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Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Summary

Lorena's abduction. Blue Duck appears without a sound, ties her ankles to her stirrups, and rides straight through the stampede he has started. He rides day and night through empty country, stopping only briefly at creeks; too frightened to drink or relieve herself at the first stop, she spends a day in agony of thirst, wets herself in the saddle, and is finally hauled up by the hair and ducked when she drinks too fast. He describes, conversationally, how he opens a runaway woman's stomach and winds her gut around a limb. She notices the necklace he wears is strung with human fingers — the easy way to get the rings off. He tells her Gus is coming, and that he has promised his men a woman. Her mare plays out, then the packhorse; she finishes riding bareback. At a red-sand river they meet Ermoke and three others carrying a lance strung with scalps, and at dusk Blue Duck tells them to have a taste. One of the men plays bugle calls while it happens.

Analysis

The novel's cruellest chapter, and it withholds the worst — the rape is given in a half-sentence and a bugle. Blue Duck's indifference is the point: Lorena is freight. Her hatred, arriving through the fear, is the first sign she will survive this.

Plates

Lorena looks up from her bedding and Blue Duck is simply standing there, rifle held one-handed like a toy, the moon gone behind a cloud.
00 Lorena looks up from her bedding and Blue Duck is simply standing there, rifle held one-handed like a toy, the moon gone behind a cloud.
Blue Duck ties her ankle to the stirrup with a rawhide string — "I guess that'll hold you."
01 Blue Duck ties her ankle to the stirrup with a rawhide string — "I guess that'll hold you."
Blue Duck rides straight into the running cattle, Lorena's eyes shut, the heat of the animals against her legs.
02 Blue Duck rides straight into the running cattle, Lorena's eyes shut, the heat of the animals against her legs.
The five-minute dawn stop at the little creek — the horses drink, and Lorena, too frightened to drink or squat, holds on to a stirrup until feeling comes back in her legs.
03 The five-minute dawn stop at the little creek — the horses drink, and Lorena, too frightened to drink or squat, holds on to a stirrup until feeling comes back in her legs.
The day of thirst — crossing yet another creek, she leans down out of the saddle to catch water in her hand and cannot reach it.
04 The day of thirst — crossing yet another creek, she leans down out of the saddle to catch water in her hand and cannot reach it.
At the sizeable stream she crawls in and gulps until he wades in beside her, hauls her up by the hair and tells her she'll founder.
05 At the sizeable stream she crawls in and gulps until he wades in beside her, hauls her up by the hair and tells her she'll founder.
Sitting in the shade with the jerky she cannot bite, she listens to him describe, casually, what he does to women who try to run away.
06 Sitting in the shade with the jerky she cannot bite, she listens to him describe, casually, what he does to women who try to run away.
Riding double behind him on the big sorrel after both her horses have played out, she works out that the white necklace is strung with human fingers.
07 Riding double behind him on the big sorrel after both her horses have played out, she works out that the white necklace is strung with human fingers.
They come out of the red-sand river bareback and Ermoke's four whip down to meet them, the lance strung with scalps held up, hands reaching for her hair.
08 They come out of the red-sand river bareback and Ermoke's four whip down to meet them, the lance strung with scalps held up, hands reaching for her hair.
After sundown Blue Duck drops his saddle and tells Ermoke to have a taste; the man with the bugle sits in the grass and blows calls.
09 After sundown Blue Duck drops his saddle and tells Ermoke to have a taste; the man with the bugle sits in the grass and blows calls.