MD3PAD 433-435

[Toby G Levy]

        Mason and Dixon witness a display of the electric eel's powers.
A large crowd gathers as Voam attaches wires to the head and tail of the
torpedo. He brings the wires closer and closer together until a white
spark leaps between them. He uses the spark to light his cigar. Everyone
looks away from the bright light of the spark but Mason, who claims he
saw something in the spark. Dixon wouldn't let him say what he saw, but
later in his journal, Mason says he saw the aperture to another dimension
that seemed to invite him to enter.

        Mason wonders in the journal if he should tell Dixon about his
vision, or if perhaps he should discuss it with Wicks whom he describes
a s a "cherubic pest."

vw#99: Diurnal - Relating to or occurring in a 24-hour period; daily.

        They feed the eel anything on hand from locally caught fish to
salted beef.  Wicks wonders if the fish awaits human flesh.

        In a flash forward, Voam builds a larger tank for the fish and
puts the tank on the line every day. The fish moves around in the tank
until his head is facing north, and he soon becomes the camp compass.
The crew members hope that the eel will point toward an iron lode at
some point. They dream about opening an iron mine and growing rich.

        Squire Haligast has joined the party and makes pronouncements
about the importance of iron.   I must admit I don't quite understand
what Haligast is supposed to represent in the novel.  Clearly Pynchon
means to indicate something in Haligast's cryptic pronouncements, but
what?

        Moses Barnes, overseer of the axmen, tells the crew to stop
bothering Haligast, but he tells Barnes there is no harm.  Here Chapter
42 comes to a close.

Toby