Chapter 3, At the Bottom of the Well, Chapter 4, Blind! Summary and Analysis

Muir's family live on Fountain Lake for awhile but due to its poor soil, Daniel takes the family to a new farm called Hickory Hill in 1857. John is then nineteen and his father has forced him and his siblings to work hard to shape the land.

To hear Muir tell it, Daniel buys the new land out of spite to double his children's workload. The land is high and dry so a deep well has to be dug, which John is responsible for finishing. One day after his father lowers him into the well, he starts to drift to sleep under the influence of carbonic gas. Luckily he awakens just in time to have his father pull him out. After a day, John is back...