Lonesome Dove: Chapter 71 Summary & Analysis

Jake is looking forward to Dodge City, where he hopes to visit a barber and then a brothel. He feels hopeful that his luck is about to improve. But then, Dan Suggs catches sight of three men driving a remuda of horses. One of them is Wilbarger—a man with whom Dan has a score to settle. Wilbarger was the boss who turned Dan off of life as a cowhand. Dan declares that they’ll attack after dark, then take the horses to Abeline, Kansas to sell. No one dares argue.

When they attack Wilbarger’s camp, there is so much confusion that Jake can’t figure out what’s happening. He fires a few shots blindly. When it’s over, Wilbarger has escaped, although Dan claims he put three bullets into him. His men—Chick and another one Jake doesn’t know—are dead. Frog Lip, shot through the groin, is dying. Eventually, Ed shoots him to save him the horror of a slow death. The party rides on. In the afternoon, they find two settlers ploughing fields. Dan kills them in cold blood, strings their bodies up on the limb of a tree, and sets them on fire.