Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove

by Lonesome Dove

  Call told them to keep as close to the cattle as possible and to keep the cattle moving.

  Any cattle that wandered far would probably starve to death.

  Augustus thought the order foolish. "The only way to keep this herd together would be to string a rope around them--and we ain't got that much rope," he said.

  Shortly after dark he was proven right. None of the animals wanted to go into the wind. It quickly became necessary for the cowboys to cover their horses' eyes with jackets or shirts; and despite the hands' precautions, little strings of cattle began to stray. Newt tried unsuccessfully to turn back two bunches, but the cattle paid him no mind, even when he bumped them with his horse.

  Finally he let them go, feeling guilty as he did it but not guilty enough to risk getting lost himself. He knew if he lost the herd he was probably done for; he knew it was a long way to water and he might not be able to find it, even though he was riding the good sorrel that Clara had given him.

  Call felt sick with worry--the sandstorm was the worst possible luck, for it slowed down the herd and sapped the animals' strength just when they needed all they had just to reach the water. And yet there was nothing he could do about it. He tried to tie an old shirt around the Hell Bitch's eyes, but she shook him off so vigorously that he finally let it go.

  At the height of the storm it seemed as if the herd might split into fragments. It was hard to see ten feet, and little bunches of cattle broke off unnoticed and slipped past the cowboys. Deets, more confident of his ability to find his way around than most, rode well west of the herd, turning back cattle whenever he found any. But it finally became pitch-dark, and even Deets could do nothing.

  Augustus rode through the storm with a certain indifference, thinking of the two women he had just left. He took no interest in the straying cattle. That was Call's affair. He felt he himself deserved to be in the middle of a sandstorm on the Wyoming plain for being such a fool as to leave the women. Not a man to feel guilty, he was merely annoyed at himself for what he considered a misjudgment.

  To Call's great relief, the storm blew itself out in three hours. The wind gradually died and the sand lay under their feet again instead of peppering them.

  The moon was soon visible, and the sky filled with bright stars. It would not be possible to judge how many cattle had strayed until the morning, but at least the main herd was still under their control.

  But the storm and the long drive the day before had taken its toll in energy. By dawn, half the men were asleep in their saddles. They wanted to stop, but again Call pushed on; he knew they had lost ground, and was not going to stop just because the men were sleepy. All morning he rode through the herd, encouraging the men to push the cattle. He was not sure how far they had come, but he knew they still had a full day to go. Lack of water was beginning to tell on the horses, and the weaker cattle were barely stumbling along.

  Deets alone brought back most of the strayed bunches, none of which had strayed very far. The plain was so vast and flat that the cattle were visible for miles, at least to Augustus and Deets, the eyesight champions.

  "There's a bunch you missed," Augustus said, pointing to the northwest. Deets looked, nodded, and rode away. Jasper Fant looked and saw nothing but heat waves and blue sky. "I guess I need spectacles," he said. "I can't see nothing but nothing." "Weak brains breed weak eyesight," Augustus said.

  "We all got weak brains or we wouldn't be here," Soupy said sourly. He had grown noticeably more discontented in recent weeks-- no one knew why.

  Finally at noon Call stopped. The effort to move the drags was wearing out the horses. When the cowboys got to the wagon, most of them took a cup of water and dropped sound asleep on the ground, not bothering with bedrolls or even saddle blankets. Po Campo rationed the water carefully, giving each man only three swallows. Newt felt that he could have drunk a thousand swallows. He had never tasted anything so delicious. He had never supposed plain water could be so desirable. He remembered all the times he had carelessly drunk his fill. If he ever got another chance, he meant to enjoy it more.

  Call let them rest three hours and then told them to get their best mounts. Some of the cattle were so weak the cowboys had to dismount, pull their tails and shout at them to get them up. Call knew that if they didn't make it on the next push, they would have to abandon the cattle in order to save the horses. Even after their rest, many of the cattle had their tongues hanging out. They were mulish, reluctant to move, but after much effort on the part of the exhausted men, the drive was started again.

  Through the late afternoon and far into the night the cattle stumbled over the plain, the weaker cattle falling farther and farther behind. By daybreak the herd was strung out to a distance of more than five miles, most of the men plodding along as listlessly as the cattle. The day was as hot as any they remembered from south Texas--the distances that had spawned yesterday's wind refused to yield even a breeze, and it seemed to the men that the last moisture in their bodies was pouring out as sweat.

  They all yearned for evening and looked at the sun constantly, but the sun seemed as immobile as if suspended by a wire.

  Toward midday many of the cattle began to turn back toward the water they had left two days before. Newt, struggling with a bunch, nearly got knocked off his horse by three steers that walked right into him. He noticed, to his shock, that the cattle didn't seem to see him-- they were stumbling along, white-eyed. Appalled, he rode over to the Captain.

