In an example of foreshadowing, the Swede predicts early on in the story that he will die, as seen in the following passage:
“Gentlemen,” he quavered, “I suppose I am going to be killed before I can leave this house! I suppose I am going to be killed before I can leave this house!” In his eyes was the dying-swan look. Through the windows could be seen the snow turning blue in the shadow of dusk. The wind tore at the house, and some loose thing beat regularly against the clapboards like a spirit tapping.
Though the Swede does not, in fact, die “before [he] can leave this house,” he does die before the night is through. After beating the hotel owner’s son, Johnnie, in a fight over cards, the Swede flees from the hotel and ends up at a saloon, where a gambler stabs him to death.
The imagery in this passage also contributes to an eerie and unsettling mood, indirectly foreshadowing the Swede’s death. The “dying-swan” look in the Swede’s eyes, combined with the way “the wind tore at the house […] like a spirit tapping” encourages readers to sense that death is, indeed, coming for the man. While the Swede misjudges the location of his death—believing the guests and staff at the hotel will be much more violent than they are—he accurately intuits that his time is near.
