the men in the camp and unlike any other woman they have ever seen. While Wilkie and Buchanan wear suits every day, Pemberton and Serena wear clothing reminiscent of the comfortable, practical clothes worn by the men.

Pemberton explains that Serena’s father owned a lumber company in Colorado and that she’s the equal of any man at the camp, her orders to be followed just as his.

After Pemberton’s speech, one of the men, a bearded fellow named Bilded, spits loudly on the ground. Serena gets off the Arabian, takes a pencil and paper, and walks over to Bilded. She gestures at a cane ash tree near the office that has been left standing for its shade and offers to make a wager with Bilded on the total number of board feet that could be produced from the tree. They agree to a bet of two weeks' pay and each logs their estimate with Campbell, Pemberton’s trusted overseer.

The crews go off to work and Serena follows on her horse. Pemberton reflects that he knows little about his wife, only that she grew up in Colorado and was orphaned at a young age when her entire family succumbed to the flu epidemic.

Pemberton spends the morning in the office, working on invoices and paperwork, while Serena is out with the crews.

Harris the copper magnate joins them for lunch. They discuss the maneuverings surrounding the national park. Harris reports that Albright, the Secretary of the Interior, has secured nearly all the land he needs in Tennessee and is starting to buy land in North Carolina.

Later that afternoon, workers gather in front of the office for the announcement of the winner of Serena and Bilden’s wager. One crew is led by Snipes, a loquacious local with opinions on everything. One member of Snipes’ crew is an illiterate preacher named McIntyre, given to frequent proclamations about the coming apocalypse. McIntyre refers to Serena as “the whore of Babylon,” who he sees as a figure out of the Book of Revelations.

Campbell announces that Serena is the winner of the wager. Buchanan, Wilkie, the Pembertons, and the doctor of the camp, Doctor Cheney, retire to the office to celebrate with fine Scotch. They talk of local culture, the obscure dialect of which Buchanan has made a study, the legendary estate Biltmore, and a local writer named Kephart who is a great champion of the national park movement.

Afterwards Campbell asks Pemberton whether he will hold Bilden to the price of his wager. Pemberton says that yes, Bilden will be forced to work for the next two weeks without pay, after which he will be fired, as a lesson for the men. 

Rachel Harmon, her son Jacob now six months old, approaches the cabin of her only friend, the Widow Jenkins, who lives alone nearby. Rachel wonders if Jacob is teething, but Widow Jenkins says that he’s not nearly old enough to be teething. Widow Jenkins continues to say that if Abe Harmon had married after Rachel’s mother left, as she’d suggested, Rachel would know more about child rearing. Rachel was only five years old when her mother left. Widow Jenkins also says that she thinks a child should have his father’s name, but Rachel disagrees, saying that Harmon is a good enough name for anyone.

Rachel is dropping off Jacob with Widow Jenkins so she can go into Waynesville to buy a tombstone for her father. She’s already sold her horse and cow and will hand them over later in the week. She is having trouble getting by after losing her job in the cafeteria at the lumber camp. As Rachel walks the horse down the road, a car passes, and for a moment Rachel hopes it is Pemberton’s Packard.

Recalling back to the previous August, Rachel remembers how every day at noon she would deliver a meal to Pemberton’s house. Joel Vaughn’s job was to wait outside and make sure they weren’t disturbed. Rachel remembers being amazed at the lavishness of Pemberton’s home, the furniture and décor unlike anything she had ever seen before. Although the other workers at the camp, including Joel and Mr. Campbell, expressed their disapproval of the affair, Rachel wasn’t embarrassed at all. But when her period stopped, she began to worry. By her sixth month, Pemberton had left for Boston, but everyone at the camp could tell by looking at her that she was pregnant.

Arriving in Waynesville, Rachel visits Donaldson’s Feed and Seed, to whom she has sold the horse and cow, to ask for an advance on the money. Donaldson gives her thirty dollars, which Rachel takes to pay the bill at the general store.

Walking through town Rachel runs into Sheriff McDowell. McDowell asks how she and Jacob are doing and offers his help if there is anything Rachel needs. Rachel continues to the shop of Ludlow Surratt, the stone mason. Surratt has made Abe’s tombstone according to Rachel’s specifications, but Rachel is not yet able to pay him his full amount. Rachel offers him the saddle, but Surratt turns her down. Surratt says he will take the saddle and call it even, and then he offers to haul the tombstone up to Rachel’s plot and plant it himself. Rachel thanks Surratt enthusiastically and goes home. 

Over a steak dinner, Pemberton and his partners discuss staff changes. Pemberton wants to promote Galloway, an older worker who’s known for being an expert tracker and woodsman as well as for spending five years in prison for killing two men over a card game, to crew foreman. Buchanan is skeptical, but Wilkie sides with Pemberton.

Doctor Cheney and Serena are also at the meal. Doctor Cheney asks Serena if she plans to spend the summer in Colorado. Serena replies by saying that she hasn’t returned to Colorado since leaving. Wilkie asks her who looks after her family house and estate, but Serena says that before she left she had the house burned and the timber holdings sold.

After dinner Pemberton goes to tell Galloway of his promotion. Galloway lives with his mother, a blind old woman said to have psychic abilities. Galloway’s response to Pemberton’s news is unemotional, and Pemberton wonders whether Galloway already knew of the promotion.

The next day a rattlesnake bites a worker. By the time he’s taken to Doctor Cheney, he’s already dead. That evening Serena asks how many men have been bitten, and Wilkie tells her five already, with one dead and the other four having to be let go. Wilkie comments that the snakes cost them money, not just because of bites but because the men work more slowly out of fear. Serena says that the snakes need to be killed off, and Wilkie says that the problem is that they are almost impossible to see, blending in with the brush. “Better eyes are needed then,” Serena replies.

Winter comes early, with snow littering the forest in October. Snipes’ crew works one of the toughest areas, the side of a mountain heavy with snow. For lunch they gather around a brush fire and talk. McIntyre, the apocalyptic preacher, testifies that the unnatural weather is a sign of the world’s imminent end, but the other men on the crew are doubtful. The conversation shifts to the fight over the national park and the government’s use of eminent domain to remove people from their land to build the park. Kephart and Sheriff McDowell are mentioned as strong adversaries of the park, but many of the men are sure that the Pembertons will be able to bulldoze their competition with money and brute power.

Someone mentions the much rumored presence of a panther among the timber lands. But someone points out that there has hardly been a sign, whether tracks or droppings, in years. Snipes speaks up, going on one of his characteristic speeches. He says that there’s plenty of reason to believe that things exist even if one sees no evidence of them in the world. Love and courage are too examples. And chiggers, one of the other worker adds. Snipes has the final word in the conversation, saying that you can’t see darkness either: “You can’t see it no more than you can see air, but when it’s all around you sure enough know it.” 

One Sunday the Pembertons go on a hunting expedition. For the past month Galloway has been baiting an area near camp, so their prospects for success are good. Buchanan and Joel Vaughn go along as well.

Galloway expects a deer or bear to emerge, but Pemberton wants to kill the panther. As they walk through the forest, Buchanan brings up to Pemberton the fact that the Secretary of the Interior is interested in the land for the national park and wonders why they shouldn’t consider his offer. Serena interjects, but Buchanan raises his hand. Pemberton replies by saying that his opinion is the same as his wife’s.

They come upon some deer and fire away. As the day goes on, the Pembertons and Buchanan kill around a dozen deer. As the day darkens, the hunting dogs begin to bellow. Galloway intuits that they have come upon a bear and that the bear is coming their way. Everyone raises their rifle and waits. A black bear storms into the meadow and comes straight at Pemberton. Pemberton shoots, hitting the beast on the shoulder, doing little to slow its attack. Pemberton shoots again, hitting the bear in the stomach. The bear rises on its hind legs and falls toward Pemberton. As the bear grabs him, Pemberton drops his rifle. But Serena shoots the bear in the head, and the great beast falls away, saving Pemberton’s life. Serena says they should leave the bear’s carcass where it fell as a draw to the panther.

