As the People on the ranch prepare for the journey, Loreto and the children leave for Alamos, preferring to live in the city rather than settling on another ranch. Tomás and his men decide to head to Cabora, a ranch in Sonora. Buenaventura decides to join Tomás and the People and commits to working for Segundo for two and a half years in order to obtain a new gun and bullets. The Sunday before their departure, Tomás sees Padre Adriel after Mass; the priest warns Teresita not to listen to Huila and her evil ways. Tomás interrupts the conversation to bid the priest farewell.

On the first day of the journey, the people of the ranch travel only nine miles before stopping to camp. Everyone is overwhelmed with feelings of being adrift. Teresita is riding a donkey, and when the group stops for the night, she finds Huila, who asks her to retrieve a jug of mescal to ease everyone’s pain. Meanwhile, Tomás settles in with Aguirre and questions the purpose of the journey. Aguirre reassures him that the journey is necessary, and the two men toast to a new Mexico.