Named right

In Short

This story follows Rutter, a veteran airmail pilot who prides himself on his professionalism, as he replaces a younger colleague on a treacherous morning flight. When his plane goes down in the high Sierras, he hires a local Indian named John to lead him to civilization. What follows is a humorous and humbling journey through the wilderness. Rutter expects a quick exit, but he finds himself being led on a week-long, wandering path, eventually realizing that the man he thought was a simple, lost guide has been playing him all along.

The Story

Rutter is a workhorse pilot on the San Francisco-Reno mail route, deeply cynical about his colleague, Page, a newcomer who frequently crashes and lands on the front pages of newspapers. Rutter views this publicity-seeking as "grandstand stuff" and secretly longs for a chance to win similar fame to quit the service. His opportunity arrives when Page calls in sick, and Rutter is forced to take the mail through a violent, cloud-filled Sierra storm.

The flight becomes a nightmare of lost visibility. After an accidental loop leaves his plane inverted, Rutter barely recovers before crashing into a small, remote clearing. He survives, secures the mail, and meets an Indian named John, whom he hires to lead him to the nearest railroad. Rutter assumes the trip will be short, but John immediately begins an erratic, slow-moving trek through the wilderness.

As the days pass, Rutter becomes increasingly obsessed with the fame he believes he is earning. He imagines the headlines, the hero’s welcome, and the envy his rival, Page, will feel when he learns that a "real" pilot has been missing for a week. He spends the trek keeping a tally of the money he is paying John, convinced he is being guided by a bungling, lost man. Every day, they see search planes, but Rutter is never found. He continues to pay John five dollars a day, believing he is buying the services of a guide who simply cannot find the trail.

After seven days of grueling, meandering hiking, they finally arrive at the town of Truckee. Rutter discovers that he has been the butt of a quiet, extended joke. He learns that the local postmaster knows John well—and that John is an expert tracker who has been leading him along his own long-distance trapline. The crash site was only two miles from town. While Rutter was daydreaming about being a legendary lost aviator, John was simply tending to his business. Rutter’s final realization is a crushing blow to his ego: he has been the "biggest jackass of them all," paying a local expert to drag him through the woods while the rest of the world has already moved on from his disappearance.

How It Unfolds

The rivalry begins Rutter expresses his resentment toward Page, a fellow pilot who exploits crash landings to garner national media attention. Rutter views his own perfect record as a source of pride, yet he deeply envies the financial windfall Page receives from his public "heroics."

The forced flight When Page calls in sick on a morning with impossible weather, Rutter is pressured into taking the route. He resents being the "willing worker" who fills in for an effeminate, pampered newcomer while the weather turns lethal.

The crash Unable to navigate the mountain range through a dense, double-layered cloud bank, Rutter loses control of his aircraft. He survives the subsequent crash, finding himself stranded in a small clearing with his mail bags and an enigmatic Indian guide.

The long trail Rutter and John set off for the railroad, but John constantly claims the trail is "lost." Rutter pays the man five dollars a day to wander through the mountains, all while fantasizing about the fame his disappearance is purportedly generating.

The arrival After a week of trekking, the pair emerges in Truckee, only two miles from the site of the crash. Rutter realizes that John is a seasoned outdoorsman who never lost the trail, and that the entire expedition was a slow, expensive detour.

The People

Rutter is a veteran pilot defined by his "stout heart" and his cynical, world-weary professionalism. He wants to be recognized as a hero, but his pride makes him easy to manipulate. Throughout the journey, his obsession with his own reputation prevents him from seeing the reality of his situation.

John is a stoic, shrewd guide who serves as the story’s silent engine. He wants to earn his fee while tending to his long-distance trapline, and he possesses a dry, subtle sense of humor. He uses Rutter’s own arrogance to keep him occupied and paying for an entire week, all while maintaining a mask of incompetence.

Page is the catalyst for the conflict. He is the pampered, publicity-hungry foil to Rutter’s blue-collar stoicism. While he barely appears on the page, his shadow looms over Rutter, representing the kind of fame that Rutter feels he deserves but cannot quite grasp.

In Its Own Voice

“Page,” Rutter said to Miller, “is surer’n hell named right.”

Rutter observes that his rival's habit of ending up in the news is perfectly suited to his surname.

“Not so good; and it grew worse rapidly.”

Rutter experiences the exact moment his luck turns while flying through a closing pocket of sky above the Sierras.

“Get over! Make room for the biggest jackass of them all!”

Having finally grasped that he was led on a week-long, unnecessary trek, Rutter acknowledges his own folly at the journey's end.

What It's Really About

The book is a sharp meditation on the absurdity of ego and the hollow nature of celebrity. Rutter’s desire for "front page" fame is depicted as a pathetic vulnerability, one that the wilderness and the guide exploit with ease. The story argues that true competence—like that of the Indian—is quiet, practical, and disinterested in the performative heroics of the modern world. Rutter’s tragedy is not that he crashed, but that he spent his time in the wilderness auditioning for a public persona that ultimately did not exist, highlighting the disconnect between the grueling reality of work and the superficiality of news.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy character-driven stories with a heavy dose of irony will find this tale particularly satisfying. The writing captures the rugged, unpolished grit of early aviation, where the pilots were just as likely to be fighting with their own vanity as they were with the elements. The tone is dry and unsentimental, making the final realization all the more biting.

However, modern readers should be prepared for the period-specific, patronizing language used toward the Native American character. John is depicted through the lens of early-20th-century stereotypes, which may feel jarring or offensive to contemporary sensibilities. If you can navigate these outdated attitudes, you will find a story that remains a masterclass in the "slow-burn" humiliation of a self-important protagonist. What stays with you is the image of the two mules walking toward Truckee, and the sudden, freezing clarity of a man who realizes he has paid a high price for a week of wandering in circles. It is a brisk, confident piece of storytelling that rewards those who appreciate a protagonist who finally sees himself for exactly what he is.