Auguste stiffened. "Has something happened to my people?"

He saw Nicole close her eyes and sigh when he said "my people."

"There has been trouble," said Elysee. "Did no news reach you in New
York?"

_O Earthmaker, let them come to no harm._

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.

_We steamed right past the mouth of the Rock River, and I never
guessed!_

Elysee 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._

He gripped Elysee's arm. "What happened?"

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's heart suddenly felt as if ice had formed around it.

Elysee said, "And Raoul and most of his cronies have gone to join the
militia."

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.

"I must go there now," he said in a low voice.

"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 t