Deets finds Wilbarger by backtracking his horse after they crossed the Arkansas River. Dish Boggett is almost drowned in this river when his horse takes fright, but Deets saves him before the horse can paw him under. He finds Wilbarger and rides back to tell the Captain that he's shot, but not yet dead. Wilbarger asks to see Gus if it's not too much trouble for him to ride to where the older man lays. He, Deets, and Call decide to take Pea Eye and Newt along as well. Deets tells the Captain that it was white men who shot Wilbarger, horse thieves. Gus leaves Dish in charge of Lorena and promises her he has no intention of running off. Dish is also placed in charge of the herd, two heavy responsibilities, but two he's willing to accept. As for Newt, he sees the gesture on the part of the Captain to take him along as a sign that he has more respect for the boy than he shows.
Wilbarger is dying, but tells the men that his murderers were Dan Suggs, his
brothers, and a black man who rides with them. He thinks he hit the black
man, and he's galled to have been shot fatally by horse thieves after
living through the fighting of the Civil War. However, seeing the Hell
Bitch, the filly he'd once wanted to ride, cheers him even in his final
hours. Newt is more affected by the man's dying than he thought, because
Wilbarger accepts it so courageously. He's further affected by Wilbarger's
desire to shake hands with Call for all the favors Call had done him.
A few hours later, Wilbarger is dead, and they mark the man's grave with
the skull of a buffalo. They give Wilbarger's rifle to Newt, but in spite
of the fact that he's always wanted one, he can't enjoy it because of
the strain of all the deaths he's experienced. Gus comes over and comforts
him by reminding him that they are riding over land that is filled with
the bones of animals and men, and that people have been living and dying
on the earth for thousands of years. Wilbarger's is just one more to be
added.
Newt learns a lot on this burial trip. He has been faced with the reality
of death many times now, and it has left a strain on him. But Gus points
out to him that men have been dying on the earth for millions of years,
and that the ground is filled with their bones. Newt is comforted by this
thought, because it helps him understand how to deal with the loss of
those who mean so much to him. He also learns that maybe the man he idolizes
so much - Captain Call - thinks more of him than the man usually lets
on. That, too, is a comforting thought.
Dish takes food to Lorena after he gets the herd settled, but she doesn't
even speak to him, just goes into the tent and closes the flaps. The next
morning though, he comes upon her buttoning her shirt and is very embarrassed.
That's Lorie's revenge. She only has to look at men like Dish in the eye
to make them aware that they might pay for her, but they'll never really
have her. However, she does speak with him this morning, asking when Gus
will be back. He, of course, has no answer that will really satisfy her.
Po Campo brings her a few wild plums, and she wishes he would bring her
Gus instead. She knows if he doesn't come back, she'll have no hope of
protection. As for Dish, he knows that Lorie will always be as distant
for him as the Kansas stars.
This chapter shows two young people feeling unrequited love. Dish is so in
love with Lorie that he thinks he can wait for her forever. Ironically,
she is so dependent on Gus and the safety he offers that she sees no one
or nothing else.
Soon, Call, Gus, and the rest of the men with them find Wilbarger's two men and the people killed by Dan Suggs. Deets tells Call that Jake is definitely with them, not only because he recognizes his track, but also because the track shows the sideways tendency Jake has when riding in a saddle. Deets knows that if Jake is riding with these killers there's no hope for him, and Call is hit hard by the realization that he'll have to hang a man who had once rode the range with him. Ironically, he makes the same observation about Jake that Jake had made about Lorie - it's a bad situation, but he put himself in it. Soon, they surround the gang most of which have bedded down for the night. They have to shoot Eddie Suggs in the shoulder, but then they take away all of their guns, including Jake's. He thinks for awhile he has the chance to convince Call and Gus that he wasn't a part of the killing, but they only point out that he had gone along with six killings and that's making his escape a little slow.
When Newt asks if they have to hang Jake, because he was a friend to newt's mother, Call is surprised by the comment, but insists that any judge would hang him, too. Meanwhile, Jake can't get his mind to snap to, to convince his former friends that he's no killer. His mind doesn't seem to want to work, and all he feels is an overpowering fatigue. His life has slipped out of line, and he can't find the energy to fight it any longer.
Jake is the last one they plan to hang, and Call apologizes that it has to
be them that does it. Jake grins and says he'd rather it was friends than
strangers, adding that he never meant any harm. He tells Newt that he
can have his pony - the pacer he loved so much - and gives all the others
the money in his pocket to be divided evenly. Before any of them can even
respond to his gestures, Jake spurs the horse and brings about his own
hanging. Gus says that Jake died fine and they bury all the bodies, but
Dan Suggs. Call breaks up a piece of the wagon they had with them to make
a marker for Jake's grave, and Gus observes that life is peculiar - if
Jake hadn't talked Call into this trip, he wouldn't have been hung by
them that day. They take Wilbarger's horses with them and head back to
the herd.
Jake's hanging is one of the more poignant scenes in this novel. He is essentially a good man who makes bad decisions and finds himself in a situation from which he cannot be extricated. He has much to regret about his life and in the end, he feels overwhelming fatigue for the consequences they've led to. However, by spurring the horse to hang himself, he at least dies a fine death, meaning that in the final analysis, he was man enough to accept responsibility for all his actions and bring about his own punishment.
Clapsaddle, Diane. "TheBestNotes on A Long Way Gone".
TheBestNotes.com.
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