Summary

The 13th chapter is titled “Heartbeat; Sea Pulse.” Leif falls into something that is “almost routine.” He paddles until he is tired then finds a safe island. He sometimes sets up a camp on land but sometimes ties the canoe and sleeps there. He eats when he is hungry. When his food becomes low, he catches more fish. He is careful to watch for bear signs, “feeling he had used up all his luck with bears” (158). His fish spear breaks often, and he simply makes another. When there are no berries, he makes fish stew, now adding the chopped grass he observed a bear eating, making “a vegetable-fish soup.” He sometimes stops for a couple of days, allowing the canoe to dry some but careful not to let the wood dry enough to form cracks. He seeks a constant...