Following the courtroom scene, Snopes loads his family into a wagon, headed for another farm on which to work. That night at a makeshift camp, he calls for Sarty to join him in a walk, and their ensuing conversation elaborates again the theme of family loyalty versus truth and justice. Realizing that Sarty was going to tell the Justice of the Peace the truth about the barn burning, Abner slaps his son in a dispassionate manner much like he earlier whipped the mules that pulled the wagon — "without heat." He warns Sarty about the importance of family and explains that none of the men in the courtroom would have defended him. Fearful of his father's abusive behavior, Sarty knows that it is useless to respond: "If I had said they wanted only truth, justice, he would have hit me again."
The campfire episode is also important because it affords Faulkner the opportunity to explain to us why Snopes burns barns. Faulkner notes that the campfire is small, and he contemplates why Abner, who has such a penchant for fire, doesn't build a larger one. Explaining that an older Sarty might also wonder why, he provides two possible reasons: Because Abner was always hiding from troops during the Civil War, he grew accustomed to building small fires, which would not expose his location; but Faulkner settles on a better explanation, that fire "spoke to some deep mainspring" of Abner's character "as the one weapon for the preservation of integrity . . . and hence to be regarded with respect and used with discretion." The threat of fire is his one and only source of power, to be used selectively and effectively should anyone cross his path and anger him.
