"I need some horseshoe nails." "Well, I have all sizes." "Some new and some old." "Select." "How much are they?" "12 centavos." "I'm looking for a man named O'Malley." "Fellow about your height, wears black pants and shirt, black boots." "Carries a derringer." "He always wears a loud-colored scarf around his neck." "Has a hole in his chin." "Here." "It's worth 50 pesos if anybody's seen him." "They are desolate they cannot help you." "But, 50 pesos, señor?" "This man must be a very dear friend, no?" "No." "Jack-boy!" "You be quiet." "Good evening." "Good evening." "The name's O'Malley." "How do you do, Mr. O'Malley?" "I'm Mrs. John Breckenridge." "My husband's gone to Calvillo on business." "Sorry to hear that." "I was hoping to ask him for a night's hospitality." "Mr. Breckenridge has always welcomed strangers to the plateau." "I'm grateful to Mr. Breckenridge." "Won't anybody take care of the gentleman's horse?" "Mr. O'Malley, this is Milton Wing," "Mr. Breckenridge's ranch manager." "Howdy." "This horse's been lathered up some." "Well, I'd say that's because he was run some, wouldn't you?" "Guess so." "This is Jose." "Rosario." "My daughter." "Oh." "She favors you." "You're a lucky young lady." "This is Melissa Linda Anthony Breckenridge." "We call her Melissa." "Well, how do you do, Melissa?" "Oh." "Thank you." "Well, I'd be most grateful to Mr. Breckenridge for my supper." "Are you a cowboy, Mr. O'Malley?" "What have I done to give you that idea?" "You don't dress like one, so I just wondered." "No, I don't like cows much." "And the only way I really like a horse is when he's hitched to a nice two-seater buggy with good springs." "I ran into a cowboy this morning up at the pass." "Seemed to be looking for somebody." "Tall man?" "Sure was." "I never really met an American cowboy." "You'd be disappointed." "Was he riding a blue roan?" "That's right." "What makes you think I'd be disappointed?" "Well, you see, cowboys aren't very bright." "They're always broke and generally they're drunk." "Did he carry his gun on the left?" "Yep... 45 on the left." "You may get the chance to meet one in the flesh real soon." "You know this fellow?" "I know of him." "We've never met, but we will." "Mrs. Breckenridge, will you do me the honor of dancing?" "No." "I dance vary rarely, Mr. O'Malley." "And then only with my husband." "He's to be envied." "Then dance with me, Mr. O'Malley." "I love to dance." "I'd be delighted." "Do you want to try it again?" "Sure..." "It's time for bed, Melissa." "Oh, no, not yet." "Yes." "Gracias, muchachos." "Are you going to sleep in the house, Mr. O'Malley?" "You know Mr. Breckenridge has a special room in the toolhouse for guests." "Oh, well." "Good night." "Good night." "I'll show him." "Never mind, I'll show him myself." "Here's your lamp." "Your bed's up there." "Why did you have to come back?" "I ran into somebody who told me your married name and where you were." "I started riding that same day." "You're lying." "You came here to hide." "There's someone on my trail, sure." "There always is." "But I haven't been running away from him, I've just been coming to you." "And now I'm here." "And I'm not hiding." "And I'm going to stay." "No, Bren." "You're leaving tomorrow and you're not coming back." "Belle." "I can't leave you now." "I never did leave you, really." "All these years I've remembered you as you were that night." "A pretty girl coming down the steps in a yellow dress." "And another boy asked me to dance." "You began that awful whistle and just watched for a minute." "Then you tore my flowers off and knocked him down." "I know, but that's all in the past." "That part of me is over." "It took three men to stop you." "You were killing him." "I'm trying to tell you that I've changed." "I'm completely different now." "You'll see." "You still got that yellow dress?" "I burned it." "I'll get you another one." "Oh, Belle." "Belle..." "Belle, remember that night?" "The music floating down from your uncle's house, me sitting by my campfire, thinking of you dancing in the arms of other men and wanting to kill someone." "And then I looked up, you were standing there." "Standing beside my fire in your yellow dress like a flame." "Oh, Belle." "Belle." "Oh, please, keep away from me." "I'm afraid of you." "Whatever you say, Belle." "Why do you wear your gun in your belt?" "Well, I like to know exactly where it is." "In your belt, you can feel it right up there against you all the time." "Papa says a derringer