ed from
childhood to do all the work of this estate. I can't do it, and I don't
want it."

He looked around the room, hoping the others would help him persuade
Pierre that what he wanted was impossible. Nicole and Marchette were
both wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Elysee leaned forward in his chair, his
eyes intent on Auguste.

Pierre said, "Once the land is your responsibility, you will do what is
right with it. I know you will. I want to turn the estate over to you
now, as Papa did with me, while I am still alive. I would be here to
help you, for a little while. Your grandfather will advise you, as he
has advised me all these years. There will be others to help you.
Nicole, her husband, Marchette, Guichard."

Auguste said, "Grandpapa, tell him I can't do it."

Elysee, who had been sitting slumped and miserable in his
fragile-looking armchair, roused himself and said, "I knew your father
was going to propose this to you today, Auguste. This is what he wants.
It is no mere whim. He has been thinking about it for a long time. And
it is not impossible. You have shown yourself capable of learning
quickly. I can only promise you that if you take up the burden your
father offers you, I will be at your side to help you every way that I
can."

For a moment Elysee's words made Auguste's resolve waver. Thirty
thousand acres, he thought. And the United States stole fifty million
acres from my people. Should not one Sauk get some of it back?

But he had some idea of the crushing responsibility a huge estate would
entail. It was absurd to think of himself occupying such a place.

"But Raoul is also your son, Grandpapa," he said. "Don't you want him to
inherit your land?"

Elysee shook his head. "Raoul is a murderer many times over, who has
escaped punishment only because Smith County is on the frontier, where
there is no law. He hates Indians with a passion that is close to
madness. He is a crude, violent, greedy man. He shames our family. He is
far less worthy than you."

Auguste felt anger boiling up under his dismay. Father and Sun Woman and
Owl Carver and Black Hawk had promised him he would live among whites
only for a time and then go back to the Sauk. They had all smoked the
calumet, making that agreement sacred. He had lived for that homecoming,
through these six years. He freed his wrist from Pierre's grip and held
out his hands, pleading for understanding.

"But I can't stay here with white people for the rest o