"Will you join the other Sauk in Ioway after you find your family?" Frank asked.
Auguste shook his head. "No, I must take my rightful place here. I can no longer live as a Sauk. If we are to live and prosper, we must live as the whites do, each man holding and tending his own land. I want to show my people how it can be done. I want to take Victoire back."
A silence filled the room. A log on the fire broke in two with a loud crack, spattering sparks on the screen.
Auguste looked at each of them in turn. There was worry in Elysée's eyes. Nicole's full face was pale with fear, and Frank looked bewildered. Guichard, standing against the wall, sipped brandy.
Frank said, "But Raoul—he'll try to kill you."
"I mean to let him try. I mean to challenge him."
"You can't." Nicole's voice was shrill. "He's got dozens of men behind him."
"He will have to fight me man to man. Raoul can hold his place only as long as his followers think he is the strongest and bravest. They don't respect him the way they used to. He made too many mistakes. And some of those mistakes have cost lives among his own men. If he tries to kill me without fighting me, he'll slip further in their eyes. If he loses the respect of his men, he loses everything."
Nicole said, "But you're going up against someone who has killed many times."
True. And he killed Iron Knife, the biggest and strongest brave in the British Band.