ough the body of the man remained. Years later Milkman journeyed to the cave and did not find bones of any kind. Upon further investigation, Milkman discovered from an old lady in the area, Circe, that his grandfather's body had resurfaced after being buried in a shallow grave along a river and had been thrown into the cave by hunters. The reader also learns that Pilate had returned to the cave to collect the bones of the dead man.These events can be interpreted in various ways. A feasible interpretation of this event is that Macon did not actually kill the "white" man. The man that he supposedly killed was an illusion. The way that he acted toward the man suggests that Macon was still extremely bitter over his father's death, and wanted to avenge his father's murder. The fact that Macon was chased off by hunters, and Circe's information regarding the location of his father's body implies that Macon father's body was dumped into the cave by the hunters the day after Macon's "murder." Upon Macon's return to the cave a few days later, the body he saw was that of his father. The fact that the gold and the tarpaulin were mysteriously missing also backs up the probability of it all being an illusion. Because of this, when Pilate returned to the cave years later, the bones she collected were actually her father's bones. Based on this evidence, Macon did not kill the "white" man. ...
