On a large map Williams showed the location of Michael’s and Andrew’s land. He had penciled in parcels for James and Frank adjoining those and fronting on the Colorado River. “Michael and Andrew hand-picked these parcels,” he said, “so you can rest assured that they will be good ones.”

James figured if Michael had done the picking, there would be plenty of woods for a man to hunt in.

Frank fretted a little about the lateness of the season, whether there would still be time to break out land, get seed in the ground and make a crop before frost. Andrew assured him there was. “We don’t generally have the first freeze here till way down in November,” Andrew said. “The main thing is to get your plantin’ done in time to catch the spring rains.”

Frank said, “That means the plantin’ has to come first, and the buildin’ of a cabin’ll have to wait. But Hope can’t wait. She’ll be due about June or so.”

Andrew grinned. “Me and Michael, Marie and Petra, we took care of that back in the winter when there wasn’t any farmin’ to do. We put up a cabin for you and Hope and the boys. It’s waitin’ for you.”

Hope gave Andrew a strong hug. Andrew turned. “James, me and Petra figured you could double up with us a while. Annie, we didn’t figure on you at all. We had no idea you were comin’.”

James said dryly. “Neither did anybody else. She always did have strange notions.”

Annie replied defensively, “I figured I had to come along to watch out for James. He’d've probably taken the wrong trail and wound up in Canada or some other foreign country.”

James glanced out the door of the cabin, where he could see Zaragosa standing with Frank and Hope’s boys beside the wagons. “This one is foreign enough for me.”

VII

ANNIE LIKED most of what she had seen of Texas so far, aside from the Díaz incidents. The Spanish language was a mystery to her, but she had felt an immediate openness and kinship with the Moreno family because of Andrew. She had been a little frustrated by her inability to talk to them without Andrew or Zaragosa to interpret. She had been given to understand that without the kind and—for the Moreno family—dangerous help by the old Señora Moreno, her brother Michael would probably have died fifteen years ago. She had tried to express her gratitude, but she doubted that the translation had carried the true depth of her feeling. And she had felt that she could have built a solid friendship with the girl Juanita if they had only been able to communicate better. Perhaps it would go easier with Andrew’s wife Petra; Andrew said she had acquired a fair command of English.

Annie suspected that James had not been forthright when she asked him what Andrew and Zaragosa were talking about. She had heard things, just enough to intrigue but not enough to know their full import, about difficulties between the American colonists and the Mexican authorities, and speculations about their implications for the future. She made up her mind that as time permitted she was going to learn Spanish from Petra and Marie. Be damned if she was going to remain shut out of things just because she did not understand the language!