Chapter 6
· Kino and Juana leave their village
o The wind is blowing furiously – will blow away tracks
o Kino feels animal instinct coming out (take care of his family)
o They walk all night – Juana keeps Coyotito quiet – Kino grips his knife
o The music of the pearl (hope) and the song of the family is heard by Kino
· The family rests
o Kino finds a place for them to rest for the day à he brushes away footprints
o Juana sleeps and wakes à Kino tells her what to avoid – he is the head of the family
o Juana asks whether they will be followed à Kino says they want the pearl
o He hears the music of evil with the music of the pearl (foreshadowing)
o Juana keeps watch while Kino sleeps
§ Kino dreams – cries out and moves as if fighting à moans and wakes up
§ Tells Juana to be quiet
§ Creeps, like animal, and looks out
· Kino sees the trackers
o Kino sees three men (2 trackers and 1 man with rifle on horseback)
o A chill of fear goes through him; knows these trackers – are good, like dogs
o If trackers find their hiding place, he will leap and kill the horseman
o The trackers go by, but Kino knows they will be back
· Kino is panicked
o He doesn’t bother to cover their tracks
o He thinks maybe he should surrender à Juana says no à they will kill him
o He says they will go into the mountains
o Kino suggests that Juana go and hide, and he will lead the trackers into the mountain à then Juana can go north to safety
o Juana says NO – absolutely refuses
o Kino feels stronger
· The family flees
o They hurry higher and higher into the mountains
o Kino is heading for a dark and shadowy cleft (slit) in the mountains – knows there may be water there – their water bottle is empty
o There is water there
§ Animals come to drink – place of life
§ Animals kill prey there – place of killing
o The family arrives there in the late afternoon
o Kino knows the trackers will be there by evening
o He sees a series of small caves higher up, so he sends Juana up there for safety
· The wait for the trackers
o Juana fills her water bottle
o Kino helps her to the shallow cave; puts the food up there
o Kino makes sure there is no sign of tracks up to cave
o Kino makes tracks going up to a higher area
o He says when the trackers go up, he and Juana will slip away
o He warns Juana to keep Coyotito quiet
· The trackers come
o The trackers were long in coming – arrive at the water at dusk
o All three are on foot
o They see the tracks up the cliff; they sit and wait, smoking cigarettes
o Darkness falls
o Kino hears a murmur – Juana is trying to keep Coyotito quiet
o The trackers are on the beach, at the bottom of the rocks, sleeping and watching
o Kino can see where each man is
§ He tells Juana he will kill the awake man with the rifle first
§ She said they will see his white clothes in the moonlight
§ He said he will go before the moon comes up
§ He says if they kill him, go to Loreto
§ She says, “Go with God.”
· Kino’s attack
o Kino removes his white clothes and wears his knife on a neck string
o Kino “edged like a slow lizard down the smooth rock shoulder.”
o Kino hears the music of the enemy softly, but the Song of the Family has become fierce and sharp and feline as the snarl of a female puma.
o Kino creeps “silently as a shadow down the smooth mountain face.”
o He loosens his knife from the cord, but he is too late – the moon comes up
o As Kino goes to leap, a little cry is heard from up the mountain à the watcher stirs, and one of the other two men awake
o They talk and decide the noise is a coyote pup à the watcher shoots up the mountain
o Kino was in mid-leap when the gun crashed à he kills the shooter
o Kino is “a terrible machine now.”
§ He wrenches his knife free
§ Grabs the rifle
§ Strikes the head of a man like a melon
§ Third man tries to get away à Kino shoots him
o Kino stands à knows something is wrong à hears the cry of death (Juana moaning, keening)
· The family returns – Kino and Juana walk side by side
o Juana
§ carries a small limp bundle over her shoulder – dried blood
§ hard, lined, tired face; wide eyes staring inward
o Kino
§ thin lipped, tight jaws, dangerous as a rising storm, immune and terrible
§ Song of Family – fierce as a cry – battle cry
§ Takes out pearl
· Gray, ugly, ulcerous (like an ulcer), like a malignant growth
· Evil faces peer (look out) from it
· In his mind’s eye, he sees Coyotito with his head blown away
· Holds pearl out to Juana à she says, “No, you.”
§ Kino throws the pearl as hard as he can into the ocean
§ The pearl sinks down à a crab scuttles by à sand covers the pearl
§ Music of the pearl disappears