“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.