Chapter summaries The Buffalo Hunter Hunter Stephen Graham Jones

Chapter 6: April 7, 1912 – Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens on Easter Sunday in Miles City, 1912. The congregation buzzes about a dead dog—the sheriff’s dog—that was poisoned after sniffing a corpse left at the latest “hump.” Strychnine dusted on the body, the pastor speculates, was meant to keep scavengers away so the Indians’ message would be found intact. As he prepares to lead worship, Good Stab enters, takes his usual pew, and keeps his dark glasses on. The pastor is unsettled because Good Stab’s story last week ended with his own death. Yet here he is.

After the service, the two share a meal of antelope stew left by parishioner Georgia Klein. Good Stab notes the pastor’s trembling fingers, comparing them to Otter Goes Back’s—a detail from his own youth. The pastor admits his shaking comes from surviving the Civil War and, later, alcohol. Good Stab then announces that the day he is about to recount is the same day two massacres occurred: one on the Bear River (the Marias Massacre led by Major Baker) and another undocumented one near Chief Mountain. The pastor recites the invitation: “I listen with a good heart.”

Key Events

  • The congregation discusses the poisoned dog before the Easter service begins.
  • Good Stab arrives and sits in his usual pew, keeping his dark glasses on.
  • The pastor reflects on the impossibility of Good Stab’s presence after last week’s story ended with his death.
  • After the service, Good Stab and the pastor share stew and bread.
  • Good Stab notices the pastor’s trembling fingers and connects them to Otter Goes Back.
  • The pastor reveals he fought in the Civil War and later struggled with drinking.
  • Good Stab declares that the story for this session covers the same date as two massacres: one on the Bear River and another near Chief Mountain.
  • The pastor formally invites Good Stab to begin his tale.

Character Development

The pastor reveals more of his own history in this chapter: born in 1839, a Civil War veteran, a man who survived “red, frothing waters” and later a bottle. His shame and dependence on sherry to steady his hand underline his frailty and guilt. He sees himself as a recorder of a vanishing culture, yet he also recognizes his own unreliability—he can’t reconcile Good Stab being alive after hearing of his death. Good Stab, meanwhile, shows patience and observation. He speaks of “buffalo” rather than “blackhorn” outside his own tale, and he politely steers the pastor away from tangents. His reference to Otter Goes Back hints at a shared physical tic, deepening the connection between teller and listener.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Preservation vs. extinction: The pastor likens his diary to the Gospels, calling it “The Gospel of Good Stab.” He fears that details of Blackfoot life—like brush around winter lodges—will vanish within a decade.
  • Faith and doubt: The pastor must choose between believing his eyes (Good Stab is alive) and believing Good Stab’s story (he died). This mirrors his role as a man of God wrestling with rational disbelief.
  • Poison as a tool: Strychnine on the corpse keeps scavengers away, allowing the Indians’ message to remain intact. It turns death into a deliberate, preserved communication.
  • The trembling hand: Good Stab’s comment about Otter Goes Back having the same mannerism links the pastor to that dead warrior, suggesting a continuity of trauma or fate.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 6 deepens the frame narrative and establishes a concrete historical backdrop. By setting the next story on the day of the Marias Massacre (January 23, 1870) and an undocumented second massacre near Chief Mountain, the chapter prepares the reader for violence that is both documented and suppressed. The poisoned dog and the congregation’s gossip also ground the supernatural or unverifiable elements of Good Stab’s presence in a gritty, physical world. Finally, the pastor’s admission of his own past—war, alcoholism, guilt—humanizes him as an imperfect witness, making the “Gospel” he transcribes more fragile and more urgent.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. Why does the pastor decide to call his record “The Gospel of Good Stab”?
    He sees his work as preserving a vanishing culture, just as the Gospels preserve Christ’s teachings. The title also hints at the sacred, testimonial weight he assigns to Good Stab’s story, even as he doubts its literal truth.

  2. What does the poisoned dog reveal about the Indians’ methods?
    The strychnine ensures that the body is not disturbed by scavengers, so the display of violence remains intact for the townspeople to find. This turns the corpse into a deliberate, unspoiled message rather than a random killing.

  3. How does Good Stab’s observation about the pastor’s trembling fingers connect to Otter Goes Back?
    Good Stab says Otter Goes Back had the same habit from a raid in his youth, implying a parallel between the pastor’s war trauma and Otter’s violent past. The pastor fears it may also be a portent of his own death.

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