- Back in the book's present in the Crown smoking room, Balfour ends up giving the floor over to Joseph Pritchard (the "dark-haired man") and Harald Nilssen.
- It seems that while Balfour was hanging out on the wharf, Nilssen and Pritchard were meeting in Nilssen's office.
- They were discussing Crosbie Wells. In Pritchard's view, both he and Nilssen were in a sticky spot. Nilssen told Pritchard that he hadn't done anything wrong, but Pritchard was still concerned, because Nilssen had managed the sale of Crosbie Wells's property and made a good profit in doing so. Through their conversation, we learn that something called a "bounder" was found in Crosbie's estate. Nilssen claimed he had had no prior knowledge of it.
- Pritchard was convinced there was some kind of conspiracy going on that caused Crosbie Wells's property to be sold off super quick, right before a huge fortune was discovered there. Also, in other fishiness, a dram of Pritchard's laudanum was found under Crosbie's bed, but Pritchard had never sold to him.
- Pritchard believed that Crosbie had been murdered—and he thought that he and Nilssen would be fingered as conspirators. He also said he thought Emery Staines was dead.
- Nilssen suggested going to the authorities at once, but Pritchard was afraid of doing that without all the facts.
- We also learn that Nilssen would have to pay his commission for the sale of Crosbie's property back if his widow's arrival in Hokitika made the sale invalid (which was expected).
- They batted around ideas about a possible conspiracy and who was involved.
- Pritchard believed that a "Chinaman" was involved, and suggested that talking to a man named Quee would be informative. He wanted Nilssen to do it, since he himself and Quee had had a disagreement over Anna …
- Apparently Ah Sook, a Chinese man who ran an opium den at Kaniere, thought Pritchard's opium supply was poisoned—somehow this means that Pritchard doesn't have access to Quee.
- While they were talking, Nilssen's clerk came in to announce that George Shepard had come for a visit. Pritchard took his leave after getting Nilssen to promise to visit Quee.
- Once Pritchard had left, Shepard came in.
- Even though they weren't really acquainted, Shepard had come to Nilssen with a business proposal: He wanted Nilssen to use his 40 pounds from the sale of Crosbie's property to help finance the building of a jailhouse. He said he would pay him back with interest before Nilssen was likely to have to pay it back to Crosbie's estate (which both men thought was certain to happen).
- Although Shepard claimed not to be blackmailing Nilssen, Nilssen definitely felt that Shepard was putting the screws to him to ensure his compliance by emphasizing that he, too, thinks the quick sale of Crosbie's property looks fishy. In Nilssen's view, Shepard was treating him as a guilty man …
- After Shepard left, Nilssen called his clerk back in to ask him the details of who found Crosbie Wells. He was dismayed to realize it was Alistair Lauderback.
- Ten minutes later, he left for Kaniere.