"Hi, Eli." "Eli." "Morning, George." "This is a white man's saloon, and it sells white man's liquor, and I'm telling you to crawl your filth out of here, breed," "before I kill you." "Do you hear, you red-skinned nigger?" "A white man's talking to you." "You need stepping on, breed." "Back off, lawman." "You hear that, George?" "I'm gonna bleed you, boy." "Jesus!" "I'll get Quincey Whitmore." "Some Indian, I think." "Eli's been shot dead, Captain." "Some Injun." "He's run." "An Injun, you say?" "Eli's been shot!" "Apache." "I'll get Will Coop." "He wouldn't wanna miss this." "The sheriff's dead." "Gonna get that Injun, Quincey?" "Who is it?" "Nye?" "What is it, Quincey?" "What do you want?" "Saunders, just been killed." "It won't stop the world a-turning." "Ah!" "Now then, ain't you a picture?" "An Injun shot him." "Oh, and you got dressed up for the hanging, huh?" "Well, we'll have to catch him first." "Get your pants." "Yeah." "Getting night, Quincey." "All we have is sand in the mouth and the horses are tired sore." "How's Harvey's horse?" "Uh, threw a shoe and a hoof's split." "Ain't nothing for it, Quincey." "We got to turn back or bed down out here." "Well, we could go to the Hooker brothers' place." "Only about 10, 12 miles from here." "We can night there." "Aw, come on, honey." "It ain't gonna hurt none." "Just give me a little, honey." "All right." "Now, I'll tan your hide, do you hear me?" "Hey, Jubal." "Hey, Jubal." "By all that's holy!" "I'll take the skin off you, you don't bide what I say." "Ah!" "You're damn crazy!" "She's kin." "Go on, get back to the house." "What's with that fool dog?" "Riders coming, Jubal." "Earl!" "Looks like Captain Quincey." "You've been up to something else?" "There's nothing touching me, Jubal." "Quincey, you're riding late." "Posse, Jubal." "We're hoping to put down here for the night." "Why, sure." "Why not." "What's the trouble?" "Apache breed shot Eli Saunders dead." "Jesus hell!" "Saunders, dead." "Elias, get some food on that stove." "Earl, help with them horses." "You lose him, Quincey?" "Yeah." "Aw, that's hell's doing." "You figure on pushing it on at first light?" "Well, he headed south." "I don't hold out much hope." "Jesus, what is that?" "Potato whiskey." "I'd rather be belly-shot." "You get the first swallow down, the rest tastes good." "Earl's right, Harv." "It takes getting used to, like dying." "After your first cup, Harv, you're blind anyway, and after your second, you're darn glad you're blind." "Well, if we catch this breed, we won't have to hang him." "We'll just give him a jug of this." "Hey, you're a cruel one, Harv." "Where's Jubal?" "He'll be out back setting some traps." "You best take your Spencer, Captain Quincey." "The Everettes' had some stock run off on them by some Mimbrenos." "You never know." "It's me, Jubal." "I mean to be no trouble, Jubal." "Company's welcome." "Been thinking on tomorrow." "Be obliged to hear." "Circle around by the Everettes', pick them up, then go on to the Malechie place." "He's got two Mex riders." "Then over to Ezra Meade's." "He has an old Tigua Indian that can track." "We might cut his trail before he gets too far over the line." "Well..." "Might be no more than catching the wind." "We'll get him." "Quincey, me and my brothers will go past the edge of hell, but we'll have that breed and we'll burn him!" "We'll burn him!" "Me and Eli, why, we walked the whole war together." "That puts a man close to you." "We'll surely have that breed and burn him." "How long you figure it'll take, Quincey?" "Well, three or four days at the most." "Me and my boys are alone here now." "Mimbrenos run off three of my best beef last week." "I can't be gone long." "I heard." "I'd understand, Josh, if you wanted not to join..." "No, no, no." "I'm gonna ride with you." "Gibbon?" "Naw, I'll ride anyplace to see a dead Injun." "This could be a good land without the Injuns." "Comanches in Texas first, now the Apaches here..." "Killing, robbing." "Naw, I'm gonna ride with you, but I just can't be gone long." "Gibbon, you stay close." "You mind your ma." "Giddyap." "Giddyap." "Gavin!" "Good morning, Mrs. Malechie." "Good morning." "Good morning, Mr. Everette, gentlemen." "I believe you know, uh, Quincey Whitmore and the Hooker brothers and, uh, Nye Buell." "How do?" "Nye." "Martin Hall and Harvey Lansing." "Morning, ma'am." "Hell, I've known him since he came here." "Morning, Gavin." "George Dunn