- By now it's late 1917, and Vahan decides to get a job as a wagon driver for the Turkish army so he can leave Sivas.
- He is asked—through a Turkish translator—how old he is, and if he knows how to drive a wagon. He claims he's seventeen (even though he's only fourteen) and that he's driven one before (even though he hasn't).
- He gets the gig as a wagon driver and is set to leave the next morning, but he waits to tell Dr. Tashian because he's not sure what to say.
- When he finally breaks the news, the doc gives him money and wishes him well—Vahan realizes that he really respects the doc, but doesn't quite love him.
- Vahan puts one ten-lira note in each of his shoes, and then he waits for the wagons.
- He's nervous and hopes no one realizes he's much younger than eighteen and doesn't know how to drive a wagon.
- For three days, he mimics the other drivers' every move and manages to drive just fine. One day, though, he reaches a curve and doesn't know how to get the horses to round the bend without going over the cliff.
- Another driver comes over to him and tries to steer for him, but Vahan wants to do it by himself—he imagines this is just like every other obstacle in his life, where he's followed others instead of taking charge.
- As much as he tries to get the horses to move, he can't do it… that is, until he whips them. Then they take off like a shot.
- That night Vahan is tormented by the fact that he whipped animals, just like the Turks whipped the Armenians on the march to the river.