that under him... were millions of bones

How he died hadn't been funny, Newt thought.

"It's alright though," Augustus said. "It's mostly bones we're riding over, anyway. Why, think of all the buffalo that have died on these plains. Buffalo and other critter too. And the Indians have been here forever; their bones are down there in the earth. I'm told that over in the Old Country you can't dig six feet without uncovering skulls and leg bones and such. People have been living here since the beginning, and their bones have kinda filled up the ground. It's interesting to think about, all the bones in the ground. But it's just fellow creatures, it's nothing to shy from."

It was such a startling thought - that under him, beneath the long grass, were millions of bones - that Newt stopped feeling so strained. He rode beside Mr. Gus, thinking about it, the rest of the night.


Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove, 1985. p.622