Chapters Nine through Ten Summary

In Chapter Nine, Katherine sees Chief Mustagan's best hunter, Atenou, suffering from a toothache. Mike and Katherine give Atenou many glasses of whiskey, and then hog-tie the brave to the chair. Mike finds his instruction manual, gets out the dental instruments, drinks some whiskey himself, and pulls Atenou's abscessed wisdom tooth.

Mike and Katherine hear a terrorized scream. This time, it is not Atenou screaming in pain. Instead, it is a man riding a horse, carrying a bear cub who is being chased by the mother bear. Mike yells for the man to drop the cub and finally the cub is released to the ground. The Flannigans invite the man in for whiskey. The man is Ralph Peters, who initially calls himself a prospector, on his way to the Yukon. Ralph is a shoe salesman from Detroit...