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Chapter 100

Chapter 100

Summary

Winter on the Milk. Call banks half of every sale for Lorena, resenting it; the men learn to cook and to fight boredom; the pigs are eaten at Christmas. Horsethieves turn out to be a mad drunken preacher and his big son; Call shoots the father when he swings a hatchet, spares the boy because they need a blacksmith, and hangs him ten days later when he tries to steal four wallets and the best saddle. Watching Newt work horses becomes Call's one pleasure, and he gives him more and more authority, backing him against Soupy Jones. When the branding is done he tells Newt he must take Gus to Texas and that Newt will be range boss. Then he unsaddles the Hell Bitch and gives her to him, along with the Henry rifle and his father's gold watch — and finds he cannot say the one word that would explain any of it. He rides off. Newt, who had been waiting to be told, says bitterly that he is kin to nobody in this world.

Analysis

The novel's central failure, staged with everything except the word. Call transfers the horse, the rifle and his own father's watch — the fullest inheritance he has — and cannot say son. Newt receives it all as abandonment, and the book lets his reading stand uncorrected.

Plates

Alone in Wilbarger's tent through the winter, Call counts out a sale and puts half of it aside for the woman in Nebraska, resenting every note of it.
00 Alone in Wilbarger's tent through the winter, Call counts out a sale and puts half of it aside for the woman in Nebraska, resenting every note of it.
Christmas in the bunkhouse — Gus's pigs killed for the pork, Jasper Fant learning to cook under Po Campo, and Lippy sawing at the fiddle he has made out of a shoebox.
01 Christmas in the bunkhouse — Gus's pigs killed for the pork, Jasper Fant learning to cook under Po Campo, and Lippy sawing at the fiddle he has made out of a shoebox.
Three days north into Canada, Call walks into the horsethieves' breakfast camp with his pistol drawn and finds a drunk old preacher and his big son.
02 Three days north into Canada, Call walks into the horsethieves' breakfast camp with his pistol drawn and finds a drunk old preacher and his big son.
The old man swings the hatchet, opens Needle's arm and is shot; the big boy is run down, tied and brought back, and sits weeping in the thin snow beside his dead father.
03 The old man swings the hatchet, opens Needle's arm and is shot; the big boy is run down, tied and brought back, and sits weeping in the thin snow beside his dead father.
For ten days Big Tom is the friendliest man in the outfit — he shoes every horse, does every chore, talks without stopping, and nobody likes him.
04 For ten days Big Tom is the friendliest man in the outfit — he shoes every horse, does every chore, talks without stopping, and nobody likes him.
Caught before dawn with four wallets and the best saddle, shot off his horse and tied, Big Tom is hanged where he stands while the cowboys watch in their long johns and nobody says a word.
05 Caught before dawn with four wallets and the best saddle, shot off his horse and tied, Big Tom is hanged where he stands while the cowboys watch in their long johns and nobody says a word.
Soupy Jones trips Newt as he passes with his plate, and after the beating Newt sits in the dirt spitting blood while Call watches impassively, pleased that the boy fought so hard.
06 Soupy Jones trips Newt as he passes with his plate, and after the beating Newt sits in the dirt spitting blood while Call watches impassively, pleased that the boy fought so hard.
Through the spring afternoons Call sits at the corral for hours watching Newt work the new horses — his one remaining pleasure — and says nothing.
07 Through the spring afternoons Call sits at the corral for hours watching Newt work the new horses — his one remaining pleasure — and says nothing.
On the muddy bank of the Milk, Call unsaddles the Hell Bitch, has Newt put his own saddle on her, sets the Henry in the boy's scabbard — and stands there unable to say the word.
08 On the muddy bank of the Milk, Call unsaddles the Hell Bitch, has Newt put his own saddle on her, sets the Henry in the boy's scabbard — and stands there unable to say the word.
Newt turns in the saddle with his father's gold watch in his hand and finds the Captain already a speck on the long plain — and says he is kin to nobody in this world.
09 Newt turns in the saddle with his father's gold watch in his hand and finds the Captain already a speck on the long plain — and says he is kin to nobody in this world.