Christy

Before David acts on Miss Alice's advice, Ozias surprises David and Christy with an invitation to join in a Working—a collaborative effort to tackle a significant task. David is wary of the invitation's true motives and suspects that it may amount to little more than public shaming. His suspicions are confirmed by the tense atmosphere during the Working, which weighs heavily on Christy as she waits and works with the women.

At lunch, Ozias prompts Uncle Bogg to recount the tale of a preacher named Dry Guy—a story of a despised pastor who died—and tensions heighten further. The story infuriates Christy because it is intended as a threatening bit of mockery against David, yet she feels powerless to defend him. David is challenged to prove his leadership by undertaking the same tasks as the mountain men, but they are skilled in those tasks and accomplish them quickly, while much of David’s work remains. As matters come to a head, Bird's-Eye Taylor challenges David by firing four shots in his direction. David doesn’t cower or retreat, even when Bird’s-Eye ridicules his religious activities. David calmly replies that his full response will come in his sermon and that all are welcome to be there to hear it.

When the church service begins, the sanctuary is unusually crowded. Christy listens to the sermon nervously, knowing that it has the potential to inflame tensions. David shares a bold and direct sermon, stressing the value of Christian faith for all members of society and the application of Christian principles to all of life, not just to Sunday worship. He stresses that church isn't just a physical structure but a community, where faith should permeate every aspect of daily living. He also condemns the practice of brewing moonshine and employing boys as traffickers. Christy, though nervous, is proud of David’s eloquence and boldness.

As David reaches the climax of his sermon, Doctor MacNeill pulls Christy out of the sanctuary, asking for urgent assistance. Little Burl requires immediate surgery due to a torn abdominal muscle that has been abscessed. Reluctantly, Christy agrees and assists Doctor MacNeill during the operation. After the surgery, Doctor MacNeill and Christy talk about David’s sermon and the moonshine incident, and he reveals that he was the one who tipped off the locals about the authorities’ raid on the still.

After a few days, Doctor MacNeill meets with both Christy and David to explain his actions. He reveals that Bird's-Eye Taylor, Nathan O'Teale, and Tom McHone are the men behind the moonshine operation. He also warns that David's sermon, while well-intentioned, may bear unintended consequences. The doctor got involved precisely to forestall further violence, and he worries that David’s actions will inflame violence instead. He explained his reasoning; since it was commonly known that Bob Allen had visited David just before the raid on the still, any damage to the still would have been connected to the Allens in the minds of the Cove’s residents. And since the Allens already had several family members recovering from recent procedures, the doctor didn’t want any more negative attention falling on them, as was likely to happen in the context of the longstanding feud between the Allens and Taylors.

Doctor MacNeill also argues that moonshine has historically been one of the few ways impoverished highlanders could earn a living. Tom McHone, for instance, faces financial strain due to his wife Opal's ongoing medical condition. The profits from running moonshine are the only means available to support her. Doctor MacNeill challenges David to consider whether it's fair to blame a man for wanting to care for his wife under such circumstances. Christy doesn’t know what to do with all this information but decides to pay a visit to Opal McHone as a first step toward better understanding her situation.

At the mission house, Ruby Mae and Christy encounter two separate incidents of malicious action against the property. First, they find that the horse’s mane and tail have been cruelly shorn off, and then, while running to tell David, they encounter the church pulpit burning in the center of the mission square. A bucket brigade extinguishes the fire, but the incident leaves everyone on edge. Shortly afterward, a US Marshal appears, leading Bird’s-Eye Taylor and Nathan O’Teale in shackles, having finally caught them in a successful raid.

A third man, Tom McHone, is lying across the marshal’s horse, having taken a bullet. Doctor MacNeill is summoned to perform surgery on the wound, and Tom’s fate is unclear. Rumors begin to swirl that Tom was shot not by the marshals but by one of the other members of the local moonshine gang after they suspected him of turning them over to the authorities. Amid all of this, David and Doctor MacNeill find themselves in stark disagreement over the rising conflict and the fallout that has ensued. Tensions rise further when news arrives later that Bird’s-Eye and Nathan have managed to escape from jail.