hasn't got any range." "He always wears a Colt 45." "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, miss." "Why?" "Well, no handgun's accurate beyond 20 feet." "And no holster gun can draw as fast as a derringer." "My papa greases the inside of his holster." "I'm afraid that wouldn't do him any good." "Also, the derringer carries a bigger slug, miss." "You can call me Melissa, if you like." "Well, let's just compromise." "I'll call you Missy." "What's the matter?" "Oh, it's only Papa." "Good morning, child of my heart." "Rosario, come get Papa's horse." "Good morning, my dear." "Good, I say, because it's one of the last we'll spend on this accursed ranch." "Did you find trail hands?" "Just one." "But I'm sure two or three more will join us directly." "Not many people want to work for a living these days." "Oh, John, this is Mr. O'Malley." "How do you do?" "Welcome, Mr. O'Malley." "Permit me to offer you the hospitality of these poor acres." "Thank you, Mr. Breckenridge." "We have a saying down here in Mexico, to which I hardly subscribe." ""Everything that's mine is yours."" "It's a fine saying." "I'll remember it." "You'll join me in coffee?" "Thank you." "O'Malley..." "I knew some O'Malleys in Virginia." "Tidewater?" "I'm afraid they'd be lace curtain, my people were all shanty." "After you, sir." "Take that chair right over there." "I take you for a man who's handled quite a lot of cattle in his time." "Oh, I've done a little bit of almost everything." "Well, I run about 1,000 head on the place." "I plan to trail the herd up to Texas and sell them there." "Now if you're at liberty, I could..." "Mr. O'Malley was trailing south." "North or south doesn't make much difference to me, Mrs. Breckenridge." "There, you see?" "I'm sure my wife echoes my sentiments in hoping you'll join us on the trail, sir." "I don't think Mr. O'Malley would be influenced by my wishes." "I hope you won't always think that, ma'am." "I'm sure that's not what she meant." "Touch up your coffee?" "Thanks." "I'm willing to pay you a dollar a day, in fact." "Plus a $25 bonus when we deliver the herd in Crazy Horse, Texas." "Crazy Horse?" "That's pretty dangerous country you're going through." "And you need two men you haven't got." "Fast gun and a trail boss." "I don't know any more about cows than you do, so if I go as the gun, where's the trail boss?" "Well, I haven't got one." "I wasn't able to find anybody." "I know one." "Good one." "Think you can get him?" "He'll probably be here by tomorrow." "Maybe even today." "You think he'll take the job?" "He just might." "You see, this fellow and I are kind of bound up with each other." "But with or without him, my terms are gonna be pretty high." "Well, you just name your terms, Mr. O'Malley." "Only two." "First I take a fifth of the herd." "It's outrageous." "Well, I fight better when part of the property's mine." "But that's exorbitant." "You think about it." "All right." "All right, you've got your fifth." "Good." "Now, wait a minute, you said you had two conditions." "What's the second?" "Oh, yes, the second." "I want your wife." "You're joking." "No." "If I get the herd through for you, I mean to take your wife." "You?" "You and my wife?" "You and Mrs. Breckenridge..." "A dirty shirt Irishman and a Fitzleigh from Richmond." "Yes, I'll accept your challenge." "Yes, indeed." "And you can go to work." "You can go to work at once." "Hold it, O'Malley!" "They told me you'd try to circle around to get the sun in my eyes." "You did a little circling yourself." "Insurance." "The sun was in Jimmy Graham's face when you killed him." "I don't remember." "Well, a lot of people do." "I got a warrant for your arrest." "I'm taking you back to Frio County, Texas, to stand trial." "Will you come voluntarily or will I have to take you?" "Say, it just happens that I'm just headed for Texas right now." "Crazy Horse." "Of course, it isn't Frio County, but you'd die a lot closer to home than if I had to kill you here." "All right, let's go." "I'm running these cattle up there." "You?" "Yeah." "With a drunken owner, no trail boss, a few vaqueros and myself." "What do you want in that outfit you're willing to risk a hanging for?" "Why don't you ride over and find out?" "Why not?" "You know, Sheriff, this is Mexico." "Your warrant's no good here." "I'll serve it as soon as we cross the Rio Grande." "Is that the gentleman you were telling me about, Mr. O'Malley?" "That's him." "They need a trail boss." "Mmm-hmm." "With just