How It All Goes Down
- Day Five of Mattie's hunt for Tom Chaney.
- The next morning, Mattie gets a letter from Lawyer Daggett and a release from liability to give to Stonehill so he'll give her the cash for the horses.
- Blah blah lawyer talk. What this means is that she can go to Stonehill and get her three hundred and twenty-five bucks.
- Flush with cash, she hits up Rooster. It's ten AM but he's still in bed. (Um, is that not totally normal? So?)
- Mattie agrees to pay Rooster a hundred bucks to help her hunt Chaney, but then they almost get into a fight when Mattie demands to come with Rooster and he demands she stay behind.
- After Mattie helps Rooster fill out his expense sheets—which he needs to get paid—he warms to her and agrees to let her come.
- She goes back to Stonehill's and buys one of the ponies from him for fifteen dollars. She names him Little Blackie, trains him to be ridden (that was fast), and then heads back to Rooster's all ready to ride off for some revenge.
- But LaBoeuf beat her there.
- When Rooster hears that there's a big reward for Chaney, he decides to let LaBoeuf come along. Then, LaBoeuf convinces Rooster not to let Mattie come.
- Furious, Mattie asks Rooster to give back the twenty-five dollar advance, but it's already spent. (Gee, wonder on what?)
- After Mattie cools off, she refocuses on her goal: kill Tom Chaney.
- She packs her stuff and spends the night in Stonehill's barn, then she sets off on Blackie after Rooster and LaBoeuf.
- Now might be a good time to flip to the front of your book and check on that title, because we're talking grit. First, Mattie waits for them on the ferry—and they have her remove.
- Then she rides Blackie across the river into Indian Territory. She sees Rooster and LaBoeuf and follows them. And follows them. And follows them.
- Eventually she loses sight of them, and—surprise!—they ambush her, with LaBoeuf whipping her on the leg with a tree branch. Ouch.
- Rooster has had just about enough of this and threatens to shoot him if he doesn't stop. It all ends happily and they ride off together in silence.