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The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge Chapter 9: September 8, 1823 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • Glass smells a buffalo carcass. Yummy. Unfortunately, it's already been picked clean by predators and is currently being feasted on by flies.
  • Throwing caution to the wind, Glass starts breaking its bones and sucking out the marrow, which happens to be "greenish" in tint (1.9.4).
  • Predictably, Glass spends the next few hours vomiting his brains out. It takes him a day and a half to fully recover.
  • With no other options, Glass starts setting up traps for small animals. He starts off by making deadfalls, which is the classic "rock propped up on a stick" method.
  • It takes him a while, but he eventually sets up three traps. He checks them the next morning and the first two are empty. Bummer! But what about the third?
  • The third trap actually worked perfectly, but when Glass approaches it, he's blasted in the face by a skunk whose leg had been snagged. Glass rushes to the river to wash off the stench.
  • As he thinks about how much easier this would have been if he had a rifle, Glass feels a Klingon-like desire for revenge rising in his stomach.
  • Glass tries a different type of trap next, this one often used by "Pawnee children" (1.9.42). He basically digs a hole and puts some rocks on top so it looks like a little den. He then starts crawling around the pit in an ever-shrinking circular pattern, driving any small creatures in the underbrush directly into his trap.
  • Not eager for another skunk surprise, Glass takes a stick and bashes repeatedly into the hole, killing anything inside. His take isn't huge—four mice and two squirrels—but it's something.
  • Glass builds a makeshift bow and spindle to start a fire and enjoys a nice, if a bit small, feast of roasted rodent.