Chap­ter V begins with Gore, strug­gling in the sick bay aboard the Ere­bus, nurs­ing frost­nip while also grap­pling with the psy­cho­log­i­cal and emo­tion­al toll of a recent shoot­ing inci­dent. The cold has rav­aged his body, and the chill­ing effects are made worse by the sense of urgency sur­round­ing the after­math. Stan­ley, the ship’s doc­tor, is vis­i­bly shak­en as he works to tend to Gore’s injuries, clear­ly dis­turbed by the sit­u­a­tion. His move­ments are hur­ried and fran­tic, reflect­ing his anx­i­ety about the sever­i­ty of the injury. Mean­while, Lieu­tenant Le Vescon­te, a man with com­bat expe­ri­ence from the Opi­um War, ques­tions Gore with a steely focus, seek­ing to under­stand the details of the shoot­ing inci­dent. Le Vesconte’s inquiry reveals the crit­i­cal impor­tance of the situation—whether Gore is cer­tain that he shot a man dead. Despite the seri­ous­ness of the mat­ter, Good­sir, the assis­tant sur­geon, remains remark­ably com­posed, offer­ing calm reas­sur­ance to Gore. His com­posed demeanor stands in sharp con­trast to the pal­pa­ble ten­sion around them, rein­forc­ing the bond of trust and friend­ship between him and Gore, despite their dif­fer­ing ranks.

Gore’s mind races as he reflects on the event. At first, he believed he had shot a seal, a sit­u­a­tion that would have been under­stand­able giv­en the cir­cum­stances, but now, as the grav­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion sinks in, he comes to the dis­turb­ing real­iza­tion that he shot a man dead. This real­iza­tion dev­as­tates him, and he instructs Le Vescon­te to send men to the body with tobac­co and steel knives, hop­ing that offer­ing these items might serve as a token of peace and pre­vent fur­ther vio­lence with the Esquimaux. Le Vescon­te, how­ev­er, express­es cau­tion, warn­ing against arm­ing the locals, con­cerned that the sit­u­a­tion could esca­late if they do not approach the mat­ter care­ful­ly. Gore, how­ev­er, per­sists in his deci­sion, con­vinced that the ges­ture is nec­es­sary. At the same time, he faces his own phys­i­cal strug­gles. His feet have swollen from the frost­bite, but he ignores the advice to rest, deter­mined to push on regard­less of the pain. His resilience in the face of both phys­i­cal dis­com­fort and moral com­plex­i­ty high­lights the inner con­flict he is endur­ing. Gore’s deter­mi­na­tion to act on his con­science despite his suf­fer­ing empha­sizes the dif­fi­cult choic­es that must be made in these dire cir­cum­stances.

The weight of Gore’s actions weighs heav­i­ly on him as he pre­pares to put his boots back on. His mind is con­sumed with the mem­o­ry of the shoot­ing, and he express­es deep regret, though it feels hol­low and pow­er­less, as he knows the deed can­not be undone. It is dur­ing this moment of inner tur­moil that Good­sir offers him a qui­et ges­ture of sup­port by squeez­ing his arm. This small, almost unno­ticed act of kind­ness cuts through the ten­sion and pro­vides Gore with a brief moment of com­fort, yet it also prompts deep­er reflec­tion with­in him. Does he seek solace, or is he sim­ply too bur­dened to accept it? As Gore con­tin­ues to wres­tle with his feel­ings of guilt and the weight of his actions, the broad­er emo­tion­al strain of the sit­u­a­tion becomes appar­ent. The chap­ter then moves towards its con­clu­sion, with the atmos­phere aboard the ship becom­ing charged with a grow­ing sense of urgency. The watch reports that a par­ty of Esquimaux has been spot­ted approach­ing, sig­nal­ing the poten­tial for con­fronta­tion or nego­ti­a­tion. This news brings the ten­sion to a boil­ing point, empha­siz­ing the pre­car­i­ous nature of their sit­u­a­tion. The immi­nent arrival of the Esquimaux rais­es the stakes, leav­ing the crew on edge and the pro­tag­o­nist fac­ing the uncer­tain out­come of their inter­ac­tions with the locals. The chap­ter con­cludes with the sense that, even though per­son­al guilt and emo­tion­al strug­gles con­tin­ue to haunt Gore, larg­er, more dan­ger­ous events are on the hori­zon, leav­ing the read­er eager to find out what comes next in this volatile envi­ron­ment.