News of the World: Chapter 15 Summary & Analysis

Outside the hall, a soldier is supposed to check audience members for handguns, but he never confiscates any. Captain Kidd sees that people are standing in different, hostile groups. Outside, a storm is gathering. He begins by commenting on road conditions, always a popular topic. But when he pauses, a man stands up and cries that Davis will build paved roads for all his “cronies in the legislature.” Captain Kidd reprimands him sharply and everyone quiets down. But soon, someone asks why he’s not reading from the local papers and people start arguing over which ones are trustworthy.

Calling everyone to order, the Captain reads through his stories quickly. As he’s describing tulips in Turkey someone starts screaming about Davis again, and other men come to his defense. Women hurry out of the building, some of them quietly taking away their menfolk’s handguns. The soldier surveys the scene without doing anything. Someone throws a chair into a glass case along the wall and Captain Kidd’s coin can is overturned. Eventually, the fight moves out into the street.

Captain Kidd stands at the lectern, reflecting that it’s better to stay in North Texas, where one only has to handle Comanche raids. It’s humiliating to crawl around on the floor collecting the coins, but he does it for Johanna’s sake. Suddenly, the bearded man from the road outside Durand appears, politely drawing up a chair for the Captain and gathering the dimes himself. He introduces himself as John Calley and apologizes for taking the Captain’s money earlier.

Captain Kidd asks John if he fought in the war, and John says he did, as a 17-year-old. The Captain suggests he break off ties with the other marauding men, but John says he can’t: they’re his brothers and cousins. Anyway, it’s hard to tell what’s illegal when the situation changes every week. The Captain realizes that the young man has come to the reading in clean clothes in order to show that he’s a “serious man.”

Captain Kidd asks if John is planning to read law, but the young man responds in the negative, saying he’s looking for “honest work.” He finds it hard to believe he could ever find “solid ground” in the changeable law. Captain Kidd says that he’s heard the law should apply to leaders and citizens equally, and that it should be written clearly and placed in public squares for everyone to see. With a look of longing and hope, John asks whose idea that is. The Captain responds that these are the principles of Hammurabi.

Captain Kidd decides to leave Durand in the night, in case the situation escalates. He returns to the mill, where Johanna excitedly shows him a new dress and stockings that the young woman, whom she calls the “bad water lady,” gave her. The Captain is touched by the clothes, which are all of good quality and which will enable Johanna to meet her relatives clean and well-dressed. He tells her to get ready to leave.

The sky clears as Captain Kidd harnesses the horses. Johanna brings a small bundle into the wagon and they set off into the night. When they’ve traveled some miles, Johanna opens her bundle; it contains two chickens from the mill she’s stolen, slaughtered, and gutted. She’s clearly proud of herself for providing “blek-fass.” Captain Kidd is dejected, knowing that it’s wrong to take chickens and that the whole town will see him as thief. But he composes himself and speaks evenly to Johanna, praising her for providing food.

Staring ahead, the Captain realizes that tears are falling down his cheeks. He dreads the future that lies ahead for Johanna, who doesn’t have the faintest understanding of private property or theft. Johanna strokes his face with her bloody fingers and says decisively that he’s hungry. Anxiously, she asks if she’s “all lite,” and he assures her that everything is fine.