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Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Summary

Two smooth weeks of good grass are broken by a freak accident: a small sharp-horned cow hooks Mouse under the girth while Ben Rainey is riding him, and the horse bleeds out. Call tells Newt to put him down; Dish quietly leads the horse away and does it for him. Next morning Augustus waves Newt over for coffee, and Lorena — who bears him no grudge for the night she was taken — smiles at him and laughs at Po Campo's grasshoppers. Lorena, meanwhile, has quietly decided to fight for Gus: she will offer to marry him before they reach Ogallala and the other woman. Riding out to look at the Arkansas crossing, Deets asks Call whether they will ever go back, and is answered that Call won't. Deets also reports crossing the track of Jake Spoon's pacing horse, running with four others.

Analysis

Mouse dies pointlessly, in a way no one has heard of — the drive's grammar applied to a horse. Dish's kindness in doing the shooting is the chapter's quiet argument about what men owe each other. Deets asks whether they will ever go back and is answered honestly.

Plates

West of the grasshopper line the herd finds good grass and two clear weeks, and moves north toward the Arkansas without incident.
00 West of the grasshopper line the herd finds good grass and two clear weeks, and moves north toward the Arkansas without incident.
The freak accident — the little sharp-horned cow turns mean and hooks Mouse behind the girth, lifting his hindquarters off the ground and throwing Ben Rainey.
01 The freak accident — the little sharp-horned cow turns mean and hooks Mouse behind the girth, lifting his hindquarters off the ground and throwing Ben Rainey.
Deets and Po Campo, the two best horse doctors in the outfit, look at the wound behind the girth and both shake their heads.
02 Deets and Po Campo, the two best horse doctors in the outfit, look at the wound behind the girth and both shake their heads.
Newt, waved over from the far side of the herd, sees Mouse gushing blood and goes faint with shock while Ben Rainey stands guilty behind him.
03 Newt, waved over from the far side of the herd, sees Mouse gushing blood and goes faint with shock while Ben Rainey stands guilty behind him.
Call tells Newt to put the horse down; Newt reaches for the reins and Dish Boggett quietly takes them out of his hand instead.
04 Call tells Newt to put the horse down; Newt reaches for the reins and Dish Boggett quietly takes them out of his hand instead.
A hundred yards out on the empty grass, Dish shoots the horse so that Newt does not have to.
05 A hundred yards out on the empty grass, Dish shoots the horse so that Newt does not have to.
Newt trades shifts twice and stays out on the night herd until dawn, where nobody can see him cry.
06 Newt trades shifts twice and stays out on the night herd until dawn, where nobody can see him cry.
Sunrise: Gus stands outside his little tent complaining about cooking with buffalo chips and waves Newt over for a cup of coffee to cut the grief.
07 Sunrise: Gus stands outside his little tent complaining about cooking with buffalo chips and waves Newt over for a cup of coffee to cut the grief.
Lorena, holding her coffee in both hands, laughs at Po Campo's grasshoppers and says she has got so she likes this looking far — privately deciding to ask Gus to marry her before Ogallala.
08 Lorena, holding her coffee in both hands, laughs at Po Campo's grasshoppers and says she has got so she likes this looking far — privately deciding to ask Gus to marry her before Ogallala.
On the bank of the swift Arkansas at moonrise, Deets asks whether they will ever get back and Call, looking up the river toward Colorado, says he doubts he will return himself.
09 On the bank of the swift Arkansas at moonrise, Deets asks whether they will ever get back and Call, looking up the river toward Colorado, says he doubts he will return himself.