Meanwhile Rachel Harmon struggles to put food on the table for herself and her son Jacob. One of her means of making money is harvesting wild ginseng to sell to the general store in Waynesville. For the third day in a row she had found her hen’s nest empty of eggs, so she suspects that a scavenging animal has been stealing her eggs.

She spends the day walking through the woods, harvesting what plants she can, before going to Widow Jenkins’s house. She gives Widow Jenkins some bloodroot and witch hazel in return for watching Jacob. Rachel reckons that as soon as spring comes, she’ll have to go back to working at the camp. Otherwise they’ll starve. Widow Jenkins doesn’t like the idea, but she realizes that Rachel has few other options and agrees to keep Jacob while Rachel is working.

That evening Rachel finds a guinea’s egg and attaches it to a fish hook and line as a trap for the egg thief. The next morning she finds a raccoon with its mouth stuck on the hook. Although she doesn’t want to kill the animal, she steels herself to do the necessary job. She gets an ax and brings the head down on the raccoon’s skull, killing the animal instantly. 

In December, an eagle Serena ordered arrives in the camp. The bird’s arrival excites rumor in the camp as the workers speculate about the bird’s purpose. To train the eagle, Serena spends two days in its stall, starving the eagle and waiting for the bird to accept food from her hand. She also puts the Arabian in a stall next door so the eagle will get used to the horse’s presence.

After two long days, the eagle begins to eat from Serena’s arm, which is covered in a leather sheath. This is the signal that the eagle has been trained. Serena runs to get Pemberton to show him how the eagle has been trained, but Pemberton is disturbed at Serena’s weakened condition. After two days of not eating or sleeping, Serena is in a delirious, dreamy state. Serena tells Pemberton about the day she burned her family’s house and declares that he is all she ever needs, that their strength and purity is what defines them. Pemberton takes her to the dining hall and feeds her himself, cutting steak and putting it to her mouth. Then he takes her home, bathes her himself, and puts her to bed.

Rachel and Jacob grow sick with a fever. She tries to wait it out, but by the third day they are both severely weakened and palsied. In the middle of the night Rachel wakes up and decides she must get to a doctor or they will both die. With barely enough strength to stand, she walks to Widow Jenkins’s house, but the lights are off. Then Rachel remembers that the Widow is spending New Year's at her sister’s house.

She continues on the road to town. She sees visions, a woman standing in a yard, her mother in a white dress, three dogs snapping and barking over a bloody shirt that appears to be her father’s. Finally she sees the lights of town. She stops at the first house she sees and asks where the doctor lives. The house’s inhabitants recognize her dangerous state instantly and put her right to bed and call for the doctor. Later Rachel wakes up and discovers from the doctor that both she and Jacob will survive. The doctor is shocked that Rachel was able to walk nearly a mile in her condition, carrying her child the whole way. “I just couldn’t find a way to stop myself,” Rachel says.

The winter weather lasts from December deep into May, creating a treacherous environment for work, and several men die from various accidents. The lingering winter becomes an oft-discussed topic among the men, who look for any and all signs of the season’s eventual breaking.

One sign of spring’s impending arrival is when Campbell kills a rattlesnake. When Serena learns of this, she has the rattlesnake collected and orders that every rattlesnake killed in the forest be delivered to her. This sets off another round of speculation as everyone wonders what she is doing with the snakes and the eagle.

In mid-July, with spring in full bloom, Serena rides out to a work site, the eagle perched on her arm. She lets the eagle loose and it flies into the sky. The bird circles a few times and then hangs in the air, dives, and returns with a rattlesnake in its beak. Now everyone realizes what Serena has been after: she’s been training the eagle to kill rattlesnakes. 

By the end of the month, the eagle has killed seven more. During one such kill, the eagle accidentally drops a snake from its clutches. The snake falls into the area worked by Snipes’ crew, who haven’t noticed the bird’s ascent. The dead snake lands on the boot of the apocalyptic preacher McIntyre. McIntyre is disturbed by the shocking gift from the sky and lies on the ground in a stupor. He has to be helped home.

Meanwhile Pemberton learns from Campbell that Rachel Harmon has returned to the camp looking for work. Campbell says that she was a good worker and that they’ll be needing a dishwasher at the end of the month. Pemberton says that he will have to talk to Serena before making the decision on whether to hire Rachel.

Pemberton goes out to where Serena is overseeing a crew. Serena tells him that Albright, the Secretary of the Interior, wants a meeting with them and Harris, the local mineral magnate. Pemberton tells Serena about Rachel’s visit. Serena says that he should hire Rachel but that Rachel should know that she gets paid the same as everyone else, that she still has no claim on them, and that she will not be allowed around food.

Pemberton returns to camp and finds Rachel in the dining hall. He delivers Serena’s ultimatums and says that when he killed Abe, he was only defending himself. Right before Rachel leaves, he asks her the child’s name. Rachel offers Pemberton the chance to see Jacob, but he refuses. 

As summer deepens, the men work faster now that all fears of rattlesnakes have been wiped out because of the eagle’s frequent hunting. As the land is cleared, talk of the panther increases.

During a break from working, Snipes and his crew discuss the impending meeting between Secretary Albright, the Pembertons, and Harris. According to a local newspaper, Albright is planning to force the Pembertons and Harris to sell their land or else face eviction, but Snipes and his men doubt that anyone will be able to stand up to the forceful owners of the Boston Lumber Company.

Scouting for the panther with Galloway, Pemberton stops at the homestead of his adversary, the naturalist Kephart. Kephart is sitting on his front porch with Sheriff McDowell. Pemberton and the men exchange words, and he’s led past by Galloway. They don’t find any signs of the panther, but they do find a large ruby in a creek.

When they get back to camp, a photographer has arrived to take memorial pictures of a sawyer recently killed in an accident. As a church congregation that meets in the camp’s dining hall lets out, Pemberton notices Rachel Harmon and her boy among the churchgoers. The photographer snaps a photo of Jacob as Pemberton looks on. Later Pemberton finds Campbell and tells him to procure a copy of the photograph.

Rachel finds the work at camp exhausting but satisfying. But she’s unable to return to the community she left while having Jacob. The other women shun her as a “whore.” Her old school chum Joel Vaughan, however, is willing to come and sit when she is left alone.  Joel and Rachel talk about how big Jacob is getting, and Joel says that must be a sign that Rachel is a fine mother.

Rachel notes how respected Joel is around camp and speculates that he’ll be an overseer like Campbell in no time. But Joel is hardly pleased by Rachel’s compliment. He says that he’s just biding his time until he finds another job, that he doesn’t like the Pembertons and can’t wait to leave. After Joel leaves, Rachel sees Serena riding past the cafeteria and is awed by her sense of power and beauty. Someone comes and says that Mr. Pemberton wants coffee, and the kitchen manager looks past Rachel and tells another worker to bring it. Rachel notes that it was smart of Serena to keep her away from the food. 

Before a scheduled meeting with the proponents of the national park, Pemberton and his partners are visited by Doctor Cheney and Reverend Bolick, who runs the church at camp. Bolick wants to discuss a possible pay rise for the workers at camp. Pleading to Wilkie specifically, Bolick says that even half a dollar a week would make a huge difference in the lives of his congregation. But the partners are unswayed.

