"Mr. Carter, my name's paladin." "Paladin, sure." "Roy's been expecting you." "I wanted to meet you for a long time." "Heard roy talk about you lots." "How you saved him from that hanging last year." "The man who stopped it was the prison chaplain." "Robert April." "Where is roy?" "Through the kitchen, in the front room." "Thank you." "Entertaining." "Paladin!" "Come on in, come on in!" "You've heard me mention him, honey." "He's the man that stopped the warden last year..." "Roy..." "The man that stopped that execution" "Was the prison chaplain, robert April." "Stopped it because he thought" "You were innocent of the charges." "'cause he believed in you." "You look tired." "Like you been dragged through a knothole." "Your message reached me" "Just as I was finishing a job in nevada." "Yeah, I figured putting that on" "Would be enough to bring you running." "Roy, honey..." "Oh, sure!" "Paladin, this here lady is..." "Let's talk about robert April, shall we?" "Yeah..." "Business before pleasure." "There was a prison break about eight days ago." "One of April's librarians," "A convict, got a gun smuggled in." "Through a book or something, I don't know." "He got away and went up into the mountains," "Just north of here." "And the chaplain went after him." "You know how chaplain April is." "I think we both know how chaplain April is." "There's been a blizzard since then up there." "The warden had to pull his search party back," "April wouldn't come back." "He's still up there." "Somewhere after the convict." "April hates to let a soul get away from him." "You've been up there looking?" "Well, see ball ridge..." "It's top of the world country." "Snow packed, sub zero winds." "But I figured you might stand a chance" "To break through up there." "Get a saddlebag packed." "With two of us..." "No, I guess you still don't understand." "I owe the chaplain a favor," "And I'm willing to pay to have him brought back." "Let me get this straight." "Robert April has been up there" "For eight days and eight nights." "And you've been sitting here, waiting to hire me." "Will you please pay him and send him on his way?" "I know how you feel about April." "I respect him too." "I got a ranch to run." "Here's $1,000 dollars." "That's your regular fee, isn't it?" "Do you want the job or..." "Let's get something straight." "I ain't scared of you." "And I ain't afraid to go after April." "Nobody ever suggested that your problem was fear." "I'll get my gear..." "And we can go." "You don't mind if one of my men take you home?" "I most certainly do mind!" "Look, I'm not one of those girls..." "Why don't you let the young lady take care of the money?" "It's a vice versa." "We'll let the horses find their way down from here." "What, from here?" "We're not even sure April took this pass." "Boundary peak, 13,000 feet." "Snow mountain over 14,000." "It's the only way through." "Paladin!" "What!" "There's more weather blowing in here, you see?" "The temperature up here" "Can drop 60 degrees in an hour." "It can freeze the tongue right in your mouth." "The tongue in your mouth," "Or the blood in robert April's veins." "He didn't save your life!" "You talk like he was a messiah." "That's right, he's not a messiah." "He's an ordinary chaplain from a second rate penitentiary," "Who doesn't have sense to stay out of the mountains in blizzard season." "That man is up here trying to save someone" "Who'd gladly kill him rather than go back to prison." "Robert April is a man that never did one thing for me," "And probably never can." "Right now he's depriving me of bed, board, and comfort." "There's no reason for any of this." "No reason for April to be up here," "And none for you and me to be up here after him." "Except that I respect him more than any man I ever met." "Page from a bible." "It'd be mr." "April's." "Roy, try and stay in my steps." "Watch yourself." "The snow is really icing up." "Paladin!" "Come on, roy." "Come on!" "Come on, roy." "Work!" "You all right?" "Roy, will you try and stay in my tracks?" "Roy!" "Roy!" "Let me be, let me be!" "Roy, get on your feet!" "Get up!" "My skin burns..." "Stay on your feet, or I'll leave you to die!" "It's cold now and it'll be colder in the morning." "We got to find the chaplain before that storm hits." "You stay on your feet and you go first." "Go ahead!" "Go on!" "He's not even wearing a jacket." "He must have had one." "He couldn't have lived this long without it." "Those ashes are still hot." "Get me out of this thing." "Paladin, his blankets and food are gone." "We find that convict, I'm going to kill him." "Don't worry about that." "Come on and rub." "Mr. April, please." "Listen." "Maybe he might hear this." "Robert April." "Chaplain." "Now listen to me." "You've been lying!" "All that preaching." "All those sermons, you were lying to us!" "Weren't you, robert April?" "Admit it now!" "No..." "No." "Can I help you?" "Any other man would have said "help me"." "Paladin!" "I was expecting roy!" "He's right here, chaplain." "Roy, get some firewood." "We're gonna need it." "We'll