50 pages • 1 hour read
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Chapter Summaries & Analyses
The chapter begins with Henry Jim’s funeral service, officiated by Welles. Henry Jim’s body is carried from his tepee in a pine casket to his final resting place in the mountains, where he is to be buried beside his wife. The group also takes Henry Jim’s horse with them and, following tradition, shoots it in the head. Rafferty, Doc Edwards, and Welles watch the burial procession.
When Welles laments not meeting Pell, Rafferty says that he’s going to return the medicine bundle, causing the missionary to leave. When Edwards questions Rafferty on the legitimacy of this, the latter says that Pell is at least going to try. The chapter then shifts to Rafferty’s office, where members of the tribe come to Rafferty for the first time in three years due to him not intervening regarding the horse. Men like Henry Two-Bits approach Rafferty for help planting wheat, showing the community’s shifting attitudes. Additionally, Bull begins to trust The Boy to communicate with the government on behalf of the Little Elk people.