his hand "Let Star Arrow now tell us why he comes back" Black Hawk folded his arms

White Bear, his heart beating as hard as a drum in a dance, turned to the pale eyes Star Arrow turned his own head to look long and gravely at Sun Woman, then at White Bear

Star Arrow said, "Chief Black Hawk, I lived with Sun Woman as her husband, and then I left her with a son, this young man, White Bear I wronged Sun Woman and White Bear He should have had a father as well as a mother I went back to my people and married a pale eyes woman Earthmaker has punished me by giving me no children by my second wife and at last taking her from me Because of this my heart is like the ashes of an old fire"

Owl Carver leaned forward into the circle of speakers "You want to come and live with us again, Star Arrow?"

At the thought of Star Arrow returning to the band, White Bear's heart leaped with happiness All his life he had been hoping to meet his father, waiting for his father's return, but never believing it possible So that his father, returning, might be pleased with him, he had even let Père Isaac teach him things he could never use

To have this strange new man who was so respected by the Sauk living with him and Sun Woman—this was almost as thrilling a prospect as his dream of becoming a great shaman

Star Arrow said, "No, I cannot stay among you Nothing, I think, would make me happier, but I have many things to do among my own people I own much land"

Owl Carver said, "If your land keeps you from doing what you want, then it owns you"

Star Arrow smiled ruefully "Owl Carver speaks truly, but I cannot< change this I must care for my land myself, because there is no one who can do it for me"

Star Arrow turned to look at White Bear, who sensed a question: Could you be one who helps me care for my land?

Again White Bear felt the presence of a death-with-claws that had its grip on Star Arrow's body He must speak to Owl Carver Perhaps Owl Carver could tell him how to help his father

Owl Carver said, "We know about your land, Star Arrow You traded honorably with us, and gave us many valuable goods, so that you and your family could live on that land to the north and farm it and graze your animals on it"

"That is so," said Chief Jumping Fish "Star Arrow gave me a fine rifle, and he made our tribe rich with what he paid us"

White Bear felt a chill of fear when he heard that Star Arrow lived to the north There was danger, it seemed, in the north Three Fox men, including Sun Fish, a youth his own age who had been a playmate of his, had gone north two moons ago to work a lead mine and had not been heard from

Star Arrow said, "I have come to ask Sun Woman and White Bear to live with me in my home"

White Bear heard an amazed murmur from the crowd, and he himself felt his heart drop as if he plummeted unaware into a deep pit

Leave the tribe? He could not picture it It made no sense Being without the tribe would be like trying to live without his arms or legs

White Bear's eyes met Redbird's Her slanting eyes were big with fear, and he tried to tell her with a look that he did not want this Now he understood why she looked so unhappy She must have guessed what Star Arrow would ask

To leave Redbird No longer to learn from Owl Carver Give up hope of being a shaman Leave the forest Leave Saukenuk He had heard that no spirits lived among the pale eyes In the land of the pale eyes the tall prairie grass was burned away and the trees were cut down

Black Hawk and Owl Carver looked at each other In the glances that passed between them White Bear saw surprise, questioning, but no disapproval He felt his hopes sink Would he have to fight this fight alone?

She stood up to speak, tall and stately She turned to Star Arrow, and White Bear saw love mingle with the pain in her dark brown eyes

"I am happy to call Star Arrow husband He has not wronged me It is right that a man should live among his people"

White Bear thought, Now she will say that we must stay with our people and cannot go with him

"I am glad that Star Arrow remembers me and White Bear, that he comes to ask us to live with him But I cannot go I have my work, the gathering of medicines, the healing, the teaching of what I know" She turned to Redbird, who smiled uncertainly

Sun Woman spoke on "I could not look into pale eyes faces all day long My heart would dry up"

In the long silence that followed, White Bear waited uneasily Why had his mother not spoken of him?

Star Arrow unfolded his long, thin limbs, went over and stood before Sun Woman He put his hands on her shoulders A sudden breeze rattled the bark walls of Saukenuk

Sun Woman and Star Arrow both looked at White Bear He felt as if the ground were trembling under him He wished it would open up and swallow him

"This young man," said Sun Woman "Your son, White Bear Half of him is you It is right that he should see the pale eyes who are also his people"

"I have always believed that Earthmaker meant some special destiny for White Bear," Sun Woman said

The shout burst from White Bear "No!" He did not even remember getting to his feet, but he was standing

Heads turned toward him Eyes opened wide He saw Black Hawk lift a hand to silence him, then lower it again The three chiefs stared angrily

"Earthmaker meant me to be a shaman How can I learn to be a shaman if I live among pale eyes? If I spend many summers and winters away from the tribe I will no longer be a Sauk"

White Bear could see the pain-taut lines in Sun Woman's face< This was hurting her, he knew that But his anger at her burned in his chest She was trading his life for hers She would stay here in Saukenuk, but she would give Star Arrow part of what he wanted—his son Why should he be sacrificed to make Star Arrow happy? It was she who had chosen to take this pale eyes into her lodge

Sun Woman turned to Owl Carver "We need to learn much more about the pale eyes if we are to protect ourselves from them Some of us must live with them and come to understand them from within their tribe Such a one must be young enough to learn new ways And he should be specially gifted, a favorite of the spirits"

"White Bear, listen to the words of your teacher There is more than one way to become a shaman Here in Saukenuk live many people of the Fox and some of the Winnebago, Piankeshaw and Kickapoo tribes Who says their lives are over because they live among the Sauk? If you live with the tribe of pale eyes, it will make you a man of greater knowledge To go among them will take the courage of a warrior and more Of knowledge, of courage, is a shaman made"

Owl Carver turned to Black Hawk "Sun Woman is right Let the boy go with Star Arrow I know Earthmaker has blazed this trail for White Bear" He crossed his arms before his chest and sat down again

White Bear cast about desperately for words that would answer Owl Carver He felt helpless to fight the current that was sweeping him away

"If Earthmaker wants this for me, how is it that I do not know it?" he cried He went cold inside, realizing that in his desperation he was defying Owl Carver before all the people He was questioning Owl Carver's powers

He wanted to say that he hoped to be the great prophet of the Sauk after Owl Carver had departed to the land of the spirits But he did not dare say such a thing Earthmaker himself might punish him for such presumption

"Did I not come back to you from the sacred cave with the very words of the Turtle?" he said, holding his hands out in appeal "Surely I will bring you other great visions if I stay with you Among the Sauk I have grown to manhood Why does this man come now to tear me away from the only tribe I have known?"

"This man is your father," Owl Carver declared "You are a Sauk A Sauk never shirks the demands of honor A Sauk is loyal and respectful and obedient toward his father"

"I am proud of my son," said Star Arrow "He speaks with power before the people"

At that, a hopeless feeling swept over White Bear Star Arrow was not fighting him, any more than water fights a drowning man Star Arrow was a current dragging him away from his people, his village

And the village was not trying to hold him Sun Woman, Owl Carver, Black Hawk, were pushing him out, as they would a man who was so wicked he could not be allowed to live with the people He felt utterly alone

What did he know of the pale eyes? Only the little that Père Isaac had taught him And that they were great land thieves Always they were scheming to take land away from the people who had held it since the Great River first began to flow from the Turtle's breast Why must he live among his people's enemies?

Owl Carver sprang from his seat He leaped at White Bear and crouched before him His eyes opened wide as those of his totem bird White Bear felt himself pulled toward their black centers, as if they were whirlpools in the Great River Owl Carver's long white hair fanned out like wings on either side of his head

"You will listen!" Owl Carver said in a soft voice of terrible intensity "You will hear!"

"You are the son of my spirit as much as you are the son of Star Arrow's body I tell you to live with this man as I told you to go to the sacred cave in the Moon of Ice This is a far greater test for you Going to live with the pale eyes will be like journeying to another sacred cave And you will bring back other visions"

White Bear saw in the blackness of Owl Carver's eyes that if he defied this decision he would lose his place in the tribe There was no way to break free from the current that was sweeping him away from Saukenuk

White Bear felt as if something in him had broken He held his face expressionless He did not want to show his hurt before the tribe But he knew he would soon be unable to stop himself from weeping

Among the witnessing people he saw anguish and determination< struggling in Sun Woman's face Others looked at him only with curiosity, not sympathy In all the people around him, the only face that shared his unrelieved wretchedness was Redbird's His gaze met hers, and the pain they felt together deepened his despair

Black Hawk spoke in a low voice over his shoulder to Wolf Paw, who stood up As he left the circle before Owl Carver's medicine lodge, Wolf Paw glanced at White Bear, and White Bear saw the light of triumph in his eyes

Black Hawk held a hand out to Star Arrow "If we let you take White Bear, you must one day let him return to us, bringing his new knowledge to help the Sauk"

Owl Carver moved from his crouching position before White Bear and sat down again, facing Star Arrow "This young man is most precious to us The mysteries have been told to him, and he has seen visions of the past and future"

To go among the pale eyes will make you a man of knowledge, Owl Carver had said, and Black Hawk had agreed Perhaps he could become a star arrow, pointing the way for his people in the troubled days the Turtle had foretold

And that meant that White Bear's time of exile from the Sauk would be short But knowing that brought White Bear no relief He did not want his father, whom he had just met, to die so soon

"I ask one more thing," said Star Arrow "It will be harder for the boy to learn the ways of the pale eyes if he always feels the pull of his Sauk people For the first few summers and winters that he is with us, I ask that he not return to you even for a visit, and that you send no messages to him and he send none to you"

"That is much to ask," said Owl Carver "That is hard The boy may die of longing for his people"

Star Arrow shook his head "I would never let that happen If I see that it is unbearable for him, I will send him back to you But I will do everything I can to make him happy, and if he does not see< the British Band or hear from them, the pain of parting will go away sooner"

White Bear sat down slowly, feeling as if he had been mortally wounded Never to have a word from his mother or from Redbird—how could he bear it?

Star Arrow continued, "He will go to a fine school in the East And when he has learned all he can learn, I will send him back to you"

Wolf Paw came through the crowd, holding up in both hands a calumet, a sacred pipe Its hickory stem was as long as a man's arm, wrapped in blue and yellow bands, and its high, slender bowl was of dark red pipestone, quarried in a valley far to the west

Black Hawk took the pipe from Wolf Paw and filled the bowl with tobacco from a beaded pouch at his waist Owl Carver went into his lodge, and brought back a burning twig that Black Hawk used to light the pipe

Black Hawk said, "By the smoking of the sacred tobacco let all these promises be sealed"

White Bear went cold as he saw the light gray smoke curl up from Black Hawk's pipe and smelled its sweet scent Once he put the pipe to his lips and drew the smoke into his mouth, he would be bound to go with Star Arrow as firmly as he was bound to the Sauk tribe

Holding the pipestem with one hand in the middle and the other at the end, Black Hawk ceremoniously drew on the pipe and let a cloud of smoke out of his mouth He handed the pipe to Star Arrow, who fixed his gaze on White Bear and did the same Next the pipe went to Owl Carver, who took the single puff that bound him to the agreement Owl Carver took the pipe in turn to Jumping Fish, Broth and Little Stabbing Chief Each puffed on it, bearing witness

Trembling with fear that what he was about to do might be the ruin of him, White Bear took the pipe in his hands His fingers felt the ridged wrappings and the smooth, warm stone of the bowl He had never smoked a sacred pipe before

He could hand the pipe back to Owl Carver and refuse But he knew that this had gone so far that if he did that, not only would he never be accepted as a shaman, he might not even be accepted as a Sauk

He wanted to look at Redbird, but he dared not He looked instead at Sun Woman and saw her eyes warm with the wish that he would smoke the pipe

He put the calumet to his lips and pulled the hot smoke into his mouth It burned his tongue and the insides of his cheeks He took the pipe away and held the smoke for a moment, then puffed it out As he did so, a sigh went up from the watchers

"May you walk this path on which we send you with courage and honor," Black Hawk said

White Bear knew he could not hold back his tears any longer He sprang to his feet and blindly hurled himself into the crowd that was already beginning to disperse He felt a hand on his arm, but he pulled away from it

He began to run He ran through Saukenuk, through the meadow, into the trees by the river's edge He ran past the graves He ran with the hard, steady stride of one carrying a message

6
In the Ancient Grove

Redbird watched, an aching, empty place in her chest, as White Bear disappeared into the woods at the edge of the Rock River

"What a fool!" Water Flows Fast, standing nearby, had spoken "The pale eyes have steel knives and blankets and big sturdy lodges that are always warm and never leak They always have enough food I would be happy to go live with a pale eyes if he asked me"

"Where are you going?" cried her mother "It is shameful to run after him" She grabbed Redbird's sleeve "All the people will laugh at you"

As Wind Bends Grass pulled at her, Redbird's eyes met those of Wolf Paw, standing beside his father, the war chief He glared at her She knew he, too, wanted to tell her not to run after White Bear But if he showed that he cared that much, the people would make fun of him

She turned her back on all of them—Wind Bends Grass, Wolf Paw, Black Hawk, Owl Carver—and began to run

When she reached the riverbank she saw no sign of him For one panic-stricken moment she thought, Did he throw himself into the river?

Then, downriver, she saw a canoe gliding over the glistening water He was paddling hard and was almost out of sight around a bend

Her own small bark canoe, on which she had painted a bird's wing in red, lay a short distance down the riverbank She pushed it into the water, jumped into the rear and seated herself in the middle The canoe's bottom scraped over the riverbank as she pushed off with her paddle

She stayed a distance behind White Bear, just close enough to keep him in sight He might not want her to follow him She could not guess what was in his mind right now

What would she do when she caught up with him? She had hoped to marry him, if not this summer, then the next Ever since she was a small child she had found him endlessly fascinating More so than ever since his return from his spirit journey Nothing, she thought, would make her happier than living with him Sun Woman had told her all about what happens when a man and a woman lie down together—knowledge that Wind Bends Grass had insisted that she did not yet need It sounded painful, pleasurable, frightening and exciting She had looked forward to lying down with White Bear

But now she was going to lose him How could Sun Woman send her own son away from the tribe?

And send him away from me Redbird felt more hurt than if her own mother had turned against her

And did White Bear truly mean to go with the pale eyes? He had smoked the calumet He must

The current carried her canoe through the water, brown with silt caught up in spring flooding, almost faster than she could paddle Ahead the river divided, flowing around an island near the right bank, thick with trees White Bear turned into the narrow channel that ran between island and shore, and she backpaddled to slow herself and watch

His canoe rounded a huge fallen tree, whose exposed roots clutched at the island's shore like the fingers of a drowning man, and disappeared behind the trunk

She let her paddle drag in the water, first on one side then on the other, holding her canoe back until he had time to land Then she glided into the narrow channel and around the dead tree

He had drawn his canoe up in a small sandy cove, and was gone She landed on the patch of sand beside his canoe and pulled her canoe partway out of the water

She listened, and for a moment heard nothing but the wind in the trees A redbird, her namesake, trilled long and loud, and another answered from a more distant tree

She plunged into the forest that covered the island, pushing her way through the shrubbery toward the sound of his voice

He was sobbing so loudly that she was sure he could not hear her coming She had heard a man sob like that once before, a dying hunter whose leg had been torn to shreds by a bear

She moved through some trees and saw him He was sitting with his back against the big black trunk of an oak He was in a grove of trees so big and so old that little grew in their heavy shade, and there was an open place to sit The season was so young that their branches were still almost bare, and she could see White Bear clearly in the afternoon sunlight He held a severed tree branch in his lap His eyes were squeezed shut and his lips were drawn back from his teeth, and his cries of pain came one after another

She stepped out of the bushes into the grove He looked up, and the face he showed her was so twisted that she could not tell whether he saw her He went on sobbing hoarsely

She looked at the branch he was holding It was almost as long as her arm, and, surprisingly, it had leaves at its tip, even though this was only the Moon of Buds He clutched it as a child clutches a doll for comfort

Gradually his weeping subsided She reached out very carefully and patted his shoulder lightly When he did not pull away, she rested her hand on him She eased herself closer until they were pressed together side by side, and she slid her arm around his shoulders and held him tightly

At first she felt no answering movement He seemed only half alive She wondered if he knew she was here Then his head dropped to her shoulder She felt the weight of his body yielding to her

She put her other arm around him She held him as if he were her child In spite of his sorrow and her own, it was a great happiness to hold him like this

He sighed and wiped his face with his hand She stroked his cheek, brushing away the tears

She studied his face as he stared off into the forest She could see now the features of his father in him There had always been something odd about his eyes, but she had never been quite able to decide what it was Now she saw that they were rounder than most people's They were shaped like his father's His nose was thin and bony, with a high arch, and sharp at the end, like the beak of a bird His eyebrows were thick, black and straight across His chin was pointed She loved the strangeness of his face

She said, "When it gets dark we could go back to the village and fill our canoes with food and blankets and tools and weapons There will be feasting tonight for Star Arrow Everyone will sleep soundly after that We could cross the Great River tonight, and tomorrow we could be far away"

She had not thought that far ahead, about what it would be like to be away from Owl Carver, Iron Knife, Sun Woman, her sisters, her mother, all the others Yes, it would be a great loss But she could stand the pain, she thought, if she were beside White Bear

"But we would have each other Would it not hurt you less if you had me with you?"

He did not answer at once, and that made her feel as if a rough hand had squeezed her heart But then he smiled at her, and she felt better

"Yes, if I could share my life with you, the pain of leaving Saukenuk would be less" Then his face darkened "But we could not live on our own A man or a woman cut off from their tribe can no more be happy than a flower after it is picked can continue to grow And I would have dishonored the promise I made with the sacred tobacco The spirits would turn their backs on me My mother and Owl Carver say that if I go with Star Arrow, I may learn things that would help our people"

She was thunderstruck to realize that he actually wanted to go with Star Arrow Then what was all this weeping for?

He did not care for her as much as she did for him That made her angry She pushed herself a little apart from him

"I see that I have been a fool to chase after you, just as my mother said It means more to you to go and live with the pale eyes than it does to have Redbird as your woman"

"Did we have to speak?" She felt herself getting angrier and angrier "Why do you think I went looking for you when you went on your vision quest? Why do you think I followed you from the village today? And why did I say I would go with you across the Great River? Yes, I did want to be your woman But you do not want me You want to go away with this pale eyes father of yours, and maybe you want to take a pale eyes woman for yourself"

His mouth as well as his eyes opened up in amazement "I have never even seen a pale eyes woman How could I want one? I do want Redbird to be my woman And I weep at leaving Saukenuk because I must leave you"

Again she reached out to him, putting her hands on his arms "I would rather be cast out of our tribe than lose you"

He shook his head "We do not have to lose our people or each other It was part of the promise sealed with sacred tobacco that I am to come back If we ran away now, Earthmaker would be angry with us"

She moved closer to him She had seen Earthmaker in dreams He was taller than the tallest tree, and he carried a great war club with a ball-shaped rock at the end of it and looked much like Black Hawk, with a long black lock of hair coiling down from the top of a shaved head

"I wish I could meet and talk with the spirits, as you have," she said "Sometimes I think I do meet them, in dreams"

"It can be dangerous to meet with the spirits," he said His eyes seemed to be looking into the distance He had seen so many things she had not It was unfair, she thought sadly

She had gone out to him in the bitter cold when the world was an endless white waste She might have frozen to death She might have been punished by drowning in the icy river She had risked almost as much as he had

"I do not say that I am as strong as White Bear, or as worthy to speak with the spirits," she said "I only wish I had a chance to"

She felt a cold wind blowing across her neck, as if spirits had quietly entered this grove with them and were standing about them, listening to them, judging them

"It is so wondrous," he said in a voice so low she had to strain to hear it over the wind whispering in the tree branches "You are there with them The White Bear, the Turtle You see them, talk to them You see the Tree of Life, the crystal lodge of the Turtle and the spirits of all living things Why would anyone want to return?"

"Your hands are cold," White Bear said, and he put his arm around her and drew her close to nestle on his chest She slid her hands under the leather vest he wore and felt the smooth warmth of his skin and the firmness of his muscles How powerful his arms were around her She thanked Earthmaker that White Bear had found the inner strength to return from that other land

A new thought occurred to her "What if you find that the land of the pale eyes holds you fast? Then you will never come back to me, and to the Sauk you will be dead"

"Can the land of the pale eyes, altogether without spirits, hold me, when the spirits themselves could not?"

"Can the land of the pale eyes hold me, when Redbird is not in it? I do not think so"

Her body seemed to be melting She wanted to flow together with White Bear as the Rock River flowed into the Great River

His arms tightened around her Then he raised his hand to brush the fringe of hair that fell over her forehead

She moved against him until her cheek touched his Slowly she slid one side of her face against his, then the other side A hunger filled her It was almost as if she wanted to devour White Bear, but all she could do was touch his smooth cheek with her fingertips

His nostrils flared and his lips parted and she could hear his breathing His hands were roaming over her body, awakening powerful feelings wherever he touched her, making her want more

How did they come to be lying down? They must have moved without realizing it She could see, feel and think only of White Bear Her head was pillowed on his arm and her face was pressed against his With his free hand he caressed her, seeking her flesh under her jacket and skirt His hand became bolder, plucking at the laces that held her clothing together, baring places that only a husband should look at as he was looking now And touching those places, sending ripples of delight all through her

And she wanted him to do that She felt no shame or fear, only happiness She let him do whatever he wanted She helped him She moved her hands also, to touch more of him Her hand found the oak branch that he had been holding just before she sat down with him She put the branch aside and let her fingers feel the hardness pushing against his loincloth; he was ready to come into her in the way that Sun Woman had explained

She could still stop him if she wanted to She knew him and trusted that he would not do anything she did not want

But she wanted this She wanted his hand to go on skillfully preparing the way for him She wanted this golden glow inside her to fill her more and more This was happiness, and she was climbing toward a greater and greater happiness She felt him move, and all at once her hand was not on his loincloth, but on his hot flesh She wanted to open herself up to the part of him she held so tightly

Then he was upon her, and she felt a sudden stabbing pain She cried out Almost at once his cry of pleasure followed on hers and his hips thrust forward violently and she felt him filling her He let out a long sigh and relaxed, lying on top of her, resting all of his weight on her

There had been mounting pleasure until her moment of pain Now there was an ache and a faint memory of the good feelings She wanted more pleasure Sun Woman had told her it would hurt only the first time And that from then on it would be better and better

Slowly he withdrew from her and they lay on their sides looking at each other His eyes were huge right before her face

"For a moment," he said softly, "I felt as I did when I walked on the bridge of stars"

She thought of asking him whether it made him so happy that he would stay with her now instead of going to the country of the pale eyes with his father But she knew what his answer would be, and that his saying it would only hurt him and her

She said, "It was Sun Woman, your mother, who told me about this—about what men and women do together"

He laughed "It was also she who told me" His face reddened "I feel as if my mother were here watching us"

It was Redbird's turn to laugh "What would she see that she did not know about already?"

"Oh, yes Something has passed between us I have given a part of myself to you And I have a part of you too Now, even if I must leave you, we will still be with each other"

She did not want to hear him speak of leaving She wanted to stay here with him in this grove of ancient trees forever When she had spoken to him of going off and being alone together, this was what she imagined it would be like But then a dark thought crossed her mind

"White Bear, they might send people looking for us They might catch us together like this" Anxiously she started to pull her clothing together

He sat up beside her and put his hand over hers "I do not think anyone is coming" He sounded so sure that she thought he must be speaking as a shaman

"They know I will come back to the village," he added "They saw me smoke the calumet And in a few days I will leave with Star Arrow"

"And so there is time," he said, "If you want " and guided her hand to touch him To her joy she felt him strong in his readiness to be within her again This time, she was sure, it would not< hurt She would know the full delight that Sun Woman had told her of The afternoon sunlight slanting through the budding branches was warm again, bathing her and making her feel joyful and free

Their flowing together lasted longer this time, and gave her all the happiness she had hoped for

And it came to her, as they lay peacefully side by side afterward, that this might have happened someday, but it would not have happened today if Star Arrow had not come to claim his son

7
Raoul's Mark

On the morning of the fourth day of their journey north from Saukenuk along the Great River, when the sun was halfway up the sky, White Bear and Star Arrow emerged from a forest into a prairie To their right were gentle hills covered with new green buffalo grass and prairie flowers of every color To their left the hills stood taller, then dropped suddenly to the Great River White Bear saw a large boat with great white wings above it to carry it along

Star Arrow brought his tall black stallion to a sudden halt and climbed down, gesturing to White Bear to dismount from his brown and white pony

"Look at this stone," Star Arrow said, pointing to a large gray rock that stood upright on the edge of a bluff overlooking the river

White Bear saw carving on the rock and, remembering Père Isaac's lessons, recognized it as the pale eyes' letter M

"M for de Marion," said Star Arrow "We are now on land belonging to the de Marion family You see no fences here because we could not cut enough wood to fence off all our land There is so much of it"

He reached out and rested his hand on White Bear's shoulder, his fingers squeezing through the buckskin shirt "But before we come to the place where I live, and where you will live, we must speak of names Among the pale eyes I am called Pierre de Marion My full name is Pierre Louis Auguste de Marion"

"According to our custom you should call me Father," Star Arrow said, saying the word in English White Bear already knew it

"I already have a name I was born Gray Cloud because I am neither white nor red" He could hear reproach in his voice, though he had not meant to sound that way "But now I am White Bear That is the name given me by the shaman Owl Carver after my spirit journey I must keep that name"

"And you will keep that name, son You will always be White Bear But, just as I am happy to have the British Band call me Star Arrow, so you can have a pale eyes' name One that tells pale eyes when you go among them who you are—that you are a member of the de Marion family—that you are my son"

He is proud that I am his son White Bear's anger faded and he felt a warmth toward this man who wanted to give him a name He decided that if Star Arrow could have two names, so could he

Star Arrow put his hand on White Bear's shoulder "I wish you to be called Auguste de Marion Auguste is a very old name It means 'consecrated,' a sacred person, and that is a good name for one who has seen a vision and wishes to be a shaman Say it after me Auguste"

As they rode on through the de Marion lands, people called out from cabins Mounted men, who saluted Pierre with a wave of their hands, rode among herds of cattle and horses

Dozens of horses! Auguste thought, realizing he was seeing wealth that would amaze any man of the British Band

Farther along they passed fields fenced off with logs split in two and piled one on top of the other Sheep roamed over low hills and cropped the prairie grass to its very roots Inside a smaller plot huge gray and pink pigs rolled in mud beside a pond

They passed fields planted with crops The whole village of Saukenuk with all the farmland around it would fit into one of those fields He recognized one crop, corn Corn as far as he could see How much corn could the de Marions eat? They must be a huge tribe

As they rode along, Pierre said, "One more thing for you to know, Auguste You will meet the rest of your family today—your< grandfather and your aunt, my sister" He stopped his horse Auguste reined up his pony and waited Unhappiness dragged down the lines in Pierre's face

"I must tell you that I also have a brother, your uncle, who—" He hesitated "Who may not be friendly to you"

"Thirteen summers ago another sister of mine and he were captured by the Potawatomi during the war between the British and the Americans My sister was murdered by them Raoul, my brother, suffered greatly until we found him and ransomed him He hates not just the Potawatomi, but all red men He did not wish me to bring you back here to our home"

"I do not understand," said Auguste How could a man hate all tribes because of what the men of one tribe had done to him? Again he realized what a mystery the pale eyes were, and he felt fear

Pierre said, "He probably will not be there when we arrive I had to tell you about Raoul, but I do not want you to be afraid of him"

But he was afraid, he told himself as they rode on His belly felt hollow, and his heart beat faster than his pony's trotting hooves He was afraid of the pale eyes and their strange ways He felt more fear now than he had when he walked on the bridge of stars with the White Bear

"There!" Pierre suddenly held out his hand Auguste's eyes followed the gesture, and his mouth dropped open

What at first he thought he saw was a forest of trees covered with snow In their midst something rose like a great gray hill Snow in the Moon of Buds? Perhaps the pale eyes did have a magic of their own

As they rode closer, the snow on the trees turned into flowers He had seen wild apple trees in bloom and knew that many trees flowered around this time But these trees were all planted in straight rows, and each one was a mass of white blossoms

What he had thought was a gray hill was the biggest lodge he had ever seen He jerked the reins of his horse to stop, so that he could sit and wonder at what he was seeing He felt Pierre stop beside him

The great lodge seemed to be made of three or four lodges all joined together with one central building higher than all the rest Its< high peaked roof was of logs split in half with the flat sides turned outward The lower part of the lodge was made of stones, the upper part of logs

Dread filled him, seeing that these people could do so much They could hold so much land that a rider needed half a day to cross from edge to center They could make the land obey their wishes, fence it, fill it with animals, plant huge fields with crops, enjoy a forest of flowering trees And in the very center of all this they could make a lodge gigantic enough to hold a hundred families

The pale eyes could do anything They were magicians so mighty as to make a shaman like Owl Carver look childish How could he ever hope to know all that they knew?

