lodge, and dressed her wounds. This did not however assuage the anger of the older woman, who tried to burn Rachel alive. Rachel ended up beating her nearly to death as well, after burning her. At that point, the tribal council intervened, and heard out all three women, and first, ordered Rachel to repair the lodge, which had been broken in the second fight as settlement for the fights. Realizing with astonishment she was being treated as an equal and full Comanche, Rachel spoke to the Council and told them she refused the judgment unless the other two women assisted her in the repair, since she had started neither fight, and since she was being judged as a Comanche, not a slave, should be more fairly treated. The Council agreed, and ordered the three to repair the lodge. Rachel was stunned that she was treated as an equal by the council, which later, she understood came with her demonstration of the one quality which elevated anyone in the eyes of the Comanche - courage. Later, one of the Chiefs of the band she was with told her: You are brave to fight. Good to fallen enemy. You are directed by the Great Spirit. Indians do not have pity on a fallen enemy. By our law, it is clear. It is contrary to our law to show foul play. She began with you, and you had a right to kill her. Your noble spirit forbad you. When Indians fight, the conqueror gives or takes the life of his or her antagonist, and they seldom spare them. Plummer found her lot much improved by these encounters, as she was correct that nothing she could have done could have earned her more respect than standing her ground and fighting. She noted in her book "they respected bravery more than anything, I learned. I wish I had known it sooner." She wrote how that affected her quite simply: "After that, I took up for myself, and fared much the better for it." Of course, the knowledge that her courage changed her status dramatically led to her possible conviction that had she shown such elan from the onset, her child would be alive. That haunted her. What she did not know at this point, was that her captivity was coming to an end. Her father's desperate efforts to find her had finally begun to pay