from up Wolf Butte way." "Will Coop." "Set you down, gentlemen." "Come on inside with you now." "We're not here to be sociable, Malechie." "Some breed killed Eli Saunders." "We're huntin' him." "Thought you might like to ride with us." "Yes, I heard about it yesterday." "One of my vaqueros, he knew this half-breed called Pardon Chato." "He bought some horses off him a year back." "Does the Mexican know if the breed has a piece of ground to run to?" "I'll ask." "He's with my brother-in-law Brady bringing in some strays." "I'll send for them." "You be coming with us, Mr. Malechie?" "Soon as I wash up." "Will you have coffee and biscuits?" "That's to my taste." "We'll ride to Ezra Meade's, get him and his Indian and meet up at the wells." "Aw, Jubal, I had a hankering for biscuits and coffee." "You'll do as I say." "Just keep moving." "You see that Brady Logan woman?" "That's what I call a fine-looking woman." "Put it from your mind." "Thinking ain't sinning." "Jubal, don't you ever get bothered?" "I swear, brother Earl, one of these days, you're gonna get caught halfway up somebody else's peach tree, and you're gonna be dead." "Brady Logan and the Mexican." "I'm taking Raoul." "Do you have to go, Gavin?" "You know I have to." "I hate it when you're gone." "You and Moira won't be alone." "I'm leaving the Mexicans." "That's not the same." "And what would they think of us, neighbors and all?" "We're new here, Edna, cutting out a place here." "We've gotta do what's expected of us." "To hunt down some poor man?" "He killed the Sheriff." "And he's Indian." "Is your pa around, Jacob?" "I'm around." "You're not going to ask to step down, Jubal?" "We haven't given you any call to speak harsh words, Ezra." "Say your piece." "Eli Saunders was murdered by a 'Pache breed." "The world won't grieve." "Quincey Whitmore has got up a posse." "We thought you might want to ride with us, Ezra, or leastways, lend us your Injun to track." "I won't ride with your kind." "As for the Injun, he's his own man." "He says the Apache's not his enemy." "Now, ain't that pretty?" "We ain't gonna let no damn Indian..." "Shut your mouth." "He was a white man, Ezra." "He was a redneck with a loud mouth and a gun." "I heard he got no more than he called for." "Son, you wanna swallow back them words?" "Ride out." "We're waiting for an apology, Ezra." "You'll not get one here." "Don't give me the pleasure." "Where's Meade?" "He won't ride with us." "He favors the breed." "Ezra always was a mite standoff." "It'll not be forgotten." "I always thought of Meade as a good neighbor." "Who's the Mex?" "He rides for Malechie." "Looks more than half Apache to me." "He's part Yaqui." "You best keep a short rope on him." "We'll turn south from here and head towards the high country." "Keep spread out and hunt for sign." "Anyone see anything, raise a shout or shoot twice." "Malechie, tell your Mexican to scout ahead over by that long ridge." "That's the last place we caught his trail." "Raoul." "S?" ", se?" "or." "Whiskey and a hot sun don't mix." "Well, neither does my ass and this damn saddle." "Anyhow," "I used to hear it said you boys that rode with Hood drank five states dry." "You can always tell where Hood's Texans have been by the empty bottles and the dead Yankees." "And it was true." "From Cemetery Hill till old slow trot Thomas broke us at Nashville, we had more than our share of both." "You know, one thing I never could fathom, Quincey, how did them Yankees win?" "They had more." "More men, more guns, more food, more luck." "You know, when I look back at it," "I know now that it was all there for the seeing, except we didn't see it." "Getting licked, I mean, as early as '63." "Hood took us up a little round top at Gettysburg." "And if we could have held it, we could have rolled back those Yankees like old carpets." "But there were too many of them." "They say from Culp's Hill, you could see it all clear." "Gray lines comin' like the sea wash, yelling' and sort of breaking up when they hit the blue ridge and then falling' back." "Lee cried." "I guess he knew." "Hell..." "It was a good war." "Hey." "Apache." "You sure?" "How long ago?" "When?" "An hour, maybe less, he says." "It don't make sense." "Now, how can you tell that?" "From the droppings." "Sun dries them pretty damn quick." "Still fresh inside, means it ain't been long." "Looks like he stayed here quite a spell." "Don't make sense, Jubal." "Should have