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Lonesome Dove Chapters 91-95 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • The men are afraid more Indians will attack.
  • While they're safe from Indians at the moment, they do encounter a cougar and a grizzly bear.
  • The only one brave enough—or dumb enough—to face the grizzly is the Texas bull.
  • Bull and bear fight it out. Both animals survive, but the bear is the technical winner.
  • The bull is seriously injured. He even lost an eye.
  • After the bear flees, Dish ropes the bull so that Po Campo can give it stitches.
  • Yes, Po Campo performs surgery on a bull. Just when we thought we'd seen everything.
  • Back at Clara's, Lorena does housework and watches after the girls. She misses Gus, but she doesn't miss the rest of the awful journey.
  • One day, while the girls and Lorena are playing cards and laughing, Clara checks on Bob.
  • He's dead.
  • Clara informs the household, including July, who is glad Bob is dead because that means Clara is free to marry him.
  • July puts the body in a coffin and is sent to fetch a minister while Cholo and Clara stay with the body and talk about death.
  • The minister comes from town, sings a few hymns, drinks too much, and passes out on the couch. Just your typical frontier funeral.
  • The cowboys finally reach Montana. Goodbye, Wyoming—which was pretty terrible to them.
  • The men see Montana as much prettier. Tall grass. Yellow flowers. Deep blue sky.
  • During the night, snow falls on the camp. Hey, it's cold.
  • The boys play in the snow.
  • Later, Newt asks Gus who his father is, and Gus says, "Woodrow Call is your pa, son" (93.40).
  • Newt wonders why Call never told him, and all Gus can say is that Call is a peculiar man.
  • Newt wants to be glad he knows his father's identity, but since his own father won't even admit it, it turns out not to be a happy occasion after all.
  • No one knows what to expect of the Yellowstone River, a river they've all heard of but none have seen.
  • Jasper doesn't even plan to cross it; he's afraid he'll drown in the very last river.
  • Call sends Gus and Pea Eye to scout the area, and the two men quickly run into a band of angry Indians.
  • One Indian shoots Gus in the leg with an arrow.
  • Pea and Gus dig a hole in the riverbank to hide in, expecting the Indians to rush them. But they never do.
  • Safe in their little cave, Pea Eye removes the arrow from Gus's leg. It's a painful procedure, during which Gus passes out.
  • Gus soon recovers and puts mud on his wound.
  • Overnight, no Indians attack, but Gus develops a high fever. He can't walk on his leg, so he sends Pea back to camp for help.
  • When night falls, Pea leaps into the river to swim secretly downstream; then he walks back to camp.
  • The plan isn't perfect, though, because the current is so strong, it sweeps Pea's pants clean off him.
  • Pea has to walk back to camp butt naked.
  • A few days and a few killed chickens later, Pea reaches camp, and is seen by Dish, who carries him to Call.
  • Pea tells Call what happened, and Call rides off to get Gus, leaving the rest of the men to fend for themselves.