The MacIvey drive of 1874 is the clan’s biggest yet, totaling 3,000 cows. The next spring, a few miles from the homestead, Zech, Frog, and Bonzo tend to a corral of 60 cows. Against Zech’s better judgment, the three leave the cows unattended while they go to nearby Fort Drum for dinner. Although they only plan to be gone an hour, Frog convinces Zech to stay in town a little longer for a party that locals call a frolic.

At the frolic, Zech meets a beautiful red-haired girl named Glenda Turner. Zech takes Glenda for a ride on Ishmael and is enchanted by the smell of her lilac water perfume: “He breathed deeply, drawing the fragrance into his lungs, feeling a strange sensation pulse through his veins, making him giddy” (153).

Back at the corral, the cows are gone. When Zech, Frog, Bonzo, and the dogs track the cows in the morning, they come under fire by cattle thieves or “rustlers.” Zech watches in horror as Tuck’s head is blown apart and Nip is shot in the side. As they hide by the tree line, Zech reluctantly lets Frog shoot Nip in the head, putting him out of his misery.