"Bury this man here." "Tell the law about it if you want." "But don't forget to tell them what you were about to do here." "Put your hands on that pommel, Mister." "What?" "The pommel." "You look behind you, mister, and it won't be so funny." "Jackson, take his gun." "Now wouldn't you like to tell me something?" "Come on, you are going with us." "Get down." "She's dead." "That supposed to mean something to me?" "What's your name, your business hereabouts?" "Here's my story." "You're a long way from San Francisco." "I had an assignment in Fort Worth." "I'm on my way home." "You'll stay awhile." "Sit there." "I'm Andy Fisher." "Paladin." "Who's he?" "Him?" "That's Louis Strome." "Just the biggest man in the whole entire world." "He owns most all this Texas panhandle." "Strome" " I've heard of him." "You're not with him?" "No more than you." "They found me on the road." "Strome's planning a party." "Looks like." "I guess he picked me up to play while someone's to dance." "Maybe somebody else is to play, and I'm to dance." "Say, what's this all about?" "Get down off that horse and get over there." "Now there's been some mistake, sir." "My name is Broderick, Clyde Broderick." "For the Sharp's Rifle Company." "I'm the territorial representative, salesman, drummer, if you will." "I never carry a weapon." "I never fired one." "Now, when your two gentlemen there accosted me on the road..." "She's dead." "Who's dead?" "Shock tactics, Clyde." "You're supposed to give yourself away when Mr. Strome says those words." "Strome?" "What would he give away about himself?" "Well, now Mr. Strome, if I knew that," "I'd be your man, wouldn't I?" "But your question..." "What would he give away about himself?" "Let me see." "You're obviously looking for a man." "You don't know who he is." "He's in this area, he rides a black horse." "You have plans for him, and you think he's responsible for the death of a woman, right?" "My wife." "He was wearing a black shirt or a black jacket." "I don't know what you're talking about." "Neither do I." "One of you is lying." "Well, maybe if you'll tell us a little more, the two who aren't lying could be of some help." "I'll give you a start." "I remember reading about your wedding." "A little more than two years ago, wasn't it?" "She was a young girl." "A member of an old Spanish family in San Antonio." "Vasquez." "Maria Felicia Vasquez, right?" "I was punching cows up in San Anton at the time of the wedding." "It was a big do." "You knew Maria?" "You know better than that." "The daughter of Vasquez?" "She wouldn't spit on a $22 a month cowhand." "Everybody in San Antonio knew of the family, Strome." "That's a prominent family." "Why, I sold her father two custom-made rifles..." "I've had business in San Antonio several times in the last two years." "Any one of the three of us might have met her." "She was my wife." "Mine." "In fact, the land is mine." "In fact, everything I own is mine." "I know she was seeing a man." "I left the house yesterday to check my outriders." "I wasn't supposed to come home last night, but I changed my mind." "There was a black horse back of the house when I rode in." "Maria blew out the lamp when I stepped into the living room, but I caught just a flash of him." "A flash in the moonlight on his sleeve as he was getting out the window." "It was a black sleeve." "I fired just one shot." "I'd have got him, too, except Maria stepped into the path." "It was your bullet that killed your wife?" "She's dead because of one of you." "I mean to hang that man." "He got away riding West." "A man wearing black, riding a black horse." "He'd have had to pass through Hangtown this morning." "It's the only place he could have gotten water." "The people in the town remember only three men passing through who fit." "Well, now, see here, it-it couldn't be me." "I was in Hangtown last night." "I stayed in a hotel." "They'll tell you." "Was someone with you all night?" "Well, no." "I went to bed early, and..." "It's a two-hour ride to my place from Hangtown." "You could have slipped away and back, and no one the wiser." "But I didn't!" "Where did you spend the night, Paladin?" "Under the stars." "I slept on my saddle." "The same." "Now, Strome, if it's all the same to you," "I'll be on my way, and I'd like my weapons returned." "Wait a minute, I'll ride a piece with you." "You're staying here." "Manuel, fix