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Chapter 82

Chapter 82

Summary

July helps Clara and Cholo geld fifteen young horses — Clara does the cutting, because Cholo says she is better at it. Afterwards, without warning, she drops the baby into July's lap and tells him it is time he looked at his own son, who needs him more than Elmira ever will. When the baby screams she leaves him to it; when it stops, she tells him to talk or sing, and he hums "Lorena" until the child goes quiet against his shoulder. She argues him out of the chase: two weeks' acquaintance is short, sacrifice is a waste unless it is wanted, and following Elmira east will get him killed by the Sioux, the buffalo hunter, or the plains. She also admits she sometimes wants to take the girls to Richmond and write books, and that the horses and the cranes are what keep her. By dusk July has not left, and says he ought to let his wife be.

Analysis

Clara drops a baby into July's lap and makes him hum to it — fatherhood taught by ambush, and the exact inverse of Call's method. Her argument that sacrifice is waste unless it is wanted is the novel's counter-thesis to the promise Call will honour to Texas.

Plates

July comes into Clara's kitchen the next morning to find Cholo sharpening a thin-bladed knife, the baby kicking on the table, and Clara in a man's hat telling the girls how to feed him.
00 July comes into Clara's kitchen the next morning to find Cholo sharpening a thin-bladed knife, the baby kicking on the table, and Clara in a man's hat telling the girls how to feed him.
Left alone with his cold breakfast, July eats slowly and guiltily while the baby, still on the table, gurgles at him — and he remembers Ellie is gone into Indian country.
01 Left alone with his cold breakfast, July eats slowly and guiltily while the baby, still on the table, gurgles at him — and he remembers Ellie is gone into Indian country.
July walks down to the lots with his rifle and stops at the rails, surprised to find that it is Clara doing the cutting while the old man holds the ropes.
02 July walks down to the lots with his rifle and stops at the rails, surprised to find that it is Clara doing the cutting while the old man holds the ropes.
July climbs into the lots and helps the old man anchor the hind legs of a quivering young bay while Clara works.
03 July climbs into the lots and helps the old man anchor the hind legs of a quivering young bay while Clara works.
Clara pauses to wipe the sweat off her forehead with her shirttail, her hands bloody, and says Bob taught her because there was nobody else to hold the horses.
04 Clara pauses to wipe the sweat off her forehead with her shirttail, her hands bloody, and says Bob taught her because there was nobody else to hold the horses.
The fifteen are cut and penned; all three of them soaked through, Clara splashes water out of the horse trough to wash her hands and forearms and starts straight for the house.
05 The fifteen are cut and penned; all three of them soaked through, Clara splashes water out of the horse trough to wash her hands and forearms and starts straight for the house.
July has set his cleaned rifle against the porch railing and is about to get up and go when Clara walks out with no warning and drops the baby into his lap, so that he has to catch him.
06 July has set his cleaned rifle against the porch railing and is about to get up and go when Clara walks out with no warning and drops the baby into his lap, so that he has to catch him.
The baby twists in July's hands like a rabbit and yells until he is red as a beet, and Clara turns and goes back in the house rather than take him.
07 The baby twists in July's hands like a rabbit and yells until he is red as a beet, and Clara turns and goes back in the house rather than take him.
Told to put the child against his shoulder because he isn't a newspaper, July hums "Lorena" until the baby goes quiet and slobbers on his shirt, Clara watching from the doorway.
08 Told to put the child against his shoulder because he isn't a newspaper, July hums "Lorena" until the baby goes quiet and slobbers on his shirt, Clara watching from the doorway.
At dusk July has still not gone; Clara stops on the steps to watch three cranes cross the sunset along the silver path of the Platte, and he says he ought to let his wife be.
09 At dusk July has still not gone; Clara stops on the steps to watch three cranes cross the sunset along the silver path of the Platte, and he says he ought to let his wife be.