Gus gives each of the four men a ten-dollar gold piece, but Newt isn’t sure how to approach women in a brothel. Lippy tells him he needs to be drunk. He buys liquor for Newt, Pete, Ben, and leaves them. A woman named Buffalo Heifer takes Newt. He climaxes while she washes him in preparation. She encourages him to try to have sex with her anyway, but he’s too drunk. Nevertheless, now Newt understands why Jake loved brothels so much.

July believes that Elmira is dead: soldiers said they passed a woman and two buffalo hunters who were killed heading east. Clara, however, no longer indulges his grief. She is impatient with him for doting on a woman who never wanted him. The girls want July to stay. Clara tells them Bob may die. As they come to terms with it, suddenly she hears Gus’s voice outside. She looks out the window and sees him with Call, a teenage boy, and a beautiful young woman. Gus is talking to her girls, who are charmed by him already.

She runs outside and kisses him, which shocks her girls. Gus introduces Newt and Lorena. She can tell that Lorena is afraid of her, and July glumly watches her affection for Gus.