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Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Summary

The same storm, at Jake and Lorena's camp. Jake forgot to hobble the horses and Lorena's mare breaks loose. Lorena, who fears lightning above everything, huddles against a big mesquite until Jake tries to drag her out from under it toward the riverbank. She fights him, splitting his eye and knocking him into the mud, but a near strike stops her and she lets him pull her under the overhang beneath a muddy tarp. From there she watches lightning split the tree across the river where they had made their first camp; the top falls in the dark between flashes. Jake says they have Deets to thank for being alive. Lorena thinks: you didn't thank him.

Analysis

The same storm from the other camp, and the comparison is the point: the outfit has numbers, Lorena has Jake. Her unspoken thought — that he never thanked Deets — measures him more precisely than any of Augustus's speeches about him.

Plates

The first lightning strikes and Lorena's young mare snaps her rein and runs off into the blowing sand.
00 The first lightning strikes and Lorena's young mare snaps her rein and runs off into the blowing sand.
Jake, in the dark and the blowing sand, gets the hobbles onto his own horse and the pack mule, having let the mare go.
01 Jake, in the dark and the blowing sand, gets the hobbles onto his own horse and the pack mule, having let the mare go.
Lorena huddled under a blanket with her back against the big mesquite, her legs half buried in sand.
02 Lorena huddled under a blanket with her back against the big mesquite, her legs half buried in sand.
Jake comes back to the tree and tells her the mare won't go far, that they'll find her on this side of the river; Lorena doesn't answer.
03 Jake comes back to the tree and tells her the mare won't go far, that they'll find her on this side of the river; Lorena doesn't answer.
The tarp Jake rigged, too small to cover them, while lightning begins striking in the trees nearby.
04 The tarp Jake rigged, too small to cover them, while lightning begins striking in the trees nearby.
A bolt hits just behind them; when Lorena gets her breath back she is crying, the tears mingling with the rain on her face.
05 A bolt hits just behind them; when Lorena gets her breath back she is crying, the tears mingling with the rain on her face.
"We got to get out from under this dern tree" — Jake hauling at her arm while she braces against the mesquite and refuses to leave it.
06 "We got to get out from under this dern tree" — Jake hauling at her arm while she braces against the mesquite and refuses to leave it.
Her first blow catches Jake in the eye; he slips and sits down in the mud, and in the next flash he is trying to get up with a look of surprise on his face.
07 Her first blow catches Jake in the eye; he slips and sits down in the mud, and in the next flash he is trying to get up with a look of surprise on his face.
Under the little overhang of the bank beneath the muddy tarp, Jake shivering against her, every wavelet on the river lit and the hobbled horses jumping in the flash.
08 Under the little overhang of the bank beneath the muddy tarp, Jake shivering against her, every wavelet on the river lit and the hobbled horses jumping in the flash.
Across the river the tree of their first camp stands split, the top part fallen; Lorena puts her head against her knees and waits.
09 Across the river the tree of their first camp stands split, the top part fallen; Lorena puts her head against her knees and waits.