Chapter 2 Summary

The kid travels on the back roads for a while, avoiding people except when he needs food. His mule has become so thin and sickly that he has become almost useless. The kid happens upon the home of a hermit, who takes him in and gives him dinner and a warm place to sleep. The hermit tells him he was once a slave runner but he got tired of the business and got out. In the middle of the night, the kid wakes with the hermit standing over him. The hermit moves, when he sees the kid is awake. The next morning, the hermit is gone, and the kid leaves. Late that afternoon, the kid sees dust in the distance. That night, he finds a small group of cattlemen sitting around their camp fire. The men invite the kid to join them. After...