Franz, Ida's brother who after being ordained was sent to the North Island, is in a missionary school. Before coming here, he was nervous about having to face the Maori, but the natives here are peaceful and kind. Franz loves teaching, and he also likes his boss, Carl Voekner, the director. Then his best student tells him that the war party have arrived, and the Maori have been convinced that Voelkner is a spy and the reason why a chieftain was killed. There has been a epidemic, and as the Maori keep dying and the white people are not even sick, they are more willing to believe the revolutionaries. It is Eru and the other men who have arrived.
Franz thinks that they need to warn Voelkner who is in Auckland, and he and another priest plan to ride there, but Voelkner arrives unexpectedly. The Maori arrive, take them prisoners and execute Voelkner in a terrible way. Eru is horrified, realising that his dreams of becoming a warrior were just idealized ideas, but the reality is just horrible. He has recognised Franz as Mara's uncle because he had the gold cross that Ida had given him. So Eru helps Franz and the other priest escape. It seems that Franz, who deep down had doubts about his faith, is now losing that faith.
Linda's life in Otawo is as hard as she imagines. She has become friends with Irene, a young mother who is actually her landlady. She has rent out a shed that is nothing but a dilapidated hut. Irene tells Linda that her father took her, her mother and her sisters to New Zealand from Ireland to escape prison. He paid for their passage by selling his daughters, but Irene was still young. In Otawo things weren't easy because her father drank. Then Linda fell in love with a man called Paddy and got pregnant. They married and her father was furious with her. Then Paddy cheated on her with one of her sisters, and shortly afterwards her father and sisters left, and after that, Paddy went too. Linda and Irene become good friends and they pan for some pieces of gold in the river.
Fitz goes out to find gold, but all his attempts are in vain. He drinks and also gambles, which brings him some money. And he eventually starts doing jobs, repairing things, but he is unreliable. Then one day he turns up, saying that they need to leave. He has got into trouble with some men about gambling debts. Linda knows that they owe money, so she tells Irene that she can sell Fitz's horse and pays all their debts. Irene has news. She is going to marry the bullion's dealer, Ely Oppenheimer. He is old, but she wants to have a better life, and Oppenheimer loves her and likes her son. Linda and Fitz decide to go to the south end of the island.
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