The Female of the Species

After a mining-camp massacre, a miner, his wife, his sister, and another woman start across the desert with a mule. While the wife and sister look for water, the miner tries to embrace the other woman. She resists. The wife comes back and attacks her. The miner dies trying to pull them apart. The wife blames the other woman. The next day, as that woman sleeps, the wife stands over her with an axe. Her sister pushes her to strike. A baby cries. The wife finds the child on a dead Indian mother, whose husband had been shot stealing a canteen, and throws the axe away. When the other woman wakes, the wife listens and embraces her.