“Two,”
the old man said.
I took a deep breath and threw my shoulders back. “You boys want Watson's gun that bad, you will have to take it.” And I swung the gun up in the face of D. D. House as if to fire.
finish it? that what he said?
                                             good godamighty
well, he sure is finished
godamighty
star
moon masks
a mouth
eyes come                                    eyes go
in the star shadow
how the world hurts                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            hurts
a star
this world is painted on a wild dark metal
About the Author
P
ETER
M
ATTHIESSEN
was born in New York City in 1927 and had already begun his writing career by the time he graduated from Yale University in 1950. The following year, he was a founder of
The Paris Review.
Besides
At Play in the Fields of the Lord,
which was nominated for the National Book Award, he has published six other works of fiction, including
Far Tortuga
and a book of short stories,
On the River Styx.
Mr. Matthiessen's parallel career as a naturalist and explorer has resulted in numerous widely acclaimed books of nonfiction, among them
The Tree Where Man Was Born,
which was nominated for the National Book Award, and
The Snow Leopard,
which won it.
A
LSO BY
P
ETER
M
ATTHIESSEN
FICTION
Race Rock
Partisans
Raditzer
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Far Tortuga
On the River Styx and Other Stories
Killing Mister Watson
Lost Man's River
Bone by Bone
NONFICTION
Wildlife in America
The Cloud Forest
Under the Mountain Wall
Sal Si Puedes
The Wind Birds
Blue Meridian
The Trees Where Man Was Born
The Snow Leopard
Sand Rivers
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
Indian Country
Nine-Headed Dragon River
Men's Lives
African Silences
East of Lo Monthang
African Shadows
Tigers in the Snow
The Birds of Heaven
End of the Earth
Footnotes
To return to the corresponding text, click on the reference number or Return to text.
E. J. WATSON
*Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Changed his second initial to
J
in later life.
Return to text.
DEAD RECKONING
*Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â From the author's foreword to
The Undiscovered Country: A Life of Edgar Watson
by L. Watson Collins.
Return to text.
2008 Modern Library Edition
Copyright © 2008 by Peter Matthiessen
Map copyright © 1990, 1997, 1999, 2008 by Anita Karl and Jim Kemp
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Modern Library,
an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
M
ODERN
L
IBRARY
and the T
ORCHBEARER
Design are
registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
This is an abridgment and revision of three novels by Peter Matthiessen published separately by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., as follows:
Killing Mister Watson
(copyright © 1990 by Peter Matthiessen),
Lost Man's River
(copyright © 1997 by Peter Matthiessen), and
Bone by Bone
(copyright © 1999 by Peter Matthiessen).
eISBN: 978-1-58836-824-9
v3.0