Chapter 5 Summary

Mystified by the commotion in the abbey, Francis returns to his desert vigil. He finds it hard to see why everyone concentrates on the old man rather than Leibowitz's relics, and admonishes himself for paying too little attention as to the pilgrim to answer questions. He confesses being distracted from prayers and spiritual exercises during Cheroki's next circuit, and is told not to brood about what might be true. Perhaps Francis observes too little, because he is too wrapped up in his own vocation to see the vast significance of events. His desire for final and perpetual vows may be akin to the cat's motive for becoming an ornithologist - simply to glorify his natural ornithophagy (bird-eating.) Other than the Order, what has Francis to do? He cannot return to Utah, from which he fled the life of an acolyte to the shaman...