Summary

This chapter begins back in 1870, this time following Johanna as she walks alongside the wagon. From Johanna’s perspective, the narrative traces her thoughts on the new, strange circumstances she has found herself in. Not least of all, Johanna takes a strong dislike to the corset she is wearing, which she believes is “meant to confine her heart and her breath in a sort of cage” (31).

The Captain teaches Johanna how to use the shotgun and the Smith and Wesson revolver, which Britt gave him. The chapter then shifts to Captain Kidd’s thoughts about Johanna, who he notes has the “carriage” and “kinetic stillness” of every Indian he had ever seen” (33). Captain Kidd reflects that, from raising his daughters, he learned that it is the “duty of men” to “protect children and kill for them if necessary” (38), and therefore he will protect “this...