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Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Summary

Jake surfaces from Lorena's bed in the afternoon, wanting to borrow ten dollars and already regretting having mentioned Montana. He sees his options as getting scalped in the north or hanged in Texas, with a woman now expecting San Francisco because he said it to make a pleasant prospect. Augustus, in high spirits, teases him about stove lids and about Lorena's expectations, then rousts the two sleeping Irishmen, teaches them to adjust their stirrups, hands them Winchesters and lets them shoot at a cactus. Fearing Pedro Flores will come for the horses, he splits the herd: the prime stock goes back to the pens in town with Deets and Dish, while the skinny remainder is eased upriver in the dark. Jake, grumbling, is kept out on watch and asks for Newt as his partner. Newt lights up at being chosen; Augustus feels a pang, thinking Jake too leaky a vessel to hold so much of the boy's hope.

Analysis

Jake begins to curdle within a day of getting what he wanted. Augustus's private pang — Jake as too leaky a vessel to hold Newt's hope — delivers the novel's verdict early, so the reader watches it come true rather than discovering it at the hanging.

Plates

Jake comes ambling up from Lorena's bed in the afternoon and walks past the two Irishmen asleep under the wagon without a glance.
00 Jake comes ambling up from Lorena's bed in the afternoon and walks past the two Irishmen asleep under the wagon without a glance.
Jake reaches the porch, asks to borrow ten dollars, and reaches for Augustus's jug while being told Call has gone to hire hands for Montana.
01 Jake reaches the porch, asks to borrow ten dollars, and reaches for Augustus's jug while being told Call has gone to hire hands for Montana.
Jake sits on the lower step turning sour — scalped in Montana or hanged in Texas — while the blue shoat comes round the corner of the house and stands looking at him.
02 Jake sits on the lower step turning sour — scalped in Montana or hanged in Texas — while the blue shoat comes round the corner of the house and stands looking at him.
Augustus, delighted, delivers the stove-lid line and warns that Lorie will hit Jake with worse if he tries to wiggle out of San Francisco.
03 Augustus, delighted, delivers the stove-lid line and warns that Lorie will hit Jake with worse if he tries to wiggle out of San Francisco.
Augustus takes his big pistol off the chair back, walks out and kicks at the Irishmen's feet until Allen O'Brien sits up groggy and says how warm it is.
04 Augustus takes his big pistol off the chair back, walks out and kicks at the Irishmen's feet until Allen O'Brien sits up groggy and says how warm it is.
In the pen Augustus shows the Irishmen how to adjust their stirrups so their feet won't dangle, while Jake comes walking up with a Winchester in the crook of his arm.
05 In the pen Augustus shows the Irishmen how to adjust their stirrups so their feet won't dangle, while Jake comes walking up with a Winchester in the crook of his arm.
Augustus hands each Irishman a Winchester and makes them shoot at a cactus; Sean, who has never held a gun, is frightened by the flat crack of it.
06 Augustus hands each Irishman a Winchester and makes them shoot at a cactus; Sean, who has never held a gun, is frightened by the flat crack of it.
At the horse herd Dish rides over and pokes Newt awake to show him the armed Irishmen coming; Newt's hat falls off and his legs feel like lead.
07 At the horse herd Dish rides over and pokes Newt awake to show him the armed Irishmen coming; Newt's hat falls off and his legs feel like lead.
Augustus rides through Call's catch, tells Deets and Pea Eye the nags are barely worth a night's sleep, and lays out the plan to pen the prime stock and hide the rest, with the sun slipping fast over the river.
08 Augustus rides through Call's catch, tells Deets and Pea Eye the nags are barely worth a night's sleep, and lays out the plan to pen the prime stock and hide the rest, with the sun slipping fast over the river.
Newt lopes over at Augustus's wave, his face lit at being asked for by Jake Spoon, while Dish and Deets take the prime stock back to town and the hundred skinny horses start north in the fading light.
09 Newt lopes over at Augustus's wave, his face lit at being asked for by Jake Spoon, while Dish and Deets take the prime stock back to town and the hundred skinny horses start north in the fading light.