But he followed Pierre through the door, and his breath left his body in amazement.
It was like being in a forest clearing where the trees towered over you and their branches met high up, blocking out the sky. In a Sauk lodge he could reach up and touch the roof without straightening his arm. Here the ceiling was hidden in shadows, and huge square-cut timbers crossed the open space above his head.
Hung by ropes from those timbers were big circles of wood that Père Isaac had said were called wheels. These wheels were turned on their sides, and set on them were dozens of the little white sticks of wax that pale eyes used to make light. A few of the more prosperous Sauk families sometimes used such wax sticks to light their lodges.
Auguste looked around in wonder. The huge room was full of objects whose purpose he could not guess. Doorways led to other parts of this house or to attached houses. Cooking smells of many kinds of good food filled the air.
Pale eyes men and women stood about in the hall and watched Auguste and his father and grandfather enter.
Two small boys and a girl running through the hall stopped to stare at him. Frank Hopkins called to them and they approached slowly.
"These are Thomas, Benjamin and Abigail, Nicole and Frank's children," said Pierre.
Their other children, thought Auguste, wondering whether Nicole herself knew what he knew about her.
Abigail stood close to her father, her mouth and eyes wide open.
Thomas, the biggest of the three, said, "Gosh almighty, I got a real Injun for a cousin!"