A couple of days later, Jim and Dan’l reach the same beach and find the trail ahead blocked. Jim realizes they must build a raft to ferry the animals across, costing three days. On the far side, the trail grows steeper and more dangerous in constant snow. Their pemmican dwindles to a single scrap. Though Jim considers killing Rutledge’s heifer, his pride stops him. Weak with hunger, he tries to give the last morsel to Dan’l.

Dan’l refuses unless Jim shares, calling them brothers. Jim divides it—then Moki appears with a fresh-killed mink. Desperate with hunger, Jim tackles the dog, bites his ear, and seizes the meat, giving half to Dan’l. As the boy eats the raw meat, Jim says that he will make a mountain man of him yet.

That night, Dan’l says Jonnie expects Jim to leave once they are settled. Jim says he will stay and holds the shivering boy through the long night.

Two days later, starving, they reach the Cascades and spot the Keath wagon below among the emigrant camp. Dan’l calls to Sally, who turns in shock and relief; she and Jonnie rush to embrace him while Jim stands apart. Jonnie notes Jim’s emaciation, and Sally, seeing his wounded hand, sends Jonnie for tobacco to make a poultice. Uncertain how to respond to their concern, Jim later tells Jonnie he will remain if wanted.

After a final grueling five-mile portage through mud and snow, they clear the Gorge. The emigrants prepare another raft to continue the journey, and the party heads south into the Willamette Valley. Jim finds a claim site on the Tualatin River where he and Tom had once camped. The wagon halts in a peaceful clearing of river, meadow, and timber. Overcome, Jonnie tells Sally they are home. The family explores while Jim goes to the water’s edge, reflecting that settlers will tame and ruin the wild country. Remembering the river’s Indigenous name, he begins unloading his mule.

A week after settling their claim, Jim makes jerky, a task he considers demeaning “squaw’s work.” He contrasts it with Jonnie’s land-clearing and is irritated by the constant activity around the new settlement. Dan’l appears with Moki dragging a firewood-laden travois Jim built; the dog feigns exhaustion until Jim tempts him with meat, exposing the act. Jim sets Dan’l to scraping hides while he continues preparing the meat for drying.

At noon, Sam Mullins rides in announcing a wagonload of company. The Keaths’ former trail companions—the Mullins, Mills, Howard, Burke, and Selway families—arrive for an impromptu gathering. Overwhelmed by the noise and stares, Jim retreats to the clearing’s edge until Bob Rutledge urges him not to be shy. Jonnie’s banjo starts a square dance. Sally approaches and asks Jim to dance—her first open gesture across the distance between them—but he flees into the woods, staying away until the visitors leave. He goes hunting the next day to avoid more company.

In the following weeks, he hunts but remains curious about the settlers’ lives and belongings. One day, returning while eating raw deer liver, he is lured by the smell of hoecake at the Mills claim. His silent, blood-smeared approach terrifies Mrs. Mills. Mr. Mills recognizes him as Jonnie Keath’s brother and, at his wife’s urging, gives him hoecake. Jim rides home angry at being known only by that phrase and treated with suspicion.

Jonnie laughs but advises him to avoid neighbors for now and asks him to help with cabin construction. Jim questions building a permanent structure; Jonnie describes his dream of putting down roots and making the land their home. Moved, Jim agrees to begin logging.

The surveyor arrives the next day, halting logging. While surveying Rutledge’s land, Jim overhears Jonnie tell the surveyor that Jim cannot write his name. The surveyor says he can legally make his mark. Hurt and angry after overhearing the conversation, Jim is driven to learn. He scratches at bark, then tries again after swimming across the river. Even on hide, he fails each time.

When the family returns, Dan’l marvels that Jim swam the river in cold weather. Jim describes harsh Crow training, including icy swims to make boys tough and quick. Dan’l asks to see a beaver trap, so Jim takes him up the creek despite Sally’s call for supper. He teaches Dan’l to read sign and set a trap, then casually asks him to write both their names on bark. That night, Jim stays awake until dawn, using the bark as a template to teach himself to sign his name.

The next afternoon at the recording office in Willamette Falls, a nervous Jim chooses to sign rather than make his mark. He produces a bold, flourished signature that fills Jonnie with relief and pride. Outside, Jonnie admits Jim must have overheard him and celebrates that the land is officially theirs.

Jim works hard at logging at first, but his enthusiasm fades when Jonnie takes it for granted. He begins neglecting work to teach Dan’l “Indian” skills. One morning, Jonnie finds him playing the hand game while the oxen stand idle. Angry, Jonnie sends Dan’l back to chores and rejects Jim’s hunting suggestion, insisting on building the cabin.

After logging is done, Dan’l finds Jim’s bow on the morning they are to help raise the Rutledge cabin. When Jonnie scoffs, Jim shoots a crow from the sky to prove his skill. Dan’l cheers, but Jonnie snaps that they are not “Indians.” When Jim asks what is wrong with them, Jonnie calls them murdering, “heathen savages.” Remembering both Crow kindness and brutality, Jim insists they are his people. Jonnie counters that the Keaths are his people. Jim falls silent, feeling more Crow than Keath.

Cabin building proves even more confining than logging. The solid log walls make Jim uneasy compared to a tepee’s open, flexible shelter. Restless, he initiates a game in the river with Dan’l, diving into the frigid river and pelting him with pebbles while joking that he must learn to dodge “bullets.” Jonnie appears upstream, joins in, and turns it into a wild three-way water fight. Dressing afterward in the willows, Jonnie sees the grizzly scars lacing Jim’s chest and better understands his loyalty to the Crows who saved him.

In the days that follow, Jonnie tries to bridge the gap by joining Jim’s games. Sally worries he is encouraging Jim’s wildness and that Jim will steal Dan’l away. Jonnie admits he is losing Dan’l’s admiration to Jim but says he believes things may change once the cabin is finished. Jim continues neglecting work, and tales of his disruptive behavior spread. Rutledge advises patience, likening Jim to a lone wolf that cannot be tamed overnight. Jonnie accepts responsibility for finishing the cabin, believing a home will root Jim.

In late December, the cabin is completed. As they move possessions inside, Jim watches tensely. Their mother’s treasured clock on the hearth makes him go pale. Sensing a chance, Jonnie shows him their childhood picture and family heirlooms. Sally demands he cut his braids and discard his “heathen” necklace and feather now that he lives in a civilized home. Jim compares his coup feather to their father’s military medal. She insists he abandon his “savage” ways and act like a Keath. He replies that he is not asking her opinion and walks out.

Jonnie follows, but Jim says he will keep sleeping outside. Enraged, Jonnie accuses him of always running from difficulty. Jim vanishes into the woods. Overwhelmed by memories triggered by the clock, he strips to his breechclout, mounts Buckskin, and rides off, shouting and behaving like a warrior as he crosses the valley. His wild ride—naked, painted, stealing horses, and alarming a Multnomah village before escaping a hail of bullets—sparks rumors of an “Indian” uprising. Near moonrise, grazed by a bullet and exhausted, Jim returns. Unsure why, he concludes a kind of painful, incomprehensible medicine-song magic is pulling him. He washes off the war paint, eats, and falls asleep outside the cabin.