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Chapter 68

Chapter 68

Summary

Jake regrets the Suggs brothers within a day. Dan hates cowboys and proposes stealing a whole herd near Dodge and shooting the crew that drove it. At Doan's Store on the Red River, Jake walks over to speak to a barefoot black-haired girl on a wagon seat and is knocked flat from behind with a shotgun by an old nester who turns out to be her husband. When the man draws back to strike again, Jake shoots him twice — both shots as much a surprise to him as to the nester. The girl does not scream or climb down; she smiles at him, a smile that will puzzle him afterwards. Facing either a hanging jury or the Territory, he crosses the river with the Suggses and becomes an outlaw. Up in Kansas they rob a German farmer of four dollars, and Frog Lip drives the family's two milk cows through the roof of their sod house on his way out.

Analysis

Jake kills a second man by accident and crosses the river into outlawry, sealing his fate through cowardice rather than malice. The girl's inexplicable smile is left unexplained — McMurtry's refusal to let the killing acquire a motive. Frog Lip's cows through the roof set the Suggs register.

Plates

The first night's camp thirty miles north of Dallas, where Jake hears the Suggs brothers talk of hangings and killings and understands what he has ridden into.
00 The first night's camp thirty miles north of Dallas, where Jake hears the Suggs brothers talk of hangings and killings and understands what he has ridden into.
Dan Suggs, warming to his own idea, lays out the plan to steal a whole herd near Dodge and shoot the crew that drove it — "We'd plant 'em."
01 Dan Suggs, warming to his own idea, lays out the plan to steal a whole herd near Dodge and shoot the crew that drove it — "We'd plant 'em."
The next day at Doan's Store on the Red River — four nester wagons stopped for supplies, a trail herd crossing a mile to the west.
02 The next day at Doan's Store on the Red River — four nester wagons stopped for supplies, a trail herd crossing a mile to the west.
The barefoot black-haired girl on the wagon seat, waiting for her folks to finish shopping — the beauty Jake decides to go and speak to.
03 The barefoot black-haired girl on the wagon seat, waiting for her folks to finish shopping — the beauty Jake decides to go and speak to.
Knocked flat from behind with the ten-gauge, Jake on his knees in the dirt while the old nester draws the shotgun back for a second blow.
04 Knocked flat from behind with the ten-gauge, Jake on his knees in the dirt while the old nester draws the shotgun back for a second blow.
Jake shoots — twice, both shots as much a surprise to him as to the nester, who is knocked back against the wagon.
05 Jake shoots — twice, both shots as much a surprise to him as to the nester, who is knocked back against the wagon.
The old man dead — rolled partly under the wagon across his own shotgun, a line of blood running down the stock.
06 The old man dead — rolled partly under the wagon across his own shotgun, a line of blood running down the stock.
Walking back to the Suggses, Jake looks over his shoulder and the girl smiles at him — the smile that will puzzle him ever after.
07 Walking back to the Suggses, Jake looks over his shoulder and the girl smiles at him — the smile that will puzzle him ever after.
Crossing the Red River with the Suggs brothers into the Territory — fifteen minutes that make Jake an outlaw.
08 Crossing the Red River with the Suggs brothers into the Territory — fifteen minutes that make Jake an outlaw.
In Kansas, robbed of four dollars, the German family stands crying by the plough while Frog Lip drives their two milk cows through the roof of the sod house.
09 In Kansas, robbed of four dollars, the German family stands crying by the plough while Frog Lip drives their two milk cows through the roof of the sod house.