This chapter opens with a flashback to the time when Zillah and the others were on their way to kill a bear. Zillah tells the story of how he was poisoned and how he tried to ask Zillah for help, but Zillah attacked him from behind. When he was unconscious, he broke his gold core and threw him into the swamp. This incident is the basis of the slander Zillah has leveled against Zillah.