a “man of action.” As soon as he had her agreement, he jumped up and opened the front of the tent, barking orders to someone outside. A moment later, two sturdy, dark-complexioned men appeared. One was still in his fringed leather from the show, the other in dark, worn trousers and a faded plaid shirt.
“Would you prefer a tent, or a wagon?” Kellermann asked her. “The wagon will be better in bad weather and afford more privacy, the tent will be more spacious.”
“Wagon, please,” she said, and Cody issued unintelligible orders to the men, who nodded and ambled off. “Well, now we must get your signature on a contract, and then go to our surplus wardrobe and get you outfitted.” He stood up, and so did she. “Then we will go to the mess tent and introduce you to the company and get you fed, and by then your wagon will be ready and you can settle into it.” He rubbed his hands together with immense satisfaction.
“But—I don’t understand English—” she protested, the main problem facing her suddenly occurring to her. “How am I to feign being a frontierswoman when I cannot understand English?”
Never mind all the problems of trying to join an ongoing production!
Kellermann smacked himself in the middle of his forehead, and turned to Cody. But he had not gotten more than a few words out when Cody and the Indian both broke up with laughter.
Kellermann looked baffled. He looked even more baffled when Cody gave him some sort of explanation. “He says—and fraulein, I have no idea how this is to be done, but I have seen amazing things and I have no reason to doubt—that Chief Leading Fox will teach you English and Pawnee tonight.”
English? And Pawnee? She turned to look at the Indian, who chuckled slightly, and nodded, then said a few words himself.
Kellermann just shook his head. “And he says that somehow, you will be teaching him and the Captain German. I look forward to seeing the results of this miracle.”
And so am I. . . .
But she was given no time to think. Kellermann, trailed by the Captain and the Chief, took her to the wagon that served as his office and translated the simple little contract for her before she signed it. Then they all made their way to a spot in the Army Camp where a wagon and another, larger tent were presided over by a trio of black-haired women, who listened to Cody, then took charge of her. They took her into the tent and pantomimed that she was to undress. She stripped to her underthings, which seemed to satisfy them. They measured her all over by means of strings, then two of them disappeared and reappeared with armloads of costumes.
She had thought that Tante Gretchen’s hunting suit was practical, but now she saw garments that were, if possible, even more comfortable and practical. Well, that did make sense. Women could not do all the things they had to do on the frontier if they were burdened with corsets and lace and ribbons and bustles and overskirts and . . . well, things. She quickly realized, as she was fitted not only with fringed skirts that only came to her knee, leggings, and fringed and embroidered shirtwaists, but with what looked like the same sort of costume that the Indian women had been wearing in the parade, and one of the voluminous satin skirts and blouses of the Quadrille, that she must be doing double and triple roles. Well, I’d rather be doing something than sitting about, she decided.
Once the costumes were fitted to the three ladies’ satisfaction, they more or less helped her dress and shoved her out the tent flap into the hands of the three men who were waiting patiently for her.
By now, she was ravenous. It had been a very long time since the bit of bread and cheese that had served as her luncheon.
As if he could read her mind (or, perhaps, hear her growling stomach), Cody checked his pocket watch and gabbled something. Kellerman translated that simply enough. “We’re going to eat now, and we must eat quickly to be ready in time for the evening performance.”
They led her to a big tent full of benches and trestle tables, not unlike a Festzelt, or beer tent at a big Oktoberfest celebration. The venues for eating and drinking at a Maifest tended to be smaller than the big beer tents at Oktoberfest, so this was