As Serena rides down the hill toward the office, Pemberton calls the men’s attention to his beautiful wife. Wilkie makes a couple of crude remarks about how Serena would have inspired the Greeks and Romans in the creation of their deities, and Bolick leaves the room in disgust.

Arriving twenty minutes late, the principal men behind the proposed national park come to the timber camp for a crucial meeting: Secretary Albright, a lawyer for John D. Rockefeller, the local newspaperman Webb, and the naturalist writer Kephart. Along with Wilkie and Burchana, Harris joins the Pembertons’ side of the negotiating table. Albright offers the Boston Lumber Company $680,000 for the timber tract, an amount buoyed by a donation from the Rockefellers, but the Pembertons maintain a price of $800,000. Serena brings up the fact that a number of wealthy landowners in Tennessee have been allowed to keep their land and wonders why they shouldn’t be treated the same. But Davis, Rockefeller’s lawyer, insists that that deal won’t work in North Carolina.

When the two sides can’t agree, the meeting stalls. Albright expresses nonchalance, noting that they’re visiting a powerful landowner, Colonel Townsend, in Tennessee the next day. He has better quality timber than the Pembertons, and they'll offer him the same price per acre. Serena doubts that Townsend would accept that offer, but Davis says that the deal is nearly done.

After the officials leave, Harris comments that the meeting was a waste of time. Serena notes, though, that they may have just discovered a tract of land to invest in—Colonel Townsend’s.

Harris leaves, and Serena and Pemberton stand on the porch looking out. They comment on the fact that Buchanan seems to have decided in favor of selling to the park and that Wilkie seems to be wavering. Pemberton worries aloud that Buchanan could sway Wilkie against them. Serena recommends that they rid themselves of Buchanan and suggests that Pemberton ask Buchanan to join him on a hunting trip planned for Sunday. Serena offers to “do it,” presumably meaning to kill Buchanan, if Pemberton wants her to, but Pemberton says no, he can do it. “Another time for me then,” Serena says. 

Led by Galloway, the hunting party of Pemberton, Harris, and Buchanan gathers Sunday morning in an orchard. Joel Vaughn has come along to help, too. Galloway has seen fresh deer tracks and allows for the possibility of the panther.

The group rides into the forest. Harris notices a bit of exposed rock and goes to investigate for possible mineral deposits. Pemberton tells Harris that he’s been in touch with Colonel Townsend and that Townsend is as willing to sell to Boston Lumber Company as to Albright. Pemberton also mentions a tract of land in Jackson County, North Carolina that might be worth their investment, but Harris wants to make sure there are mineral deposits in addition to the lumber.

As they ride on, Pemberton talks to Buchanan about his family. He learns that Buchanan has two brothers, one who teaches history at Dartmouth and another who is studying architecture in Scotland. He asks after Buchanan’s father-in-law, and Buchanan is embarrassed to admit that he’s a doctor.

They cross a creek to the homestead and enter an area of orchards. They have yet to see a deer. Pembertons tells Harris to take the upper orchard; he and Buchanan will hunt the lower. A little later, Harris spots a deer and fires. The injured animal moves into Buchanan and Pemberton’s line of sight. Buchanan raises his gun, but Pemberton tells him to save his bullet because the dogs will surely finish off the deer. Buchanan readies his gun, aims, and Pemberton steps up with his gun as well, fires, and shoots Buchanan in the heart.

Vaughn runs after Doctor Cheney even though it is clear that Buchanan is dead. They wrap Buchanan’s body in a blanket, set it on a wagon, and move back to the camp. When they get back to camp, Sheriff McDowell is waiting at the office. McDowell asks who shot Buchanan, and Pemberton speaks up, claiming that Buchanan was supposed to be farther away and that he shot him by accident. McDowell notes that the Buchanan was shot directly in the heart, but Pemberton sticks to his story.

McDowell nods at Serena, who stands on the porch, and observes that she doesn’t appear to be too emotionally wrought over the loss. But Pemberton says it’s not in Serena’s nature to show emotion, and Wilkie agrees that there was no reason for Buchanan to be shot, that it must have been an accident.

McDowell orders an autopsy, and Galloway speaks up, maintaining that it was an accident. Galloway nods at Pemberton and says that the man is not a good enough shot to have killed Buchanan on purpose.

Later, Pemberton meets with Wilkie and makes an offer for the remaining third of the Boston Lumber Company, at half the rate offered by Albright. Wilkie agrees. That night Pemberton and Serena are in their bedroom, and as they get into bed, Serena tells Pemberton that it’s time to make their heir. 

It is Christmas at the camp, and Campbell goes to the general store in town and returns with all manner of gifts for the workers, who are allowed to choose from the generous haul. Some choose hats, some fishhooks, some liquor. Snipes and his crew look on as Rachel Harmon chooses her gifts, and one of the workers notices that Rachel’s chosen gifts are much more practical than last year’s, when she got fancy soap and a hairbow. Vaughn takes Rachel aside and gives her a toy train engine, presumably on special instruction from Pemberton to give the train to Rachel for Jacob.

The next day work resumes as usual. Serena rides out with the workers. Although she is pregnant, no one knows but Pemberton. From Harris Pemberton learns that Webb and Kephart are inquiring about the land in Jackson County as if they’re trying to buy it for the park, even though it is twenty miles from the nearest park land. Campbell has recommended that Townsend’s land in Tennessee is the better buy in terms of lumber. Serena suspects that Kephart and Webb are trying to trick the Boston Lumber Company into buying the less valuable land in Jackson County by faking interest in it.

On the first Sunday after the New Year, the Pembertons travel with Harris to inspect the land in Jackson County. On the way Harris reads aloud from a newspaper column written by Webb describing the pristine tract as a potentially great addition to the park as well as a piece of land much desired by spectators, as it is probably rich in natural resources. Harris supposes that Webb and Kephart have a backer with deep pockets for the land, possibly Cornelia Vanderbilt, who married a man named John Cecil.

On the way to see the land, they run into Webb and Kephart, who are parked in a car on a bridge. Webb says that Kephart is leading him to a waterfall for a photograph to be put in the next day’s newspaper.

They get to the tract of land in Jackson County. The Pembertons and Harris separate to have a look around. Pemberton is impressed by the timber, he says, but Serena still believes that Townsend’s land in Tennessee is a better buy. While they wait for Harris to return, Serena brings up her long-held dream of cutting timber in Brazil. Finally Harris returns, convinced that this land is better than that in Tennessee. He says there are good mineral prospects here in kaolin and copper.

When they return to camp, church is in session at the cafeteria. Serena goes back to rest, and Harris and Pemberton slip into the back of the cafeteria. Immediately Pemberton spies Jacob, sitting in his mother’s lap and holding the toy train engine. Pemberton notices how much the boy has grown in the short time since he last saw him. 

Harris reports that Webb and Kephart, apparently with the backing of the Cecils, have put an offer in on the land in Jackson County. Pemberton says that it is not as good a tract as Townsend’s, but Harris replies that he wants this land. Pemberton asks Harris if he’s not just interested in this land to spite Webb and Kephart, but Harris demurs. He says that although the deal is nearly done, the land’s owner has reached out to him and will sell them the land if they pay a little extra. Pemberton tells Harris that he will talk to Serena and get back in touch with him.

Serena says that they should go forward with purchasing the land but that their lawyer should put in the contract that Harris cannot begin mining operations until all the timber is cut. Serena supposes that Harris has found something in the land that he isn’t telling them about.

As April begins, the workers continue onward, working through the rain and the mud. McIntyre, who was spooked by the rattlesnake dropped by Serena’s eagle, has not returned to work. According to Stewart, McIntyre’s wife is considering taking him for electroshock therapy. The workers in Snipes’ crew are perplexed by this idea, and Snipes explains the difference in good electricity—the kind used in electroshock therapy—and bad electricity, the kind used to electrocute criminals.