been long gone from here, a running man and all." "Might be he figured we stopped chasing him and circled around for some reason." "Might be." "If he does, we'll have us a hangin' come nightfall." "Still damn hot, even with those clouds." "Well, maybe it'll sweat some of the whiskey out of your hide, Nye." "Watch it." "Watch it!" "Who's down?" "Watch the horses." "Will, you okay?" " You all right, Quincey?" "He's hurt." "How is it, Will?" "Is it broken?" "Don't know." "How's it feel, Will?" "Sore inside." "I don't think it's broke, but he can't ride." "George, can you get him back to Arillo?" "Sure, Captain." "We'll make a travois for him." "There's some brush down at the bottom there." "My place is closer." "You can get a wagon there." "We got our work cut out." "You're the lucky one, Will." "Gonna be all right, Will?" "Sorry, George." "All right, Will." "I got a feeling we're well out of it anyway." "The Mexican." "Pretty good." "Pretty good." "Damn this light." "Might as well bed down here for the night, get a fresh start in the morning." "Unsaddle and make camp." "Hell, there's no water here, Quincey." "We're gettin' low on water." "And the horses will need some." "Earl's gone hunting' for water." "You can bet the honeybee's sugar tit there ain't no water to find." "Look around." "Sharp rock, dry dirt, that's all." "Each man ration his own water." "Damp down your neck cloths or some piece of something and wet down the horses' muzzles." "I've eaten so much of this damn land today, I can't even spit." "You'll eat more of it tomorrow." "We haven't even seen the shirttail of him yet." "We don't even know if what we're chasin' is the breed that done it." "Jubal thought he'd have a hangin' by night." "The only hangin' is my ass." "Quincey!" "What is it?" "What's going on?" "Let me see that." "It ain't no use staring at them." "That rotten bastard!" "You figure it was the breed?" "Who'd you figure it was?" "He could have cut our throats." "Maybe he isn't a killing man." "He's half Apache, ain't he?" "You mix dog and wolf, you wind up with a killin' animal." "He killed Eli." "That's a fact." "He's either a damn fool or he got some game." "Apache don't leave tracks unless they got a reason." "I don't like it." "I don't like it one bit." "You want to hightail it for home, Harvey, do you?" "I didn't say that." "We're gonna find that breed and we're gonna hang him." "And nobody's gonna do different." "Now, hold on now, Jubal." "There's no cause for that." "Each man is here by his own doin'." "If a man wants out, he can." "I wouldn't ride with a man who didn't want to ride with me." "We're gonna ride till we get him." "What are you all thorn and thistle about, Jubal?" "Harv didn't say nothin' about going back." "" "Here comes the Mexican." "Where in hell's he been?" "Tracking." "One thing for sure, that breed ain't far ahead." "Says he found fresh tracks heading south towards the Lava Hills." "That's bad country, Quincey." "This ain't hardly the Garden of Eden." "Listen, Quincey, you know, could be that breed is leadin' and we're followin'." "And if it's true, he could be leadin' us into bad Apache trouble." "Them Mimbrenos that run off my beef a while back, they could be hiding up in the hills." "Mind ya, I'm just sayin' maybe." "Maybe." "Well, what do you think?" "Well, I learned one thing when I was with" "Tom Jeffords chasing Cochise." "You can never know what's in an Apache's mind." "Ain't a man like..." "Like we know a man." "He thinks Apache, and that's a..." "A shut book full of terrible things." "I got a real dislike of red beans." "Gonna be a hot one." "No, maybe snow by noon, Elias." "And the devil take a chill, huh?" "You sure as hell all speed." "Breakfast done." "You Indian dirt." "Now, you keep all your killin' feelings for what we gotta do." "I tell you, brother Earl, you got some kind of sweet disposition, all sun and little white flowers." "Pleasant company, them Hooker boys." "Nothin' movin'." "That don't mean a damn thing." "Watch that broken ground over there." "I'm going to have a look." "Nobody about for quite a spell, I'd say." "Mescalero." "There ain't nothin' here." "Hey, look." "They had themselves a feast." "What is it?" "Dog." "Apaches think on dog like you think on a good steak, Brady." "He'd rather eat dog than beef." "If he was hungry, he'd eat his own dung." "Well, no more than any other man, and less than most." "They aren't men." "They're