Chapter 3 Summary

The short prologue for this chapter uses the poetic image of the ember-red end of a lit stick to illustrate the impermanence and changeability of time, referring to how Hank knew the truth of that point.

The chapter itself begins in third person past tense narration of a story from Hank's past. It tells about how he took three baby bobcats from their nest deep in a thorny thicket and, with the help of his Uncle Ben, built a beautiful big home for and tamed them. Interspersed with this story is a first person past tense narrative in Hank's voice of a union meeting he had years ago with Floyd Evenwrite.

One night, the bobcats are in the cage when a storm hits, and Hank goes out to check on the rising river. He sees Henry shoring up the dams to keep the...