Adam's Second Enlistment and Wandering

Adam serves another five years in the army, a period of dull routine. After his discharge in 1890, he does not go home but instead wanders across the country as a bindlestiff. He travels through California, the Southwest, and the South, learning to beg and living among other wandering men. He experiences both the kindness of poor people and the brutality of the law, including a stint on a chain gang in Florida from which he escapes.