the two of us riding, I can always keep you in sight." "But trailing cattle, it'd be too easy to catch a bullet in the back." "I hope Mr. O'Malley has discussed the possibilities of your joining up with us?" "He has." "I'm not interested." "Why that's most unsettling." "I was counting on it." "You have any idea what you're getting yourself into?" "There's nothing on that trail but rustlers and Indians." "And Johnny Rebs who crossed the border to steal what they couldn't win in a fair fight." "I do beg your pardon." "I almost lost a leg at Fredericksburg in as fair a fight as this world has ever seen." "I'm a Virginian and an officer in the armies of the Confederacy." "I'm from Virginia, too, except I served under Grant." "Oh, I beg your pardon." "Oh, forgive me." "My dear, allow me to present Mr..." "Stribling." "Dana Stribling." "Mr. Stribling, my wife." "Almost forgot her." "I don't see how that could be possible." "Well, bravo, you are really a Virginian." "Why don't I show Mr. Stribling around the place?" "Might help him change his mind." "That's a mighty good idea, Mr. O'Malley." "It's right gracious of you." "Ma'am." "You know, I've got a nasty feeling I've seen you before." "You were too drunk to remember." "Bents Fort, Colorado." "So broke you were making up rhymes for whiskey." "One free drink, one free verse." "What's the matter?" "Cost you a drink?" "I'm gonna see that you hang, O'Malley." "Ooh!" "Hanging's a long-time proposition." "Well, Mr. Breckenridge, to pull the 1,000 head of cattle, you need two good point riders, four swing riders, and one man on the tail." "You need a man to drive the mules, a trail cook, a wrangler for the horses, plus four horses in the remuda for each rider." "I got plenty of horses in the remuda." "My wife drove a chuck wagon coming down here and she's perfectly willing to drive one going back." "And she's an excellent trail cook." "Then she counts for two men." "You've married well." "You ride, miss?" "Oh, yes." "I can even work cattle on a horse." "Good." "She can ride herd on the remuda." "Give us another hand for the cattle." "My daughter's a lady." "A Southern lady." "If I'm trail boss, my word goes when it comes to running the cattle, is that right?" "Well, whatever you say." "We're ready to go." "Melissa." "We'll see how Milton's doing with the herd." "Fine, Papa." "Mrs. Breckenridge, it's not often I interfere in somebody else's business, but this is one of the times I think I should." "O'Malley's a killer, and as soon as he crosses the border into Texas, I'm gonna see that he hangs." "Until then, my advice to you is to keep your door locked when he's around." "He can't tell one female from another." "And he don't care much, either." "Please, don't cause trouble." "Why did you say those things about Mr. O'Malley?" "Because they're true." "I'm not a child, Mr. Stribling." "I'm perfectly able to take care of myself." "It won't happen again." "It's a nice night, isn't it?" "Miss out on the nights, you miss half your life." "Are you a killer?" "Now, why do you ask me that?" "What they say." "Well, when you come right down to it, all men in their hearts are killers." "But that's wrong." "Maybe it is." "I don't know." "When a man kills, it means God let him, because God could stop him if he wanted to, couldn't he?" "I don't understand." "Well, you asked if I'm a killer," "I'm trying to tell you it's not an easy question to answer, but I have killed." "But you didn't want to, did you?" "No." "Do you like God?" "Do you like God?" "Well, of course, but..." "I don't know him really." "Do you?" "Part of him." "Someday I'm going to know all of him." "Oh, not all of him, Missy." "That'd be too much for anyone to know." "It would blind you." "Just learn to know rocks and trees and stars and sunlight." "They're all part of God, too." "Learn to know the sea." "I will when we get to California." "Good." "Find yourself a nice big boulder with the waves breaking against it." "Look deep." "Dream of seahorses and they'll come." "Not many people know of it, not many people care, but the sea is a place where the seamen shoe the hooves of the wild sea-mare." "Not many people have seen it, nor caught the faintest gleam of the ice-green cave in the deep green sea in the heart of the cold sea-stream, where the sea-mare hides her young sea-colt wrapped in a shy sea-dream." "But practically all of the people known can absolutely say that the foam on the sea is a sign that you see the mare and her colt at