Hatchet

Brian sets about rebuilding his camp, though it is difficult with his injured ribs. He starts with a new fire and drags branches around to begin a new shelter, then repairs his fishpond. As he falls asleep, he realizes that there is a survival kit in the plane, which is now exposed. In the morning he makes a new fish spear; as he eats cooked fish, he plans to make a raft to access the plane in the lake. This work is hard and takes longer than expected. He sets off on his raft in the late afternoon, quickly realizing that it will take him hours to push the raft all the way to the plane. He returns to shore, determined to try again in the morning.

As Brian watches the sunset, he reminds himself of how important patience is to survival. He also acknowledges his loneliness: “amazing beauty and he wished he could share it with somebody” (158). He sets off again in the morning, spending at least two hours wading and pushing his raft over to the plane. He ties the raft to the plane and realizes that there is no entrance point. He also has to fight back haunting thoughts of the pilot strapped into the cockpit. He instead focuses on the survival pack and what might be in it.

Frustrated that he can’t find a way into the plane, Brian punches it. His fist makes it obvious that the airplane’s aluminum siding is surprisingly thin; he can easily get through it with his hatchet. He is standing on his raft, hacking at the airplane to make an entrance hole, when he drops the hatchet into the water. Brian is devastated because he knows that “without the hatchet he [has] nothing—no fire, no tools, no weapons—he [is] nothing” (162). He doesn’t know how deep the lake is, but he decides he has to at least try diving down to save the hatchet.

On his first try he makes it about seven feet before he has to come back to the surface, having seen nothing in the murky water. The second time he pushes off the raft and dives deeper, finding the hatchet’s handle just as he runs out of oxygen. He barely makes it to the surface, but when he does, he is relieved to have retrieved his most important possession. As he continues to work on opening the plane, he carefully cuts the aluminum into pieces that he saves on his raft, noting that everything has a use in survival.

Finally, Brian makes his way inside the plane, “wiggling and pulling until he was inside the tail with his head clear of the surface of the water and his legs down on the angled floor” (166). He is again required to dive into the water, this time within the airplane, to retrieve the survival pack. Once under water, he sees the dead pilot, whose head has been gruesomely eaten by the fish over the last eight weeks. The sight of the pilot causes Brian to vomit in the water, choking him. When he resurfaces, he is “choking and heaving and gasping for air, fighting to clear the picture of the pilot from his mind” (168). He stares at the trees and nature surrounding him until he is calm enough to continue his work. He now has to heave the heavy survival bag out of the airplane and get it across the lake on his raft. This takes all day; when Brian finally gets to shore, he hauls the bag toward his camp and passes out on top of it.

Brian wakes early and goes through the pack: it is full of “treasure. Unbelievable riches” (171). There is a tent, a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad, cooking utensils, matches, lighters, a knife, a first-aid kit, a fishing pole with hooks and lures, and freeze-dried food. The kit also includes a rifle, which makes Brian uncomfortable: “It was a strange feeling, holding the rifle. It somehow removed him from everything around him” (173). Much of the gear in the pack gives him “up and down feelings” (173) because he recognizes that with all these tools and instruments, he would have never learned to become one with nature.

Brian also finds an emergency transmitter in the pack. He flips the switch a few times and figures it is broken. He sets it aside without turning it off. He then lays out all the packets of food and drink mixes so he can decide what to make for his big feast. He chooses “a four-person beef and potato dinner, with orange drink for appetizer and something called a peach whip for dessert” (175). He uses his new pots and pans to carry and boil water on his fire, then enjoys a “sweet and tangy” drink as his food cooks (176).

He is sitting there, smelling the aroma of his new food and guzzling down sugary drinks, when an airplane suddenly appears. The plane lands in the lake, and before Brian can comprehend what is happening, the pilot is standing before him. The pilot heard the emergency transmitter and followed the signal. When he sees Brian, he asks, “Damn. You’re him, aren’t you? You’re that kid? They quit looking, a month, no, almost two months ago. You’re him, aren’t you?” (177). At first Brian can’t think of what to say, but he finally introduces himself and offers the pilot something to eat.

The pilot who rescues Brian is a fur buyer. He was out that day because he was mapping “Cree trapping camps for future buying runs” (178). That day marked Brian’s 54th day alone. He lost “seventeen percent of his bodyweight […] he would remain lean and wiry for several years” (178). Even after rescue, Brian remains thoughtful and keenly aware of his surroundings. He is amazed and delighted by food for the rest of his life. When he returns home, he conducts research to find out about all that he experienced. He learns that gut cherries are “choke cherries […] the foolbirds were ruffled grouse (also called fool hens by trappers, for their stupidity […] the wolves were timber wolves, which are not known to attack or bother people” (179).

Reporters come to learn Brian’s story. Canadian government officials document his camp and recover the pilot’s body. After Brian sees the photographs of his camp and lake, he dreams about it. He has mostly fond memories of his time by the lake and often thinks about “the lake, the forest, the fire at night” (180). The author notes that Brian was lucky to be rescued before the winter, as “it would have been very rough on him” (180). The lake would have frozen over, cutting off his fishing, and game all but disappears in the snow. Brian’s parents almost got back together after his return, but their divorce was ultimately finalized. His mother continues to date the blond man, and Brian never manages to tell his father “about the man or what he knew, the Secret” (181).