History in Books the world's story, told by its literature

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Summary

Deets, left alone guarding the penned horses, gives the chapter its centre. He lets Dish slip away to the saloon and settles against the water trough to watch the moon, which he loves and puzzles over — he has half imagined propping a ladder against it and stepping on, and half feared that Indians understand it well enough to make the wells run dry. He wishes he had been given schooling to answer such questions. At the Dry Bean, Dish finds Lorena not alone but playing cards with Xavier and Jasper Fant. Xavier, who has quietly loved her and regularly bought her, is sour that Jake has taken his only whore out of business. Lorena, freed from what the men want, enjoys the game and wins hand after hand. Dish loses three months' wages and is stung worse by her friendliness than by her old silence. Riding back, he and Jasper agree things went better before the change.

Analysis

Deets's only sustained interiority, placed early so his death later registers as the loss of a mind rather than a hand. McMurtry gives the least-heard man the largest speculation — the moon, the Indians, the shape of the world — and lets nobody in the book hear it.

Plates

Dish Boggett leans on the gate of the big corral under the red afterglow, smoking, and cannot make himself believe in the swarm of bandits.
00 Dish Boggett leans on the gate of the big corral under the red afterglow, smoking, and cannot make himself believe in the swarm of bandits.
Deets has seated himself against the big water trough with his rifle across his lap, content to be let alone.
01 Deets has seated himself against the big water trough with his rifle across his lap, content to be let alone.
"Well, it all looks safe" — Dish stands over Deets and tells him he will stroll to the saloon and bathe his throat; Deets tells him to go along.
02 "Well, it all looks safe" — Dish stands over Deets and tells him he will stroll to the saloon and bathe his throat; Deets tells him to go along.
Dish takes his horse so as not to be caught afoot, and goes trotting off toward the saloon.
03 Dish takes his horse so as not to be caught afoot, and goes trotting off toward the saloon.
Alone now, Deets listens to the horses settle; one comes to the trough and drinks, sucking the water in long draughts.
04 Alone now, Deets listens to the horses settle; one comes to the trough and drinks, sucking the water in long draughts.
Deets watches the moon — the thin little hook that hangs above him white as a tooth — and thinks about propping a ladder against it, and about the Indians who understand it better than he does.
05 Deets watches the moon — the thin little hook that hangs above him white as a tooth — and thinks about propping a ladder against it, and about the Indians who understand it better than he does.
Dish walks into the Dry Bean and gets his surprise — Lorena is not alone; she is at a table with Xavier and Jasper Fant, and calls out that now they can have a game.
06 Dish walks into the Dry Bean and gets his surprise — Lorena is not alone; she is at a table with Xavier and Jasper Fant, and calls out that now they can have a game.
Xavier endures Lippy's witticisms in silence, in a worse mood than usual, knowing why — Jake Spoon has come to town and deprived him of a whore he had come to love.
07 Xavier endures Lippy's witticisms in silence, in a worse mood than usual, knowing why — Jake Spoon has come to town and deprived him of a whore he had come to love.
Lorena wins hand after hand while Dish, mesmerised by her bare white arms, plays away three months' wages.
08 Lorena wins hand after hand while Dish, mesmerised by her bare white arms, plays away three months' wages.
Outside in the street afterwards, Dish and Jasper have a smoke and Jasper looks wishfully up at the light in Lorena's window; both agree, without saying it, that things went a little better before the change.
09 Outside in the street afterwards, Dish and Jasper have a smoke and Jasper looks wishfully up at the light in Lorena's window; both agree, without saying it, that things went a little better before the change.