News of the World: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

After settling Johanna in the hotel room, Captain Kidd locks the door, listening to her sing a Kiowa chant inside. He pauses downstairs to explain the noise to the concierge. When he mentions that Johanna was a Kiowa captive, the concierge is astonished that she’s not happy to be returning home. The concierge suggests that the Captain bring Mrs. Gannet to stay with Johanna and keep her from chanting all night.

Captain Kidd returns to Mrs. Gannet’s stable, admiring her lush brown braids. She’s gently reprimanding her indigent stable boy but instantly agrees to help the Captain. It’s the first time in the last week that he feels truly confident in Johanna’s safety.

A few hours later, Mrs. Gannet arrives at the hotel with her nightgown and some divinity, a complicated candy which she must have spent hours making for Johanna. The girl is initially suspicious but after Mrs. Gannet nibbles the delicacy, Johanna is soon enjoying it too. Captain Kidd retreats to the other room to choose his articles. He hears Johanna sobbing and calling for him when she realizes she must sleep in this strange building.

After knocking on the wall to assure Johanna he’s close by, Captain Kidd begins a letter to his daughters, Olympia and Elizabeth, assuring them that he’s healthy and making a good living. Olympia, whose husband, Mason, was killed in the Civil War, is now living with Elizabeth and her husband, Emory, who lost an arm in battle. Olympia has always been a helpless and dramatic woman, and the Captain is sure she’s not making her sister’s life easier.

Captain Kidd hears Mrs. Gannet speaking to Johanna in a low, soothing voice. He continues the letter, remarking that although they have suffered losses they are still lucky compared to other families in the South. He starts to write to them about the Comanche and Kiowa raids currently affecting Texas, but then decides against it; after all, his dearest wish is for his daughters and their children to join him in Texas. It will be a difficult journey, since most Southern infrastructure was destroyed in the war, there is little money to rebuild, and resources are scarce.

Striving for a light tone, Captain Kidd assures his daughters that although the Union has forbidden civilians to carry firearms, he still has a gun to shoot birds for supper. He urges them to return to Texas, where they can try to reclaim the land which his deceased wife, Maria Luisa, owned through her family. He instructs Elizabeth, who enjoys thorny problems, to write to the priest and archivist in San Antonio and begin finding all the relevant records to prove their title.

Captain Kidd hears Johanna sobbing. Since crying is rare in Native American culture, he knows she must be in severe distress, and the thought “[tears] his heart.” He closes his eyes, reflecting that because the war has eliminated a generation of young men, the elderly like him must “arrange for his family to be together again, […] enter into litigation, [and] make a living with readings.”

Captain Kidd hears loud objections as Mrs. Gannet coaxes Johanna to the hallway bathroom. When they return, she sings to the girl in her light, firm voice, and Johanna gradually quiets down. Captain Kidd wonders why he has never “offered his attentions” to the kindly woman, but he knows his daughters, who want him to be loyal to their dead mother, would have “a galvanized tin hissy” if he did anything of the sort.