Pierre patted Auguste's pony on the neck, and the little horse started forward again Numbly, Auguste felt himself being led toward the great lodge, his pony's hooves falling softly on white petals

Closer and closer they came until the house blocked out part of the sky It was gray, the logs it was built of having weathered Auguste saw that there were many smaller buildings scattered around the giant lodge—smaller only compared to the huge one in the center Some of the smaller houses were connected to the great one by sheltered walkways The smallest was much bigger than the biggest lodge in Saukenuk

In a moment they would emerge from among the flowering trees Auguste saw a log fence ahead The fence surrounded a low hill covered with close-cropped grass, leading up to the house One large old maple tree shaded the south side He checked his pony He could go no farther

"I cannot," Auguste said "I cannot go there" He felt a quaver in his voice and his lips trembling, and he held himself rigid

"I do not know what to do here I have never seen such a place as this I will do foolish things All those people will laugh at me You will not want me for a son"

"We shall sit here," said Pierre They sat, facing each other Auguste saw people approaching through the straight rows of trees Pierre saw them, too, and waved them away

They sat for a long time in silence while their horses grazed nearby Auguste held his misery in until he felt calmer

He looked at Pierre and nodded to say that he was in control of himself Pierre nodded back Auguste looked at the petal-covered ground, feeling crushed

"And it is not foolish to fear There are some people here who will hate you just because you are a red man There are people who will be afraid of you But there are dangers in the life you come from—fire and flood, sickness, bears and wolves, the Sioux and Osage, enemies of your people You fear those things, but you have been taught how to live with those dangers There are other people here, people like myself, who will care for you and protect you and teach you how to live with the dangers of the pale eyes' world You must come to know these people who will help you I want you to be glad you came from Saukenuk to Victoire"

Auguste sighed and settled down again He listened to the buzzing of locusts rise and fall

If my vision of this man meant something, then come to me now, White Bear, and tell me what I must do

He carried a handful of bits of magic mushroom in a saddlebag, but several times since his spirit journey the White Bear had spoken to him without the help of the mushroom and without his mind leaving his body All he needed to do, sometimes, was sit quietly and listen He waited now, sometimes looking at Pierre, sometimes looking at the twigs and moss and grass on the ground

He was about to give up and get to his feet He would beg Pierre to let him go back to the Sauk

A warmth spread from the center of his body to hands and feet that a moment ago had been icy with fear Knowing that he had not left his spirit helper behind when he left Saukenuk gave him new confidence

They remounted and rode around to a gateway in the west side of the fence surrounding the house Auguste, with his newfound strength, endured the curious stares of the men and women gathered at the gate to greet Pierre

"Look, your grandfather is waiting for you," said Pierre, his voice ringing with joy

Before a doorway sheltered by its own wooden roof, an old man, a very stout young woman and a plump young man awaited them

The old man's eyes were blue like Pierre's but they seemed to glitter and to see deeply into Auguste He was tall and thin and slightly stooped with age His clothes were simple—a black jacket over a white shirt, and black trousers that tightened below his knees and ended in straps that ran under shiny black shoes He leaned on a black stick with a silver head

His heart fluttering with excitement, Auguste got down from his horse and took a tentative step forward The old man approached him, his expression as fierce as a hawk's He looked hard into Auguste's face

The old man spoke to him in a language of the pale eyes, so rapidly that Auguste could not hope to understand him

Pierre said, "Your grandfather says he sees at once that you are a member of our family He sees it in the shape of your eyes He sees it in your nose, in your chin He sees that like all de Marion men you are very tall"

Grandpapa gave a cackling old man's laugh, threw his arms wide and hugged Auguste Auguste hugged him back, rather gingerly, fearing his bones might crack A thought came to Auguste, and he let go of his grandfather He hurried back to his horse and took out of the saddlebag the tobacco pouch he had packed along with his small medicine bundle

Elysée took the pouch and opened it, sniffed and grinned appreciatively He and Pierre exchanged words

Pierre said, "I have told him that among the Sauk, tobacco is offered to honored friends, to men of high rank and to great spirits This pleases him"

"Thank you, Auguste," Grandpapa said "I will smoke it in my pipe after we eat together" This time he spoke slowly enough for Auguste to understand him

Never among the Sauk had he seen a woman with such broad hips and such a vast bosom She stepped forward and placed her lips, to Auguste's surprise, on his cheek, making a little smacking sound Not sure what to do, Auguste put his arms around the woman as he had around his grandfather She felt soft and comfortable and not at all fragile, and he hugged her hard He felt powerful muscles under her ample flesh His aunt returned the embrace with strong arms She smelled of flowers

All at once, Auguste sensed that there was a baby growing inside the woman holding him Not because she was so big; it had nothing to do with the way she looked It was a sensing, and he was pleased to know that, along with the White Bear, he had not left his powers behind at Saukenuk

At Pierre's gesture the sandy-haired man approached Auguste Auguste opened his arms to hug him, but the man stuck his right hand out The man's fingers were black That was odd; he had never seen painted fingers before Was this another pale eyes custom?< Auguste decided he was expected to hold out his own right hand Frank seized his hand in a strong grip and shook it up and down

"Frank makes the talking papers from which people may read and learn things," said Pierre "He also builds things of wood He built some of the newer buildings here on our land Frank and Nicole and their children live over by the river in a town called Victor He built many of the houses there, too"

The people had been so friendly that Auguste had gotten over much of his fear, but when he saw Pierre wave him toward the door, which yawned above him like an enormous cave mouth, he felt cold once again

But he followed Pierre through the door, and his breath left his body in amazement

It was like being in a forest clearing where the trees towered over you and their branches met high up, blocking out the sky In a Sauk lodge he could reach up and touch the roof without straightening his arm Here the ceiling was hidden in shadows, and huge square-cut timbers crossed the open space above his head

Hung by ropes from those timbers were big circles of wood that Père Isaac had said were called wheels These wheels were turned on their sides, and set on them were dozens of the little white sticks of wax that pale eyes used to make light A few of the more prosperous Sauk families sometimes used such wax sticks to light their lodges

Auguste looked around in wonder The huge room was full of objects whose purpose he could not guess Doorways led to other parts of this house or to attached houses Cooking smells of many kinds of good food filled the air

Pale eyes men and women stood about in the hall and watched Auguste and his father and grandfather enter

Two small boys and a girl running through the hall stopped to stare at him Frank Hopkins called to them and they approached slowly

"These are Thomas, Benjamin and Abigail, Nicole and Frank's children," said Pierre

Their other children, thought Auguste, wondering whether Nicole herself knew what he knew about her

Thomas, the biggest of the three, said, "Gosh almighty, I got a real Injun for a cousin!"

Benjamin walked slowly over to Auguste, suddenly reached out and gripped the deerhorn handle of the knife at his belt Auguste tensed

But Benjamin grinned up at Auguste and let go of the knife without trying to pull it out of its scabbard Then he ran back to his father

Grandpapa Elysée beckoned, and as Auguste walked toward him he noticed that the soles of his moccasins were striking a hard surface He looked down to see that the floor of the lodge was covered with flat stones Auguste and the others followed Grandpapa across the length of the floor to a stone hearth so big a man could stand inside it

They passed three long, cloth-covered platforms raised as high above the floor as the sleeping platforms in Sauk and Fox summer lodges

"Those are tables," Pierre said Auguste remembered the word from a book of words and pictures Père Isaac had shown him On the tables lay a confusion of shiny objects

A man standing by the hearth, who appeared as old as Elysée, stepped forward and bowed He had a round, bright red nose and white whiskers that stood out on either side of his face

Guichard said, "I greet you, Auguste" Auguste was amazed to hear him speak in the Sauk language He spoke with a lisp, though, and Auguste noticed when he opened his mouth that he had no front teeth

Pierre clapped Guichard on the shoulder "I do not know how he does these things, but he always surprises us with what he has learned And by his care for us in so many ways"

Guichard stepped back with another bow, and Pierre turned to a short man and a plump woman also standing before the hearth The woman's full lips curved in a smile of greeting for Pierre; then she plucked at her skirts, lifting them a bit, and bent her knees and ducked her head

"This is Marchette Perrault," Pierre said, and Auguste noticed< that his normally pale face was flushed "She reigns over our kitchen" Auguste did not need to rely on his special sense to see that there was a loving secret between Marchette and his father

The man standing beside Marchette, short and powerful-looking, with a bristling brown beard, was staring at Pierre with hatred in his face, his eyes narrowed His mouth was invisible in his beard, but Auguste knew that his lips were pressed together, his teeth clenched He also knew that this short man was as strong as a bull buffalo

The look the brown-bearded man gave Pierre frightened Auguste, and he wondered if he was the only one who could see it

"Armand Perrault, here, is the overseer of our estate," Pierre said, apparently oblivious of the man's expression "He makes the crops flourish, the trees bear fruit and the cattle grow fat He and Marchette come from French families who settled here many generations ago"

Armand bowed, a quick jerk of his head and shoulders, to Pierre Somewhat to Auguste's relief, the angry man did not even look at him Abruptly he turned his back and strode across the hall to a side door

Pierre said, "Most of those who live and work here at Victoire are Illinois people of French descent The town, Victor, grew up after we built our home here Most of the people there are Americans from Missouri, Kentucky or back East Everyone you meet in America is from somewhere else"

Marchette made another bow to Pierre and left, too, to go into another connected house in which Auguste saw a fire burning under a huge metal pot in another hearth There was much smoke and steam in that lodge, and he could not see everything, but the good smells were coming from there, and he remembered that he had eaten nothing today but a little dried venison

Pierre took Auguste by the arm and led him to a place at the table near Grandpapa Guichard pushed a wooden seat made of sticks toward him A "chair," Auguste remembered, from Père Isaac's picture book

Why do they sit up high and raise their food up so high? Auguste wondered Perhaps pale eyes did not keep their floors clean enough to sit on and eat from But these appeared very clean

"This is a special meal in your honor," said Pierre "Most of the people who work on our land will be eating here with us" Men and women were seating themselves at the other tables

"About a hundred men, women and children live and work here," Pierre answered "Beyond the hills to the west, by the river, is the settlement called Victor, where another hundred people live Many of them work for us too Nicole and Frank live in Victor"

Two hundred, thought Auguste That was not so many, after all There were nearly two thousand people in the British Band

Nicole sat beside him, Pierre across the table from him Nicole went through the names of the objects on the table—"plate," "glass," "knife," "fork," "spoon" Guichard was going around the table behind the people sitting there, filling each glass with a red liquid from a pitcher

Auguste had seen beads and other small objects made of glass at Saukenuk, but here glass was everywhere What was glass, and how did the pale eyes make things from it?

Even as he was wondering about glass he saw his father take out of his coat pocket an oval silver case hanging from a purple cord around his neck Pierre opened the case and took out yet two more small, round pieces of glass in a metal frame To Auguste's bewilderment, he put these over his eyes, like a transparent mask He smiled when he saw Auguste staring

"Spectacles I have trouble seeing things that are near to me, and these help I like to see what I'm eating"

Last night, as Auguste lay beside the sleeping Star Arrow in the tall prairie grass, he had thought of quietly climbing on his pony and fleeing back to Saukenuk, in spite of the tobacco-sealed promise Now he was glad he had not run away The people all looked kindly at him, except for that man Armand, and there were so many wonders to see He could feel his heart beating hard and his hands trembling with excitement

When Guichard filled his glass with the red liquid, Auguste drank from it The liquid was cool and burned at the same time It was bitter and puckered his lips, but was sweet in his throat He was thirsty, so he drank more of it

This must be like that burning water the pale eyes call whiskey that I tasted at the council last Moon of Falling Leaves on the other side of the Great River The chiefs and braves and warriors had drunk much of the burning water from a barrel, he remembered, and they had grown merrier and merrier The women and boys were each allowed one small sip and the young girls none at all

"I have tasted it," he said Pierre frowned and seemed about to speak, but he said nothing when Auguste held his empty glass out for more wine to Guichard, who was going around again with the pitcher

Men and women brought food to the table on big plates and in bowls There was turkey, duck, fresh venison, flat bread and round bread, dark bread, white bread and yellow corn bread, cooked fruit and raw fruit, loaves of maple sugar, fruit baked inside crusts, heaps of mashed-up vegetables There were slices of fish burned almost black and piles of boiled crawfish The food, Auguste saw, was coming from the connected lodge Marchette had gone into, where the big pot was with all the smoke and steam

Auguste watched the way the people at the table with him were eating He tried to use his knife and fork as they did and saw Pierre smile approvingly The sight and smell of the food made water fill his mouth and his stomach growl But when he put a slice of meat in his mouth it was unexpectedly very hot to the taste Not just hot from being cooked, but hot because of something cooked into it

Peppers, he thought His mother kept some, traded up from the south, in her collection of medicine plants, and he had tasted their fire

Pierre himself, Auguste noticed, put very small portions of food on his plate and ate little of what was there Auguste was saddened If only there was something he could do for his father He had consulted Owl Carver before leaving Saukenuk, but the old shaman had only said gloomily that in his experience such an evil spirit in the belly was usually fatal

The hot food made Auguste thirsty, and he drank more wine Each time he held his glass out, Guichard, smiling toothlessly, seemed to be there with the pitcher

Still hungry, he grew impatient with knife and fork and began< picking the food up with his hands He tried to take small pieces with his fingers and eat quickly so that people would not notice, but then he caught the two boys and the girl, at the other end of the table, watching him and giggling and whispering to each other His face went hot

Nicole, sitting on his right, asked him short, simple questions about how the Sauk and Fox lived, and he answered with the little English he had She smiled and nodded at him many times as he told her the Sauk names for things, and she repeated them after him She seemed to find pronouncing them easy

The other people mostly talked among themselves in their own language The pale eyes never stopped talking, it seemed Would there never be a moment of thoughtful silence? The voices, all speaking so fast, gabbling like a flock of turkeys, made him dizzy

A strange feeling was coming over him He heard a buzzing in his ears, like locusts on the prairie His face felt numb He reached up and touched his cheeks with his fingertips, and it was as if he felt his face through a thin, invisible cloth

His stomach started to churn He felt with a sudden panic that he could not hold all the food he had eaten The peppers and the wine were burning together in his stomach He lurched to his feet, swaying from side to side The vast room seemed to be spinning like a canoe in a whirlpool, and the voices around him faded away

He felt Nicole quickly stand up with him, her hand firmly on his arm, steadying him

He shut his eyes and held his hand tightly over his mouth, wanting to die of shame and embarrassment His belly bucked like a wild pony Hot liquid spurted through his fingers

"Here, son, here," a voice said He opened his eyes to look into the face of his father, full of pain for him Pierre held a large wooden bucket under his chin On the other side of him Nicole had a strong grip on his shoulder

Auguste took his hand away from his mouth and let his belly give up what it had held Stained red by the wine, the food he had just eaten poured into the bucket The smell of vomit filled his nostrils, making him feel even sicker

He fell to his knees, coughing, choking, tears streaming from his eyes Pierre knelt beside him, still holding the bucket for him Auguste's< stomach heaved again and again, forcing the remnants of his meal through his throat and past his slack lips

As he recovered a bit, he heard someone laugh softly in a distant part of the room, and someone else speak in the pale eyes' language The tone of contempt was unmistakable

He was overwhelmed with shame He had made a fool of himself before his entire de Marion family and their whole tribe He had disgraced the Sauk He had embarrassed his father

Tonight, he promised himself, holding his aching belly Tonight I leave the land of the pale eyes forever

Reproaching himself, Pierre knelt beside Auguste, trying through the pressure of his hand on the boy's back to tell Auguste that he loved him

He said he had tasted wine, but I should have known he could not drink so much The poor boy must be dying of shame, and it is all the fault of stupid Pierre

Auguste coughed and wiped the back of his hand over his face Pierre patted him gently on the back

Nicole, kneeling on Auguste's other side, suddenly turned her head toward the door and drew in a frightened breath Pierre looked up to see what it was

A figure filled the doorway, silhouetted in the yellow rectangle of afternoon sunlight

Pierre at once recognized the truculent set of Raoul's broad shoulders, the forward thrust of his head under the wide-brimmed hat

Pierre had time for one more anguished thought of self-reproach as his younger brother strode toward them

Pierre tugged on Auguste's arm, helping him to his feet He heard Nicole whisk away the bucket

"So, this is the little mongrel?" Raoul's deep voice boomed in the cavernous log hall

Pierre turned to Auguste and in Sauk said, "This is your uncle, Raoul He lives here with me and your grandfather He speaks with a rough tongue, but do not fear him"

"Auguste, is it? A fine French name for a redskin" Raoul set his fists on his hips, throwing back his blue jacket to show his gilt-handled pistol and a huge knife in its scabbard At the sight of the weapons Pierre's heart pounded

"Oh, I admit that He's got de Marion written all over his dirty face But don't call him my 'nephew' I reserve that title for legitimate kin"

Pierre hoped Auguste's knowledge of English was not enough to let him understand how he was being insulted The boy looked from Pierre to Raoul as they spoke, his large, dark eyes watchful, his face expressionless

"Raoul, stop this" It was Nicole, back from getting rid of the bucket "I'm Auguste's aunt and you're his uncle, and you might as well get used to it"

"And you are spoiling our dinner, Raoul," Elysée said "Either sit and eat with us like a civilized man or leave us alone"

"Spoiling your dinner?" Raoul gave a bellow of laughter "Mean to tell me it doesn't spoil your dinner to see that savage puking in our great hall? Mean to tell me he's civilized?"

Pierre glanced across the table at his father and Frank Hopkins, who had both risen to their feet Elysée's eyes burned with anger Frank held his little girl's hand and looked sombrely at Raoul The two Hopkins boys stared at their uncle

I pray God they don't admire him Boys have a way of looking up to men who behave like brutes

Raoul turned to Nicole, his teeth flashing white under his thick black mustache "You really want an Indian nephew? Have you forgot what Indians did to your sister?"

"No, I'll never forget what happened to Helene," Nicole said "None of us will But Auguste had nothing to do with that"

"You didn't watch your sister die," Raoul said "So that just the sight of an Indian makes you want to kill"

Pierre saw that Raoul was working himself up into a rage He would talk and talk, and every word he said would make him angrier, until at last, the explosion A spasm of pain shot across Pierre's stomach

Not now, he prayed God, let the illness leave me alone until I can be alone with it

Nicole's cheeks were an even brighter red than was usual for her, but she spoke gently "Raoul, you do have a living sister If it had been me at Fort Dearborn instead of Helene—if I had been raped and murdered—I would be looking down from Heaven, and I would be hoping your wound would heal I would pray that you would welcome Pierre's son, your nephew, into your home"

"Stop saying that this filthy savage is my nephew," said Raoul "Look at him standing there, staring at me You know what the word mongrel means, redskin?"

Pierre felt a surge of pride as he saw Auguste standing straight and slender, gazing levelly at Raoul Savage? Even though he had been sick only a moment ago, Auguste held himself as regally as a young prince

"As for you, Nicole," Raoul went on, "don't ever think you can speak for Helene She may be in Heaven now, but she got there by way of Hell No decent woman could imagine what she suffered"

Pierre almost screamed aloud as the pain in his belly stabbed him again He clutched at his stomach Just when he needed all his strength!

"Oh? He's already got a few words of English?" said Raoul "You're training him to talk, eh? Like a parrot? Going to put him in a medicine show?"

Elysée suddenly spoke in a loud voice, "My friends—those who were invited to dine with us here today—will you please excuse us and give us privacy? We have family matters to discuss"

Silently, eyes cast down, the thirty or so servants and field workers who had been invited to celebrate the coming of Pierre's son filed out of the hall

"Raoul," Elysée said, "I have not forgiven Helene's killers But I am not stupid enough to hate all Indians, and neither should you be Do you think whites have never tortured and killed Indian women?"

Raoul bared his teeth again "If you can't hate the Indians for what they did to your daughter and to me, then you never loved either one of us"

Pierre felt a sudden surge of anger "Raoul, I forbid you to speak that way to our father You are cruel and unjust"

"You owe me justice, Pierre, you and Papa Where was he when you abandoned me to the Indians? Where were you?"

Pierre's legs shook He could feel the rage radiating from Raoul; it was like standing too close to a red-hot stove

"There is much to explain, son," said Pierre "Be patient and quiet, and all will be well"

Pierre saw fear struggling with resolution in his son's face A pallor in the fine olive skin showed that Auguste had not yet gotten over being sick Auguste squared his shoulders and took a step toward Raoul He raised his right hand in greeting

Frank picked Abigail up and carried her, with Tom and Benjamin trailing He walked off toward the kitchen, looking back over his shoulder at Nicole

In a moment, Pierre thought, he would have to get between them But his stomach hurt so badly that he could hardly move

"If you want to be my friend, you mongrel bastard, get as far away from this house and from me as you can," Raoul said

Auguste took another step toward Raoul, still holding out his hand He'd learned about shaking hands from Frank Hopkins just a little while ago, Pierre remembered

Raoul thrust out his own hand and struck at Auguste's He grabbed Auguste's shirt, twisting the buckskin in his big hand

Raoul had lost all control The fury was upon him Pierre forgot about his own pain and tried to throw himself between Raoul and Auguste His chest hit Raoul's arm, hard as an iron bar

"All right" Raoul punched his fist into Auguste's chest and released him, sending the boy staggering backward to fall to the floor

Rage blazed up inside Pierre The sight of his son knocked to the floor swept away all constraint To the Devil with trying to reason with Raoul He rushed at Raoul and swung his arm with all his strength, bringing his palm against Raoul's mouth

Though open-handed, it was a blow that would have knocked many a man down Raoul only staggered back half a step

"You still fight like a Frenchman, Pierre," said Raoul with a grin, wiping his mouth "Slapping a man Think you're still a count or something? Fight like an American"

He lunged at Pierre Pierre barely saw, out of the corner of his eye, the fist coming at him A cannon went off at the side of his head

Pierre rolled his aching head to one side to see Auguste standing over him, his hand on the deerhorn hilt of the knife that hung at his belt, the knife Pierre had left for him when he was a baby Nicole held his arm with both hands

"Want to fight with knives?" Raoul said He slid his own huge hunting knife out and held it upright, the point glittering in the candlelight

"Come on, redskin!" Raoul shouted, but even as he spoke he charged at Auguste, as Auguste struggled to break free from Nicole Raoul's knife flashed and Pierre heard a cry of pain, and Nicole was between Auguste and Raoul, and Auguste had his hand to his face and blood was running through his fingers

Pierre rushed to Auguste Blood flowed from a long cut that ran straight down Auguste's cheek from just below his eye to the corner of his mouth The front of Auguste's tan buckskin shirt was stained red

"If he'd pulled that knife, I would have taken his eye," Raoul said softly "I just left a mark on him So he won't forget me"

"Let go of me, Father," Auguste said in Sauk, in a level, terrible voice "I have to kill him"

Blood pounded in Pierre's head He wanted to take Auguste's knife—the knife he'd given Auguste long ago—and drive it into Raoul's chest

"Forgive me?" Raoul shouted "Can I forgive you for bringing this savage here to cheat me?"

Nicole took Auguste from Pierre's arms She pressed a white napkin to his bleeding face and took him to a chair to sit down As he sat, Auguste turned to shoot Raoul a look of pure hate

"Just remember, when you die—and I hope God makes it soon—I will have this estate"

Pierre felt Raoul's words as if that blade had plunged into his heart That his own brother should wish him dead

Pierre went to stand by Auguste, seated in a chair with Nicole wiping his slashed face

Pierre said, "In the will I wrote years ago I named you as my heir I never thought to change that will Until today"

Raoul, still wiping his knife, snorted "No court in Illinois would let a man disinherit a legitimate white brother in favor of a half-Indian bastard"

Pierre let his hand rest on Auguste's shoulder The boy's eyes burned up at him Pierre looked down at the blood-soaked napkin that Nicole pressed to Auguste's cheek

Auguste, speaking in the Sauk tongue, broke the silence that had< followed Raoul's words "Even if he is your brother and my uncle, this man is our enemy, Father I will stand side by side with you against him" Auguste put his hand over the hand that lay on his shoulder

Raoul slammed his knife into its sheath "You've driven me out of my home, Pierre I'm not living under the same roof with an Indian I won't be back till I can come back as master of this house"

He strode to the door and turned again "And then I'll bring my own family with me"

"I'm marrying Eli Greenglove's daughter," Raoul said with a grin "And that mongrel had better not try to touch my children's birth-right"

Pierre looked miserably down at Auguste and thought, I hope your shaman's skills make you better at predicting the future than I have been, my son

BOOK 2
1831

Moon of Ripe Cherries
July

8
Homecoming

Rejoicing at the sight of Victor, Auguste stepped up to the gangplank of the paddle wheeler Virginia and paused there a moment to look around He couldn't help himself: he smiled broadly The settlement hugging the bluff was not home, but it was closer to home than he had been in a long time

And this summer, he had decided, he would go back to his true home He would end the sorrow of being cut off from his people

This was the sixth spring since Pierre de Marion had come and taken him to Victoire, and, as with every spring before it, he missed Saukenuk terribly He longed for his mother, for the teachings of Owl Carver, for the arms of Redbird, whom he had lost almost as soon as he made her his

For six years—he had learned to count years as white people did—he had obeyed his father and the promise made with the calumet and had not tried even to send a message to the British Band He even felt it was a wise rule To communicate with his loved ones would have torn him in two But more than a month ago in New York City, strolling in the warm evening air on the busy cobblestone streets, past dooryards where lilacs were blooming, he made up his mind that when he returned to Illinois he would visit Victoire only briefly and then would go back to Saukenuk He was twenty-one years old now, and among white people that meant he was master of his own life

He gazed up at the bluff There were more houses up there than when he had last come out here, two years ago Some were built on the bottomland itself, in spite of the danger of flooding

He saw the palisade and flags and towers of Raoul de Marion's trading post at the top of the bluff, and felt his joy fading He would have to face Raoul's insults and threats, as he had every other time he came back to Victor His belly tightened as he remembered, as if it had just happened, that first encounter six years ago, the burning-ice feel of the knifepoint slicing into his cheek, his hand gripping his own knife, Aunt Nicole and Father holding him back

Seemingly with a will of its own his hand went to the scar and his finger traced the ridge that ran from eye to mouth

He brought his gaze down from the top of the bluff and saw a more welcome sight—Grandpapa, Aunt Nicole and Guichard in a black open carriage from the estate, waiting to take him up to Victoire He ran down the gangplank and strode over to them

"Auguste! My God, you're beautiful!" Aunt Nicole exclaimed, and then her face reddened and she looked downward

He felt that he looked good, though "beautiful," as he understood English, was not the right word for a woman to use about a man But he supposed she admired his new clothes, the fawn-colored cutaway coat and vest, the ruffled silk shirt, the tight, bottle-green trousers He wished he were not already holding his tall beaver hat in his hand, so that he could tip it to her with the graceful motion he'd learned watching the dandies on Broad Way

Grandpapa leaned out of the carriage and hugged Auguste His embrace felt strong, and his eyes were bright Auguste was happy to see him in good health

Auguste shook hands with Guichard, who had climbed down stiffly from the driver's seat

Auguste pointed out the big wooden chest with brass fittings that had been unloaded at the Victor pier along with bales and barrels from the hold of the Virginia

Guichard approached two buckskin-clad men lounging by a piling He pointed out the trunk as Auguste had done

"For him?" said one of the men, glowering at Auguste from under his coonskin cap "White men don't wait on goddamn Injuns" He spat tobacco juice at Guichard's feet and turned away, as did the other man

Auguste wanted to throw the man who had spat at Guichard< into the river He had no doubt that he could do it, though like most men who lived in Victor, the man was armed with knife and pistol Auguste had been taught to fight as a Sauk, and he had been a champion boxer, wrestler and fencer at St George's School But he was not going to get into a brawl in his first minutes ashore Time enough for that if he met Raoul

"Come on, Guichard The trunk's light enough We don't need any help" The old servant taking one end and Auguste the other, they loaded it into the back of the carriage

"Good to see you again, Grandpapa," Auguste said as he dropped into the seat facing Elysée and Nicole, his back to the driver "Aunt Nicole, it's you who are beautiful But where's Father?"