animals." "Yeah, God knows what God was thinking when he made the Apache." "We'll burn them wickiups and then we'll ride." "Come on, let's get this one right here!" "Y'all get out of here!" "Burn that one!" "Brady, get this out of here!" "Look at that sucker burn!" "That's it." "Come on!" "We can't ride across these flats." "We'll tear the hearts out of the horses." "Malechie's right, Jubal." "Well, the breed will ride across." "If he does, he'll be on foot before night." "How many miles across do you figure, Buell?" "Enough." "We get this damn Indian, I'm sure gonna make his dyin' slow." "Put God's word on that." "Him and his damn land." "Hey, maybe he's got a woman out there someplace." "Jeez, Earl, don't you ever think about nothin' else?" "Don't let the horses break." "Whoa." "Whoa." "Come here, you son of a bitch." "Whoa." "Whoa." "Hold, hold it!" "Easy, easy." "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" "I don't see a thing." "You're welcome to take a closer look." "Martin, you all in one piece?" "Yeah." "Mexican all right?" "Yeah, I seen him move." "There's only one way, Jubal." "Let's get at it." "Nye, Elias, Jubal and me are going in after him." "The rest of you, spread out and give us cover." "Martin, you stay with the horses." "We've been suckered, Quincey." "That's a God-given fact." "He said it's the breed they call Chato, all right." "He can tell by the horse he rides." "Well, I didn't think it was the president of the United States." "We gotta find those horses before night." "Whoa." "Whoa." "Whoa." "You fly-tailed bastard!" "Whoa, red." "Whoa." "Whoa." "I swear, I'm gonna stretch your hide and leave the rest for the crows." "Two more, hot and ready." "Harvey, I bet that horse tastes better than he rode." "Nye, you'd have your own mother in a skillet before she got cold." "He never met the lady." "Where you from, Brady?" "Before you came out to the territory." "A place called Greenock on the west coast of Scotland." "I used to work in Lithgow's yards, shipwright." "You ever long for it?" "Yeah." "Yeah, water and fire are different, this land and there." "There, the river, the sea fog, gray stone houses wet in the rain." "We used to stand behind the town and look down over the slate roofs across the river to the highlands on the other side." "Yeah." "I never did get to look at the sea." "Brother Jubal did once." "He said it was so big the mind couldn't hold it." "Two more, hot and rare!" "You from Georgia, too, Quincey?" "Texas." "Better drag them horses off." "They'll call all the flies in by morning." "Earl?" "How are we with water?" "Gettin' short." "And we're three horses gone." "You're..." "You're going on after him, Quincey?" "Well..." "When the breed hit us, he had a mind to turn us back." "An Injun will chase something until the chasing' costs too much and then he'll drop it." "That's how he thinks." "Now, he don't plan on something comin' after him no matter what." "He might just get careless now." "I'm agreed." "But I say no more than a week for it." "You can't put a halter on it." "I can for myself." "And what about the others, Harv and Josh?" "They get their say?" "Anybody want to back down, they go on foot, and leave their water for them that stay with it." "Jubal, you got more generosity than June." "That's a Georgia choice." "I must say, it'll cut short thinking on." "Nye, what in the hell are we doin' out here?" "We've got Indian fever." "Sweats in a man, drives him blind in the eye and not quite right in the head." "We ain't seen scratch nor hair of that breed since he buffaloed us." "I ain't sure I want to." "I got a bad feelin' comin' over me, Nye." "I'll bet the Mex's got water." "Got water, Mex?" "You're holdin' out on us." "Earl." "I don't trust him." "He got too much Indian in him." "He ain't tryin' to find the breed." "He's breed himself." "He's tryin' to lose us, I'm tellin' ya." "You stand by your man, Malechie?" "He's a good man." "Yaqui-Mex is more than halfway Apache." "Yeah, why should he help us?" "You got Malechie's word." "You got a sickness on you, Earl." "Can't bide anything Injun." "Do you trust him, Captain?" "Well, we used Apache scouts when we went after Cochise." "They never broke faith." "Apache don't give his word easy, but given, I've never known one to break it." "I guess it's same with the Yaquis." "I'm gonna kill you, Mex." "Understand?" "And that's a promise." "You mean face on, or when he gives you