Blood Meridian Chapter 17 Summary

  • Glanton's men ride out of their most recent town in the evening. They wonder if the Apaches they've been drinking with will ride with them, but the Apaches stay behind because they won't ride at night. It's a good idea in the end, because Glanton and his men would kill and scalp them the first chance they got.
  • The men make a fire and stare into it, thinking about the people from their group who've been killed. Then they get into an argument about whether there could be life on other planets.
  • The judge declares that there is no life anywhere but earth and he does a magic trick with a coin as if it somehow proves his point.
  • Eventually, Glanton and his crew come across a ferryboat that takes people across the Colorado River for a fare. The guy running the ferry is a doctor from New York.
  • Glanton and his men ride down the river to check out a nearby camp of Yumas led by a guy named Pablo. This group is a lot like Glanton's and has been riding around killing people and taking what they want. They meet Pablo and he asks where they've come from. Then the chapter ends.