"I want you to consider staying here in Washington City, Mr. de Marion," Jackson said abruptly. "I think you can be of great service to your Indian people and to the United States. I'm impressed by the way you prepared that speech for Black Hawk. Zack Taylor has written me that you're a remarkably learned fellow. There are plenty of men and women who straddle the border between the white and the red races, but most of them are trash--illiterates and drunks who hang around Army posts. You seem to be an important man both in the white world and among your fellow tribesmen." Auguste's body went cold. Jackson did want him to work for him. He found himself resenting the President's apparent expectation that he could easily be won over. But he was afraid that if he refused outright Jackson might take it out on the Sauk. He shook his head. "You overestimate me, Mr. President. I have no importance in the white world. I had a place, but it was taken from me. Among the Sauk--yes, I am what you would call a medicine man, but I begged them not to go to war against the whites and they did not listen to me." Jackson waved that away with a long, bony hand. "I can see that you are capable of accomplishing much. I have a situation for you in my Bureau of Indian Affairs. If you do well in that post you might one day head the bureau as Commissioner, responsible for the welfare of all the Indian tribes under the protection of the United States." Auguste felt overwhelmed. Jackson's proposal went far beyond anything he had imagined. Was he wrong in thinking that he must refuse? No, he must reject Jackson's offer. The President meant to use him against his own people. Auguste looked straight into Jackson's steel-splinter eyes. "You expect more trouble with the Indians, don't you, Mr. President?" Jackson frowned. "Why do you say that?" "Up to now you've been assuring the red men that they could live in peace on the west side of the Mississippi. But now you can't promise them that anymore." "You _are_ a medicine man, de Marion. How have you divined that?" Auguste felt as if he were walking on bad ice and might at any moment break through and drown. He should not be so bold with this all-powerful man. "I know that General Scott has signed a treaty with He Who Moves Alertly whereby the Sauk give up a strip of land fifty miles wide running down the _west_ side of the Mississippi." Jackson clenched his fist until the knuckles showed white. "You were not supposed to learn about that treaty till you returned to Sauk country." "We traveled over a thousand miles, Mr. President. We talked to many people, and they talked to us." "And with someone who speaks English as well as you do in the party, you were bound to learn. Does Black Hawk know about this?" "No, sir." Jackson's smile was knowing. _He thinks I'm willing to betray Black Hawk._