his back?" "You're gonna put foot on my patch once too often, Malechie." "You don't frighten me, sonny." "Earl, put the gun down." "You hear me?" "Put it down." "He got his heels into me, I swear." "Put the gun away now." "Right now." "Ooh." "All right." "All right." "You made your point." "You made your point." "Take it easy." "Hey, you sure are one hell of a fighter, brother." "Big party, went by today or day before." "S?" "." "Most likely a raiding' party." "Or a murdering party." "We've left our women, our places." "They could be heading that way." "Some of these horses are shod and unrode." "It means they've..." "They've raided and are on their way home." "Headin' north?" "Well, could be Comanche." "Comanches?" "Comanches ain't this far south." "Kiowa will raid into Mexico." "They've been as far south as Yucatan." "Could be Apaches just as easy, Quince." "An Injun don't raid with so many extra mounts." "They've been and got what they want." "I agree with Jubal." "Comanche." "Maybe a few Kiowa." "Well, that don't ease the mind none." "We might run into them." "That could be real bad." "If they caught us in this open ground..." "Me and the Mex will scout ahead, Quincey." "I do believe you..." "You're really enjoying this, Quincey." "Now, the Hookers, they hate better than most and that pushes them." "The others?" "They had small choice." "But you, Quincey..." "With you, it ain't so easy to read." "You got a hungering." "For a thirsty man in a dry land, you got a lot of talk, Nye." "You know, some men just can't let go of time." "Passes them by, they reach out and grab her shirttails." "That's you, Quincey." "You can't be just another face around a small town." "Mmm-mmm." "That's what you're doing, all wrapped in gray, sitting proud on that horse, chasing' one damn half-breed and thinkin' about that bastard Grant and his Yankees." "Whoa, Quincey!" "Come ahead!" "Enjoy it, boys." "It's the end of the water." "We'll find water in the morning." "Why don't we just come out with it?" "The breed's lost us." "We ain't seen none of his sign." "What is it you're saying, Josh?" "I'm saying that we're chasing a bad guess, only." "We run out of water, and we got nothin' left to eat except some red beans and some scrawny prairie chickens." "And you've got an itch to get back to where there's good food and a fat wife." "I got a spread back there that needs working." "All we got out here is a handful of nothin'." "Dirt and dry mouth." "Josh is right." "Like hell he is." "You've got the quitting' streak, too?" "Don't lean too heavy on me, Jubal." "I don't bend easy." "How do you see it, Quincey?" "As Josh says, we might be guessing, but I got a feeling we're not." "That breed tried to lead us off and then lose us." "Now, he didn't head for Mexico, and he could've and made it, easy." "Instead he..." "He headed into bad country and then swung north." "Now, put that with the fact that he bought supplies in town, and I think that points to him having someplace he wants kept safe." "What's the matter, Josh?" "Just a coyote." "Josh sees that as bad medicine." "You gettin' Indian on us, Josh?" "Come on." "Ease up, Josh." "I'm gonna kill that dog." "You wouldn't think a grown man would worry about a dog." "Oh!" "What's troubling you, Josh?" "Oh, Quincey, I don't know." "I don't know." "It's just that things aren't working out the way I figured they would." "Say, don't you ever have second thoughts?" "You know, are you still as sure about what we're doin' as when we started?" "I tell you, Quincey, I ain't a believing' man, but I got a God-fear." "I think he's gonna lay his hand on us." "And that's the truth." "Give me my hat." "Get all the water out of my hat!" "Go on, get it." "Don't fill your bellies too fast." "Stop that." "You see any sign?" "Well, that raiding party turned to the northeast a couple of miles back." "Nothing since." "Then they must be Comanches." "I hope we don't step on their tails." "Better 10 Comanche than one 'Pache." "Well, that's just like saying, "Better pox than the plague."" "I seen Comanches in Texas, and, boy, I never wanna see one again, I can tell you." "Well, you don't see Apache." "You don't hear 'em and you don't see 'em." "It's like an act of God." "Oh, you are a comfort, Captain Quincey." " Hey!" "" " Hey!" "Cut that out!" "Brother Earl!" "Here's candy for ya!" "Whoa." "Hey, look what I found!" "Oh, boy!" "Look at that." "Oh, let me at her." "Let's see