Colorado

Colorado marks a turn in Del Delaney’s flight from Montana: after escaping across the state line into Wyoming, he eventually reaches Colorado and falls in with other wanted men. The state becomes more than a point on his route. Its mountain terrain complicates travel, while the outlaw company Delaney joins brings him closer to a life that is harder to leave.

A Stage in Delaney’s Flight

Delaney initially rides away from town under a misleading appearance of heading toward Wineglass, then changes direction once he is out of sight. He crosses into Wyoming believing its law officers are less likely to pursue him than those in Montana, avoids larger towns and county seats, and sometimes hunts for food while otherwise buying supplies at country stores. The account presents Colorado as a later stage of this flight, not as the first refuge he seeks.

By the time Delaney is in Colorado, he has met The Kid and John Smith, two men with serious criminal exposure. The Kid acknowledges that he has killed three men and participated in six bank robberies. John Smith says he helped with one bank robbery and faces a first-degree murder charge at home. Their different records help define the company Delaney has entered: all are wanted, but they are not interchangeable in either experience or circumstance.

The Mountain Journey

The Colorado Rockies give the journey a physical difficulty distinct from the threat of arrest. On a narrow ledge, Delaney continues forward because turning back would cost time and the route offers little room to maneuver. The ledge widens after a short distance, allowing him to turn right and climb steeply to a gentler slope where the group can travel north again.

Kate Muldoon follows close behind Delaney. When he looks back, he sees John Smith stopped on the ledge, staring into the canyon below. Delaney is uneasy about the exposed edge and the possibility that the ledge might end, and he regards the Colorado Rockies as far more rugged than the country he had seen in Montana. The landscape makes their passage precarious, while Smith’s pause signals a separate concern: Kate remarks that she has not heard him speak before about being gullible and having invested his life in something.

Outlaw Company and the Possibility of Return

Colorado is associated with Delaney’s decision to travel with men whose past actions have narrowed their options. Delaney considers whether he might leave them and take a riding job, reasoning that if he committed no further crime, the charges against him might eventually be dropped. The Kid rejects that possibility for himself: he believes he has no choice but to continue, and urges Delaney to accept that their outlaw status leaves them focused on avoiding jail. John Smith likewise considers himself effectively trapped, since recognition for the bank robbery and the murder charge both threaten him.

The association does not end in a simple commitment to flight. Later, Smith says he intends to return home and face the consequences rather than keep running. His decision contrasts with The Kid’s insistence that there is no way back and shows that the group’s shared outlaw status does not dictate a single response. In the novel’s geography, Colorado holds both sides of that tension: difficult country through which the fugitives press onward, and a setting for choices about whether to continue fleeing or turn back toward the law.