Pages 87 - 106 Summary

Suttree had poured kerosene on a patch of tar on the road and has returned to scrape up the resulting pitch that he uses to mend his boat. His friend, Daddy Watson, is a railroad employee who wears a pocket watch. Suttree agrees to use any remaining tar to fix the leaking caboose roof. Suttree studies the moths and asks one what it wants.

The filth of this polluted river, including garbage, soap, and sewage, is contrasted with the elegant sounds of a riverboat passing, its occupants living at an entirely different level, but one that Suttree seems to recognize.

Gene Harrogate is out of prison and wandering. He comes across Daddy Watson, who does not tell him where Suttree is. Another of Suttree's friends, a junkman, refuses to tell him where Suttree is, but offers him a job taking apart...