After reaching Judge Henry's farm, the narrator goes out hunting and exploring with the Virginian as his guide. A couple of misadventures with Emily, the hen, bring the Virginian and the narrator closer. Soon after, the narrator sadly has to go back to his own town in the north.
During the course of the next year, the Virginian writes a letter to the narrator asking him to come back for a hunt and fills him in on the latest gossip. The schoolhouse in Bear Creek was still not built and he wasn't a friend of Steve's anymore because Steve was suspected in stealing cows.
Miss Molly Stark Wood is introduced in the next chapter. She is a young woman from Bennington, Vermont. She has traveled two thousand miles to teach in Bear Creek. During her journey, her stagecoach driver starts to drink and drives into a ford. The Virginian comes to her rescue and sweeps her out of the coach. He and some other cowboys helped pull the coach clear of the water. After reprimanding the driver and tossing his alcohol into the river, the Virginian departs.
Miss Wood moves into a cabin next door to the Taylor's. At a dance, the Virginian approaches her but is interrupted by Uncle Hughey who asks her for a dance. Jealously, Lin McLean, another suitor she has turned down and the Virginian plan to switch up all of the babies at the dance. All of the families brought their babies to these functions because there were no babysitters during this time. After the dance, James and Elizabeth Westfall arrive at their house when James hears Elizabeth scream his name. In a hurry, he pulls out his gun and rushes in to find out that his babies were switched with someone else's. Laughing and trying to quiet his wife, they go out searching for the other families. They meet up with everybody else and immediately blame Lin McLean without giving second thought about the Virginian being involved in it. After some time, the Virginian admits to his deed but everyone forgives him.
