Summary

Håkan heads east on foot, hoping to travel as far as possible before the Clangston woman notices that he is gone. He travels on foot for days, killing birds and drinking their blood for sustenance. He also smears his skin with the blood to protect himself from the sun. He continues on, but his strength eventually ails him, and he passes out. In Chapter 6, he awakes in a covered wagon occupied by a middle-aged man. The wagon is filled with preserved animal specimens. The man, John Lorimer, is able to speak a little Swedish, and Håkan can now speak some English, so they converse. Håkan tells Lorimer his story, and Lorimer then tells his own story. Lorimer immigrated to America from Scotland with his family when he was a boy. He eventually travelled to Europe to study botany, zoology, and biology...