"The captain had drawn his pistol, but did not fire"
Why didn't the captain take the shot and kill Farquhar? He was right there and could have easily hit him and killed him. Was it because he was waiting until his other guards were ready with there muskets? Or didn't have enough strength to pull the trigger?
In Farquhar's mind he desperately wanted to get away and not die. Maybe he imagined the captain not shooting so he could escape.
ReplyDeleteI have wondered about that too Tate. That is a very interesting explanation Misha! That would explain why the guns keep missing him, bullets bounce off of him gently, and why the vortex suddenly pulls him out of range and deposits him nicely out of sight on a beach. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe thing that is weird and why I like looking "deeply" into books is because bullets wont ricochet off water unless shot at an angle so if they were shooting at the edge of a bank or straight down at him then the bullets could have hit him but he was floating down the stream and unless the soldiers were following him along the bank then they would be shooting at angle and from the side which indicates that the bullets would/could ricochet.
ReplyDeleteTate - look at my Line Illuminator "job." I explain that at a certain depth, you can avoid being hit by bullets. Weird, huh? I have some cool videos to show on class about what happens to bullets in water!
ReplyDeleteYeah, when I was reading it I wasn't even focused on the slowing down, I was more startled by the flatness of the bullets. I thought maybe the bullets would slow down, sink, ricochet, etc. but there is no way, that I know of, that they would flatten. Unless they have already hit something very hard, that is.
ReplyDeleteYeah I know how at a certain depth bullets lose velocity so that part makes sense but if he was still at the surface of the river he could have gotten hit
ReplyDeleteIn the book it tells how the bullets hit him but didn't actually do anything. Why is that? Even if the soldiers were far away wouldn't it have still made an effect on him?
ReplyDeleteThat is true. If he was under water a couple feet it could have just bruised him. If they were farther away they would have caused a ballistic trauma which is a bullet insertion. So if no bullet would hurt him then it was Farquhar's imagination that he wouldn't get hurt by a bullet.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he felt compassion for him, because of his family. That was when he was in a delirious state, though. Maybe Farquhar hoped he would have compassion? What do you think?
ReplyDelete