That afternoon, Galloway loses his hand when a new worker mishandles an axe. Serena is riding nearby and immediately dismounts from her horse, in the process revealing to all her pregnant condition. Using her horse’s rein, she ties a tourniquet on Galloway’s arm, and the men take him to Doctor Cheney.

After commenting on the impressive tourniquet, Cheney says that Galloway must be taken to the hospital if he is going to survive. Campbell offers to drive him in his car. Galloway says that he will live, that it has been prophesied. As the car drives off, Pemberton sees Galloway’s blind mother, who has walked onto the porch of their cabin, her head turned in the direction of the leaving car.

A week later Galloway returns to camp, ready to work. He knows enough about the Pemberton Lumber Company not to expect any charity. Galloway walks right past his cabin and goes to where Serena is sitting on her Arabian. This is where he stays, following just at the horse’s hindquarters. Later, Serena tells Pemberton that he should be kept on the payroll, even though he’s barely able to do much work with only one hand. Serena says that Galloway is willing to do anything Serena bids him to do. According to Galloway, his mother prophesied a time when he would lose much but be saved. Since her tourniquet saved his life, he’s honor bound to do whatever Serena asks of him. 

Accidents increase as the weather worsens: a log slips free and kills a worker, and later a boom falls into a man’s skull. The workers have different ways of coping with the danger, whether through prayer, whisky, or lucky charms.

One afternoon Snipes’ crew takes a break and discusses the strategies of fatalism and optimism. Snipes supposes that the amount of light one is exposed to has an effect, thus the term “sunny disposition.” Someone brings up McIntyre, who has been let out of the nervous hospital and put on bed rest. Someone remarks on Galloway’s return, and all agree that the man affects a certain ominous quality.

After finishing the conversation, Snipes and two workers, Dunbar and Ross, cross a creek to fell the largest tree in their area. Snipes plans to drop the tree away from where the crew is. A limb breaks from the quaking tree and falls downward straight into Dunbar’s shoulder. Dunbar falls down and dies instantly.

Later at dinner, Doctor Cheney comments that the men are dying at a frightening rate. Serena blames the deaths on the steeper inclines and the increased rain. But as Doctor Cheney observes, the deepening depression takes the pressure off the lumber company as men will travel far and wide just on the rumor of work.

As the door opens for the exiting servants, Galloway is seen waiting just outside the door. Cheney mentions Serena’s growing menagerie: “First an eagle, now a two-legged dog.” 

Cheney and Serena argue over humors, employing archaic medieval terminology such as choleric and phlegmatic. Cheney asks after the origin of Serena’s name, and Serena tells him that she was named before she left her mother’s womb because she kicked so fiercely on the way out. Cheney asks how Serena’s parents knew she would be a girl, and she says that a midwife told them.

Serena is not pleased by Cheney’s jesting. After the doctor leaves to look for leeches and read up on phrenology, Serena asks Pemberton about their real estate deals. Pemberton says that he learned from Harris that Cornelia Vanderbilt and her husband are not the ones backing Webb and Kephart in the bid to buy the Jackson County land.

Serena says that she doesn’t think anyone was backing Webb and Kephart, that it was all a ruse to get Harris interested in the land in Jackson County instead of Townsend’s, a ruse that has worked.

One Sunday Rachel skips church so she can make some much needed repairs on her cabin.  Toward twilight, Widow Jenkins visits her with a supper of bacon, fried okra and hominy. Jenkins compliments Rachel on her work, saying that Abe Harmon couldn’t have done it any better himself.

Jenkins is about to leave, but Rachel asks that she stay and visit a while. Jenkins reports that Joel Vaughn has asked after Rachel, worrying whether Rachel and Jacob are getting enough food. Jenkins adds that Joel is a handsome man and would make a good sweetheart for Rachel. But Rachel says that she doesn’t think Harmons do very well when it comes to love. Jenkins says that Rachel is still young and that she might have a chance to make love work after all.

Then Rachel asks Jenkins about her mother, wondering what happened between her and Abe and why she decided she to leave. Jenkins won’t speak ill of the dead, but she says that Abe did have a temper and he could hold a grudge. But she knows that Abe loved Rachel and says that it would have been wrong to take Rachel away from the mountains. Jenkins says that no other place would feel right for Rachel.

Meanwhile the flood of men arriving at the camp continues unabated. Serena rides out every morning to oversee the crews, Galloway following trustily behind. As they watch Serena ride past, Snipes’ crew discuss the progress of the park. Albright has reached final negotiations for Townsend’s land in Tennessee, Snipes reports as he reads the newspaper. Some are saying that Harris has geologists at work on the land in Jackson County in search of copper.

In the eighth month of her pregnancy, Serena wakes up with a pain in her abdomen. Pemberton gets Doctor Cheney, but Cheney thinks it’s only something that she ate. After examining her, he is sure that she will feel better the next day.

The next morning the Pembertons wake up and there is blood all over the bed. Pemberton wraps Serena in a blanket and carries her out to the train. The train barrels off toward Waynesville. The doctor in town is shocked that Serena was not brought to him sooner and says that she’s lost a lot of blood.

Pemberton has the same blood type as Serena, so the nurse comes and pumps blood from his arm, but he starts to do it himself. Pemberton passes out, and when he wakes up he’s on a gurney. He learns that Serena has survived but that the child has not. Furthermore, the doctor tells him that her cervix is lacerated and she’ll be unable to bear any more children. The doctor also says that if they had gotten there earlier, the child might have been saved.

Pemberton leaves the room and finds Campbell. He asks Campbell where Cheney is, and Campbell tells him that Galloway has also asked about Cheney’s whereabouts. Pemberton goes into Serena’s room, where he finds his wife still unconscious. Pemberton tells Serena the news, and she is resigned. She says that she sensed that something would happen all along, but that she’s satisfied because their blood has merged together, and that’s all they ever hoped for anyway. 

Serena leaves the hospital earlier than either the doctors or Pemberton wants her to. She returns to camp and the workers are struck silent as she passes by on the way to her house. It is early evening, a time in the day usually loud and rambunctious as the workers have just finished dinner, but this night all is hushed out of respect for Serena. Over the next few days, Pemberton takes care of Serena, and Galloway waits all the time just outside the door.

Two weeks later Serena is out of bed and full of talk of buying land for timber in Brazil, a pet dream of hers for some time. She’s in contact with potential investors as far away as Chicago and Canada.

Meanwhile, they are nearly finished cutting timber in the current tract and are able to shift more workers to the land in Jackson County, where Harris continues to have his geologist examine cliffs and creeks for minerals. Serena says Harris is suspiciously tight lipped about what he is after, though.

Back in his office, Pemberton sees the name Jacob written on one of his ledgers and starts thinking about his son. He retrieves the photograph taken of his son Jacob and places it aside a picture of himself as a two year old.

That afternoon Snipes’ crew is at work. A bird passes overhead and the men watch as it passes. One of the workers, Henryson, says that he wishes the bird had dropped some feathers. Since Dunbar’s tragic death, the men have taken to wearing feathers on their heads for luck.

Reading his newspaper, Snipes discusses the recent murder of Doctor Cheney in Asheville. The sheriff in Asheville blames one of the hobos hanging around at the train station and figures he won’t ever catch the perpetrator. But Henryson points out how unusual it is that the hobo didn’t take Cheney’s train ticket or the money that was in his pocket.

As Ross believes, the sheriff in Asheville is probably taking bribes from the Pembertons. Ross observes that the Pembertons are getting bolder, that they didn’t even bother making Cheney’s death look like an accident as they did with Buchanan’s. Everyone seems to think that Galloway is responsible for the murder.