play." "Oh, I like that." "Did you make that up?" "A drunk made that up, sitting in a saloon in Bents Fort, Colorado." "Give him a subject, he'd write a verse. "One free drink, one free verse."" "That must've been a part of God, too." "God in him." "Of course it was." "God has a special love for drunks and fools and children like you." "I'm not a child." "I'm almost 16 years old." "I'm a woman." "Oh, Missy." "Put it away." "When I kill you, it'll be face-to-face with both of us on our feet." "I'd like to believe that." "You can." "And here's something else you can believe, too." "Never talk to me again the way you did tonight." "The truth hurts, doesn't it?" "The truth hurts." "I'd like to know the truth about you." "Just being sheriff isn't enough reason to follow a man this far." "What was Jimmy Graham to you?" "Hmm?" "He was married to my sister." "Your sister?" "Mmm." "So that's where the bear sits, in the buckwheat." "Pretty little girl" "Mr. Stribling!" "You left a calf behind." "Where?" "He lost his mother." "Well, we'll have to give him a new one." "Come on." "Come over here, miss." "Now, blow your breath three or four times in each side of his nose." "Go ahead." "Keep on petting him." "That's right." "Now, stay right where you are so you're the first thing he sees." "Get back on your horse." "See, miss, cattle don't see very well." "The only way this little fellow can tell his mother from any other cow is by her smell." "When he loses that, he's an orphan." "So we give him a new smell to follow." "You're his new mama." "Now, walk away slowly, see what he does." "Thanks for saving that calf back there." "Why should you thank me?" "Well, that calf could have been mine." "Yours?" "Sure." "You see, part of my deal with Breckenridge was that I get a fifth of the herd." "A fifth?" "Well, I delivered him the best trail boss in the business, didn't I?" "That's worth something, isn't it?" "Come on now, my fifth." "Hey, there!" "Come on there, boy!" "Mr. Stribling, you may make camp wherever you wish." "I'm riding on ahead to Tres Santos." "That's a pretty rough town, Mr. Breckenridge." "I think I can find extra hands there." "This time you can really count on me, Mrs. B." "I swear I'd sooner milk a wildcat." "Come on, Jack-boy." "Come on, Jack-boy." "Jack-boy, come on." "Come on." "Come on, Jack-boy." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on, Jack-boy." "That's a boy." "Your husband get back from town yet?" "No." "I hope he hasn't run into any trouble." "Maybe I ought to ride in, see how he's making out." "I wish you would." "All right." "Get me some tobacco, will you?" "I don't know your brand." "Oh, any kind will do." "Maybe you ought to come along." "Pick it out yourself." "Oh, it's not that important." "Take your time." "I'll just stick around here and keep an eye on things." "Right, Jackie-boy?" "I only suggested you come along." "Now I'm telling you to." "On your way, cowpoke." "That's an order, O'Malley." "What did you say?" "Bren, please go with him." "Don't make trouble for us." "Whatever you want, Belle, that's the way it's going to be." "Gentlemen, our cups are running dry of nectar." "Patron, a drink for my friends, and everyone is my friend." "Bartender, drinks all around." "Gentlemen!" "Gentlemen, gentlemen." "A toast to a great soldier, a devout Christian." "To the bravest of the brave, General Stonewall Jackson." "You're not fit to speak that name, sir." "At whose side it was my privilege to fight during the long and tragic years of the war between the states." "Gentlemen, I give you General..." "Reach for your gun, sir." "I decline to shed the blood of a fellow Virginian." "You decline every kind of a fight, don't you?" "It's right nice seeing you again, Breckenridge." "We had the privilege of fighting alongside him under Stonewall Jackson at Fredericksburg." "And he ran." "That's not true." "He didn't just run, he deserted us!" "That's just not true." "I was wounded at Fredericksburg." "Where were you wounded?" "Go ahead and show us where you were wounded, Breckenridge." "Yes, sir." "Show us." "We would all like to see." "Well, the wound is obvious." "I limp..." "Drop your pants and show us your backside." "You've no right to ask me to do that." "Your pants." "Or your gun." "Show us your wound." "Oh, God, is there no mercy?" "Show us the wound!" "Talking's all right, you can say anything you want, but no man has the right to make another man do this." "Keep out of this." "What's he to you, sir?" "Don't