Caleb's Crossing

Bethia’s father spends many hours aiding Nahnoso. Bethia returns to the Merrys without him, and there she is left alone with Noah Merry. He expresses particular interest that she speaks the difficult Wompaontoaonk tongue—someone like her could help the Merrys’ relationship with their Indigenous neighbors. The implication here is that he has some expectation of her hand in marriage.

When Bethia’s father returns from his ordeal, he is excited about the possibility of converting a sonquem. Bethia secretly wonders what this might mean for Caleb.

This chapter returns us to the day before Caleb arrived in Bethia’s household. Bethia’s father has sent Iacoomis to convert Nahnoso, but Iacoomis encounters Tequamuck and enters a stalemated confrontation with him. Bethia’s father follows, and Nahnoso rejects him (clearly influenced by Tequamuck).

Nahnoso becomes sick again soon after, this time with smallpox. Bethia remarks how the disease can ravage Indigenous populations. Her father goes to help Nahnoso and his tribe. Later, Bethia’s mother—still alive at this point—sends as much food as their supplies can spare. A report comes that Nahnoso’s son, Nanaakomin, Caleb’s brother, has died of the disease.

Bethia explains that many of the settlers speculate that God sent smallpox to free the Indigenous people from their benighted condition, since one result of the plague is that most of the people turn their backs on Tequamuck.