In this chapter, the reader is introduced to the "red-headed" Ulysses, who is now the main character of the story. He is a young man who has come to live in Barzesa with his "true" ancestor, the red-headed Octavius, and his friend, Octavius's cat, Ulysses. The two men are swimming in the river below the house when Ulysses notices that they are not breathing. He immediately realizes that they have drowned, and he rushes to help them.