In the Distance

Håkan heads southeast to shun the trail and the cold. Alone in the wilderness, he experiences increasing paranoia. He vigilantly searches for traces of human activity, dreading the idea of encountering “men who would see him in his rotten, infected condition” (143). As winter sets in, his food supplies dwindle. Recalling how his father used to make glue, Håkan boils scraps of animals and spreads the paste on an oilcloth. The glue trap helps him catch badgers, hares, ferrets, and other animals, and he gathers their furs. One day, Håkan hears a wailing infant and follows the cries to a mountain lion that died giving birth. He offers the newborn cub every kind of food he has and even his own blood, but it will not eat. He kills the cub and skins it and its mother.

Håkan braves snowstorms and makes his way to a mountain range. The isolation and the change of scenery bring him a peace and joy he has not known for months. He tears up when he finds delectable mushrooms like the ones he used to pick with Linus. Using the pelts from the mountain lion and the other animals he’s skinned, Håkan makes a coat. He finds a cave, and the den becomes “the most homelike place he had known in his travels” (149). As he travels along the mountain range’s southern side, he enjoys warmer days but dreads the long, bitterly cold nights. He fashions a leather tent to keep out the harsh winds. Returning to the monotony of the plains makes him feel physically ill. However, he becomes so disoriented in the desert that he feels he has no choice but to return to the grassland and travel straight east.

Although Håkan still fears encountering anyone who knows of his bloody deeds, he understands that he must face this fear if he’s ever going to find Linus. The warmth of spring comforts him and makes the cold and dread he suffered in the winter months seem like a distant memory. In his compass, he catches glimpses of his unruly orange beard and deep-set eyes and wonders what people will think of him. He has an opportunity to find out when he comes across a peaceful little village with houses painted in Swedish red. The terrifying thought of speaking to anyone there prompts him to gallop away. He leaves the burro behind in his haste, but the animal finds its way back to him.

Håkan fears that he will never be able to face other people, let alone his brother, so he abandons his journey eastward and wanders aimlessly westward. In the summer, he constructs a makeshift shelter for himself in some bushes near a pool and sees “no reason why he would not end his days” languishing there “[n]ow that Linus [is] beyond his reach” (158). Gradually, he develops a fascination with the beetles living in the bushes and joyfully collects their beautifully colored shells. He resumes trapping and working on his coat. One day, a venomous snake bites his heel, and the poison makes it difficult for him to breathe. The experience makes him realize he fears death, and he cannot continue his “crawling existence in those bushes” any longer (161). He heads eastward again as summer draws to a close.

The following winter, a small city comes into view. When other riders pass him on the trail, he keeps his head down and prevents himself from fleeing by reminding himself that he can’t go back to living like an animal in the bushes. The townspeople withdraw at his approach, but he tells himself that he is only passing through and should practice being among society before he reaches New York. To that end, he steps into a saddlery. He sees a wanted poster of himself on the shop’s wall, but he doesn’t understand what it is. The city’s sheriff and two other men confirm that he is the Hawk, beat him unconscious, and chain him in a cell.

When he awakens, he discovers that someone spread false accounts of the attack on the wagon train claiming that Håkan is solely responsible for the bloodshed. Declaring that Håkan needs to let Jesus into his heart, the sheriff tortures Håkan by stitching a cross on his chest. He faints from the pain. Later that night, one of the deputies, a man named Asa, tends to his injury and assures Håkan that he knows he isn’t guilty of the crimes attributed to him. In the morning, the sheriff and his deputies take Håkan outside, and an angry mob pelts him with garbage. The sheriff calls to the crowd, “Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! Take a look! The very beast that roamed our fields and killed our brethren” (170). The sheriff asks the crowd for donations and says that he will take the prisoner to Illinois for trial and execution.

