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Chapter 85

Chapter 85

Summary

In Ogallala the boys buy horehound candy and work up their nerve. Then Dixon, the cavalry scout, rides up to Dish outside the livery stable, demands his mare Sugar, and spits tobacco juice on his neck. Dish goes for him and is knocked cold with a pistol butt. When Dixon takes the mare, Newt grabs the bit and will not let go; Dixon quirts him about the hands, neck and face, breaking Pete Spettle's nose when he tries to intervene. The mare's squeal brings Call out of the store. He rides the Hell Bitch straight into Dixon's horse, knocks him down, kicks him in the face, grinds his head into the dirt, and is beating his skull against a blacksmith's anvil when Augustus ropes him off. The town watches in silence. Call, spent and puzzled at the way people are looking at him, offers only: "I hate a man that talks rude. I won't tolerate it."

Analysis

The novel's most frightening scene, because the violence is Call's. He nearly beats a man to death over an insult to a boy he refuses to claim — everything he cannot say discharged as force. His explanation afterwards explains nothing, and Augustus says so: Call doesn't know either.

Plates

Jasper Fant rides back into camp sick from his night in Ogallala, and Po Campo scolds him from the wagon tailgate.
00 Jasper Fant rides back into camp sick from his night in Ogallala, and Po Campo scolds him from the wagon tailgate.
The boys sit in the shade eating a whole sack of horehound candy while Augustus drives the wagon up to the dry-goods store with Call riding beside him.
01 The boys sit in the shade eating a whole sack of horehound candy while Augustus drives the wagon up to the dry-goods store with Call riding beside him.
At the livery stable Dish Boggett brushes his mare Sugar and tells the boys where to find the whores, while the soldiers come up the street behind him.
02 At the livery stable Dish Boggett brushes his mare Sugar and tells the boys where to find the whores, while the soldiers come up the street behind him.
Dixon rides his black gelding onto Dish, asks the price of the mare, and spits tobacco juice on the back of Dish's neck as he stoops for his saddle.
03 Dixon rides his black gelding onto Dish, asks the price of the mare, and spits tobacco juice on the back of Dish's neck as he stoops for his saddle.
Dish lies knocked cold with blood in his hair while Dixon holsters the pistol, dumps the saddle in the dirt and takes the mare; Newt stands holding Dish's fallen hat.
04 Dish lies knocked cold with blood in his hair while Dixon holsters the pistol, dumps the saddle in the dirt and takes the mare; Newt stands holding Dish's fallen hat.
Newt hangs on to Sugar's bit with both hands while Dixon quirts him across the hands, neck and face, and Pete Spettle lies where the backhand put him with his nose broken.
05 Newt hangs on to Sugar's bit with both hands while Dixon quirts him across the hands, neck and face, and Pete Spettle lies where the backhand put him with his nose broken.
Call rides the Hell Bitch straight through the soldiers and into Dixon's horse, throwing him hard in a boiling of dust.
06 Call rides the Hell Bitch straight through the soldiers and into Dixon's horse, throwing him hard in a boiling of dust.
Call stands over Dixon, who is spitting out blood and teeth, while the six soldiers sit their horses too astonished to move and Augustus watches them with his Colt drawn.
07 Call stands over Dixon, who is spitting out blood and teeth, while the six soldiers sit their horses too astonished to move and Augustus watches them with his Colt drawn.
Call is beating Dixon's head against the blacksmith's anvil when Augustus rides the Hell Bitch up and drops a loop over his shoulders.
08 Call is beating Dixon's head against the blacksmith's anvil when Augustus rides the Hell Bitch up and drops a loop over his shoulders.
Spent and puzzled at the way everyone is looking at him, Call sits the Hell Bitch with his rope re-coiled and says he hates a man that talks rude, before riding out of a silent town.
09 Spent and puzzled at the way everyone is looking at him, Call sits the Hell Bitch with his rope re-coiled and says he hates a man that talks rude, before riding out of a silent town.