a fire." "There'll be two of my men watching you every minute." "You won't be able to see us, but you can't make a move that we don't see." "Three men, three different stories." "It's too bad we haven't got time to check them." "We're going to have to do better than that, or else we'll all haul rope." "Well, I wouldn't say that." "Why, you got something in mind?" "Well, they're probably all asleep now, except the two guards." "Attack the guards?" "Well, we can't even see out there." "If the fire gets much lower, they won't be able to see us, either." "They're not going to let that fire die." "Well, I certainly hope not." "You always carry that?" "Always." "Clyde." "Stay where you are, gentlemen." "My friend has a gun on you." "Well, we got no place to go." "Manuel." "Yes?" "Don't alarm your friend, just call him down." "Hey, Jackson, come down here." "It's all right." "Yeah?" "I think I've got our man figured out." "Who is it?" "Look here." "Just drop the rifle." "Drop it." "All right, come on." "Let's get out of here." "Wait a minute, wait a minute." "We'll need horses." "That means we've got to take Strome and the rest of them." "I didn't mention that along with the guards," "I'd be watching all night." "I promise I'll kill the next man who fires." "Throw down those guns." "If we could just get to the darkness." "Not a chance, Clyde." "They'd cut us down before we took two steps." "Do you want it finished now, or do you want the four hours till breakfast?" "He's going to kill us anyway." "Four hours is four hours." "No odds, Clyde." "No odds at all." "Throw it down." "Now that you've blown off steam, maybe you'd best get back to the business at hand." "I never fired a gun before, but I wish now I'd taken at least one shot at you." "You certainly don't want to see daylight." "Why don't you shoot, Strome?" "If Manuel hadn't come in front of the barrel..." "Like your wife came up in front of the barrel?" "He told us his wife moved in front of his bullet." "She moved faster than his bullet?" "That ain't very likely." "It's possible if Strome was heavy on the trigger, but we just saw him hold off on a snap shot." "What else?" "Strome, you told us this man who got away rode off without ever looking back." "Now, I think if he had any feeling for that girl, he'd have looked back when you shot." "He'd have ridden back to see if she was hurt." "Are you saying that this girl is not dead?" "No, I think she's dead." "But Strome, how much time passed after that man got away?" "How much time before you shot your wife?" "Why don't you answer that, Strome?" "How much time, Strome?" "Maybe a half hour." "You mean you murdered her?" "You just shot her down like that?" "Like that." "Just like I'm going to hang one of you, or all of you in the morning." "Well, you murdered her." "What do you want from us?" "She's dead because of one of you." "I'll be waiting." "Just call me." "If you want to tell me anything." "Well, it does get cold out here at night." "Why don't you stop that?" "What else is there to do?" "We got company." "Anyone for gambling?" "You'll never play for higher stakes." "What's on your mind, Paladin?" "Well, now there's no sense of all three of us being hung." "And all one has to say to Strome is, "I'm it."" "Well, who's going to say that?" "Whoever gets the smallest rock." "I don't want any part of it." "Strome would have to let two of us go." "Those two could double back and try and save the one who had to stay." "Yeah, but suppose he didn't let one of us go, or two of us go." "And suppose they didn't get back in time." "That's two "supposes"" "against a surefire, three-man hanging." "You two take your choice." "Rocks are lined up this way." "I'll take the one that's left." "All right." "You want to go first?" "No." "I'll take this one on... on this end." "I'll take the one on that end." "You win." "That's not funny." "Clyde, you have my word, as long as I live, you live." "You want to call Strome?" "You call him." "Strome!" "Yes?" "You have something to tell me?" "Yes." "I'm listening." "Well, I, uh... you see..." "No!" "No, I'm not the man." "I didn't know your wife." "I didn't have anything to do with your wife, and I'm not going to say I did!" "Well, Clyde, you certainly are a disappointment." "All right, what are you going to do, kill me?" "No." "If that's the truth, Clyde, you stick with it." "There isn't much