Håkan is numb and barely conscious for much of the journey. Each night, Asa sneaks him a few drops of the sedative from Håkan’s medical kit, which is “the greatest kindness anyone had ever done him” (172). Whenever they pass a town, the sheriff displays his prisoner, invents a story about overpowering him single-handedly, and pockets the crowd’s donations. He buys himself a gold watch chain and offers to share some of the money with his deputies. The sycophantic Josiah accepts, but Asa declines. Håkan refuses to eat and grows so weak that he has to be tied to his horse. Asa points out that the prisoner will die of hunger before they reach their destination because the sheriff insists on stopping at every town. The sheriff flies into a rage, tries to force-feed Håkan, and cuts him with a scalpel when he refuses. Asa points his gun at the sheriff and says that he’s taking Håkan directly to his uncle and the brethren’s elders, whom he will inform of the sheriff’s greed. Asa puts sacks over Josiah and the sheriff’s heads and leaves with Håkan and all of the horses. 

Gradually, Håkan’s senses and appetite return. Asa feeds him and explains that they have left the United States and returned to the territory, where they are beyond the law’s reach. The Soldiers of Jehu are the brethren’s militia, and Asa knows that they are little better than outlaws. He tells Håkan, “There were all these stories about you and what you’d done. But then I met you and saw it just couldn’t be true. They’ll still want you for the dead brethren, though. But they’ll never find us” (181). Asa shyly asks Håkan to tell him his life story. Håkan begins to explain that he is from Sweden and that he hopes to reunite with his long-lost brother in New York, but he begins to cry when he reaches the part about the wagon train. Asa wraps his arms around the weary, weeping man.

Asa’s presence and gentle smiles transform the lonely, oppressive plains. The former deputy has a great love of food. He seasons their carefully prepared meals with flowers and even makes candy from tree sap. Asa’s favorite meal is quail and mushroom soup. His remarkable ability to find ingredients helps Håkan see what hitherto looked to him like a wasteland in a new light. The two grow closer, and they begin to lie beside each other at night. Håkan feels safe and happy in Asa’s arms. Asa suggests that they head west, hide out for a year or two, and then try to make their fortunes in California. Håkan has never before traveled with someone who has Asa’s expert knowledge of the terrain, and Håkan begins to have a vision of the future rather than living in a perpetual present. Håkan doesn’t have a clear sense of direction and has long wondered if he somehow traversed the world in his long, solitary wanderings. Asa assures him that his confusion has to do with the great size of the country rather than any madness.

As winter approaches, Håkan persuades Asa to take a detour south so he can trap animals and make a fur coat for the chilly former deputy. Håkan feels immense joy whenever he awes Asa with his aptitude for dissection and sewing, and he realizes with surprise that he didn’t want to impress Helen this much. One evening, Håkan musters up the courage to share Lorimer’s theories with Asa and feels indignant when Asa laughs good-naturedly in response. When a blizzard comes, the two men huddle together in a tent. Håkan asks Asa why he left his entire life behind to help him. Asa answers, “Because I saw you and I knew” (189).

Håkan and Asa cross a mountain range and encounter travelers who have heard stories of the Hawk, “[t]he giant who had strangled seven priests. The lion killer. The monster who had slain all those defenseless women and children” (190). There is still a large reward on his head, and the two men worry about how they will reach California without attracting the attention of the brethren or bounty hunters. One day, Asa falls down a cliff and breaks his leg. Håkan sedates the injured man, sets the broken bones, and tends to him when he develops a fever the next day. Håkan sees something kingly in the sleeping man’s countenance. Suddenly, he is brought to tears by the realization that the brother who once protected him was just a boy and that he has outgrown Linus. Someone else represents safety and comfort to him now. He also discovers that he doesn’t care what Linus would think of him and Asa.

The next morning, Håkan feels weak with relief when Asa’s fever breaks. Asa fears that they will be caught unless they reach the canyons soon, but he is in too much pain to ride, so they find a place to hide while he recuperates. While Asa grows solemn and anxious after his fall, his admiration and gratitude for Håkan only increase. One night, Asa promises Håkan that he’ll help him find his brother. His words make Håkan feel as though “a frozen lump in his chest” he had carried for years is finally melting (195). He realizes that he never could have found his brother without Asa’s help.