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Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Summary

Augustus and Jake drink by the springhouse and circle old ground: Deets's quilt trousers and the sheepskin coat Augustus secretly burned, Maggie's death, and Clara Allen, whom both men once courted and who married the horse trader Bob Allen and now lives on the North Platte in Nebraska. Jake, who glimpsed her in Ogallala, says she is not as pretty as she was; Augustus privately keeps an ear open for news that Bob has died. While Dish Boggett labours at the windlass and Call fights the Hell Bitch into a saddle, Call surprises Augustus by asking outright: why not go north? Augustus resists — he wants a roof and a bed, not another wilderness — and argues that all their Ranger work only cleared the way for bankers and lawyers. But he can see the Montana idea has taken hold. Call says the boy could run a ranch. Realising the route north crosses the Platte, Augustus warms to the plan.

Analysis

Clara is installed as an absence, shaping Augustus's whole trajectory four hundred pages before she appears. Call's abrupt "Why not go north?" is the drive's true origin. Augustus's speech about clearing the way for bankers states the novel's thesis on what the Rangers actually accomplished.

Plates

Jake Spoon stands in the door of the low house watching Call and Deets walk off toward the barn.
00 Jake Spoon stands in the door of the low house watching Call and Deets walk off toward the barn.
In the kitchen, Augustus tells Jake how he burned Deets's lice-ridden sheepskin coat and blamed a buffalo hunter.
01 In the kitchen, Augustus tells Jake how he burned Deets's lice-ridden sheepskin coat and blamed a buffalo hunter.
Asked how Clara looked in Ogallala, Jake says she is not as pretty as she once was, and both men fall silent.
02 Asked how Clara looked in Ogallala, Jake says she is not as pretty as she once was, and both men fall silent.
Turned out of the kitchen, the two men watch Bolivar take his rawhide lariat off the woodpile and walk away into the chaparral.
03 Turned out of the kitchen, the two men watch Bolivar take his rawhide lariat off the woodpile and walk away into the chaparral.
At the springhouse — empty of rattlesnakes for once — Augustus brings out the whiskey jug and hands it to Jake, the guest.
04 At the springhouse — empty of rattlesnakes for once — Augustus brings out the whiskey jug and hands it to Jake, the guest.
The two squat in the springhouse shade with the jug while the pigs come nosing round a yard with not so much as a grasshopper in it.
05 The two squat in the springhouse shade with the jug while the pigs come nosing round a yard with not so much as a grasshopper in it.
Jake pulls his hat over his face and is asleep within two minutes, leaving Augustus to put the jug away and walk off down Hat Creek.
06 Jake pulls his hat over his face and is asleep within two minutes, leaving Augustus to put the jug away and walk off down Hat Creek.
Dish Boggett, sweated through hatband and belt, strains at the windlass to bring another bucket of dirt out of the new well.
07 Dish Boggett, sweated through hatband and belt, strains at the windlass to bring another bucket of dirt out of the new well.
The stirrups slap the Hell Bitch's belly, she goes as high as she can get, and the saddle flies twenty feet while Augustus laughs at the fence.
08 The stirrups slap the Hell Bitch's belly, she goes as high as she can get, and the saddle flies twenty feet while Augustus laughs at the fence.
At the fence, with the mare standing saddled on three legs behind him, Call looks north across the dusty flats and tries to reckon how far it is to Montana.
09 At the fence, with the mare standing saddled on three legs behind him, Call looks north across the dusty flats and tries to reckon how far it is to Montana.