Lonesome Dove

Lorena doesn’t know how to answer the girls’ questions about her past, but she deflects them as best as she can. Lorena’s admiration for Clara grows every day. She is surprised at how little she thinks about Gus, although when she does miss him, it is intense. She does worry about Blue Duck, and still feels that only Gus can protect her from him.

When Bob dies, Clara tells the girls about the death. July is now living in a room by the shed and is in love with Clara. When Lorena tells him Bob is dead, Clara notices that he seems more cheerful, but his love annoys her. She knows that he cannot win Lorena’s love any more than he could Elmira’s. Clara is annoyed at how awkward July acts around her, but she knows how he feels. Sally cries: she feels guilty because she wanted Bob to die. Clara admits that she did as well, and only wishes that Bob had been more careful around the horses.

Montana is as beautiful as Jake promised. Call wants to settle north of the Yellowstone River. Now that they have made the journey, Gus is bored and wants to give the cattle away to a tribe. He doesn’t like the cold. It snows, and Newt is too cold to enjoy it. Gus takes Newt scouting. Gus doesn’t regret the trip, even though he isn’t interested in ranch life now that they have arrived. He tells Newt again that Call is his father. Newt doesn’t understand why Call never said so. The information makes his whole life feel confusing. He expected to feel relief when he learned who his father was, but he doesn’t.

The men wonder what they’re going to do now that they’re in Montana. Most of them aren’t sure they could make it back to Texas. Call sends Gus and Pea Eye to scout.

A day later they see a group of buffalo. Gus goes over a rise, then Pea Eye sees him galloping back, chased by at least twenty warriors. Gus has two arrows in his leg. They have superior horses and make it to the river, where they hide in the bushes and prepare for the fight.

Gus gets one arrow out, but the other is stuck. A brave gets close enough to kill their horses. They make it a mile upstream and dig a hole in the bank. Pea Eye cuts Gus’s leg to push the arrow through. Gus faints. When he wakes, he mimics their war cries. He has a fever by morning. It starts to rain, and he grows weaker. He tells Pea Eye to use the storm as cover and go back. When he leaves, he doesn’t believe he’ll see Gus again.

He gets out a couple of miles later and walks. By the next day, he is delirious and naked. He talks to Gus and Deets. Dish finally sees him a couple of days later. Pea Eye tells Call that Gus was alive when he left him. He says Deets helped him. Call puts Dish in charge and leaves to find Gus.

Gus’s fever worsens. He imagines that he is at Clara’s house. He thinks he has blood poisoning. He makes a crutch and starts limping toward Miles City once he thinks the enemies are gone. A man named Hugh Auld finds him, and they reach town five hours later.