The Octopus: A Story of California

Hilma and Mrs. Derrick return to Los Muertos and the calamity at Hooven’s farm. Devastated to learn of Annixter’s death, Hilma disconsolately holds his head in her lap while Mrs. Derrick spends a few moments with her son before Harran dies of his injuries. Delany is found dead amidst the unharvested wheat.

Presley, after witnessing the savagery of the gunfight, plunges into an interior darkness where “[h]orror weighed intolerably upon him” (537). He turns to his journal, writing invectives against the Railroad’s unbridled power and greed. He is convinced the tragedy at Hooven’s is comparable to the Battle of Lexington (537), which initiated the Revolutionary War; and he believes all subjugated people should rise up against the industries and Trusts that oppress them. The next morning, Presley is increasingly agitated and working himself into a vengeful state. He visits Caraher, and they have a prolonged conversation before Presley retrieves a pipe bomb.

There is a large League meeting to discuss their reaction to the shootings, while the Railroad cuts off all travel and supplies to Bonneville, isolating the community. Presley attends the meeting but becomes agitated when speakers try to distance the League from the shootout and blame it on Magnus’s mismanagement.