Scott shook his head. "This is only a hearing, not a court-martial. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I advised my people to keep the peace," Auguste said. "And the British Band did not take my advice. So I am not much of a ringleader. And I never killed anyone, so I am no murderer. As for being a renegade, I was born a Sauk. I'm no more a renegade than any other member of my tribe who followed Black Hawk."
Auguste's voice rang loud and clear. Raoul noticed that his speech seemed more accented than he remembered it. Probably from living with Indians and talking only their talk for nearly a year.
Is it only a year since I drove him from Victoire? Seems a whole lifetime away.
Scott cast sideways glances at Taylor and Atkinson.
"We are told you are an American citizen," said Zachary Taylor.
Auguste said, "Sir, my father was Pierre de Marion, an American citizen, and because it was his wish, I lived as a white man for six years. But my mother was Sun Woman of the Sauk tribe, and I remained a Sauk in my heart."
Scott said, "Your heart doesn't matter to the law. What was your conduct during the war?"
Raoul listened, blood hammering in his skull, to Auguste's account of Old Man's Creek. Auguste named him, turned and pointed to him.
"Then he came toward me to shoot me. I ran into the tall grass. Eli Greenglove, one of his men, shot me." He touched his mangled ear. "It was dark and the men were drunk, and I was able to stay alive by pretending to be dead. When Black Hawk found out that his emissaries had been shot, he believed he had no choice but to go on fighting. It was only then that the British Band began to attack whites."