Three Day Road: Nipahiwewin: Murder Summary & Analysis

Elijah’s mother “died of a coughing sickness” when Elijah was just a child, and he met Xavier not long after. The memories of Xavier and Niska in the bush “glow inside” Elijah on the front lines, and even he begins to miss home. Elijah says they will make him “a chief” when he gets back to Canada. Xavier is “not meant for war like Elijah is.” He wants to be back in the bush, “not crawling through mud in search of men.”

Elijah and Xavier’s unit are sent to a place called Amiens and there is talk that the French army will be there. Elijah wonders if he will see Francis. The next day, they go out to “no man’s land,” and Elijah and Xavier can see that the Germans are skinny and tired. By that night, the Canadian army has advanced ten miles past the German lines. In the confusion of the fighting, Xavier loses sight of Elijah. 

Two days later, Elijah comes back as if he hadn’t been gone. “We were beginning to assume you were dead, Whiskeyjack,” a soldier says. “Me dead?” Elijah says. “Never.” A new officer, Colquhoun, has been sent to take McCaan’s place, and he is not so fond of Elijah. “You were absent without leave for two days, soldier,” Colquhoun says. “I will have you put up on charges unless you have a very explanation for your disappearance.” “I was out killing Fritz,” Elijah says. “Just because you have been awarded citations does not mean you have immunity under my command!” Colquhoun yells.

The next day, Elijah finds a good nest up on a ridge and looks through his scope. By his tenth shot, he begins to feel “badly.” The killing is “too easy.” With no one to see, Elijah continues his “killing spree.” He kills 20 men in an hour, bringing his total to 356. Elijah reaches into his bag for a bit of morphine but finds none. He goes in search of a medic.

At the front line, Xavier and Elijah are told to report to Breech’s dugout. When they arrive, Grey Eyes is sitting with his head down. “This private brings some serious charges against you and Private Bird, Corporal,” Breech says to Elijah. “Among other things, he claims you are an addict of the morphine and that you have been committing atrocities on the battlefield. […] And what of this claim that you scalp your enemies like your heathen ancestors?”

“He acts out of jealousy and fear,” Elijah says to Breech of Grey Eyes. “And jealousy is what prompts you to threaten to court-martial me for doing my job too well.” Elijah slowly opens the snaps on the holster of his revolver. “We’ll have none of this, now stand down, Corporal,” Breech says. Elijah feels pain in his head like in the airplane, and his “rage” grows. He points the revolver at Grey Eyes. Suddenly, “the air is sucked out of the dugout” and “the world goes black.”

When Xavier wakes, Elijah is standing over Grey Eyes with a large piece of wood. “Mo-na!” Xavier yells as Elijah brings the wood down on Grey Eyes’s head. “We’ve got to get the lieutenant to a medic,” Xavier says looking at Breech’s body nearby. “Are you kidding?” Elijah asks. “The little prick knows everything.” Elijah stands over Breech and clubs him in the head with the wood. “Providence,” Elijah says. “And the pain in my head. All gone.”

Xavier crawls out of the dugout and Elijah follows. “We had to do it,” Elijah says. “Don’t you see that we are free of it all now? We have no more worries.” In the coming days, a new lieutenant is assigned to their unit and he ignores Elijah and Xavier. Elijah tells Xavier a story even though Xavier doesn’t want to listen. He tells him about the nun at the residential school who used to bathe him. She would “rub her soapy hands over him,” and he would “get an erection.” She would “scold him and then take his erection in her hands and rub him until his taut penis thumped against his lower belly in spasm.” Months later, Elijah got the chance to steal her rifle and he ran to the bush to live with Xavier and Niska.