But next, Kellermann announced the “Pageant of the Plains.” Cody had rearranged some of the turns into a kind of pantomime play. There was some music to set the mood as Kellermann made a little speech setting the scene and stalling for the time needed for the new costume change. And she had to scramble with the help of one of the Mexican ladies to wiggle out of the satin blouse and skirt, get the braids of her wig taken down, then turn to help Juanita make the same change. It made the men grin to see them “disrobing” right out in the open, but they didn’t say a word, perhaps because they knew Juanita was as handy with a knife as Giselle was with a rifle. She wasn’t the only one; the four Mexican men really did have to jump right out of their satin trousers and shirts and into buckskin leggings, and they didn’t seem to worry very much about modesty!

She was barely ready to join the procession into the arena for the Indian war dance.

Then she and the Indians, and “Indians,” left to great applause, and the “settlers” drove their “wagon train” into the arena and made camp. She ran off to the little changing tent changed into her embroidered skirt, shirt, boots and vest, and ran back. There were a few songs and a “square dance,” then came the change. It was bandits, not Indians, who attacked the wagons.

The bandits seemed to enjoy their role very much.

And then, it wasn’t the cavalry that ran off the bandits, it was the Indians! And how the spectators cheered when they did! As for the Indians, they certainly enjoyed themselves; their war cries were positively bloodcurdling, and they certainly used up their entire allotment of blank cartridges in the process of defeating the bandits. Giselle was in the wings, waiting for her next turn and peeking around the side of the curtain, and was deeply gratified to see the audience reaction.

Half the “Indians” pursued the bandits. The real Indians all stayed behind to see to the settlers. The cavalry (with Cody in the lead) turned up with the horses and the cattle, and the Pawnee pantomimed an elaborate peace pipe ceremony with both Captain Cody and the chief of the settlers. Then the entire group rode off out of the arena together, with cavalry and Indians riding point and rearguard for the settlers. Exactly as the readers of a Karl May book would have liked. And the cheers were deafening. Certainly much more enthusiastic than Giselle remembered hearing before.