Narrator and point of view

The short story “Three Shots” by Ernest Hemingway is told by a third-person narrator who only functions as an observer of the events.

The narrator confines himself to the perspective of Nick, the young boy who is camping in the woods with his father and his uncle. The narrator knows what Nick thinks and feels, as suggested in the following examples:

Nick felt if he could only hear a fox bark or an owl or anything he would be all right. He was not afraid of anything definite as yet. But he was getting very afraid. Then suddenly he was afraid of dying. (ll. 17-19)

Last night in the tent he had had the same fear. He never had it except at night. It was more a realization than a fear at first. But it was always on the edge of fear and became fear ...