- According to his sticks it's been seven weeks since Matt's dad left, which means he could return at any time.
- Matt thinks about Attean's visits:
- Although he doesn't enjoy the lessons, Attean still comes.
- Sometimes he even sticks around to check snares with Matt or watch him working on the garden.
- At times he brings a mean, beat up old dog with him—and though Attean acts like the dog is just a "pizwat" (good-for-nothing), Matt can tell he loves the old thing (11.13). He doesn't like the dog (and the dog hates him back), but Matt still kind of wishes he had one of his own.
- Attean takes Matt deep into the forest, and Matt feels nervous about finding his way back.
- Importantly, though, he realizes that he trusts Attean. Does he like him? Not really—but he knows that they're not enemies anymore.
- Attean takes him to a beaver-cleared area and shows him a beaver dam; Matt jumps when a beaver slaps the water with its tail.
- Attean tells Matt it's too soon to hunt the beaver because that one's just a little guy, then he shows Matt his family's sign, carved into a tree: the sign of the beaver.
- What does the sign mean? Attean explains that the sign stops any other Indian clan from hunting that spot. Matt figures he better tell his dad about it, because a lot of white men (we're looking at you, Ben) probably don't respect the Indian signs.
- Attean teaches Matt how to leave markers to find his way back through the woods… but only after scaring him into thinking he had to do it himself first. Ha.
- Matt realizes that he and Attean are like Robinson Crusoe and Friday, but in reverse—in their case the Indian leads the way and the white man just tries to keep up.
- Matt wishes he could earn Attean's respect somehow.
- Attean gives Matt some tree sap to chew on. It's nasty at first, but then it tastes like chewy pine. Yum.