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Chapter 102

Chapter 102

Summary

Call hauls the coffin south, Clara's words stinging all the way, until word runs ahead of him and Indians and cowboys alike come to look at the man carrying his compañero home. Goodnight tells him Blue Duck has finally been caught. In Santa Rosa, Blue Duck taunts him from his chains — Call never once got a good look at him in all those years — then dives through a third-storey window, taking a deputy with him, rather than be hanged. Below Horsehead Crossing Call is shot by an unseen Indian and wrecks the buggy; he lashes Gus's remains to the old Lonesome Dove sign, rigs it between the two wheels, and drags it on. The mule dies. Wounded and feverish, he reaches the live oaks above the Guadalupe, digs the grave himself, and marks it with the one surviving plank, scratching A.M. on the back. Then he rides on to Lonesome Dove, where Bolivar still beats the dinner bell and the Dry Bean has burned — Wanz locked himself in her room and would not come out.

Analysis

The promise is kept and buys nothing. Blue Duck dies by his own choice, denying Call even that; the sign rots to a single unreadable plank; the saloon has burned. Call returns to an empty town, called a man of vision, and answers: a hell of a vision.

Plates

A week south of the Platte, Call trails the coffin buggy alone across the empty plain with Clara's words still stinging.
00 A week south of the Platte, Call trails the coffin buggy alone across the empty plain with Clara's words still stinging.
A party of Ogallala braves rides out on fat spring-grass ponies to look at the man carrying his compañero home, and one asks him why he does not bury him.
01 A party of Ogallala braves rides out on fat spring-grass ponies to look at the man carrying his compañero home, and one asks him why he does not bury him.
Charles Goodnight rides his red mule up to Call's fire on the Purgatoire, will not get down, and says Blue Duck has been caught.
02 Charles Goodnight rides his red mule up to Call's fire on the Purgatoire, will not get down, and says Blue Duck has been caught.
In the windowless middle cell at Santa Rosa, Blue Duck opens his eyes and tells Call he never once got a good look at him.
03 In the windowless middle cell at Santa Rosa, Blue Duck opens his eyes and tells Call he never once got a good look at him.
Blue Duck goes out through the third-storey courthouse window in his chains, taking Deputy Decker with him.
04 Blue Duck goes out through the third-storey courthouse window in his chains, taking Deputy Decker with him.
A day above Horsehead Crossing, shot from behind a yucca, Call runs the buggy off the bank onto a rock and it splinters over the coffin in the Pecos.
05 A day above Horsehead Crossing, shot from behind a yucca, Call runs the buggy off the bank onto a rock and it splinters over the coffin in the Pecos.
Gus lashed to the old Hat Creek sign and rigged between the two buggy wheels, dragged on across the llano while Greasy the mule lies where he decided to die.
06 Gus lashed to the old Hat Creek sign and rigged between the two buggy wheels, dragged on across the llano while Greasy the mule lies where he decided to die.
On the hill of live oaks above the Guadalupe, Call scratches two letters into the back of the one surviving plank over the grave he dug himself.
07 On the hill of live oaks above the Guadalupe, Call scratches two letters into the back of the one surviving plank over the grave he dug himself.
Bolivar drops the broken crowbar at the dinner bell as Call rides into Lonesome Dove out of the sunset.
08 Bolivar drops the broken crowbar at the dinner bell as Call rides into Lonesome Dove out of the sunset.
Call stands in the dusk where the Dry Bean used to be while Dillard Brawley whispers that Wanz locked himself in her room and burned with it.
09 Call stands in the dusk where the Dry Bean used to be while Dillard Brawley whispers that Wanz locked himself in her room and burned with it.