What is the catalyst that prompts the Hat Creek Cattle Company to leave Lonesome Dove? What are the different personal reasons that Gus and Captain Call decide to go and what reasons do they share? What was the original plan and how did it differ from the Hat Creek Cattle Company's usual routine? Discuss the more likely outcomes of that plan.

What secret does Call keep about himself and who in the company shares this particular trait? How is Newt affected by it, and who finally corrects the omission and why? Discuss the ways that Call declared without actually declaring the truth. What were his possible reasons for not coming clean all this time? How many people knew before Newt?

When the drive starts, there are Call and Gus, Deets, Pea Eye, Newt, Bolivar, Dish, Sean and Allen O'Brien, Ben and Charlie Rainey, Soupy...