Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove

But Jake began to pull at her. "Come on," he said. "We'll get under the bank. It might strike the tree."

The lightning had become constant-she could see every whisker on Jake's face in the glare. He looked old. But he wouldn't leave her under the tree. In the flashes she could see the river. The river had almost got her and now he wanted her to go back to it. When he pulled, she fought. The tree was the only protection she had and she didn't want to leave it.

"Dern it, come on!" Jake said. "This ain't no place to sit out a lightning storm."

Every time he pulled, the tightness inside her broke out a little and she struck at him. The first blow hit him in the eye and he slipped and sat down in the mud. Then it was dark. When the lightning flashed again, she saw Jake trying to get up, a look of surprise on his face. But he grabbed her in the darkness and began to drag her away from the tree. She kicked at him and they both went down, but a bolt struck so loud and so near that she forgot to fight. She let him pull her toward the river, dragging the tarp. Another bolt hit so near it shook the ground, almost causing Jake to fall in the water. There was not much overhang to the bank, and the tarp was so muddy he could barely drag it, but he pulled it over them and sat close to her, shivering. In the flashes the light was so bright that she could see every wavelet on the river. She wondered where the turtle was, but before she could look it was pitch-dark again. In the next flash she saw the horses jumping and trying to shake off their hobbles. She shut her eyes but when the bolts hit she felt the light on her eyelids. There was nothing to do but wait to die. Jake was shivering against her. She felt her muscles coiling up, getting tighter and tighter.

"Well, I wish we'd brought our feather bed," Jake said, trying to make light of it.

She opened her eyes to blackness and a second later saw the lightning come to earth just across the river, cracking into the tree where they had made their first camp. The tree split at the top, then darkness fell, and when the next flash came the split part had fallen to the ground.

"We got ol' Deets to thank that we're still alive," Jake said. "That one would have got us if we'd stayed put."

You didn't thank him, Lorena thought. She put her head against her knees and waited.

BY DAWN the rain had stopped completely and the sky was cloudless. The first sunlight sparkled on the wet thickets and the hundreds of puddles scattered among them, on the wet hides of the cattle and the dripping horses.

At the head of the main bunch of cattle, Call surveyed the situation without too much apprehension. Unless there was a lightning victim somewhere, they had come through the storm well. The cattle had walked themselves out and were docile for the time being. Deets had been to look, and Soupy, Jasper and Needle had the rest of the herd a mile or two east. The wagon was stuck in a gully, but when the hands gathered they soon had enough ropes on it to pull it out. Bol refused to budge from the wagon seat while the pullout took place. Lippy had got out to help push and consequently was covered in mud practically up to his lip.

Newt had been extremely surprised, when dawn came, to discover that he was in his natural position in relation to the herd: behind it. He was too tired even to feel very relieved. All he wanted was to stretch out and sleep. Several times he dozed off, sitting straight up in the saddle. Mouse was just as tired, and kept to a slow walk.

Deets reported that all the hands were well and accounted for with one exception: Mr. Gus. He had been with the main herd for a while but now he was nowhere to be seen.

"He probably rode off to the café to get his breakfast," Dish Boggett said. "Or else went in to San Antone to get himself a shave."

"He might have went to see Mn. Jake," Deets said. "Want me to go look?"

"Yes, have a look," Call said. "I want to cross the river as soon as possible and it would be convenient to have Gus along."

"It ain't much of a river," Dish said. "I could near jump across it if I had a long-legged horse."

When asked how many cattle he thought might be lost Dish estimated no more than twenty-five head, if that many.

"Well, you nearly lost me," Jasper Fant said, when they were all standing around the wagon. Bol had some dry wood that he had kept under a tarp, but the preparation of victuals was going too slowly to suit most of the hands.

"I'm so tired I won't be worth nothing for a week," Jasper added.

"When was you ever worth anything?" Dish inquired. He himself was in rather good fettle. It always improved his mood to have his skill recognized, as it clearly was by all hands. He had managed to turn the main part of the herd out of the worst of the brush and keep it together. Even Captain Call had seemed impressed.

The only cowboy who had not performed up to caliber in the emergency was Sean O'Brien, who had been walking out to catch his night horse when the storm hit. He was such a poor roper that Newt usually roped his horses for him, if he happened to be around. This time, of course, he hadn't been. The Spettles, responsible for the remuda, were afraid Sean's awkward roping would cause the whole herd to bolt; Bill Spettle had roped a horse for him, but it wasn't one he could ride. Sean had promptly been bucked off, and when the remuda did bolt, Sean's horse ran with it. Sean had been forced to ride in the wagon all night, more worried for his life than his reputation. Bolivan had made it clear that he didn't like passengers.

While breakfast was cooking most of the cowboys pulled off their shirts and spread them on bushes to dry. A few took off their pants, too, but only the few who possessed long underwear. Dish Boggett was one of the few who had carefully wrapped his extra clothes in an oilcloth, so he soon had on dry pants and a shirt, which somewhat increased his sense of superiority to the nest of the crew.

"You boys look like a dern bunch of wet chickens," he said.

It was true that the crew presented an odd appearance, though Newt wouldn't have compared them to chickens. Most of them were burned a deep brown on the face, neck and hands, but the nest of their bodies, which the sun never touched, were stank white. Bert Borum was the funniest-looking without a shirt, for he had a round fat belly with curly black on it that ran right down into his pants.

Pea Eye walked around in a pain of all-enveloping long johns which he had worn continuously for the last several years. He had his knife and gun belt on over his underwear, in case of sudden attack.

"There ain't no point in gettin' too dry," he pointed out. "We got to cross the river after a while."

"I'd just as soon go around it," Needle said. "I've crossed it many times but I've been lucky."

"I'll be glad to cross it-maybe I'll get a wash," Lippy said. "I can't do much under all this mud."

"Why, that ain't a river, it's just a creek," Dish said. "The last time I crossed it I didn't even notice it."

"I guess you'll notice it if five or six of them heifers get on top of you," Jasper said.

"It's just the first of many," Bert said. "How many rivers is it between here and the Yellowstone?"

The question set everyone to counting and arguing, for as soon as they decided they had an accurate count, someone would think of another stream, and there would be a discussion as to whether it should count as a river.

The Rainey boys were sleeping under the wagon. Both had dropped like rocks once they dismounted, oblivious to wet clothes and too tired to be interested in food. The Raineys liked their sleep, whereas the Spettles could do without it. They seemed unaffected by the strenuous night-they sat apart, as silent as always.

"I wish they'd talk, so we'd know what they were thinking," Sean said. The silent Spettles made him nervous.