Snipes also reports that Townsend has sold his land to the government for the park. Henryson mentions his brother-in-law, who works as a sawyer for Townsend and who will lose his job with the sale of the land. Snipes says he will put in a good word with Campbell but notes that jobs are hard to come by. 

Told to stay in bed for six weeks, Serena resumes her work riding with the crews after only a month. Galloway continues to follow after her devotedly. The crew work deeper into a valley, where the rains have left slippery, muddy conditions. A sawyer who once worked on the coast notices that the only difference between the land they’re working and a Charleston County swamp is the lack of cottonmouth moccasins, presumably because of Serena’s eagle.

Pemberton checks in with Scruggs, the man who has run the saw mill since Buchanan’s death. He finds Scruggs at the splash pond, supervising workers who are guiding the logs into the timber buggy. The two men jump from log to log, a precarious job made slightly less dangerous by wearing cutter boots with steel points for traction. But one of the men wears no boots. It is Jacob Ballard, the man whose name Pemberton saw in the ledger. Scruggs tells Pemberton that the reason Ballard won’t wear the boots is because he has a sweetheart in town and would rather the spend the money buying presents for her than on protecting himself.

As Pemberton looks on, a tragic accident occurs. Ballard slips on a log and falls through a breech into the pond. Before anyone can get to him, the logs roll over and bar his escape from the depths. The other workers try to pry their way to Ballard, but it is no use. By the time they pull him from the water, Ballard has drowned. Pemberton is shaken by the death. He cannot help but connect Ballard to his own son Jacob.

Back at the office, Pemberton tells Serena that they’re meeting their potential investors at the Cecils’ that weekend. Pemberton adds that, according to Harris, these investors are only interested in domestic lumber, not in Brazil. But Serena is unfazed. “We’ll have to change their minds,” she replies.

Pemberton and Serena also discuss Campbell, who has not shown up for work. Serena says that if he has deserted them, they should send Galloway after him. But Pemberton says that if Campbell wants to work for someone else, they should let him be. He feels sure that Campbell will keep his mouth shut with regard to their various crimes.

Back with Snipes’ crew, Stewart reports that McIntyre, the preacher spooked by the snake, is doing better. Although he stays in bed, he allows himself to be wheeled outdoors. They then pause and notice the Pembertons passing by with Galloway at their heels. They talk about Campbell, who they assume must have grown tired of the Pembertons' malicious ways. Ross figures Serena will give Campbell a day to get away before she sends Galloway after him. 

Dressed up for the first time since his wedding, Pemberton goes with Serena to a party at Biltmore, the Cecils' mansion, where they plan to meet with potential investors. On the way Pemberton mentions that McDowell has been around recently asking the men about Campbell. Serena observes that if he is asking these questions, he must not know much. She asks about Meeks, the new overseer, and Pemberton says he is working out well considering he has only been on the job a week.

John Cecil greets the Pembertons in the entranceway of the great mansion. Women come forward to offer Serena condolences for her lost baby, which makes Serena uncomfortable.

Harris comes up with two men, Lowenstein and Calhoun, whom the Pembertons are hoping to make investors in their lumber company. Calhoun is boisterous and talkative while Lowenstein is quieter and more reticent.

Immediately Serena brings up Brazil, but Calhoun and Lowenstein say that they are more interested in local investments. Calhoun is a little put off by Serena’s brashness, but they agree to meet with the Pembertons the next day to see her financial proposals. Lowenstein says that he can’t see himself investing in Brazil under any circumstances.

Discussing their joint venture in Jackson County, Harris tells Calhoun and Lowenstein how the Pembertons take what is above ground while he takes what is below. Lowenstein asks Harris what minerals he has found in Jackson County. Harris speaks up and tells everyone that he’s found rubies as big as apples.

Serena observes that Harris never told them about the rubies, and Harris agrees. Then Serena mentions that the contract they agreed upon stipulates that Harris cannot begin mining operations until the Pembertons finish cutting the timber.

Harris tries to bargain with the Pembertons, offering them a cut of the mining operation, but Serena says she doubts that it matters, considering that she believes the rubies he found that day they visited the site were planted by Webb and Kephart.

Astonished by Serena’s savvy, Harris says he will definitely buy in to the Pemberton’s lumber concern in Brazil.

Later, the Pembertons speak to Webb and his wife. They argue about the best way to make a mark on the world, whether by preserving the land as it is or by turning it into something else. Webb admits to the scheme of deceiving Harris and says that Townsend’s land in Tennessee was the linchpin to the survival of the national park.

When the Pembertons get home, Galloway is waiting for them. Pemberton says that Harris’s actions are understandable given the circumstances, but Serena is not so forgiving. Serena says that they should have never let outsiders into their company and promises that in Brazil it will be different, since their investors will be a continent away. 

As Snipes' crew look over a plot of fresh graves at the timber camp, they talk about the dangers of mining and being involved with the Pembertons. Snipes gestures at his newspaper and discusses the recent death of Harris. The county coroner is declaring the death an accident, but Webb points out in his column that the coroner is in the pocket of the Pembertons.

Henryson wonders if Webb might be next on the Pembertons’ list and hopes that Webb doesn’t have a second storey house like Harris did or else he might take a similar tumble. The men are quiet after that. Stewart takes out his Bible and begins to read. Rain has fallen off and on all day, and Henryson asks Stewart if he has any dry rolling papers. Stewart says he doesn’t, and Ross asks him to rip a few pages from the Bible, which would work well. When asked what Stewart should do, Snipes argues that he should pick out the best verse and use that to roll the cigarette. Stewart turns to the book of Genesis and rips out two pages.

The following Sunday, the Pembertons ride out to survey their land. Speaking of Harris, Serena says that what the man did was a reminder that bringing others into their partnership risks vulnerability. As Pemberton looks at Serena’s steely, certain face, he thinks back to when he met her in Boston, when the woman who would introduce them said to him about Serena, Just remember you were warned.

They ride back as the sun is setting. After dinner, Pemberton is getting ready to go to bed when he notices that Serena isn’t undressing. Pemberton asks her what she is doing and she says that she has something to do tonight. Pemberton watches her leave and notices that as soon as Serena steps out onto the porch, Galloway emerges from the shadows where he has been waiting for her.

Joel Vaughn brings the car around for Galloway and Serena. Pemberton sees something in Serena’s hand, something with a silvery wink. Galloway gives a pen and notebook to Vaughn, and Vaughn writes something down as Galloway speaks. After Serena and Galloway drive off, Pemberton goes back inside but does not go to bed. Wondering what Serena is doing, he drinks some whiskey to help himself relax. Around midnight he goes outside and sees that Galloway’s car is still gone. 

The next day Sheriff McDowell drives into camp mid-morning and storms into Pemberton’s office without knocking. McDowell tells Pemberton there was a murder up on Colt Ridge last night. He says that Widow Jenkins’ throat was slashed. Pemberton asks why McDowell is telling him this, and McDowell said that the killers left two sets of footprints in the blood on the floor: a small set of brogans and a pair of narrow-toed, fancy women’s shoes.

Pemberton says he doesn’t have any idea how Jenkins’ death relates to him. McDowell says that Serena and Galloway must have been after her to tell them where Rachel Harmon and her son are. McDowell found the door to Harmon’s door wide open that morning, and cigarette butts left by the barn. He figures Serena and Galloway must have gone to Jenkins’s house after finding Rachel’s house deserted.

