White Bear slid the point under the bandanna around Wegner's neck and pressed it into the soft place just above the collarbone. The man's eyes seemed about to pop out of his head. His thick, dark mustache was drawn back from his clenched teeth. Trying to make himself kill the man, White Bear felt as sick in his stomach as he had when he was waiting for Raoul's bullet. And he remembered again, the night after Raoul had driven him out of Victoire and offered fifty pieces of eight for his death, what he had heard Otto Wegner say. He did not push the knife any farther. But he realized that Wegner would still kill him, given any chance. He held himself ready to strike. "Drop your rifle," he whispered. "Slide it away from you. Make a sudden move and I'll cut your throat." Wegner did as White Bear told him. He said, "You are keeping me alive to torture me." If he brought Wegner back to the Sauk, White Bear thought, the warriors would want to kill him slowly. Again he felt that hot shame. "Do you know who I am?" he asked. "You are Raoul de Marion's nephew, Auguste. How can you be still alive? I saw Greenglove shoot you." White Bear ignored the question. "Three of us came to you under a white flag to talk peace, and you shot us." "It was wrong." "You say that now, when I hold a knife on you. Why didn't you speak up then?" "Colonel de Marion is my commanding officer. Kill me, damn you. Is it not your duty?" "A warrior does as he pleases with his captives." White Bear heard all around him, on the prairie and in the woods, the war cries and whistle signals of the Sauk braves. It would not be long before someone discovered White Bear crouched on top of this man, holding a knife point to his throat. Wegner said, "If I could, I would kill you." "Yet if you had caught me the night my uncle offered fifty Spanish dollars for my death, you would have let me go." "How do you know that?" It amused him to answer Wegner's question by saying, "I am a shaman--a medicine man. We know things." "Dummes Zeug," Wegner muttered. "Rubbish," he said louder, but his eyes wavered. White Bear said, "I am a healer. That is my work. I will not kill you unless I have to. Give me your word you will not attack me, and I will take the knife from your throat." Wegner closed his eyes and sighed. "You are civilized. Maybe I can trust you." White Bear could not help laughing. "You saw today what civilized men do to their prisoners. You can trust me because I am a Sauk." "And why do you trust me?" "Because I think you are a man of honor." "All right. You have my word."