Chapter Five

“Welcome, friend from the People of the Place of Fire, how was your voyage?”

Pierre looked up to see the huge Indian in front of him. Holding out his hand in friendship, he said, “Greetings from the Potawatomi, my name is Pierre. Where can I put my things?”

Ahmik indicated a birch lodge to the right of where he was standing and said, “You are my guest: my home is your home.”

Before Pierre could pick up his belongings, several of the village women had moved closer and were carrying the canoe and its contents to Ahmik’s lodge.

“Where did you learn to speak our language so well?” Ahmik asked Pierre.

“It’s a long story – do you have the time for me to tell it to you or would you like me to wait until some other time?”

“Let’s go into my lodge and there you may tell me the whole story.”

With that, they went and settled down on two mats, sitting cross-legged face-to-face.