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Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Summary

The storm hits before the herd can reach the river. Sand comes first, blowing up from Mexico in low streams that run like wolves under the cattle's bellies, and it blinds Newt at the moment the herd breaks into a run. He finds himself carried along inside the running cattle, unable to see, sure he has failed at his job and will die for it. Brush checks the stampede and splits the herd into bunches. Then comes lightning, driving into the ground in poles, until blue balls of it roll along the cattle's horns and Deets appears out of the dark to tell him to ride clear of them. Then the rain turns the world to water, one stream pouring off his hat brim in front of his nose and another down his back. Mouse slides into a flooded gully and keeps his feet. Newt gives up steering, thinks of the dawn after the Mexico raid, and plods on, praying for light.

Analysis

The first of the drive's weather set pieces, all built identically: Newt loses sight of the outfit and endures alone. McMurtry uses weather as the novel's true antagonist far more than Indians — indifferent, recurring, unbeatable, and impossible to take revenge on.

Plates

Augustus jokes that the outfit is about to find out if it was meant to be cowboys, while Call asks Deets whether the herd can reach the Nueces before the storm.
00 Augustus jokes that the outfit is about to find out if it was meant to be cowboys, while Call asks Deets whether the herd can reach the Nueces before the storm.
The sun goes dark as an eclipse behind the brown curtain of sand, and Bolivar stops the wagon to dig through the bedrolls for his serape.
01 The sun goes dark as an eclipse behind the brown curtain of sand, and Bolivar stops the wagon to dig through the bedrolls for his serape.
Newt carries the Captain's order up to the point, and Dish Boggett, slouched at ease, loosens his bandanna and jokes that one of them must have been promoted.
02 Newt carries the Captain's order up to the point, and Dish Boggett, slouched at ease, loosens his bandanna and jokes that one of them must have been promoted.
Soupy ties his bandanna over his nose and crams his hat down as the first low streams of sand come sliding through the mesquite and under the cattle's bellies like running wolves.
03 Soupy ties his bandanna over his nose and crams his hat down as the first low streams of sand come sliding through the mesquite and under the cattle's bellies like running wolves.
Blinded by sand at the moment the herd breaks into a run, Newt digs a finger into his eye and finds himself carried along inside the running cattle, a horn nudging his leg.
04 Blinded by sand at the moment the herd breaks into a run, Newt digs a finger into his eye and finds himself carried along inside the running cattle, a horn nudging his leg.
The herd hits a mesquite thicket; limbs pop, a branch takes Newt across the face, Mouse almost goes to his knees, and the brush checks the stampede.
05 The herd hits a mesquite thicket; limbs pop, a branch takes Newt across the face, Mouse almost goes to his knees, and the brush checks the stampede.
The lightning stops running along the horizon and starts driving into the earth in poles; in one flash Newt sees Dish Boggett thirty yards off, pulling on a yellow slicker.
06 The lightning stops running along the horizon and starts driving into the earth in poles; in one flash Newt sees Dish Boggett thirty yards off, pulling on a yellow slicker.
Little blue balls of fire roll along the cattle's horns, and Deets comes out of the dark alongside Newt to tell him to ride off the cattle.
07 Little blue balls of fire roll along the cattle's horns, and Deets comes out of the dark alongside Newt to tell him to ride off the cattle.
In the worst of the rain Mouse slides into a flooded gully, his back feet almost going out from under him, and keeps his feet while the water rises up Newt's legs.
08 In the worst of the rain Mouse slides into a flooded gully, his back feet almost going out from under him, and keeps his feet while the water rises up Newt's legs.
The lightning dies and the hard rain slackens to drizzle; Newt, one boot full of water, tells Mouse he is a good horse, and they plod on through the mud waiting for it to get light.
09 The lightning dies and the hard rain slackens to drizzle; Newt, one boot full of water, tells Mouse he is a good horse, and they plod on through the mud waiting for it to get light.