"I've bled so much already I expect I'm white as snow," Wilbarger said. "I'm a dern mess. I took one in the lung and another seems to have ruint my hip. The third was just a flesh wound."

"I don't think we can do anything about the lung," Call said.

Wilbarger smiled. "No, and neither could a Boston surgeon," he said.

He raised his head again. "Still riding that mare, I see," he said. "If I could have talked you out of her I probably wouldn't be lying here shot. She'd have smelled the damn horsethieves. I do think she's a beauty."

"How many were there?" Call asked. "Or could you get a count?"

"I expect it was Dan Suggs and his two brothers, and a bad nigger they ride with," Wilbarger said. "I think I hit the nigger."

"I don't know the Suggses," Call said.

"They're well known around Fort Worth for being murdering rascals," Wilbarger said. "I never expected to be fool enough to let them murder me. It's humbling. I lived through the worst war ever fought and then got killed by a damn sneaking horsethief. That galls me, I tell you."

"Any of us can oversleep," Augustus said quietly. "If you was to lie quiet that lung might heal."

"No sir, not likely," Wilbarger said. "I saw too many lung-shot boys when we were fighting the Rebs to expect that to happen. I'd rather just enjoy a little more conversation."

He turned his eyes toward the Hell Bitch and smiled-the sight of her seemed to cheer him more than anything.

"I do admire that mare," he said. "I want you to keep that mean plug of mine for your troubles. He's not brilliant, but he's sturdy."

He lay back and was quiet for a while, as the dusk deepened.

"I was born on the Hudson, you know," he said, a little later. "I fully expected to die on it, but I guess the dern Arkansas will have to do."

"I wish you'd stop talking about your own death," Augustus said in a joking tone. "It ain't genteel."

Wilbarger looked at him and chuckled, a chuckle that brought up blood. "Why, it's because I ain't genteel that I'm bleeding to death beside the Arkansas," he said. "I could have been a lawyer, like my brother, and be in New York right now, eating oysters."

He didn't speak again until after it was full dark. Newt stood over with the horses, trying not to cry. He had scarcely known Mr. Wilbarger, and had found him blunt at first, but the fact that he was lying there on a bloody blanket dying so calmly affected him more than he had thought it would. The emptiness of the plains as they darkened was so immense that that affected him too, and a sadness grew in him until tears began to spill from his eyes. Captain Call and Mr. Gus sat by the dying man. Deets was on the riverbank, a hundred yards away, keeping watch. And Pea Eye stood with Newt, by the horses, thinking his own thoughts.

"How long will it take him to die?" Newt asked, feeling he couldn't bear such a strain for a whole night.

"I've seen boys linger for days," Pea Eye said quietly-he had always thought it impolite to talk about a man's death within his hearing. Gus's joke had shocked him a little.

"But then sometimes they just go," he added. "Go when they're ready, or even if they ain't. This man's lost so much blood he might go over pretty soon."

Call and Augustus knew there was nothing to do but wait, so they sat beside Wilbarger's pallet, saying little. Two hours passed with no sound but Wilbarger's faint breathing.

Then, to Call's surprise, Wilbarger's hand reached out and clutched him for a moment.

"Let's shake, for the favors you've done me," Wilbarger said weakly. When Call had given him a handshake, Wilbarger reached for Augustus, who shook his hand in turn.

"McCrae, I'll give you credit for having written a damn amusing sign," he said. "I've laughed about that sign many a time, and laughing's a pleasure. I've got two good books in my saddlebags. One's Mister Milton and the other's a Virgil. I want you to have them. The Virgil might improve your Latin."

"I admit it's rusty," Augustus said. "I'll apply myself, and many thanks."

"To tell the truth, I can't read it either," Wilbarger said. "I could once, but I lost it. I just like to look at it on the page. It reminds me of the Hudson, and my schooling and all. Now and then I catch a word."

He coughed up a lot of blood and both Call and Augustus thought it was over, but it wasn't. Wilbarger was still breathing, though faintly. Call went over and told Pea Eye and Newt to start digging the grave-he wanted to get started after the horsethieves as soon as it was light enough to track. Restless, he walked over and helped Deets keep watch.

To Augustus's surprise, Wilbarger raised his head. He had heard the digging. "Your friend's efficient, ain't he?" he said.

"Efficient," Augustus agreed. "He likes to chase horsethieves too. Seems like we're always having to get your horses back, Wilbarger. Where do you want 'em delivered this time?"

"Oh, hell, sell 'em," Wilbarger said, in shaky tones. "I'm done with the cow business, finally. Send the money to my brother, John Wilbarger, Fifty Broadway, New York City."

He coughed again. "Keep the tent," he said. "How's the shy young lady?"

"She's improved," Augustus said.

"I wish we'd met sooner, McCrae," Wilbarger said. "I enjoy your conversation. I hope you'll bury my man Chick and that boy that was with us. I wish now I'd never hired that boy."

"We'll tend to it," Augustus said.

An hour later, Wilbarger was still breathing. Augustus stepped away for a minute, to relieve himself, and when he came back Wilbarger had rolled off the blanket and was dead. Augustus rolled him on his back and tied him in the blanket. Call was down by the river, smoking and waiting. He looked up when Augustus approached.

"He's gone," Augustus said.

"All right," Call said.

"He said he was traveling with a man and a boy," Augustus said.

"Let's go, then," Call said, standing up. "We won't have to backtrack him, we can just look for the buzzards."

Augustus was troubled by the fact that he could find nothing with which to mark Wilbarger's grave-the plains and the riverbank were bare. He gave up and came to the grave just as Pea Eye and Deets were covering the man with dirt.

"If he had a family and they cared to look, they'd never find him," Augustus said.

"Well, I can't help it," Call said.

"I know something," Deets said, and to everyone's surprise mounted and loped off. A few minutes later he came loping back, with the skull of a cow buffalo. "I seen the bones," he said.

"It's better than nothing," Augustus said as he sat the skull on the grave. Of course, it wasn't much better than nothing-a coyote would probably just come along and drag the skull off, and Wilbarger too.

Deets had found Wilbarger's rifle, and offered it to Augustus.

"Give it to Newt," Augustus said. "I got a rifle."

Newt took the gun. He had always wanted a rifle, but at the moment he couldn't feel excited. It was such a strain, people always dying. He had a headache, and wanted to cry or be sick or go to sleep-he didn't know which. It was such a strain that he almost wished he had been left with the wagon, although being selected to go had been his greatest pride only a few hours before.

Augustus, riding beside him, noticed the boy's downcast look. "Feeling poorly?" he asked.

Newt didn't know what to say. He was surprised that Mr. Gus had even noticed him.

"You've been on too many burying parties," Augustus said. "Old Wilbarger had a sense of humor. He'd laugh right out loud if he knew he had the skull of a buffalo cow for a grave marker. Probably the only man who ever went to Yale College who was buried under a buffalo skull."

How he died hadn't been funny, Newt thought.

"It's all right, though," Augustus said. "It's mostly bones we're riding over, anyway. Why, think of all the buffalo that have died on these plains. Buffalo and other critters too. And the Indians have been here forever; their bones are down there in the earth. I'm told that over in the Old Country you can't dig six feet without uncovering skulls and leg bones and such. People have been living there since the beginning, and their bones have kinda filled up the ground. It's interesting to think about, all the bones in the ground. But it's just fellow creatures, it's nothing to shy from."