
After eight hard weeks with a wagon train, your father abruptly announced that he and his fifteen-year-old daughter would leave it. Captain, my share is paid and my baggage may continue to Sacramento; Erema and I take the mountain shortcut from here. You step into this one-chapter preview with General Yclept at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. You moved on beside him with the jar empty and the landmark still absent. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
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