Lonesome Dove

Lonesome Dove

by

Larry McMurtry

Lonesome Dove: Chapter 56 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
When Augustus lost Blue Duck’s tracks, he went west, assuming Blue Duck would head to his favored hiding grounds. But Blue Duck went straight north instead, and Gus’s assumption costs him time. And, he knows, it may cost Lorena her sanity, if not her life—the longer she’s in Blue Duck’s hands, the less likely she is to survive. He’s thinking about her when the first shots whiz past his horse. He turns and tries to outrun, but soon the band of Indigenous adversaries—about a dozen, including Blue Duck’s gang of five— begins to catch up.
Gus’s worries—and mistakes—emphasize the danger that an unhinged criminal like Blue Duck poses not just to Lorena in this moment but to everyone he comes into contact with as long as he’s still alive. Unfortunately, Blue Duck is more than a worthy adversary for Gus, and so readers know something Gus doesn’t yet: that Blue Duck has outfoxed him and will live to fight and terrorize another day.
Themes
American Mythology Theme Icon
Luck, Fate, and Chance Theme Icon
Fortunately, Augustus discovers an old buffalo wallow. It’s not much, but it’s the best cover he’s likely to find on the plains. As he dismounts, he stabs his horse in the neck, hoping to use its corpse as a barrier and that the smell of its blood will spook his pursuers’ horses. This plan works. When his attackers’ horses begin to balk, he quickly shoots five men dead. Discouraged, the survivors fall back a little.
Despite being at a significant disadvantage—he’s both outnumbered and caught in open territory with little cover—Augustus demonstrates the cool head and quick wits he's known for. The sacrifice of the horse is shocking, but in a life-and-death situation, Gus knows, survival can depend on making tough choices.
Themes
American Mythology Theme Icon
The Meaning of Masculinity Theme Icon
The lengthy lull that follows bores Augustus because he lacks anyone to talk to. For want of anything else to do, he mentally reviews the way the men he knows behave under pressure. Pea Eye hates wasting ammunition to the point that he almost never shoots anything. Call never backs down, no matter the odds, and never allows an enemy to escape, no matter how far he may run. Deets is so shrewd that he often senses ambushes coming days in advance.
Augustus continues to prove that his friend Call was right to judge him a “cool character” in a much earlier chapter. Of all the things readers might expect him to find inconvenient about his current circumstances, the lack of a conversational partner certainly seems unexpected. But this gives him a chance to reflect on the character of his friends. Notably, he confirms the book’s rendering of Call as determined to the point of obstinacy, and of Deets as supernaturally sensitivity to the world around.
Themes
The Meaning of Masculinity Theme Icon
Late in the afternoon, a white man with a large buffalo gun joins Augustus’s adversaries. The man isn’t a great shot, but the bullets that whack into the corpse of Augustus’s horse present a grave danger. Augustus gets a few shots of his own in when the man is reloading, and although he misses the men, he still sends them retreating to a safe distance. Then, there’s nothing to do but to wait for the cover of darkness, at which point he calmly starts walking toward the Canadian River. He hasn’t gone far before he hears shooting in the vicinity of the buffalo gun, then subsequently runs into none other than July Johnson, Roscoe, Joe, and Janey.
The buffalo gun tilts the odds in the favor of Blue Duck’s men once again. Buffalo guns were large-caliber weapons designed for long-range shooting—some had a range of over half a mile. But Gus doesn’t fret this temporary turn in his luck; the gun becomes useless when the shooter can no longer see his target through the dark. Gus’s life philosophy of waiting to see what comes pays off. And luck is on his side, too—July and his party run into and scare off the remainder of the ambush party.
Themes
Luck, Fate, and Chance Theme Icon
The Good Life  Theme Icon
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Amiably telling July that he’s about 300 miles too far north to catch Jake, Augustus explains that the men they encountered likely belonged to Blue Duck’s gang. He tells them he’s on his way to their camp to rescue a stolen woman and kill her captor. The idea that Elmira might also be their captive floods July’s mind. He insists on going with Augustus. Near the river, they find a spot where Roscoe, Janey, and Joe can take shelter. Augustus doesn’t really want an untested man on such a risky mission but knowing that he needs all the help he can get, he accepts July’s offer. Not long before they prepare to storm Blue Duck’s camp, they hear something—or someone—splashing across the river downstream from them.
It’s good luck for July and his party to have run into Gus, too, lest they have otherwise stumbled right into Blue Duck’s camp. The situation they’ve encountered reinforces just how unprepared they are for the wild and unpredictable circumstances of life on the frontiers of the country. Gus, ever the keen observer of human character, sees that July needs him more than he needs the sheriff. But he can’t afford to be too picky about help given his circumstances. The sound as they cross the river recalls the moment where the stampede wakes Newt and strongly hints that Blue Duck has already eluded them.
Themes
American Mythology Theme Icon
Family Theme Icon
The Meaning of Masculinity Theme Icon