The Monkey Wrench Gang

Hayduke spots the helicopter circling where Bonnie had been. From his perch, Hayduke sees Bonnie running down a gulch towards Kaibito Canyon. The helicopter lands and two men emerge, one carrying a gun. They start after Bonnie. Hayduke draws his revolver and runs towards the helicopter after the men are out of sight. Hayduke uses a fire extinguisher to break the helicopter's radio transmitter. Looking for a place to hide, Hayduke spots a ledge in the canyon. He crawls down under it, using some "tumbleweed for camouflage" (260), and waits.

After some time, Hayduke sees the two men from the helicopter approaching with Bonnie in tow. The helicopter pilot is a "red-faced young man with a big mustache" (261) while the other, the older man with the gun, wears cowboy gear. Bonnie walks between them in plastic handcuffs. Hayduke wonders if he should "shoot to kill or shoot to maim" (261). He decides to wait on doing either.

Hayduke listens to the cowboy hassle Bonnie and the pilot tell him to leave her alone. The pilot tries to climb up the gully, but it’s easier to get down than up. As he does this, Hayduke emerges from his hiding place and fires a shot that nicks the cowboy's hat. Everyone freezes; Hayduke whispers to Bonnie to grab the cowboy's gun. She does, then steps closer to Hayduke. He then tells the pilot to unbuckle his own holster and hand him the gun. Hayduke says he thinks he'll kill them both. Bonnie says he's kidding but looks unsure.

Hayduke seems intent on killing the men but Bonnie convinces him not to. She tells him to help her out of the handcuffs. After this, Hayduke tells the men to lie down on the ground, facedown. Bonnie scrambles up the gully and Hayduke hands her up the cowboy's gun. Hayduke tells the men to take off their boots and pants. The cowboy protests that there's "a lady present" (266). Hayduke responds by firing a shot two feet from the cowboy's head, shattering a rock. The men take off their boots and pants and hand them to Hayduke. Hayduke scrambles up the rock, threatening to "blast you cocksuckers into eternity" (267) if the men move.

At the helicopter, Hayduke tosses the clothes into the cockpit, then fires a shot at the instrument panel. Next, he fires rounds into the fuel tanks and uses flight maps as kindling to start a fire with the leaking fuel. He throws the pilot's gun into the flames. He tells Bonnie it's time to go and she throws the cowboy's gun back down to them. She also apologizes for leaving them. Hayduke tells Bonnie that they'll find her fingerprints on the gun but Bonnie says she's never been fingerprinted in her life.

After finding the jeep under "its Vietnam camouflage net" (269), Bonnie and Hayduke drive away without the lights on. Hayduke switches them on when they turn onto the dirt road towards Betatakin, where they left a cache of supplies from the railroad project. Hayduke loads the bags of dynamite into the car amidst Bonnie's protests. Next, they drive to a gas station, where Hayduke siphons two gasoline cans from the pumps. In the car, Bonnie asks herself "all the tedious questions about her own sanity" (270). She thinks the gang will never get away with all of this.

Back on the road, with "transfigured license plates" (271) from South Dakota on the jeep, Hayduke tells Bonnie they'll be off the reservation soon. He says they'll stop at the Holiday Inn in Kayenta for coffee and pie, and to call Doc. In the galvanized tunnel under the Lake Powell Railroad, Hayduke stops. He says it will only take a minute, but Bonnie says there are police all over and she's scared and hungry. Hayduke gets out of the car and Bonnie cries herself to sleep. When she comes to, Hayduke drives them through Black Mesa Junction.

Hayduke stops the jeep again, seeing "the loading depot" (272) for the coal-mining operation burning brightly. Bonnie tells Hayduke to keep going but Hayduke stares at "this critical node of the power complex" (272). He drives a mile down the road then stops again. Hayduke tells Bonnie he has to "take a piss" (272) and "finish the job" (272). Again, Bonnie begs him not to do it, saying she's "had enough explosions and fires and wrecks and guns" (272). Hayduke doesn't care. He grabs his pack and tells Bonnie to drive on to the Holiday Inn and call Doc and Smith. She should tell them to meet her and Hayduke at the abandoned Hidden Splendor Mine. If Hayduke doesn't arrive in Kayenta tomorrow night, Bonnie should go on to the mine without him. Most importantly, Bonnie should tell Doc not to "forget the magnesium" (273).

Bonnie tells Hayduke she wishes he wouldn't go, reminding him he hasn't had a "decent meal since noon" (273). She sighs and asks Hayduke for a kiss. She asks if he loves her and he says he does. She asks how much and he says, "get the fuck out of here" (273). Before she drives away, Bonnie tells Hayduke that he's an "ugly sonofabitch" (274) but she loves him. Crying, she drives away.

