Caught in a period of bad weather, Inman’s mood falters. He uses up all the medicine given to him by the old goatherder and, though he has physically healed, he is still hungry and his thoughts remain dark. His senses have not dulled, however, and he notices that someone is following him. Spotting a “little hog-eyed man” (288), he threatens to shoot the stranger. The man surrenders; his name is Potts and he suggests to Inman that food can be found at the home of a local woman. Inman follows Potts’s suggestion.

At the house, he finds a young woman. She has a baby and invites Inman into the house, refusing his offer to pay her for any food. She prepares a meal and Inman eats quickly. The woman’s name is Sara. Her husband was killed in the war. Seeing how much she will struggle without her husband, Inman offers to kill the pig outside. He will butcher it for her as payment for the food. Sara accepts, but insists that she will mend and clean his clothes in return. In the meantime, she dresses Inman in her dead husband’s clothes and gives him a basin to wash himself.