Summary

In Chapter 8, Callum awakes in the morning and admires the horse, calling it by its name: Reiver. Callum and Ava thank Lachlan for his help, and Lachlan gives them a jug of whiskey. As they ride away, Callum thinks with woe about how Swinney appeared to be part of the party hunting him. Swinney “had been almost a father to him” (114). Swinney had taken Callum into his care and had given him the option of staying in Swinney’s shack instead of joining the Colonel’s gang. Callum thinks that if he can talk to Swinney alone, he may be able to convince him that he did not kill the Colonel. When Ava and Callum camp that night, they talk about the future, and they implicitly admit a mutual love for one another. Callum thinks about the child growing in Ava’s womb. They...