How It All Goes Down
- Glass approaches "the burnt remains of [an] Arikara village" (1.13.1). He decided to come here to grab some corn from the surrounding fields and find some scrap wood to construct a raft.
- Suddenly, Glass spots movement. Luckily, it just turns out to be a mangy dog.
- As Glass approaches the dog, eager to eat it, he realizes that is has an owner—a sickly old woman who's crying hysterically.
- Glass tries to hand her an ear of corn, but she doesn't respond—turns out that she's blind. Glass hands her the corn, but he then realizes that she doesn't have teeth, either.
- Glass decides to make her a broth, grabbing a kettle and running down to the river. He spots another dog on the way down and "this one he did not spare" (1.13.13).
- After returning, Glass cooks up a tasty broth of corn and dog meat. That's a five-star meal. The old woman eagerly slurps on the broth while Glass digs into some dog steaks.
- An hour later, the woman starts repeating the phrase "He twwe he" quietly before falling asleep (1.13.17). Glass finds her dead the next morning.
- Glass builds a pyre for the woman, both to honor Native American traditions and simply because he prefers that method himself.
- As he's standing there, Glass sees the approach of four mounted Sioux warriors. The Sioux had fought alongside the trappers against the Arikara, but Glass doesn't know where they stand now.
- The four Sioux are perplexed by the sight of this strange white man (Glass gets that a lot). The eldest one, Yellow Horse, gets off his horse and examines the bear claw around Glass's neck, as well as the wounds the cover his body.
- Yellow Horse freaks out when he looks at Glass's back. Glass is confused, but that confusion gives way to horror when Yellow Horse shows him that there are maggots coating his heavily infected back wound. Holy Shmoop—that's the most insane thing we've ever heard.
- The four Sioux bring Glass back to their camp, where they present him to a medicine man, who thoroughly inspects Glass's wounds. He beckons Glass to lay face down.
- The medicine man makes a concoction made of "buffalo urine [...] alder root and gunpowder" (1.13.41). You know—typical stuff. He also hands Glass a stick to bite down on, which is never a good sign.
- It burns worse than anything you could imagine. It hurts the next three times too. Still, the maggots seem to scattering, so Glass will happily take the pain.
- Glass is up and walking on the morning of the third day. The medicine man and Yellow Horse seem pleased that Glass is back in tip-top shape—relatively speaking.
- The following morning, Glass learns that Yellow Horse and three of his bros will be accompanying him to Fort Brazeau.