After shoe-polishing Bart's hair to restore it's natural depth and beauty (or at least make it black) the posse heads back to El Paso, and thence by train to Tombstone. On the train, they learn all about the Cowboy gang, the ineffective law, and Doc Holiday. Or at least they hear some rumors. Arriving in Tombstone, they stay at the Cosmopolitan, sharing two rooms. They spend their evening filling out their rumor pack and catching a glimpse of the legendary Holiday as he deals faro at the Oriental.
They post watches that night in paranoia, and it pays off - on Robert's watch a man quietly opens their door and prepares to blast the bed with a shotgun. Robert dispatches him with his trusty Stuart, and everyone awakens to the noise to find the situation mostly resolved. Cady gets an extremely bloody journal and a silver coin on a chain off the guy before the hotel owner shows up. Upon figuring out that the dead man is something of a dead-beat named Ho Matthews, he believes the posse when they say the man wanted to rob them. James helps him carry Ho downstairs and lay him out for the undertaker to pick up in the morning. Before they go to sleep, they have the bright idea that maybe they can destroy the coins rather than give them to their evil master, which results in James driving a chisel through his own hand in the attempt. This is given up as a Bad Idea.
In the morning there's one more go round on the bad idea, as Bart tries to chisel the coin. Unfortunately, James finds himself shooting Bart to stop him... apparently the spirits won't let anyone damage the coins. Bart keeps to himself that had he been alone, he could have damaged the coin. They give up and send their telegram. Later, at breakfast, Curly Bill visits them and asks if they found anything on Matthews's body, as he knows people who are interested in collecting various things... they claim they found nothing. Robert, who got winged the night before, is feeling grumpy and actually doesn't correct this falsehood.
That day is spent waiting for the inevitable crow and picking up more rumors. The pick of the rumor mill is that the reason Bayou Vermilion laborers don't come into Tombstone to party is that the railroad employs enslaved Chinese workers. The other exciting thing that day is a duel between a hapless gunslinger and Johnny Ringo, the fastest gun in the Cowboys. It's over quickly, with Ringo shooting his opponent twice after baiting him into drawing first. The poor man dies with six bullets still in his peacemaker.
The next morning starts out with a crow knocking on Cady's window - she gives it the coin and accepts some gold dust in exchange. Meanwhile, Bart is realizing that he doesn't remember third watch at all, and that his boots are dirty. This quickly degenerates as he tells the others about it, and they determine the following interesting facts:
There's a bunch of discussion about what to do. Bart doesn't exactly put up a vigorous defense. James suggests that they go outside of town where Bart can't hurt anyone, and various people realize that James means to put Bart down. Robert, of course, says it out loud. This makes something in Bart struggle to take control, but he stays on top of it, barely, and does agree to head out of town.
On the ride out, the thing does get control and gets Bart to start telling his horse story again. Unfortunately now there is power in it, and it puts half the posse to sleep. Robert and Cady are unaffected though, and Bart comes back to himself to find them pointing guns at him (well, okay, Cady has cards in her hands, but it's the same effect).
Bart wants to see if he can get control of this thing - they should just tie him up at night, make sure not to be alone with him. Robert seems to agree that he should get the chance. James and Joseph are clearly of the kill him and let God sort him out camp. Cady seems sympathetic, but keeps remembering the vision of Bart shooting her in the back, and Tobey tries to look at it from a practical viewpoint.