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Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Summary

The wagon is destroyed. Bolivar, dozing on the seat and dreaming of his daughters, accidentally discharges his ten-gauge and is knocked off; the runaway mules go over a three-foot cutbank and the rotten wagon bed bursts. Lippy, his coat-tail pinched in the seat and unable to jump, is pinned underwater until Augustus ropes a wheel and Pea cuts the coat loose — and then, to Newt's enormous relief, revives and vomits river water. Bolivar walks up and quits. He has come further from the Rio Grande than he ever has in his life, misses his daughters, and is embarrassed at having fired the shot. Call gives him a gelding. Newt is far sadder at Bol's leaving than he was glad of Lippy's survival, and privately would have preferred the reverse. Riding south, Bol already suspects it was another stupid decision, and comforts himself by planning to stop in Lonesome Dove and beat the dinner bell a few more times.

Analysis

Attrition by farce: the wagon dies of a dream and a dropped shotgun. Bolivar's departure matters more to Newt than Lippy's survival, and the novel says so plainly — the first admission that the boy grades people by who is kind to him, not by who is useful.

Plates

The herd moseying north past San Antonio on a hot day, the mosquitoes thinning and the cowboys half asleep in their saddles.
00 The herd moseying north past San Antonio on a hot day, the mosquitoes thinning and the cowboys half asleep in their saddles.
Bolivar dozing on the wagon seat with the ten-gauge across his knees, dreaming of his daughters, the blue pigs rooting a rat's nest under a cactus.
01 Bolivar dozing on the wagon seat with the ten-gauge across his knees, dreaming of his daughters, the blue pigs rooting a rat's nest under a cactus.
Newt hears stock running, looks back, and sees the wagon racing for the creek with the mules unchecked and Lippy on the seat holding no reins.
02 Newt hears stock running, looks back, and sees the wagon racing for the creek with the mules unchecked and Lippy on the seat holding no reins.
Jim Rainey rides back to head the mules, fails, and only turns them out of the easy crossing toward the three-foot cutbank.
03 Jim Rainey rides back to head the mules, fails, and only turns them out of the easy crossing toward the three-foot cutbank.
The wreck — the wagon over the cutbank, upside down in the creek with all four wheels spinning in the air and the mules fallen backwards on top of it.
04 The wreck — the wagon over the cutbank, upside down in the creek with all four wheels spinning in the air and the mules fallen backwards on top of it.
Augustus, in the water on old Malaria, throws a loop over a spinning wheel and spurs the big horse to tilt the wagon onto one edge.
05 Augustus, in the water on old Malaria, throws a loop over a spinning wheel and spurs the big horse to tilt the wagon onto one edge.
Pea cuts the pinched coat loose with his bowie knife while Newt and the Raineys hold Lippy's mud-covered head above the water.
06 Pea cuts the pinched coat loose with his bowie knife while Newt and the Raineys hold Lippy's mud-covered head above the water.
Lippy revives on the bank and belches river water while Call, riding up from the head of the herd, points at the sack of flour spoiling in the shallows.
07 Lippy revives on the bank and belches river water while Call, riding up from the head of the herd, points at the sack of flour spoiling in the shallows.
Bolivar walks in with his gun and the blue pigs, tells the Captain he is going back, and is handed the reins of a gentle gelding.
08 Bolivar walks in with his gun and the blue pigs, tells the Captain he is going back, and is handed the reins of a gentle gelding.
Bolivar rides south without looking back, his gun across the horse's withers, while Newt makes a show of spreading bedrolls to hide the fact that he is crying.
09 Bolivar rides south without looking back, his gun across the horse's withers, while Newt makes a show of spreading bedrolls to hide the fact that he is crying.