Andrews and McDonald: Counsel and Disillusionment

This flow follows the uneasy bond between Andrews and McDonald, whose early advice and later conversation frame Andrews’s departure from inherited expectations without resolving what he should believe.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Family Connection in the Office

A Letter from Boston Recognition Through Andrews’s Father Andrews introduces himself to McDonald with a letter from his father, Benjamin Andrews. McDonald recalls his earlier visits to the family home in Boston and is surprised that the minister’s son has come west seeking him. Help Offered, Purpose Unclear McDonald assumes Andrews wants work and offers him a place in the hide business, imagining that a young man should begin building a practical future. Andrews declines because he wants to understand the country rather than bind himself to an office. Their exchange establishes genuine concern, but also a gulf between McDonald’s commercial outlook and Andrews’s search.

A Warning and a Recommendation

Advice at the Salt Pits Concern About the Hunters McDonald warns Andrews that the hunters can draw a young man into a life that leaves little room for anything else. He speaks from experience in the hide trade and fears the dangers of men who live by the hunt, though his contempt for them is entangled with his own business interests. A Limited Introduction When Andrews persists, McDonald gives him Miller’s name and advises him to approach the experienced hunter. He asks Andrews to tell him before leaving, a small request that signals personal investment beyond a mere referral. Andrews accepts the advice but keeps his decision his own.

The Failed Attempt to Turn Back

A Second Intervention McDonald’s Prediction After learning that Andrews has invested six hundred dollars in Miller’s hunt, McDonald predicts that the promised bison herd may no longer exist. He offers to buy back equipment and redirect Andrews toward a shorter, more profitable hunt with one of his own crews. Andrews Keeps His Word Andrews refuses to withdraw, explaining that he has given his word. McDonald calls him stubborn but does not sever their connection; instead, he tells him to follow Miller and not mistake curiosity for knowledge. Their relationship shifts from an offered job to a wary, almost paternal concern that Andrews will learn through hardship what advice cannot teach.

The Return Without a Harvest

Old Associates in Ruins McDonald’s Disappearance Andrews and Miller find McDonald’s office deserted and then discover him living in an empty dormitory. The man who once offered Andrews a business future is physically shaken and financially ruined, while the village itself appears depleted. A Failed Agreement Miller insists that McDonald honor their agreement to buy the winter hides, but McDonald explains that the hide market has collapsed and he has no money. Andrews watches their dispute with unease: he is connected to both men, yet neither their labor nor their promises can restore what has been lost.

A Conversation About Nothingness

What Remains After the Dream McDonald’s Bitter Counsel Alone with Andrews, McDonald argues that people live by successive lies and often discover too late that no promised revelation will redeem their choices. He describes the expedition as wasted time and labor, reducing its outcome to the dead, the ruined wagon, and the lost hides. An Unfinished Disagreement Andrews insists that the experience contained something beyond its financial failure, but cannot yet say what it was. McDonald offers him work and a route back toward settled life; Andrews declines to decide. Their bond ends in unresolved respect: McDonald’s failure warns Andrews against dreams, but cannot erase the significance Andrews assigns to what he has lived.

The morning after Andrews arrives in Butcher’s Crossing

Later that day, after McDonald learns Andrews wants to speak with hunters

Several days after Miller leaves for Ellsworth

The evening the expedition returns to Butcher’s Crossing in late May

Later that night, after Miller leaves McDonald’s dormitory