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Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Summary

Augustus straps on his old Colt dragoon and strolls down to the Dry Bean saloon. Inside are Lippy Jones, the piano player with an unhealed hole in his belly and a filthy bowler hat; Xavier Wanz, the fastidious little Frenchman who owns the place and mourns his bullying dead wife once a year over a linen tablecloth; and Dish Boggett, a top hand of twenty-two who has ridden a hundred miles up the river for Lorena's sake and has no money to pay her. Augustus refuses him a loan, needles Lippy about his hat, and gets a card game going with Xavier and Lorena. Playing lifts Lorena briefly out of herself and deepens Dish's hopeless love. Afterwards, outside, Augustus quietly hands Dish the two dollars he had asked for and invites him to sleep on the Hat Creek porch. Dish goes straight back up the saloon stairs.

Analysis

Introduces the town's supporting cast and Dish's hopeless love — an engine the novel runs for eight hundred pages without ever resolving. The card game shows what Augustus can draw out of Lorena that no one else can, and his two-dollar loan establishes his register: unsentimental generosity.

Plates

Augustus stops on the sandy bottom of Hat Creek to strap on the old Colt dragoon before walking down to the saloon.
00 Augustus stops on the sandy bottom of Hat Creek to strap on the old Colt dragoon before walking down to the saloon.
An armadillo runs at Augustus's feet in the dark street and he jumps sideways, thinking snake.
01 An armadillo runs at Augustus's feet in the dark street and he jumps sideways, thinking snake.
One horse only outside the Dry Bean — Dish Boggett's rangy sorrel — and Augustus recognises it and gets a prime feeling about a card game.
02 One horse only outside the Dry Bean — Dish Boggett's rangy sorrel — and Augustus recognises it and gets a prime feeling about a card game.
Augustus steps inside to find everyone peeved: Lippy hammering "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" at the piano while Xavier Wanz wipes his tables with a wet rag.
03 Augustus steps inside to find everyone peeved: Lippy hammering "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" at the piano while Xavier Wanz wipes his tables with a wet rag.
Dish Boggett sits at the table with Lorena, hoping to be given a poke on credit, pleading his case with nothing but big hopeful eyes while she looks somewhere else.
04 Dish Boggett sits at the table with Lorena, hoping to be given a poke on credit, pleading his case with nothing but big hopeful eyes while she looks somewhere else.
"Loan me two dollars, Gus." — "Not me. Why would I loan money to a loafer?" Augustus stands over the table and refuses him.
05 "Loan me two dollars, Gus." — "Not me. Why would I loan money to a loafer?" Augustus stands over the table and refuses him.
Xavier stops wiping tables, snatches the bowler off Lippy's head — "Disgrace! I won't have this hat. Who can eat?" — and carries it around the bar to fling out the back door.
06 Xavier stops wiping tables, snatches the bowler off Lippy's head — "Disgrace! I won't have this hat. Who can eat?" — and carries it around the bar to fling out the back door.
The bowler lies in the dirt behind the saloon where Xavier flung it — the goats ignoring it, the pigs not yet come — while Lippy sits inside worrying about it.
07 The bowler lies in the dirt behind the saloon where Xavier flung it — the goats ignoring it, the pigs not yet come — while Lippy sits inside worrying about it.
The card game at its height — Lorena wins a pot, laughs out loud and punches Augustus with her fist, while Xavier deals and Dish falls worse in love than ever.
08 The card game at its height — Lorena wins a pot, laughs out loud and punches Augustus with her fist, while Xavier deals and Dish falls worse in love than ever.
Outside in the moonlight Augustus fishes out the two dollars and hands them over, with Lorena's lamp burning in the upstairs window above them and Dish already halfway to changing his mind about leaving.
09 Outside in the moonlight Augustus fishes out the two dollars and hands them over, with Lorena's lamp burning in the upstairs window above them and Dish already halfway to changing his mind about leaving.