Handcuffed, John Grady Cole and Lacey Rawlins are driven north on their horses for three days. At night, they are manacled to their saddle stirrups and forced to sleep under one blanket this way. They arrive in Encantada, and, while sitting on a bench on the main street, John Grady gestures to two little girls, asking for cigarettes. Rawlins calls him a ladies' man and talks to him for the first time since their capture.
John Grady and Rawlins start to argue. John Grady wants to get their problems out in the open and says they are there because of some lie. Rawlins retorts, "Or some truth." He reminds John Grady that he tried to reason with him (the implication is that he's referring to Alejandra). John Grady says some things aren't reasonable. Grudgingly, Rawlins says he has not quit John Grady. The little girls bring the cigarettes and ask if they are robbers.
John Grady and Rawlins are taken to an adobe prison on the north end of town and find that Blevins is already in the cell. They question him without results. But an old man, also imprisoned in the same cell, tells them that Blevins has killed three men. Blevins says only one died. In order to retrieve his pistol, he returned to Encantada after working for two months. Then he told his captors about John Grady and Rawlins. He can't walk because his feet have been broken.
John Grady dreams of horses that night as he sleeps. In the morning, Rawlins is questioned and asked to strip off his trousers; he is struck on the back of the head. They say he is lying about who he is. He says they are cowboys who have come to work in Mexico. He is asked why the horses have no brands or papers. Then John Grady is questioned. They are accused of having come to Mexico to steal horses. John Grady is told they will be taken to Saltillo.
