Towards the end of the operation Nick's father puts something into the basin. What do you think it could have been?

The thing that Nick's father puts in the basin is the placenta. The placenta is an organ that feeds the baby in the womb, and is usually delivered after the baby is born. The fact that Hemingway doesn't say what it is that goes in the basin says a lot about he storytelling style. Although told from a third person point of view, much of what happens in the story is seen through Nick's eyes....

The thing that Nick's father puts in the basin is the placenta. The placenta is an organ that feeds the baby in the womb, and is usually delivered after the baby is born. The fact that Hemingway doesn't say what it is that goes in the basin says a lot about he storytelling style. Although told from a third person point of view, much of what happens in the story is seen through Nick's eyes. Nick, of course, does not understand everything that is going on; he wants to help his father, and be brave, but really he is not fully prepared for the scene he witnesses at the Indian camp. Because the reader understands things the way Nick does, much of the significance of what happens is left unsaid, and our job as readers is to figure it out. The "something" Nick's father puts into the basin is only one of many mysteries Nick and the reader can try to solve.