Grandpapa patted him on the knee "Not feeling well, I'm afraid He sends his apologies We will go to him now, at once"

Grandpapa was trying to make his voice sound unconcerned But Auguste heard an undertone of sorrow, the anguish of a father who had lost one of his children years ago and would soon lose another

With understanding, grief sank into Auguste's marrow Father—Star Arrow—had hung on these past six years, growing sicker and sicker, the evil in his belly swelling up like a poisonous toad Now the end was near

Auguste found himself looking deep into Aunt Nicole's eyes, full of shared sorrow

Guichard flicked the reins, and the carriage started off, turning away from the dock, passing the warehouses and rattling down the long dusty-white road that led across the bottomland fields to the bluff It must have been a good spring out here; though this was only the beginning of July, the corn was already up to a man's waist

Auguste felt he would look better wearing his beaver hat as they rode along He put it on his head, pulling the rolled-up brim down with both hands, and set it in place with a pat on the crown

"So, you are now a finished graduate of St George's School?" said Elysée with a smile "Monsieur Charles Winans has sent long letters full of good reports about you"

Aunt Nicole reached over and squeezed his hand "We're proud of you, Auguste" Her soft, fleshy hand was warm, and her eyes sparkled at him He sensed a feeling in her that was more than the affection of an aunt for a nephew She now had eight children, he< knew, and every time he had seen her and Frank together, they had seemed very much in love But Aunt Nicole was a big woman She had room in her big heart, perhaps, for more than one love

"If I learned anything at St George's, I owe it all to the way you prepared me, Grandpapa Anyone who could take a boy who could barely speak English, and in two years cram enough knowledge into his head for him to go to secondary school in New York City—such a man is no ordinary teacher"

"You were no ordinary pupil, my boy," said Elysée, leaning back in the carriage, his hands resting one on top of the other on his silver-headed cane "And Père Isaac laid down a solid foundation in that head of yours Those Jesuits are good for that, at least, black-hearted rogues though they may be in most other respects"

Elysée quickly patted her knee "Forgive me, my child Let me not shake the faith that sustains you"

"It would take more than your wicked tongue to disturb my faith, Papa," Nicole said with a wry smile

It was amusing to hear Grandpapa and Aunt Nicole bicker about what the whites called "faith" As the carriage rolled along, Auguste recalled the many lectures he had listened to on Jesus and the Trinity at St George's, which was affiliated with the Episcopal Church But Auguste had walked with the White Bear and talked with the Turtle He knew them as he had never known the white people's God, and what went on in their dimly lit, waxy-smelling churches had no attraction for him

He knew that Christians, for the most part, saw his beliefs about the spirit world as rubbish sprung out of ignorance—or, worse, inspired by the Evil One Père Isaac's efforts to persuade him to walk in the way of Jesus had prepared him for that At school he did not speak of things sacred to him, so as not to expose them to white scorn When teachers and fellow students tried to persuade him to take instruction in Christianity, he was polite and evasive

And when he felt he was smothering in the noise and crowding and dirt of the huge city of New York, he would borrow a pony from the lady he called Aunt Emilie—his father's cousin, actually—and ride out of New York along a trail that led to the north end of< the island of Manhattan There in a forest cave he had found, he would chew a bit of the sacred mushroom Owl Carver had given him and restore his link with the spirit world by journeying with the White Bear All through these six years, his faith had remained strong

"Just a beginning: I've read some books, attended some lectures I assisted a surgeon—Dr Martin Bernard—at New York Hospital I bought myself a surgeon's box of instruments—got it in the trunk, there But if anybody came down with anything worse than an ingrown toenail, I'd be scared to do anything about it"

"The only person in town who knows anything about treating the sick is Gram Medill, the midwife," Nicole said "Tom Slattery, the blacksmith, pulls teeth We need a real doctor"

Auguste felt a fluttering in his stomach as he wondered when he should tell this white family of his that he wanted to leave them Nicole was thinking, he realized, that he would stay here at Victoire

The steel-reinforced wooden wheels of the carriage bumped mercilessly over the rutted road, and Auguste hoped Nicole wasn't pregnant at the moment The fact that his shaman's sense did not tell him reminded him that he had been too long away from the Sauk As they began to climb the road that ran up the bluff, Nicole pointed out to Auguste that the newer houses were made of boards rather than logs, because Frank had set up a sawmill and workshop on the Peach River Frank was now a master carpenter, with four workers to help him when there was a house to be built

"But he'd sell the mill in a minute if printing alone would provide him with a living," she said "That's where his heart is"

Elysée said, "Pierre and I offered Frank a regular income, so that he could give all his time to his newspaper and to printing, but he wouldn't hear of it He got a bit haughty when I pressed him, and informed me that the system of feudal patronage is dead I assured< him that I was well aware of that, and that is why I am here and not in France"

"The town grows bigger every year," Auguste said Nicole nodded sympathetically; she seemed to have guessed what he was thinking: How numerous the whites were, as he had seen for himself in the East, and how inexorably they were filling up this part of the country, like a river in flood Last year the New York papers had reported the results of the 1830 census; the United States was over twelve million, Auguste had read, a number he could not even imagine And 150,000 of those were here in the state of Illinois, balanced against the six thousand Sauk and Fox Black Hawk's people, the British Band, numbered only two thousand Hopeless

"Victor had a hundred or so people the year you came here," said Elysée "Now there are over four hundred As you see, the bluff is completely covered with houses And we have many new industries and crafts A preacher, a Reverend Hale, has put up a church on the prairie to the east of us I am not sure whether his work counts as an industry or a craft There is Frank's sawmill, as Nicole said There are also a flour mill and a brewery, and a mason works at a limestone quarry nearby And your father is planning to set up a kiln on the estate, so we can build a new Victoire of brick"

"How sick is my father?" Auguste asked abruptly, dreading the answer he would get

"Ah, Nicole, there are your children waiting to greet us," Grandpapa cried, as if he had not heard Auguste's question

Where the road made a sharp turn and started upward on a higher level, stood a two-story frame building painted white A sign over the door read, THE VICTOR VISITOR, F HOPKINS, PUBr, PRINTING AND ENGRAVING CARPENTRY

Auguste could hear the press clanking away inside the house as they approached The three younger children, John, Rachel and Betsy, were lined up by the door, Rachel holding in her arms a baby that must be Nicole and Frank's newest Three of the older ones, Benjamin, Abigail and Martha, leaned out a window< to wave to Auguste from the second story Auguste felt proud of himself, being able to remember all their names and which was which

As Guichard reined up the horse and pushed the brake lever on the carriage, the sound of the press stopped and Frank came out through the open door wiping his ink-stained hands on his leather apron His forehead was shiny with sweat The oldest son, Thomas, followed him, pushing his hands down his own apron with the same gesture

Auguste climbed down from the carriage and took Frank's hand, then shook with Thomas and the three little girls The baby was Patrick, he learned He lightly rubbed Patrick's fine hair

"No wonder the town's population grows so fast, Aunt Nicole," Auguste said with a smile "How many more do you think there will be for you and Frank?"

But as he spoke, his pleasure at his aunt's handsome family was dimmed by the thought that if all white families were as fertile as this, there was no hope at all for the red people

Aunt Nicole's face reddened again, and Auguste reminded himself that white women were generally reluctant to talk about pregnancy and childbirth Auguste recalled his mother, Sun Woman, speaking of a kind of tea that would keep a woman from getting pregnant When he went back to Saukenuk he could find out more about it He would surely come back here to visit, and then he could tell Aunt Nicole about it If white women knew about that tea, maybe there would be fewer whites in years to come, and they would not have such a hunger for land

As they drove on up the road to the top of the bluff, Auguste saw Nicole's face brighten, and he turned to see what she was looking at A black buggy drawn by an old gray horse was coming toward them, having just rounded the bend in the road at the trading post palisade Auguste caught a glimpse of blond braids under a red and white checkered bonnet

Nicole said, "Auguste, here's a newcomer to our county I think you'll enjoy meeting her"

"Ah yes," said Elysée "Reverend Hale and his daughter, Mademoiselle Nancy He came here over a year ago, Auguste, declared< the town too corrupt for his church and started holding services for the farmers out on the prairie They built him a church about five miles from town Painted white, with a steeple one can see for miles Its very simplicity makes it beautiful"

Curious, Auguste tried to see the face under the red and white bonnet Every day, and many times a day, he thought of Redbird and the joy they so briefly shared, but many of the young white women he had seen in the past six years had made his heart beat faster Just last winter he'd gone with a group of his classmates to an elegant old house on Nassau Street where he discovered that the body of a white woman, under her many-layered dress, was in all important respects as interesting as the body of a woman of his own people Even though he planned to leave Victoire as soon as he could, he was eager to meet the new minister's daughter

The two carriages pulled side by side, and the drivers, Guichard and the Reverend Hale, a slab-faced man dressed in black, reined up for the customary exchange of greeting

"Reverend Hale, Miss Hale," Elysée said, "may I present my grandson, Auguste de Marion"

The reverend stared at Auguste for a moment from under bushy brows before grunting an acknowledgment Auguste suspected he had heard about his parentage and was looking for traces of Indian blood

Indian Auguste had never heard that word before he went to live among white people His people were the Sauk, the People of the Place of Fire And their allies were the Fox And besides these there were Winnebago, Potawatomi, Chippewa, Kickapoo, Osage, Piankeshaw, Sioux, Shawnee—each a separate people And besides these, hundreds more, whose names he did not even know But the whites had one name for all these peoples—Indians And that name, Grandpapa had explained to him with gentle irony, was altogether a mistake The explorer Columbus had thought he had landed in India

But the sight of Nancy Hale drove the bitterness from his mind Her braids, emerging from her red and white bonnet and lying on either side of her white lace collar, were yellow as ripe corn, and< her face, while too long for ideal beauty, was pink and clear Her mouth was wide, and her teeth were white when she smiled at Nicole and Elysée She looked straight at Auguste for an instant, then she looked down, but in that moment he saw eyes a vivid shade of blue, like the turquoise stone from the Southwest he carried in his medicine bag

"Visiting the members of your flock, are you, Reverend?" Elysée asked Auguste noticed that he put the tiniest humorous inflection on the word "flock"

Hale's thick gray brows drew together as he nodded sourly "Trying to bring the Word to that wilderness you call a town"

Here was an unhappy man, thought Auguste, whose life was dedicated to persuading those around him to be equally unhappy

"Ah, yes," said Elysée with a broad smile "Quite a population of sheep gone astray in Victor"

It must scandalize him to think that my mother is an Indian woman and that my father, by the lights of this man, isn't even married to her

Auguste suddenly wanted to defy the disapproval he felt from the reverend He jumped out of the carriage and in an instant was standing on the road beside the minister's buggy He swept off his high-crowned hat with the flourish he'd seen in New York and bowed deeply

"My pleasure, Mr de Marion," she murmured Her large blue eyes looked frightened and her flush deepened, but she did not take her eyes away, and his gaze was locked to hers His heart beat as hard as it had the first time he saw the White Bear

"The Lord's work awaits us in Victor," said the Reverend Hale loudly "You really must excuse us" And without waiting for a reply he snapped the reins of his buggy, and the old horse ambled off

Auguste stood in the road waiting to see if Nancy would glance back at him She did Even at a distance and through dust he could see the blue of her eyes

Elysée said, "Well, Auguste, close your mouth, put your hat back on and get back up here"

He still wanted just as much to go back to his people He had not forgotten Redbird By now, though, she had probably forgotten him And so, what harm could there be in getting to know this white young lady a little better?

Then their carriage was passing the log wall around the trading post A shadow fell over his enjoyment at meeting Nancy Hale He ran his finger down the scar on his cheek

Her face paled "He's down— You know about what's going on in the Rock River country, don't you?"

Twisting his hands in his lap, Auguste said, "The New York papers only report what happens on the eastern seaboard" He remembered now overhearing remarks by some of his fellow passengers on the Virginia about "Injun trouble" But he'd kept to himself on the trip up from St Louis

Elysée nodded "Well, your father insisted that no one write you about it He feared it would distract you from your studies"

Auguste felt a sudden flash of anger at Pierre de Marion He does want me to forget that I am a Sauk Not even telling me when my people are in danger

Nicole said, "Frank has a correspondent who writes him regularly from Fort Armstrong"

The American fort, Auguste remembered, was at the mouth of the Rock River, six miles downriver from Saukenuk

Nicole went on, "Black Hawk's band once again crossed the Mississippi to Saukenuk in the spring, even though the Army has told them over and over that the land now belongs to the Federal government and they must not return to it This time they found settlers actually living in some of their houses and farming their fields Black Hawk drove them out Black Hawk's warriors destroyed< settlers' cabins nearby, shot their horses and cows, told them to move away or be killed Now Governor Reynolds has called up the militia to drive Black Hawk and his people out of Illinois His proclamation says, 'Dead or alive'"

Auguste whispered, "O Earthmaker, keep my people safe" The carriage had reached the top of the hill and was passing the front gate of the trading post, shut and locked with a chain He trembled at the thought of Redbird—Sun Woman—Owl Carver—Black Hawk—all the people he had known and loved all of his life, facing the rifles of men like Raoul

"You can't," Nicole said quickly "You can't get through the militia lines You'd be shot"

Auguste, fists clenched in his lap, shook his head "If they are in such danger, how can I stay away? I must be with them"

Elysée seized his wrist in a grip so powerful it startled him "Listen to me You cannot help them You simply can't get there before matters are settled, one way or another And I am sure that when your chief Black Hawk sees the size of the militia force, he will go peacefully back across the Mississippi The Sauk and Fox have many young men You are your father's only son He needs you now"

Auguste's heart ached as he saw the plea in Grandpapa's eyes How could he deny the old man? And his father's need for the love of his son in his last days

But the thought of thousands of armed and angry whites going to drive his people out of Saukenuk smote him like a war club Grandpapa didn't know Black Hawk; Black Hawk was not likely to yield peaceably And whether or not Auguste could be any use at Saukenuk, he had to be there

Nicole said, "At least see your father and talk to him before you decide what to do"

Auguste nodded "Of course" He saw more pain in her face than he could bear to look at He turned to stare out at the hills as the carriage carried them to Victoire

Now they could see Victoire, the great stone and log house rising< out of the prairie on its low hill Elysée and Pierre liked to call it a château, but Auguste had learned that it was nothing like the castles in the land they had come from And, much as he had marveled at Victoire when he first saw it, he had seen still bigger and finer houses in New York But it was still the grandest house north of the Rock River's mouth, and Auguste couldn't help feeling proud when he realized that the blood of the men who built it flowed in his own veins

Their carriage rattled through the gateway in the split-log fence Auguste saw with pleasure that the maple tree that shaded the south side of the house was bigger than ever

Most of the servants and field hands were gathered before the front door to greet Auguste He remembered how they had assembled this way six years ago, when Star Arrow first brought him here from Saukenuk

Every time he thought of Saukenuk, of his beleaguered people surrounded by an enemy army, his breathing grew fast and shallow

But he was frightened, too, by the silence of the house It whispered of his father's dying He must face Pierre's death and suffer with him now Auguste wanted to rush upstairs to Pierre and hold him tight And also he did not want to go into Pierre's room at all

Auguste and Elysée climbed the stairway from the great hall of the château to Pierre's second-story bedroom, Nicole following At the door Auguste hesitated, and Elysée stepped forward and firmly knocked A woman's voice called them in

As Grandpapa pushed the door open, Auguste closed his eyes He dreaded what he was about to see His heart fluttered anxiously Would there be anything, he wondered, he could do for his father?

Now the door was fully open, and he saw the long, thin figure stretched out under a sheet on a canopied bed Marchette was sitting with a basin of water on her knees She had been wiping Pierre's face with a damp cloth

A flash of bright red caught Auguste's eye On the floor by the bed was a second basin, partly covered by a towel which, Auguste suspected, Marchette must have hastily thrown over it But part of the towel had fallen into the basin, and blood was soaking into the white linen

A knot of grief filled Auguste's throat, blocking it so he could not speak He rushed to the bed

Pierre lay on his back, his head propped up by pillows, his long nose pointing straight at Auguste, his eyes turned toward him His bony hands looked very large, because his arms were so thin Pierre's gray hair, what was left of it, spread out on the pillow

He raised his hands, and Auguste, biting his lip, leaned over the bed and put his hands under his father's shoulders He held Pierre close and felt Pierre's hands come to rest on his back, light as autumn leaves They held each other that way for a moment

His father felt so light, as if he was starving to death Auguste released him and sat on the edge of the bed He said the first thing that came into his mind

Pierre's voice was like the wind in dead branches "Marchette keeps me alive with clear soups They are all that I can keep down"

A half-empty bowl of broth, Auguste now saw, stood on a table beside the bed Next to the soup lay a Bible bound in black leather, and Pierre's silver spectacle case with its velvet ribbon

What would Sun Woman and Owl Carver do for a man this sick? What would they feed him?

"I don't think anyone can help me, son," Pierre said "It's all right Just having you here makes me feel better"

Auguste had learned enough about cancer to be sure that Pierre's condition was hopeless Dr Bernard—any of the other white physicians at New York Hospital—would say that nothing more could be done except to make the patient comfortable, give him laudanum perhaps, and wait for the end

But that was merely what white medicine had taught Auguste White doctors had sharp lancets to draw blood, scalpels to cut into sick people's bodies, saws to cut off infected limbs They had huge thick books listing hundreds of diseases and prescribing treatments for them But after spending many hours treating the sick in New York, Auguste had seen that there were many things the white physicians did not know how to do, had never even thought of doing Perhaps greater hope for Pierre lay in the way of the shaman

At the very least, Auguste, as White Bear, could speak to Pierre's< soul, could summon the aid of the spirits, especially his own spirit helper and that of the sick man, to cure him if possible; if not, then to ease his suffering, help him to accept what was to happen to him and prepare him to walk in the other world

With a jolt, the thought hit him anew: If I stay here with Father, what of Saukenuk?

Pierre said, "God has kept me alive because I must talk to you about our land, Auguste"

Auguste did not like the sound of that The thousands of acres the de Marions owned had nothing to do with him, and he wanted to keep it that way

Marchette stood up, pushing her chair back "Perhaps the rest of us should leave you and Monsieur Auguste alone"

Auguste saw in her face the anguish of a woman who was losing a man she loved Auguste had long suspected, seeing the looks that passed between Pierre and Marchette, and the way her husband, the brown-bearded Armand, glared at both of them, that there was—or at least had once been—something between the master of Victoire and the cook

Pierre raised a tremulous hand "Au contraire I want the three of you—Papa, Nicole, Marchette—to hear what I say Besides, you are the three I trust most I want you to know my wishes, my true wishes, because after I am gone there are those who will lie about me"

Auguste took Pierre's hand, so big and yet so weak, in his own strong, brown one

Auguste heard the others move closer to the bed Nicole went to stand at the foot Elysée seated himself in an old spindly-legged armchair brought over from France, his cane across his knees

Pierre pointed a skeletal finger above his head to a shelf mounted on the white-painted plaster wall, where an Indian pipe lay, its bowl carved of red pipestone, its stem polished hickory

Auguste took the pipe reverently, with a hand at each end of its three-foot length Two black feathers with white tips fluttered from the bowl as he put the pipe into Pierre's hands From the moment he touched the pipe, Auguste's hands were shaking as much as Pierre's Only he and Pierre understood how much power was in< this pipe—power to bind men for life to whatever they promised when they smoked the sacred tobacco

"This pipe was given me a few years after you were born, Auguste, by Jumping Fish, who even then was one of the civil chiefs of the Sauk and Fox It is the sign of an agreement between our family and the Sauk and Fox, fully understood and freely entered into by both sides"

Auguste looked in wonderment from Pierre to Elysée, and Grandpapa nodded solemnly

Elysée said, "We had spent years exploring the more unsettled parts of the Illinois Territory, and we had decided that here was the land we wanted as our family seat in the New World In 1809 we bought this land for a dollar an acre at the Federal land office in Kaskaskia Thirty thousand dollars The Federal government claimed that the Sauk and Fox had signed a treaty a few years earlier with Governor William Henry Harrison, selling fifty-one million acres, including all of northern Illinois, to the United States for a little over two thousand dollars, a shockingly paltry sum"

Auguste said, "Yes, Black Hawk says Harrison cheated the Sauk and Fox He says the chiefs who signed the treaty were drunk and could not speak English or read or write it, and did not know what they were agreeing to when they made their marks He says that anyway those chiefs had no permission from the tribe to sell any land"

"Exactly," said Elysée "And we wanted to live in peace with the Sauk and Fox And that was why your father went to Saukenuk We hoped to make reasonable payments for the land we would live on to those from whom it had been taken"

Pierre said, "I was still there with your mother, by my own choice, when war broke out in 1812, and then they required me to stay with them You were already two years old After the war, and after I left them, I sent the Sauk and Fox chiefs what they asked for—thirty thousand dollars, partly in coin and partly in trade goods, knives, steel axes, tin pots and kettles, blankets and bolts of cloth, rifles and barrels of gunpowder, bags of bullets So, we paid for this land twice over Despite that, I think it is far more valuable< still than all the money we spent for it The chiefs recognize our right to live on the land and use it And Jumping Fish gave me this calumet, and I gave him a fine Kentucky long rifle with brass and silver inlay on the barrel and stock"

Auguste nodded eagerly "Yes, yes, I've seen it Jumping Fish uses it to shoot the first buffalo every winter to start the hunt"

"And I gave Black Hawk the compass your war chief still treasures, from which I received my Sauk name"

Auguste looked across Pierre's bed and out the windows, of costly clear glass shipped from Philadelphia, that gave a view south across grass-covered prairie Once all that prairie belonged to my people, he thought

As if knowing his thoughts, Pierre said, "I did not say the Sauk and Fox sold us the land I said they recognized our right to use it Do you understand?"

Auguste nodded, repeating what he had so often heard Black Hawk say in the tribal meetings "Land is not something to be bought and sold So we believe"

Pierre closed his eyes wearily, his fingertips still resting on the calumet that lay across his chest Auguste grieved The father who had left him when he was a little boy and then come back for him was leaving him again, slipping away Marchette wiped Pierre's face with a damp cloth

Nicole's lower lip trembled as she said, "My big brother You've always been here for me"

Elysée's face was crumpled by an unbearable sadness He wishes, Auguste thought, that it was him lying there dying, instead of his son

Pierre opened his eyes and lifted his head to look at Auguste Auguste gently pressed his hand against his father's balding brow

"Not till we are done You know that your grandfather turned the estate over to me when I was forty years of age Now I must pass it on Until recent years I had thought that the land would go to Raoul when I died

"But the enmity between me and Raoul has grown deeper and deeper A few times he and I and Papa have met together, trying to come to terms Each time, the words that passed between us were< more cruel Then, a year ago, he even boasted to me that he killed three Sauk Indians who were taking lead from that mine he has been working, which they believe to be theirs"

"I think I know those three One of them was my age, and a friend of mine" His hatred for Raoul burned fiercer than ever

Pierre said, "For a long time now there have been no words at all between Raoul and me"

Nicole spoke up "Not you Raoul has had a grudge against Pierre for as long as I can remember"

Elysée said, "Yes, Raoul has many quarrels with me—over land and how it is to be used, our paying the Sauk and Fox for it, the Fort Dearborn massacre Yes, you are part of it, Auguste, but there is much more besides"

Auguste shook his head "But before I came, Father and Raoul were speaking to each other and the question of who would get the estate was settled And it still can be Father, after you are gone I will go back to my people You can tell Raoul that, and there will be peace between you"

With pain that tore all through him like lightning burning through a tree, Auguste realized that he had committed himself to stay here as long as his father lived His Sauk family and loved ones were in terrible danger four days' ride from here, and he wanted to be with them But he couldn't leave Pierre now His fear for Sun Woman and Redbird and the others in peril, his shame at not going to help them, would be a terrible torment, but he would have to endure it He could not leave his father to take his first steps on the Trail of Souls alone

Auguste gasped as the enormity of what Pierre was saying hit him Heir! He tried to stand up, but Pierre's grip held him fast Just< as this huge house and all the land around it would hold him captive, forever parted from his people

"You can't will it to me I know nothing about managing farms and raising livestock Nothing about business Raoul has been trained from childhood to do all the work of this estate I can't do it, and I don't want it"

He looked around the room, hoping the others would help him persuade Pierre that what he wanted was impossible Nicole and Marchette were both wide-eyed and open-mouthed Elysée leaned forward in his chair, his eyes intent on Auguste

Pierre said, "Once the land is your responsibility, you will do what is right with it I know you will I want to turn the estate over to you now, as Papa did with me, while I am still alive I would be here to help you, for a little while Your grandfather will advise you, as he has advised me all these years There will be others to help you Nicole, her husband, Marchette, Guichard"

Elysée, who had been sitting slumped and miserable in his fragile-looking armchair, roused himself and said, "I knew your father was going to propose this to you today, Auguste This is what he wants It is no mere whim He has been thinking about it for a long time And it is not impossible You have shown yourself capable of learning quickly I can only promise you that if you take up the burden your father offers you, I will be at your side to help you every way that I can"

For a moment Elysée's words made Auguste's resolve waver Thirty thousand acres, he thought And the United States stole fifty million acres from my people Should not one Sauk get some of it back?

But he had some idea of the crushing responsibility a huge estate would entail It was absurd to think of himself occupying such a place

"But Raoul is also your son, Grandpapa," he said "Don't you want him to inherit your land?"

Elysée shook his head "Raoul is a murderer many times over, who has escaped punishment only because Smith County is on the frontier, where there is no law He hates Indians with a passion that< is close to madness He is a crude, violent, greedy man He shames our family He is far less worthy than you"

Auguste felt anger boiling up under his dismay Father and Sun Woman and Owl Carver and Black Hawk had promised him he would live among whites only for a time and then go back to the Sauk They had all smoked the calumet, making that agreement sacred He had lived for that homecoming, through these six years He freed his wrist from Pierre's grip and held out his hands, pleading for understanding

Pierre said, "You are not the same person you were when I took you out of the forest You have been educated You may yet become a doctor"

"You can do more for them if you stay here, my son The Sauk will need friends among the whites who have knowledge and wealth and power"

Auguste shook his head violently, as if to drive out Pierre's words "I will never be happy, living as a white man I must go back to my people I beg you to let me go"

But even as he spoke he realized with a sudden pang that these loved ones, Pierre, Grandpapa, Nicole, were his people too

Pierre's sunken eyes blazed at Auguste "I have already written my new will, Auguste There is one copy with the town clerk, Burke Russell, and one copy in your grandfather's keeping It names you my sole heir To all that I possess, the entire de Marion estate If you accept what I am offering you, you will have to fight Raoul It will all be upon your shoulders I can only beg you with these last breaths to take what I would give you You must decide"

A voice inside Auguste screamed, You must not do this to me, Father You will destroy me

He stood looking down at his father with his arms hanging at his sides, his shoulders straight, his head bowed He could not say no so finally, so bluntly, to his dying father He needed time to work his way free of this trap

"Father, you know we Sauk never decide quickly When it is a very important decision, we think, we go on with our work, we walk the sunwise circle, we wait in silence for the answer to come You must give me time"

Pierre closed his eyes and his head fell back to the white pillows "You have as much time as I do," he whispered "But only that much"

Auguste turned away from the bed His eyes met Nicole's He saw sympathy for him in her face, but only another shaman could know the pain he was feeling inside

9
Bequest

White Bear crouched over the brown blanket he had brought down from his room and unrolled it Bare-chested and barefoot in white sailcloth workman's trousers he had bought in New York, he took from the blanket roll his powerful necklace of megis shells and hung it around his neck Next he opened his soft leather medicine bag

Propped up against the big old maple tree on the south side of Victoire, Pierre lay on his mattress with his head and shoulders resting on pillows His cotton blanket, all he needed on this warm September day, was tucked around his chest, leaving his arms free He had begged to be taken outside; the weather was so fine As soon as the servants had carried him out and left him and White Bear alone, he had fallen asleep These days, Pierre slept most of the time, as a baby would But a baby slept to build up its strength, Pierre because he was losing strength

White Bear—he did not think of himself as Auguste now—laid out the objects from his medicine bag on the unrolled blanket and contemplated them They represented the seven sacred directions First, East He picked up a sparkling white rock and placed it on the east side of the tree The color of East was white and therefore was White Bear's own color Next was South He took up the green stone on which the mound builders had long ago carved the figure of a winged man This he laid on the earth next to the mattress on Pierre's left side The ground under the maple tree was bare, and an early morning rain had left it damp and soft

Now West The spirits of men and women went West when they died, and the color of West was red He set the red stone, with dark honeycomb markings that looked as if they had been painted on its highly polished surface, on the ground at Pierre's feet By the north side of the mattress he placed a black stone, itself from the North, that Owl Carver had engraved with an owl image The fifth direction, Up, was blue, and he put a blue stone, the color of Nancy Hale's eyes, on the pillow beside Pierre's head He set a piece of brown sandstone for the sixth direction, Down, beside Pierre's blanket-covered feet

Now for the seventh sacred direction—Here He picked up the last and largest item from his medicine bag—the claw of a grizzly bear that had been killed by Black Hawk himself many years ago After White Bear had come back from his first spirit quest with the prediction that Black Hawk would do deeds of courage and that his name would never be forgotten, the war chief had made him a gift of the grizzly claw White Bear laid the saber-shaped claw on Pierre's chest, over his heart, with the brown tip toward the cancerous lump in Pierre's belly that was killing him

He went back to his blanket and took out a dried gourd painted black and white Slapping the gourd against the palm of his hand to make it rattle, he danced in a circle around Pierre and the maple tree, sunwise from east to south to west to north and back to east again, keeping Pierre on his right, singing softly, almost to himself:

"Earthmaker, you made this man,
Now we ask your help for him
He is a chief whose people need him
He still has far to walk
Lift him up, Earthmaker
Give him back his life"

When White Bear had danced the circle nine times, he put down the gourd He had brought out from the château a kettle of freshly brewed willow-bark tea and a porcelain cup It would ease the pain in Pierre's stomach and give him strength Whenever Pierre ate solid food, blood would come trickling out of every opening in his body and he would grow weaker and paler He was slowly bleeding and starving to death

Smelling the tea as he poured it into the cup, White Bear remembered how he'd met Nancy Hale when he was collecting the bark yesterday along the bank of Red Creek She'd been blueberrying It was the fourth or fifth time he'd encountered her over the summer on the prairie near Victoire The meetings weren't accidents; not for either of them But he felt so uncertain about what he would do when Pierre died that he could only talk with Nancy about things of no importance

He looked up to see his father's eyes open They had sunk so far back in the skull-like face that they seemed like embers glowing in caves

White Bear blew on the steaming cup and held it to Pierre's lips He drank the tea down in small sips

Pierre smiled faintly as his eyes traveled over his land The nearby ground, covered with grass cropped short by sheep and goats, sloped down to the split-rail fence that surrounded the château's inner yard To the west White Bear could see the two flags flying over Raoul's trading post on the bluff overlooking the river, and beyond that part of the river and the dark west bank, the Ioway country In the other directions were orchards, farmlands, pastures, and the prairie, yellowing with fall, rolling on to the edge of the sky

When Pierre had drunk most of the tea, White Bear put down the cup He gathered up his sacred stones and put them back in his medicine bag

"Yes," said White Bear "It was meant to heal you Or, if not, to give you strength to bear the pain"

"I do feel better today," Pierre said "But I must also have a certain rite of the Church if I am to pass over into God's love I sent a week ago to Kaskaskia for your old teacher, Père Isaac He should be here any day I have been a great sinner, White Bear"

Pierre raised his head, and White Bear saw that the effort pained him The burning, sunken eyes turned on White Bear

"Son, I must have my answer now Earthmaker let me live all< summer, that you might have time to decide Now you must tell me"

"Can you not let me go back to my people, Father? Why do you ask me to stay here and fight for something I do not want?"

