Comanche Moon is a 1997
western novelThe Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
by
Larry McMurtryLarry Jeff McMurtry is an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas...
. It is the fourth and final book published in the
Lonesome Dove seriesThe Lonesome Dove series refers to a series of four western novels written by Larry McMurtry and the four television mini-series based upon them.-Novels:# Lonesome Dove # Streets of Laredo # Dead Man's Walk...
, but the second installment in terms the chronology of the narrative.
Plot introduction
In this bridge novel between McMurtry's
Dead Man's WalkDead Man's Walk is a 1995 novel by Larry McMurtry. It is the third book published in the Lonesome Dove series, but the first installment in terms of chronology. McMurtry wrote a fourth segment to the Lonesome Dove chronicle, Comanche Moon, which describes the events of the central characters' lives...
and
Lonesome DoveLonesome Dove is a 1985 Pulitzer Prize–winning western novel written by Larry McMurtry. It is the first published book of the Lonesome Dove series, but the third installment in the series chronologically...
, Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae are in their middle years, still serving as respected
Texas RangersThe Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
.
Plot summary
Texas Governor Elisha Pease sends a small troop of
Texas RangersThe Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
, under the leadership of Captain Inish Scull, to the
Llano EstacadoLlano Estacado , commonly known as the Staked Plains, is a region in the Southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas, including the South Plains and parts of the Texas Panhandle...
in pursuit of the celebrated
ComancheThe Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
horse thief, Kicking Wolf. This bold Indian steals Hector, Scull's famous horse, and takes it to the Sierra Perdida to give to the notorious Mexican bandit Ahumado, feared for the horrible
tortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
s that he inflicts upon his victims. Scull, promoting McCrae and Call to Captains and instructing them to lead the Ranger troop back to Austin, sets off on foot after Kicking Wolf, accompanied only by the Kickapoo tracker
Famous ShoesFamous Shoes is a fictional Kickapoo tracker who appears in two books in the Lonesome Dove series.-Comanche Moon:Famous Shoes makes his second appearance in the series, though his first chronologically, in this book. In the film, he is played by David Midthunder...
. Ahumado ties Kicking Wolf up to be dragged away by a horse, and takes Kicking Wolf's companion, Three Birds, prisoner. Ahumado intends to impose a slow death on Three Birds, but Three Birds throws himself off a cliff. Scull finds the unconscious Kicking Wolf being dragged by the horse, and cuts the Comanche's bonds, which allows Kicking Wolf to survive and return to his tribe. Scull is soon captured by Ahumado, and placed in a cage, where he is supposed to die slowly.
Having returned to
AustinAustin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, McCrae learns that his beloved Clara Forsythe intends to marry his rival, horse trader Bob Allen (though she is not married yet, as Scull's wife had led McCrae to believe). Call learns that his lover, the reluctant whore Maggie Tilton, is pregnant with his child. Prompted by Scull's insistent and promiscuous wife Inez, Governor Pease sends Call and McCrae out in charge of another typically small Ranger troop to rescue Captain Scull. While they are on this mission, Comanche chief
Buffalo HumpBuffalo Hump was a Native American War Chief of the Penateka band of the Comanche Indians...
leads his nation on the warpath. They burn much of Austin, killing Clara's parents and ravaging fellow Ranger Long Bill Coleman's wife, Pearl. Maggie, having been prepared by Call, hides under a
smokehouseA smokehouse is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.-History:...
, thus escaping the Comanches' notice.
The Rangers turn back to Austin as soon as they hear of the raid there. Pearl and Long Bill are unable to recover emotionally, and Long Bill hangs himself.
