Dear Moshe,

You pose some interesting questions about "Among The Indians", and thought
you may like to be more informed of the situation.  Unfortunately all of the
facts are not yet available regarding Twain's intentions in "Among The
Indians", but there is enough for proper understanding of the issues you
brought up.   Numerous reviews of "Among The Indians" have not considered
Twain's hundreds of working notes for it.  These notes reveal much more than
any scholar ever has, or ever could possibly imagine.  Bernard DeVoto really
gave "Among The Indians" a terrible review, which in due time will be proven
to have been based upon ignorance.  Devoto would have given a much better
review had he been in possession of the recently discovered facts.  This in
turn would have commanded the attention of future scholars.

Regarding Huck embracing the Native American faith, it may be hard to
imagine right off the bat, but it is so.   I am working on explaining this
for future publication, so I won't get into great detail here, but Mark
Twain wrote this fact himself.  Huck could easily embrace the Native
American Faith for several reasons  Huck choosing higher moral ground above
conventional religion is nothing new.  Huck's growing up surrounded by
preachers who taught slavery was God's way, didn't stop him from finding
higher ground than the Bible,   even at the potential cost of going to hell.
Just as Huck saw "good" church going people embracing the horrible crime of
slavery against mankind, in "Among The Indians" he would conversely observe
that "bad" people (the Indians who murdered the Mills family) could have a
religion far superior to that which is expressed in the Bible.    In "Among
The Indians" Mark Twain would use Huck as a vehicle to illustrate the
conflict between false social codes and true morality.  Huck witnessing the
massacre helps drives this point home.   "The difference between savage and
civilized man: The one is painted, the other gilded. -Mark Twain."

Hope this helps,

Bob Slotta