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Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Summary

Days of rain. The outfit reaches the Red River, famous for quicksand, and Deets rejects the first crossing, riding downstream to find a gravel bar that lets Old Dog walk the herd across almost as if on a road; only a few weak cows bog. The sun comes out and the men, giddy at having crossed the Red and lived, sing half the night. Po Campo sings in Spanish with a gourd rattle, songs so sad they raise the hair on Pea Eye's neck; asked why a happy man sings only of death, he says the songs are not his — they belong to whoever hears them. Call, camped apart as always, is depressed by Gus's absence, and one night startles himself by speaking aloud the argument he never got to have: he wishes Gus had killed Blue Duck when he had the chance, and had never encouraged Jake to bring the girl.

Analysis

The Red River is crossed without incident, which is the joke — the dreaded obstacle costs nothing while the trivial ones kill. Po Campo's line about songs belonging to whoever hears them is the book's aesthetic creed. Call talks aloud to an absent Gus and startles himself.

Plates

Two days south of the Red River, low black clouds boil out of the northwest over a treeless rolling plain and the fair spring morning turns to water.
00 Two days south of the Red River, low black clouds boil out of the northwest over a treeless rolling plain and the fair spring morning turns to water.
It rains so hard for two hours that the cattle are difficult to see; Newt mopes along on Mouse, chilled and depressed.
01 It rains so hard for two hours that the cattle are difficult to see; Newt mopes along on Mouse, chilled and depressed.
The wet camp — Po Campo pours hot coffee down the men by the gallon while he and Deets, the acknowledged experts on weather, admit they do not know when it might stop raining.
02 The wet camp — Po Campo pours hot coffee down the men by the gallon while he and Deets, the acknowledged experts on weather, admit they do not know when it might stop raining.
Holding the point in the pouring rain, Dish Boggett confides in Newt about Lorena and Jake — "If she's alive and Gus gets her back, I still aim to marry her."
03 Holding the point in the pouring rain, Dish Boggett confides in Newt about Lorena and Jake — "If she's alive and Gus gets her back, I still aim to marry her."
Call and Deets sit their horses on the low bank of the Red, looking across a hundred yards of wet rusty sand at the river that has always been the northern boundary of their activity — "Do you think we ought to wait and let it go down?"
04 Call and Deets sit their horses on the low bank of the Red, looking across a hundred yards of wet rusty sand at the river that has always been the northern boundary of their activity — "Do you think we ought to wait and let it go down?"
Deets crosses the channel alone, picks his way over the far sand, dislikes the crossing, and waves the others back with his hat before loping off downriver.
05 Deets crosses the channel alone, picks his way over the far sand, dislikes the crossing, and waves the others back with his hat before loping off downriver.
The rain slows, the sun breaks through, and Old Dog leads the herd down Deets's gravel bar into the Red as if the entrance were a road.
06 The rain slows, the sun breaks through, and Old Dog leads the herd down Deets's gravel bar into the Red as if the entrance were a road.
Five or six weak cows bog coming out; Dish and Soupy strip off and wade into the mud to get ropes on them while Bert Borum pulls them free.
07 Five or six weak cows bog coming out; Dish and Soupy strip off and wade into the mud to get ropes on them while Bert Borum pulls them free.
Camp that night — Po Campo shakes his gourd rattle and sings in Spanish, so sad it stands the hair up on Pea Eye's neck: "I don't sing about myself. I sing about life."
08 Camp that night — Po Campo shakes his gourd rattle and sings in Spanish, so sad it stands the hair up on Pea Eye's neck: "I don't sing about myself. I sing about life."
Camped apart, cleaning his rifle, Call is startled by the sound of his own voice saying the thing he never got to say to Gus; no one hears it but the Hell Bitch, grazing at the end of the long rope run under his belt and looped round his wrist.
09 Camped apart, cleaning his rifle, Call is startled by the sound of his own voice saying the thing he never got to say to Gus; no one hears it but the Hell Bitch, grazing at the end of the long rope run under his belt and looped round his wrist.