"I see what Raoul has become, and I do not want him to be the master here I am proud of you and ashamed of him I want you to be the future of the de Marions, not him And what of this land that we have loved together, the land that Sun Woman's people have cherished for generations? Shall it fall to Raoul?"

White Bear remembered what Owl Carver had said to Pierre at Saukenuk: If your land keeps you from doing what you want, then it owns you

"Nicole cannot do battle with Raoul when she has eight children to care for Her husband is an excellent man, but not a fighter White Bear, you are the only one"

"I still think as a Sauk, Father Among the Sauk one man may not own land And to claim so much would be a great crime"

"In you the heritage of the de Marions and the Sauk claim to this land are indissolubly united You will be doing this for the Sauk as well as for me and for yourself I believe that it was God's plan that I father you, that you spend the first fifteen years of your life among the Sauk and then these past six as a white Now you have a chance to be rich and to have power You can learn how to use your wealth to protect your people You can do much for them if you stay here and fight for what I give you"

Standing over his father, White Bear lifted his head and gazed up at the great stone and log house on the hilltop He wondered whether he was not being foolishly stubborn, refusing Victoire and the land the château governed

Pierre looked sad and weak and very old All summer long White Bear, heartbroken, had watched him suffer and diminish He knew he could do nothing to cure his father, and that his refusal to give him the answer he wanted to hear was prolonging his pain White Bear felt he would agree to anything, if only it would give peace

Looking into his father's pleading face, he saw that Pierre was using up his last strength White Bear could not let the final word Pierre might hear from him be no

He drew a deep breath in through his nostrils "Yes, Father I agree I will take what you offer me"

The look on Pierre's face was like a sunrise White Bear saw a warm, pink color flowing back into the pallid cheeks

Yes, you will go in peace, but I must stay to fight and suffer, White Bear thought But he was glad that he could make his father happy He leaned back against the tree and watched huge white clouds drift over the distant river

"Let us make this a sacred agreement, son," Pierre said "Bring the calumet and let us smoke together"

"Yes, Father" White Bear sighed and stood up Slowly, as if he were dragging chains, he walked up the grassy slope to the front door of the house

As he passed through the great hall he saw Armand Perrault, seeming almost as broad as he was tall, staring at him Armand's eyes were as small and full of hatred as a cornered boar's Feeling a chill, realizing this man was one of those he would have to fight when the time came, White Bear nodded to him as he went up the stairs to Pierre's room Armand stood motionless

A short time later White Bear was back at Pierre's side with the feather-bedecked calumet and a lit candle protected by a glass chimney From his own room he had brought down the deerskin pouch holding his small supply of Turkish tobacco, purchased in New York It would serve All tobacco was a sacred gift of Earthmaker

He dribbled the moist brown grains through his fingertips into the pipe's narrow bowl and packed the tobacco down gently Pierre's faded blue eyes, the whites a sickly yellow color, watched him closely

He held the candle flame to the tobacco and drew in a series of rapid puffs, feeling the smoke burning his mouth When the pipe was well-lit, he turned it and held the mouthpiece to Pierre's lips

Pierre took a long puff, held it in his mouth and let it out White Bear's heart lurched with fear as Pierre began to cough Holding his throat with one hand, Pierre gestured with his other hand for White Bear to draw on the pipe

The sight of beads of blood on his father's lips horrified White Bear He took a corner of Pierre's blanket and wiped away the bright red drops Then he took the pipe from his father's hands

Grieving for the freedom he was giving up, he pulled the hot smoke in till it filled his mouth He let its bitterness sink into his tongue as bitterness sank into his heart—the realization that this promise would cut him off forever from Redbird, from Sun Woman, from Owl Carver, from the life he longed to return to He let the smoke out with a long sigh and laid the pipe down He felt as if his life was over

But he felt some relief, too, because he was no longer torn by indecision Now Pierre and he were content to talk of small things—how full the corn bins were this year, what White Bear had seen and heard in New York City, whether it would rain again tomorrow

Pierre's voice grew softer and softer, and gradually he drifted off to sleep His grip on White Bear's hand was still strong White Bear let his head rest against the tree trunk and returned to a favorite childhood pastime, trying to see animal shapes in the clouds

He was not surprised when the Bear appeared at his side The huge head, covered with fur white as the clouds, pushed past him, poking its black nose into Pierre's shoulder Somehow White Bear knew that Pierre would feel no fear when he awoke, even though he had never seen the Bear before

Pierre's eyes opened, and he looked up at the Bear and, as White Bear had expected, only sighed and smiled

"Eh bien, je suis content" And Pierre got to his feet as easily as if he had never been sick

Pierre did not say good-bye, but White Bear had not expected him to They had said their good-byes already White Bear remained where he was, sitting with his back to the maple tree

With his left hand lifted to rest on the high hump at the Bear's shoulder, Pierre walked down the slope White Bear saw, rising from the rim of the hill, the arc of a rainbow

Pierre walked the rainbow path with the long, vigorous stride of a young man The Bear accompanied him with a rolling gait, looking like the biggest dog that ever lived walking beside a hunter White Bear smiled to watch them

They climbed the archway of color that leaped out over the Great River until at last they disappeared in the dazzling disk of the sun

White Bear's head fell back against the bark of the tree, and he closed his eyes

When he opened them again, his father was lying beside him, still holding his hand But Pierre's grip was without strength He lay with his head sunk in the pillow, his mouth fallen open, the whites of his eyes showing between half-closed lids He was not breathing

White Bear's tears came hot He heard a voice—his own voice—rising in his chest

He wrapped his arms around his knees and rocked back and forth, sobbing and keening in the way of his people Soon he would have to get up and go into the château and tell people Pierre de Marion was dead He must be the first to bring the news to poor Grandpapa But for a while he would sit alone with his father and wail for him

Sitting on the ground under the maple tree, he looked down and was not surprised to see marks in the bare, damp earth The prints of wide pads twice the size of a man's feet At the end of each print, deep holes left by five claws

Raoul did not think he could put up with much more of this funeral He had to wait till it was all over before he could make himself master of Victoire, and he wanted desperately to act now He tried to calm himself by remembering the Indians he'd stalked and killed at Saukenuk last May and June

Raoul and the fifty men he'd recruited to represent Smith County in the state militia had arrived at the Rock River in style, carried up the Mississippi from Victor to Fort Armstrong, at the mouth of the Rock River, on Raoul's new steamer Victory Paid for with the profits of the lead mine, the Victory was propelled by two side paddle wheels, and it could make the St Louis-Galena round trip in exactly a week

They'd come to hunt Indians and Raoul had made sure they did, camping in the woods on the south side of the Rock River opposite the Indian village and shooting at redskins whenever they had a chance It pleased Raoul to think they'd gotten half a dozen, maybe more

Finally fed up with talking, General Gaines had ordered a general< assault on Black Hawk's town at the end of June The militia were eager to slaughter every Indian in Saukenuk, and they'd swept in

And the damned, sneaking redskins were gone Seeing themselves outnumbered, they'd slipped out of the village, down the Rock River and across the Mississippi the night before The Smith County boys, along with the other militiamen, were in a fury of frustration They had to be content with the poor-second satisfaction of burning the Indian town to the ground

To Raoul's great annoyance, instead of pursuing Black Hawk, Gaines sent a message to the chief asking for yet another parley Black Hawk and some of his braves came back across the river to talk peace Just like he hadn't shown the whole world what a coward he really was, the stubborn old Indian had marched up to Gaines's tent walking like a peacock, with feathers in his hair

Hang the redskinned son of a bitch, was what Raoul thought Instead, Gaines just made him sign another fool treaty—as if the Indians ever honored any treaties—and even promised to send them corn because they hadn't had time to plant any

The disgusted militiamen called it the Corn Treaty Old Gaines must be almost as big a coward as Black Hawk

Raoul and the Smith County boys hung around the Rock River, sniping at Indians in canoes till their provisions ran out; they flagged the Victory down on her next northbound trip and rode her home

Home, where what was going on made Raoul madder than ever Pierre was dying and the mongrel—from the same tribe Raoul had been fighting down on the Rock River—was strutting around as if he already owned Victoire

Raoul eyed Nancy Hale, standing only a few feet from him among the two hundred or so mourners in the great hall of Victoire What would she think, Raoul wondered, when he played his hand today? He pictured what the tall blond woman would look like naked under him in bed

But first, of course, he had to succeed today He had to drive the mongrel away before he could court Nancy Whether her preacher father approved of him or not, he couldn't turn away one of the biggest landowners in Illinois

He didn't see how he could fail Surely the servants and the townspeople wouldn't take the mongrel's part

Still warming himself by staring at Nancy Hale's straight back, Raoul thanked God he'd never been quite able to bring himself to marry Clarissa

He felt a twinge of unease as he recalled that taking up with Nancy would mean kicking Clarissa out of his bed, and that might mean trouble with Eli To his relief, Eli had accepted Raoul's not marrying Clarissa, even after she bore him two kids But that was only because Eli figured it would happen eventually, maybe after Raoul got control of the estate

Well, once he had the estate, he comforted himself, he could see that Clarissa and their two out-of-wedlock boys were well taken care of

It galled Raoul to be so dependent on a man like Eli, to be—he hated to admit it to himself—afraid of him A heap depended on Eli's playing his part today in helping him get control of the estate Today, Eli would be leading the Smith County boys, ones who'd been at the Rock River last June Having been offered a good day's pay, they would do a little more Indian fighting

Raoul felt as if he were going to burst He couldn't stand this waiting, while the priest droned on in singsong Latin at the linen-covered table that had been set up as an altar before the fireplace Let the fight begin, for God's sake

Indians are all cowards at heart When I take over here, Pierre's precious little red bastard will slink away, like Black Hawk did last summer

A chill spread across Raoul's back as he asked himself: What if Auguste doesn't slink away? He might try to rally the servants and some of the townspeople to fight for him

They wouldn't fight for a mongrel bastard People hated Indians Look how many men rushed down to the Rock River to fight Black Hawk

But many people had loved Pierre This hall was filled, and there were more people outside who couldn't get in because there wasn't room All of them paying their last respects to Pierre And they knew that Pierre wanted Auguste to take his place Would any of them fight to see that Pierre's will was done?

He felt colder still as he considered the odds Just about every man in Smith County had his own rifle or pistol And Raoul and the men he'd recruited for today were far outnumbered He wished he had hired more men But too many and the secret would be out, and then Auguste would be ready for him

Raoul tried to calm himself Everyone in Smith County might be armed, he reasoned, but not everyone wanted to use their weapons A lot of men wouldn't fight unless their backs were to the wall It was the ones who were willing to fight who got to give orders to the rest The men Raoul had picked, Eli and Hodge and the rest of them, were born fighters

There'd be those who would condemn him, he thought, for seizing the land the very day of his brother's funeral It was indecent, he admitted to himself But he had no choice He couldn't allow Auguste to get his feet planted firmly He couldn't allow Pierre's will to be read aloud

He felt even better when he remembered that with Pierre dead the servants would be taking their orders from Armand He looked around the hall for the overseer There he was, near the door, most of his face buried by his thick brown beard Armand's wife, Marchette, was standing next to him Sporting a black eye, Raoul noticed with amusement

That sanctimonious hypocrite Pierre First the squaw, the mongrel's mother Then he marries Marie-Blanche, and as soon as she dies, he's putting it to the cook

Raoul took a deep breath of relief when he saw that Père Isaac had finally finished with the funeral mass The old Jesuit was again sprinkling holy water on the black-painted coffin, heaped with wreaths of roses and chrysanthemums that lay on trestles in the center of the hall Frank Hopkins, Raoul knew, had built that coffin of oak planks

Old red-nosed Guichard came up to Raoul "Your father requests that you be one of those who carries your brother's coffin to the wagon"

Raoul felt a momentary jolt of fear Help pick up Pierre's coffin and carry it, when he was about to dispossess Pierre's son? If he laid a hand on Pierre's coffin, God might strike him dead Or Pierre's ghost would rise up against him

He was angered to see Auguste standing opposite him when he went to the head of the coffin It was infuriating to see Pierre's features in that brown-skinned face The half-breed was wearing a green clawhammer jacket, with a black silk band around the left arm

His arms and back strained as they took the weight of his corner of the coffin A chorus of grunts arose from Raoul, Auguste, Armand, Frank Hopkins, Jacques Manette and Jean-Paul Kobell as they hoisted the coffin to their shoulders They trudged out the door with it and slid it on the bed of a flower-bedecked farm wagon Guichard helped Elysée climb up on the wagon A snap of the old servant's whip started the two horses moving, as black ribbons tied to their harnesses fluttered

Raoul walked alone, following the cart the half mile south along the bluffs to the burial ground Some of the hands had cut a track through the shoulder-high prairie grass for the funeral procession to follow The fiddler Registre Bosquet marched right behind the wagon playing hymns, and the servants sang in French

Raoul cast his eye back over the long line of people following the coffin His glance slid past Nicole and Frank and their passel of kids With a feeling of satisfaction he saw two of his key men walking near the end of the procession, Justus Bennett, the county land commissioner, and Burke Russell, the county clerk One copy of Pierre's will was in Russell's keeping, and Raoul had already told him what to do with that Russell's wife, Pamela, was walking beside him, a handsome woman with chestnut hair that she didn't braid as most women did but allowed to fall in soft waves under her broad-brimmed hat Strongly attracted to her himself, Raoul wondered how a bespectacled weakling like Burke Russell had ever been able to attract such a fine-looking woman And what she'd do if she had a sporting proposition from an equally fine-looking man

They were at the cemetery now Raoul liked this hillside rising out of the bluffs, where Pierre's wife, Marie-Blanche, lay overlooking the bottomland and the river The graves of about a dozen others who had worked and died at Victoire were surrounded by a low split-rail fence Tall cedar trees shadowed the white gravestones The flat markers with their rounded tops, names, dates and inscriptions< were chiseled by Warren Wilgus, the mason who'd recently moved into the area Auguste had already made arrangements to have Pierre's headstone carved

The sight of a solid limestone cube in the center of the cemetery gave Raoul a twinge of guilt, as it always did It was the first stone to have been placed in the cemetery, and was a memorial to his mother, Estelle de Marion, who was buried not here but in Kaskaskia, where she had died in 1802 giving birth to him

Helene was also remembered, though not buried here The Indians had thrown her poor, mutilated body into Lake Michigan Her memorial marker stood next to Maman's stone A carved angel spread his wings over Helene's name and dates, "HELENE DE MARION VAILLANCOURT, Beloved Daughter and Sister 1794-1812 She sings before the throne of God" Below that were inscribed the name and dates of her husband, Henri Vaillancourt, whose body also had never been found

Raoul carried inside himself his own inscription for Helene: Murdered by Indians, August 15, 1812 She will be avenged

And one act of vengeance would take place today, when the half-Sauk mongrel, whose presence was an affront to Helene, was thrown off this land

It gave Raoul an uneasy feeling to be working with Auguste, lifting Pierre's coffin off the wagon It might be bad luck But the time to strike had not yet come, so he had to walk beside Auguste carrying the coffin to the newly dug grave There, crouching in unison, the six pallbearers laid the coffin on a cradle of two ropes, each end held by two servants, over the oblong pit Bending to let his burden down hurt Raoul's back, and he glanced over at Auguste, hoping to see him having trouble But the mongrel's dark face was impassive

When Raoul saw Elysée shuffling through the gate, leaning on his silver-headed walking stick, he felt a new tingle of dread How would his father greet the move he was going to make? Except for a few brief and bitter meetings at which he and Papa and Pierre had tried and failed to settle their differences, he had not spoken to his father in six years Armand often brought infuriating news of the old man's growing fondness for the mongrel, making Raoul hate the redskinned bastard all the more Elysée would hardly be happy with< what he did today, of course But would Papa try to fight his only surviving son? If he did, Raoul would have to fight back, and then he might be punished by God

Nonsense God doesn't side with Indians What I am doing is right, because Pierre was seduced and deluded

But it wouldn't hurt to try to get in good with the old man Raoul walked quickly over to him

Elysée looked up at him, his eyes bloodshot and red-rimmed, his face blank, his skin wrinkled parchment

The old man's had his share of grief Too bad he couldn't find reason to be happy with me But that's his fault

In a low, hoarse voice Elysée said, "Thank you, son It was good of you to come today"

At least the old man didn't seem to suspect that he had another reason for being here today Containing his anger, Raoul helped his father walk to the grave There he left Elysée with Guichard and went around to stand facing north, where he could see the château

His nagging fear eased a little So far he had seen no sign that he would meet with any opposition It was hard to believe that the mongrel and his supporters could be planning anything in secret Still he knew his heart would not slow down till this was all over

Père Isaac stood at the head of Pierre's grave, next to Marie-Blanche's tombstone A faint breeze from the river didn't disturb his gray-black hair or his beard, but rustled the tassels of the purple stole around his neck, the winglike sleeves of his white surplice and his ankle-length black cassock

Trying to hold still as his heart pounded and his hands trembled, Raoul watched Père Isaac shake holy water over the coffin, which now lay at the bottom of the grave The priest gave his sprinkler to one of the boys assisting him, opened a prayerbook bound in black leather and began the graveside prayers

Raoul stood with his head bowed He puzzled over what Elysée had said about hating Pierre

Papa always loved Pierre more than me Thought I was some kind of savage because I don't have all those French ways like him and Pierre I'm the most American member of this family, and he should be proud of me

I didn't hate Pierre It was just this damn business of him caring more about redskins than about his own people

Raoul found himself wishing he could talk to Pierre one last time, try to make him understand why he felt as he did and had to do the things he did Looking down at the coffin in the grave, Raoul thought back to the last time he had seen Pierre In early spring after the last of the snow melted on the ground, out riding Banner on the prairie, alone, he'd come upon Pierre, also riding alone They had stared at each other and passed without a word

Raoul's eyes traveled over the people standing by the grave Auguste stood between Elysée and Nicole, looking down into the pit It pleased Raoul to see that apparently Auguste had no idea what was about to happen to him

Raoul looked over the heads of the mourners, and his heart beat faster with anticipation There, across the flat prairie land, he saw tiny figures surrounding the château

Raoul's fingernails dug into his palms as he clenched his fists to hold himself together What if the secret had gotten out? If Auguste knew what was about to happen, he would surely have prepared some kind of counterattack Indians were damned sly

"This man whom we consign to American soil was, like so many of us, born on the other side of the ocean," he said "He came of one of the oldest and noblest families of France, fleeing the Godless revolution that tormented their homeland, which was also my homeland The de Marions gave themselves soul and body to this new land where they had to make their own way Here titles and ancient lineage meant nothing"

"God saw fit to try them sorely after they came here to Illinois The mother of the family died in childbirth A daughter died a horrid< death at the hands of Indians, and a son"—he gestured at Raoul, who stared back at him, keeping his face expressionless—"held captive, a slave, by Indians for two years"

It was good that Père Isaac mentioned that It would prepare people to accept what was about to happen

"Pierre de Marion was a good man, but he was also a sinner, like all of us He fell into the sin of lust, and that sin bore fruit But Pierre did not hide his sin as so many men have He reached out to his son through me and helped him Eventually he acknowledged his son and brought him out of the wilderness to be educated for civilization"

Raoul looked across the open pit at Auguste The half-breed's red-brown face was flushed an even darker color, but still he stared fixedly down into the grave

It was an immense relief to begin to move First, he had to get back to the château ahead of the funeral procession and join his men there Slowly, so as not to attract attention, Raoul drew back from the graveside

Auguste's feet felt heavy and confined in his cowhide boots as they crunched over the short stubble He walked alone on the newly cut track back toward the great stone and log house He could hear the sound of spades biting into the mound of dirt beside Pierre's grave and clods of earth thudding onto his coffin

Auguste led the procession of mourners The others let him walk apart, to be alone with his grief Behind Auguste, he was aware, were Nicole and Frank and Nancy Hale and Père Isaac, and then a long line of servants and farm hands and village people Near the end of the procession Registre Bosquet played a sprightly tune, as was the custom among the Illinois French, a way of saying that life goes on In the rear was the cart that had carried Pierre's coffin, with Elysée and Guichard

As Auguste walked, he brooded about Père Isaac calling him the fruit of sin Why did the priest have to dishonor his mother and father so? In the eyes of the Sauk people he was no "bastard," as he knew some pale eyes called him Still, he was glad that the priest said Pierre had done the right thing in bringing him here Perhaps< people would remember that, when Raoul tried to take the estate away from him

Auguste knew, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, that it was only a matter of time before Raoul would strike at him

He felt himself wishing for Black Hawk and Iron Knife and the other Sauk warriors, even Wolf Paw, to be here to stand by him And Owl Carver and Sun Woman to advise him Now he wished he had not agreed, at his father's insistence, to have no contact with the band While he was being educated, being cut off from them had helped him become more quickly a part of the white world But now that Pierre was gone he felt so terribly alone

A chill fell over him like a cold downpour Looking up, he saw men standing just outside the fence that surrounded the château, strung out in a line along the west side, where the gateway was He had noticed them as he was leaving the graveyard, but had thought they must be hands, with field work of some sort important enough to keep them from the funeral Now he was close enough to see that they were carrying rifles Auguste recognized Raoul himself standing squarely in the gateway How had he gotten over there? Auguste had thought he was with the funeral procession

The moment my father is buried What a fool I was to think Raoul would wait awhile

"Auguste!" It was Nancy's voice, shrill with fear He shook his head, trying to tell her that he would not turn back, and kept on walking

In a moment, thought Auguste, he might be joining his father on the Trail of Souls He heard footsteps behind him crunching on the dry grass It was a comfort to know that there were others near him, although he knew no one could really help him

He had no idea what he would do He asked Earthmaker to show him how to walk this path with courage and honor

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 Elysée 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 Père Isaac

Auguste went colder still as he saw Eli Greenglove, who had been standing by the gate in the fence around the château, walk across the open space, the tail of his coonskin 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

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 Hell, 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

Père 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 Père 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"

"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 bastard"

"You're the one who's trash, Raoul!" she cried, and ran across the intervening space 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"

Raoul's eyes narrowed, and his shoulders hunched forward, as if he was about to attack

"Dueling is also a grave sin," said Père 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 Père Isaac "How can you take from me the only way I have of fighting for this land?"

"If God wants you to have it, He will see that you get it without doing wrong," said Père 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

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

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 assure 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

These people might feel sorry for him, Auguste thought, and resent what Raoul was doing But he'd get no help from any of the men who were standing around behind him Raoul and his men were armed and determined, and the rest of the people here were not ready to give up their lives to help a half-breed

But Auguste had taken advantage of Raoul's distraction with Cooper and Bennett to cut the distance between himself and his uncle in half If he could get close enough to Raoul he might have a chance to get at him with his knife He'd worn the deerhorn-handled knife today only because his father had given it to him

As he hesitated, he heard footsteps in the grass and turned to see his grandfather walking toward Raoul with slow but firm steps, thumping his walking stick on the ground

"This is my son, I very much regret to say," said Elysée "And I must administer correction"

Auguste started to follow Elysée, but Raoul dropped his hand warningly to his pistol

"I was with Pierre when he wrote his final will," said Elysée "And I have a copy of it I know his mind was sound He gave the whole estate—except for the fur company, which we have always agreed would be yours—to Auguste"

"You gave the fur company to me when you divided the estate between me and Pierre years ago," Raoul said "So my own good brother left me nothing Thirty thousand acres of the best land in western Illinois go to a mongrel Indian, and you say his mind was sound? The more fool you"

"You are un bète!" Elysée shouted "You are proof that there is no just God If there were He would have taken you and let Pierre live"

"Monsieur de Marion!" the priest cried "Think what you are saying On this day of all days"

"You make it impossible to love you!" Elysée answered "Now listen to me Victoire is my home I built this place Those I love are buried here I command you, leave at once Get off this land"

Raoul, a head taller than the old man, took a step toward his father "If you wanted it to be yours, you shouldn't have given it to Pierre You have nothing now, you old fool"

Elysée swung the stick at Raoul's head The thump resounded over the field, and Raoul staggered back, his broad-brimmed hat falling to the ground

Raoul bared his teeth, drew back his fist and smashed it into his father's face The blow knocked Elysée hard against one of the upright logs of the gateway He cried out and fell heavily to the ground He lay moaning and jerking his head from side to side in agony The priest rushed to him, dropping to his knees

A red curtain swept over Auguste's eyes, blinding him momentarily When he could see again he saw only the face of one man, Raoul, looking down at Elysée with triumph and contempt

Raoul's pistol was out His dark eyes gleamed with triumph as he pointed the muzzle at Auguste's chest

He was hoping I would attack him, Auguste realized, knowing he would never reach Raoul before the pistol went off

A sudden movement to his side caught his eye In a glance he saw Eli Greenglove swinging a rifle butt at his head

10
Dispossessed

He was in a room he had never seen before A plain black cross hung high on one white plaster wall He lay on a bed with a straw-filled mattress, on top of the quilt He wasn't wearing his coat Or his pale eyes' boots

He rolled his pounding head on the pillow and saw Nancy Hale sitting beside him Her long blond braids glistened in the pale light that came through the oiled paper window

The way she was looking down at him startled him The blue of her eyes burned like the blue center of a flame Her lips seemed fuller and redder than he'd ever seen them, and they were slightly parted This was the way she had been looking at him while he lay unconscious, he realized, and he had seen it only because he had awakened suddenly and taken her by surprise

"That man of your uncle's, Eli Greenglove, hit you with his rifle Your uncle said he'd kill you next time he sees you awake So we took you out here to my father's parsonage"

"A long time Hours I'm awfully glad to see you wake up, Auguste I didn't know if you ever would Greenglove hit you hard enough to kill you"

He remembered Elysée lying on the ground, writhing Rage< boiled up inside him again as he thought of Raoul striking Grandpapa down

"How is my grandfather?" He tried to sit up, and the room started to rock and pitch The pain pounded on his head like a spiked war club Nancy put a hand on his shoulder, and he lay back against the pillow He shut his eyes momentarily to get his equilibrium back

"We don't know—he may have broken his hip But try not to worry, Auguste Nicole and Frank took him back to their house"

That searing gaze of a moment ago was gone, but there was still a warm light in her eyes

He heard a footstep on the other side of the bed He turned, bringing back the ache in his head full force, to see the tall figure of Reverend Philip Hale standing in the doorway of the small room Hale, dressed in a black clawhammer coat and black trousers with a white silk stock wrapped around his throat, stood with his arms folded, gazing at Auguste with pursed lips and a deep crease between his bushy eyebrows

"You can thank the Lord's mercy you're not hurt worse, young man I suppose you'll want to be on your way soon"

"I think I'm all right," Auguste said He tried to sit up again He managed it, but he felt suddenly dizzy and sick to his stomach He put his hand over his mouth Nancy picked up a china chamber pot from the bedside and held it for him, but after a moment the spasm of nausea passed and, gingerly, he shook his head at her His first afternoon at Victoire, when he had thrown up his dinner before everyone in the great hall, flickered through his memory

He looked up and saw Hale staring at him with even deeper distaste Clear enough that the reverend didn't like to see Nancy's care for him

Auguste lifted his head again, determined to get up in spite of the pain "I must go to my grandfather He may die if he isn't cared for properly"

A spear of horror shot through him His medicine bundle, containing his precious stones and the bear's claw, was still at the château< All his spiritual power was collected in that bag Whatever the risk, he must go back and get it And he wanted the bag of surgical instruments he'd brought back from New York

"No!" Nancy cried "Auguste, you're not well enough to go anywhere And, Father, I told you what happened at the funeral We've got to help Auguste If you speak, people will listen"

"I don't know the rights and wrongs of it," said Hale, looking irritated, presented with a problem he did not want to try to solve

Auguste said, "My father wanted me to inherit Victoire There are witnesses There are two copies of his will, if Raoul hasn't already destroyed them"

Reverend Hale glowered at Auguste "What if Raoul de Marion's men come looking for you?"