McDowell brings up the deaths of Campbell, Cheney, and Harris and says that even if he can’t do anything about them, he won’t let the murder of an innocent old women go unpunished, and he won’t let Rachel and her child be killed, either. McDowell asks Pemberton about the last time he saw Jacob, and he notes the striking similarity between father and son. When told that Serena is out with the crews, McDowell leaves, vowing that the next time he comes, he’ll have an arrest warrant.

After taking a call from Calhoun, who has a question about the contract Serena had presented to him and Lowenstein, Pemberton calls Saul Parton in Waynesville. He leaves the office and goes looking for Vaughn, but he can’t find him.

Pemberton drives into Waynesville and goes directly to McDowell’s office. Pemberton says he wants to make one final offer of cooperation to McDowell. McDowell says he won’t take Pemberton’s money, and Pemberton pushes further, saying that if McDowell won’t accept his offer he’ll have him fired.

Suddenly someone knocks on McDowell’s door and enters. It’s an older woman, with Rachel and Jacob following behind her. Pemberton stares at Jacob, fascinated by the resemblance to himself. McDowell points his gun at Pemberton and tells him to leave.

Pemberton leaves the office and gets in his car. McDowell comes out with Rachel and Jacob, who get into McDowell’s car. Pemberton follows the sheriff’s car as it leaves town. When the car turns down the road to Deep Creek, Pemberton realizes where they are headed, and so he heads back to the camp. 

Rachel wakes up in the back of McDowell’s car as it speeds down the dusty mountain roads. They turn onto the road to Deep Creek and stop in front of a stand of maple trees with a path leading into the forest. McDowell tells Rachel she’ll be staying here with a man named Kephart and that he she can trust this man. McDowell tells Rachel that Widow Jenkins was murdered last night and that the murderers are more than likely after her and Jacob. Rachel asks about Pemberton, and McDowell speculates that he wasn’t involved, that he probably didn’t even know what Serena and Galloway were going to do.

After waiting for a little while to make sure they weren’t followed, McDowell leads Rachel down the path in the woods. Rachel thinks about Widow Jenkins, about how much she loved Jacob, of how she must have heard a knock at the door and thought it was her. They arrive at a small cabin with a drift of smoke rising from the chimney. A man in his late sixties comes to the door. He wears a wrinkled shirt and has tired, bloodshot eyes. He looks like he hasn’t shaved in a few days. Because of her father’s behavior, Rachel recognizes the man as an alcoholic.

McDowell tells Kephart he needs a favor: that Rachel and Jacob need to stay here for a little while, possibly just until the evening, maybe till the morning.

Kephart agrees, and McDowell leaves. Kephart leads Rachel into in the cabin. Rachel sits down at a table and chairs. Kephart serves Rachel some beans and cornbread, with buttermilk to drink. While Rachel eats, Kephart stands in the doorway. When she finishes, she goes out to the creek and washes the bowl and spoon. When she returns, Kephart is feeding Jacob with the bottle she has brought.

McDowell returns in the early evening. He has a box of marbles and shooters for Rachel's son. Smiling, Kephart says that Jacob is still a little young to be playing with marbles. Then Kephart goes inside for a sock to hold Jacob’s marbles. They get into the car with McDowell, and after stopping by the cabin to get her things, and then to Widow Jenkins’s house to get Jacob’s cradle, they drive east. On the way, McDowell tells Rachel that it was Joel who called him the previous night and warned him to what Galloway and Serena were up to. McDowell says that he drove Joel to Sylva earlier that day and put him on a train.

They cross into Tennessee, and enter a town called Kingsport. McDowell tells Rachel to keep a low profile and not to use her real name. 

Eating dinner, Serena notices that Pemberton’s appetite seems to have waned while his thirst for alcohol has increased. Serena is concerned, and observes that Pemberton hasn’t asked about where she went the other night. Pemberton reaches for his glass, but Serena stops his arm. “We’ve both killed,” she says. “We’re closer now that we’ve ever been before.”

Galloway comes in and says that he’s learned from the switchboard operator that it was Vaughn who tipped off McDowell. He also reports that McDowell was seen with Rachel Harmon and the boy driving east toward Asheville.

The next day, a recent Duke graduate named Edmund Wagner Bowden arrives at camp hoping to be the next sheriff. A few hours after taking the job, Bowden calls Pemberton and says that McDowell and a police detective from Nashville are in town, along with Campbell’s brother.

Pemberton goes into town and confronts McDowell and the sheriff. Pemberton tells the detective, whose name is Coldfield, that he should call his lieutenant, who is a friend of Pemberton’s. Coldfield leaves immediately.

Alone with McDowell, Pemberton asks the now ex-sheriff whether he knows where Rachel and the boy are. McDowell says that if he did, there’s no way he would tell Pemberton. Pemberton brings out an envelope containing three hundred dollars and gives it to McDowell. He says it’s for Rachel and that he doesn’t want to know where they are.

Coldfield returns and says that he’s been called back to Nashville.

On Sunday afternoon, Snipes’ crew relaxes on the steps of the camp commissary and discusses the recent events. Ross talks about seeing Campbell’s brother in town. The former overseer had come to stay with him after leaving camp and was killed in his bed with a hatchet. Ross jokes that at least Campbell got the farthest away, that none of Galloway’s other victims were able to get out of the state before he got to them. Snipes says that he heard from Galloway that his mother had a vision involving a crown and a town in Tennessee and that he expects this vision to lead to Rachel and Jacob.

Suddenly a parade of horse-drawn wagons enters the camp. According to the signs on the wagon, it is a carnival train from Paris. The carnival’s owner, a rambunctious man named Hamby, gets out and asks after the Pembertons. Hamby says that his Komodo dragon is the most dangerous creature in the world, and it can fight and kill anything.

That night, the carnival tents are raised and the show is put on. Serena challenges Hamby to a bet: her eagle versus his Komodo dragon. The two animals are put in the ring while the workers place their bets. Flying back and forth from Serena’s arms, the eagle kills the Komodo dragon easily. 

In Kingsport in the home of Mrs. Sloan, McDowell’s aunt, Rachel has trouble relaxing. She can’t sleep and is constantly worrying that Serena and Galloway will come storming into her room and kill her and Jacob. On the fifth day, she finally works up the courage to go outside. She crosses the railroad tracks near Mrs. Sloan’s house, where there is a rhubarb patch. Using the bowie knife given to her by Serena all the way back in Waynesville, on the day Pemberton killed her father, Rachel cuts the rhubarb in preparation for a pie to give to Mrs. Sloan.

When Rachel comes back to Mrs. Sloan’s house, McDowell is waiting for her. Mrs. Sloan takes Jacob so Rachel and McDowell can talk. McDowell tells Rachel that he’s been fired from being sheriff and that the Pembertons are behind it. Rachel says there’s nothing to do now but run and hide, but McDowell disagrees. He says there are things he can do to beat them that are outside the law. Rachel asks McDowell if he is going to kill them, and he says he will if he has to, but he hopes he can find another way to defeat them.

McDowell tells Rachel that if he is unsuccessful, she should take Jacob and flee as far as she can, as quickly as she can. McDowell hands her the envelope given to him by Pemberton. Rachel says she can’t take McDowell’s money, but McDowell says the money isn’t his.

Rachel asks whether McDowell thinks they are looking for them. He doesn’t know, but he tells her to stay inside, and keep Jacob inside, just to be safe. If he thinks they are on the trail, he will come to get her, but he realizes that might not be possible.

After McDowell leaves, Rachel listens to the rumble of the train track and thinks back to a moment from her last year in school. Her teacher pointed to a map of the United States and asked the class where they would go if they could choose any point on the map. While some of the students said New York, Washington, D.C., or Louisiana, Joel Vaughn made a smart-aleck remark about wanting to go as far away from school as possible. In response, the teacher pointed to Seattle, Washington, on the map, talked about how she once went there, and described the city as a pretty place by a river with views of snow-capped mountains. 