what you've got, squaw." "Whoa, my!" "Who's first to the honey pot?" "Let me at her." "Hey, come on, let's get out of here." "Come on, let's go." "Come on." "Breed's got all the comforts of home here." "Are you going to stop that, or am I?" "Don't get between a dog and his bone." "You too frightened, man?" "This ain't the army, Malechie." "These men have no cause to listen to me." "You stay clear of her." "Take her inside." "Come on." "Get her up." "Come on." "We got to organize this thing." "Come on." "Come on." "Hold it there." "I was first!" "Let's go!" "What's the matter with you all?" "Can you not see it?" "There's no right in what we're doing." "It's against God." "She's a squaw." "Don't waste any sweat over it." "Malechie, did you ever see what Injuns do when they get a white woman?" "All right!" "Tie her down and tie her good." "This ain't right, Jubal." "You ever hunt wolf?" "Get the bait, stake it out." "They'll always come." "He'll come for her." "Well, now, ain't that a courtesy?" "Staking out a claim, Quincey?" "Well, it's gonna be dark soon." "Take up your positions." "Well, come on." "Go ahead!" "He'll be here, sooner or later, for sure." "Do you think he'll come?" "I hope not." "I want it done and be home." "We'll not be clean of it even then." "We shouldn't be here, Gavin." "Get them horses out of there!" "Everybody, shoot!" "Better shoot those guns and run!" "Look!" "He's up on the roof!" "Let's get the horses." "Where the hell is he?" "Up there!" "Up there!" "Get 'em out!" "Seen that?" "Thought I saw somethin' move." "I think I got him." "Yeah." "Hall, check the woman." "Put out those fires!" "Squaw's been cut loose and gone!" "He's got the woman!" "Yeah, you like starting' fires, don't you, you old bastard?" "Earl, bring a rope!" "What the hell you playing at?" "What's troubling him?" "He says they're beasts and fools, and the Apache will kill now." "No, no, no." "He'll run, now that he's got the woman." "You figure he'll come back?" "He got what he come for." "Would you have dared it, comin' in to get her?" "No." "I would've." "What?" "For a squaw?" "She was a good-Iookin' woman." "Earl, there never was a woman born worth dyin' for." "You don't feel for nothin', do you, Elias?" "Know somethin'?" "Come sunup," "I'm goin' out after her." "You got the fever." "I want that woman for my own." "Well, now, Earl, brother Jubal might get a little bit upset if you marry a squaw." "Jubal!" "Jubal don't own me." "What did I ever get from him?" "Whippin' and hard words." "What are we, Elias?" "Hatin' and killin' and whoring'." "Runnin' scratch cattle." "Ain't got nothin' soft." "Ain't got nothin' don't go bitter in the mouth." "I want somethin'." "Well, Earl, you better wipe them drippings from your mind." "You don't see, do you?" "Like you got a box around your head." "The woman, she'll slow him down, Quincey." "Hey!" "It's a carving of a little bear." "Found it inside with some others." "Means there's a child." "That don't change anything." "Yeah, it does." "If we catch up to him, we hang him, but the woman and the child, if they're with him, they go unharmed." "I want your word on that, Jubal, or you and your brothers can go it alone." "Well, you're gonna have a tough time convincing' Earl that way." "He wants that woman." "Where is Earl?" "He went after her soon as it got light." "Why didn't you stop him?" "Well, he was in no mind to pay heed." "You didn't even try, did you?" "He's full-growed, Jubal." "I oughta whup you." "But you won't, Jubal, 'cause you know I'd put a hole in your gut." "Best wait for breakfast, Jubal." "Grab all you can to eat." "We leave in five minutes." "What's the hurry?" "Earl went after the woman." "Jesus hell." "I'm obliged, Quincey." "Whoa." "His horse bolted." "Take your hands of Cain from him." "I..." "I don't want to bury him here." "It's an empty place." "Empty." "Nothin' to remember." "We command into thy hands of mercy, most merciful father, the soul of our brother departed." "We commit his body to the earth beseeching thy infinite goodness to give us grace to live in thy fear and love and to die in thy favor." "No promises now, Quincey." "May God pity the man that comes between me and that..." "And that breed." "Even an Apache woman's got to slow down soon." "I doubt if the woman's with him now." "Sure leaving' a good trail." "He ain't running'." "Well, you think he'd make a fight of it?" "When he chooses." "Quincey, you