Part 10 of Blood Merid­i­an details the con­tin­ued jour­ney of Glan­ton and his group as they make their way through the unfor­giv­ing ter­rain of the moun­tains. The harsh land­scape is unfor­giv­ing as they gath­er around fires made from high­land drift­wood, seek­ing shel­ter from the cold of the vast wilder­ness. The kid, seat­ed cross-legged, repairs his gear with a bor­rowed awl from Tobin, the expriest. Tobin, who notices the kid’s apti­tude for such tasks, points out that while the kid may lack the world­ly expe­ri­ence of oth­ers, his nat­ur­al tal­ent shines through in moments like these. Their con­ver­sa­tion shifts to the enig­mat­ic fig­ure of the judge, a man who com­mands both admi­ra­tion and wari­ness from the group. The judge is por­trayed as a man of great intel­lect, capa­ble of flu­ent­ly speak­ing Dutch and pos­sess­ing numer­ous oth­er tal­ents, which Tobin attrib­ut­es to divine gifts. He remarks that such bless­ings are not even­ly giv­en to men, empha­siz­ing the judge’s unique qual­i­ties and set­ting the tone for the com­plex­i­ties sur­round­ing his role with­in the group.

As the men con­tin­ue their work, Tobin delves deep­er into the nature of the judge, con­tem­plat­ing whether his numer­ous abil­i­ties are the result of some divine call­ing. He sug­gests that even the small­est crea­ture can serve as a ves­sel for God’s voice, though the kid is skep­ti­cal, stat­ing that he has nev­er heard such a voice him­self. Tobin, how­ev­er, remains con­vinced, assert­ing that when God’s voice ceas­es, it will be unmis­tak­able to all. Their con­ver­sa­tion reveals a clear con­trast between Tobin’s faith and the kid’s prag­ma­tism. While Tobin sees a divine pur­pose in their actions and their sur­vival, the kid views these moments through a lens of skep­ti­cism. The kid’s doubts high­light the rift in their under­stand­ing of the super­nat­ur­al and their strug­gle to make sense of the inex­plic­a­ble forces that gov­ern their world.

In the midst of this dia­logue, Tobin recalls a piv­otal moment when the judge’s unex­pect­ed resource­ful­ness proved essen­tial to their sur­vival. In an envi­ron­ment where every day seemed to bring them clos­er to death, the judge pro­vid­ed hope when it seemed all but lost. When the group was on the brink of despair, the judge appeared with sup­plies, offer­ing guns and ammu­ni­tion that proved cru­cial to their con­tin­ued sur­vival. Tobin describes how the judge metic­u­lous­ly col­lect­ed the ingre­di­ents for gun­pow­der, demon­strat­ing his intel­lec­tu­al prowess and unre­lent­ing deter­mi­na­tion to keep the group alive. As they nav­i­gat­ed through hos­tile ter­rain, with Apache war­riors clos­ing in on them, the judge’s abil­i­ty to turn a des­per­ate sit­u­a­tion into a vic­to­ry became evi­dent. By mak­ing their own gun­pow­der and weapons, the group was able to launch an ambush, using their resource­ful­ness to over­come the threat. This inci­dent high­light­ed the judge’s crit­i­cal role in the sur­vival of the group, rein­forc­ing his sta­tus as both a pro­tec­tor and a manip­u­la­tor.

This moment, one of many, under­scores the grow­ing sig­nif­i­cance of the judge in the unfold­ing nar­ra­tive. His actions, marked by resource­ful­ness and intel­lect, set him apart as a cen­tral fig­ure in the group’s dynam­ics. The judge’s influ­ence, how­ev­er, is not with­out its com­plex­i­ties. As the group pro­gress­es, they are forced to con­front the true nature of the judge’s moti­va­tions and pow­er. The bru­tal­i­ty of their jour­ney con­tin­ues, and with each step, the group becomes more entwined with the judge’s pres­ence, unsure of whether to admire or fear him. The line between rev­er­ence and fear becomes increas­ing­ly blurred, as the judge’s grow­ing author­i­ty over their lives shapes the course of their jour­ney. His abil­i­ty to con­trol the group’s des­tiny and manip­u­late their actions speaks to a deep­er, dark­er influ­ence, one that leaves them ques­tion­ing their own roles in this vio­lent, chaot­ic world. The judge’s pres­ence becomes an unde­ni­able force, one that can­not be ignored or eas­i­ly under­stood, leav­ing the group to grap­ple with the moral ambi­gu­i­ty of their sit­u­a­tion.