"Hatchet," Vocabulary from Chapters 1-4

There had been the initial excitement, of course.

He had never flown in a single engine plane before and to be sitting in the copilot’s seat with all the controls right there in front of him, all the instruments in his face as the plane clawed for altitude, jerking and sliding on the wind currents as the pilot took off, had been interesting and exciting.

But in five minutes they had leveled off at six thousand feet and headed northwest and from then on the pilot had been silent, staring out the front, and the drone of the engine had been all that was left.

On the dashboard in front of him Brian saw the dials, switches, meters, knobs, levers, cranks, lights, handles that were wiggling and flickering, all indicating nothing that he understood and the pilot seemed the same way.

He leaned over and lifted the headset off his right ear and put it on his temple, yelling to overcome the sound of the engine.

The plane slewed suddenly to the right.

But the pilot had put his headset back on and the gratitude was lost in the engine noise and things went back to Brian looking out the window at the ocean of trees and lakes.

Now the plane lurched slighdy to the right and Brian looked at the pilot He was rubbing his shoulder again and there was the sudden smell of body gas in the plane.

He was working in the oil fields of Canada, up on the tree line where the tundra started and the forests ended.

Now there was a constant odor, and Brian took another look at the pilot, found him rubbing the shoulder and down the arm now, the left arm, letting go more gas and wincing.

Now there was a constant odor, and Brian took another look at the pilot, found him rubbing the shoulder and down the arm now, the left arm, letting go more gas and wincing.

The head was in a stout leather case that had a brass-riveted belt loop.