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Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Summary

Wilbarger rides up to the porch to buy horses. Augustus needles him, refuses to sell before sunup, and shares his jug; Wilbarger reveals his HIC brand is Latin and that he studied at Yale, which shocks Augustus more than anything else that day. Call promises forty horses at sunup, thirty-five dollars a head — a promise they cannot yet keep. Once Wilbarger leaves, Call tells Augustus where the horses will come from: the Hacienda Flores, Pedro Flores's great ranch thirty miles into Coahuila. Augustus calls it an assault rather than a cowhunt, but agrees. Call also decides to take Newt along. Meanwhile Dish is discovered vomiting drunk in the creek bed; Call, guessing Gus and Jake put him up to it, lets it pass, and Dish insists he can ride. Jake fires three shots to silence Bolivar's dinner bell. At the lots, Call hands Newt a pistol and gun belt. Seven riders cross the river at dusk.

Analysis

Plot mechanics: Call promises horses he doesn't have, manufacturing the Mexico raid. The chapter's real event is the gun belt — Newt's admission to the outfit, handed over by the father who won't name him. The pattern of giving objects instead of words starts here and ends the book.

Plates

Augustus alone on the front porch in the heat of the afternoon, biding his time with his jug while the blue pigs sleep in the dust.
00 Augustus alone on the front porch in the heat of the afternoon, biding his time with his jug while the blue pigs sleep in the dust.
Wilbarger trots his big black horse right up to the porch, and the shoat wakes, gets up and walks clean under the horse's belly.
01 Wilbarger trots his big black horse right up to the porch, and the shoat wakes, gets up and walks clean under the horse's belly.
Call steps out of the house onto the porch with his shirttail out and his cactus-pulp poultice, just as Chick rides around the corner of the house on a grey.
02 Call steps out of the house onto the porch with his shirttail out and his cactus-pulp poultice, just as Chick rides around the corner of the house on a grey.
Augustus squints at his old brass pocket watch and announces the horse-trading is closed for the day; Wilbarger, dismounted, comes up to rent a swig from the jug.
03 Augustus squints at his old brass pocket watch and announces the horse-trading is closed for the day; Wilbarger, dismounted, comes up to rent a swig from the jug.
Wilbarger back in the saddle takes Call's word on forty horses at sunup, thirty-five dollars a head, and lets fall that his HIC brand is Latin and that he studied it at Yale college.
04 Wilbarger back in the saddle takes Call's word on forty horses at sunup, thirty-five dollars a head, and lets fall that his HIC brand is Latin and that he studied it at Yale college.
Alone on the porch after Wilbarger has gone, Call names where the hundred horses will come from — the Hacienda Flores — and Augustus sets the jug down and stands, saying they are not going on a cowhunt but launching an assault.
05 Alone on the porch after Wilbarger has gone, Call names where the hundred horses will come from — the Hacienda Flores — and Augustus sets the jug down and stands, saying they are not going on a cowhunt but launching an assault.
Down in the sandy bottom of Hat Creek, Dish Boggett on his hands and knees vomiting while Newt worries over him and Jake and Augustus chat amiably on the bank.
06 Down in the sandy bottom of Hat Creek, Dish Boggett on his hands and knees vomiting while Newt worries over him and Jake and Augustus chat amiably on the bank.
Dish back on his feet and glassy-eyed, swearing he can ride, when Jake Spoon draws and fires three shots toward the house to shut up Bolivar's dinner bell.
07 Dish back on his feet and glassy-eyed, swearing he can ride, when Jake Spoon draws and fires three shots toward the house to shut up Bolivar's dinner bell.
In the barn at the lots, Call hands Newt a holstered pistol and a gun belt, and Newt slips the Colt out and turns the cylinder, listening to the small clear clicks.
08 In the barn at the lots, Call hands Newt a holstered pistol and a gun belt, and Newt slips the Colt out and turns the cylinder, listening to the small clear clicks.
As the day dies and the afterglow stretches up the empty sky, the Hat Creek outfit, seven strong, crosses the river and rides southeast toward the Hacienda Flores.
09 As the day dies and the afterglow stretches up the empty sky, the Hat Creek outfit, seven strong, crosses the river and rides southeast toward the Hacienda Flores.