"My conscience is clear," Raoul said. "Victoire is my rightful heritage. Do you know that this Indian boy you feel so sorry for isn't even a Christian? I am, Father. A Catholic." "A very bad one," said Pere Isaac. "I have known Auguste since he was a small boy. He behaves more like a Christian than you do." A woman's voice, Nancy Hale's, rang out over the field. "Raoul de Marion, if you won't listen to your own priest, you'll still have to face my father. When he hears what you've done he'll preach against you and he'll stir people to make you do the right thing." Raoul's face changed. He looked pained. "Now, Miss Nancy. It isn't proper for a lady like you to concern herself with what happens to trash like this. You know well and good that your father may have a low opinion of me, but he has an even lower opinion of Indians. He won't side with this Indian bastard." Suddenly Nicole rushed past Auguste. "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." "If you won't fight me you're a coward as well as a thief." Raoul's eyes narrowed, and his shoulders hunched forward, as if he was about to attack. "Dueling is also a grave sin," said Pere Isaac. "And it is against the law of this state. I forbid you to fight." Raoul laughed and lifted his empty hands. "Too bad, mongrel. The father won't let us fight." Auguste turned to Pere Isaac. "How can you take from me the only way I have of fighting for this land?" "If God wants you to have it, He will see that you get it without doing wrong," said Pere Isaac calmly.