Summary

In Chapter 36, Michael writes that as the summer turned into autumn the C Company soldiers grew more wild and fierce, not unlike the Indians they were hunting. One night while Tom, Michael, and Sergeant Nevin kept watch on the fort’s palisade, Ridgeway came to spend time with them, bringing coffee and tobacco. Ridgeway asked Nevin if he thought all the death was worth the price of protecting a trail to gold country, and Nevin, peeved, replied that soldiers do not think in terms of worth. They all heard the screaming of a man having his leg amputated, and Nevin departed, advising Michael to keep a sharp lookout and to not let Ridgeway distract him.

Chapter 37 begins with Kohn and Jonathan riding out of the fort and making their way to the logging camp in order to find the O’Driscoll brothers. Along...