The Mosquito Coast

Allie informs his family that he has saved them from certain death. Despite their haggard and deteriorated state, Allie will only travel upriver. When Allie hears that Jerry has told his siblings that he is tempted to jump into the dugout canoe so that he can cut the line and drift back to civilization, he orders Jerry into it and tows it behind the boat. He reels Jerry back in when Mother protests, proud of himself for having frightened Jerry and making his point. He does the same to Charlie when he discovers him neglecting his assigned duties.

When a propeller dislodges from the boat, Allie puts a harness around Jerry and insists that he go diving to retrieve it. Mother vehemently objects and offers to go herself, but Allie tells her she might drown, unphased when she tells him Jerry might, too. After disastrous and dangerous attempts by both boys, Allie, incensed, dives for the propeller himself, bemoaning the uselessness of his children. When a significant amount of time has lapsed, Mother pulls on the line connecting Allie to the boat, but finds he is no longer attached to the end of it. The twins wail inconsolably, and Mother is consumed by panic, but Charlie experiences an almost euphoric sensation of relief and freedom. When he looks at his brother, he sees a look on Jerry’s face of relaxation and ease. Allie reappears, declaring the entire family traitors. “Then all the light was gone,” Charlie says (330).

Jerry and Charlie are forced into the dugout canoe and tugged behind the boat for the next few days. Jerry asserts that he hates their father and that he is aware that Allie is unwell. Jerry notes that Charlie is afraid of their father, while Jerry is not, despite being younger. Jerry says, “I’d like to kill him,” and begins to consider ways of doing so (333). Charlie insists that he not talk about it anymore. As they drift together, Jerry continues to chip away at their situation. Their family have been conditioned to accept all of Allie’s statements as fact, but Jerry’s concrete arguments about the origins of the spark plugs, the fact that their supply of gas will eventually run out, and the impossibility that their former home in Massachusetts is destroyed upset Charlie to the point that he begins to cry. This upsets Jerry, and he stops. When they arrive at a poor village, Allie is thrilled, happily joking and chatting with the inhabitants, a family known as the Thurtles. He is energized by the warmth of their welcome and the opportunity to absorb some admiring attention.

At the close of the chapter, Charlie is offered a glimmer of hope. While planning the next leg of their trip up the river someone mentions a town called “Wumpoo.” No one recognizes the name but Charlie, who remembers that Reverend Spellgood had invited the family to visit his mission at Guampu when they had traveled together on the Unicorn.