Suddenly, as when facing Raoul at the gateway to Victoire, Auguste felt terribly alone Nancy would do anything she could for him; after seeing her loving look when he awoke he was sure of that But there was little enough she could do Especially because of the way her father so obviously felt about him

"If they come here while Auguste is here you'll have to tell them he's not here and refuse to let them in," said Nancy firmly

The word "killed" set a storm of frightful thoughts whirling through Auguste's head Raoul's pistol had been pointed right at his chest And Greenglove had tried to brain him They wouldn't stop until they had killed him Only then would Raoul be secure in his possession of Victoire Dazed and hurting though he was, Auguste had to get out of Smith County if he was to live another day

Nancy's face was like a lake whose surface was troubled by a wind "He's very strict He didn't go to your father's funeral because it was a Catholic service But if anything happens he'll do the right thing You can count on him for that"

Early that evening, Auguste, Nancy and Reverend Hale were< sitting in the front room of the Hales' one-story house They had eaten a rabbit stew with potatoes, onions and beans from the Hales' garden and hominy grits on the side that Nancy had pounded from corn They washed it down with fresh-squeezed apple cider

Now that it was dark Auguste wanted desperately to be off to see Grandpapa at Nicole and Frank's house The old man had been badly hurt He might be dying

By candlelight Hale read the Bible aloud to Nancy and Auguste It was his nightly custom, Nancy explained

Auguste heard the soft clip-clop of a horse's hooves and the creak of carriage wheels and raised a hand to alert the others

Putting a finger to her lips, Nancy went to the door She opened it a crack, then pulled it wider and went out

His heart pounding, Auguste was on his feet, looking for a weapon or for a place to hide

No answer came from Nancy, but a moment later she came back, one arm around another woman's shoulders, supporting her A blue kerchief covered the woman's head

It was a moment before Auguste recognized the battered, swollen face of Marchette One of her eyes had been blackened this morning, but now there were ugly bruises around both eyes, her whole face was swollen and her lips were cut and puffed

Heartbroken at the sight of her, Auguste rushed to the cook and took her hands in his

"I cried very much when you and Monsieur Elysée were hurt today, Monsieur Auguste Armand did not like this, and he beat me It looks very bad, but he did not beat me hard, Monsieur Whoever Armand beats hard, dies But I resolved to do something for you Monsieur Raoul, he had barrels of Kaintuck whiskey carted up to the château Many guests and servants got very drunk After a while Armand was lying on the floor beside the table, so then I went to fetch your things Your trunk was unlocked, and I gathered up your clothes and books and put them in it and locked it I had Bernadette Bosquet, the fiddler's wife, she is my friend, help carry your trunk down to the carriage"

Auguste felt as if a sudden bright light had flooded his room His medicine bundle had been in the trunk And his surgical instruments They were safe

He jumped up from the table A throb of pain went through his head, and he felt dizzy and had to cling to the table for support Marchette's eyes widened in alarm, and she put her hands out to him

Recovered after a moment—and feeling much better now than he had a few hours ago—he took Marchette's hands in his

"I can't tell you how much this means to me, Marchette There were things in my trunk—sacred things—very important to me Very precious I thank you a thousand times"

Her swollen lips parted in a half smile She reached into a pocket in her apron and brought out a large pocket watch gleaming a dull gold Then she took out a familiar oval silver case with a velvet ribbon

Auguste opened the case and saw the round lenses for only a moment as his eyes blurred He put his hand over his face and held it there until he no longer felt like weeping Then he looked at the engraving on the watch—"Pierre Louis Auguste de Marion, AD 1800"—and his eyes filled up with tears This, he thought, should go into his medicine bundle with the other sacred objects

"Where were Raoul and Greenglove when you took my trunk and things in the carriage?"

"Before Armand got drunk, Monsieur Raoul made him look through Monsieur Elysée's room for the paper that says you are to inherit the estate Armand found it and gave it to your uncle, and he threw it into the fire while Armand and Eli Greenglove watched and laughed Then Monsieur Raoul, he got into a most furious argument with Eli Greenglove about Greenglove's daughter They nearly fight, but I think they are afraid of each other They are both great killers So finally they went down to town Monsieur Raoul agreed to bring his woman, Greenglove's daughter, and the two boys to the château"

Auguste thought he knew why Clarissa Greenglove had been a pretty, full-bosomed girl when he first arrived at Victoire But in< the years during which she had borne two boys to Raoul, she had turned into a lank-haired, snuff-sniffing slattern Years ago Raoul had said he was going to marry Clarissa, but he never had And Auguste had seen Raoul bending a hungry look on Nancy throughout the funeral mass this morning The thought of Raoul laying even a hand on Nancy angered him It would anger Eli Greenglove, too, for a different reason

Eli Greenglove, it was said, could shoot the wings off a fly one at a time at fifty yards and was wanted in Missouri for over a dozen murders He might take orders from Raoul, but it would not do for Raoul to offend such a man So if Eli persisted, Raoul probably would take Clarissa into the château

Auguste felt a sinking in his stomach as he touched his fingers lightly to his throbbing head He was alive now only because Greenglove had chosen to hit him instead of shooting him down—or instead of letting Raoul have that pleasure

"No, I must go back to the château before Armand wakes up Otherwise he will beat me worse"

Auguste looked across the table at Nancy, staring at him with round blue eyes full of the yearning, now mixed with fear, that he'd seen in them earlier "Pale eyes," the Sauk term for her people, did no justice to her eyes, the color of the turquoise stone he kept in his medicine bag Her blond hair made his blood race His fingertips tingled with the desire to touch the white skin of her cheek

Though Nancy's very differentness made him desire her, he knew that he and she could never belong to each other as completely as he and Redbird did He could have a deep and lasting union with Redbird, a union that would make him feel whole

But it had been six years since he had seen Redbird, and no woman of the Sauk would go without a man for that long

But Redbird had probably given in to Wolf Paw and married him After all, she hadn't had a word from White Bear in all that time

Marchette's urgent tone refocused his thoughts "Monsieur Raoul, he stood up on the table and held up a bag full of Spanish< dollars—he said there were fifty—and said he would give it to the man who shoots you And there were many men who cheered at that and boasted they would be the one to win the silver"

Auguste pictured men scattering out all over Smith County, hunting for him He could almost feel the rifle ball shattering his skull

"I can't hide in your house forever, Nancy Sooner or later they'll come looking for me, and I don't want to bring that down on your heads"

Reverend Hale said nothing, but Auguste saw relief in his square face—and grudging respect But Hale's respect, he thought, would do him little good when he lay dead on the prairie

Nancy's full lips quivered as she said, "You'll go to the château and let them shoot you?"

Auguste realized that his hands were cold with fear, and he rubbed them together to warm them Hale's house was about ten miles across the prairie from the Mississippi Could he cover all that distance without being seen and shot?

"I'm not going to the château I'll just see that Marchette gets there safely Traveling at night, she should have someone go back with her Then I'll go on to town To Nicole and Frank's house To Grandpapa I must see him" He turned toward the cook and felt a stabbing in his gut at the sight of her bruised face She'd suffered that out of love for his father, he thought, and for his sake too

Don't you think I know that? he wanted to scream at the minister What choice did he have? He was like a rabbit surrounded by wolves He forced calm on himself and spoke with sarcasm

He felt his fear turning to a rising excitement as he recalled the lessons of stealth and cunning he'd learned as a child of the Sauk

Auguste hesitated Remembering that he was a Sauk had moved his thoughts in a new direction

"Raoul told me to go back to the woods with the other Indians Even though the advice came from him, I think that is just what I should do"

Nancy gasped as if he had struck her There was silence in the cottage for a moment

He smiled, trying to get her to smile back at him "I know exactly where they are They've crossed the Mississippi to their hunting grounds in the Ioway Territory I spent the first fifteen winters of my life there with the British Band"

Auguste remembered his dream of becoming a shaman It had come back to life a bit with his effort to heal Pierre Among the pale eyes there was no room for magic But now he felt he could go back to his own people and find magic again

Hale said, "An unwise decision, it seems to me You've been educated You've had an opportunity to learn about white Christian civilization Your uncle can't take that away from you, and you should not throw it away"

Auguste said, "Reverend, you know what I'm leaving behind But you don't know what I'm going back to"

Nancy started speaking rapidly, as if she was trying to hold back tears "Well, what about these things of yours that Marchette brought here? There's no way you can carry a trunk on foot even as far as Nicole and Frank's house Would you like us to keep your things here for you? Perhaps someday, after you've settled with your tribe"—she swallowed hard—"you could send for them"

Auguste heard the anguish in her voice but decided to take her words at only face value "Yes, I'd be truly grateful if you'd keep them for me The only thing I want to take now is my medicine bundle"

Auguste thought a moment "And I can use the surgical instruments And at least one book"

As Eli Greenglove struck him down, Auguste remembered, he had been charging at Raoul with his knife in his hand

"I picked it up," said Nancy in a clipped tone She stood up and went over to an elaborately carved oak sideboard, a handsome piece of furniture that seemed out of place in this simple cabin, and took Auguste's knife out of a drawer She handed it to him and he slipped it into the leather sheath at his belt

"Thank you, Nancy My father gave that to me a long time ago" Their eyes met, and he felt a warmth spread through him It was going to be hard to leave her

Nancy remained standing "Let's go out to the wagon and see what Marchette has brought I can help you carry your trunk in"

Marchette and Reverend Hale both said at the same time, "I can do that!" The coincidence made everyone laugh nervously

"No," said Nancy firmly "Marchette, you're hurt and tired Father, why don't you see what consolation you can offer this poor, mistreated woman Auguste's trunk can't be that heavy Come on, Auguste"

Before either Hale or Marchette could answer, Nancy had Auguste out the door He glanced back into the room just before the door closed and saw Hale's fists clenched on either side of his open Bible

Auguste stood for a moment, letting his eyes adjust from the lamplight inside to the darkness out here A fat moon hung overhead; he judged it would be full in two nights With this much light he'd be in even more danger tonight The white-painted steeple of Reverend Hale's little church, next to the cottage where he and Nancy lived, gleamed in the moonlight

Sadly he said, "I know" He took her hand and squeezed it Perhaps it was a mistake to do that, but he could not stop himself

Now he could see the wagon Marchette had come in, the horse tied to a fence post beside the Hales' garden on the south side of the house The horse shifted from foot to foot and burbled its breath out through its lips

Holding tight to his hand, Nancy led him around to the rear of the house, beyond which rows of corn stood, their tassels silvery in the moonlight

"It's our land, but a neighbor does the work He sells it in Victor and we share the proceeds" She led him into the corn, brushing past the crackling leaves The concealment of the leaves and stalks made him feel closer to her than ever He wanted to reach out to her

She can't know it, but this field reminds me of the corn bottoms around Saukenuk It makes me want to go back all the more

When there were leafy stalks all around them, hiding them from the house, she turned to him again and said, "Please, Auguste, I don't want you to go away for good" Her eyes were bright in the moonlight

Her nearness was thrilling He wanted to forget the worries that made him hesitate, and take her in his arms

"You could go to Vandalia," she said "Tell Governor Reynolds what happened If he can't do anything for you himself, maybe he can help you find a lawyer who will fight Raoul for you in the courts"

How innocent she was, he thought bitterly "It was Governor Reynolds who called out the militia to drive my people from Saukenuk It's just as Raoul said, he would be the last man to want to help an Indian fight for land with a white man"

"Your father sent you to school in the East because he wanted a different future for you than just spending your life hunting and living in a wigwam You'll be throwing all that away"

He felt a flash of anger at her She did not understand the Sauk way of life at all She was just repeating what her father had said

He remembered the way Nancy's eyes had shone each time they met on the prairie last summer He had known then that if he spoke to Nancy of marriage, she would want it no matter how much it enraged her father But marriage with Nancy would be a coming together of two strangers, of people whose worlds were utterly different In the past six years he had learned much about her world, but that did not mean he belonged in it And she knew next to nothing of his

It hurt to hold himself back; he felt powerfully drawn to her But what he was feeling was impossible Impossible to fulfill

"I can use my schooling to help my people make a better life for< themselves The gift my father gave me is a gift I will give to the Sauk And it may be worth more than the land Raoul has stolen from me"

"I don't want to lose you," she sobbed She threw herself against him and wrapped her arms around him Her tear-wet cheek pressed against his Her face was hot, as though she had a fever She wanted him; he felt it now, just as he had seen it hours ago in her unguarded eyes

"I've never cared for a man as I care for you, Auguste," she said "Everything you say may be true, but if you go back to your tribe I'll never see you again"

It hurt Auguste to admit it, but it was almost certain that they would never meet again

"If you want to—you could come with me" Even as he spoke, he was sure it would never work Did she not dismiss the way of the Sauk as "hunting and living in a wigwam"?

"No," she said "If I went with you my father would hunt us down and Raoul would help him And besides—" She hesitated

Anger pulsed in his head He wanted to pull away from her then, but she wouldn't let him go Her arms tightened around him, and her body moved against him

"Auguste, do you know where it says in the Bible, 'Adam knew Eve, his wife'? I want to know you—that way"

Her soft words thrilled him, and he forgot his anger He felt exalted, and he held her tightly He had wanted Nancy ever since he met her last June All summer long, desiring her, he had fought his desire

He pressed his mouth on hers, crushing her soft, full lips She was pulling at him now, pulling him down Pulling him to lie with her between the rows of corn

The vague shape of a future different from the one he planned< shimmered in his mind They could have each other here and now, and he could give up his decision to return to the Sauk He might flee temporarily to some nearby county, find work, study until he could begin practicing medicine, marry Nancy, perhaps even try to win back the estate in the pale eyes' courts

And the White Bear arose in his mind, as clearly as if he had suddenly stood up here among the corn stalks

"Auguste, please, please," Nancy whispered "It isn't wrong It's right for us There's no other man but you who's right for me I don't want to end up a dried-up old spinster who never knew the man she truly loved"

She slid down the length of him, falling to her knees in the furrow She pressed her cheek against the hard bulge in his trousers, sending a thrill through his whole body

He wanted to let himself sink to the ground with her He shut his eyes and saw the White Bear more vividly in his mind It seemed to glow

He held himself rigid, fighting the pressure inside him that made him want to give in to her He told himself he could give Nancy this moment of love she wanted and still go back to the Sauk If he did not take her now as she wanted to be taken, he would regret it bitterly later

But if he did this with her it would tie them in a bond that would be wrong to break If he gave her what she wanted and then left, it would hurt her, might even kill her

He took a step backward, then another His legs felt as if they were made of wood; he could barely move them

Nancy let him go, put her hands to her face and sobbed, kneeling between the rows of corn

He stood there a moment, feeling helpless Then he went to her, took her arms and helped her to stand up

"I do love you, Nancy," he said "But if I knew you as Adam knew Eve, I would still have to leave you And it would hurt both of us much more"

Sobs still shook her body He did not even know if she heard< him But she let him lead her out of the cornfield, around the locked and silent church, and back to the wagon where his trunk lay As they walked she pulled a handkerchief out of her sleeve, wiped her face and blew her nose

His heart felt heavy as lead Sure as he was that this was the right thing to do, he was almost as sure it was wrong

When they got to the wagon, he was still holding her arm Gently she pulled free of him

"You're a good man, Auguste I'm afraid I'll always love you Whether you want me to or not"

"Are you all right?" he asked He wanted to make her happy, and he felt terribly helpless

As he rode in the wagon back to the château with Marchette, the back of Auguste's neck tingled He pictured silent hunters crouched out in the prairie, their Kentucky long rifles ready, their thoughts fixed on fifty pieces of silver His eyes moved restlessly over the low hills around them The nearly full moon was sinking before them in the west, a lantern at the end of their trail In some places the prairie grass closed in around the horse and wagon, high as the horse's rump and the wagon's wheels, and it looked to Auguste as if they were pushing their way through a moonlit lake

The loudest sound he heard was the steady singing of choruses of crickets more numerous than all the tribes of man Somehow it seemed they always sang louder this time of year, as if they knew that frost and snow were coming soon to silence their song

The château's peaked roof rose black against the stars Before they reached the orchards, Auguste put his arm around Marchette and gave her a kiss on the cheek Jumping down from the wagon, he tied to his shoulders with rawhide thongs the pack that held his medicine bundle, his instruments and his book

"Good-bye and thank you, Marchette," he whispered, and darted off into the tall grass

Watching for Raoul's lurking hunters, he was soon past the château and slipping along the edge of the road that led through the hills to town

He froze He saw a light ahead of him, a swinging lantern moving away from him Loud voices carried to him on the still night air

Those must be some of Raoul's men He was frightened, but he needed to know what Raoul was doing Staying well in the shadows of the trees that grew along the edge of the road, he moved quickly and silently until he was close enough to make out words

They staggered along, praising Raoul's generosity with Old Kaintuck Auguste saw three of them in the lantern's yellow glow, each carrying a rifle

He bit his lower lip, and fear formed a cold hollow in his chest If these men saw him they would shoot him on the spot

Or try to He doubted they could hit anything, drunk as they looked With that thought, his tense muscles eased a little

The men crossed a narrow ridge that connected a hill with the bluff on which the trading post stood Auguste flinched, startled by a whoop and a wail, followed by the crash of a body falling through shrubbery and a heavy clattering—probably a rifle—against rocks

From the ridge came a burst of drunken laughter Two of the men mocked their comrade who had rolled to the bottom of the hill They wouldn't help him climb back up Sleep it off down there, they told him Curses floated faintly from below, then there was silence

"What if that Indian is lurking around here?" said the man carrying the lantern "He might come upon Hodge in the dark and scalp him or something"

Auguste thought, How I would love to He recognized the Prussian accent of the man speaking It was Otto Wegner, one of the men who worked at Raoul's trading post

The other man said, "Hell, if the Injun ain't dead from the way Eli conked him with that rifle butt, he's halfway to Canada He knows he'll get his red hide full of holes if he stays around Smith County"

"As for me, I do not shoot unarmed Indians," said Wegner "Fifty Spanish dollars or not I have my pride I served under von Blücher at Waterloo"

"Waterloo, hah? Well, ain't you a hell of a fella! Raoul'd skin you alive and wear you for a hat if he heard you talking like that"

"He would not I am his best rifleman—after Eli Greenglove He< knows my value And my honor as a soldier is worth more to me than fifty pieces of eight"

Crouching in the shrubbery, Auguste shook his head in wonder There was some sense of right and wrong even among Raoul's rogues

But that hadn't stopped Wegner from being one of the men who backed Raoul with his rifle this morning

He waited for the men to cross the ridge He heard no sound from the one who had fallen; he had probably taken his comrades' advice and gone to sleep

When the lantern swung out of sight around a corner of the trading post palisade, Auguste darted forward Keeping low, he made a wide circle through the wooded slope above Victor He scrambled down to the road where the Hopkins house stood A long-eared black dog barked and ran at him when he passed one of the houses along the road His heart stopped as he waited for doors to fly open and rifles to fire at him But he kept walking, and the dog stopped barking when he was beyond the house it was guarding

Hoping none of the neighbors would hear him, he knocked loudly at the Hopkins door to wake them up

Frank Hopkins, holding a candle in his hand, stood in the doorway in a long nightshirt "What the devil is it? We've got a sick man in here—" He peered closer "My God, Auguste! Get inside, quick"

"I thought you were out at the Hales'" They stood in Frank's ground-floor workshop The iron printing press towered shadowy in the candle's glow

"I came to see Grandpapa And—Frank, I'm going back to my people I need your help"

The stairs led to a second-floor corridor, and Frank drew Auguste into a room where an oil lamp with a tall glass chimney burned next to a large bed Nicole sat there The lamplight revealed Elysée's sharp profile against the white of the pillow

"He's only been awake half the time Gram Medill looked in on< him She said he wrenched his hip when he fell and had bad bruises, but he hadn't broken any bones I've been sitting up with him What about you—how is your head?"

Auguste felt as if chains had fallen away from his chest at the news that Grandpapa was not dying Then his head started to hurt In the excitement of slipping past his enemies, Auguste had forgotten his pain Now he rubbed the spot above his right ear where Greenglove's rifle had hit him He felt a lump that was sore to the touch But he was able to smile reassuringly at Nicole

He spoke in a low voice so as not to disturb Elysée "I won't be able to put my fine beaver hat on over this bump But I won't be taking my fine beaver hat where I'm going"

"I'll get some more chairs," Frank said "We can talk in here The old gentleman is sound asleep now Could you use a drop of brandy, Auguste?"

Auguste nodded "That might ease the pain" He thought not only of the pain from the rifle blow, but of the pain in his heart from having lost Victoire despite his promise to his father And the pain of tearing himself away from Nancy

He and Frank quietly removed chairs from the other upstairs rooms where the Hopkins children were sleeping Frank went down to the kitchen and came back with a tray bearing three small bowl-shaped crystal glasses and a cut-glass decanter that twinkled in the lamplight

"Handsome glassware," Auguste said, seating himself and carefully setting his backpack between his feet

"From the time of Louis the Fifteenth," Nicole said "One of the things Papa brought over from the old château in France And he gave it to Frank and me as a wedding present At least Raoul won't get his hands on this"

Auguste said, "But Raoul has everything else, because father left it all to me I told him he should will it to you; I should have insisted" His face burned with shame

Frank said, "I doubt we'd have held onto the estate any longer than you did And, frankly, I don't want it any more than you do I don't know how Nicole feels"

Now that the land was irrevocably lost to him, Auguste was no longer so sure that he did not want it He twisted in his chair, angry at himself for his uncertainty

Nicole shook her head "I'm a wife and mother I'm not prepared to be a châtelaine Especially when I'd have to fight that—that beast"

As Frank poured an inch of the warm amber liquid into each of their glasses, Auguste noticed that his fingers were, as always, blackened He must never get the stains of his trade off his hands

Frank said, "I'm going to write in the Visitor about what happened today, tell what I saw, so the whole county will know what happened"

"Why write about it?" Auguste said "Raoul would do some harm to you And it would change nothing I won't even be here to read it" The last thing he wanted was these people, whom he cared about, getting into trouble because of him

Frank smiled faintly "You know that unlike just about every other man in Smith County, I don't carry a gun" He pointed downward, in the direction of the press on the floor below them "That's my way of fighting"

"Because you stood by me today my heart will always sing your praises Do you think my father's spirit will be sad if I do not stay and fight for the land until I die?"

He sipped the brandy It burned his tongue and his throat and lit a fire in his belly It made him feel stronger

Nicole said, "Neither would your father Pierre wanted you to have the estate, but he didn't want you dead on account of it"

Yes, Auguste thought, despising himself, but I think he expected me to keep the land for more than a day

Frank went on, "But if you go back to your people, you've got to tell them—they can no more fight the United States for their land than you could fight Raoul"

A fierce heat rose in Auguste as he took another sip of brandy< "At St George's School I read that the Indian does not make good use of the land The whites need the land Therefore the Indian must yield" He clenched his fist around the glass in his hand "We were living on this land! Doesn't that mean anything?"

Frank said, "Auguste, you know better than any of your people how much power the United States have You've got to tell them"

The long knives, he thought That was what his people called the American soldiers But the British Band had no idea how very many long knives there were He must make Black Hawk understand

Nicole said, "Your eyelids are drooping, Auguste You're tired and you're still hurt You can't go tonight"

Auguste's last memory that night was of letting Frank lead him across the corridor into a darkened bedroom, where he fell face down on an empty bed

When he came to himself again, he was lying on the same bed, still fully clothed except for his boots The room was not as dark as he remembered; it was in a sort of twilight The one window was shuttered A curtain covered the doorway He looked around the room, saw boys' clothing hanging on pegs and piled on the floor, another bed, covered with rumpled sheets, empty His own boots and his pack were set neatly at the foot of his bed

An urgent pressure inside told him he had been sleeping a long time He saw a chamber pot in one corner Smart of them to leave the pot here, he thought as he filled it He didn't dare to go to their outhouse during daylight

He went to the window and cautiously looked through the shutter The window looked south, and he could not see the sun, only the black shadows it painted in the ruts of the road that slanted up the hill past the Hopkins house It must be late afternoon

He wondered, were Raoul and his men out there somewhere, looking for him? Would he live to see another nightfall?

His head ached less than it had last night—until he touched it Then the pain was like someone pounding a nail into his brain The bump felt as big as a hen's egg

Opening his backpack, he took out his leather medicine bag and drew out the stones one by one, rubbing his fingers over each He opened his shirt and touched the tip of the bear's claw to the five scars on his chest

A black leather bag contained his surgical instruments—two saws, a big one for legs and a smaller one for arms; four scalpels; lancets for bleeding; a turnkey for pulling teeth; a probe and tongs for removing bullets; a small jar of opium Any of those things might be needed, where he was going

Last, he took out a book, chosen almost at random from his small collection On the spine of its brown leather cover was stamped in gold: "J Milton Paradise Lost"

Reverend Hale had recommended that he take a Bible This long poem giving the Christian account of creation was the next thing to a Bible But he had read it at St George's and enjoyed it And its title and its story of Adam and Eve being driven out of the Garden of Eden made him think of how he was dispossessed Perhaps he would find some wisdom or guidance in the book

But then he remembered how Nancy had wanted to "know" him as Adam knew Eve He was leaving behind what might have been a great happiness

High on a Throne of Royal State, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Show'rs on her Kings Barbaric Pearl and Gold,
Satan exalted sat

Sounded like Raoul, with his fifty Spanish dollars and his steamboat and lead mine and trading post Raoul was better fitted to be Satan than to be the angel at the gates of Eden keeping sinners away

He heard voices nearby One, faint but unmistakable, was Grandpapa's His heart leaped He quickly repacked his treasures

He pushed the curtain aside and hurried across the hall It was a joy to see Elysée's eyes looking at him, open and bright

"I do not as a rule believe in miracles," Elysée said, smiling at Auguste, "but it's certainly a miracle that you could charge a man pointing a pistol at your chest and come out with nothing but a bump on your head"

"It's a bad enough bump, Grandpapa," said Auguste, dragging over the chair he had sat in last night and pulling it close to the side of the bed "I wish I could stay and doctor you"

"Our local midwife says I too will heal," said Elysée "I can move all my arms and legs without extreme pain I think the worst injury was to my hip" He touched his right side gently "I bruised it when I fell There's swelling there, but I can move my leg The hip is not broken" He closed his eyes, and Auguste knew that the old man was feeling a sharper pain in his heart than in his bones "You must not think of staying here I am afraid Raoul is perfectly capable of murdering you"

One son dead, the other an enemy And now I must leave him How much more can he stand?

Nicole was sitting beside Elysée's bed, just as she had been last night when Auguste arrived He wondered whether she had slept

Nicole smiled at him "I sent the children down to play by the river Having two injured adults to care for has been very restful for me"

Elysée sat up a little straighter, Nicole quickly plumping the pillows behind him, and turned a sharp, blue-eyed stare at Auguste

"Nicole and Frank told me about your plan to go back to the Sauk I can understand why you would wish to do so, but that is not the only choice open to you You might consider going where people are much more civilized than they are around here—back East, where you were educated Emilie and Charles would be happy, I am sure, to take you in again for a time And I could help you I have money banked with Irving and Sons on Wall Street You could continue your education and follow the medical profession in New York"

Wishing he did not have to refuse the old man, Auguste said, "Grandpapa, I must go to the only other people I love in the world as much as I love you and Aunt Nicole"

Elysée uttered a little sigh "I understand Loyalty pulls you back to your mother's people It is a family trait I suppose your father must have told you about the mystery around the origin of our family name"

"Yes, Grandpapa" Wanting him to know his French forebears, Pierre had spent hours with Auguste recounting their names and deeds And he had told him that, strangely, the de Marion records extended back only to the late thirteenth century, though the family was wealthy and powerful even then According to a murky legend, one ancestor had committed treason against the King, and that one's son had deserted his wife and children, simply disappeared Feeling the original name, whatever it had been, irreparably tarnished, the first recorded Count de Marion had destroyed all record of it—apparently with the approval and help of the royal authorities—and had taken his mother's family's name instead The story had left Auguste wishing he could use his shaman's powers to learn more, but he doubted that the Sauk spirits could see clear across the ocean

Elysée said, "We de Marions sometimes display an overabundance of loyalty, as if we were still trying to expiate that ancient guilt"

"Certainly not But remember this—if I had let loyalty keep me in France, we would not be here in this primeval paradise"

"Looking back, Grandpapa, do you think you would have done better to have stayed in France?"

Elysée laughed, a short, humorless bark "Not at all I would almost certainly have lost my head to Dr Guillotine's wonderful invention Our lands would have been confiscated, and that would have been the end of the family"

Elysée raised a hand and shook his head "This is not the end I do not believe in divine intervention, but I do believe there is a law of nature that says a bad man will do badly in the end"

Auguste was about to reply when he heard footsteps coming down the road toward the house, reminding him of how quiet it had been ever since he awakened A good part of the town was sleeping off Raoul's Old Kaintuck, he suspected

He heard the door open and close below A moment later Frank< came into the room carrying a long rifle, with an ammunition bag and a powder horn slung over his shoulder

"Well, I bought you a little bateau that will get you across the Mississippi," he said, "for five dollars, from an old trapper who doesn't feel up to going out this winter And for another twenty dollars I got him to throw in his second best rifle and a good supply of ammunition" He smiled grimly at Auguste "I expect you'll find this useful over in Ioway"

Auguste nodded "I'll eat better But—twenty-five dollars Frank, that's too much for you to spend on me" He felt a warm gratitude toward the plump, sandy-haired man who was risking so much to help him Frank's newspaper, his printing business and his carpentry all together could hardly bring in twenty-five dollars in a month, little enough to feed a family of ten

Elysée said, "I told you I had some money salted away, Auguste Let the boat and the rifle be my gift to you"

Frank said, "I've moved the boat about half a mile below town and hidden it We should be able to get down there unseen after dark"

Nicole said, "If Auguste is leaving as Raoul wants him to, why wouldn't Raoul just let him go?"

