Fahrenheit 451 Chapter 3 (pages 107-158) Summary
by Ray Bradbury

Burning Bright

Beatty admits to sending the Hound to Montag's house, as well as to having a file on Clarisse. Mildred flees the house before it is burned, and Montag realizes she turned him in after she retrieved the books from the bushes. Beatty insists Montag burn down his own house with a flamethrower. Montag again feels the pleasure of burning as he destroys the books and his house. While being placed under arrest, Montag learns Mildred's friends also called in the alarm.

Beatty strikes Montag on the head and knocks the radio out of his ear. When Beatty threatens to trace the signal and "drop in" on Faber, Montag turns the flamethrower on him. The Mechanical Hound appears and Montag destroys that too, but not before it injects a small amount of procaine into his leg, anesthetizing it. Montag flees.

While fleeing, Montag realizes Beatty wanted to die. He retrieves four books Mildred missed from his hiding spot and decides to flee to Faber's home. On the way, he is nearly killed in the street by a speeding "carful of children" (122). Before he reaches Faber's home, Montag plants a book in the kitchen of Mr. and Mrs. Blacks' house (remember Stone was a fellow fireman).

Montag reaches Faber and gives him some money for the printer, who lives in another town—a fact that will save Faber from being destroyed with the cities because he's travelling between them when the bombs hit. The two men learn another Mechanical Hound is tracking Montag. He flees Faber's house and barely escapes into the river, losing the Mechanical Hound in the process.

Far down the river and along the railroad tracks, Montag meets Granger and the other intellectual exiles. Montag learns the media has faked his execution by the Hound. Montag then learns about a network of people who have memorized different literary works (which includes him). A day later, bombers destroy the city. The novel ends with a speech from Granger and the exiles heading toward the city, Montag in the lead. The last few lines depict Montag remembering verses from the Bible to share with the others.