riders were Indians! They, too, were clad in leather, with fringes and some sort of decorations, and had scarlet sashes about their waists and bandoliers of bullets across their chests. They wore feathers in their hair, and instead of flags, one carried a kind of curved pole with fur wrapped around it and feathers flying from it, and the other carried a wicked-looking lance with long cloth streamers tied to it just below the lance-head.
They rode straight down the middle of the arena then split at the end, with one pair going right, the other, left.
Then came what Giselle recognized from the illustrations in Karl May’s books as a covered wagon, the conveyance favored by settlers, pulled by a team of horses. It went right. Behind it was a small herd of the most extraordinary cattle Giselle had ever seen—their horns were enormous, stretched out to either side of their heads by two feet or more! They were kept in check by four men in checkered or tan shirts, vests, bluish trousers with leather leggings over them and round bowler hats, who herded them to the left, right past Giselle.
After that came another conveyance Giselle also recognized, a stagecoach. It was pulled by four horses, whose driver handled them expertly. That went to the right, so she didn’t get a closer look at it.
But then, in the next moment, she was fiercely glad of the pattern, because next to enter the arena were—a whole tribe of Indians! Men mostly, with three women and two little boys. The men were in a motley assortment of costumes: several were bare-chested, one wore a red cloth shirt with a vest, and one wore a blue uniform coat with leather leggings. Two of them had a sort of crest on their heads, like a Roman soldier’s helmet crest, made of some stiff red-dyed hair. All of them had feathers in their black hair, which had a peculiar sort of fat ridge along the tops of their heads, and all had leather leggings and soft leather moccasins. The women were not nearly as colorful; they all wore simple cloth tunics and skirts with brightly colored hems, sashes, and had shawls wrapped about themselves. The boys were dressed like their elders.
She feasted her eyes on them as they went past, their own gazes unwavering and straight ahead, as if they rode their own plains unobserved, not a dusty arena ogled by an avid audience.
Behind them came four bison, carefully led by halters manned by walking handlers. They split into two groups, so both sides of the arena could get a good look at them. Giselle gazed her fill at the odd creatures, which played so huge a part in Karl May’s tales. She could scarcely imagine how they kept their huge heads up, and they didn’t look dangerous at all. . . .
Well, a bull doesn’t look dangerous either, she reminded herself. Nor does a dancing bear. But either of them could tear you apart if they were minded to.
Then came more cowboys and frontiersmen, including some fellows in embroidered shirts and enormous hats, and lastly, when all of the performers were arrayed around the edge of the arena, in galloped Captain Cody again on his beautiful white steed, which he stopped in the middle of the area. He made it rear on its hind legs again then bow in four directions to the four quarters of the arena before galloping back out again, and the rest of the company rode back through the red curtains, leaving the arena empty once again.
And then the real show began.
Certainly everyone who (unlike Giselle) had bought their tickets must have felt they got their money’s worth, because by the time it was over, she realized that at least four hours had passed. There were trick-riders, of which Captain Cody was the chief. The antics he performed on what must have been the most patient horse in the world left the audience gasping. There was a cattle stampede, an Indian raid on the settlers, bandits ambushing the stagecoach, and Captain Cody did an exhibition of sharpshooting that won her unalloyed admiration, because he did his tricks without benefit of helpful sylphs. Texas Tom did things with a rope she half-thought were magic tricks. There was a “grand quadrille,” which was a dance done on horseback, with four couples in bright satin gowns and suits. Captain Cody’s “Wonder Horse, Lightning,” showed off a battery of tricks. And there was even more