Hunt sends the confident gunslinger John Brooder to fetch the town’s doctor to tend to the leg wound. However he fetches Samantha O’Dwyer, the doctor’s daughter and assistant, who is caring for her injured husband Arthur. Hunt leaves Samantha in the sheriff’s office with his other deputy, Nick, to tend to Purvis’ wounds.

That night, a nearby stable boy is killed. Hunt learns of the murder and goes to his office, finding it empty, with an arrow left behind. The Professor, an educated Native American, links the arrow to a tribe that he refers to as “Troglodytes” and locates the valley they inhabit on a map. He warns Hunt that they are a group of inbred cannibals, shunned and avoided by other native tribes. Certain that Samantha, Nick, and Purvis have been captured by them, Hunt forms a rescue party with Chicory and Brooder. Arthur insists on accompanying them to find his wife, despite his injury.

Days into their ride, two strangers stumble across the rescue party’s camp. They are killed by Brooder, who fears they are scouts for a raid. The rescue party set up a new camp, but they are ambushed by raiders who injure Brooder’s horse and steal the rest. The following day, a fight occurs between Brooder and Arthur, exacerbating Arthur’s leg wound. Chicory leaves him to recover while he, Hunt, and Brooder continue on foot. Reaching the valley, the rescue party are ambushed by the Troglodytes. The rescuers kill three, but Brooder is injured, choosing to sacrifice himself, rather than live as ‘a cripple’. Hunt and Chicory are captured.