  "Captain, they're going blind," he said.

  Call looked grim. "It ain't real blindness," he said. "They get that way when they're real thirsty. They'll try to go back to the last water." He told the men to forget the weaker cattle and try to keep the stronger ones moving.

  "We ought to make the water by night," he said.

  "If we make night," Augustus said.

  "We can't just stop and die," Call said.

  "I don't intend to," Augustus said. "But some of the men might. That Irishman is delirious. He ain't used to such dry country." Indeed the terrible heat had driven Allen O'Brien out of his head. Now and then he would try to sing, though his tongue was swollen and his lips cracked.

  "You don't need to sing," Call said.

  Allen O'Brien looked at him angrily.

  "I need to cry, but I've got no tears," he said. "This goddamn country has burned up my tears." Call had been awake for over three days, and he began to feel confused himself. He knew water couldn't be much farther, but, all the same, fatigue made him doubtful. Perhaps it had been a hundred miles rather than eighty. They would never make it, if so. He tried to remember, searching his mind for details that would suggest how far the river might be, but there were precious few landmarks on the dry plain, and the harder he concentrated the more his mind seemed to slip. He was riding the Hell Bitch, but for long moments he imagined he was riding old Ben again--a mule he had relied on frequently during his campaigning on the llano. Ben had had an infallible sense of direction and a fine nose for water. He wasn't fast but he was sure. At the time, some men had scoffed at him for riding a mule, but Call ignored them. The stakes were life or death, and Ben was the most reliable animal he had ever seen, if far from the prettiest.

  The men had had the last of Po Campo's water that morning, barely enough to wet their tongues.

  Po Campo doled it out with severity, careful to see that no one got more than his share. Though the old man had walked the whole distance, using his ax-handle cane, he seemed not particularly tired.

  Call, though, was so tired he felt his mind slipping. Try as he might, he couldn't stay awake. Once he slept for a few steps, then jerked awake, convinced he was fighting again the battle of Fort Phantom Hill. He looked around for Indians, but saw only the thirst-blinded cattle, their long tongues hanging out, their breath rasping. His mind slipped again, and when he awoke next it was dark. The Hell Bitch was trotting.

  When he opened his eyes he saw the Texas bull trot past him. He reached for his reins, but they were n
ot there. His hands were empty. Then, to his amazement, he saw that Deets had taken his reins and was leading the Hell Bitch.

  No one had ever led his horse before. Call felt embarrassed. "Here, I'm awake," he said, his voice just a whisper.

  Deets stopped and gave him his reins.

  "Didn't want you to fall and get left, Captain," he said. "The water ain't far now." That was evident from the quickened pace of the cattle, from the way the horses began to prick their ears.

  Call tried to shake the sleep off, but it was as if he were stuck in it. He could see, but it took a great effort to move, and he wasn't immediately able to resume command.

  Augustus loped up, seemingly fresh. "We better get everybody to the front," he said.

  "We'll need to try and spread them when they hit the water. Otherwise they'll all pile into the first mudhole and tromple themselves." Most of the cattle were too weak to run, but they broke into a trot. Call finally shook the sleep off and helped Dish and Deets and Augustus split the herd. They were only partially successful. The cattle were moving like a blind army, the scent of water in their nostrils. Fortunately they hit the river above where Call had hit it, and there was more water. The cattle spread of their own accord.

  Call had not recovered from his embarrassment at having been led. Yet he knew Deets had done the right thing. He had still been dreaming of Ben and that hot day at Phantom Hill, and if he had slipped off his horse he might just have laid there and slept. But it was the first time in his life he had not been able to last through a task in command of his wits, and it bothered him.

  All during the night and the next day, cattle straggled into the river, some of them cattle Call had supposed would merely become carcasses, rotting on the trail. Yet a day on the water worked wonders for them. Augustus and Dish made counts, once the stragglers stopped coming, and it appeared they had only lost six head.

  The Irishman spent most of the day sitting in a puddle in Salt Creek, recovering from his delirium. He could not remember having been delirious and grew angry when the others kidded him about it. Newt, who had planned to drink all day once he got to water, soon found that he couldn't drink any more. He devoted his leisure to complicated games of mumblety-peg with the Rainey boys.

  Deets went on a scout and reported that the country to the west didn't improve--grass was as scarce as water in that direction. Far to the north they could see the outlines of mountains, and there was much talk about which mountains they were.

  "Why, the Rocky Mountains," Augustus said.

  "Will we have to climb them?" Jasper asked.

  He had survived rivers and drought, but did not look forward to climbing mountains.

  "No," Call said. "We'll go north, up the Powder River, right into Montana." "How many days will it take now?" Newt asked. He had almost forgotten that Montana was a real place that they might get to someday.

