Meanwhile, Jake Spoon is in Fort Worth. Hearing that July Johnson has been looking for him, Jake leaves Texas in a hurry in the company of the Suggs brothers, whom he soon realizes are bandits. Jake becomes increasingly alarmed by the brothers' actions as they travel north into Kansas; the gang progresses from robbery to outright murder, but Jake is too frightened and outnumbered to either kill them or escape. When the gang attacks a trail boss known to Gus and Call, the former Rangers of the Hat Creek outfit go in pursuit of them. The ex-Rangers are dismayed when they apprehend the Suggs brothers and find Jake alongside them. Jake pleads with his former comrades that he had no choice but to go along with things for fear of his own life, but Gus and Call stand firm that he has "crossed a line," and they solemnly hang him alongside the Suggs brothers. Newt, who had idolized Jake as a child, is left deeply upset. Meanwhile, Elmira, pregnant with July's child, has come into the company of a rough buffalo hunter named Zwey, a simple man who seems to believe he is now "married" to her. Arriving in Nebraska they come across the horse ranch of Clara Allen, Gus's former love, whose husband Bob has become a brain-damaged invalid after being kicked by a mustang. Clara delivers Elmira's baby son, but Elmira and Zwey leave almost immediately afterwards for Ogallala. Dee Boot is held in the Ogallala jail, scheduled to be hanged for his accidental murder of a young boy; Elmira collapses while speaking to him, and Boot is hanged while she recuperates in a doctor's house, leaving her heartbroken and depressed. July arrives at Clara's ranch, learns what has transpired, and goes to see her, but Elmira refuses to speak to him. Shortly afterwards she orders Zwey to take her east, back towards St. Louis. July feels compelled to follow her, but at Clara's insistence he remains at the ranch with her family and his son instead,who Clara had named Martin, anguished and heartbroken. Word later reaches them that Elmira and Zwey were killed by Sioux. The Hat Creek outfit arrives in Nebraska, and Gus takes Lorena, Call, and Newt to visit Clara. She is happy to see him but has no desire to rekindle their romance; however, she takes in Lorena, whose PTSD is easing and who feels comfortable with Clara and her daughters.