Frank said, "We can't take that chance I believe Raoul won't be content unless he kills Auguste"

Auguste shuddered inwardly at the thought that there was in the world a man who would not be satisfied until he was dead He could not live with that kind of fear He asked the White Bear, his spirit guide, to give him courage

He tried to push the fear out of his mind He stood up to go back to the room where he had slept He would clean and repack the things he was taking, he decided He would get busy getting ready and not give himself time to think about being afraid

At nine o'clock in the evening by the Seth Thomas clock in Frank's printing shop, which he reset every day at sunset, it was dark enough and the town was quiet enough for Auguste to leave He held Nicole's ample body tight and kissed her, shook hands with the boys and kissed the girls His grandfather had drifted off to sleep again, but the old man had kissed him on both cheeks, and they had said their good-byes in the afternoon

The road down the bluff from the town to the bottomland was empty Most people in Victor went to bed soon after sunset, and those who didn't would be up in the taproom of the trading post inn

Auguste did see candlelight flickering in a one-room log cabin they passed A silhouette appeared in the window just as he looked in A man reached out and slammed the shutters closed

"Bad luck we should pass that house just as he came to the window," Frank said "One of Raoul's men But he's more than likely still half drunk"

Frank and Auguste followed the road past fields of corn ready for harvesting, their way lighted by the nearly full moon

Up ahead the wooded sides of the bluff came down to the water's edge Frank led Auguste out on a shrub-covered spit

Not until he was nearly on top of the bateau did Auguste see it Frank had pulled it up out of the water, covered it with branches, and tied it to the roots of a tree that had toppled into the water, undercut by the river

With sinking heart Auguste saw that though the riverboat was small, it would be heavier and harder to row than a canoe Well, Frank had done his best, and now he would have to do his best

Frank stopped working on the boat and lifted his head "Damn! That skunk must have seen you after all"

The pounding was coming rapidly closer Auguste's heart was beating as fast as the oncoming hooves He saw the horsemen by moonlight—five of them, racing through the high corn

Frank and Auguste pushed the little boat into the water bow first, pointed stern resting on the shore Auguste put his pack in the stern and the rifle and ammunition in the bow, where they were more likely to stay dry The current pulled the bow downstream, the flat bottom grinding in the mud

Auguste saw a flash and heard a loud boom Something whistled through the bare branches of a bush beside him

"Here Beef and biscuit" Frank tossed a bag to Auguste, who set it on the seat beside him Frank pushed the bateau's stern free

Pulling as hard and fast as he could, Auguste steered diagonally< into the Mississippi, trying to get beyond pistol range without spending all his strength fighting the current

Raoul's voice Auguste wished he had time to load his rifle and shoot back, but if he stopped rowing they were sure to get him

Five bright red flashes and five shots roared out one after the other from shore

Auguste heard a sharp rap on the side of the boat and splashes in the water on his left He felt naked sitting up in the boat pulling frantically on the oars He could stop rowing and lie down using the side of the boat as a shield, but then he would remain within range, drifting south along the riverbank, and Raoul and his men could follow him and shoot at him at their leisure He gritted his teeth and kept rowing, his shoulder muscles feeling as if they were about to tear loose from his bones

He heard a ball whiz past his head They must have stopped riding to reload and take better aim

His body was coated with the cold sweat of fear There was nothing he could do but sit here, a target in the moonlight, and pull on the oars with all his strength If he missed one stroke it might be his death

11
Redbird's Wickiup

White Bear rowed upstream on the Ioway River past stands of weeping willow whose yellowing fronds drooped into the dark green water Even though the current was at its weakest now, his arms and shoulders felt as if they'd been beaten with clubs If only Frank had been able to find a canoe for him instead of this heavy bateau that he'd had to push across the Great River and now up the Ioway

His heart fluttered in his chest like a trapped bird as he sensed himself coming closer to the British Band's winter hunting camp He had thought he would be happy at this homecoming, but he was terrified

How would they receive him? After six years they must think he had forgotten all about them Would they despise him? Maybe they would just make fun of him

And in what state would he find the British Band? They'd had to get through the summer without the crops they always raised Had any friends been shot by white snipers during the siege of Saukenuk? How many, weakened by hunger, might be ill or dead? Would his mother be alive?

He had already met, just by chance, one member of the band, Three Horses, who had been fishing in the shallows on the Ioway shore of the Great River And Three Horses had certainly been happy to see him He'd jumped on his pony and had said he would ride back to the camp with the news that White Bear was back He was so excited that he did not wait for White Bear to ask any questions about how his people had fared

So they would all be waiting for him by the time he got there The thought frightened him all the more

He saw a flash of red in the trees near the canoes For a moment he thought, with a joyous leap of his heart, that it might be Redbird Then a man wearing a deep red blanket stepped out of the woods He stood over the beached canoes with his arms folded

His eyes were like splinters of coal, and the black circles he had painted around them gave him a terrifying aspect The crest of red-dyed deer hair that sprouted from his shaven skull seemed strange and savage to White Bear after six years away from the Sauk

White Bear rowed in close to the riverbank, uncertain how to greet Wolf Paw The brave said nothing, did nothing A maple branch swayed in the wind Red leaves fell, and sunlight flashed from a steel-headed tomahawk that Wolf Paw was holding

He skidded the boat to a halt on the bank a short distance downriver from Wolf Paw He climbed out the front end, pulled the boat up on the bank, unloaded it and turned it over

Wolf Paw watched in silence as White Bear slung his pack and bags on his back, picked up his rifle and rested it on his shoulder Looking at Wolf Paw's red crest and blanket and buckskin trousers, White Bear realized how strange he himself must seem to Wolf Paw in the green clawhammer jacket he had worn to his father's funeral

I will wait for him to move, if I have to stand here till sunset and all through the night He chose this strange way of meeting me Let him show me what is in his mind

He heard the boughs creaking in the wind around him River water rippled over the stones along the bank He heard a redbird whistling in the distance

White Bear's heart gave a great thump, and he fell back a step He heard rage in the whoop, and the frustration Wolf Paw was angry at him Why? Maybe just for coming back

Wolf Paw held the tomahawk high Corded muscles and dark veins stood out in his rigid arm Two feathers dyed red danced just under the steel head He repeated his war whoop, and then his lips drew back from clenched white teeth

He whirled and plunged into the woods, leaving White Bear shaken and open-mouthed He stood still, listening to Wolf Paw crashing through the trees and shrubs, kicking piles of leaves, until the noise died away in the distance No Sauk ran noisily through the woods like that, unless driven by some madness

White Bear sighed Oddly, he felt less frightened than he had before he met Wolf Paw Before, he had not known what to expect Now he felt ready for anything

He strode into the woods following Three Horses' directions As he walked he began to hear the sounds of people's voices and dogs barking Gradually they drew nearer, until at last he broke through the trees into a clearing

A hundred or more women in brown, fringed skirts were facing him, and as he came forward they rushed to form a ring around him His vision blurred as he recognized faces he had not seen in six years

Beyond the women he could see the camp of the British Band In his joy it seemed to him that the wickiups were bathed in a golden light Rings of gray domes began near the trees where he stood and spread into the tall yellow prairie grass Before the wickiups he could see what the women had been working at, tasks abandoned for the moment, clothing being mended, skins stretched, meat and fish cleaned and set on frames to dry

"White Bear is here!" cried one woman, and he recognized Water Flows Fast, plump wife of Three Horses

Three Horses, a short man with broad shoulders, stood beside his wife His nose was flat and spread out White Bear did not remember it that way Something must have happened to Three Horses while he was gone

White Bear breathed in the familiar smells of campfire smoke and roasting meat, of leather and freshly cut wood and tobacco< smoke His delighted eyes took in quillwork and beadwork and paint, blankets and ribbons, bodies clad in fringed buckskin, warm brown faces, dark, friendly eyes

"Where is Owl Carver?" he asked After such a long time the Sauk language came awkwardly to his lips

Three Horses said, "Owl Carver visits the camps of the Fox and the Kickapoo, to invite them to Black Hawk's council"

White Bear did not like the sound of the news, but there would be time to think about it later

Water Flows Fast spoke up "She has gone to gather medicine plants" She looked as cheerful as, he remembered, she always had, but her eyes penetrated him

Water Flows Fast said, "Redbird should go and tell Sun Woman Redbird lives with Sun Woman now"

He felt almost dizzy at the sound of her name, a name he had not heard spoken aloud in six years

As soon as Water Flows Fast spoke, she started to giggle, putting her hands over her mouth Many of the other women in the group giggled too White Bear wanted to hide his burning face He had forgotten how painful it could be to be made fun of by those who knew him so well

But joy blazed up in his chest Redbird living with Sun Woman? He wanted to whoop with happiness, even as Wolf Paw had whooped with rage That could only mean that she had not taken a husband

Then he took a deep breath and stiffened his body to hide his feelings He looked at the laughing faces all around him, especially the bright, curious eyes of Water Flows Fast If they saw how excited he was, they would laugh at him all the more

With a knowing smile—but what was it that she knew?—Water Flows Fast beckoned to the wickiup of Sun Woman—and Redbird "Come I will take you"

She turned, her fringed skirt swinging The women parted to make way for her Shouldering his rifle, White Bear followed Three Horses walked beside him White Bear heard the whisper of many moccasins and the murmur of many voices behind him

Water Flows Fast marched up to a wickiup near the center of the camp The dark, rounded shelter of sheets of elm bark and tree limbs was small, just big enough for two people, three at the most

White Bear's heart was beating like a dance drum The buffalo-hide flap was pulled down over the door, showing that if anyone was within they wanted privacy

"The wickiup of Sun Woman," said Water Flows Fast "And of Redbird" She looked at him expectantly

This brought shouts of laughter from the women around him He wished they would all go away

"I saw Redbird go in there," said Water Flows Fast, "and I did not see her come out"

White Bear's discomfort increased as he watched her face redden and her cheeks puff out It seemed that mirth would make her burst

Every beat of his heart seemed to shake his whole body He looked around slowly, trying to calm himself Even if Redbird had waited for him, his sudden return must have shocked her She needed time to prepare herself to meet him And, like him, she did not want all these women watching their meeting and laughing He would simply have to wait until Redbird was ready to greet him

A rack of crisscrossed wooden sticks for drying skins stood by the closed doorway Slowly, deliberately, he walked over to the rack, leaned his rifle against it, and laid down his pack and bags

"Thank you for showing me the way," he said Hiding his embarrassment, he made himself smile at the hundred or more women gathered to watch him

Three Horses, who was no taller than his wife, gripped her plump upper arm firmly "Let White Bear alone"

Her lower lip jutting out, Water Flows Fast let Three Horses pull her away through the crowd

White Bear sat with his eyes downcast to discourage people from talking to him Gradually the rest of the crowd dispersed

The back of his neck bristled He knew Redbird was in the wickiup behind him Sooner or later she must come out

To have her so close after all this time, to know she was there and to hear nothing but that terrible silence, and yet to sit with his back to that buffalo-hide curtain, all this was a torment for him The urge to jump up and tear the curtain away pressed against his resolve to hold himself still He thought he might explode like a barrel of gunpowder

He forced himself to breathe slowly and pretend that he was hidden in shrubbery with a bow and arrow, watching for a deer

After a time—he could not tell how much time—a face was peering into his Dark and square The brown eyes brimmed with tears

"My son" She reached out to him, and he scrambled to embrace her When her strong arms held him he felt like a little boy again

He sat back to look at her dear face, wet with tears Resting beside her on the ground was the familiar basket with blue cloth cover that she used to gather herbs

He looked around for the sun It was low and red on the western horizon It had been high when he sat down here He must have gone on a spirit walk

"I knew it would be like this," Sun Woman said "It would come one day when I least expected it—my son would be back again"

They sat facing each other and she gripped his shoulders "You are a man now, a very handsome man" She ran her hand along his< cheek, and his whole face felt warm He kept his gaze fixed on her eyes

She said, "You have learned much You have been hurt Your face is scarred" She followed the line of the scar with her thumb, leaning forward to peer still more closely at him "I see sadness in you Your father is dead That is why you have come back"

She sat back and closed her eyes for a silent moment Then she began a song for the dead

"Earthmaker, show him the way
Lead him over the bridge of stars and sunbeams,
Along the westward Trail of Souls
Take his soul into your heart"

After she had finished the song, Sun Woman wiped the tears from her face with her blunt fingers She reached out and stroked his cheeks as well He had not realized that he was crying

"I have a gift for you, Mother" He took out the flat silver case with its velvet neck cord, opened it and showed her the pair of spectacles Marchette had brought to him from Victoire "Do you know these?"

"Your father wore circles of glass like these To see the marks on the talking paper"

"Yes These are the same ones" He closed the case and pressed it into her hand "Now you have something that was close to Star Arrow"

She said, "He was with me for five summers only, but in spirit, ever since Now I will feel even closer to him" She slipped the ribbon over her head and dropped the case down the front of her doeskin dress

He saw the tracks of more tears on her smooth brown cheeks in the fading light This time she did not wipe them away

As White Bear talked, he deliberately made his voice loud enough to carry, so that Redbird, in the wickiup, might hear

"I fled, Mother, even though I promised my father I would care for the land And smoked tobacco with him to seal the promise Should I have stayed?"

She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed "You kept your promise as far as you were able That is all the calumet requires Your father would not want you to die fighting for that land It is better that you come back here and be a Sauk again"

White Bear looked down, unable to meet Sun Woman's eyes Feeling an ache deep in the center of his body, remembering the great stone and log house, the blizzard of blossoms in the orchards, the fields of green corn and golden wheat, the herds that darkened the hillsides, he wanted to clutch his chest where it felt as if it had been torn open He could not so easily forget Victoire

When I was at Victoire I yearned to go back to my people Now I am with my people and I miss Victoire Will my heart never be at peace?

Nancy had wanted him so desperately before they parted; Redbird would not even let him see her

White Bear saw that once again women had started to gather nearby, among them the round-faced Water Flows Fast And now White Bear saw another familiar face he had not seen earlier, Redbird's mother, Wind Bends Grass She glowered at him as she always had, her fists on her broad hips

He heard a movement behind him, a rustling of the buffalo-hide curtain He dared not look around

A cool, sweet flow poured from his heart like a mountain spring at the sound of Redbird's voice He unfolded his legs, stiff from hours of sitting, and pushed himself to his feet He turned

Weakness washed over him; he thought he might fall to the ground Redbird stood before him, her cheeks flushed, her slanting eyes sparkling with anger Her face was thinner than he remembered, her lips fuller She still wore a fringe of her hair over her forehead

Reeling back from her anger, White Bear saw a little boy standing in the doorway behind her

He was bare-chested, brown-skinned He wore a loincloth of red flannel and fringed buckskin leggings He was shifting uncomfortably from one moccasined foot to the other and clutching at himself under the loincloth

Now White Bear understood why Redbird had finally come out She and the boy must have been inside the wickiup all the time he was sitting out here, and the boy was about to burst

It would have been funny, except that a much more important discovery struck White Bear

White Bear's own eyes were brown, but Pierre's were blue Could eye color be passed in the blood from grandfather to grandson? Around his eyes, in the narrow shape of his head, his long chin coming to a sharp point, White Bear could see that this boy was a de Marion

She glanced over her shoulder at the boy "What are you standing there for? You have to go Go!" The boy ran off toward the woods White Bear watched him He ran well, even though he was very young and most uncomfortable

She turned back to him, her fists clenched at her sides, her nostrils flaring in fury

Sun Woman raised her eyebrows "There were many braves who wished to marry her Wolf Paw was most insistent He offered Owl Carver ten horses Little Stabbing Chief of the Fox sought her There were others, besides"

Wolf Paw had wanted to marry her That must have been the< meaning of that strange encounter outside the camp Wolf Paw probably wanted to kill him

"Please, Sun Woman, do not talk to this man about me," Redbird said "You are his mother, and a mother to me But you cannot make peace between us"

"True," said Sun Woman, picking up her basket of herbs and bark "Only you can do that, daughter"

She turned to White Bear "If Redbird does not welcome you into this wickiup I share with her and Eagle Feather, I cannot invite you inside"

Redbird's anger made White Bear feel as if one of the long knives' cannonballs had crushed his chest Perhaps if he could put his arms around her she would remember how she had loved him He took a step toward her, reaching for her

The rock was gray and somewhat larger than her fist It had sharp, irregular edges and looked as if it had been used to chip arrowheads

He said, "You would not be this angry at me if you did not want me back Why did you refuse every man who asked for you?"

For an instant he was blinded as it hit his cheek, stunning him, and his head snapped back

He felt a pounding pain in the back of his skull as his vision cleared The ache from being hit with a rifle butt had come back

Wind Bends Grass called out scornfully, "I am ashamed to call this fool my daughter I cast her out of my lodge because she would accept no suitors At last comes the one who ruined her for all the others, and she drives him away with a rock I think we should throw rocks at her"

The crowd's laughter was louder, although White Bear saw that Wind Bends Grass did not mean to be funny

His left cheekbone throbbed, the cheek Raoul's knife had scarred, and he felt a trickle of blood But he would not let himself lift his hand to wipe it away

Redbird's hand went up to her own face, as if the rock had hit her Her slanting eyes widened with a look of horror

He would not do that He would not go into her wickiup until she invited him And in spite of the heaviness in his heart, in spite of the ache in his cheekbone and the pounding in his head, he believed that sooner or later invite him she would

The blue-eyed, brown-skinned boy was standing before him A golden glow filled White Bear's chest

"She wanted to punish me for staying away from you and her for so long My name is White Bear"

Resting his hands on his knees, White Bear closed his eyes and let his mind dwell on a vast white-furred shape Owl Carver had said that when a man wished to send his spirit on a journey in the other world, he need only think of his other self

Redbird did not understand herself She hated White Bear, but when she saw blood running down his face, she had hated herself She sat in darkness, biting her lips to keep from screaming

She crept to the doorway and pushed the curtain open a crack She could see him sitting again with his back to her, his shoulders broad in his green pale eyes' coat

She drew back into the wickiup and saw the small steel knife she< used to cut up food gleaming near the embers of her fire She picked it up and held its edge against her feverish cheek

The last light of day fell on her as the doorway curtain rose Startled, she almost cut herself She whirled to see Eagle Feather staring at her She threw the knife down on the straw-covered floor

She drew him down beside her and started telling him the story of why the leaves change colors and fall to the ground in autumn

It was dark outside when Sun Woman came back from the river, where she had been washing the plants she had gathered Redbird was afraid Sun Woman would ask her to forgive White Bear, but the older woman said nothing

They passed what seemed like an ordinary evening, talking and telling stories and singing But Redbird could not forget that figure sitting like a tree stump just beyond the buffalo-hide curtain

Much later she went out, and by the light from tonight's full Moon of Falling Leaves, looked into White Bear's face It was motionless, as if carved from wood

He did not seem to see her He must be on a spirit journey Hot with rage, she kicked at his knee What right had he to go on a spirit journey leaving his body to haunt her wickiup?

The impact of her moccasined foot shook him slightly, but it was like kicking a bundle of pelts

Redbird's breath came out in a cloud, lit by the full moon She gathered up some twigs, brought them into the wickiup and added them to the fire Sun Woman went out carrying a blanket Redbird saw her draping it over her son's shoulders

He does not need that, Redbird thought, remembering how White Bear had come back, seemingly frozen, from his vision quest in the Moon of Ice

Tightly wrapped in her own blankets with Eagle Feather curled up in the shelter of her body, Redbird lay awake, thinking that she had never in her life slept with a man That was White Bear's fault, and she ground her teeth in the dark as she thought of the wrongs he had done her

He left me in the Moon of First Buds, and he returns in the Moon of Falling Leaves—six summers later

One afternoon they had been lovers And then he had gone to live with the pale eyes For nine moons she had carried his son and< then given birth to him He had not been here to give the baby a birth name Owl Carver, the baby's grandfather, had to do that, embarrassed at the necessity, complaining that the people were laughing at their family She knew Star Arrow had required that no messages pass between White Bear and the tribe But if White Bear really loved her, could he not have broken that rule—even if he had smoked the calumet with Star Arrow—at least once? For six summers White Bear had been as silent, as absent, as if he were dead

The next day the sky was cloudy, and the air warmer than last night All morning long women walked past Redbird's wickiup, looking curiously at the man who sat there motionless Like Redbird herself, they had never before seen a man while his spirit had gone to walk the bridge of stars When men went on spirit journeys they always retired to the forest or to caves

In the afternoon He Who Sits in Grease, a Fox brave, came to Redbird as she and Sun Woman sat before their doorway plaiting baskets, a short distance from White Bear The brave was carrying a stout bustard with feathers striped brown, black and white He hunkered down facing her and laid the bird before her

His thick lips worked nervously "This is for White Bear," he said "When he wakes up It is the fattest of the three that I killed this morning Tell him that He Who Sits in Grease gives him this gift I want him to ask Earthmaker to make the animals come to me more willingly when I hunt them"

Before Redbird could protest, the brave stood up and backed away, his eyes timidly averted from the figure outside the doorway

He thinks White Bear is holy! The thought made her more angry at White Bear than ever She wanted to kick him again, but women were watching from a distance, and she knew they would make fun of her

"Get up," she said softly to White Bear "Go away," she said, grinding her teeth

She wished Owl Carver would come back from visiting the other camps to put a stop to White Bear's torturing her like this

Amazingly, she felt a lift in her heart at this thought She herself could never forgive White Bear, but if Owl Carver, her father and< the shaman of the British Band, ordered her to, the decision would be made for her

Sun Woman silently picked up the bustard, sat down and began plucking the feathers, piling them in a basket to use for adornments and bedding

To escape from being rubbed raw by White Bear's presence, Redbird went out into the woods along the Ioway River, as Sun Woman had done yesterday, to gather herbs The medicine plants were at their most powerful now, because they had been gaining strength all summer long

Late in the day the sky darkened rapidly The purple-gray clouds seemed to hang so low that she could reach up and touch them She heard the first drops pattering on the branches above her As the rain started to fall faster, it drummed on her head and shoulders Sighing at having to give up this comforting work, she put a lid on her basket, stood up and started back for the camp

Her doeskin shirt and skirt kept the rain off her body, but her hair was soaked and her face was streaming by the time she got back to the wickiup She would build up the fire and dry herself off Its heat would feel so good She hoped Eagle Feather and Sun Woman were already inside

She stopped before the silent, sitting figure outside the wickiup The brown blanket was pulled up over his head Sun Woman must have done that The blanket was sodden with rain, and he looked like a rock growing out of the ground

She squatted down and looked into his face Water ran in rivulets down from the blanket into his half-closed eyes He did not even blink

She shivered The cold rain was coming down so hard she could not see most of the camp A lump blocked her throat

"Come inside," she said She had to raise her voice to hear it over the drumming of the rain

"Come in It is raining It is cold You will die out here" She realized she was screaming at him

She sat on the ground, looking into the rain-slick, light-complexioned< face with the strong nose and the long jaw that she had loved long ago, the face she had thought about so many times and had seen so often in dreams A black crust of blood had dried over the place where her rock had gashed his cheek On the same cheek a raised white line ran from just under his eye to the corner of his mouth

But her hands seemed to have a will of their own She had to touch him She reached out, clutching his shoulders through the sopping blanket, heedless of the rain pouring down her own face, running under the collar of her doeskin shirt down her back and chest She shook him

His body felt lifeless when she shook him But did she see a flicker in his eyes?

She looked up into his face, and color had come into the pale cheeks The brown eyes were looking down at her, warm with love She forgot the rain and the cold, and nestled in his arms

She saw tears spill out of his eyes, mingling with the rain on his face She, too, was crying She had been crying ever since she sat down with him She held him tight

Looking past him, she saw in the doorway of the wickiup the small form of Eagle Feather, staring at them

12
The War Whoop

Owl Carver held the watch up by its chain; his smile of approval showed he'd lost a tooth in front since White Bear left with Star Arrow

"A handsome gift I thank you for it But what do you mean by saying it tells us the time? Do we not know the time?"

Sitting close to the old shaman, White Bear saw that age had bent him a bit more and carved deeper lines in his brown face Besides the megis-shell necklace White Bear remembered, Owl Carver wore a new necklace made of tiny beads forming a red, yellow, blue and white floral design, from which hung a sunburst pendant

They sat facing each other in front of the shaman's wickiup in the center of the British Band's winter camp In the fenced-off corral dozens of horses stamped their hooves and blew steamy breath into the gray sky The hunters had returned with braces of pheasant and geese, with deer slung from poles, with buffalo and elk carcasses mounted on travois dragging behind their horses White Bear felt his nostrils expand to take in the smells of meats being roasted and stewed In a few days all the chiefs of the Sauk and Fox, along with representatives of the Winnebago, Potawatomi and Kickapoo, would be gathering here at Black Hawk's invitation

Even sooner, though, a ceremony would take place that meant much more to White Bear Tomorrow night he and Redbird would at last be married And he had come to Redbird's father today to give him the only present he had to offer

White Bear pointed to the dial of the watch "Father of my bride,< if you want to know when the sun will rise tomorrow, you look at where these two arrows are at sunrise today When they are in the same place again, it will be half the time till the next sunrise When they are in the same place after that, it will be sunrise the next day" He faltered To himself, his explanation sounded at once useless and ridiculously complicated " Almost In truth, the sun does not rise at the same time every day," he finished weakly

Owl Carver stared at him as if he had uttered nonsense "The sun rises at sunrise"

He remembered how Frank Hopkins always reset his clock at sunset "Yes, but in summer the days are long and in winter the days are short But the arrows on this watch cannot keep pace with the sun"

Owl Carver shook his head "Many things the pale eyes make are useful, but I do not understand the use of this thing"

White Bear had a sudden inspiration "It is true, this watch cannot tell you as much as the sun does, but it can tell you one thing"

Owl Carver grunted "Well, it is pretty to look at And it moves and makes sounds"

White Bear snapped open the back of the case, where the key was kept, and showed Owl Carver how to wind the watch, impressing on him the need to handle it very gently Then the shaman went into his wickiup to put the watch in his medicine bundle

White Bear sighed He missed talking with Elysée, missed the library at Victoire, from which he'd managed to take only one book

Well, this world of sky and trees and rivers and animals is a library too Owl Carver knows how to read in it, and he has taught me

The old shaman came out with a long-stemmed pipe He filled and lit it with a twig from the fire in his wickiup and smoked thoughtfully for a while before speaking White Bear, sensing that Owl Carver had something important to say to him, waited quietly

"We need to know more about the pale eyes than we can learn from that time-teller," Owl Carver said "We need to know what they will do if we cross the Great River to Saukenuk next spring"

"If he can get enough Sauk and Fox warriors and their families to follow him At the council all the chiefs will hear Black Hawk The Winnebago Prophet, Flying Cloud, is coming to the council from his town up the Rock River He will add his voice to Black Hawk's But the chiefs will also hear the snake's voice of He Who Moves Alertly" He spat contemptuously

White Bear knew well why Owl Carver despised He Who Moves Alertly During what the pale eyes called the War of 1812, while Black Hawk and his warriors were away fighting on the British side, the civil chiefs had appointed He Who Moves Alertly a war chief in case the Americans should attack the Sauk towns on the Great River Not only had the new war chief never fought, he spoke much of the need to make peace with the Americans He had about as many followers among the Sauk and Fox as Black Hawk did, people who believed that the tribes would fare best if they did whatever the pale eyes demanded After the war He Who Moves Alertly was quick to make himself known to the Americans as a friend In turn the long knives' chiefs showered him with gifts and honors, even taking him and his wives to Washington City to visit the Great Father, James Monroe He had, in fact, been in the East when Star Arrow had come to Saukenuk to take White Bear to Victoire

"Why does He Who Moves Alertly say we should not go back to Saukenuk?" White Bear asked cautiously He did not want to anger Owl Carver by saying so, but he himself was sure that crossing the Great River could only lead to calamity

Owl Carver said, "He Who Moves Alertly has always been a friend to the long knives, and they treat him as if he was a great chief and give presents to him Last summer, when we went to plant corn at Saukenuk, he went among Black Hawk's followers and persuaded many of them to flee back across the river" The old shaman smiled at White Bear "But now we have you, who have also been East and know the ways of the pale eyes You will be able to answer him"

The words trembled on his lips: The long knives are more powerful than you can imagine We cannot stand against them

And yet he did not want to speak He feared that Owl Carver would think him a traitor, as he did He Who Moves Alertly And, in a way, he felt as Owl Carver and Black Hawk did He became< angry every time he thought about how the tribe had been driven from its homeland

Owl Carver puffed on his pipe "You will answer He Who Moves Alertly not just as one who has been among the pale eyes The day after tomorrow, you must go to the cave of the ancestors and seek another vision"

White Bear's heart sank "But I am to marry Redbird tomorrow night Would you have me leave her the next day to seek a vision?"

Owl Carver spread his hands "The council starts in three days" He grinned, showing the space where the tooth had been "And it is not as if you and Redbird have never known the joy of the marriage bed"

White Bear felt his face grow hot, and he lowered his eyes Since his return they had tried to crowd into a few nights all the pleasures they had missed over the last six years

"But why do you not prophesy?" White Bear asked "You have been the shaman since long before I was born"

Owl Carver nodded sadly "I have tried It seems the spirits have nothing to say to me"

As he thought about seeking a vision, White Bear began to feel more hopeful He might not have to displease Owl Carver and Black Hawk by speaking of the strength of the long knives and sounding like He Who Moves Alertly Instead, the Turtle, in that sacred cave looking over the river, would tell him what he should say It was sure to be wiser counsel than anything he could think of himself

He remembered his boyhood dream of being a prophet for the Sauk Now he would be able to tell them where their future lay

But then he remembered words Owl Carver himself had once spoken to him They had stayed in his memory because they had made him so uneasy

Many times the people do not want to listen to the shaman The truer his words, the less they hear him

The next night White Bear and Redbird sat facing each other on opposite sides of the wedding fire before Owl Carver's wickiup White Bear's fringed shirt and trousers of soft doeskin, worked until it was nearly white, were a gift from a brave whose wife Sun Woman had helped with a difficult childbirth

Redbird's dress was of white doeskin as well Around her neck< hung the necklace of the small, striped megis shells that had belonged to Sun Woman

White Bear looked beyond the fire Hundreds of men and women were standing in the shadows watching the ceremony, those of Redbird's Eagle Clan on her side of the fire, the Thunder Clan, kin of Sun Woman and himself, on this side The daughter of the shaman was marrying the son of a pale eyes father and a medicine woman, and White Bear had returned from a long journey among the pale eyes and was a shaman himself It was a wedding that people wanted to see

Wind Bends Grass, standing behind Redbird, spoke of her daughter's character Even though she had spent all of her life scolding her, tonight she extolled her to the skies She was beautiful, loving, skilled, obedient Then Wind Bends Grass instructed Redbird in her wifely duties, making one small change from the usual speech Instead of telling her to give White Bear sons, she told her to give White Bear more sons

Strangely, at this moment, White Bear found himself thinking of Nancy Hale Was she still longing for him somewhere across the Great River?

