Once darkness falls, the Duchess and Mother Shipton quietly watch Tom and Piney share a sweet kiss before parting for bed. Everyone gathers around the fire, and for the first time, the outcasts speak pleasantly to each other. He returns as the sky becomes gray and the air turns colder. Oakhurst,” claiming that Piney can stay with her in the log house, prompting uncontrollable laughter and inappropriate language from Uncle Billy, who removes himself from the group. Additionally, he has an extra mule loaded with supplies. Though Oakhurst urges him to continue toward town, Tom intends to set up camp with the outcasts, and he is confident they have all they need to survive-nearby, he’s discovered an abandoned log house that’s already been broken into, so they can seek shelter there. Tom tells the group that not only is he heading to Poker Flat to “seek his fortune” (Paragraph 12), but he also plans to elope with his beloved Piney Woods, also with him, despite her father’s objections. Tom has admired Oakhurst ever since Oakhurst returned the money he won from Tom over a “little game” (Paragraph 11), after which he told Tom never to gamble again since he has no talent for it. Tom Simson, the “Innocent” of Sandy Bar, sees Oakhurst and immediately greets him with excitement. Yet he could not help feeling the want of that excitement which was most conducive to that calm equanimity for which he was notorious” (Paragraph 10).Īs the outcasts continue to rest, another person arrives on the trail. For the first time, he realizes that his way of life has brought him immense loneliness, and he can’t even bring himself to feel annoyed by the others: “The thought of deserting his weaker and more pitiable companions never perhaps occurred to him.

Oakhurst knows that drinking is unconducive to his way of life as a gambler he must always keep his focus unhindered.

Oakhurst is a non-drinker, and he placidly watches as Uncle Billy’s behavior switches from combative to lethargic, the Duchess acts increasingly sentimental, and Mother Shipton falls asleep. He pleads with the others to keep traveling, but instead, they get drunk. Oakhurst does not want to stop here because he knows they have not even made it to the halfway point to Sandy Bar additionally, the party’s provisions are too meager to accommodate such delays in travel. After only a few hours traveling a difficult trail, the Duchess claims she cannot ride anymore and dismounts her horse. The journey includes leaving the “moist, temperate regions of the foothills into the dry, cold bracing air of the Sierras” (Paragraph 8). It was distant a day’s severe travel” (Paragraph 8). To reach Sandy Bar, their place of exile, the travelers must cross “a steep mountain range.

The outcasts of poker flat answer key