Far North

Raymond takes some pain medication from the first-aid kit and Gabe helps him wrap up his swollen ankle. They worry about the moose meat that is still in the tree and how the winter bear might eat it all. Without the meat, they had “no hope now of making it until May” (184). Gabe goes to get the toboggan with the meat that is still up in the tree, but on his way back he runs into the winter bear. He remembers that Raymond told him not to run when seeing a bear and how he should talk nice to it instead. He and Raymond try to talk friendly to the bear, but the bear only goes away when Gabe throws some of their moose meat at it. Back inside the cabin, Raymond tries to fix Johnny Raven’s hand drum and Gabe starts to build a model log cabin that looks like the one his dad wants to build. Raymond and Gabe pass the time by talking about their lives and their families. Raymond reveals that his older brother committed suicide after going to the Yellowknife school, but that he will try to finish school there if they survive the winter. They discuss how they will survive, and Raymond believes that Gabe should go on without him and come back with help because Raymond cannot go far with his hurt ankle. Gabe disagrees and tells Raymond that their friendship is more important that survival.

Gabe and Raymond start off on their journey down the Nahanni River again. Gabe thinks to himself how he needs to “pull like there’s no tomorrow, but don’t get stupid and make mistakes or there won’t be a tomorrow” (195). They both joke about how Clint, their bush pilot, wanted to take them on a tour they wouldn’t forget and how he delivered on that promise. Gabe is doing most of the work since Raymond’s ankle is injured. He starts to think about the cold and how hard it will be to survive the journey before telling himself to stop thinking negatively. Instead, he thinks about Raymond, San Antonio, and pretty much anything else that isn’t the cold. At night, Gabe builds the fire, lean-to shelter, and cooks the meat.

The next day, they reach open water with only a small ice bridge to allow them to cross. Raymond and Gabe decide to cross it together. They know that they will either make it across or die together. Gabe runs across the bridge pulling Raymond and the toboggan behind him. They barely make it before the ice bridge breaks. For days, they continue to travel in the cold with Gabe pulling everything. One day, Raymond sees light at night and smells woodsmoke coming from above. A dog barks at them, and then they see a little boy. Raymond yells up that it is him and Gabe. Then “everybody came surging down the hill at once” and they were carried into the village (207).

The last chapter of the novel takes place at the Nahanni Butte community hall for Johnny Raven’s potlatch. Gabe is there with his father, and they sit with Raymond and his family. Hundreds of people are there to celebrate Johnny’s life and Raymond is the last speaker of the event. People knew about “Raymond and [Gabe’s] long ordeal in the mountains, and how it was the knowledge of an elder—Johnny Raven—that had made it possible for [them] to continue on [their] own” (210). Raymond is nervous when it is his time to speak, so he asks Gabe to go up to the microphone with him and Johnny’s hand drum. Raymond tells about their survival and reads the letter that Johnny left for them. At the end of Raymond’s speech, they both throw bear fat into the fire to honor Johnny. Gabe thinks about all Johnny had done for them and whispers his thanks to the fire.