Three Day Road

In the present, Niska explains that the river is unfamiliar at this point in the journey, and that Xavier still refuses to eat. She then flashes back to her youth. She explains how she and her mother live in the bush, and are known as awawatuk. The awawatuk are viewed as dangerous and untrustworthy by both homeguard Indians and the white men. While in the bush, Niska’s mother tries teaching her as much as she can about the shaking tent, the sweat lodge and other traditions.

By the time Niska is seventeen, she has taken on her father’s role of divining for others. She can also summon animal spirits to the shaking tent and live off the land, but she feels restless. During this time, she meets a French trapper. She plays tricks on him, upsetting his traps and leaving footprints in the snow. Her restlessness only increases and Niska plans to capture the trapper and keep him as a pet of sorts. She decides to use her lodge, her askihkan, as a snare for the trapper. The trapper follows her bait and, in the end, enters her tent and begins undressing. Niska is overwhelmed by the trapper, and as she also undresses and realizes what her restlessness truly is, wonders which of the two is the hunter and who is being hunted. The two make love, and when she awakens, he is gone.

In “Rifle”, the battalion is overjoyed that the infamous Hun sniper has been killed. McCaan orders Thompson, Xavier and Elijah to go out and inspect the body. Xavier is asked to lead as it is technically his kill, which he thinks upsets Elijah, who is used to the glory. The three head out and, after hiding from a group of German soldiers who are looking for their fallen comrade, Xavier makes it to the dead sniper’s body and retrieves some of his possessions, including a Mauser rifle. Elijah is upset that he did not get the Mauser as he has wanted the gun for quite some time. The three suddenly hear noise from another crater, and find that the Germans are making a machine-gun turret. They head back to the line and report their findings to Lieutenant Breech. Back in their dugout, Xavier dreams about the time he and Elijah bought new clothes before enlisting.

The next day, Lieutenant Breech chooses six men for a raiding party, which Xavier knows is too many. The men are all nervous about the raid, including Elijah, which is unusual. Xavier hears rumors about the battalion being moved to the Somme, where countless lives have been lost. Nervous, Elijah attempts to secure some morphine from Grey Eyes, but Grey Eyes refuses to give him any. Xavier notes that nothing about the raid feels right; there is a heavy feeling hanging around everyone. Elijah attempts to get some morphine from Driscoll, the medic, but is rebuffed and told that if he asks again, he will be reported as an addict.

In the next chapter, the raiding party heads out, and Thompson draws the German fire while Elijah and Xavier sneak toward the nest they are to destroy. Xavier knows that the plan is wrong, and feels this as they move toward their target. As things are not going right, Elijah rushes the German nest and is injured. Xavier reaches him and manages to destroy the nest, before dragging Elijah back to a crater. They are pinned down by heavy fire, and Xavier must drag Elijah back to their line. Elijah sustains injuries, and is given morphine. Thompson is severely injured, while others in the raiding party are killed. Xavier is angry at Breech for ordering such a poorly planned raid.

Elijah is viewed as a hero after the raid, and he continues with his jokes and easy banter. He helps Gilberto compose a letter to his wife, though Gilberto is embarrassed by the fanciful words that Elijah uses to explain his exploits in battle. As Xavier watches this, he is reminded of how easy English came to Elijah when they were in the residential school. He remembers how they were beaten once because Elijah had written down a curse word and the nuns found it.

The soldiers prepare to leave Saint-Eloi for other places where heavy fighting is taking place. Xavier explains that Elijah’s last name is Weesageechak, but is pronounced Whiskeyjack by white men. Whiskeyjack is a trickster bird, which reflects Elijah’s own nature. While on rest one night, the two go to an estaminet, a house that serves as a pub and sometimes has women for the soldiers. Xavier sees a young woman that he likes, and is angered when Elijah speaks with her. Before the two leave, the young woman smiles at Xavier. When they return later, Xavier finds the girl and they decide to meet the next day. Her name is Lisette. They meet the next day and make love to each other, and Xavier feels that he is in love. Two days later, the battalion is sent away from Saint-Eloi.

They end up near the Somme, in a place called The Brickfields, where Elijah’s reputation has preceded him. Elijah still wants to fly, and this reminds Xavier of when the two took their first train journey after buying new clothes in town. They were forced to sit in the car reserved for Indians, near the livestock. Elijah was happy at first, but became sullen as the train did not remind him of flying. He stood up and ran around inside the train playfully. He hit an old Indian by accident, waking the man up. The man told Elijah he was dreaming of whiskeyjacks pecking at something dead.

In “Betrayal”, Niska recalls her time with the Frenchman, hoping her words will reach Xavier. She and the Frenchman begin spending a lot of time together, and Niska makes the decision to choose a life with him over a life as a healer and seer. One day, however, an old trapper visits her and she knows she must help the man. To do so, she must tell the Frenchman to leave, angering him. When spring returns, the Frenchman does not, and Niska is overcome by sadness. Niska’s mother tells her that she should seek the trapper out, and Niska agrees. She goes to Moose Factory to find him.

When she reaches town, she is amazed by the homeguard Indians. They are well-fed and seem content, though some are addicted to alcohol. Moreover, the Indians look at her with fear and disgust. She has kept the old ways, but the homeguard Indians have abandoned these “pagan” ways. Niska is taken in by an old woman who gives her white men’s clothing so that she will blend in better. Niska then goes and seeks out the Frenchman, finding him in a bar. She realizes that he is just as her mother and the old woman have suggested, untrustworthy. The Frenchman gets her drunk, however, then takes her to a church and makes Niska think that he will marry her. Instead, they have sex in the church, and when finished, the Frenchman tells Niska that he has taken her power, that he has taken the “heathen” part of her and sent it to hell.

Niska flees from the Frenchman, afraid that he will follow her and do worse. Though drunk and dejected, she manages to make it to the river, then rips off the western clothing, bathes and heads home. She constructs a sweat lodge, then a shaking tent, as she is afraid that the Frenchman has indeed stolen her powers. The animal spirits return to her, however, and she asks the spirit of the lynx to avenge her. Niska’s mother arrives later and tells her that the Frenchman went mad, and in his madness, threw himself out of a window. He was not allowed a Christian burial because his death was deemed a suicide. Though she is avenged, the news hits Niska hard.