Chapter 17 Summary

Father wakes Jerry and Charlie just before dawn to begin the trek over the mountains, bring ice to the Indian village there. They load huge blocks of ice on a sled for the journey, assisted by the Creole and Zambu men. They trek through the long, hot day, with the ice melting at every step. The Zambus crash the sled into a boulder, breaking the ice in two. Fox is bitten unmercifully by mosquitoes. When Charlie tries to tell him about the mosquito repellant berries, Fox is infuriated. Enraged at the Zambus, Father becomes increasingly irrational. He raves that he wants to sleep in his own bed and then immediately gloats that this is the first time ice has ever melted on this particular mountainside.

Chapter 17 Analysis

The trip over the mountains is Father's first major error in judgment, and he does not...