Scull handles the cage so well that Ahumado has him taken down, and has his henchman Goyeto cut off his eyelids. Ahumado sends word to Austin that he will return Scull for a ransom of one thousand cattle. Governor Pease sends the Rangers out once again, to collect the cattle and exchange the herd for Scull. The Rangers go to
Lonesome DoveLonesome Dove is a 1985 Pulitzer Prize–winning western novel written by Larry McMurtry. It is the first published book of the Lonesome Dove series, but the third installment in the series chronologically...
in search of cattleman
Captain KingRichard King was a riverboat captain, entrepreneur, and most notably, the founder of the King Ranch in South Texas, which at the time of his death in 1885 encompassed over 600,000 acres .-Early years:Born in New York City into a poor Irish family, King was indentured as an apprentice to a jeweler...
. Realizing they will not be able to even gather the cattle, let alone persuade King to sell them, Call and McCrae set out to try to rescue Scull on their own terms, leaving the rest of their troop behind. Meanwhile, Ahumado has been bitten by a
brown recluse spiderThe brown recluse spider or violin spider, Loxosceles reclusa, is a member of the family Sicariidae . The spider has a venomous bite....
, and goes South to die. Call and McCrae find Scull going insane in a pit, but the rescue is soon enough to allow Scull to mostly recover. Scull returns to Austin and later becomes a general with the
Union armyThe Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
. Because of the eyepieces he has devised, he becomes known as "Blinders" Scull.
Meanwhile, Buffalo Hump banishes his half-Mexican son Blue Duck. Blue Duck goes East and acquires wealth and notoriety as the leader of a gang of bandits.
At this point, the novel moves more quickly, giving highlights covering the period leading up to the sequel,
Lonesome DoveLonesome Dove is a 1985 Pulitzer Prize–winning western novel written by Larry McMurtry. It is the first published book of the Lonesome Dove series, but the third installment in the series chronologically...
. Maggie gives birth to Call's son Newt, but Call refuses to acknowledge the child is his. She goes to work at the general store, and Jake Spoon more or less moves in with her. The
Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
takes most of the soldiers away from the frontier, enabling the Comanches to push back the white settlers. After the Civil War, Call and McCrae are sent in pursuit of Blue Duck and his band of renegades. Buffalo Hump has gone off to die. Blue Duck hears of this and leaves his cutthroats to pursue his father. The Rangers attack his band, but Blue Duck, having left, evades capture. He finds his father at his chosen place of death and kills him there. Maggie dies while the Rangers are on this expedition.
Characters
- Woodrow Call
Woodrow F. Call is a fictional, Scottish-born Texas Ranger who appears in all four books of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series. Much of the books revolve around his relationship with his Ranger partner Augustus McCrae...
— Texas RangerThe Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
- Gus McCrae — Texas Ranger
- Clara Allen
Clara Forsythe Allen is a fictional character who appears in the Lonesome Dove series. The novels were written in a different order than the chronology of the narratives: Lonesome Dove , Streets of Laredo , Dead Man's Walk , and Comanche Moon .-Dead Man's Walk:Clara makes her first chronological...
— Gus's former lover, a storekeeper's daughter
- Maggie Tilton
Maggie Tilton is a fictional character appearing in two books in the Lonesome Dove series. She is a prostitute and the lover of Captain Woodrow F...
— Woodrow's lover
- Inish Scull — Captain, Texas Ranger
- Inez Scull — wife of Inish Scull
- Long Bill Coleman — Texas Ranger
- Jake Spoon
Jake Spoon is a fictional Texas Ranger appearing in two books of the Lonesome Dove series.-Comanche Moon:Jake's first chronological appearance in the books is in Comanche Moon, which was actually the last book published. Though Jake is a member of the Rangers as the book begins, he is not on the...
— Texas Ranger
- Pea Eye Parker
Pea Eye Parker is a fictional Texas Ranger appearing in three books in Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series.-Comanche Moon:Pea Eye is played by Troy Baker in the film version of Comanche Moon. In this volume, he, Gus McCrae, Woodrow F...
— Texas Ranger
- Josh Deets
Joshua Deets is a fictional Texas Ranger appearing in two novels in the Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry. In the films, he is played by Keith Robinson and Danny Glover.- Comanche Moon :...
