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The thought momentarily crossed Emma's mind that perhaps Josiah was going to trade her to the Blackfoot because she was too much trouble. Maybe she shouldn't have sung the hymn? One look at the possessive hand leading the horse, however, and she knew he wasn't about to trade her away.

The smell of smoke told Emma they were nearing people, and before long she could hear the sound of children playing and shouting to one another in a tongue she couldn't understand. The poles of a large cone-shaped dwelling rose against the sky, and Emma shuddered as she saw two Indian men approach Josiah. Was Josiah crazy? Why weren't they hiding from these Indians, instead of boldly entering their camp?

"Here to trade," Josiah said to them in Crow. After lifting Emma down from the horse, Josiah invited the men to look the pony over.

They showed no emotion, and neither did Josiah. To Emma, all three men looked like wooden Indians as they muttered and nodded to each other.

After they had exchanged a few more words, Josiah turned to Emma. "We're staying to eat."

"We are?" Emma asked timidly. She didn't want to be there, and dearly wished Josiah would take her back to the cabin.

Upon seeing Emma's eyes grow wide with shock, the two Crow men laughed, showing the first signs of any emotion since their guests had arrived. They looked at Emma with great curiosity, and at Josiah with something akin to admiration.

Knowing the source of their awe, Josiah put an arm around Emma to prove she wasn't being held against her will. He grinned proudly as the braves shook their heads in disbelief. Then they motioned for Josiah to enter the lodge with them.

"Stay here," Josiah told Emma, leaving her outside to be the gazing stock of two Crow woman and their children.

Not wanting to betray fear, Emma put back her shoulders and poked her chin into the air. She gave the airs of a decent white woman who didn't want to be bothered by anyone like them. She suddenly realized what she was doing, when the two women poked their chins into the air and started mocking her.

Ashamed, Emma hung her head and asked God to help her act the way a Christian should. She had been raised to believe that all people were the same, no matter the color of their skin, but that part of her upbringing had never been put to the test. Before she had been kidnapped by the Blackfoot, or rescued by Josiah, she had never come into contact with Indians. Emma knew this was a poor excuse to act prideful, and she bit her lip and looked apologetically at the two women. "I'm sorry," she tried to tell them, but the women didn't understand, and kept on laughing.

"Woman!" Josiah's voice shouted from inside the lodge. "Git in here!"

Glad to escape the women, Emma gratefully ducked inside. The animal skin dwelling was surprisingly inviting, and its warmth quickly made Emma overheat in Josiah's heavy capote.

"Come here, Emma."

Obediently, Emma made her way around the fire in the center of the dwelling, to where Josiah was sitting cross-legged with the two men.

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