David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "the-kiowas"
News of the World
Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, who reads the news from the big cities in the United States and feature stories from such cites as London in outlying parts of Texas for a living, takes a job to deliver a former Kiowa captive, ten-year-old Johanna Leonberger, to her aunt and uncle near San Antonio, four hundred dangerous miles from Wichita Falls. He's paid with a fifty-dollar gold piece.
Johanna is a marvelous character. She was taken when she was six and has forgotten how to speak English. She wants to go back to the Kiowa, but she and the “Kep-ton” soon develop a bond. She can count to ten and she remembers a few German words from when she was six. She is smart as a whip. During one scene the Captain is offered money to sell Johanna to a sex trafficker. The Captain arranges a meeting but sneaks out of town instead; the man follows them, and a gun battle breaks out. The Captain has a six shooter and a rifle that shoots only bird shot. The pimp has Indians with him with conventional rifles. Johanna figures out how to extend the range of the Captain's rifle and saves his and her bacon.
As they travel along, he keeps teaching her English words. She mixes them up on purpose, displaying a wonderful sense of humor. By the time they get to the aunt and uncle's home in D'Hanis, he isn't about to give her up to the wrong people. But we know that's going to be the case before they arrive.
The captain is 71 when the trip begins and 72 when he arrives in D'Hanis. He already has two grown daughters he's raised, but he sympathizes with Johanna. She's lost her parents, then she's lost her Kiowa parents, she forms a relationship with the Captain, and now, she's supposed to start over again.
This is a heart-warming story with sympathetic characters. There's even some satire when the Captain stops to read his newspapers in a town that's divided politically. This is Reconstruction era Texas, and before the Captain can finish reading, a fight breaks out in the audience. The Captain charges a dime to each person who wants to hear him read the news. The can containing the money has been spilled all over the floor, the money trampled. The Captain gets down on his knees to pick it up so he can get Johanna home.
Johanna is a marvelous character. She was taken when she was six and has forgotten how to speak English. She wants to go back to the Kiowa, but she and the “Kep-ton” soon develop a bond. She can count to ten and she remembers a few German words from when she was six. She is smart as a whip. During one scene the Captain is offered money to sell Johanna to a sex trafficker. The Captain arranges a meeting but sneaks out of town instead; the man follows them, and a gun battle breaks out. The Captain has a six shooter and a rifle that shoots only bird shot. The pimp has Indians with him with conventional rifles. Johanna figures out how to extend the range of the Captain's rifle and saves his and her bacon.
As they travel along, he keeps teaching her English words. She mixes them up on purpose, displaying a wonderful sense of humor. By the time they get to the aunt and uncle's home in D'Hanis, he isn't about to give her up to the wrong people. But we know that's going to be the case before they arrive.
The captain is 71 when the trip begins and 72 when he arrives in D'Hanis. He already has two grown daughters he's raised, but he sympathizes with Johanna. She's lost her parents, then she's lost her Kiowa parents, she forms a relationship with the Captain, and now, she's supposed to start over again.
This is a heart-warming story with sympathetic characters. There's even some satire when the Captain stops to read his newspapers in a town that's divided politically. This is Reconstruction era Texas, and before the Captain can finish reading, a fight breaks out in the audience. The Captain charges a dime to each person who wants to hear him read the news. The can containing the money has been spilled all over the floor, the money trampled. The Captain gets down on his knees to pick it up so he can get Johanna home.
