61 pages • 2 hours read
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Chapter Summaries & Analyses
The chapter begins from the perspective of a white man who came west to seek his fortune in the Montana goldfields and has joined two other men carrying whiskey and other goods to sell in the Blackfeet camps, when they are attacked by Owl Child’s men. The gang kills the men and steals their guns and the goods in the wagons. Fast Horse realizes that the Lone Eaters are nearby and tells Owl Child they should not have attacked so close to their people’s camps as the Pikunis will be blamed for the attack. Owl Child agrees, and they decide to burn the wagons and the bodies of the Napikwans so that they will not be discovered. Owl Child says that he does not wish to bring any harm on their people, though he resents the fact that they think him wrong for trying to rid their land of the Napikwans. He suggests that they escape into Canada after burning the wagons, but Fast Horse notices that their leader sounds more hesitant than usual.