By early October, nearly the entire lumber camp has been transported to the tract of land in Jackson County. Snipes’ crew is one of the last ones still working the old land. They are still one worker short, as Dunbar’s replacement was killed in an accident on only his second day of the job, and so the workers are all exhausted by having to make up for the lost labor.

Stewart reports on the continuing plight of McIntyre, the apocalyptic preacher who was spooked into senility by a rattlesnake dropped by Serena’s bald eagle. According to Stewart, the preacher is allowing himself to be let outside, but he still keeps mostly quiet. He was asked to preach at a funeral but just shook his head in response.

Someone asks Stewart if perhaps McIntyre could take Dunbar’s replacement’s job, so their crew would be complete again. Stewart figures it’s a possibility that McIntyre will return to work.

Speaking of Galloway and his search for Rachel and her son, Henryson tells everyone that Galloway and his mother have figured out the meaning of the crown from her vision: two mountain towns in Tennessee, Kingsport and Kingston. No one knows which one Galloway will visit first, but he’s supposed to head out that night. Apparently Vaughn has disappeared, leaving only a note saying he was sorry. Most of the men assume that Galloway has already gotten to him and disposed of the body.

Serena and Pemberton continue planning for their further lumber operations in Brazil. Albright has begun imminent domain proceedings on their land in North Carolina, and they plan to accept his offer for their land now that they have completely stripped it of all the useful timber. According to Serena, the investors she has contacted in Chicago are ready to sign on, and the ones in Quebec have more questions but are learning toward joining the company. Serena also says that she met with Mrs. Galloway earlier in the day, her first time speaking to the so-called psychic. Serena says that she finds the woman’s predictive powers somewhat deficient, as she has yet to light upon Rachel and the boy.

Completely undressed, Serena beckons Pemberton to bed. He lies down but is uneasy. Serena attempts to caress him but he doesn’t respond. He simply lies motionless on the bed, as if he is either exhausted or thinking about something. Serena asks him if his mind is elsewhere. 

Walking into Kingsport to buy groceries, Rachel sees Galloway standing outside the post office. The first thing she notices is the nub where his hand should be. Rachel steps back slowly, before he sees her, and runs all the way to Mrs. Sloan’s. Rachel changes her mind and runs to the train depot instead.

Rachel asks the ticket seller in the depot whether a man with one hand has been in the depot today. When the man says no, Rachel puts a twenty-dollar bill, which is all the money she has on her, on the table, and asks how far it will get her. He says she can go as far as St. Louis on a train that is leaving in one hour. She buys the ticket and, before leaving, asks the ticket seller not to tell anyone, especially a man with one hand, about her.

After running home, Rachel tells Mrs. Sloan to go to her sister-in-law’s immediately and, once there, to call McDowell. Rachel takes Jacob and leaves the house to hide in an abandoned boxcar nearby until it is time for the train to leave. From a slit in the boxcar, Rachel can see Mrs. Sloan’s house as well as the depot. As night falls, she sees a light turn on in Mrs. Sloan’s, and knows it is Galloway. Finally he leaves, but she can’t see where he has gone. She hears the train to St. Louis approaching, so she climbs out of the boxcar. She goes to the station but before she gets on, she sees Galloway in the shadows on the other side of the depot, watching. Without making any dramatic movement, Rachel turns and goes back to the boxcar.

Waiting in the boxcar, Rachel hears a freight train approaching. She goes back down to the track and doesn’t see Galloway where he was before. As the freight train passes, Rachel walks rapidly toward it. She sees an open car on the moving train and climbs in. Once inside the car, she turns back and sees Galloway following her. Galloway is running beside the train and getting ready to jump aboard. Galloway jumps up and pulls himself halfway inside the car. Rachel takes the sock filled with marbles given to her by McDowell, raises it above her, and strikes Galloway in the face. She then presses her shoe on his head and pushes him off the car. Galloway falls into the valley next to the tracks and does not get up.

Rachel wakes up as the train arrives in Knoxville. She calls McDowell and tells him where she is. He tells her to take the next train, wherever it leads, then when she gets to the next stop, to buy a ticket to Seattle.

One night, Pemberton wakes up to a strange sound. He opens his eyes and sees that his bedroom is consumed in fire and smoke. He takes Serena and they flee the burning building before it collapses. As the workmen scramble to make sure no one else is hurt, Pemberton sees McDowell sitting in a lawn chair directly in front of the steps, with a bottle of kerosene at his side. 

The smoke still has not cleared by midmorning. Men move through the wreckage with buckets, pouring water on the few smoldering heaps that are left.

Snipes’ crew sits on the commissary steps surveying the destruction. With them is McIntyre the preacher, who has finally been rehired although he still refuses to speak. Snipes muses that if he were McDowell, he would have found a better way to kill the Pembertons than attacking them in the bastion of their own home. Henryson asks what he would have done instead, and Snipes says he would have driven stakes through their hearts.

Later that day, after being treated by the doctor summoned from Waynesville, Pemberton and Serena get dressed in clothes from the commissary and prepare to move into the old overseer’s house recently vacated by Campbell.

Serena says she should go check on the workers on the ridge, and Pemberton agrees and says he will go with her. Serena says then that she wants Pemberton with her always.

When they are halfway up the ridge, they are chased down by Meeks, their new overseer, riding from camp with a message. Serena says she will speak with Meeks privately, but Pemberton refuses to move away. Meeks says that he’s heard from Galloway, who has traced “them” to Knoxville. Serena tells Meeks to tell Galloway that since they must not have any money or a place to stay, to start looking around for them in Knoxville. Pemberton isn’t sure that Serena is talking about Rachel and Jacob, but he’s fairly confident that she is.

When they return to camp, Serena wonders what they should do about McDowell. Pemberton offers to kill him, but Serena says Galloway can do it when he gets back from Tennessee. Thinking forward to their next venture in Brazil, Pemberton comments that his chances of finally killing the mountain lion are growing slim, but he looks forward to hunting a jaguar. 

Serena comments that today he has been more the man she married than he has been in a while. Pemberton responds by saying that the fire reminded him of what’s important, which is only Serena.

Two days later, Galloway returns to camp. Galloway gets out of the car, and Pemberton notices a big bruise across the front of his face. Galloway seeks out Serena and goes to her. Pemberton tells himself not to wonder about what Galloway’s bruise says about the fate of his son, but he can’t help but think that Jacob must still be alive.

A few minutes later, Serena comes into the office and says that Galloway is going to visit McDowell. Boxes are stacked in the office as they are preparing for the move south. “We’ve done well here,” Serena says. 

Arrived safely and living in Seattle, Rachel finds the distant mountains visible from the center of the city one of the few consolations of living in such a foreign place. She thinks back to passing through the Midwest with Jacob, when they stopped in Kansas and waited two hours for a train, and wonders how someone could live in a world so flat.

Rachel has a job washing dishes and cleaning off tables in a café. She’s fortunate that the café’s owners, Mr. and Mrs. Bjorkland, allow her to lay Jacob on a quilt in the corner of the kitchen while she’s working as well as supply her with leftover food.

Startled by a car horn, Rachel reflects that she probably will never get used to the busyness and noise of city life. She misses the soothing sound of the creek or rain on a tin roof. Seeing a suspicious character across the street, Rachel wonders whether it’s Galloway but quickly brushes off the notion that the killer can get to her way out here.

Rachel arrives at work and gives Jacob to Mrs. Bjorkland to hold. She pulls out her wallet and sees the scrap of paper with McDowell’s name and phone number. She thinks of the days she spent with the man and how grateful she is to him for saving her and Jacob’s life. She puts the paper in the trashcan and thinks about Jacob—that once he is old enough, she will tell him about McDowell and what he did for them.

