Brian's Return

The novel returns to June 3, with Brian in his canoe, having just been dropped off by the pilot. The pilot gave him a map and the general location of the Smallhorn family about 100 miles north of Brian’s current location. Brian stows the map in a waterproof plastic bag and ties down all his gear other than his bow and arrows. He wears only a pair of shorts since the sun is hot, and he stows his clothing and other gear without hurrying. As he starts to paddle, he takes care to notice everything in his surroundings down to the tiniest detail, yet Brian is still taken by surprise when a deer lands in his canoe.

The deer comes crashing out of the brush toward the lake, evidently running for the water to clear clouds of flies and mosquitos from her eyes. She lands directly in front of Brian in the middle of the canoe; immediately she bucks and kicks to escape the canoe and capsizes the craft as she bounds away onto the other shore. Brian, disoriented for a moment, quickly pieces together what happened and pulls the canoe and gear to a clearing on the shore. Thankfully, most of his gear was wrapped in plastic garbage bags and stayed dry.