Chapters 9 & 10 Summary

Chapter nine begins with Cotton losing his temper at Teft. He aims his anger at the rest of the group too, then he lapses into a seething silence. In the short time it takes for Cotton to calm down, the group begins to disintegrate again. They have all begun to voice their complaints. Lally 2 is tired; Shecker is hungry, so is Goodenow; Teft is repenting his apology, feeling angry that he is deemed responsible; and Lally 1 doesn't even want to be there, blaming his brother for pulling him along. Cotton listens to them complain and resolves to test their character a final time. If they haven't yet learned to pull together, he thinks they are a lost cause.

Cotton announces that they all share the blame for running out of gas. They are only a mile from their destination, but they now have...