ask questions, mister." "Just do what the man says." "Let's get out..." "Now wait a minute..." "You shut up!" "Let's go, Mr. Breckenridge." "I don't think we're welcome here." "How'd my papa really die?" "Like we said, some buffalo skinners started to make trouble and..." "Well, your father waded in to stop it..." "You make that up because of Mama?" "'Cause she knows." "And so do I." "Know what?" "That Mr. Breckenridge was too gentle to ever get into a fight." "Maybe that was the good in him." "Bedtime, Melissa." "So early?" "It's not early, it's late." "Goodnight, Mr. O'Malley." "Goodnight, Missy." "Well, I'm ashamed of you, Stribling." "Poor Breckenridge isn't even cold yet and already you're thinking of his widow." "You might be right." "Forget it, cowpoke." "She's mine." "I'd worry about that if I thought you were gonna live long enough." "Well, when the time comes, you'll see." "Don't count on it." "You'll never get the chance again to ruin a woman's life." "You're still talking about that sister of yours?" "You like the truth?" "Here it is." "Your sister put more horns on Jimmy Graham than a porcupine's got quills." "By the time he got himself killed, he wasn't good for anything except maybe to stuff and hang over the fireplace." "That sister of yours, Stribling, was just a free drink on the house." "And nobody ever went home thirsty." "I mean nobody." "If you two want to kill each other, go ahead." "But at least wait until you cross the border and fulfill your contract." "If you're not going to stick with it, get out now." "By the way, O'Malley, three days after you killed Jimmy Graham, my kid sister took a length of rawhide and hung herself." "Now what's wrong?" "Just pointing the wagon tongue toward the North star." "Help us get our bearings in the morning." "If that's such a good idea, why haven't we done it before, Mr. Stribling?" "Probably because I didn't need an excuse to talk to you before." "Oh." "I just want to tell you not to worry." "I mean to bring that herd through in good shape, you can count on me." "Good." "There's one thing more." "If you'll pardon my saying so, you know, sometimes it only makes grief worse when you bottle it up." "Thank you." "If you..." "When you're feeling better, if you need a friend to talk to about your plans for the future," "I mean, your plans and Melissa's," "I'd like to be that friend." "I'll remember that, Mr. Stribling." "Good night." "Good night." "I didn't know there were any women connected with this outfit." "Make any difference?" "Not to me, it don't." "Women like that are worth $1,500 a piece delivered to a Dutchman in Veracruz." "That's more than a whole herd's worth." "You're looking for somebody?" "Fellow named Breckenridge." "Hired us to go through with this outfit to Crazy Horse, Texas." "We heard he got killed." "So we trailed you from Tres Santos." "Figured you could really use some more hands." "We got a paper he signed." "Show him." "Paper doesn't matter." "We need men." "Have you got names?" "Sure." "Frank Hobbs." "This is my brother Ed, that fellow over there calls himself the Julesburg Kid." "All right." "Let's get to work." "Hey, kid." "You hard of hearing?" "All right, we got a big herd of cows here." "All round here." "Now, bunch them up so we can move out of here right away." "Well, now, you ought to move over there, lady." "Let me handle them mules for you." "I'll be right with you just as soon as I tie my horse on behind here." "You're hard of hearing." "Well, you know, when I get through with you, you're gonna like them cattle so much you'll never want to leave them." "Come on, Julesburg Kid, let's go!" "Let's go!" "That's it!" "Hold on!" "Hold on!" "Hold on, there!" "Sit on your horse, that's it." "Come here, come here." "Don't be that way." "Come here!" "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" "Stay on your horse, there." "Come on, stay on that horse." "That's it!" "Now you got it!" "Come on!" "Let's go again, huh?" "Come on!" "On we go!" "That's it." "Isn't this fun?" "Isn't this fun?" "Don't you reach for your gun again." "Now work for your dollar." "Hey, hold it, Missy." "You know a funny thing about a horse?" "He can see a gopher hole about a mile off, and yet..." "Let me show you something." "Look." "And yet he can't even see a bird's nest right under his nose." "There's no reason to be nervous." "I'm going to take you alive." "Remember?" "What did he mean?" "All he meant was you're going to have horses scattered all over the