Joshua Deets is a fictional Texas Ranger appearing in two novels in the Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry. In the films, he is played by Keith Robinson and Danny Glover.
This is Deets's first chronological appearance in the books. This book explains that he was an escaped slave who was offered a job in the Texas Rangers by Woodrow F. Call. He begins by working as a cook for Rangers while traveling. Later on, when their captain Inish Scull leaves the troop and takes the Kickapoo tracker Famous Shoes with him, Deets takes on the role of tracker.
Ten years after the end of Comanche Moon, Deets, Pea Eye Parker, Augustus "Gus" McCrae and Woodrow F. Call have all retired from the Rangers and are now running a small cattle company in Lonesome Dove. While in San Antonio, he runs into Jake Spoon and brings him back to Lonesome Dove with him. There, Jake tells his compatriots about Montana, describing it as a cattleman's paradise. Call, tired of the slow life in Lonesome Dove and wanting a new challenge, decides to get a herd together and drive it up to Montana. Deets and the rest of their crew come as well. First, they ride south to Mexico to steal the cattle from Pedro Flores. As they ride north, Deets is instrumental in finding paths and water. This, however, is not without its dangers. A lightning storm hits one night, aggravating snakes in one of the rivers that they must cross, and as a result, Sean O'Brien, one of two Irish immigrants they picked up in Mexico, is killed. Once the company enters Wyoming and passes through the badlands, they must go 80 miles without water. Deets is also involved in one of the more heartbreaking side excursions during the journey. While passing through the Oklahoma territory, Deets finds a dying man who has been shot by horse thieves. He alerts Gus and Woodrow, who send him ahead to find the thieves' track. Deets is such an experienced and instinctive tracker that he can recognize a rider by his track, and he is shocked to find that one of the horse thieves he is tracking is his former companion Jake Spoon. He leads Gus, Woodrow, Pea Eye and Newt to the thieves and they arrest them, including Jake. Reluctantly, but out of loyalty to the law they once served, they must hang not only the three brothers, but Jake as well. None of them, however, can bring themselves to send Jake's horse away, so Jake does it himself.
After the company enters Montana, Deets notices that several horses have been stolen, most likely by Indians. When Deets tracks them down, he finds they only needed them for meat. Gus and Woodrow decide to let the Indians keep some of them, so rather than start an engagement, Call fires his gun to scare off the Indians. As planned, the Indians scatter, but they leave behind a blind toddler. Empathizing with the child, Deets picks him up to comfort him. Behind him, however, a young warrior from the tribe is hiding, and believe that Deets is trying to steal the baby. Gus and Woodrow warn him to drop the baby. Deets simply holds out the baby to the young man to no avail. The young warrior impales Deets with a spear. Deets dies within a few seconds. Gus and Woodrow bring his body back to the camp and bury him. Woodrow, despite having seen much death and not reacting very emotionally to it, is this time moved to carve a sign for Deets:
JOSH DEETS
SERVED WITH ME 30 YEARS. FOUGHT IN 21 ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE COMMANCHE AND KIOWA. CHERFUL IN ALL WEATHERS, NEVER SHERKED A TASK. SPLENDID BEHAVIOUR.
Author Larry McMurtry borrowed many aspects of his novel from the careers of Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight. Deets is another element that McMurtry borrowed. Their tracker, Bose Ikard, was also an escaped slave. When he died, Goodnight carved a sign for him.
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