— Texas Ranger
- Famous Shoes
Famous Shoes is a fictional Kickapoo tracker who appears in two books in the Lonesome Dove series.-Comanche Moon:Famous Shoes makes his second appearance in the series, though his first chronologically, in this book. In the film, he is played by David Midthunder...
— the Rangers' Kickapoo tracker
- Buffalo Hump
Buffalo Hump is a Comanche Indian who appears in two books in the Lonesome Dove series. His son, Blue Duck is also a major character.The character Buffalo Hump was likely inspired by the historic Comanche war chief of that name.-Dead Man's Walk:...
— Comanche war-chief
- Kicking Wolf — Comanche horse thief
- Blue Duck
Blue Duck is a fictional character, a biracial Indian appearing in two books in the Lonesome Dove series. He is the son of Buffalo Hump and a kidnapped Mexican woman. The fictionalized character of Blue Duck was partially based on the life and death of the Kiowa war chief Satanta...
— son of Buffalo Hump
- Ahumado — Mexican bandit and murderer
- Goyeto — Ahumado's henchman and skinner (humans, not animals)
- Tana — member of Buffalo Hump's tribe
Miniseries
A television adaptation of the novel first aired on
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
January 13, January 15, and January 16, 2008. It features many Hollywood stars, particularly
Karl UrbanKarl-Heinz Urban is a New Zealand actor.He is known for playing Éomer in the second and third installments of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the 2009 film Star Trek and Julius Caesar on Xena: Warrior Princess...
as
Woodrow F. CallWoodrow F. Call is a fictional, Scottish-born Texas Ranger who appears in all four books of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series. Much of the books revolve around his relationship with his Ranger partner Augustus McCrae...
,
Steve Zahn-Early life:Zahn was born in Marshall, Minnesota, the son of Zelda, who worked for the YMCA, and Carleton E. Zahn, a retired Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor. Zahn spent part of his childhood in Mankato, Minnesota, attending Kennedy Elementary School...
as Augustus McCrae,
Val KilmerVal Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
as Inish Scull (often given top billing),
Elizabeth BanksElizabeth Maresal Mitchell , known professionally as Elizabeth Banks, is an American actress. Banks had her film debut in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy...
as Maggie,
Wes StudiWesley "Wes" Studi is a Cherokee actor, who has earned notability for his portrayal of Native Americans in film. He has appeared in well-received Academy Award-winning films, such as Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves, Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans, the award-winning Geronimo: An...
as Buffalo Hump,
Adam BeachAdam Ruebin Beach is a Canadian Saulteaux actor.He is best known for his roles as Tommy on Walker, Texas Ranger, Kickin' Wing in Joe Dirt, Marine Private First Class Ira Hayes in Flags of Our Fathers, Private Ben Yazzie in Windtalkers, Dr...
as Blue Duck, and
Jake BuseyWilliam Jacob "Jake" Busey is an American actor, musician and film producer. He is sometimes credited as "Jacob Busey" or "William Busey".-Personal life:...
as Tudwal. Other stars include
Linda CardelliniLinda Edna Cardellini is an American television and film actress. She is best known for her roles as high school student Lindsay Weir on Freaks and Geeks, as Velma Dinkley in the live-action Scooby-Doo films, and as Samantha Taggart on ER.- Early life :Cardellini was born in Redwood City,...
as
Clara ForsytheClara Forsythe Allen is a fictional character who appears in the Lonesome Dove series. The novels were written in a different order than the chronology of the narratives: Lonesome Dove , Streets of Laredo , Dead Man's Walk , and Comanche Moon .-Dead Man's Walk:Clara makes her first chronological...
,
Rachel GriffithsRachel Anne Griffiths is an Australian film and television actress who came to prominence in the 1994 film Muriel's Wedding and her Academy Award nominated performance in the 1997 film Hilary and Jackie....
as Inez Scull, and
James RebhornJames Robert Rebhorn is an American character actor who has appeared in over 100 television shows, feature films and plays.-Personal life:...
as Elisha Pease.