Mortality Quotes in Lonesome Dove

Call's biggest fear is that one of the young men in his group will be killed on the cattle drive. And it isn't the anxious thought of a paranoid father figure, either. That's partly because Call could never be considered a father figure, and partly because this is a very, very real fear.

Humiliating himself in front of the Captain is a fate almost as bad as death in Newt's eyes. Perhaps he realizes that if he displeases the Captain too much, he will be out on his own, and it will be very hard to make a living.

This is the first major death in the book, and it happens suddenly, abruptly, and with no foreshadowing or reason behind it. Death is like that sometimes.