Christy, now convinced that more has gone on behind the scenes of the shooting than is widely known, consults with the doctor for more information. She knows that Doctor MacNeill visited Tom McHone before the shooting. She suggests that the doctor’s influence turned Tom’s conscience and made him an informer, which is then what got him shot, possibly by Bird’s-Eye. Doctor MacNeill neither confirms nor denies this, instead expressing his longstanding love for the mountain people. He challenges Christy on the overall aims of the mission and how it goes about accomplishing them, clearly believing that the mission’s methods are not doing all the good they could.

Since he holds no personal faith in God’s love, he finds the spiritual part of their mission an example of misplaced zeal. Christy confronts him on the matter of his beliefs, so he explains: “I believe in God, in the sense that I’m willing to admit some starter-force for the universe. […] Trouble is, I’ve seen so many diseased bodies, so much suffering, pain, hatred, death and dying” (296). Confused and upset at the way events are unraveling around her, Christy leaves the conversation.

At night, Ruby Mae wakes Christy to tell her that some men are trying to break into the mission house. With Tom already sent away to hide, and David away to consult with authorities, the women are alone and unsure of the intruders' identities, as they do not seem to be locals. They barricade the doors with furniture and arm themselves with various household implements but are terrified of what might happen if the men break through.

It eventually becomes clear that one of the men’s goals is to find Tom McHone, likely to finish the job that was started when he was shot. The women debate whether to reveal Tom’s absence, but Christy worries that this would put the McHones in greater danger. Fortunately, a heavy rain comes, and the men withdraw. When David returns, he decides the women must be taught how to shoot guns, just in case something like this happens again. In the wake of her distressing conversation with Doctor MacNeill, Christy seeks spiritual guidance from David but finds his overcomplicated, lukewarm answers unfulfilling, which only deepens her crisis of meaning.

Christy goes to Miss Alice to try to get some counsel: “Two days ago in talking with Dr. MacNeill, I discovered something about myself. It’s that I really don’t know what I believe about my religion” (309). Miss Alice commends Christy for her courage in asking such questions, and—to Christy’s surprise—congratulates her on making such a wonderful discovery about herself. This counterintuitive response has its roots in Miss Alice’s deep-running convictions that the answers are there to be found, and once found, will prove fully satisfying. Thus, she views Christy’s position as being “on the threshold of a great adventure” (311). She hands Christy a written note, which alludes to a Bible verse saying that truth is discerned by doing God’s will. Initially, this only deepens Christy's perplexity, but soon, she senses a profound impulse as to what God’s will might be, and it begins with speaking to Opal McHone.

Driven by her sudden conviction, Christy hurries to Opal’s house, where she finds Bird’s-Eye and three other men outside, seeking Tom McHone. Tom is still hiding out in the woods, but they expect him to try to come back home at some point. Bird's-Eye permits Christy to enter, but the threat of violence is ever-present, evidenced by the shotgun he bears. Inside the cabin, Opal is visibly frightened, asking Christy how she knew she was needed. Christy replies that God guided her. Although Christy does not know what God’s will is from that point on, her very presence gives assurance and comfort.

Christy and Opal talk and pray together, and Opal shares the story of Bird’s-Eye’s troubled past. She reveals that Bird’s-Eye once courted her in their younger days before she and Tom fell in love. She recalls how Bird’s-Eye’s tenderness was revealed to her once, and the memory of it inspires her to try to call out his better nature once again. She calls out and offers the men some food. Bird’s-Eye accepts the invitation to eat inside the cabin, but the others continue standing guard outside.

Christy spends the night at the McHone cabin, and Tom and Uncle Bogg quietly make their presence known in the middle of the night. Tom can’t safely stay there with Bird’s-Eye and his men watching the place, so they plan for him to go back to the mission house. Though largely recovered from his previous wound, he fears he is still in mortal danger, and he bids farewell to his family as if it is the last time that they will ever see him. The following morning, Christy accompanies the McHone children to school, but upon nearing the mission, they see that tragedy has befallen them. Tom lies dead, shot in the back just before reaching the safety of the mission house.

Later, David and Christy visit Opal to discuss funeral arrangements, only to find Tom’s son, Isaak, digging his father’s grave, instructed as he does so to nurture the desire for vengeance in his heart—a local ritual meant to perpetuate the feud. Opal, however, wants a voice of love and forgiveness to speak into the conflict, so she asks Miss Alice to deliver the funeral sermon. Miss Alice does so, contrasting the hatred of feuds with the outreaching love of Jesus.