Word travels through town that Kino has hit the mother lode. Dollar signs (or peso signs, more accurately) immediately start running through everyone’s brain as they all think about how to get in on Kino’s new-found wealth. Kino and Juana are similarly psyched; Kino dreams of marrying Juana properly in a church, paying for Coyotito’s education, and buying a rifle. Then all the freeloaders – sorry, well-wishers – start arriving to flatter, cajole, and generally make nice with Kino. Meanwhile the doctor has shown up, all apologies for being a racist jerk earlier that morning. He then proceeds to "heal" Coyotito, but actually just poisons the kid and then cures him in the course of a few hours, all with the intention of finding where the pearl is hidden. (Kino buried it under the ground.) After all of Kino’s new "friends" leave the hut, he and Juana go to sleep. Kino awakens in the middle of the night to find an intruder, well, intruding in his hut and trying to steal the pearl. The intruder smashes Kino on the head before departing. As Juana nurses Kino’s injury, she insists that the pearl is evil and they better get rid of it. Kino refuses.