time left." "I'm not fooling!" "I'll fill those nooses!" "Strome, why don't you content yourself with one murder this week?" "Killing a woman, that's a big enough chore for you." "And after all, you had plenty of justification for killing her." "After all she did to you." "By the way, what did she do to you exactly?" "You tell us the man was there, but what exactly were they doing?" "She said they were talking." "He was just somebody she could talk to." "What does a man talk to a woman about?" "All I wanted was his name." "That's all I asked her for." "And you killed her when she wouldn't tell." "Why didn't she tell if there was nothing between them but talk?" "Because you would have killed him!" "You wouldn't believe it!" "I don't believe it now." "It does happen." "Now, don't be telling Strome about women." "He knows about women." "Don't let all this upset you." "Here, I'll play you a song to quiet your nerves and steady your hand for the morning's work." "¶ There is a place that I do know ¶" "¶ Where my true love goes to drink her wine ¶" "¶ In her store-bought clothes ¶" "¶ And she sits her down on some brave boy's knee ¶" "¶ Now don't you know that vexes me ¶" "¶ And yet she cries, I love you best ¶" "¶ But a troubled mind can know no rest ¶" "¶ For a troubled mind can know no rest. ¶" "You try to ride me, you young..." "Young?" "Is that the rub, Strome?" "I'm young, she's young?" "So that puts us together, huh?" "Could have been, couldn't it?" "Young man, someone closer to her own age?" "It could be a dandy with a guitar." "A drifter with easy words and no morals." "That's right." "It could've been me she wanted to talk to." "And why not?" "What would she want with a vicious old goat like you?" "Strome." "It could have been an older man." "Someone who knew the world." "Someone who could paint word pictures for her of places she'd never seen and never would see locked up in that big house of yours." "Somebody had to tell her she was clever, she was pretty and wanted." "Could have been a lonely man, Strome." "A man who wandered every place because he had no place." "He could draw strength from someone like her loving him." "He'd take more than he could give, but he could make her feel needed because he'd see her loneliness." "Emanual!" "Jackson!" "Build up that fire." "Get breakfast." "Finish this!" "Finish this!" "I lost my head." "I think you saved my life." "Yeah, for the moment." "Three fools, that's what we are." "Well, I find good comradeship comforting in a time like this." "Hurry it up." "Patience, Strome." "I won't keep you long from your pleasure." "It will be a pleasure." "You had it coming to you." "Well, the man who killed Maria should hang, there's no question about that, and we all know who did that." "That's enough!" "Stand up, all of you!" "Well, since we must." "You can turn these two loose" "I'm you're man." "You didn't think I'd let you hang, did you?" "I knew it." "What were you to Maria?" "Well, Strome, it's a little late to be worrying about that, isn't it?" "I thought you were so certain." "Just the one rope." "Thanks, Paladin." "I'm..." "I'm sorry." "Save it." "I'm not the man- one of you is." "Now my life..." "Just don't wait too long." "Come on, Paladin." "We don't have to stand here and watch this." "You'll stay." "Nobody leaves till it's over." "I will not stay here!" "We don't need these two." "Is there any special song" "I can send you off with, Paladin?" "Anything you like, but don't wait too long!" "I never shot one of these things before." "Oh, you're doing fine." "Keep it up." "Cover me the best way you can." "Hold it." "No more." "You see Andy?" "No." "Andy!" "I'm back here in the clearing." "I've got Strome." "Come on." "Cut him down." "Move!" "Clyde, when this started, you were going someplace." "You riding my way?" "Well, bye." "I think I'll hold on to this." "I loved Maria." "She liked me, that's all." "She needed a friend, somebody she could talk to." "So once in a while we'd get together and we'd talk." "But that was all." "He killed her because she talked to another man." "She was nothing to him." "Just something he owned." "Don't you see, I..." "I had to have time to make him pay for what he did to Maria." "But I swear, I wouldn't let you hang." "You bury him here and the others." "Tell the law about this if you want, but don't forget to tell what you were about to do here."