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Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Summary

July rides sixteen hours a day and will not talk, so filled with dread about Elmira that only hard travel keeps it down. Joe gives up asking questions and dozes in the saddle. At the Red River they find a tall man in a beaver hat and frock coat, bogged with his horse and mule in the quicksand and cheerfully throwing his baggage — bedroll included — into the water. July ropes him out. He gives his name as Sedgwick, says he has been studying insects and left a thousand of them in Little Rock, and now means to preach the Gospel in Texas; there are a million species of insect and only one of man, and the insects are waiting their turn. He offers to take Joe on and educate him, and tells July plainly that he is carrying a weight on his heart and hurrying toward something he may not want to do. July rides on, unsettled by how easily the stranger read him.

Analysis

Sedgwick the bug-man functions as chorus: a stranger who reads July instantly, warns against hurrying toward the grave, and offers to take Joe off his hands. Three chances to avert the coming slaughter are extended and declined inside one conversation.

Plates

In the dripping pine woods, Joe turns in the saddle mid-question and July rides on without answering.
00 In the dripping pine woods, Joe turns in the saddle mid-question and July rides on without answering.
At a farm gate July asks the farmer whether Jake Spoon has passed, and does not get down from his horse.
01 At a farm gate July asks the farmer whether Jake Spoon has passed, and does not get down from his horse.
On a hot afternoon the farmer's wife hands up a glass of buttermilk while her little girls giggle at Joe, who ignores them.
02 On a hot afternoon the farmer's wife hands up a glass of buttermilk while her little girls giggle at Joe, who ignores them.
Night camp in a place thick with mosquitoes — Joe asleep dead to the world, July sitting up awake with his worry about Elmira.
03 Night camp in a place thick with mosquitoes — Joe asleep dead to the world, July sitting up awake with his worry about Elmira.
Sixteen hours a day in the saddle — Joe rides in a doze for miles at a stretch, close portrait.
04 Sixteen hours a day in the saddle — Joe rides in a doze for miles at a stretch, close portrait.
They slog out of a clearing and the broad muddy Red River comes into view, curving down from the north — Texas on the far side.
05 They slog out of a clearing and the broad muddy Red River comes into view, curving down from the north — Texas on the far side.
The tall man in the beaver hat, bogged between his horse and his pack mule, cheerfully pitching his parcels into the river.
06 The tall man in the beaver hat, bogged between his horse and his pack mule, cheerfully pitching his parcels into the river.
Having crossed where the deer cross, July ties the two ropes together and drags the horse and the pack mule out of the quicksand.
07 Having crossed where the deer cross, July ties the two ropes together and drags the horse and the pack mule out of the quicksand.
Sedgwick turns his blue eyes on July and tells him he carries a weight on his heart and is hurrying to do something he may not want to do.
08 Sedgwick turns his blue eyes on July and tells him he carries a weight on his heart and is hurrying to do something he may not want to do.
Sedgwick walks off down the riverbank and squats to peer at the ground; July rides on, unsettled by how easily the stranger read him.
09 Sedgwick walks off down the riverbank and squats to peer at the ground; July rides on, unsettled by how easily the stranger read him.