Hayduke arrives at Hidden Splendor Mine after his escape from Bishop Love and his team. Bonnie, Doc, and Smith prompt Hayduke to tell them how he got away as they pass around a joint. Hayduke, reluctant, says "it's a complicated story" (301) that they probably don’t want to hear. Bonnie tries to change the subject but Smith interrupts her to say Hayduke must have "winched her down" (301), with the “her” being his jeep. Hayduke, looking "gaunt, filthy, starving" (301), and exhausted, grins and confirms Smith's theory.

Smith tells Doc, who doesn't quite understand, that Hayduke used a method "us rock climbers call a free rappel" (302) to get down the cliff face. Smith says he does it all the time, though he's never done it with a jeep. He wonders whether Hayduke might be "oversimplifying" (203) or "stretching the truth a little bit" (302). Hayduke points to his jeep as proof. Smith says it might not even be Hayduke's jeep but a "reasonable fact-simile" (302). Doc chimes in with a "technical question" (302): whether a winch can be operated in reverse. Hayduke says it can. He then tells everyone to "shut up" (302) and listen to how he did it.