MD3PAD 664-666

[Toby G Levy]

        The Indians laugh at the settler's fear over a tribe with no
name.  The chapter ends with the company's feeling that their days out
west are drawing to a close, using the metaphor of a game of darts that
is close to conclusion.

        Chapter 69 begins on page 665 with a look back to the time before
they crossed the river Cheat, when a girl was chasing a chicken that was
running across the visto.  When the chicken reached the center of the
visto it turned and pointed its head west and seemed unable to move.  As
the day ended, the company all drifted over to look at the immobile
chicken.

At sunset the girl collects her chicken and agrees with members of the
company that placing a chicken on a line will hypnotize it. Mason worries
that the line might become clogged with hypnotized chickens. Mason
wonders whether the line will do more ill than good.  From out of nowhere
Armand's duck calls out to him "Don't you care?" Mason and Dixon defend
themselves, explaining their work and it's objectives to the duck.

        Later that night Mason and Dixon wonder if the duck might be
hypnotized if placed in the center of the line.  They wonder if she could
be lured there. Armand tells them that the duck likes pond larvae.

Toby