Elysee's reply was cut off when a weeping Nicole pushed the door open, followed by Frank and Guichard. Auguste held his aunt in his arms, rejoicing in the strength he felt in her ample body. Guichard brought more chairs from a rear room and set them close to the fire. They sat in a circle, their backs to the dark outside. "All this going from house to house isn't safe," said Nicole. "Raoul is probably having all of us watched. He won't feel he really owns Victoire as long as Auguste is alive." Frank said, "He might know that President Jackson sent you back from Washington City. We've been getting regular reports from back East about Chief Black Hawk's tour, and your name wasn't mentioned." "Do you have any news about the rest of my people?" Auguste asked. Nicole said, "The Sauk prisoners who walked through here are being held at Rock Island." Auguste said, "I must go there and find Redbird and Eagle Feather." Hearing that she was still in Illinois, he wanted more than ever to rescue her from hunger and fear and captivity, to bring her and Eagle Feather here to Victoire. _If I live to do that._ "Will you join the other Sauk in Ioway after you find your family?" Frank asked. Auguste shook his head. "No, I must take my rightful place here. I can no longer live as a Sauk. If we are to live and prosper, we must live as the whites do, each man holding and tending his own land. I want to show my people how it can be done. I want to take Victoire back." A silence filled the room. A log on the fire broke in two with a loud crack, spattering sparks on the screen. Auguste looked at each of them in turn. There was worry in Elysee's eyes. Nicole's full face was pale with fear, and Frank looked bewildered. Guichard, standing against the wall, sipped brandy. Frank said, "But Raoul--he'll try to kill you." "I mean to let him try. I mean to challenge him." "You can't." Nicole's voice was shrill. "He's got dozens of men behind him." "He will have to fight me man to man. Raoul can hold his place only as long as his followers think he is the strongest and bravest. They don't respect him the way they used to. He made too many mistakes. And some of those mistakes have cost lives among his own men. If he tries to kill me without fighting me, he'll slip further in their eyes. If he loses the respect of his men, he loses everything." Nicole said, "But you're going up against someone who has killed many times." _True. And he killed Iron Knife, the biggest and strongest brave in the British Band._ "I must do this," said Auguste. "I have never killed, but I know how to use weapons. I must do it for my mother. For all the Sauk that he has killed. And so that my father's will may be done. I believe the Bear spirit will help me." He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. If he let these people persuade him, he might give up and run away.