countryside, unless you get back to work pronto, miss." "All right." "We may be able to use a killer on this drive after all." "I don't think there's any danger in here." "We better stand watch around here, just the same." "We'll spread out among the herd tonight." "Take your bedroll with you." "Get as much sleep as you can." "O'Malley and I will ride herd." "If I were an Indian, I could've picked up some mighty easy scalps just then." "I'm glad you weren't." "Come here." "I want to show you something." "Don't be afraid." "You won't need that shooting iron." "Come on." "Something out there you could live five lifetimes and never see again." "Look." "Saint Elmo's fire." "Never seen it except on ships." "I've never seen it anywhere." "What is it?" "Well, a star fell and smashed and scattered its glow all over the place." "There, you see?" "You laughed." "You're getting used to me again." "I was really thinking that you haven't changed a bit." "How do you mean that?" "Oh, you've still got that wildness on the tip of your tongue." "I've still got you in my heart, too." "Look, Belle, I know this hasn't been a good trip for you, but, well, we're going to have smooth sailing from here on out." "You really don't want smooth sailing, Bren." "You carry your own storm wherever you go." "Only when I travel alone." "Belle." "Look at me." "I'm trying to tell you how much I love you." "No, Bren." "You loved a 16-year-old girl." "In another country." "In another world almost." "And you still think I'm that girl." "You are." "I'm not." "The girl you remember died a long, long time ago." "But the minute I look at you, she comes alive again." "Can't you see that, Belle?" "Don't you know what I've done for you?" "Something only love could do?" "I stopped time from touching you." "I trapped you in my heart the very first day I saw you, and I've never let you change." "Oh, Belle, 100 years from now, my eyes could look at you and still see a pretty little girl in a yellow dress." "You've said it all." "Don't you see, Bren?" "I don't want to be loved as if I were a frightened, shivering, innocent little girl." "I have to be loved for what I am." "I'm a woman with the heart and the mind and the flesh of a woman." "I'm not young and I'm not innocent." "There's so much more to me to be loved than just that." "But you don't see it." "Because you don't want to." "You're up awful early this morning." "Why, yes, I am." "Do you think that's wise?" "Walking around here unarmed?" "Just wanted to see this little church in the daylight." "Yeah." "Lots of hopes, lots of prayers must've started here." "Or ended." "Babies being christened." "Women burying their dead." "Sometimes men, too." "Men?" "I lost my wife and two daughters in an Osage war party." "Oh." "I'm sorry." "I'm afraid I was only thinking of myself." "To me, it's always seemed like the women who keep on living." "Men kill or get killed." "And women bury them." "We're professional survivors." "Belle, last night..." "I couldn't help seeing you and O'Malley talking together." "And I had the feeling that you two have met before sometime." "I mean, way before we began this cattle drive." "Have you?" "I don't think you have the right to ask me that question, Mr. Stribling." "But I give myself that right, because I mean to marry you." "That gives me every right in the world." "Will I have anything to say about this marriage?" "Not until I ask you." "And I can't ask until I square things off with him." "Then you'll have a lot to say about it." "Excuse me." "No reason to be offended." "But you might just as well forget you ever saw him, because I'm the man you're going to marry." "I mean what I say, Belle." "O'Malley!" "Hold up the herd!" "What did you think you were doing?" "I was protecting my fifth of the herd." "You get on back there and get the outfit ready to stand off an attack." "I didn't sign up to fight Yaquis." "Well, I ain't about to fight them, either." "Get the wagon and the remuda over here and we'll surround them with the herd." "Get ready." "Hold it." "They've got Stribling." "All they wanted was a little fresh beef." "You could've got him killed." "Not yet." "How many herd did you have to give?" "One-fifth of the herd!" "O'Malley's fifth." "Never did like cows much anyhow." "Quicksand!" "Watch where you ride!" "Throw me a rope." "Let's have a rope." "Think you might find a way to tear up that warrant?" "Not a chance." "Hold your hands over your head." "The big guy is stuck in the quicksand." "Don't