Lonely Dove
Jake had
given him hard candy and pennies and had set him on a pacing horse and given him his first ride; he had even had old
Jesus, the bootmaker, make him his first pair of boots; and once when Jake won a lady’s saddle in a card game he gave
the saddle to Newt and had the stirrups cut down to his size.
Those were the days before order came to Lonesome Dove, when Captain Call and Augustus were still Rangers, with
responsibilities that took them up and down the border. Jake Spoon was a Ranger too, and in Newt’s eyes the most
dashing of them all. He always carried a pearl-handled pistol and rode a pacing horse—easier on the seat, Jake claimed.