know, I think he's doubled back on himself." "I think he's leadin' us in a circle." "I noticed." "Well, what's he doin'?" "He's pickin' his ground, I'd say." "What's that supposed to mean?" "To you this is so much bad land, rock, scrub, desert, and then more rock, a hard land that the sun has sucked all the good out of." "You can't farm it, and you can't carve it out and call it your own, so you damn it to hell, and it all looks the same." "That's our way." "To the breed, now, it's his land." "He don't expect it to give him much, and he don't force it none." "And to him, it's almost human, a livin', active thing." "And it'll give him a good place to make his fight against us." "You know, sometimes you spook me, Quincey." "Where?" "Just one horse goin' that way." "Maybe he cut the other one loose." "Maybe, maybe not." "He's cut back and got behind us." "We'd best backtrack and see if we can find out where he turned off." "What if he went straight on?" "We lose a little time." "Better that than a scalp or two." "You're guessing', Captain." "We're both guessing'." "All right, Quincey, what do we do?" "Spread out and find where he turned off." "Keep a sharp eye." "The breed ain't gonna give us much ground for mistakes." "What's the matter?" "Look about you, Jubal." "Wouldn't you say that this is about as good a place as you can find to do your killin'?" "If he was up there in those rocks, we'd be easy to cut off." "Well, we'll just have to climb a bit, that's all." "And climb right into him?" "He can't be on both sides." "Well, behind us or in front of us, once we start scrambling' up there, we've lost our mobility." "We'd be like lame men." "It's too steep, and we got horses." "We can't pull our horses up through there, not and move fast." "Do you think he's up there, Quincey?" "Well, he might be." "Aw, he's got you so you're scared to move, Captain." "He's only a lousy Indian." "He's half Apache." "And we're 10 men!" "This morning, we were 11." "You seem awful sure he'll make a stand of it." "We raped his woman and killed his kin." "Do we wait for dark?" "That wouldn't give us much." "We'd have to ride fast over blind ground." "We pull back." "Try to find a way around it." "We'd lose too much time." "You're blind, Jubal." "You can't see for hate." "Try to go around?" "That might take five or ten miles." "We'd lose what's left of today and half of tomorrow tryin' to pick up his trail again." "Why, I'd kill the man who'd let that breed get away!" "I told you that this morning, and I mean it!" "Mount." "Keep low and..." "And ride like hell." "Ho!" "Quincey!" "Josh!" "It's Hall." "Somebody's got to go back for him." "No." "He's probably dead, Gavin." "How do you know?" "Maybe he's just wounded." "You better hope he's dead." "This falls on you, Jubal." "You'd do well, Quincey, to close your mouth." "We know where the breed is." "We can box him in on that ridge." "There's 100 ways out of there." "Logan, Malechie, stay with the horses." "We'll go in." "Right, matey." "Come on." "Over here!" "Quick!" "Sweet mother of whores." "It's a..." "It's a hell of a place to die in." "There ain't no good places." "I guess not." "The breed came." "He grabbed my hair, just stared at me." "I guess Josh was right about that coyote." "God, I don't want to die." "Let's get him out of here!" "Come on, Hall." "Easy, Hall." "O lord, we beseech thee, mercifully hear our prayers and spare all those who confess their sins unto thee." "And they whose consciences by sin are accused, by thine merciful pardon may be absolved" "through Christ, our Lord." "Amen." "Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy loving kindness." "According to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions." "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sins, for I acknowledge my transgressions." "My sin is ever before me." "Against thee, thee only have I sinned." "I've done this evil in thy sight." "Your words are no use, Scotsman." "Close your book." "My mind's on a..." "On a pretty little whore in Lordsburg." "Nye, Nye, once I knew a pretty little girl." "Once I had a pretty little girl" "Pretty little whore in Lordsburg" "Eyes like berries" "And lips like cherries..." "Come at us!" "He's just lettin' you know he's out there." "Are you just gonna leave him?" "Well, we can't sit around here all day waitin' for him to die." "I've had my fill of you, Jubal." "Go, then." "And God mark you for the man