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Chapter 78

Chapter 78

Summary

Augustus rides back to the tent and asks Lorena for a hug and then a kiss, which makes her blush. He tells her about the hangings; Jake means almost nothing to her now — he never came to find her, and her memory of Xavier Wanz crying in the Dry Bean is stronger. What frightens her is death itself, and she wakes clinging to Gus from a dream in which he had died and she could not find the body. Sitting out in the grass under the moon, she names her two fears: that he will die, and that he will marry the woman in Nebraska. He answers cheerfully that of course he will die, and that the woman has already refused him two or three times. When Lorena asks him inside, he drags the bedding out instead, and simply holds her all night.

Analysis

Lorena names her two fears — that he will die, that he will marry Clara — and the novel grants her both. Jake's death registers as nothing; her memory of Xavier is warmer. Gus answers a request for sex by dragging the bedding outside and simply holding her.

Plates

Lorena sits alone in her tent in the last of the light, three days into hoping Gus is not dead.
00 Lorena sits alone in her tent in the last of the light, three days into hoping Gus is not dead.
Before it is quite dark Lorena hears horses and looks out to see Gus riding toward her.
01 Before it is quite dark Lorena hears horses and looks out to see Gus riding toward her.
Dish Boggett, trimming his horse's feet, hears from Gus that the horsethieves were hung, Jake Spoon among them.
02 Dish Boggett, trimming his horse's feet, hears from Gus that the horsethieves were hung, Jake Spoon among them.
Gus pulls the saddle off his tired horse and the horse lies down and rolls, scratching its sweaty back.
03 Gus pulls the saddle off his tired horse and the horse lies down and rolls, scratching its sweaty back.
"Give me a hug" — and then a kiss; the feel of his whiskers makes Lorena want to cry, and she holds him as tight as she can.
04 "Give me a hug" — and then a kiss; the feel of his whiskers makes Lorena want to cry, and she holds him as tight as she can.
Supper outside the tent with the Irishman singing in the distance, Gus talking about Jake, Lorena feeling nothing.
05 Supper outside the tent with the Irishman singing in the distance, Gus talking about Jake, Lorena feeling nothing.
Lorena wakes from the dream in which Gus died and she could not find the body, and clings to him until he wakes.
06 Lorena wakes from the dream in which Gus died and she could not find the body, and clings to him until he wakes.
Gus stands outside in the moonlight, cooling off and looking at the moon, on a plain of grass so huge the herd and themselves are a dot in it.
07 Gus stands outside in the moonlight, cooling off and looking at the moon, on a plain of grass so huge the herd and themselves are a dot in it.
Sitting out in the grass, Lorena names her two fears and the trembling starts; Gus puts his arms around her to stop it.
08 Sitting out in the grass, Lorena names her two fears and the trembling starts; Gus puts his arms around her to stop it.
Sunrise on the bedding dragged out into the open grass — he held her all night, and the herd is already gone.
09 Sunrise on the bedding dragged out into the open grass — he held her all night, and the herd is already gone.