"Well, he provoked me. He'd tried to cheat me out of my inheritance."
"Apparently you'd already got control of the estate. By force of arms. Was it necessary to go on and incite men to kill him?"
"I figured he might do just what he did—stir up the Sauk against us and try to use them to take the land away from me."
Ford turned to the jury, and the spectators could see the incredulous look on his face. Auguste felt a warmth for Ford. He seemed to know what he was doing. But it still made him uneasy to know that his life was in the hands of another man, no matter how competent.
"And why were you going to shoot Auguste, when he came to you with a white flag at Old Man's Creek?"
"He was trying to lead us into an ambush."
Ford sighed, clasped his hands behind his back and took a few paces away from Raoul. He threw an exasperated look at the jury, as if to say, What can I do with this man?
Then he turned suddenly and said, "Mr. de Marion, in 1812, when you were just a boy, were you not present at the incident known as the Fort Dearborn Massacre?"
"Objection," said Bennett. "This certainly has nothing to do with the man who's on trial."
"Goes to the character of the witness, Your Honor," said Ford.