A young man named William Andrews arrives in Butcher’s Crossing, Kansas, in a mule-drawn wagon after traveling for two weeks from Boston, Massachusetts. He rents a room at the Butcher’s Hotel for the night. Andrews is looking for J. D. McDonald, “the hide man.” The hotel manager points to McDonald’s office, and Andrews plans to visit him the next day. In his room, he bathes and falls asleep to the sounds of the hotel, which include a woman laughing.

The next morning after breakfast, Andrews visits McDonald’s office. McDonald, who sells buffalo hides, once attended services at the Unitarian Church in Boston, where Andrews’s father is a minister. Andrews’s father has sent a letter with Andrews, asking McDonald to give the young man a job. McDonald offers Andrews a desk job, but what he really wants is to go out on one of the hunts. McDonald encourages Andrews to buy land because the town will grow rapidly when the railroad comes through town. Before coming to Butcher’s Crossing, Andrews was a student at Harvard. When Andrews mentions that he would like to meet some of the hunters, McDonald warns him that they’ll “ruin him.