Relieved to be alone, Hayduke unbuttons his jeans and begins peeing on the roadside rubble. Resolute, he takes his pack and chainsaw and marches forward toward "the tough red eyes the armored jaws the tall floodlit and brazen towers of…the Enemy" (274).

Four days after Hayduke sends Bonnie to Kayenta, he still hasn't returned. Bonnie meets with Smith and Doc at the abandoned mine, as planned. The three of them sit around a fire at dusk. Bonnie roasts marshmallows and asks to see the newspapers, which she’s already read repeatedly. The paper details the gang's "recent depredations in the Black Mesa area" (275). The only clue as to the culprit is the name "Rudolf the Red, Native Avenger" (275) scrawled at the site of several sabotages. The police suspect a "renegade clan from the Shoshone tribe" (276), known as the Crazy Dogs. The paper reports the coal conveyor destroyed by explosives, the dragline excavator damaged by a fire in its engine room, and power lines being cut multiple times. The Arizona Public Service Company Environmental Coordinator calls it the "work of idiots" (276).

Bonnie complains about their story being buried "in the back pages" (276). She asks for last week's paper and flips to the story about herself, Hayduke, and the helicopter. She studies the artists' rendering of her face and complains that they made her look like Liz Taylor, "an overweight, double-chinned, middle-aged matron" (276). Hayduke's portrait shows a man wearing a construction worker's helmet and a bandanna covering all but his eyes. The story says a pilot and guard were assaulted and robbed by a "saboteur and his female companion" (277). The story also alleges that Hayduke "abducted" (277) Bonnie. The Navajo Tribal Chairman insists that Rudolf the Red "is not an Indian" (277), but the Crazy Dogs insist he "is an Indian" (277).

Bonnie calls the paper rubbish and goes to throw it in the fire. Doc says to keep it for Hayduke. Smith warns them not to let the fire get too big or they'll attract "ol' J. Dudley Love" (277) to their hideout. Hayduke laments that Hayduke is now "exactly four days and five hours late" (277). Neither Doc nor Smith respond. Finally, Doc, puffing on his cigar, says he's been thinking they should all take "a bit of vacation" (278) after they finish "this bridge job" (278). Bonnie says they won't decide anything until Hayduke gets there.

Smith tells Doc about a nearby tank "half full of diesel fuel" (278), implying they could use it for the four houseboats Smith plans to use against the Glen Canyon Dam. Doc tells Smith the boats cost at least $45,000 each. Smith says they could just rent them from the Wahweap Marina for $100 a day. Doc wonders if the clerk will be suspicious but Smith assures him that the clerk won't care as long as the rental company makes money. Smith then says they could also rent one houseboat from each of the four marinas on Lake Powell. Doc reminds him that renting a houseboat is not as simple as renting a car. Smith continues his fantasy, saying then they could take a vacation in Florida.

Bonnie, exasperated, wonders aloud what she's doing there. Doc tells her to "stop whining" (280). Bonnie announces that she's taking a walk and Doc says to make it a long one. As she leaves, Smith says, "The poor gal's in love" (280), that's why she's "so touchy" (280). Doc wonders why he himself is so touchy. The two men sit in silence until Smith says first they'll do the bridgework, then the dam, then take a break—with or without Hayduke's approval. Smith assures Doc the houseboat trick will work to "make a little crack in it" (280) and "Nature and God" (280) will take care of the rest.

Bonnie walks among the "wind-ripped sun-bleached shacks" (281) of the abandoned mining village. She ponders the waste left behind and thinks it's fitting that Hayduke, the "pig" (281) that he is, should choose this spot for their rendezvous. She sits on an overturned mine car, gazing south, towards Kayenta, where Hayduke's blue jeep still waits at the Holiday Inn.

After finishing his work, Hayduke stashes the rest of his food in a cache hole and walks into Kayenta at dawn. Hayduke stashes his backpack, afraid to arouse suspicion of "the townsfolk, whether red-skinned or white" (284). He arrives at the Holiday Inn, where he finds his jeep with a note stashed inside. It's from Bonnie but signed “Thelma.” In coded wording, Bonnie says they'll meet him at the mine.

Hayduke decides to eat at the local café "against his better judgment" (284) but parks his jeep a few blocks away from it. Inside, he sits at the counter near two "broad backs in tight cowboy shirts" (285) whom Hayduke disparagingly refers to as "the kind of folks that made America what it is today" (285). Hayduke tips his hat down over his eyes, which he's afraid will identify him.

