With the nostalgic sound of the train whistle and Jimmie Rodgers’ nasal voice, the song was worthy of inclusion in the Contest to Find the Saddest Song in the World.

She switched off the radio and asked Jack how things were going in the book.

“Not too badly,” he said, “except for the dust . . .”

“The emigrants are biting the dust?”

“They’ve never swallowed so much dust in their lives. They’ve pulled handkerchiefs over their noses and the wagons are travelling side by side rather than single file, but the plain is getting drier and drier, so the oxen and wagons are stirring up clouds of dust. And they’re out of fresh water.”

“You haven’t seen a stream or anything?”

“There was a sort of pond,” said Jack, “but the water was poisoned.”

“Who told you that? Did you see a sign with a skull and crossbones?”

“Hardly!”

Jack shook his head, laughing.

“Of course not,” he said. “There’s no need for a sign. The rotten smell was enough . . . The guide said that drinking it would mean dysentery or cholera or something of the sort. The water had been poisoned.”

“By the Indians?”

“No. A herd of buffalo. The Indians wouldn’t do such a thing, would they?”

She reflected briefly. “Well . . . no, not in the early forties.”

Then she asked, “What do you mean, you have a guide? Not just a wagon master but a guide, too? A real guide?”

“Of course.”

“That’s a very well-organized expedition!” she exclaimed.

“And what’s your guide’s name? Jim Bridger? Kit Carson?”

“They picked someone who spoke French so he could communicate with the Indians.”

“French . . . Frémont? Bonneville?”

“A very special guide,” said the man.

“I see . . . His name isn’t Théo, by any chance?”

“Can you give me a good reason why he couldn’t be called Théo?”

“No, not really,” she said. “Anyway, how are things going with the Indians?”

“So far we’ve met Kansas and Cheyenne. The Kansas wanted tobacco and blankets. Théo told them, all right, but in return he wanted buffalo meat. The trade was carried out and everything went well. But it wasn’t so simple with the Cheyenne. They wanted horses. They said that the caravans frightened the buffalo and they needed horses to hunt them.”

“Makes sense to me.”

“That’s what the guide said, but he didn’t agree about the horses. He’d rather give them anything else, even rifles. He wanted to keep the horses for the Sioux. He said they’d soon be in Sioux territory and the Sioux were the cleverest and most demanding of all the Plains Indians. They’d have to give them horses. If they didn’t trade them, the Sioux would steal them. In fact they were even capable of stealing the horses from one caravan and selling them to the next!”

“Your guide obviously knows a lot about the Indians.”