"Guess you don't know all there is to know about your nephew," Eli Greenglove laughed.
"Don't call him my nephew!" Raoul shouted.
White Bear saw some of Raoul's men exchange befuddled glances.
"Well, whatever he is, I kind of think we ought to send him and these others back down the line. Let them palaver with the general. It ain't for us to decide."
"What the hell do you mean?" Raoul thundered.
The popping of rifle fire on the other side of Old Man's Creek cut short the argument. White Bear turned to look.
A moment later Perrault, his horse's legs dripping creek water, came pounding up.
"You were right, mon colonel," he panted. "Those woods are full of Indians. They were sneaking up on the camp."
"These three were supposed to distract us with peace talk while the others snuck up on us," Raoul shouted to his men. "First we'll shoot these Indians. Then we'll hunt down the rest of them."
"It wasn't an ambush!" White Bear cried. "There were only five of them, and they were just there to see what happened to us."