If Raoul had not driven him out of Victoire, his promise to Pierre might have kept him there He might never have come back here, not found out till much later that he had a son, never have been united with Redbird as he was tonight Truly this was coming home He felt so at peace, he could almost be grateful to Raoul

White Bear was especially honored to have as his wedding sponsor the Thunder Clan's most prominent member—Black Hawk himself

Black Hawk addressed Redbird and her relatives in his harsh, sombre voice "I have known this young man since he was born His father, Star Arrow, was a pale eyes, but he was a French pale eyes, and the French were always the best friends of the Sauk and Fox, even better than the British White Bear has been trained in the way of the shaman, and he has lived among the pale eyes and learned their secrets as well"

What have I learned that my people can really use? White Bear wondered ruefully All I can tell them is that they cannot win a war with the long knives

"You must cherish Redbird and protect her," Black Hawk said< to White Bear "You must give her the benefit of your wisdom Because you yourself are a shaman, your responsibility to her is all the greater"

Then Owl Carver stood before the fire, between the bride and the groom, and raised his arms "O Earthmaker, bless this man and this woman May they walk with honor on the path they follow as one"

Redbird sang a wedding song to White Bear Her voice rose clear and pure into the night air, and it seemed to White Bear that even the crackling fire quieted itself to listen

"I will build a lodge for you,
I will grind the corn for you
I have no home but where you are;
The trail you walk is also mine"

Then White Bear got up and went around the fire to Redbird He handed Redbird a bouquet of pink roses that Sun Woman had carefully collected, dried and preserved The orange glow of the fire danced in her black eyes, and White Bear felt an answering love blaze up within himself

He was so much taller than Redbird that he had to bend his knees deeply so that Redbird could throw her braids over his shoulders, and he heard some chuckles and giggles from the watching people But as her braids fell lightly on him he thought that he had never in his life been happier than at this moment

Together they walked sunwise around the marriage fire, keeping it on their right: and on the east, south, west and north sides White Bear said loudly, "Redbird is now my wife!"

Eyes gleamed at him out of the darkness when he came back to the east side Standing to the side and just a little behind Black Hawk was Wolf Paw White Bear could not resist feeling a little thrill of triumph at the realization that he had won Redbird despite the best efforts of this mighty warrior, this chief's son, this man who owned many horses

Not because I deserve it, he reminded himself Only because Redbird would have it so

Owl Carver bade them depart with the good wishes of the tribe,< and White Bear and Redbird walked to the new wickiup they had built on the edge of the camp Eagle Feather would live there with them, but tonight Eagle Feather would stay with his grandmother, Sun Woman

Next day, in mid-afternoon, White Bear stood again in the center of the camp wearing the same black bearskin he had worn six years ago Owl Carver did a shuffling sunwise dance around him, shaking a gourd rattle and chanting:

"Go forth and dance with the spirits,
Become a spirit yourself
Bring back a gift for the people,
Bring back the words of the spirits"

Black Hawk, standing in the circle that had gathered to watch, stared at him with an intensity that frightened him Sun Woman and Redbird stood with smiles of quiet pride This time Redbird need not fear that he would freeze to death on his spirit journey

It would be painful to be away from Redbird, he thought, as he looked into her eyes, saying a silent good-bye Now, after a brief feast of love, they must go hungry again But only for a night or two

White Bear turned his back on the declining sun The ceremonial bearskin swung heavily on his head and shoulders as he trotted out of the camp toward the trail that ran along the river's edge As he entered the woods, another pair of eyes, hostile, suspicious, caught his Wolf Paw again, standing with folded arms

He felt much stronger than he had when he arrived at the camp Alternately walking and running, he moved quickly and surely down the Ioway River, and he remembered the way to the bluff of the sacred cave Several times along the way he met Sauk and Fox warriors They recognized the sacred bearskin, with the bear's skull covering his own as a partial mask, and stepped aside with eyes averted as he passed them

The sun had sunk behind him by the time he had come to the end of the almost-imperceptible trail to the top of the bluff He< stood there a moment, looking out across the clear blue sheet of water that was the Great River He stared at the Illinois shore, the rich, flat bottomland at the river's edge, the wooded bluffs, much like the one he was standing on, forming a wall, beyond which rolled the autumn-tan, endless prairie

A beautiful and fertile land, from which his people—and he himself—had been exiled Would his vision show them a way back?

In the shadows he could barely make out Owl Carver's wooden owl standing over the row of skulls with their stone necklaces; or the white bear statue guarding the unknown depths of the cave

He settled himself facing the entrance and chewed some scraps of sacred mushroom Owl Carver had given him Nothing to do now but sit and wait Surely no watch made by pale eyes could measure the passage of this kind of time

He heard a scraping and a grumbling from deep in the cave He felt no fear now, only a warmth, as at the approach of an old friend The White Bear, he now understood, was himself in a spirit form

The huge snuffling Bear was at his side, and confidently he rose to step out of the cave, the Bear accompanying him with its rolling walk He stepped on clouds, violet and gold and white and soft as snow under his feet

The pathway through the sky turned northward Through breaks in the clouds he looked down and caught glimpses of the river, a glistening blue snake Ahead he could see clouds piling up on clouds, shot through with pale, blended rainbow colors, like the ornaments carved from shells gathered along the eastern sea

Then he was inside the cloud tower, peering beyond the Tree of Life at the Turtle on his crystal perch Drop by drop from the Turtle's heart flowed the waters of the Great River

"What would you ask me, White Bear?" said the ancient voice like distant thunder

"Your father walks the Trail of Souls far in the West," said the Turtle "He will come back to earth soon, and he will be a great teacher of the people"

"Owl Carver and Black Hawk have sent me to ask, should the British Band go back to Saukenuk?"

The clouds changed to the walls of a room big enough to hold a Sauk camp, where curtained windows alternated with mirrors in gilded frames Under each mirror was a fireplace Three glittering chandeliers hung from the high ceiling In the center of a vast flower-patterned carpet stood Black Hawk

To White Bear's astonishment, Black Hawk was wearing the blue uniform of a long knife, with ropes of gold on his arms and fringes of gold on his sleeves and shoulders But he carried no weapons His face as usual was gloomy

There were other men in the room, but White Bear could only clearly see one A pale eyes

He was exceedingly tall and thin; his hair was white, and his bright blue eyes stared piercingly at Black Hawk He wore a black cutaway jacket and tight black trousers with shiny black leather shoes; and a white stock, a strip of silk, wound around his throat

He was known to red men as Sharp Knife—Andrew Jackson, President of the United States

Black Hawk was talking, and Sharp Knife was listening But White Bear could not hear what Black Hawk was saying

The room seemed to change Black Hawk and Sharp Knife disappeared, and where Sharp Knife had been standing there was now another tall, thin man He also wore black, but he had a black ribbon at his neck A black beard covered his chin, and the expression on his sun-browned face was one of inconsolable grief His sadness reminded White Bear of Black Hawk's

All at once White Bear was on a broad field covered with short grass, divided by stone walls and wooden fences, with clumps of trees growing here and there Terror clutched his belly as he saw coming at him thousands of long knives in blue uniforms with rifles and bayonets He looked about frantically for a place to hide, but there was none He was caught in the open

Blood spurted from their blue tunics They stopped running, staggered and fell to the ground, dropping their rifles Faces vanished in bursts of red vapor Arms and legs and heads flew through the air Flashes of flame and smoke and flying shards of iron tore bodies to bits

But no matter how many of them died, more and more of the white men in their blue jackets and trousers came marching over the horizon holding their bayonets before them There was no end to them

"I have shown you the future of both the red people and the white people on this island between two oceans," the Turtle rumbled "It is given to you to know two futures because two streams of blood flow in you You belong to both, and to neither"

It was painful to hear this The Turtle was uttering thoughts that had occurred to White Bear many times; he had always tried to put them out of his mind Could he not forget his years among the pale eyes and become entirely a Sauk?

Wisps of cloud drifted around the Turtle's scaly body White Bear heard the drip-drip of water from the Turtle's heart into the blue-black, fish-crowded pool that fed the Great River The sound was like the ringing of a hammer on an anvil, reverberating through the vast space in which they stood

The Turtle spoke again "Earthmaker has willed that the pale eyes shall fill this world of ours from the eastern sea to the western sea"

"Earthmaker bestows evil as well as good on his children Sickness and hunger and death come from Earthmaker, just as strong bodies, and good things to eat, and love"

"The many who follow Black Hawk across the Great River will be few when they cross back"

This was what he had come here to learn, but hearing it was like being cast down from this lodge in the clouds to crash to the earth

"You cannot stop them For you as for all of my people, this is to be a time of testing and pain I charge you to see that those who hurt my children do not gain from it You will be the guardian of the land that has been placed in your keeping"

As if he had not heard White Bear, the Turtle said, "Know that long after all who live now have walked the Trail of Souls, my children will be many again, and let the knowing lift up your heart" The Turtle touched his own claws to the deep crevice in his under-shell from which the water perpetually dripped

When he awoke in his body he would grieve He saw nothing but heavy, unending sorrow ahead for him and for those he loved

Black Hawk slowly stood up A mantle of buffalo fur draped over his shoulders and a crown of red and black feathers woven into his scalplock made him look even bigger and taller than he was

White Bear sat close to the fire for its heat The day was cold and overcast, and the damp air around him and the chill ground under him made him shiver in the white doeskin shirt he had worn for his wedding Because Owl Carver had asked him, on the band's behalf, to seek a vision, he could now consider himself fully a shaman He had costumed himself accordingly—three red streaks painted across his forehead, three more on each cheekbone, silver disks hanging from his ears, a three-strand necklace of megis shells around his neck Silver clasps on his arms and silver bracelets around his wrists All these things had been supplied by Owl Carver or traded for by Sun Woman If he had to speak he might at least hope his words would be greeted with respect

Redbird pressed against him, and her nearness warmed him Flames danced over the pile of blackened logs in the center of the British Band's winter camp Light gray smoke rose from the fire, the same color as the blanket of cloud that hid the afternoon sun

Fear twisted its knife in White Bear's stomach He did not want to tell this assembly what he knew Most of them would hate him The chiefs and braves and warriors of the British Band, Black Hawk and all the rest, would never forgive him Owl Carver would feel betrayed

But he knew it was a forlorn hope When Owl Carver had asked him what he learned in his vision, he had answered evasively And now Owl Carver was counting on him

Around the fire sat the council of seven chiefs who governed the Sauk and Fox tribes, including Jumping Fish, Broth and Little Stabbing Chief Beside them sat He Who Moves Alertly, the friend of the long knives, the war chief who had never made war Prominent braves like Wolf Paw sat with them The older and the younger shamans of the British Band sat there, Owl Carver and White Bear

And there was another shaman at the fire as well, Flying Cloud, better known as the Winnebago Prophet He was a broad man with a wolfskin thrown over his shoulders Unlike nearly all the men of the tribes that lived along the Great River, he had a thick black mustache that drooped over the corners of his mouth A silver nose ring rested on the mustache He was head man of a Winnebago village called Prophet's Town, a day's journey up the Rock River from Saukenuk

In the quiet that greeted Black Hawk, White Bear heard, over the crackle of the fire, the rattle of the war chief's bone bracelets as he held out his hand

"I only want to go back to the land that belongs to me and dwell there and raise corn there I will not be cheated I will not be driven out"

Black Hawk did not have a pleasing speaking voice; it was hoarse and grating But the assembly listened intently, because for over twenty summers there had been no greater warrior among the Sauk and Fox

"With this hand I have killed seventy and three of the long knives Every Sauk and Fox brave, every Winnebago and Potawatomi and Kickapoo, can do as much Yes, we know the long knives outnumber us But we can show them that if they want to steal Saukenuk from us, they will have to trade too many of their young men's lives for it

"Last summer the long knives surrounded us and drove us out of Saukenuk But that was because we were not ready to fight, and some of us were not willing to fight"

Black Hawk looked pointedly at He Who Moves Alertly, who sat expressionless, as if unaware of Black Hawk's disapproving gaze His face was round and ruddy, like the full moon when it first appears< above the horizon He wore his glossy black hair long under an impressive buffalo headdress with gleaming horns, and had wrapped himself in a buffalo-hide robe painted with sunbursts

Black Hawk said, "Next summer, it will be different I have had messages from the Winnebago and the Potawatomi promising to help us if the long knives attack us The Chippewa, up in the north, say they want to help us"

A burning log split in two with a noise like a gunshot, and the halves fell deeper into the fire with a shower of sparks

Looking over the heads of those seated near him, White Bear saw columns of smoke from a dozen or more other campfires rising into the late afternoon sky Around those campfires, feasting and gossiping, sat most of the people of the British Band and their guests from other Sauk and Fox bands, as well as some Winnebago, Potawatomi and Kickapoo braves What was being decided here now would mean life or death to all who chose to follow these leaders

Black Hawk said, "The pale eyes say we sold our land I say that land cannot be sold Earthmaker gives land to those who need it to live on, to grow food on, to hunt on, as he gives us air and water

"The land has been good to us It has given us game and fish, fruit and berries It has let us grow our squash, beans, pumpkins and corn on it, and bury our mothers and fathers in it The pale eyes are destroying the land, cutting down the trees, fencing off the prairie and plowing it up The land is the mother of us all When a man's mother is dishonored, he must fight Earthmaker will give us this victory, because he is our father and he loves us"

With a chill that did not come from the air, White Bear remembered the words of the Turtle: Earthmaker bestows evil as well as good on his children

White Bear prayed his own prayer to Earthmaker: that he not be asked to speak to this gathering

Black Hawk lifted his rasping voice in a shout "I, Black Hawk, raise the war whoop!"

He threw out his chest, lifted his head, and let loose an ululating cry that seemed to pierce the very clouds that hung over the camp Wolf Paw, Iron Knife, Little Crow, Three Horses and a dozen other Sauk and Fox braves leaped up, waving rifles, tomahawks, bows and arrows, scalping knives, screaming their battle cries Owl Carver beat furiously on a drum painted with a picture of the Hawk spirit

The Winnebago Prophet lunged to his feet and joined the outcry, his gestures so wild and his shouts so loud that he almost seemed to be competing with Black Hawk

The outcry died down Black Hawk crossed his arms over his chest to show that he had finished speaking The Winnebago Prophet remained standing and raised his arms

"I have come to promise Black Hawk and his braves that if he goes to Saukenuk and the long knives attack him, the warriors of Prophet's Town will help them to fight back"

The chiefs and braves seated around the fire greeted this with much stamping and clapping White Bear glanced at He Who Moves Alertly, who sat a quarter of the way around the circle from him The face under the buffalo headdress was as still as if carved from wood

Flying Cloud said, "I have sent messages to all the tribes that live near the Great River—Winnebago, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Piankeshaw, Chippewa When Black Hawk raises the tomahawk, they will raise the tomahawk too And I have had a message from our allies of old, the British in Canada, who say the Americans have done us a great wrong, and we should not give up any more land to them If American long knives attack us, the British long knives will come to our aid With ships, with big guns, with rifles, powder and shot and food for us, with hundreds of red-coat soldiers Now is the best of times to tell the long knives they cannot push us any further Let all who are truly men take to the trail of war with Black Hawk!"

White Bear sensed deadly falsehood in the words of the Winnebago Prophet When White Bear was in New York City he had heard many times that the enmity between Americans and British was a thing of the past White Bear did not believe that the British up there in Canada had any intention of getting into a war between whites and Indians in Illinois But how could he prove that what Flying Cloud said was untrue?

With a cry of "Ei! Ei!" Wolf Paw shook his rifle over his head He snapped it to his shoulder and fired it with a deafening boom and a red flash and a big cloud of white smoke

As White Bear and Redbird sat silently, braves all around them< were up and shrieking, waving rifles and tomahawks, thrusting out arms and legs in the movements of a war dance Owl Carver and some of the chiefs slapped the palms of their hands against the taut, painted deerskin of their drumheads

A few other men did not join the shouts of approval, among them the round-faced He Who Moves Alertly

White Bear sat with his fists clenched in his lap, wondering whether anyone would notice that the youngest of the three shamans among them was not shouting for war He felt Redbird's hand grip his arm tightly, helping him to feel stronger

Only to Redbird had White Bear told all of his vision She shared his fear that if the British Band followed Black Hawk to war they would be destroyed, and she had insisted on sitting with him at the council fire White Bear knew it was not the custom for a wife to sit with her husband at a council, but she had argued and pleaded until he had given in and brought her with him

Her presence beside him both comforted him and made him uneasy Owl Carver, when he came to the fire, had stared at his daughter, frowned and looked away Wolf Paw had eyed them and smiled scornfully

As the tumult inspired by the Winnebago Prophet quieted down, He Who Moves Alertly looked around the circle of chiefs and braves, his eyes pausing at anyone who had not joined the outcry for war His gaze met White Bear's for an instant, and he nodded almost imperceptibly White Bear had an eerie feeling that He Who Moves Alertly knew what was in his mind

A sullen muttering spread through the men around the council fire Most of those who agreed with He Who Moves Alertly had stayed away from this council White Bear felt admiration for anyone who could look so confident, standing before a crowd in which so many were against him

"War is loud, and peace is quiet," He Who Moves Alertly began "But peace keeps us alive The real way to defeat the long knives is to stay alive"

His voice was deep and pleasant, and he smiled as if every man there were his friend

"When is it right for a brave to go to war? When he must avenge himself on those who have done wrong to him Black Hawk says< we should fight the pale eyes because they have stolen land from us But I have seen the papers with the marks of our chiefs on them Seven different times Sauk and Fox chiefs have made their marks on papers agreeing to give up all claim to the land east of the Great River The long knives say our chiefs were paid in gold for the land"

As his benign gaze swept the assembly, he said, "It is right for a brave to go to war when he is strong enough to make war He does not go because he wants to be killed, because he wants to leave his women and children unprotected He knows he may die, but he does not look for death"

He Who Moves Alertly was no longer smiling He touched his fingertips to his eyes, then raised his arms to the sky "May Earthmaker strike me blind if I do not speak the truth

"We are not strong enough to make war on the long knives I have traveled in the lands of the Americans, all the way to the eastern sea I have seen so many long knives that I could not count them all"

White Bear felt more and more uneasy as he listened Black Hawk and all the other braves of the British Band looked on He Who Moves Alertly as an enemy But White Bear knew that the chief in the buffalo headdress was speaking the truth Perhaps not about the treaties, but surely about the vast numbers of long knives

White Bear saw again the thousands of blue-uniformed soldiers he had seen marching in New York on the Fourth of July a year ago, and the other thousands he had seen in his vision, fighting and dying but still advancing on some strange battlefield

He Who Moves Alertly said, "Owl Carver and Black Hawk say the Potawatomi and Winnebago will aid the British Band, and other tribes from farther away I say none of them will help This quarrel over Saukenuk is not their quarrel, and they have made their own peace with the long knives

"The Winnebago Prophet says the British will send us guns and ammunition, even men I say this is foolish talk You call yourselves the British Band, and think the British are your great friends Many summers ago, yes, the British were at war with the Americans and got Sauk and Fox and many other tribes to help them But when that war was over, our people gained nothing and lost much Many tribes had to give up land to pay for fighting on the British side< Now the British do not care about us The British pale eyes and the American pale eyes are at peace

"I say to those who will listen to me—come with me I will lead you deep into this Ioway country, where there will be no pale eyes farmers to bother us Their Great Father will show his gratitude to those who do not fight them He will give us money and food and help us find good land We will live!

He Who Moves Alertly's closing words rang He crossed his hands over his chest and sat down amidst a silence touched by the crackling of the fire

White Bear heard in his mind the rumbling voice: The many who follow Black Hawk across the Great River will be few when they cross back He trembled inwardly

The clouds overhead had broken up, and the rays of the sun, about to set, fell upon many faces full of anger and contempt But White Bear also saw lips pursed in thought, eyes lowered

White Bear could find little wrong with what He Who Moves Alertly said, but he did not like the way it pointed To admit that the long knives could do whatever they wanted to the Sauk, to hope like little children that if they obeyed the Great Father in Washington City he would be kind to the Sauk and give gifts of food, clothing and shelter—was that not merely a slower kind of death?

He Who Moves Alertly did not seem to see that if the Sauk let the whites push them westward, there would be no end to it Eventually the pale eyes would take all the land there was

To drive a people from their home is to make them prey to hunger, disease, enemy tribes It is to destroy them, even if not a single shot is fired

If we must die, would it not be better to avenge ourselves on the pale eyes for their cruelty to us? Is it not better to die with pride than to just give up our good hunting and farming lands and go meekly into the desert?

He felt Redbird press against him He had a sudden, strong feeling that they should follow He Who Moves Alertly farther into the Ioway country That way they would surely live How could he, White Bear, demand or permit that his wife and son endure the sufferings and the danger those who followed Black Hawk would face?

But at the thought of deserting the British Band he felt an unbearable< anguish One winter long ago he had found a trap that had been sprung In the trap was the rear paw and part of the leg of a raccoon, ending in a bloody mass The animal had chewed its own leg off to escape He had seen a trail of blood leading into the woods The raccoon had limped off to die, but to die free

What He Who Moves Alertly offered was a trap What Black Hawk offered was freedom, but with it the prospect of death

He and Redbird could pack their belongings and leave after this council was over White Bear was sure other families would be doing that

But could he turn his back on Black Hawk, who had just spoken for him at his marriage, on Owl Carver, the father of his wife? On Sun Woman, who he was sure would stay with the British Band? On the people who had been part of his life as far back as he could remember?

Staying meant facing the long knives' guns It meant starvation It meant pain Those who whooped for Black Hawk tonight did not see that Or maybe they did see it but still embraced it To see it clearly and accept it, not only for himself but for Redbird and Eagle Feather, hurt like biting off one of his own limbs But he would not abandon his people He had run away from his last fight over land He would not run away from this one

Owl Carver, holding up his owl-headed medicine stick with its red feathers, stood before the council fire "He Who Moves Alertly thinks he is the only one who knows the Americans But one of our own British Band has been to the big towns in the East And he is a shaman to whom the Turtle has given special visions I ask White Bear to tell us what he has seen"

At the sound of his name, White Bear felt a coldness spread upward from the base of his spine He saw the look of earnest invitation on Owl Carver's face, he saw Black Hawk's expectancy He would as soon spit at these two men he respected so much as disappoint them deeply But now he must

Slowly he stood up It hurt to pull his arm from Redbird's grip, as if he was stripping his own skin from his arm His eyes momentarily met those of He Who Moves Alertly, who stared at him intently

As Owl Carver had, he raised the medicine stick he had cut for< himself after his first vision, decorated with a single string of red and white beads He held it up uncertainly He hoped his shaman's adornments, the paint, the earrings, necklaces and bracelets, would impress them

He was prepared in another way, as well He had never spoken before the leaders of his band; but at St George's School each boy was required to give a short speech to the members of his class once a week and a longer one before the whole school twice a year Those speeches had to be written and memorized, and now White Bear must speak as the spirit moved him But he knew how to stand, how to project his voice, how to measure his words In his heart he thanked Mr Winans for teaching him all that

"The big American towns in the East are bigger than the biggest towns ever built by any red men," he began "In those villages the pale eyes swarm like bees in a honey tree

"Every summer the Americans have a great feast to celebrate the day they told the Great Father of the British that they would no longer be his children One summer in a big town called New York I saw long knives walk in long lines to honor this big day Each man had a new rifle Eight at a time walked side by side, and it would take half a day to go from one end of their line to the other Then came more long knives on horseback, as many as a herd of buffalo And after them horses pulled big thunder guns on wheels that shoot iron balls the size of a man's head

"The long knives were led by their Great Father, Sharp Knife, who was visiting New York He is very thin, with a cruel face and white hair He sits straight on his horse and wears a long knife at his belt

"After all those long knives had walked through the town they came to an open field, where they fired off all their thunder guns The noise made the earth tremble"

Allowing his legs and hands to shake also, as they demanded to do, White Bear paused and let his gaze travel over the faces in the big circle around the fire

The red glow of the setting sun fell on the faintly smiling He Who Moves Alertly Black Hawk's back was to the sun, his face in shadow Redbird looked up at White Bear, eyes bright and full of love Others might hate what he said, but he was glad that Redbird heard how well and truly he spoke

Angry words hissed and sputtered like the burning logs White Bear saw Wolf Paw poke Little Crow, one of the leading braves, who was seated beside him, and speak to him with muted voice but urgent gestures The brave got up and left the fire

Owl Carver, seated beside Black Hawk, lifted his head White Bear saw bewilderment on his teacher's face, and shrank within himself at the sight

Owl Carver said, "White Bear is both pale eyes and Sauk So far he speaks to us only with the pale eyes half of his head Let White Bear tell us what vision the Turtle has given him"

White Bear felt a small surge of hope What he had seen as a traveler among the pale eyes might not discourage the British Band from making war, but his vision might move them more

"The Turtle showed me Black Hawk talking to Sharp Knife," he said, pointing to the war chief, who lifted his feather-crowned head at the sound of his name "They were in the house of the Great Father of the Americans in the village called Washington City"

"Then I saw great numbers of long knives running toward me over a field They were shooting and being shot at I saw many of them hit, and they fell and died, but they kept coming on I saw a tall, thin man with a beard, a sad man whom I have never seen before, mourning over the fallen long knives"

The sun had gone down Now he could see the dark listening faces only by the yellow glow of the fire

Owl Carver said, "White Bear's vision brings us hope He sees our own Black Hawk meeting with Sharp Knife in Sharp Knife's house Black Hawk will go to Sharp Knife's very house to lay down peace terms to the Americans"

Owl Carver went on "White Bear saw long knives dying White Bear's vision foretells victory for the British Band"

From all around the campfire he heard grunts of approval at Owl Carver's words White Bear's heart felt lost and sinking, like a stone thrown into the Great River

"Listen!" he cried "Owl Carver is my father in spirit, but he did not see this vision or feel its sadness I did I stood there before the Turtle, and I know that what he showed me was a warning If the< British Band takes to the path of war, Black Hawk will be Sharp Knife's prisoner"

Shouts of protest erupted around him He saw Little Crow come back to the fire with a bundle of bright red and blue cloth in his hands

White Bear spoke on over the outcry "Listen! When I saw the long knives dying, more and more of them came forward, and their numbers were endless They were not fighting our warriors They were fighting other long knives The vision said that there would be many, many long knives in summers and winters to come, so many that they would fight each other"

Owl Carver said in a voice just loud enough for White Bear to hear, "Say no more You do great harm"

"I must say more You have asked me to speak Now I must tell what I know You must listen The Turtle also spoke to me He said, 'The many who follow Black Hawk across the Great River will be few when they cross back'"

After a moment's hesitation Owl Carver lifted his hands "They will be few because we will win back our land on the other side and stay there"

Before White Bear could answer, Black Hawk stood up, his face in the firelight a mask of wrath White Bear trembled

"Black Hawk will never be Sharp Knife's prisoner!" the war chief roared "Black Hawk will die first"

White Bear felt himself trapped in a nightmare Had his wife gone mad? She could not speak to a council of chiefs and braves His heart beating furiously, he reached out to silence her But she was already speaking

"You are fools if you do not listen to White Bear," she cried "He is gifted with the power of prophecy" She turned to Owl Carver "My father, you know that the whole tribe crosses the river from east to west every year for the winter hunt If the Turtle says few will cross back over the Great River, he means the rest of us will be dead"

Her words were greeted not with anger but with shouts of scornful laughter White Bear knew that the chiefs and braves did not care what she said; they were merely amused that a woman dared< try to speak to them at all He burned with shame for himself and Redbird

Beyond the circle of firelight he saw the shadows of men and women standing in the twilight Word of the dispute at the council fire must be spreading through the camp and drawing more people to hear, perhaps to speak their own minds, as was their right He glimpsed Sun Woman hurrying toward him, picking her way through the seated men

Wolf Paw strode toward White Bear, holding in his hands the bundle of red and blue cloth Little Crow had brought him He glared at Redbird

Redbird stepped in front of White Bear to face Wolf Paw "A medicine woman tells you: the words of White Bear are good medicine"

"How can White Bear tell the British Band what to do when he cannot make his wife behave as a woman should?" Wolf Paw said "Sit down, Redbird" And he pushed her aside

Rage shot White Bear forward like an arrow from a bow, arms outstretched to grapple with Wolf Paw He lifted his medicine stick as if to strike at the red-crested brave

Hands gripped his arms He struggled, blind with fury, flailing his arms and kicking Wolf Paw, his teeth bared, wrenched the medicine stick from White Bear's hand

Without looking at the old shaman, Wolf Paw handed him White Bear's medicine stick Two big warriors held White Bear as Wolf Paw approached him, stretching his lips in a grin

"A woman speaks for peace with the pale eyes," Wolf Paw said, "because peace is women's way I once saw Redbird going to White Bear when he was on his vision quest Maybe he gets his visions from her"

More and more men were on their feet, and they roared with laughter at Wolf Paw's gibe

Sun Woman had made her way into the inner ring around the fire and now held Redbird

"Come away, daughter," she said in a strong but soothing voice "This does not help White Bear"

"Look!" shouted Wolf Paw "Now he has both his wife and his mother at the council fire"

"He speaks like a woman," Wolf Paw said "He says what women tell him to say Women speak for him Let him dress like a woman A pale eyes woman"

Wolf Paw flung the dress over White Bear's head, and the two men who held him pulled it down around him White Bear felt wrapped in hopelessness as the cloth covered his head

He struggled halfheartedly He no longer cared what they did to him His own failure and the sure destruction of his people chained him so that he could barely move The warriors pulled the dress straight down over his arms, pinioning them to his sides As his head emerged through the collar, laughter battered at him Teeth gleamed in the firelight

He saw Sun Woman holding Redbird Tears squeezed through his wife's tightly shut eyelids The face of his mother was heavy with woe

Too despairing to resist, he let Wolf Paw and his men push and drag him away from the council fire and run him through the camp He was blind to the laughing faces around him, deaf to the mocking cries

But he saw one sight that all but killed him—looking up at him from somewhere in the crowd, the hurt, bewildered eyes of his son, Eagle Feather

13
The Volunteers

Nicole and Frank had walked halfway across the main room of the trading post blockhouse when Nicole heard Raoul's voice thundering from the stone-walled counting office in the far corner

Nicole touched Frank's arm, and they stopped and drew back a little, standing beside the long black barrel of the six-pounder naval cannon Raoul had set up in the blockhouse It would be best not to intrude on Raoul when he was in the midst of a quarrel

"But none of them French people there like me," a woman answered, high, nasal, with a Missouri twang "It's downright lonesome" Nicole recognized Clarissa Greenglove's voice

"I'm going to be gone and your father's coming with me Where the hell else would you stay?"

