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Chapter 75

Chapter 75

Summary

Clara Allen, on the Platte twenty miles from Ogallala. Three sons — Jim, Jeff and Johnny — lie buried on the knoll; her husband Bob lies in the bedroom, skull fractured by a mustang he insisted on breaking, staring open-eyed, fed on chicken broth and cleaned by her every night. She has two daughters, a piano bought with her own Texas money, a devoted old Mexican hand named Cholo, and flowers the wind keeps tearing away. Then Elmira arrives on the hide wagon with Zwey and Luke, asking for Dee Boot, and collapses in the yard. She labours all night, and Cholo delivers a boy she refuses to look at. Clara feeds the child boiled milk from a rag, hour after hour. Before the second night is out Elmira has gone, leaving the baby behind. Clara carries him in to Bob, hoping the sight might rouse him. It doesn't.

Analysis

Clara arrives fully formed and immediately outweighs everyone: three buried sons, a husband dying by inches, a piano bought with her own money. Her house is the novel's only functioning alternative to the drive — and Elmira passes through it, leaving behind the child that anchors the ending.

Plates

Clara is milking the mare in the lots when Sally comes racing down with news of a wagon, and the startled mare makes her squirt milk along her own arm.
00 Clara is milking the mare in the lots when Sally comes racing down with news of a wagon, and the startled mare makes her squirt milk along her own arm.
The knoll east of the house where Jim, Jeff and Johnny are buried, with the strangers' wagon still only a speck creeping along the Platte from the west.
01 The knoll east of the house where Jim, Jeff and Johnny are buried, with the strangers' wagon still only a speck creeping along the Platte from the west.
Sent in against their will, the girls sit with their father and wipe his face, while Bob lies awake and unmoving with his eyes on the ceiling.
02 Sent in against their will, the girls sit with their father and wipe his face, while Bob lies awake and unmoving with his eyes on the ceiling.
Cholo pens two mares heavy in foal and lopes over to stand with Clara while the wagon comes on, because two men are two too many if they are bad men.
03 Cholo pens two mares heavy in foal and lopes over to stand with Clara while the wagon comes on, because two men are two too many if they are bad men.
The hide wagon draws rein at the lots and Elmira, heavy with child on the wagon seat, asks whether they are to Nebraska yet and whether anyone knows Dee Boot.
04 The hide wagon draws rein at the lots and Elmira, heavy with child on the wagon seat, asks whether they are to Nebraska yet and whether anyone knows Dee Boot.
Walking up to the house, Elmira topples sideways onto the trail between house and barn, and Zwey lifts her as easily as if she were a child.
05 Walking up to the house, Elmira topples sideways onto the trail between house and barn, and Zwey lifts her as easily as if she were a child.
All night the two buffalo hunters sit out on the wagon while Elmira's screams rake the prairie dark above them.
06 All night the two buffalo hunters sit out on the wagon while Elmira's screams rake the prairie dark above them.
Cholo eases the boy out of Elmira's bloodied loins, holds him up close to his own face and blows on him until the child moves and cries.
07 Cholo eases the boy out of Elmira's bloodied loins, holds him up close to his own face and blows on him until the child moves and cries.
Clara brings the wrapped child to its mother and Elmira turns her wide eyes away and will not look at it.
08 Clara brings the wrapped child to its mother and Elmira turns her wide eyes away and will not look at it.
Elmira gone in the night, Clara stands over Bob with the abandoned boy held to her bosom, hoping the sight will startle him into life, and it makes no difference at all.
09 Elmira gone in the night, Clara stands over Bob with the abandoned boy held to her bosom, hoping the sight will startle him into life, and it makes no difference at all.