Blood Meridian: Chapter 15 Summary & Analysis

The governor of Sonora provides the gang with a new contract to hunt the Apaches. Carroll and Sanford have left the gang once and for all, but a man named Sloat has joined after falling ill and being left behind by a company of people seeking gold. The narrator implies that Sloat is not long for this world. The scalp hunters ride north onto the Sonoran Desert, where they massacre a village on the Nacozari River.

As they ride to Ures to receive payments for their scalps, the gang encounters a party of Sonoran cavalry led by one General Elias. A firefight ensues, in which three of Glanton’s men are killed and seven wounded, four so badly that they can’t ride. At night, camped, the gang can see the fires of a Sonoran army, some five hundred troops led by Elias. The wounded scalp hunters call out for water.

While the gang prepares to ride out, Glanton holds a lottery to determine which of the gang members will kill the four men unable to ride with them. The men draw arrows from a quiver, four of which have red flannel tied to them. When selecting his arrow, the kid begins to draw one, sees that the Judge is watching him, then choose a different arrow. Nonetheless, the kid draws a red-tasseled arrow, along with Sam Tate, Webster, and Harlan (first name later given as Tommy), who are therefore assigned to do the killings. Of the wounded, two are Delawares, one a Mexican, and one a man named Dick Shelby. An unwounded Delaware takes Webster and Harlan’s arrows, to which Glanton says nothing; he and the gang ride out onto the plain. The Delaware with Webster and Harlan’s arrows clubs the two wounded Delawares to death where they lie.

The kid and Tate discuss who will kill whom; the kid tells Tate that he can ride out without doing either of the killings if he wants. Tate warns the kid that, if the Sonoran army captures either of the wounded scalp hunters alive, unthinkable cruelties will befall them. Then he stands, says that killing means nothing to the Indians (referring to the Delaware who’s just killed his fallen comrades), and rides out.

The kid decides not to kill the wounded Mexican, who will die soon anyway. Shelby, however, is still fully conscious. The kid tells Shelby that he’ll just leave him if that’s what Shelby wants. After reminding him that Glanton will kill him for this act of mercy, Shelby asks the kid to hide him under a nearby bush. The kid obliges, only for the other man to attempt to take the kid’s gun. The attempt fails. The kid begins to take his leave, until Shelby cries out for water. The kid goes back to Shelby and gives him water, then rides out.

The kid, as he rides to catch up with the gang, comes upon Tate, whose horse has been lamed. The kid dismounts, and together the men walk through the desert leading their horses behind them. Snow begins to fall, and by the time the men begin to scale a ridge, it is a foot deep. In the night, while Tate and the kid sleep, five of Elias’s scouts come upon them; the kid shoots one and runs, being shot at all the while.

Morning finds the kid crouched under a promontory. He walks all day, bitterly cold, and continues walking through the night to stay warm. At dawn he sleeps, only to resume his trek north soon after. That night, from a high rim, he sees armies mutely, senselessly clash and disperse. Then he moves on, starting down the mountain.

After some time, the kid sees smoke; he heads toward it, to find a tree burning in the desert, ignited by lightning, around which crouch many desert creatures. The kid sleeps in its warmth. In the morning, he keeps moving. He comes upon horse tracks, which he follows for miles. Soon he comes across a great black mass: it is the burnt remains of the scalps taken from the people on the Nacozari.

The kid finds a horse, which, after some difficulty, he mounts and rides. The two are soon joined by another horse, which walks alongside them. By the next day, the kid’s horse is dehydrated and failing, but he nonetheless manages to rejoin the gang. The scalp hunters are wounded, filthy, and exhausted; four more of their number are dead after being ridden upon and attacked by Elias’s army, including Sloat. The gang knows neither how far the Mexicans are behind them, nor how far the Apaches are ahead.

The gang rides all day. At night, the Judge selects the weakest horse to kill for meat. Standing beyond the firelight, he asks for help in killing it; none rise to help him. Tobin tells the kid to ignore the Judge and places “a cautionary hand upon the kid’s arm,” but the kid assures Tobin that he isn’t afraid of the Judge and volunteers. The two lead the horse out of the light, where the Judge crushes its skull deftly with a giant rock. Its meat is prepared to eat. The scouts sent out that night do not return.

The next day, the gang rides and the men find in the desert a ring of eight human heads. The Judge kicks one as if to make sure that it’s not attached to a body buried beneath it. Then the gang moves on, riding past ruined wagons and more corpses. Before dark they arrive at the town of Santa Cruz. The locals greet them with weapons and contempt, but one family offers them a place to stay and food for the night. The men sleep in a stable, where they light a fire.