  "I expect three weeks or a little more and we might hit the Yellowstone," Call said.

  "The Yellowstone already?" Dish Boggett said.

  It was the last river--or at least the last river anyone knew much about. At mention of it the whole camp fell silent, looking at the mountains.

  They rested on the Salt for two days, giving the animals and men plenty of time to recover. The men spent much of their time speculating about what lay on beyond the mountains, and how long it would take to get there.

  Call slept a distance out of camp, as was his habit. He knew the men were in a good mood, for he could hear them singing most of the night. Now that he had the leisure to sleep, he found he couldn't, much. He had always thought his energies equal to any situation, but he had begun to have doubts. A tiredness clung to his bones, but not a tiredness that produced sleep. He felt played out, and wished they were already in Montana.

  There were only a few hundred miles left, but it seemed farther to him than all the distance they had come.

  Trotting back into camp one morning he saw there was excitement around the cook fire. Several of the men were holding rifles. The sight surprised him, for it had seemed a peaceful night.

  "Twelve horses are gone, Captain," Dish Boggett said. "Indians got 'em." Deets was looking hangdog, and the Spettle boy could only shake his head. Neither of them had heard a thing, they said.

  "Well, you boys was singing opry loud enough to wake the deaf," Augustus remarked. "I guess it was just their charity that they didn't take the whole herd. Nobody would have noticed." Call was vexed. He had been awake almost all night and had had no suspicion of Indians. All his years of trying to stay prepared hadn't helped. "They must have been good with horses," he said.

  Deets felt it was mainly his fault, since it was his job to watch for Indian sign. He had always had a good ear for Indians, but he had sat by the wagon, listening to the singing, and had heard nothing.

  "They came on foot, Captain," he said.

  He had found their tracks, at least.

  "That was bold," Call said. "But they ain't on foot now." He decided to take only Augustus and Deets, though that left the camp without a really competent Indian fighter, in case the raid was a feint. On the other hand, whoever took the horses might have a good deal of help nearby. If it became necessary to take on an Indian camp, three men were about the minimum that could expect to succeed.

  Ten minutes later the three men were ready to go.

  Call was well aware that they were leaving a camp full of scared men.

  Augustus laughed at the sight. "You boys will get the drizzles if you don't relax," he said.

  "If they got the dern horses they might decide to come back and get us," Jasper Fant pointed out. "They got Custer, didn't they? And he fought Indians his whole life." Call was more worried about the grass situation.

  It was too sparse to support the herd for long.

  "Graze 'em upriver," he said. "Start tomorrow if we ain't back, but don't push 'em. Just let 'em graze along. You'll make the Powder in a few days." Newt felt very nervous when he saw the three men ride off. It was Lippy's fault that he felt so nervous--all morning Lippy had done nothing but talk about how it felt to be scalped.

  Lippy hadn't been scalped, and couldn't possibly know, but that didn't keep him from talking and scaring everybody.

  The horse thieves had gone southwest. Call thought that with luck they might catch them within a day, but in that he was disappointed. The country grew more barren as they rode, and the only sign of life was an occasional buzzard and many, many rattlesnakes.

  "If we was to settle around here we'd have to start a snake ranch," Augustus said.

  They rested only a little while at night, and by midmorning of the next day were a hundred miles from the herd, with no results in sight.

  "Hell, they'll be to the Wind River before we catch them," Augustus said. "I've always heard the Wind River country was worse than the Pecos country, when it comes to being dry." "We're better mounted than they are," Call said. "We'll catch them." It was another long day, though, before they closed the gap.

  "You sure this is worth it for twelve horses?" Augustus asked. "This is the poorest dern country I ever saw. A chigger would starve to death out here." Indeed, the land was bleak, the surface sometimes streaked with salt. There were ocher-colored ridges here and there, completely free of grass.

  "We can't start putting up with horse theft," Call said.

  Deets was ranging ahead, and in the afternoon they saw him coming back. The simmering heat waves made him appear larger than he was.

  "Camp's up ahead," he said. "They're in a draw, with a little water." "How many?" Call asked.

  "Didn't get no count," Deets said. "Not many. Couldn't be many and live out here." "I say we wait for night and steal the nags back," Augustus said. "It's too hot to fight. Steal 'em back and let the red man chase the white for a while." "If we wait for night we might lose half the horses," Call said. "They'll probably post a better guard than we had." "I don't want to argue with you in this heat," Augustus said. "If you want to go now, okay. />
  We'll just ride in and massacre them." "Didn't see many men," Deets said.

  "Mostly women and children. They're real poor, Captain." "What do you mean, real poor?" "Means they're starving," Deets said. "They done cut up one horse." "My God," Augustus said. "You mean they stole them horses for meat?" That proved to be the case. They carefully approached the draw where the camp was and saw the whole little tribe gathered around the dead horse.