Far North

Raymond and Gabe decide to travel to the Yukon where there will be more moose. Raymond remembers that Johnny said that there would be no game in their area because all the animals travel west to the Yukon in the winter. A blizzard keeps them in the cabin, but they use that time to prepare by making beaver fur mittens and face masks from some of Johnny’s things. When the blizzard is over, they head out with the goals of getting at least one moose so that they have enough food for the rest of the winter. They spot sheep, but Raymond tells Gabe that sheep do not have a lot of meat on them. At night, Gabe struggles to think, “thinking about what was to come” (147). Another blizzard comes, and afterwards Gabe tries to be optimistic about getting a moose. Raymond gets upset and yells, “I’m not Johnny Raven!” (149). They commiserate together and keep walking. Later, they decide to use one bullet for a sheep and then the last bullet for a moose whenever they find them. Gabe and Raymond see a ram.

The ram that Gabe and Raymond see goes into a cave. When Raymond is getting ready to shoot it, they realize that they can kill the ram with an axe instead of wasting a bullet on it. Gabe makes a lasso and gets the ram after a few attempts. When he lassos the ram, the ram runs away with Gabe and Raymond in tow. Raymond beats the ram to death with the axe, but not before getting kicked in the head. Gabe helps Raymond clean the wound and then they feast on the sheep. While they are eating, a raven flies around them. Raymond feeds the raven all it wants and says he knew where the cave with the ram was because he heard a raven flying around it. After leaving the cave to continue towards the Yukon, Raymond starts to see and hear a raven, but Gabe cannot see it. The raven is up on a ridge, and even though Gabe is doubtful, they climb up towards it. On the ridge, they see blood and “large bird tracks in the snow” (159). Gabe tells him how the night before Johnny died, he saw him dancing like a raven over Raymond while Raymond slept. Gabe wonders if it was Johnny giving him “raven medicine,” and that is why Raymond can see and hear ravens that Gabe cannot (160). They follow the blood trail until they start to see moose and wolf tracks. When they finally see the moose, Raymond misses the first shot. The moose doesn’t run far, however, because its intestines are falling out of it because of a wolf attack. Raymond uses the last bullet and shoots the moose in the heart.

Ravens come and eat some of the entrails of the moose while Raymond skins and butchers the meat. They decide that they will spend the rest of the winter back at the cabin. To haul the meat, they will have to go in two trips: one trip with Gabe hauling the first half while Raymond stays behind and protects the other half, then together for the second trip. While Gabe is alone on the first trip, he keeps going even though he knows it is getting colder. He was “half-frozen, too cold to think” when he sinks knee-deep into some hidden wet snow (168). He almost dies while trying to make a fire to warm up his body because his hands are too cold. He doesn’t even realize that he burned his hand on the fire because he cannot feel anything. Gabe stays by the fire all night and is “extremely lucky to be alive” (171). The next day, he reaches the cabin and stores the food in the cache. It only takes Gabe one day to return to Raymond. Raymond puts antiseptic on Gabe’s hand wound. Together, they take the rest of their supplies and food to the cabin. When they reach the cabin, they discover that the food cache is broken, and they find enormous bear tracks everywhere.