Cities of the Plain

John Grady discovers the body of a dead calf. With Billy, he debates the cause of the calf’s death. Billy believes dogs killed the calf. Over the coming days, they find more dead calves. They lay traps for the dogs, but the dogs avoid the traps and continue killing calves. They camp, and, the next day, they find a freshly killed calf.

A few days later, they take a pack of hunting dogs to find the dogs that are killing the calves. They pick up the scent, and the dogs howl and bark at one another. The hunting dogs chase the wild dogs out of their shelter. John Grady catches and kills one, while the other cowboys run down the other wild dogs. As the remaining wild dogs seek to escape, Billy and John Grady ride their horses to try and intercept them. They reach a thin rock shelf so narrow that Billy’s horse refuses to pass through. John Grady swaps horses with Billy and eases the horse through the thin gap, draping his coat over the horse’s eyes. They chase down the wild dogs, decapitating one when they try to lasso it simultaneously. Eventually, all the wild dogs are caught and killed.