that you are." "Don't drop that hammer." "He's got us in the open." "Anybody see where them shots come from?" "From the hills somewhere." "Quincey!" "Quincey!" "Get on your horses and ride out of rifle range." "Quincey, my shoulder, I think it's broke." "Can you make it to the horses?" "I'll have to." "Get him down." "Come on." "Easy." " He's up in them high rocks." "We can circle wide and get behind him." "Malechie, you stay with the horses." "Right." "Nothing?" "Nothing." "The breed got him." "Yeah." "Can't be sure of that." "Yeah, I think we can." "It's as if the ground had opened and devoured him." "You can't fight what you can't see." "He'll hunt us down, one after one," "till we're all gone." "It looks bad." "Josh needs doctoring." "Harv's right." "He won't make it without help." "We're goin' back tomorrow." "No." "Nobody is runnin' from this." "Stay if you want, Jubal." "The rest of us are goin' back in the morning." "You saw Earl." "You all saw what was done." "If I don't get to a doctor, I'll die." "Looks that way." "You want blood for blood, don't you, Jubal?" "We came here to hang a murderin' breed, and hang him we will." "What's the matter with you?" "He's got us beat." "Can't you see that?" "Brother, looks like Harvey's lost his taste for justice." "You came to hunt a man because he was half Apache." "You raped and killed to feed your hunger." "In the name of God, don't call it justice." "Listen to our Bible tongue." "What sets you apart?" "You rode with us." "You got the same dirt we got." "We got three, maybe four dead and one bad wounded." "We're goin' home in the morning." "Damn you to hell, Quincey Whitmore." "I've taken enough of your words." "Now I don't want to kill you, Quincey, but by God's own eyes I will, right here and now, where you stand, if you call me to it." "We stay." "Now I want to hear you say it, clear and straight out," ""We stay till that Apache breed is hung."" "You think you can hold us with your gun?" "Yes, I do." "Say it, Quincey." "Well, speak, man." "Do what he wants now, and he'll have us savages like himself." "We stay" "till the Apache breed is hung." "Josh and me are leaving, Jubal." "Well, I never judged you to have bone enough, Harvey." "Well, that breed's got us beat, and Josh gotta have a doctor." "Elias, if you move from that blanket, you'll put the death on your brother." "You ready, Josh?" "Jubal, I gotta get to a doctor." "I wouldn't run out on you otherwise." "Oh, I know that, Josh." "Every man's got an end to his rope." "I'll bear no hurt against you." "If a man feels he must pull a gun on another that he's ate with and rode with, well, then it's best that they part." "Quincey, I'm sorry." "We looked to you." "But last night you left us no choice but this way." "I can't stomach a man who runs out on his friends." "Drop them." "Leave it." "God, Quincey." "Do I go after him, Jubal?" "You do." "Don't kill him unless you have to." "Now, you two, stack them guns right there." "Come on." "You got nothing to gain by trouble save a lonely dying'." "Just remember that." "If the Apache comes, you grab for them guns." "If not, don't you get within six feet of them." "Now, look to Quincey." "Take care, hear?" "Right, Jubal." "Mmm." "Don't fuss me." "Quincey..." "Quincey, I..." "Earl..." "Earl was the youngest." "He was just 16 when the war started." "Well, there was nothin' before the war." "Nothin' after." "You understand me, Quincey?" "I need to see that breed dead." "I can't step past that." "You knew." "I told ya." "I got no hate against you, Jubal." "Ten years ago, I'd have..." "I'd have killed you for what you did last night." "Ohh..." "Ohh, God." "You should've seen us at Chickamauga." "Damn that George Thomas." "Damn him for..." "For all the men he put in the ground that day." "Hooker took the ridge." "And you could hear the screaming' men" "dying'." "It's like..." "It's like a flower that grows in the night." "You know," "I always wanted a dog when I..." "I was a boy." "But I..." "I..." "How long's it been now?" "More than four hours." "Nearer five." "What's holdin' you, Elias?" "He'll not come now." "I'm thin on patience, Malechie, so bite hard and shut tight." "You know it's true." "You'll never see him again." "He's lying out there somewhere, like Josh," "maybe not so lucky." "He'll come." "All right, cover him with rocks to keep them birds off." "Hurry." "Hurry with the fire, Gavin." "We shouldn't take the risk."