True Grit

Content Warning: This section of the guide features depictions of violence and death.

Mattie rides with Rooster and LaBoeuf. Though they do not stop to eat, she forces herself to say nothing. Eventually, they stop at a small store by a river. Rooster speaks to the owner and bargains with two young boys to transport the traveling trio across the river on the ferry. On the other side, they ride through the cluttered trail. The storeowner told Rooster that Lucky Ned Pepper was recently spotted at another store owned by a man named McAlester. Ned was riding with two men: a criminal named Haze and a Mexican man. Rooster believes that they can locate Ned before the gang flees.

Rooster and LaBoeuf agree to ride another 15 miles before stopping for the night. They are still 60 miles from McAlester’s store. In spite of herself, Mattie cannot help but groan. Rooster mocks her, but Mattie insists that she is fine. LaBoeuf asks whether Chaney was spotted with Ned. Chaney was not at McAlester’s, Rooster explains, but he was almost certainly with the gang when they robbed the train recently.

Eventually, the trio stops for the night. Mattie is fatigued, but she drags water in a bucket from the nearby stream.