As he begins to eat, Hayduke notices Bishop Love's yellow Blazer parked just outside the café. Hayduke realizes he's made "a serious mistake" (285) stopping for breakfast. At once, Bishop Love turns to Hayduke and asks him how "ol' Seldom Seen" (285) is doing. Hayduke stares back at Bishop Love and replies that he doesn't know Seldom Seen. The bishop presses Hayduke as the two of them, with Bishop Love's brother beside him, continue to eat. Bishop Love tells Hayduke he saw him with Seldom Seen Smith, and "that young gal" (286), and "that big bald-headed man with the salty-black beard" (286), a while back. Love also says someone's been leaving "tracks with lug boots, size ten or eleven" (286) all around the area. Looking down at Hayduke's boots, Love says if it isn't Hayduke, it must be his twin brother.

Hayduke says it must have been his twin brother then asks the waitress for more coffee. Love calls Hayduke a liar. Hayduke remembers the .357 magnum he has in his belt but knows it won't help to draw it in front of this many witnesses. Hayduke decides to "play deaf and dumb" (287) and asks the waitress for his check. She innocently asks if the three men will be paying together or separately. Hayduke says separate because he has to go.

Bishop Love tells Hayduke he's not going anywhere and starts asking him about the "depredations" (286) Hayduke's been committing. Hayduke says Love has him mixed up with someone else and starts to get up. Love yanks Hayduke to his feet and Hayduke, feeling claustrophobic but playing it cool, asks for another coffee. Love asks Hayduke his name and Hayduke says, "Herman Smith" (288). Love asks if Hayduke's sure he isn't "Rudolf the Red" (288) and Hayduke throws his hot coffee in Love's face, then runs out of the café.

Hayduke makes it to his jeep and starts to drive away. Bishop Love and his brother give chase in their Blazer. A while down the highway, Hayduke pulls through a fence gap and onto an abandoned property. He waits there until the Loves pass him, then follows. He can't go back south to Arizona. He has to get to Hidden Splendor. When the road forks, Bishop Love takes the branch Hayduke needs to take, to Hayduke's dismay.

Scrambling for a plan, Hayduke remembers a dirt road off the highway, though he doesn't remember if it dead-ends, climbs to a plateau, or loops back to the blacktop. Taking a chance, Hayduke turns onto the dirt road when he finds it. Driving on dirt, the jeep begins to kick up a "rooster tail of dust" (292) sure to give away Hayduke's location. Ahead of Hayduke lie "unscaled, perhaps unscalable cliffs" (291). Unsure how to get up the plateau and whether his pursuers have given up, Hayduke pulls off the road and uses his binoculars to check his surroundings. From the south and west, dust clouds approach him—it’s the search-and-rescue team.

Hayduke suppresses his panic and begins driving again. As he ascends the plateau, the road turns from dirt to rock. Hayduke spots "one tall and healthy-looking juniper, well anchored in stone" (293) at the plateau's peak. Reaching that goal, Hayduke finds "an overhanging cliff" (293) with a 100-foot drop below it. Hayduke contemplates escape on foot but can't bear to leave behind "his prize jeep" (293). He recalls one of Doc's sayings: "When the situation is hopeless, there's nothing to worry about" (294). Listening to his followers’ engines, Hayduke estimates he has ten minutes.

Bishop Love, though burned by Hayduke's coffee, pursues Hayduke with patience. Knowing that a cliff's drop-off faces Hayduke, Love feels confident they've got Hayduke cornered. Spotting Hayduke's "pitifully ill-concealed" (294) jeep, Love and his men stop their vehicles. Love tells them that the "unwashed bastard" (295) may have a gun. Love's brother says maybe they should call the sheriff for back-up but Love, "with humorous squint of eye and a hint of sarcastic grin" (295) tells his younger brother that they might as well call "Puff the Magic Dragon" (295) for back-up.

Love's men ask what he has in mind for Hayduke. Love replies that he'll remove Hayduke's teeth with pliers. Love and his men, armed with "pistols, carbines, shotguns" (296) spread laterally along the rim. Love and his brother stick close together, and they all advance "tactically" (297). Love's brother says he heard a motor. Love says that's impossible. They listen and hear nothing but "the faintest sighing of the breeze […] and the occasional irrelevant twittering of birds" (297).

Love's brother asks if the jeep is right behind the juniper tree because he can't see it. Love shouts towards Hayduke, "Rudolf, whatever your name is!" (298). Love says there are six of them and they'll shoot Hayduke if he doesn't come down. Love gets no response but a "useless taunt" (298) from a nearby owl. Love and the men open fire. Love halts their shots after a moment then yells again to Hayduke. Without a response, Love says he's going up to look for him. Love's brother insists on going with him.

At the juniper tree, Love and his brother find nothing: no jeep, no Hayduke. They look over the cliff's edge and see "the bench of bare stone a hundred feet or so below" (299) and nothing else. Love's brother says maybe now they should radio the sheriff but Love insists he won't do that until he catches "this bastard" (299). Love's brother asks how they'll catch Hayduke. Love says he's "workin' on it" (299).