Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove

"Oh, go along, Shaw," the girl said. "There ain't but two of you. What kind of game would that be?"

"I made that point myself," Augustus said.

A bartender came over, got the drunk man by the collar and drug him out the door.

"Wanta go next door, Mister?" Nellie asked.

The gambler, to Augustus's surprise, suddenly cuffed the girl-it was not a hard blow, but it surprised and embarrassed her.

"Now, here," Augustus said. "There's no excuse for that. The young lady was talking perfectly polite."

"She ain't a lady, she's a tart, and I won't have her interfering with our pleasure," the gambler said.

Augustus stood up and pulled out a chair for Nellie.

"Sit down, miss," he said. Then he turned to the gambler. "You scoot," he said. "I don't gamble with men who mistreat women."

The gambler had a ferretlike expression. He ignored Augustus and glared at the girl. "What have I told you?" he said. "You'll get a beating you won't forget if you interfere with me again."

The girl trembled and seemed on the verge of tears.

"I won't have a slut interrupting my play," the gambler said.

Augustus hit the man in the chest so hard that he was knocked back onto the next table, amid three or four mule skinners. The mule skinners looked up in surprise-the gambler had the wind knocked out of him so thoroughly that he waved his arms in the air, his mouth open, afraid he would die before he could draw another breath.

Augustus paid him no more attention. The girl, after a moment, sat down, though she kept glancing nervously toward the gambler. A big mule skinner shoved him unceremoniously off the table, and he was now on his hands and knees, still trying to get his breath.

"He ain't hurt," Augustus assured the girl. "Would you like a sip of whiskey?"

"Yeah," the girl said, and when the bartender brought a glass, quaffed the whiskey Augustus poured her. She couldn't keep her eyes off the gambler, though. He had managed to breathe again, and was standing by the bar, holding his chest.

"Have you had trouble with that fellow before?" Augustus asked.

"He's Rosie's husband," Nellie said. "Rosie is the woman I work for. They don't get along. Rosie sends me out, and he runs me off."

She tried to recover from her fright and to look alluring, but the attempt was so pathetic that it saddened Augustus. She looked like a frightened young girl.

"Rosie ain't nice to work for," she said. "Do you want to go next door? I got to do something quick. If Shaw complains she'll whup me. Rosie's meaner than Shaw."

"I'd say you need to change bosses," Augustus said. As soon as he put more whiskey in her glass, the girl quaffed it.

"There ain't but one other madam, and she's just as bad," Nellie said. "You sure you won't come next door? I got to find a customer."

"I guess you better bribe that gambler, if that's the situation," Augustus said. "Give him five and Rosie five and keep the rest for yourself." He handed her twenty dollars.

The girl looked surprised, but took the money and quaffed another whiskey. Then she went up to the bar and had the bartender change the money for her. Soon she was talking to Shaw as if nothing had happened. Depressed, Gus bought a bottle to take with him and left town.

The moon was full and the prairie shadowy. Pea Eye was attempting to sing to the cattle, but his voice was nothing to compare to the Irishman's.

To his surprise, Augustus saw that Lorena was sitting outside the tent. Usually she stayed inside. When he dismounted, he bent to touch her and found that her cheek was wet-she had been sitting there crying.

"Why, Lorie, what's the matter?" he asked.

"I'm afraid of her," she said simply. Her voice sounded thick with discouragement. "I'm afraid she'll take you."

Augustus didn't try to reason with her. What she felt was past reason. He had caused it by talking too freely about the woman he had once loved. He unsaddled and sat down beside her on the grass.

"I thought you went to her," she said. "I didn't believe you went to town."

"Ain't the moon beautiful?" he said. "These plains seem like fine country under a full moon."

Lorena didn't look up. She wasn't interested in the moon. She only wanted it to be settled about the woman. If Gus was going to leave, she wanted to know it, although she couldn't imagine a life if that happened.

"Did you even like to sing?" he asked, trying to get her to talk about something else.

She didn't answer.

"I think it must be a fine gift, singing," he said. "If I could sing like the Irishman, I would just ride around singing all day. I might get a job in a barroom, like Lippy used to have."

Lorena didn't want to talk to him. She hated the way she felt. Better if something happens and kills us both, she thought. At least I wouldn't have to be alone.

NEWT, THE RAINEY BOYS and Pea Eye got to go into town the next afternoon. The fact that the first group drug back in ones and twos, looking horrible, in no way discouraged them. Jasper Fant had vomited all over his horse on the ride out, too beaten to dismount or even to lean over.

"You are a sorry sight," Po Campo said sternly, when Jasper rode in. "I told you it would be that way. Now all your money is gone and all you feel is pain."

Jasper didn't comment.

Needle Nelson and Soupy Jones rode in next-they looked no different from Jasper, but at least their horses were clean.

"It's a good thing there's no more towns," Needle said when he dismounted. "I don't think I'd survive another town."

"If that's the best Nebraska can do, I pass," Soupy said.

After hearing all the reports, which merely confirmed his suspicions, Po Campo was reluctant to let Augustus borrow the wagon.

"Towns are full of thieves," he argued. "Somebody might steal it."

"If they do, they'll have to steal it with me sitting in it," Augustus said. "I'd like to see the thief who could manage that."

He had promised Lippy a ride to town. Lippy had grown homesick for his old profession and hoped at least to hear some piano music on his visit.

Call decided to ride in and help with the provisioning. He was trying to make an inventory of things they needed, and the fact that Po Campo was in a cranky, uncooperative mood didn't make things any easier.

"It's summertime," Po said. "We don't need much. Buy a water barrel and we'll fill it in the river. It is going to get very dry."

"What makes you think it's going to get dry?" Augustus asked.

"It will get dry," Po Campo insisted. "We will be drinking horses' blood if we're not lucky."

"I think I must have drunk some last night," Jasper said. "I never got sick enough to puke on my horse before."

Newt and the other boys raced to town, leaving Pea Eye far behind, but once they got there they felt somewhat at a loss as to what to do first. For an hour or two they merely walked up and down the one long street, looking at the people. None of them had actually been in a building in such a while that they felt shy about going in one. They stared in the window of a big hardware store, but didn't go in. The street itself seemed lively enough-there were plenty of soldiers in sight, and men driving wagons, and even a few Indians. Of whores they saw none: the few women on the street were just matrons, doing their shopping.

The town abounded in saloons, of course, but at first the boys were too spooked to go in one. Probably they would be looked at, because of their age, and anyway they didn't have funds for drinking. What little they had must be saved for whores-at least that was their intention. But the fourth or fifth time they passed the big general store their intentions wavered, and they all slipped in for a look at the merchandise. They stared at the guns: buffalo rifles and pistols with long blue barrels, and far beyond their means. All they came out with was a sack of horehound candy. Since it was the first candy any of them had had in months, it tasted wonderful. They sat down in the shade and promptly ate the whole sack.