Cady manages to get an overpriced wagon from the owner of the (now wrecked) stable, and the posse loads its two bodies (Bart and Vorpwhistle) into the wagon. They also take the three thorny cow skulls that are now all that remain of the devil-bulls. Unfortunately, they only get about a mile away in the dark before breaking a wheel in a big hole.
In the morning, Cady goes back to town and buys a wagon wheel off of one of the Black River regulators guarding their train yard (he swipes it from a carriage that is being transported, putting the broken wheel in its place). They they go east with the wagon, shooting a buffalo along the way for food. Bart and Tobey are both pretty ravenous for meat.
The next morning, Dr. Vorpwhistle (bound up in a sheet) wakes up and starts talking to them. There's a long discussion about good and evil and how he should do the former and fight the latter, and Robert tells him never to lose control or he'll just shoot him. Vorpwhistle isn't sure how that's motivational. All in all it's not much of a bitter recriminations phase, since everyone pretty much knows how everyone else stands. Dr. Vorpwhistle also discovers that he has some sort of weather control power, but doesn't test its limits at all.
"Procrastination is the best solution."
"I should notify MIT that my tenure is no longer valid."
- Dr. Vorpwhistle
They set off east again, and it's the middle of the day when three riders catch up to them - it turns out to be Mr. Johnson the Pinkerton agent and two associates. Again, Mr. Johnson seems familiar to some of the people who see him. Bart takes a quick liking to him, and Robert the opposite. He talks to them about the attack, and finds out Vorpwhistle died... and that he came back. He seems under control, for now. Mr. Johnson's easy acceptance of that information leads Tobey to look more closely, and discover that he isn't breathing. A few pointed euphemisms are exchanged, and Bart finally puts it all together.
He's very familiar... and dead... and... that's Lincoln! He doesn't tell anyone else, but he starts saying "Sir" whenever he talks to Lincoln.
Mr. Johnson tells them that the Pinkertons have a procedure for helping the recently dead gain control of their manitous quickly (or fail to do so) back in Denver. They decide it's a good idea to go do that, and turn the wagon around. The other two Pinkertons ride ahead, and Johnson stays with them. On the trip, he tells them that he too was attacked by a devil bull years ago, and thinks it means you have irritated someone evil. It hasn't happened again, though. He also tells them various folksy and humorous stories.
They get back to Denver and are taken to a warehouse in the Union Blue rail yard, half of which is taken up by a large room with a pentagram. The keeper of the Star Chamber comes to explain the process, and though it goes over their heads (mostly) they are able to contribute. When they tell the man that the evil spirit is a dead woman, specifically named Bessy Willoughby, the Pinkerton occultist suggests changing the star to use that specific information - if Dr. Vorpwhistle doesn't mind being the subject of a bit of an experiment. Of course he doesn't! The man also knows a bit of trivia - there was a Rhode Island murderess named Bessy Willoughby around forty years ago... a pretty black-hearted woman.
Late that night, the chamber is ready and Vorpwhistle is placed in the center of the star. In attendance are the occultist, Johnson, and four Pinkertons, two with flame throwers. If Vorpwhistle fails, or tries to exit the star before finishing, they'll crisp him.
The actual ordeal is strange - Vorpwhistle experiences it like a sort of academic inquisition, with Bessy as a bit of a prosecutor, or a hostile interpreter of his work, anyway. His work keeps being described as useful to barbecue children, or do other types of evil. He is able to overcome her, however, and finishes the ritual as in control of himself as Bart or Tobey. The candles in the star remain white, and he doesn't get crisped.
Dr. Vorpwhistle's Letter to MIT Regarding Tenure