with one of their smaller
children--Patrick, Auguste thought--squirming on Nicole's lap. The sight
of the baby made him want to weep.

There were Elysee and Guichard, two old men sitting side by side.
Grandpapa had a home of his own now, he'd told Auguste while visiting
him, a small frame house on a hillside north of town, also built by
Frank. And a young doctor named Surrey who had just moved into the
county looked in on Elysee regularly.

_Good that they have a new doctor here._

Too bad, though, Gram Medill had died. Of an infection, Auguste had
heard, that she'd refused to let Dr. Surrey treat.

Auguste saw many more spectators whom he did not recognize, people who
stared back at him with hostility or--at best--curiosity.

A handsome young woman wearing a black bonnet and a black dress caught
his eye. There was a strange intensity in her look, but her mouth was
drawn tight, and he could not tell whether she felt hatred or sympathy
for him. Then he remembered who she was--Pamela Russell, widow of the
town clerk whose brains had been dashed out by a Sauk war club during
the attack on Victor. Nicole, on one of her visits to the village hall,
had described Russell's death to him and told him how Pamela had
insisted on touching off the cannon that broke the war party's attack.

_She will probably want to be the one to put the rope around my neck._

The prosecutor called Levi Pope to the stand. The shambling backwoodsman
held his coonskin cap in his hand as he approached the witness chair.
This was the first time Auguste could remember seeing him without a
rifle. Its absence made him look strange.

Bennett led Levi Pope through an account of Old Man's Creek. Then Thomas
Ford rose to question him.

"All right, Levi. When the three Indians, including Auguste, came into
your camp with the peace flag, how'd you know it was treachery?"

Levi frowned and shook his head. "Well, when we seen that the woods was
full of Injuns."

"Now, we've heard many times during this trial that 'the woods was full
of Injuns.' How many Indians did you see?"

"'Twasn't me that saw them. It was the scouts Colonel Raoul sent out."

"So you didn't see any sign yourself that the Indians were trying to
lead you into some kind of trap?"

"Well--no, sir."

"And when you rode into the forest on the north side of Old Man's Creek,
did you see any Indians?"

"No, sir. They must of all run off by that time."

"When did you first meet up