After John received a whooping from Jim, John muttered "The world isn't big enough for Donnelly and me. Some fine day one of us is bound to kill the other.""(p.26) John is foreshadowing his own murder. The irony of Farrell's words is that the reader already knows that he will die. .
Farrell decides to take his case to court since he lost "the battle of brawn- to Donnelly. In 1845, Farrell was given fifty of the hundred acres since he was the rightful owner of the land. Donnelly was able to keep his half since he had worked on the farm for eight years. The next two years were filled with constant quarrels between Donnelly and Farrell. In the spring of 1856, Farrell found three of his cows poisoned by Donnelly. In the fall, Farrell's barn mysteriously went up in flames but no charges were laid since John was lacking evidence. The Donnellys shot at Farrell in the winter of 1857 but again; there wasn't enough evidence to convict them. .
In May 1857, Donnelly and Farrell met at a logging bee. They both drank plenty of beer since it was the bee tradition. While Jim was resting under a tree, he overheard the insults directed towards him. His neighbour was badmouthing him, on purpose. They exchanged crude words until Farrell darted towards Jim. Farrell was giving Jim a pounding until Donnelly picked up an iron bar and cast a fatal blow into Farrell's head. The witness's from the bee try to bring Jim to the constable but he threatens them and explains that "Another murder won't make it any worse; they can only hang me once.""(p.29) .
Johannah has a flashback of Jim's return to the farm after the murder. She remembers young Tom across her knees, warming his behind as Jim rode up. She recalls that Tom was a crybaby who soon grew up and learned to fight. " A foin young man who'd slap the devil in the face. A credit to all of us.""(p.31) Thomas P. Kelley foreshadows Tom's death, saying that he was murdered and his head was chopped off.