Back in North Carolina, Snipes’ crew fells the final trees in the Pembertons’ original plot of land. The men stop at a creek before trudging back to camp. Stewart comments on how Sheriff McDowell was a good man, and Ross adds that they will likely not see his equal for some time.

Someone mentions that the only people to fully escape from the Pembertons are an eighteen-year-old girl and her infant son. According to Henryson, Galloway has given up the search, as he’s seen a light on in Galloway’s cabin every night for the past two weeks.

Looking over the bare land, the men reflect on how nature has been brutally changed by the lumber company and their role in this change. They also think about how the government is coming in now to turn the land into a national park and attempt to revive the natural environment that has been ravaged. Finally, McIntyre speaks, commenting that he thinks what he sees before him is what the end of the world will look like. 

The next night, Serena throws Pemberton a party for this thirtieth birthday. Things are quiet around camp, as nearly everyone has moved to the new site in Jackson County. Pemberton hasn’t seen Galloway around, and when he asks Serena where he has been, she says only that Galloway has been working but he cannot know why or where.

Before dinner, Pemberton has two glasses of whiskey and feels unusually tipsy afterward. Friends and investors arrive, a total of ten people, and they all sit down to dinner. Pemberton continues to drink heavily, downing seven more glasses of whiskey before his birthday cake is brought out. He blows out the candles on the beautiful cake and feels like the luckiest man in the world.

One of his friends raises a glass to the man who has everything, and they all drink except Serena. Serena points out that there is one thing Pemberton doesn’t have: the panther he hoped to kill in the mountains. Serena then announces that Galloway has been out scouting for the past week, and he thinks he’s finally found the panther. Galloway enters the room, and Serena says that he’s baited a meadow with a deer carcass and he expects the panther to come sometime during the next day to feed.

Serena calls Galloway and his mother into the room and asks Galloway’s mother to provide some fortune-telling entertainment to the guests. Mrs. Lowenstein asks Mrs. Galloway to tell her future. Mrs. Lowenstein asks whether her daughter will get married while she is still alive, and Mrs. Galloway says that her daughter will get married soon but not necessarily while Mrs. Lowenstein is alive. Pemberton goes next, and when asked what will kill him in the end, Mrs. Galloway says only that there isn’t anything alive that can kill a man like him. Then everyone realizes that the whole routine has been a joke.

Before everyone leaves, Serena insists that Pemberton open his present from her. He unwraps the box and finds an 1895 Winchester rifle, with a personalized gold trigger and plating. The gun has Colorado origins and is of the same make used famously by President Teddy Roosevelt. Pemberton promises to use the gun to kill his mountain lion. As everyone rises to leave to catch the train to Waynesville, Pemberton feels unable to leave his chair. He wobbles and has trouble focusing. As the dinner group leaves, Pemberton fades in and out of consciousness. 

The next day, Pemberton wakes up with the worst hangover of his life. Pemberton apologizes to Serena for drinking too much, but she is hardly worried about it and says that it’s fine. Serena says he does need to get up since Galloway will be there by eleven to accompany him on the mountain lion hunt.

Pemberton struggles to get dressed and ready. Finally Galloway comes to get him, and they head off for the meadow. Before he leaves, he sees Frizzell, the photographer, who is taking photographs for Secretary Albright of the way the land looks. Pemberton goes over and demands that Frizzell take a photo of himself and Serena. Serena is wary but she agrees. Already on her horse, she refuses to dismount, and so Frizzell takes one of Pemberton standing next to Serena as she sits on her horse.

They drive for a while, then stop. Galloway says they’ll have to walk the rest of the way. Pemberton follows Galloway deep into the forest. They reach the meadow and see where the carcass has been laid in the middle. Galloway points to an elevated rock some ways up and recommends that Pemberton set up there for his shot.

Pemberton agrees, and they start walking up the steep path toward the spot. Halfway up, they stop and eat. Pemberton thinks his sandwich tastes bad, but he’s grown hungry and so he eats it all. They reach the ledge of rock, and with Galloway’s guidance, Pemberton starts climbing. As Pemberton pulls himself onto the rock, he hears a buzzing and feels a stinging in his leg. He realizes that he’s stepped into a den of rattlesnakes and has been bitten by one. He slips and falls off the rock and down the side of the mountain.

Galloway comes to him and drags him into the meadow. With his knife, Galloway cuts out the area around the wound, but Pemberton can feel the poison coursing through his veins. His leg begins to redden and swell. Pemberton starts to feel pain in his stomach and is surprised because he didn’t think a snakebite could cause abdominal pain.

Pemberton tells Galloway to get the car and go for help. Galloway says Serena has already told him what to do and that he’ll be leaving Pemberton here. Then he tells Pemberton that Serena mixed rat poison in his sandwich. According to Galloway, Serena thought he was the only man equal to her, but once she found out how he tried to help Jacob, she realized she was wrong. Pemberton asks Galloway how Serena found out, and Galloway says McDowell told him when he went to kill him. Galloway said that although he tortured McDowell, the former sheriff wouldn’t tell him where Rachel and Jacob had gone after Knoxville.

Pemberton asks Galloway if there really is a panther, and Galloway says that he’ll know the truth in a few hours. Galloway says that Serena has made plans to bury him in a coffin specially made in Birmingham, Alabama. Galloway leaves, and Pemberton is left alone in the meadow. Pemberton tries to drag himself away, but he’s in too much pain. He passes out and wakes near sunset. He decides to drag himself into the meadow, to prove to Serena how strong he was after all. He reaches the center of the meadow and stops. As night falls, Pemberton hears a cry in the distance like that of an infant. He hears something moving toward him—the panther—but in his mind, Pemberton believes it is Serena who has come to save him. 

In 1975, an article appears in Life describing the long life and career of Serena Pemberton, a timber baroness in Brazil. In the article, Serena brags to the reporter about her plans to be buried in a lead coffin made in Birmingham, Alabama, because it won’t rot or rust. The reporter asks Serena if there is anything she regrets, and she says absolutely not, before moving on to a discussion of a Brazilian tract of land she hopes to purchase and turn into a timber camp. The article describes an old black-and-white photograph in Serena’s house, of the young Serena astride a horse with an eagle on her arm and tall, handsome man standing beside her, presumably the photo taken by Frizzell on the day Pemberton died. 

An elderly Rachel Harmon reads the article as she lies in a hospital bed in Seattle waiting for a heart operation. In addition to her husband, she has lots of visitors, but she shows the Life magazine article to her son when he comes to visit her.

A month later, Jacob arrives in Brazil and checks into a hotel. Around midnight, he leaves his room to walk the streets. He finds where Serena lives and walks into the backyard. He pulls out a flashlight and enters the house. He enters the bedroom and finds on the floor beside the bed an old man with one hand sleeping soundly, Galloway. An old man now, with a deafness brought on by many years of working around machinery, Galloway doesn’t hear Jacob enter and so isn’t prepared when he attacks. Jacob takes out the bowie knife given to his mother so many years ago and slashes Galloway across the neck. Serena isn’t killed as easily, as the coroner finds flesh under her nails the next day, signifying a struggle.

One of the last people to see Serena alive is one of her guards. Standing outside by the gate, he sees the old woman walking across the porch under a full moon, completely naked, with a huge antique knife buried deeply in her stomach. Try though she may, Serena is unable to extract the knife from her stomach. Then the guard sees someone behind her, a large man standing completely motionless in the doorway. Then Jacob disappears. The next morning, attempting to describe to the police chief how the man looked, the guard points to the picture on the wall of Pemberton and claims that that is the very man he saw.