The text returns to the theme of Alienation From Traditional Culture through the character of George, the Big Navajo. McKee and Leaphorn learn that George is a “Relocation Navajo” whose family was likely moved from the Navajo Nation to Los Angeles as part of a government project. The text alludes to this Bureau of Indian Affairs project from the 1930s, which was intended to offer Indigenous peoples more opportunities in urban centers, but in reality, these relocations severed the young Navajo people from their culture and left them to fend for themselves in foreign environments: “It had been one of the most disastrous experiments of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, turning hungry sheepherders into hungry city alcoholics” (248). George grew up in Los Angeles away from the Navajo Nation and the daily practices of his culture, so he is alienated both from its language and its principles. McKee believes George must have learned about his culture purely through books, much like himself, rather than through teachings and real-world practice.

This revelation about George’s distance from his culture returns to the motif of the Navajo Way, as Leaphorn comes to understand the man’s behavior in opposition to this philosophy. The man’s evil behavior aligns more with superstitions about witchcraft. Though these beliefs can involve supernatural elements, in Navajo culture, the descriptor of “witchcraft” applies to any person who turns from the Navajo Way for purposes of evil. George is a man with no connection to ghosts or deities, but his rejection of the Navajo Way to make money, to Leaphorn, still makes him a witch. Leaphorn tells McKee that George was “Crazy to get rich. […] You call it ambition, sometimes we call it witchcraft” (264). Leaphorn laments that greed corrupted George so thoroughly that he was willing to kill both people and animals just to make money, which contradicts everything the Navajo teach. He explains how this unnatural behavior impeded the investigation, since he “figured him to act like a Navajo and he was acting like a white man” (269). Leaphorn blames George’s forced assimilation into the city’s predominant white culture for the man’s spiritual pollution, which led to so many unnecessary deaths.

The motif of ghosts also returns in this section in relation to the nefarious activity of George and Eddie. The text reveals that the men are using the haunted Anasazi cliff dwellings as their base camp for their illegal activity in Many Ruins Canyon, confirming Horseman’s fears from the first chapter. As Eddie dies in the crevasse, McKee ruminates on the man’s ghost, had he been Navajo: “Eddie’s ghost would be a greedy one, McKee thought, always coveting material possessions—the Navajo ultimate of unnatural wickedness” (246). This reference to Eddie’s ghost emphasizes just how corrupt the man’s soul is due to his intense desire for money. Similarly, George’s choice to dress up as a Navajo Wolf as part of the scheme offers a similar emphasis on his evil motivations. Ironically, George used the costume to scare people out of the region so he could conceal Dr. Hall’s work, but instead, he only drew attention to the area by embodying the Navajo Wolf’s supernatural evil too convincingly. His disguise effectively showcased his true purposes in the region, whether he believes in the superstition or not.

These final chapters continue to develop McKee and Ellen’s relationship and their mutual concern for one another. McKee learns more about Ellen’s history and her relationship issues with Dr. Hall, which he understands as the inverse of his conflict with Sara. Where Ellen finds Hall too ambitious and wants to help him see that an average life can still be happy, Sara left McKee because he was too average and she wanted someone more exciting. Ellen compares her attraction to Hall to Desdemona’s with Othello, due to his exciting stories of adventure. However, this allusion hints at her fears that their relationship is doomed to tragedy. This fear becomes reality when the text reveals that Hall is involved in the very scheme that led Ellen to get captured and nearly killed. When the excitement in the Nation concludes, a loving relationship between McKee and Ellen begins to blossom. When Leaphorn reports how concerned Ellen was for McKee’s wellbeing, the text shows that McKee’s pain almost melts away, and he claims, “He was, in fact, feeling wonderful” (265). Ellen’s letter also symbolically inverts McKee’s relationship with Sara, as instead of a short note saying she’s leaving, Ellen writes a long letter about how excited she is to visit him. The texts ends on this note of optimism about McKee and Ellen, and how their relationship will be different than what McKee had before.