Chapters Five through Six Summary

After the marriage, Katherine and Mike begin their journey via train to Edmonton and a dog-sled caravan to Lesser Slave Lake, per orders from Mike's employer, the Canadian government. Katherine leaves her dog Juno with her friend Mildred because the dog is simply too civilized to live on the trail. Two nuns, on their way to the Mission at Peace River Crossing, seek a space for themselves on one of the sleds. Although the sleds are packed, a man named Baldy Red comes to their rescue. Sergeant Mike knows Baldy as a con man; however, Katherine refuses to believe that this nice man is anything but sincere.

Entering the village of Athabaska, Katherine witnesses a natural phenomenon around the sun, which Mike terms sun dogs. "The sun was already low when a circle of pale, silvery light...