| Ch. 53 After setting fire to Baron's stable and trying (unsuccessfully) to shoot the horse, Charlie Steiner climbs up in the tree where he saw Clint mysteriously disappear the previous morning. As he is clambering over a limb, he awakens Clint in his hiding place. Clint throws him to the ground and chases him up to the mansion. Inside the house, Charlie thinks he's given Clint the slip but the older Lamprou stealthily grabs him from behind and locks him in Duquieu's sleeping cage, to be dealt with later. [We learn that Clinton kept the lock after Duquieu's death, which explains why Jared has been sleeping in a cave--he wasn't safe in the mansion.]
Ch. 54 Sam and Swen, hiding in the mansion, jump on Clint, throw his wooden swords across the room, and try to remove his steel vest so they can shoot him with arrows. Clint breaks free and recovers the swords, only to realize that the spot where they're lying is a trap. A heavy net drops on him, equipped with spikes that pierce his arm and leg. A gloating Jared appears, disfigured and bleeding from the explosion and fire, and tells Sam and Swen to drag Clint under a chandelier. The lamp contains another of Duquieu's death traps: a steel-penetrating, catapult-driven spike. As Sam and Swen struggle to pull the net into position, Clint accuses Jared of killing Sugie and Coley. Jared braggingly owns up to both murders, saying he'd been planning to kill Coley since he discovered Duquieu's mark on Clint's head. Ultimately Clint is saved by Jared's vanity and sadism: instead of launching the catapult immediately, he orders Sam and Swen to remove Clint's vest so Clint will be "chopped up and scattered all over the floor." Just then, the sound of an angry mob can be heard outside the mansion: the entire village has come up the mountain to deal with Jared. Swen lets go of the net, and Clint rolls to one side as Jared launches the catapult. The spike misses Clint. The townspeople enter the mansion armed with wooden swords, bows, and clubs, and immediately kill Sam and Swen. Forcing Clint to watch, they pull the spike from the floor, reload the catapult, lay Jared out beneath it, and kill him. Clint pleads with the townspeople to kill him and Charlie and "rid yourselves of the Lamprou curse forever." Sid says no: "With you blessin' the fields with your presence in this house, we'll go on thrivin' like our pappies done for centuries." Clint says he won't do it, and Sid says "Sure you will, sir, after you're all healed of your wounds." July West adds: "And after you see who we have waitin' for you."
Ch. 55 Clint sits astride Baron, outside the mansion. Sid leads Portia from the crowd, saying that the townspeople had to choose between saving her and saving Coley ("because Jared wouldn't stand for both women disappearin'"). As Clint lifts the "trembling but willing" Portia into the saddle, he says, "You saved the right one." Sid says: "She don't know but half of what's goin' on. I reckon you'll fill her in." July West lifts the tarp from a covered object on the ground, revealing a crate full of newly-collected blood, and asks if he can put it in the mansion's refrigerator for Clint. Last paragraph of the book:
"Clinton thought of Duquieu, remembered his comments about how longevity affected good intentions. He wanted to say no in a loud voice. No to everything. The sight of the crate made his stomach lurch. 'Yes,' he said."
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Ch. 54 Sam and Swen, hiding in the mansion, jump on Clint, throw his wooden swords across the room, and try to remove his steel vest so they can shoot him with arrows. Clint breaks free and recovers the swords, only to realize that the spot where they're lying is a trap. A heavy net drops on him, equipped with spikes that pierce his arm and leg. A gloating Jared appears, disfigured and bleeding from the explosion and fire, and tells Sam and Swen to drag Clint under a chandelier. The lamp contains another of Duquieu's death traps: a steel-penetrating, catapult-driven spike. As Sam and Swen struggle to pull the net into position, Clint accuses Jared of killing Sugie and Coley. Jared braggingly owns up to both murders, saying he'd been planning to kill Coley since he discovered Duquieu's mark on Clint's head. Ultimately Clint is saved by Jared's vanity and sadism: instead of launching the catapult immediately, he orders Sam and Swen to remove Clint's vest so Clint will be "chopped up and scattered all over the floor." Just then, the sound of an angry mob can be heard outside the mansion: the entire village has come up the mountain to deal with Jared. Swen lets go of the net, and Clint rolls to one side as Jared launches the catapult. The spike misses Clint. The townspeople enter the mansion armed with wooden swords, bows, and clubs, and immediately kill Sam and Swen. Forcing Clint to watch, they pull the spike from the floor, reload the catapult, lay Jared out beneath it, and kill him. Clint pleads with the townspeople to kill him and Charlie and "rid yourselves of the Lamprou curse forever." Sid says no: "With you blessin' the fields with your presence in this house, we'll go on thrivin' like our pappies done for centuries." Clint says he won't do it, and Sid says "Sure you will, sir, after you're all healed of your wounds." July West adds: "And after you see who we have waitin' for you."
Ch. 55 Clint sits astride Baron, outside the mansion. Sid leads Portia from the crowd, saying that the townspeople had to choose between saving her and saving Coley ("because Jared wouldn't stand for both women disappearin'"). As Clint lifts the "trembling but willing" Portia into the saddle, he says, "You saved the right one." Sid says: "She don't know but half of what's goin' on. I reckon you'll fill her in." July West lifts the tarp from a covered object on the ground, revealing a crate full of newly-collected blood, and asks if he can put it in the mansion's refrigerator for Clint. Last paragraph of the book:
"Clinton thought of Duquieu, remembered his comments about how longevity affected good intentions. He wanted to say no in a loud voice. No to everything. The sight of the crate made his stomach lurch. 'Yes,' he said."
- tom moody 5-26-2002 10:22 pm