get the wrong idea, Stribling." "If Belle didn't need you to get these cattle through, you'd be on the bottom now, alongside your horse." "That's the way I figured." "I killed Frank Hobbs." "Well, there she is." "We made it." "Sure is beautiful." "I got plenty of vaqueros to help us make the crossing." "Crazy Horse is on the other side, just beyond that ridge." "When do we cross over?" "First thing in the morning." "You mean we're going to have to make camp again?" "When there's a town in plain sight?" "Well, it's too late to try today, Melissa." "All right, let's get these cattle moving towards the river." "You know, Missy, you and your mother could make the crossing now, and spend a comfortable night in town." "I'd like that." "We've come this far, Melissa." "We might as well spend one more night." "Well, I sure would like a nice bath." "You know, this is our last night in Mexico." "Let's celebrate." "Let's have a fiesta." "A fiesta?" "Can we get all dressed up?" "Why not?" "O'Malley?" "O'Malley?" "Yes?" "We're going to have a fiesta tonight." "Will you dance with me?" "Sure will." "Dance with you all night long." "Oh, Mr. O'Malley, if you decide not to cross the border with us," "I'll be glad to send your wages after I've sold the herd." "I'll think about it." "I'm only a sham." "I haven't any slippers." "I wouldn't wear boots." "Do you like it?" "Very much." "It was my mother's." "Could've been made for you." "Melissa, where did you find that dress?" "In your trunk." "It's been torn." "Oh, yes, it is." "Did you know that, Mama?" "Yes." "Someone gave me a corsage of primroses." "And a very jealous boy ripped them off and stomped on them." "Tore the dress." "I think that's romantic." "Well, some day I'll give those primroses back to you." "Dance with me." "Pretty little girl in the yellow dress" "When are you going to give" "Your heart to me?" "I intend to keep on asking" "Until you answer yes" "Pretty little girl" "In the pretty little yellow dress" "I looked and saw you standing there" "Like fire-glow on a winding stair" "So young you were, so proud, so fair" "With candlelight to preen your hair" "Pretty little girl in the yellow dress" "Your watch, O'Malley." "When you..." "Hey." "You're a long ways from your wagon." "What are you doing here?" "Are you going to cross over?" "I don't know." "I haven't decided yet." "If you stay here in Mexico, I'm staying here with you." "Why do you say a thing like that?" "Because I love you." "Oh, Missy, you only think you do." "And you mustn't..." "Don't say that I mustn't." "I've loved you from the very first minute I saw you." "And now I'm all filled up with love for you." "Have you said anything like this to your mother?" "No." "Not yet." "Besides..." "Besides what?" "You've seen the way she looks at Mr. Stribling." "She won't be lonely for me for much longer." "Missy." "Look at me." "And listen to me." "Now you're young, too young..." "I'm not." "Girls here marry when they're much younger than I am." "In Mexico, I'm a woman." "Why is it you always make such a ruckus over being a woman?" "Because it's important." "I can sew, keep house and cook better than any woman you ever knew." "Of course you can." "And one these days, a boy'll come along..." "I don't want a boy." "I want you." "You want someone who'll fill your heart with warmth and sunlight." "You want a young man, not me." "All I can do is throw a cloud over you..." "I'm not afraid of clouds." "I'm not afraid of anything." "If you can see so much beauty just by looking into the ocean waves, why can't you see just a little something to love in me?" "Oh, Missy, I do." "I do, Missy." "I look at you and all I see is loveliness." "Please try to get used to me." "And if you don't love me right now, please try to learn." "Oh, Missy." "I've loved you all my life." "Take me with you wherever you go?" "For as long as you want, thanking God every step of the way that I found you." "There's Texas." "It's a lovely sight." "Hey, do we cross the border in the middle of the river or when we get to the other side?" "Well, I don't know." "Well, you like everything legal, don't you?" "Oh, yeah." "You still want to serve that warrant?" "That's right." "I'm not accepting it, you know." "That's what I figured." "What's that do to our showdown?" "Maybe we ought to get the work done first." "Gives us one more hand." "I'll come for you at sundown." "I'll be waiting for you." "Ho, there." "Come on." "I'll meet you back here as soon as I get cleaned