Riders of the Purple Sage

While visiting Cottonwoods, Jane runs into Tull. He chastises her for hiring Lassiter. Jane admits her plan of convincing Lassiter to put down his guns. Tull suggests that if she is successful, it might allow her to make up for some of her past mistakes.

Jane visits the home of Collier Brandt where she finds his four wives entertaining Bishop Dyer. Dyer complains that Jane hasn’t been attending church recently, and he blames Tull. Jane denies that Tull is courting her, to which Dyer suggests he might court her instead. After Dyer leaves, the wives urge Jane to marry Tull. They say it is her duty as a Mormon to marry a Mormon man, not to marry for love.

Jane visits her Mormon friends, then moves into the non-Mormon part of the village. Many of the non-Mormon families struggle, and some depend on Jane to survive. As she walks through the village, she offers employment to the men. Many of them refuse, however, out of fear of what the Mormons might do in retaliation.

Jane goes to the home of Fay Larkin, the little girl she once sought to adopt as her own. Fay tells her that her mother is sick. Jane goes into the house and finds Mrs. Larkin in bed. Mrs. Larkin claims she sent word to Jane’s home, but Jane never got the messages. Mrs. Larkin says that she changed her mind about Jane taking Fay to raise as her own. Mrs. Larkin says her hesitance was the rumor that Jane would raise Fay as a wife to a Mormon man and she didn’t want that. She now understands it was a lie and she wants Jane to take Fay.

Venters speaks with the masked rider and learns that her name is Bess. He assures her that he has no ill will for her, and that when she is healed, he will take her to a distant village where Oldring won’t find her. Venters goes in search of another hiding place, spots a rabbit, and, reluctant to fire his rifle, he follows it higher up the canyon wall. He comes to a place where he sees a set of steps cut into the stone. He follows the steps high up the wall, discovering an entrance to what appears to be the cave dwellings of Indigenous people who once lived in the area. At top of the stairs, he finds a rock precariously set on a pedestal. He understands that this was intended to be a way to block the entrance into the caves should trouble come. When he moves further in, he finds a beautiful valley about a mile long, filled with white aspens and walls that curve inward to form caves. He calls the place Surprise Valley and decides it is the perfect hiding place.

Venters returns to the place where he left Bess and discovers that the rustlers’ horses have wandered away. He packs up his things, then carries Bess up to Surprise Valley. The girl wakes and thinks he has taken her to Oldring. Venters assures her that he has taken her somewhere safe. He lies awake as the girl sleeps, content with the idea that he is no longer alone.

The next morning, Venters returns to his old hiding place to gather the rest of his things. He chooses a place to make his camp that includes several deep caves. He moves Bess into one of the caves. She wakes, tells him she has pain, and he realizes she’s hungry. Venters sees this as a good sign. She also complains of feeling dirty, so he carefully bathes her but refuses to feed her because he worries it will impede her healing. Bess questions Venters’s motivations, but he assures her he means her no harm.

Venters sets up the camp, and inventories the food he has left, worried about providing for himself and Bess. Venters explores the area, and discovers that there are plenty of rabbits in the area and encourages his dogs to catch one for dinner. In the morning, Bess is awake when he goes to check on her. He realizes she is running a fever. Bess is confused and moves in and out of consciousness. For five days, she struggles, but then the fever breaks and Venters believes she will survive. He is overcome with relief and remains close, convinced the sight of him gives Bess strength. After a few more days, Venters goes hunting for a rabbit and returns to find Bess awake. He takes her outside where she sits in the sun. He asks Bess about herself, telling her the rumors about the ruthless acts of Oldring’s masked rider. She denies all the charges. Venters asks Bess what she was to Oldring, and she doesn’t answer, but the blush on her face implies an intimate relationship to Venters.

Bess tells Venters that she didn’t ride with Oldring all the time, and sometimes he would leave for months at a time. She says he would lock her in a cabin. Bess tells him she has vague memories of a different place, but she has spent most of her life in Deception Pass. She has never been around other women or young people. She knows how to read and write and tells Venters that there is gold in the pass that Oldring and his men collect and use when they go into the villages.

Venters asks Bess about Jane’s red herd, and she says Oldring made a deal with the Mormons to keep the cattle for a set amount of time. She doesn’t know how long, but she knows Oldring made the deal with Jerry Card. Venters thinks about all this, trying to decide what his next move should be. Bess is growing stronger each day, and he considers taking her to Cottonwoods, but knows that would be a mistake because Oldring would find her. He begins to think he might live with Bess indefinitely in Surprise Valley.

Venters leaves the camp in the middle of the night to steal cattle from Oldring’s camp. His original intention is to kill a calf and take it back for food, but he decides to take a calf out alive. He goes back for another, then over the next few days, he continues to go back until he has collected eight calves. On the last night, he butchers a young steer for food. When Venters tells Bess what he’s done, she is upset because Oldring’s men might have caught him. He gives Bess the choice to stay or leave, and she chooses to stay.