A Week in the Woods

After checking in with another teacher, who makes a comment about Mark’s wealth and her assumption that he doesn’t understand what “no” means, Mr. Maxwell questions whether he is being harder on Mark than he would another child. He wonders if he should give Mark a second chance and thinks about how enthusiastic Mark was to join in the scavenger hunt. He tells himself that Mark needs to learn a lesson about rules and goes to phone Mark’s parents. There, he sees the ranger and complains about Mark being a “smart-mouth rich kid” (131) who doesn’t believe the rules apply to him. When Mr. Maxwell shows the ranger the blade, the ranger questions Mr. Maxwell’s decision, believing it to be more of a tool that was likely brought for innocent purposes. He offers to talk to Mark directly and use his authority to get Mark to listen. Mr. Maxwell declines, and as he’s on the phone trying to reach Mark’s parents, the ranger notices Jason’s name on the tool. He points it out to Mr. Maxwell, who suddenly feels ashamed and humiliated. He decides to apologize and compliment Mark on his loyalty to his friend, but he can’t find Mark.

Mr. Maxwell begins to panic when he realizes that Mark is missing. He asks the ranger to give him a few minutes to find him before making any calls, and the ranger reluctantly agrees. Mr. Maxwell asks everyone in camp if they have seen Mark, and Mrs. Leghorn explains that she saw him walking up the trail. Relieved that Mark didn’t head for the highway, Mr. Maxwell thanks her and runs up the trail to find Mark. Meanwhile, Mark is hiking up the trail with a feeling of resentment toward Mr. Maxwell and toward his own current position as the target of the teacher’s misplaced bias. Mark worries about what his parents will think, imagining that being kicked out of the camping trip will affect his future. However, he also feels wronged by Mr. Maxwell and wants to make him work to make things right. Thus, Mark continues up toward Barker Falls.

Mr. Maxwell jogs up the path, careful not to break a sweat as the temperature starts to drop. He tracks Mark’s footsteps through the snow and expects to find him soon, but Mark is nowhere to be found. At the same time, Mark starts to think about the possibility of worrying his parents or ruining the camping trip for his peers and decides to head back down the mountain. He looks at his map and takes a trail that takes a longer route, looping up and then back down the mountain. Mr. Maxwell comes up behind him soon afterward and is dismayed to realize that Mark has chosen a dangerous, closed-off trail that has suffered a great deal of erosion and overuse. Mr. Maxwell also knows that time is running out because darkness will soon fall. His panic intensifies.

Mark heads down the looped trail and listens to the various sounds that the trees make: waves, tapping, rustling, swaying. Thick clouds in the sky accelerate nightfall, and Mark trudges down the trail until he comes to a portion that has been overtaken by large boulders. Knowing how difficult it would be to clear the obstacle, Mark checks his map and compass and decides to cut through the forest to another part of the trail. In doing so, he quickly loses energy as he climbs and dodges other unexpected obstacles. Mark’s inexperience leads him to make several mistakes: taking a closed trail, trying to cut through the forest, and becoming lost. Mark decides to retrace his steps and hears Mr. Maxwell’s distant voice calling his name. He suddenly becomes filled with anger and impulsively bolts in the other direction. As Mark runs, he quickly grows tired and eventually falls, bruising his hands. He realizes he must face Mr. Maxwell at some point, so he starts calling for him, but the wind and trees mute his voice. Mark remembers that he has a whistle (thanks to a tip from Mr. Survival) and starts blowing it, hoping that Mr. Maxwell will hear him. After trying several times and hearing nothing back, Mark decides to return to the spot he last heard his teacher, but he forgets to check his compass.

Mark finally realizes that he should have checked his compass and is horrified to discover that he has been going the wrong way. He sits down to figure out where he is and decide which way to go. He also resumes calling for Mr. Maxwell. As darkness falls on the mountainside, Mark pulls out his flashlight, once again grateful for Mr. Survival’s advice, and heads in the direction he hopes will lead him back to the trail. He hates to admit it to himself, but deep down he knows that he is lost. He wonders if Mr. Maxwell will be able to find him tonight at all.

Mark decides that he has no choice but to camp out for the night and wants to make the most of it. He finds a slab of rock next to a granite wall and clears it off, then builds materials for a fire and sets up his sleeping bag. Because he brought his fire starter and hacksaw, he is able to quickly make a fire after collecting some twigs and small logs. It is Mark’s very first fire: a proud moment for him. He manages to fall asleep but awakens in the middle of the night to the sound of his extra blanket rustling in the wind. Suddenly, he hears a loud thrashing noise coming toward him. Thinking of black bears, he grabs a club, but the commotion turns out to be Mr. Maxwell, who is in desperate need of Mark’s help.