up." "I'll be waiting!" "You could stop this thing if you didn't hate him so." "I don't hate him." "I did, at first." "It's hard to keep on hating somebody you've come to know." "Then let him go." "Forget about him." "I was almost hoping he wouldn't cross over." "Please." "Sorry, Belle." "Belle." "What is O'Malley to you?" "Or what was he?" "I knew him years ago, when I was a girl." "I haven't seen him since." "Until he came to the ranch." "Were you in love with him?" "I thought I was." "I was afraid of that." "You can't think there's anything now?" "No, Belle." "I'll meet you back here for supper." "Oh, Dana." "Please." "If you really love me, you won't gamble your life away like this." "Remember, it's my life, too." "Belle, I do really love you." "Oh, then don't fight him." "There must be a way out." "Find it." "Oh, promise me you will." "Good afternoon, Mrs. Breckenridge." "You look beautiful." "I had to see you, Bren." "I have to talk to you." "All right." "Let's talk." "I want to thank you for all you've done for me and Melissa." "That's all right." "But don't you think you should get out of the country, before something happens?" "What could happen?" "Well, if you stay here, you'll..." "Either you'll have another murder on your hands, or you'll be killed." "You're not thinking about me." "You're worried about Stribling." "You love him." "You don't want to see him killed." "That's fair enough." "I'm not thinking of Stribling." "You're a real woman, Belle." "Sorry that cowpoke won't live long enough to know what he's got." "It's not Stribling." "It's Melissa." "She told me." "I can't let you take her, Bren." "I won't." "Look, Belle." "Missy'll be safe with me." "Nothing bad will ever happen to her while I'm with her." "I promise that." "But it won't last, Bren." "She's so young, it can't." "It will." "You see, Missy and I need each other." "I don't know how it happened, but she loves me in a way she'll never love any other man." "You don't know what you're saying." "But I do." "I want Missy." "And she belongs to me." "I love her more than I love my own life." "Don't you know why?" "Bren, you must." "She's your daughter." "It's true." "You know it's true." "What're you trying to do to me, Belle?" "Do you think I wouldn't know my own daughter?" "Even if I never saw her before, I'd know my daughter." "The minute I looked at her, I'd feel it." "You're lying." "What a dirty thing to do." "You're lying." "You're lying." "You're lying." "Señor O'Malley." "Señor O'Malley." "Missy." "O'Malley?" "What's wrong?" "Oh, nothing." "I was just thinking what a beautiful girl you've turned out to be." "Beautiful, beautiful girl." "Missy, let's take a walk." "Wonderful." "Got my things all packed." "Good." "Are you going to have to fight Mr. Stribling?" "We decided on tomorrow, but we leave today." "You know, I feel as if I've been looking for you all my life." "Without knowing who you were or even what you looked like." "Then I found you." "And now, I'll have you forever." "Forever?" "Mmm-hmm." "You know something, Missy?" "I'm old enough to be your father." "What difference does that make?" "Well, it means that some day, you'll be alone." "I won't be with you anymore, and so you'll have to find someone else to love." "That's silly." "I couldn't love anybody else but you." "I couldn't." "There's something wrong with us, Missy." "But why?" "Because if you ever really love, you have to go on loving." "It's like a mountain spring." "If it stops flowing, there's no more spring." "And if you stop loving, just because something happens to me, there's no more Missy." "You mean, you'd want me to find somebody else?" "If you really loved me, you'd have to find someone else." "And the day you found him, and gave him all the love you once gave me..." "Oh, Missy, Missy." "On that day, all the angels in heaven will shout for joy." "And the stars will bend low to chime your wedding bells." "And I'll hear them." "And I'll smile." "And then I'll go to sleep again, content." "Missy?" "Are you all through?" "I'm not sure." "Because I'm not listening." "Already I'm a bore." "No." "It's time to get our horses." "I'll pick up your saddlebags at the hotel." "You wait for me right here." "You'll come right back to me, won't you?" "When that sun goes down over there, just below the rim of the hills," "I'll come right back to you." "O'Malley!" "It wasn't even loaded." "He told me to give you this, in case anything happened." "Primroses." "You said you'd give them to me."