"With my Aunt Melinda in St Louis That'd be a perfect place You could send me down on the Victory'"

"Of course I could" Raoul's voice was creamy with sarcasm "And then do you know what would happen? Half those men who are out in the courtyard now volunteering for my militia company would quit Because if I send you and Phil and Andy away, it means their families aren't safe And so they'd insist on staying home to protect them"

His voice rose to a shout "Do you understand now, goddamn it? Then get the hell out of here"

A moment later Clarissa scurried out past the iron-reinforced< door of Raoul's counting room The two small boys she'd borne to Raoul ran beside her floor-length calico skirt She'd gotten to be round-shouldered, Nicole saw

"Morning, Clarissa," said Nicole To call her by her first name felt not quite respectful, but to call her "Miss Greenglove," especially with her two sons right there with her, seemed cruel

Clarissa gave Nicole a woebegone look that seemed to be asking for something—Nicole wasn't quite sure what Then she ducked her head, and her bonnet hid her eyes

Phil, the five-year-old, looked up at Nicole He had very light blond hair, almost silver, and large eyes that seemed set deep in his pale, thin face A little ghost

"That's fine" Nicole didn't know what else to say Clarissa, who had taken a few steps ahead, reached back and jerked Phil's arm so hard that he hollered

Raoul, when they entered his office, seemed unperturbed by his argument with Clarissa But his eyes widened and flashed with momentary anger when he saw Nicole Then he grinned, teeth white under his black mustache

"Well, Nicole and Frank Come to lay your hatchets to rest? Now that the Indians are waving theirs around?"

"Yeah, I've read your paragraphs in the Visitor," said Raoul, one side of his mouth twisted up in a contemptuous smile "Seems you'd just love to give Illinois back to the Indians"

How unfair, Nicole thought Frank had written only that if the 1804 land agreement had been obtained through fraud, it would be better to negotiate a new treaty with the Sauk and Fox rather than meet them with armed force

Raoul's tanned face reddened and his nostrils flared "Give back Illinois," he persisted, "just like you wanted to give Victoire to Pierre's mongrel bastard"

Nicole saw not a trace of guilt on that broad, hard face over what he had done to Auguste She clenched her fists She must try to contain her anger

Frank spoke "Don't bring up Auguste now, Raoul He's what< divides us, and we oughtn't to be divided now We want to talk to you about protecting Victor"

Heat lightning flickered in Raoul's eyes, shifting quickly to a derisive gleam "Well, that should be easy, Frank, with your attitude You can make a white flag out of any bedsheet"

Nicole thought, He's just using our coming here as an opportunity to rub our faces in the dirt

Many answers crowded Nicole's mind, but she thought for a moment before speaking

"You need the people of this town to make a success of the estate, now you've taken it over, your orchards and farms, your shipping line, your trading ventures Most of the people who live in Victor work for you, directly or indirectly And you're leaving them unprotected"

Before Raoul could answer, Frank joined in "From what I've seen, you plan to march every man who knows how to shoot a rifle away from here to fight the Indians down by the Rock River If you take all the fighting men away, who's going to defend Victor and Victoire?"

Raoul threw back his head and roared with laughter "God, I can't believe I'm hearing you right Ever since last fall you've wished I would disappear from the face of the earth Now you come to me begging for protection"

"It's not for ourselves that we're asking," said Nicole "We just want you to leave enough men behind to defend the women and children and noncombatants who stay here"

Raoul's eyes narrowed and fixed on Frank "Noncombatants like you, Frank? You won't pick up a rifle yourself, but you want some of my men to stay and guard you"

Frank looked back steadily "I'm learning to shoot Your father is teaching me" Nicole felt a rush of love for Frank, and pride in his willingness to learn to do something he hated, because he had to

Raoul spread his hands "Good for you, and good for Papa" He looked down, and his face reddened slightly When he looked up, his dark eyes met Nicole's

Nicole checked the urge to remind him that he had nearly killed their father, and said, "He's tolerably well The little house Frank has been building for him is finished And he's able to walk Guichard takes care of him"

Raoul clapped his hands together "Good, good! Then that's two riflemen you've got right there And I'll bet old Guichard could even shoot if it came to that And you'll have David Cooper, he's a veteran of 'Twelve He's going to keep an eye on the trading post for me, along with Burke Russell I'm sure there'll be a few others As for the rest of the men, if I didn't lead them down to the Rock River, they'd go anyway They're raring to hunt redskins"

Nicole recalled the line of men she had seen just now in the trading post courtyard signing up for the Smith County volunteer militia There must have been over a hundred of them, some wearing coonskin caps and fringed buckskins, others with straw hats, calico shirts and tow-linen pantaloons, two dozen or so sporting the head kerchiefs favored by men of French descent They'd been in high spirits, laughing and talking about bringing back scalps

Frank said, "Of course you don't want to think there'll be an Indian attack on Victor while you're gone What you want is to go down to the Rock River country with the militia and win a great victory over the Indians Or something you can call a great victory"

Raoul held out his hands "Frank, you printed Reynolds's proclamation in your damned paper"

He pointed over his shoulder, where a copy of the Illinois governor's call to arms, cut from the Victor Visitor for April 17, 1832, was nailed to the wall Nicole's eyes traveled over the opening lines

FELLOW CITIZENS

Your country requires your services The Indians have assumed a hostile attitude and have invaded the State in violation of the treaty of last summer

The British Band of Sauks and other hostile Indians, headed by Black Hawk, are in possession of the Rock River country, to the great terror of the frontier inhabitants I consider the settlers on the frontiers to be in imminent danger

Raoul said, "He doesn't say stay home and defend your town He says rendezvous at Beardstown That is a lot closer to Black Hawk than it is to Victor"

Frank said, "That proclamation is for towns that are in safe territory We're the settlers on the frontier, the ones Reynolds says are in danger I was talking yesterday to a man from Galena, Raoul Up there, the volunteers have formed a militia company, but they're going to stay right where they are, in case of Indian attack We aren't expected to supply troops to chase Black Hawk"

Raoul shook his head "We've got to hit Black Hawk hard and fast with all the men we can muster Once we do, there'll be no danger to Victor"

Frank said, "If something like what happened at Fort Dearborn happens here at Victor, innocent people will pay for your decision You want that on your conscience?"

At the mention of Fort Dearborn, Raoul's face had gone expressionless He sat there and stared at Frank for a moment, then stood up abruptly

You have no conscience, Nicole thought She stared sadly into the bright blue eyes that looked so blankly at her now, and wondered where her smiling little brother had gone, so many years ago The smile still came readily to his face; but now it only mocked and taunted Did those years of captivity with the Indians fully explain Raoul, or was he a throwback to some robber-baron ancestor whose only law was the sword?

"When a man goes off to war, Miss Nancy, it means the world to him to know he has someone to come home to"

Raoul smiled down from his chestnut stallion, Banner, at Nancy Hale in the driver's seat of her black buggy At nineteen, she was a woman in full bloom She'd probably have married a long time ago if she'd stayed back East There were a lot of men out here on the frontier, but few good enough to court a woman like her

She'd be a fool not to take my offer seriously It's the best one she'll ever get

Nancy looked first at the dusty road over the grass-covered hills between Victoire and Victor, the morning sun beating down on it, then up at him The deep blue of her eyes was a marvel

Children, yes, but the mingling of his de Marion blood with the< nondescript Greenglove line could hardly produce the children he wanted Nancy, on the other hand, from an old New England family that probably went back to even better English stock, was just the sort of woman he wanted to breed with

"Clarissa and I have never stood up before a priest or a minister, Miss Hale I've just been passing my time with her until the right lady came along"

Her gaze was cool and level "As far as I'm concerned you're as good as married, and you have no right to be talking to me this way"

"Not mine" She shook her head, blond braids swinging He could picture all that honey-gold hair spread out on a pillow, and he felt a pulse beat in his throat

Nancy went on, "You must know how wrong it is for you to speak to me this way Otherwise you wouldn't have ambushed me out here"

Josiah Hode, Hodge Hode's boy, had ridden fast to the trading post this morning to tell Raoul that Miss Hale was driving her buggy into town and was traveling, for once, without her father It was the news Raoul had been hoping for ever since the governor's proclamation had arrived in Victor Knowing Miss Nancy was indignant over his treatment of the mongrel, Raoul had delayed approaching her Now he could delay no longer

"I leave with the militia next Monday," he said "That gives you three days to think it over I hope to carry your favorable answer with me when I ride off to defend you from the savages"

She smiled, but the smile was without humor or warmth "Carry this answer with you if you wish: No" She flicked the reins, and her dappled gray horse speeded up to a trot

"You'll end up an old maid schoolmarm!" he shouted "You'll never know what it is to have a man between your legs"

He kicked his heels hard into Banner's sides and the stallion uttered an angry whicker and broke into a gallop, leaving Nancy Hale and her buggy enveloped in dust

He wished the country around here weren't so damned open If he could have dragged her out of that buggy and into the woods, given her a taste of the real thing, she'd have changed her mind about him

Well, he thought, as the gray log walls of the trading post came into sight around a bend in the ridge road, he would carry her answer to the war And the Indians would suffer the more for it

Raoul reined up Banner in the very center of the rings of dark, silent Indian houses Armand Perrault, Levi Pope, Hodge Hode and Otto Wegner stopped beside him He did not know whether he was relieved or disappointed His cap-and-ball pistol drawn, the hammer pulled back, he drew angry breaths and glared about him He felt exposed, realizing that at any time an arrow aimed at his heart could come winging out of one of those long loaf-shaped bark and frame Winnebago lodges

Because of Raoul's experience in the skirmishing around Saukenuk last year, General Henry Atkinson had commissioned him a colonel and put him in command of the advance guard, known as the spy battalion He enjoyed the prestige of leading the spies, but he felt a constant tightness in his belly

He reached down for the canteen in the Indian blanketwork bag strapped to his saddle, uncorked it and took a quick swallow of Old Kaintuck It went down hot and spread warmth from his stomach through his whole body He cooled his throat with water from a second canteen

For three weeks now, slowed by heavy spring rains that swelled creeks to nearly impassable torrents, the militia had followed Black Hawk's trail up the Rock River To the whites' disappointment, the Indians had bypassed Saukenuk, doubtless aware that the militia had come out against them Instead, Black Hawk's band had trekked twenty-five miles upriver, reportedly stopping at Prophet's Town Now, they were not here either

Raoul hated the Indian village on sight Built on land that sloped< gently down to the south bank of the Rock River, it surrounded him, threatened him, lay dark, sullen and sinister under a gray sky heavy with rain It reminded him too vividly of the redskin villages where he'd spent those two worst years of his life

He saw no cooking fires, no drying meat or stacks of vegetables by the dark doorways, no poles flaunting feathers, ribbons and enemy scalps That characteristic odor of Indian towns, a mixture of tobacco smoke and cooking hominy, hung in the air but was very faint He figured the Indians had left here days ago

"Otto," Raoul said, "ride back to General Atkinson and report the enemy has abandoned Prophet's Town"

Wegner gave Raoul a strenuous Prussian salute, pulled his spotted gray horse's head around and rode off

The two hundred men of the spy battalion were trickling in behind Raoul, hoofs pattering on the bare earth In their coonskin caps and dusty gray shirts and buckskin jackets, the men didn't look like soldiers, but they had taken the oath and were under military discipline till their term of enlistment was up at the end of May

The men called to one another and laughed as they gazed around at the empty lodges They were enjoying themselves immensely, Raoul thought This time of year most of them would be breaking their backs doing spring plowing and planting Now they could earn twenty-one cents a day while going on something like an extended hunting trip

Eli Greenglove, on a brown and white pony, trotted up beside Raoul His silver lace captain's stripes glittered on the upper arms of the blue tunic Raoul had bought for him A long cavalry saber hung from his white leather belt

Eli grinned, and Raoul had to look away It seemed that every other tooth in Eli's head was missing, and the ones that were left were stained brown from years of chewing tobacco

And now Clarissa had taken up pipe smoking, making it even harder for Raoul to enjoy bedding down with her

Damn shame Of course, old Eli here would slit his throat if he had any idea what Raoul was thinking

Eli said, "You figger the Prophet's Town Injuns have joined up with Black Hawk's bunch?"

"Of course," said Raoul "And that means Black Hawk now has about a thousand warriors behind him"

A movement on the south edge of the village in the surrounding woods caught Raoul's eyes He swung around in that direction, pointing his pistol

"Loaded 'n' primed," said Greenglove, pulling his bright new Cramer percussion lock rifle—another present from Raoul—from its saddle sling, controlling his pony easily with his knees alone

Indians walked out of the woods, four men They held their empty hands high over their heads and shuffled forward slowly

Raoul studied the four advancing men Two had their heads wrapped in turbans, one red, one blue All four wore fringed buckskin leggings and gray flannel shirts He saw no weapons

Then he caught sight of more shadowy figures in the trees beyond the Indians Instantly, he straighted his arm in that direction and pulled the trigger His pistol went off with a boom, puffing out a cloud of gray smoke He handed it to Armand to reload it while he reached for his own new rifle, a breech-loading Hall

The Indian with the red turban was shouting something Raoul recognized the language—Potawatomi The sound of it made the blood pound in his temples

"Those are only squaws and papooses," the Indian called in Potawatomi "Please do not shoot them"

Raoul felt like shooting them all, just for being Potawatomi, but he held the impulse in check He had to find out whatever they could tell him

He addressed the Indians in their language, indelibly engraved in his mind by the acids of fear and hatred "Tell them all to come out We will kill anyone who hides from us"

The red-turbaned Indian called over his shoulder, and slowly a group of women and small children came out of the woods

Raoul took his reloaded pistol back from Armand and walked Banner over to the little group They started to lower their hands

"Keep them up" He gestured with the pistol Slowly the copper-skinned< men straightened their raised arms again, looking at one another unhappily

Probably thought we'd welcome them with kind words and gifts The muscles in his neck and shoulders were so rigid they ached, and his stomach was boiling In his mind he saw again the scarred face of Black Salmon, the brown fist raised, holding a horsewhip to beat him The sounds of Potawatomi speech brought it all back

He handed his horse's reins to Armand, who tied Banner to an upright post in front of a nearby lodge

"I am Little Foot," said the Indian wearing the red turban "I am head of the Deer Clan We live here in the town of the Winnebago Prophet"

Little Foot's skin was dark, and he had a wide, flat nose He wore no feathers on his head, probably not wanting to look warlike Black hair streaked here and there with white hung down from under his turban in two braids to his shoulders Raoul judged him to be in his fifties

One thing was certain Little Foot was Potawatomi Raoul felt his fingers tightening on his pistol as he held it at waist level

Raoul turned to Levi Pope and some of his other Smith County boys who were seated on horses nearby "Tie them up"

Levi, who wore six pistols at his belt, all primed and loaded, got down from his horse and unhooked a coiled rope from his saddle "The squaws and little ones too?"

"Put their families in one of the lodges and keep a guard on them" Another thought occurred to him "Eli, take some men and search these huts Make sure there aren't any more Indians hiding out somewhere in this town"

Levi went to the red-turbaned Indian and pulled his arms down roughly to his sides In a moment he had Little Foot's hands securely tied behind his back, while other grinning Smith County boys had done the same to the other three Indian men

"Ankles too," said Raoul, and Levi and his men cut lengths of rope and knelt to hobble the Indians

With his free hand Raoul took another long drink from the whiskey canteen hanging from his saddle

He walked close to Little Foot and looked him in the eye He did not like the way the Indian looked back at him He saw no fear

With a sudden movement he hooked his boot behind the Indian's hobbled ankles and pushed him hard Little Foot fell heavily to the ground on his back, wincing with the unexpected pain

As he pushed himself awkwardly into a sitting position, there was no mistaking the hatred in the way he looked up at Raoul

"We do not think Black Hawk can win We hope the long knives will treat kindly those who do not make war on them"

Raoul said, "Where has Black Hawk gone? What is he planning? Where are the people who were living in this town?"

"I promised the Winnebago Prophet I would say nothing about where they went I will be accursed if I break my promise"

What a pleasure to have a bunch of Potawatomi right where he could do anything he wanted to them

While Raoul had been talking with the Indians, more militiamen had reached Prophet's Town Columns of men on horseback, four abreast, came to a halt in the grassland to the south of the village and fell out at their officers' commands They climbed off their horses and walked them

"General Atkinson is going to encamp the rest of the army outside Prophet's Town, sir," he said, giving Raoul his usual vigorous salute, nearly dislodging the big hunting knife sheathed in a pocket of his leather shirt

Raoul returned the salute carelessly, went back to Banner and took another swallow from the whiskey canteen

Surprising that Atkinson should decide to set up camp here, when the day was only half over Well, Henry Atkinson had a reputation for going slowly Raoul had heard from friends among the regular officers that Atkinson had already received a sharply worded letter from the Secretary of War in Washington City reprimanding him for not moving fast enough to crush the Indians

The early arrivals already had their tents up Officers' tents< were of white canvas, six feet from the ground to their peaked tops Enlisted men set up pup tents just large enough to cover two men lying down Most men didn't bother to carry tents and slept out in the open, rolled up in the coarse blankets they all carried

Men were wandering through Prophet's Town peering into the lodges They walked with slow caution, rifles ready

Raoul watched Justus Bennett, in civilian life Smith County's land commissioner, ordering two privates in buckskins and coonskin caps to put up a tent for him Bennett was always trying to make himself as comfortable as possible His packhorse carried his tenting, a big bag full of fancy clothes, and a couple of heavy law books Why on earth a man would think he needed such things in the wilderness, Raoul had no idea

Bennett looked annoyed, but gave some final instructions to the men putting up his tent and slouched over to the four Indians A round-shouldered man of slight build, he looked decidedly unmilitary, but he'd explained to Raoul that for anyone who wanted to get ahead in politics, a war record would be a godsend

A crowd of men had gathered in a circle around the Indians Maybe they wanted to give the redskins a few licks of their own

Raoul was used to looking down at other men, but he had to look up, a little, at the man who addressed him His skinniness was like Pierre's in a way, but this man was a heap uglier than Raoul's brother had been He looked like a half-starved nag

I'll bet he trips all over himself when he walks, and when he rides he drags his feet on the ground

Raoul gestured to the seated Potawatomi "You boys ever see Indians up close before?"

"The way you've got them trussed up and guarded, Colonel," said the tall man, "I'd say they must be pretty desperate characters"

Raoul heard the smile in the drawling voice and felt heat rising up the back of his neck He took a closer look at the man He couldn't be much over twenty, but he looked a well-worn twenty< A farmer's face, darkened by the sun The gray eyes, set in deep hollows under heavy black brows, crinkled humorously But Raoul saw cold judgment deeper in those eyes

Like most of the volunteers, the tall man wore civilian clothes His were gray trousers tucked into farmer's boots and a gray jacket over a blue calico shirt printed with white flowers An officer's saber hung from a belt around his waist

Raoul said, "Well, I reckon you signed up with the militia to fight Indians, so take a good look at your enemy"

The tall man walked around to stand in front of Little Foot, hunkered down and said, "Howdy"

Some of the other men in the ring around the Indians chuckled at this Even Justus Bennett snickered

Raoul was feeling angrier and angrier He had looked forward to questioning Little Foot and the other Potawatomi, looked forward to having them resist and to breaking their resistance down with fear and pain He'd even hoped they might give him reason to shoot them These strange militiamen were becoming a nuisance

"You seem to think this is pretty funny Who the hell are you?" Raoul put a threat into his voice

"I'm Captain Lincoln of the Sangamon County company, sir We're with the Second Battalion"

"That so? If you let somebody else do your talking for you, he may talk you into a spot you won't like"

Abe said, "Oh, I always make sure I say what the men want said, sir" That brought another laugh

Raoul's anger at the Potawatomi found a new target in this bony volunteer The heat of the whiskey raced through his bloodstream

There was one simple way to show this upstart who was master here, and at the same time have his way with the redskins

Raoul said, "I'm going to give this Potawatomi one more chance< to tell me now where Black Hawk went, and if he disobeys me again I'm going to shoot him dead"

In Potawatomi he said, "Tell me what Black Hawk plans to do Is he lying in ambush farther up the trail? Does he have a secret camp for his squaws and papooses? Tell me, or I will shoot you" Swinging the muzzle of the pistol to the man in the blue turban beside Little Foot, he said, "And then I will ask this man, and if he does not tell me, I will kill him too"

The bony young man said, "With all due respect to your rank and experience, sir, I must say that what you propose to do is wrong"

Raoul's rage threatened to boil over Tension jerked his right arm So as not to risk wasting a shot, he took his finger off the trigger

In a mild but somehow penetrating voice the Sangamon man said, "I'll tell you why this is wrong, sir, if you'll allow me"

The man's politeness was infuriating Raoul turned to him, letting the pistol fall to his side

"If you had a white prisoner at your mercy, you would not shoot him because he refused to betray his comrades You would think it honorable in him to answer your questions with silence But this red man is a human being with the same God-given right to his life that you and I have"

Raoul realized all at once that the lean captain's backwoods manner of speaking had fallen away like an unneeded cloak He sounded like a lawyer or a minister

"I was a prisoner of the Potawatomi for two years I can tell you from experience they're not human at all"

How angry Pierre had been when Raoul had said Indians were animals But it was true

The young captain looked calmly at Raoul "If to hold slaves and treat them badly marks a man as less than human, then you must so brand every wealthy white man in the Southern states"

A few of the men standing around laughed "That Abe! Got an answer for everything"

Again Raoul's hand tightened convulsively on the pistol grip He'd wasted enough words on this walking skeleton from Sangamon County He was quivering with rage

He swung around and stepped close to Little Foot, holding his pistol less than a foot from the red-turbaned head With his left hand he pulled the hammer back to half-cock, then full The double click sounded loud in a sudden, astonished silence

And Little Foot's arms, unbound, shot up Both his hands gripped the barrel of the pistol and yanked it to one side About to pull the trigger, Raoul froze his finger as the muzzle was pulled aside from its target

—And knew with a sudden sinking of his heart what a deadly mistake he had made in that instant

Raoul saw a coil of rope lying on the ground beside Little Foot The Indian must have been working his wrists loose while everyone's attention was on the argument

Little Foot had already turned the loaded and cocked pistol around in his hands and pointed it at Raoul's heart Raoul stared into black eyes that had no mercy for him

Coughing, blinded, Raoul saw dimly through the gunsmoke that the skinny captain had thrown himself at Little Foot and thrust the pistol aside Now Lincoln and Little Foot were wrestling, thrashing about like two wild animals

By the time the smoke had cleared, the lean man had full control Little Foot's ankles, Raoul saw, were still tied, and Lincoln's arms had snaked up under the Indian's The Sangamon County man's big hands were behind Little Foot's head, pushing his chin down into his chest His long legs were wrapped around Little Foot's middle, holding him in a crushing scissors grip

Raoul stood shaking, his eyes watering from the faceful of powder smoke he'd taken His heart was pounding frantically against his breastbone

The four guards had their rifles pointed at Little Foot Any one of them could have saved Raoul's life by shooting, but none of them had reacted quickly enough

The lanky captain's comrades were cheering him "Old Abe's the best wrassler in this army, Colonel, and now you've seen it for yourself"

Raoul wiped his eyes and shouted, "Stand aside, Lincoln Now I'm going to blow this redskin's brains out" The quaver he heard in his own voice made him even angrier

From behind Little Foot came a calm response "I'm going to ask you not to do that, sir"

Lincoln did unwrap his arms from Little Foot's head and shoulders, but still held him with his legs The Indian sat motionless, as if his effort to kill Raoul had taken the last of his strength He muttered under his breath Probably his death song, Raoul thought

Lincoln quickly retied the Indian, then stood up, placing himself between Raoul and Little Foot He held Raoul's empty pistol out to him, butt first

"Colonel, I believe you're a fair man, and you'll agree that I just saved your life"

Raoul took his pistol and handed it to Armand, realizing that the tall man was maneuvering him into a difficult position Too many men had seen what happened

"Yes, you did save my life" The words hurt his throat, same as if that pistol ball had hit him and lodged there "And I thank you You have my most profound gratitude"

"That being so, and since I have done you what you might think a favor, will you grant me a life for a life?"

All he had to do was shove this Lincoln aside, put the muzzle of his pistol to Little Foot's head and pull the trigger

Raoul became aware that the crowd around them had grown to perhaps a couple of hundred men The ones he could see wore little half smiles Whoever came out the winner, they were having a fine old time watching

Raoul was broader and maybe stronger than Lincoln But how ridiculous he would look if he had to fight the man to get past him to shoot Little Foot

The truth was bitter as vinegar, but the only course that would preserve his dignity would be to let Lincoln have his way

"Ah, hell," he said loudly, and was pleased to hear that while he'd stood silently thinking, his voice had regained its strength "Sure, I'll let the Indian live He's nothing to me"

He noticed that his hand still shook a little as he gave Bennett's pistol back to him He took his own, reloaded, from Armand and holstered it, hoping no one could see his tremor

The grip that met his was crushing Even though he'd seen the bony young man immobilize Little Foot, Raoul was surprised

Armand had finished putting Raoul's tent up In the tent Armand uncorked a jug and handed it to Raoul, who offered it to Lincoln The young man hooked his finger in the ring at the neck of the jug and raised it to his mouth Raoul watched the prominent Adam's apple rise and fall as he took a long swallow

"I normally don't touch whiskey, sir," Lincoln said, handing the jug back to Raoul "I've seen it ruin too many good men But I do appreciate this It's not every day I grab a pistol as it goes off, wrestle an Indian and disobey a colonel"

<"Three things Kentucky makes better than anyplace else," said Lincoln "Quilts, rifles and whiskey I should know That's where I hail from"

It was because of men like this, Raoul thought with some disdain, that Illinoisians got their nickname, "Suckers" The weak shoots of the tobacco plant that had to be stripped off and thrown away were called suckers, and Illinois was said to be largely populated by ne'er-do-well emigrants from tobacco-growing states like Kentucky

"Then here's to Kentucky," said Raoul, loathing the tall, ugly man for spoiling his revenge

He lifted the jug to his lips and let the burning liquid roll over his tongue and slide down his throat, grateful to it for the warmth that would melt away the chill of death he still felt around his heart

A few more swigs and Raoul found himself wanting to bring Lincoln around to his way of thinking The man, after all, had saved his life

"You know, you went to a whole lot of bother over that Indian now," he said "It's a waste of time We're only going to have to kill them all later anyway"

"I've got a big estate in Smith County, beside the Mississippi, miles and miles of wonderful fertile land just begging for the plow And too much of it is growing nothing but prairie flowers, because I can't get enough people to come and work it for me They're afraid of Indians!"

"Why the hell did you volunteer for the militia, if you don't like killing Indians?"

Lincoln smiled faintly "Well, a war record won't hurt when I make a run for the legislature"

A bluebelly, a blue-uniformed officer of the Federal army, pushed through the tent flap He doffed his tall, cylindrical shako

"General Atkinson's compliments, Colonel de Marion We're breaking camp and moving on up the Rock River in pursuit of Black Hawk and his band And he asks you to once again take up the lead position"

"A couple of Winnebago known to the general came into camp and offered to guide us, sir They say Black Hawk and the Winnebago Prophet are leading their people upriver to try to persuade the Potawatomi to join them Black Hawk's whole band, except for the

SHAMAN

by ROBERT SHEA

Acknowledgments

1
The Lodge of the Turtle

2
The Spirit Bear

3
Claw Marks

4
Master of Victoire

5
Star Arrow

6
In the Ancient Grove

7
Raoul's Mark

8
Homecoming

9
Bequest

10
Dispossessed

11
Redbird's Wickiup

12
The War Whoop

13
The Volunteers

SHAMAN

by ROBERT SHEA

Acknowledgments

1 The Lodge of the Turtle

2 The Spirit Bear

3 Claw Marks

4 Master of Victoire

5 Star Arrow

6 In the Ancient Grove

7 Raoul's Mark

8 Homecoming

9 Bequest

10 Dispossessed

11 Redbird's Wickiup

12 The War Whoop

13 The Volunteers

1
The Lodge of the Turtle

2
The Spirit Bear

3
Claw Marks

4
Master of Victoire

5
Star Arrow

6
In the Ancient Grove

7
Raoul's Mark

8
Homecoming

9
Bequest

10
Dispossessed

11
Redbird's Wickiup

12
The War Whoop

13
The Volunteers