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Chapter 93
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lonesome Dove, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
American Mythology
Family
Luck, Fate, and Chance
The Good Life
The Meaning of Masculinity
Feminine Strength
Summary
Analysis
The men—especially Jasper—get more nervous about crossing the Yellowstone the closer they get to it. Lippy longs for a town, and the rest of the hands start to ponder their futures. While few want to stay in Montana, none relish the idea of riding home, alone, in the winter. Unfortunately for everyone, Call isn’t ready to stop. Jake said some of the prettiest land was farther north. He decides to send Augustus and Pea Eye on a scouting mission.
Although Call has done exactly what he advertised—he has driven his 2600 head of cattle to Montana—it still seems to take the rest of the company by surprise, suggesting the degree to which Call’s approach to life differs from the norm. This comes into focus even more when he reaches his original goal—the Yellowstone—and keeps going.
Themes
Pea Eye isn’t happy about the mission, but he’s not about to start refusing the Captain’s orders, so he packs his bedroll and sharpens his knife. As he and Gus ride north out of camp, they pass Po Campo, who has wandered over a mile in search of wild onions. As they ride, Augustus keeps veering off to “taste the view.” When they surprise a herd of buffalo watering at the Yellowstone River, Gus chases them for a while.
Augustus clearly loves the adventure of the drive, even if he gripes about it to Call and others sometimes. He enjoys himself when he can. Notably—and ironically—his love of the wildness of the frontier, as evidenced by his curiosity about the changing vistas and chasing the buffalo, play into the very romanticization of the American West the book wants to reject.
Themes
Then, in the afternoon, Gus startles a band of 20 Indigenous riders who immediately start chasing him. By the time he’s made it back to Pea Eye, Gus has two arrows embedded in his leg. On their superior horses, Pea Eye and Gus put a little distance between themselves and their pursuers, and they take cover in a tree-lined creek bed. But their pursuers aren’t easily deterred and soon have them surrounded. Several take advantage of the dense underbrush to creep close enough to kill Gus’s and Pea Eye’s horses, but Gus shoots them before they can harm him or his companion. Lugging saddle bags full of ammunition, he and Pea Eye work their way upstream and dig in under a cutbank.
The encounter in Wyoming made Call cautious because it was a start reminder that up here—far from Texas and more established settlements—Indigenous people still pose a threat to settlers trying to encroach on their territory. The book doesn’t suggest that Gus got complacent as much as unlucky in this encounter—after all, the drive has gone for weeks (and hundreds of miles) at this point without encountering other people. But the danger remains, and Gus receives a harsh reminder of it now.
Themes
There, they assess their wounds. Pea Eye took a shot to his shoulder, but the bullet went straight through, leaving a clean hole. An arrow—or possibly a bullet—got Augustus in the back, in addition to the two arrows in his leg. One comes out relatively easily, but the other is so deeply embedded that he must push it all the way through his leg to remove it. As the sun sets, the Indigenous men who have them pinned down begin trading war cries. Gus contributes one of his own—a Comanche war cry he learned in Texas—to thank them “for the concert.”
Despite the serious nature of his injuries—anything lodged in his body for an extended period of time severely increases the risk of infection—Gus maintains his sense of humor and his benign outlook on life. He thus exemplifies what the book considers the best way to approach life, taking the good and the bad as they come and not letting trial or triumph rile him up too much.
Themes
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In the morning, Gus is running a high fever, signifying that one or more of his wounds have become infected. Then, it starts to rain. All day long, Gus and Pea Eye crouch in their hole, occasionally trading shots with the Indigenous men. At nightfall, Gus tells Pea Eye to swim downriver a ways and head back toward the cattle train on foot. Pea Eye hates this idea, but eventually he complies. He’s never disobeyed an order from either Captain Call or Captain McCrae, and he’s not about to start. And if he doesn’t get help, it seems clear that Gus will die.
Gus and Pea Eye have more bad luck in the form of rain, and their situation grows increasingly desperate. Yet, Gus isn’t about to die without a fight. And Pea Eye—while loath to abandon his clearly injured companion—isn’t about to disobey an order. These men continue to act out the roles they grew accustomed to during their distant Ranger days.
Themes
Pea Eye’s odyssey back to the herd is arduous. While swimming in the stream, he loses his gun, ammunition, food, and even the clothes on his back. Freezing, and exhausted, he crawls onto the bank and starts walking, knowing all too well that the night’s dark cover won’t last. In the morning, he realizes that there’s no place on the vast prairie to hide, so he walks through the day, too. In all, Pea Eye walks through four nights and three days. He suffers both a snow squall and blazing heat; the rough terrain cuts up his bare feet; he has no food except the prairie chicken he kills with a lucky rock throw and eats raw. He starts talking to himself, and then he becomes convinced that Deets’s ghost is leading him through the nights.
Thus far, Pea Eye has appeared as a somewhat slow-witted and cautious member of the company, content to let others make decisions and give orders. Yet here, he shows readers the true strength of his character—and his devotion to his companions. He is the antithesis of Jake. Jake thinks of no one but himself, while Pea Eye pushes himself to the brink of death for his companions. And Pea Eye survives, at least in his own estimation, because of the bond shared by the former Rangers, which here appears in the form of Deets’s ghostly presence making sure he gets back to the others.
Themes
Dish, on a morning scouting ride, spots Pea Eye on the morning of the fourth day. He quickly summons Call, whose first question is whether Gus is dead. Confusedly, Pea Eye first says something about Deets—scaring Dish, who is afraid of ghosts—but he eventually manages to give Call enough of the story. While the cowhands help Pea Eye back to the wagon, where Po Campo tries to revive him with coffee, Call saddles the Hell Bitch and rides out of camp, leaving Dish in charge. The men look forlorn, like they won’t know what to do without their Captain. Their dependency and need annoy Call, who knows they’re capable of more than they realize.
This isn’t the first time that both Gus and Call—the undisputed leaders of the group—have left the drive at the same time. But the men’s reactions suggest that this time is different. This speaks to the sudden and rude reminder that even their leaders are mortal and that they’re in dangerous territory. But it also hints not only that these men will have to learn to take care of themselves, but also that they might have to do it sooner than later. It's time to grow up, whether they’re ready to or not.
Themes
