The Old Man, Pages 148 - 184 Summary

The convict and the woman get off the boat—seemingly in the middle of nowhere—and the convict drags the rather heavy boat behind them. As they walk across the Louisiana bayou, they reach a house which is raised several feet off the ground with stilts. A Cajun man lives there and, though they cannot communicate (the Cajun only speaks French) they come to a sort of agreement to stay there. The convict resolves to help the man out with whatever it is that he does and heads off with him in a boat through a swamp. They find an alligator, though the convict does not know it by sight, and the convict is rather surprised when the man lunges at it with a knife. The animal struggles and even lashes the convict...