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Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Summary

Newt, night-herding, dwells on the north — plains without end, buffalo, bears too thick for bullets. He befriends Sean O'Brien, who is homesick for his dead mother and for Irish grass thick as a carpet, and who describes a father so brutal the brothers once lay in wait to brain him with a shovel; the man drowned in a well instead. It makes Newt reconsider his own fatherlessness. Round the fire the cowboys grumble that Jake has ruined the border by taking Lorena out of circulation, and play cards for wages they have already lost several times over. Deets, meanwhile, is uneasy. The Captain always taught that a good start makes a good campaign, and this start looks patched together: green crew, wild cattle, half-broke horses, and April nearly gone. He keeps his foreboding to himself, tells Newt only that they will arrive by fall, and watches the boy chop wood with his mind elsewhere.

Analysis

Deets states the structural warning — a good start makes a good campaign, and this start is patched together. His foreboding is the novel's most reliable instrument, and it is never once wrong. Sean's homesickness is established immediately before departure, marking him.

Plates

Newt night-herding, riding slowly around and around the bedded cattle with his mind gone north.
00 Newt night-herding, riding slowly around and around the bedded cattle with his mind gone north.
The sad singing of the Irishmen at the camp, heard by Newt out on the herd.
01 The sad singing of the Irishmen at the camp, heard by Newt out on the herd.
Newt and Sean resting by the river after a stretch of branding, and Sean crying at the thought of his dead mother.
02 Newt and Sean resting by the river after a stretch of branding, and Sean crying at the thought of his dead mother.
Sean, dry-eyed now, telling how the brothers laid for their father with a shovel and how the drunkard fell down a well and drowned instead.
03 Sean, dry-eyed now, telling how the brothers laid for their father with a shovel and how the drunkard fell down a well and drowned instead.
Jake Spoon trots past the herd on his way to Lonesome Dove and is gone into the shadows before Newt can get two words out of him.
04 Jake Spoon trots past the herd on his way to Lonesome Dove and is gone into the shadows before Newt can get two words out of him.
The campfire talk — the cowboys sour at Jake for taking Lorena out of circulation, while Augustus whittles a mesquite twig into a toothpick.
05 The campfire talk — the cowboys sour at Jake for taking Lorena out of circulation, while Augustus whittles a mesquite twig into a toothpick.
The card game breaks out on a saddle blanket by the fire, played for wages nobody has earned yet.
06 The card game breaks out on a saddle blanket by the fire, played for wages nobody has earned yet.
The boys, barred from the men's game, play among themselves for pebbles with the borrowed deck.
07 The boys, barred from the men's game, play among themselves for pebbles with the borrowed deck.
Morning at the branding fires, and Deets keeping his foreboding to himself — a patched-together crew, half-broke horses, and April nearly gone.
08 Morning at the branding fires, and Deets keeping his foreboding to himself — a patched-together crew, half-broke horses, and April nearly gone.
Newt's mind wanders to Lorena, the ax turns in his hands, and the flying chunk of mesquite misses Deets only because Deets was expecting it.
09 Newt's mind wanders to Lorena, the ax turns in his hands, and the flying chunk of mesquite misses Deets only because Deets was expecting it.