rest, build a sled..." "And get you out of here." "Don't let him go." "My convict..." "He's out there!" "He's got a rifle!" "Roy!" "Clinton's out there, he's got a rifle!" "Come on back!" "Chaplain, keep that wound packed with snow." "We're all in trouble." "We're gonna die without shelter." "You better rest." "A man can stay on his feet only so long." "Put that blanket over him." "I got some birch bark." "Maybe it'll break his fever," "Before he ends up dying." "See anything of my convict out there?" "If he keeps moving, he'll have some kind of chance." "I think we should invite him." "A truce." "You offered him a truce once, chaplain." "He thanked you by stealing your coat, blanket, and food." "Pray for him if you want," "That's the only help we can give him." "One thing I always remember about you was good humor." "Sometimes sharp, but always refreshing." "Even at the most critical time, you've always had that." "That's the product of a warm bath, good brandy..." "And pleasant company between assignments." "When I was a boy in iowa," "We had a large thoroughbred." "Magnificent, black." "Full hand higher than any other animal on the place." "He never walked when he could run." "By the mile and the ten miles, paladin." "And when he would give out his strength," "He would continue on in nerve." "And in his exhaustion," "He would see beauty or good in nothing." "Chaplain, you see beauty or good in this?" "One man sick, another one wounded." "A third man out there likely to freeze to death," "And certain to be thrown back into a cage" "For the rest of his life if he does survive." "Pain, discomfort," "Exhaustion..." "Maybe death." "Why?" "There's purpose in everything." "Well, chaplain April..." "You tell me what's the purpose in this." "You tell me what's the sense, what's the good of it." "What we're doing right now is what any animal would do," "We're trying to survive." "It's just possible that macbeth was right," "And this is the sum total of our lives." ""a tale told by an idiot," ""full of sound and fury," ""signifying nothing."" "In all of us," "Our faith weakens from time to time." "A severe trial sometimes restores it." "Perhaps that's the reason in all this." "I've cut enough birch limbs" "To lash a sled together." "If a hard crust forms by morning," "I'll try to get you and roy out of here." "In the meantime, try to get some of this down." "Let him do it if he can." "You won't be able to pull us far by yourself." "I'm really feeling much better now." "Chaplain April!" "Help!" "Paladin!" "Help me!" "We'll leave him the shelter and the food." "I'm begging!" "To die?" "There's only room on the sled for two." "I'll help pull, he can have my place." "You wouldn't last a mile." "I'm begging." "I'll go back to prison." "Help me." "Either the four of us go back together," "Or you two go on alone." "I have no other choice." "I'll go back!" "Help me." "All right, we'll take another breather here." "Have I ever lied to you?" "Well, hear me then." "I feel stronger with every mile." "Ready, mr." "Paladin?" "Paladin..." "What's he doing here?" "Whenever you're ready, mr." "Paladin." "Thank god, paladin." "Your horses." "I think I'll rest now." "Paladin!" "Paladin!" "Paladin!" "Clinton!" "Get up out of there!" "I can't." "Get on your feet!" "I'm a sick man." "Get out of that sled." "All right!" "He said he wanted to help me, so I let him." "You hear me, mister?" "I'm thanking you both for the ride." "You let me kill him, paladin." "In a moment." "Now you hack out a grave." "You make that big enough for two people." "Chaplain April." "Help me, please!" "Chaplain April!" "Please help me." "Please!" "Why April?" ""a tale told by an idiot," ""full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."" "All right, that's good enough." "Give me a couple more minutes." "You ought to say a verse for him." ""but I say unto you with cheer," ""love your enemies, do good to them." ""do good to them which hate you." ""bless them that curse you." ""and pray for them which despitefully use you." ""and unto him that smited thee on the one cheek," ""offer also the other." ""give to every man that asketh of thee." ""and as ye would that men should do to you," ""do ye also to them likewise." ""love ye your enemies and do good." ""be therefore merciful." ""judge not and you shall not be judged," ""condemn not and you shall not be condemned." ""forgive..." ""and ye shall be forgiven."" "I couldn't pull that trigger, paladin." "It's all right, roy." "He won't get away." "Who from?" "From himself." "And that posse." "From whoever." "I'd like to bring some of my men up here," "Maybe carve a proper headstone." "Roy, on that headstone..." "There's a verse I'd forgotten." ""the steps of a good man," ""are ordered by the lord." ""and he delighteth in his way."" "¶ have gun, will travel reads the card of a man ¶" "¶ a knight without armor in a savage land ¶" "¶ his fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind ¶" "¶ a soldier of fortune is the man called ¶" "¶ paladin ¶" "¶ paladin, paladin where do you roam?" "¶"