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Geronimo but No Ears wouldn’t go, too hot he said. I doubt General Crook will catch Geronimo, he’ll have to trick him if he does.
    You’d think the boys would get tired of wandering, I do, Janey. I was around Miles City for two months and there’s not much to do in Miles City. Fred the parrot is more intelligent than most people in Miles City and Fred only knows two words. You must think your mother is harsh to criticize people so, I should be kinder, I try, but then some old snoot with five or six corsets on will look down her nose at me and act like I have no right on the street with her, though the street might be just a mudhole anyway. It hurts—I know they’re just old biddies, most people are friendly to me in Miles City, but somebody will always come along to treat me like dirt. Dora’s tougher in some respects, she stares them down when they try to act uppity with her.
    Dora has offered me a home, she says we’re like sisters, I guess we are. I had no sisters, but Dora had three, they all died, I think Dora misses them. She offered to fix me a nice room with a feather mattress on the bed—she knows how partial I am to feather mattresses.
    Sometimes I don’t know what to think of myself Janey, my own behavior is a puzzle. I could be sleeping in comfort on a feather mattress, in the home of my best friend, too, but here I am, I’ll be lucky to find a soft rock to use for a bed tonight, thereare few soft ones along the Powder. I am lucky to have Dora DuFran for a friend, she has been loyal, someday I will tell her about you Janey. Dora has no child herself, I fear she won’t have one now that Blue has jilted her, she expected better of Blue.
    I had better tell her about you though Janey and give her your address, I could always get called to the Great Roundup as Blue calls it, heaven is what people call it who haven’t been raised in the cow country. Well, heaven if you’re hopeful, I’m not particularly.
    When Blue gets drunk he becomes sentimental about all his friends who have been called to the Great Roundup or who rode the long trail, he better watch it, he’ll be riding it himself if he pushes Dora too far. I don’t suppose Dora would really shoot Blue, though I have known women who shot at men, I shot at three myself but missed. I was so mad once I nearly shot a bartender instead of the card cheat I was aiming at, all three times it was over cards—I have never tried to kill anybody over love. Of course I might have shot Wild Bill I guess, he did marry another woman, just as Blue did. It never occurred to me to shoot him, I would have been the one shot if I had tried anything of the sort. Wild Bill had no mercy, I hope that ain’t too harsh a thing to tell you about your father, it’s the truth though, he just didn’t, he would have shot me immediately if I’d shown up waving a gun.
    Look at me, I never thought I had so much to say, I have used up nearly a whole tablet just since I started writing you Janey, it is something to do at night other than stare at the campfire. I am a little worried, I have not seen my dog Cody since around noon. He took after some antelope and I have not seen him since. I hope a bear didn’t get him, he is a big dog but not big enough to handle a bear.
    I feel a bond to Dora, Janey, I feel she needs me, maybe she is the only one who does. I think I will just ramble with the boys for a month or so if I can find them, then I might go back to Miles City and see how I feel about the feather mattress.
    Old No Ears will be glad to see me, we are old friends. It washim that found me the time the horse threw me north of Fort Fetterman, he found me in a blizzard and led me in. I could not see six inches, he tied a rope to my belt, if he had let go the rope I’d have been riding in the Great Roundup ten years ago.
    Goodnight Janey,
your mother Martha Jane

4

    I THINK YOU MISSED YOUR LAST CHANCE FOR