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Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Summary

Morning at Hat Creek. Augustus rises before dawn to bake sourdough biscuits in a Dutch oven, watch the sunrise redden the chaparral, and read a little of the Prophets. Breakfast is the usual squabble: hard-fried eggs spoiled by coffee grounds, Bolivar sick and sullen, Pea Eye racing his own buttons to the back step. Dish Boggett, who spent the night with Lorena and is now weak with love, eats with them. Call, seeing a capable rider at his table, first floats the idea he has been nursing for a year — gathering a herd in Mexico and driving it north himself. Augustus scoffs that they are too old. Dish agrees to stay a day or two, calculating that credit and proximity might win him more time with Lorena. Then Call spots two riders far up the San Antonio road: Deets returning, and beside him a man on a pacing bay. Augustus recognises Jake Spoon.

Analysis

McMurtry's habitual shape: long domestic comedy, then a figure on the horizon. Critically, Call floats the Montana idea before Jake arrives — making Jake the drive's excuse rather than its author, which matters when the outfit later hangs him for what the trip made of him.

Plates

Four in the morning, still good dark — Augustus freshens the mesquite coals under the Dutch oven in the backyard and sets his moulded biscuits in.
00 Four in the morning, still good dark — Augustus freshens the mesquite coals under the Dutch oven in the backyard and sets his moulded biscuits in.
The rim of the sun edges over the horizon and the dew-wet chaparral is spotted with diamonds; goats wander bleating through the flats along the river.
01 The rim of the sun edges over the horizon and the dew-wet chaparral is spotted with diamonds; goats wander bleating through the flats along the river.
Good reading light at last — Augustus sits on the upturned lard kettle with the Bible open at Amos while the biscuits brown.
02 Good reading light at last — Augustus sits on the upturned lard kettle with the Bible open at Amos while the biscuits brown.
The two pigs come round the corner of the house and stand square in front of Augustus, hoping to be fed the Bible, as Call steps out the back door pulling on his shirt.
03 The two pigs come round the corner of the house and stand square in front of Augustus, hoping to be fed the Bible, as Call steps out the back door pulling on his shirt.
Augustus takes hold of Call's arm to look at the mare bite and says it wants more axle grease; Call says it ain't a wound, it's just a bite.
04 Augustus takes hold of Call's arm to look at the mare bite and says it wants more axle grease; Call says it ain't a wound, it's just a bite.
Augustus carries the browned biscuits inside and finds Newt at the table, bolt upright with a knife in one hand and a fork in the other, sound asleep.
05 Augustus carries the browned biscuits inside and finds Newt at the table, bolt upright with a knife in one hand and a fork in the other, sound asleep.
Bolivar, shaking and sick, spills a pile of coffee grounds into the grease where the eggs and bacon are frying.
06 Bolivar, shaking and sick, spills a pile of coffee grounds into the grease where the eggs and bacon are frying.
Pea Eye wins his race with the fifteen buttons and stands splattering the yard from the back steps; Dish Boggett arrives from the porch and goes to stand beside him and attend to the same business.
07 Pea Eye wins his race with the fifteen buttons and stands splattering the yard from the back steps; Dish Boggett arrives from the porch and goes to stand beside him and attend to the same business.
At the table, Call gives Dish the onceover and floats the herd — five or six more like him and we could drive it north — while Dish, weak with love for Lorena, has lost the taste of his food and Augustus works through the biscuits and honey.
08 At the table, Call gives Dish the onceover and floats the herd — five or six more like him and we could drive it north — while Dish, weak with love for Lorena, has lost the taste of his food and Augustus works through the biscuits and honey.
On the back porch, Call stands fixed on the San Antonio road where two horsemen shimmer in the heat — Deets on the white gelding Wishbone, and beside him a man on a pacing bay. That there's Jake Spoon.
09 On the back porch, Call stands fixed on the San Antonio road where two horsemen shimmer in the heat — Deets on the white gelding Wishbone, and beside him a man on a pacing bay. That there's Jake Spoon.