He remembered Pierre's words: Now you have a chance to own land, to be rich and to have power. You can learn how to use your wealth to protect your people.
And he was losing that chance. As he saw these rich acres being torn away from him, more and more he felt himself wanting them.
But how to fight for the land? To charge Raoul's pistol and the rifles of his men would simply mean death. Surely that was not what Pierre wanted for him.
An unfamiliar voice said, "Is this really how you settle land disputes in Smith County?"
Auguste turned to see David Cooper, a lean, hard-eyed man he had met several weeks earlier when Cooper had visited Pierre to pay his respects.
Raoul said, "Don't you like the way we do things here, Cooper?"
Cooper's cold expression did not change. "Just requesting information, Mr. de Marion. That's all."
Cooper had brought his family to Victor from some place in Indiana three years ago, buying a choice piece of bottomland from Pierre. Auguste had learned that he was a veteran of the War of 1812.
Justus Bennett, the county land commissioner, who Auguste knew to be one of Raoul's creatures, said, "Mr. Cooper, I've been reading law most of my adult life, and I can assure you Mr. Raoul de Marion has as sound a case under common law and English precedent as I've ever seen."
Auguste doubted that anyone here knew what that meant, impressive as it might sound.