After numerous failures to reassert himself over McCullough and the town, Pa Danby enlists a host of his relatives to launch an all-out assault. When the news reaches McCullough, he initially tells Prudy he has decided to simply leave town and resume his trip to Australia, but when she expresses her sincere approval of this sensible idea, he declares it to be cowardly and announces he is staying, instead. The rest of the townsfolk officially vote to stay out of the conflict, and not help in any way. Thus, the Danby clan rides in faced only by McCullough, Jake, and Prudy. After a lengthy but unproductive gunfight, McCullough bluffs his way to victory using Joe as a hostage and the old cannon mounted in the center of town. As all the Danbys are marched off to jail, the supposedly unloaded cannon fires, smashing Madame Orr's, the town brothel, and scattering the resident prostitutes and the four civic leaders who were inside.