"Gentlemen, I'm very sorry to have kept you waiting." "Sit down, george, please." "Now, then..." "That is kentucky- louisville limestone," "The old distillery at 26th and breckenridge." "George, that's your bar whiskey," "And you ought to be ashamed of yourself." "That's my regular." "Hmm, that's interesting." "It's not kentucky." "Sour mash." "Tennessee?" "Lynchburg, perhaps." "] that is amazing, mr." "Paladin, absolutely amazing." "Well, can I take your order, now?" "What do you think, mr." "Paladin?" "By all means, george, especially the tennessee." "Mr. Paladin, such a fine judge of whiskey as yourself" "Deserves the very best." "And I would be most grateful" "If you would accept a case of my goods, with my compliments." "No more grateful than I, sir." "Send it to my room, please." "Indeed I will, mr." "Paladin, and thank you very much, sir." "Paladin." "Your mail here." "Thank you, hey boy." "You're thirsty?" "Not particularly." "That is, uh..." "Hate to trouble you when you're thirsty." "Hey boy, I was just doing a favor for a friend." ""gunman terrorizes yucca bend." ""fourth murder in a week, talman still at large." ""wanted murderer bert talman killed his fourth victim" ""within a week last night" ""when he shot down yucca bend bartender" ""robert reader before two witnesses." ""talman escaped from yucca bend jail last week" ""according to merle corvin, prominent town resident." ""further killings are feared."" "Let me go, bland." "Where were you fixing to go, teacher?" "I want to see mr." "Corvin, that's all." "Then you were fixing to shoot your mouth off." "No." "I heard someone mention the name "corvin."" "I believe you can take me to him." "My name's paladin." "He's in there." "Mister." "Thanks." "thank you." "Mr. Corvin, this is exactly the amount agreed on." "Now, if you'll tell me why you're so sure bert talman wants to kill you?" "Just what do you know about bert talman, mr." "Paladin?" "Well, I know he's killed 12 men, 5 of them in this town," "I know he's a sadist, a man who likes to kill." "He's been known to strangle a man with his bare hands to make it last longer." "And I think he's long overdue for a hanging." "That's about it." "I used to be a lawman." "I never made much money, but I learned one thing worth more than money." "The only way to get rid of evil is to kill it at its roots." "I hate men like talman." "Really hate them." "Well, you still haven't said why talman's after you." "Three weeks ago, he broke into the local freight office." "Killed the clerk, roy tanner, for 14 dollars." "Our sheriff, ed slater, caught him and put him in jail." "Later, five of us, me, tom here, bob reader" "Amos teech and nute granley, well, we uh..." "We got a rope," "And took talman away from slater." "Before we could hang him, I guess we came to our senses." "We put him back in jail." "Well, lynch mobs don't generally exercise such conscience." "We'd hung him like we should, we'd have no use for you," "Or your gun." "Talman broke out of jail later that same night." "He killed sheriff slater doing it." "Couple of days later, he shot down amos." "Then we found newt granley hanging from a tree behind his barn." "Then he shot bob reader." "That leaves two of the would-be hanging party alive." "Me, and tom." "An escaped killer staying around to take revenge" "When he should be running." "No, sir, that just doesn't make any sense." "But he has been staying around." "I don't care how you figure it," "Just so long as you do what you're paid to do." "Kill bert talman." "Mr. Corvin, you hired me to bring talman in." "How I do it will depend on talman's character." "Not yours." "Excuse me, my name's abbott." "There's something you should know about if you're interested in bert talman." "Well, to acquire knowledge is to be informed," "And I'm always interested in that." "Not here, come with me." "The men talman has killed." "That is what I wanted to show you." "A fifth grave." "I was here yesterday." "There were only two notches in that cross." "That could mean absolutely nothing," "Or you might have cut them there for your own purposes." "Joe dane was a friend of mine." "I'm the school teacher here." "I've always liked to think of myself as the conscience of yucca bend." "I appreciate your feelings, mr." "Abbott." "They say joe dane was kicked to death by a wild horse." "That he entered the corral during the night and tried to saddle the animal." "When was that?" "The night of the jail break." "And you don't think it happened that way?" "Joe dane was terrified of horses." "Nothing could've got joe to go in there in the night that way." "Everybody in yucca bend knew that." "Including merle corvin." "You're obviously intimating something that should be said directly to mr." "Corvin." "I was trying to get up the nerve to go into the saloon" "And do just that when you first saw me today." "Corvin's there." "You can tell him now." "No." "No, you don't know him, what he'd do." "Mr. Abbott." "Thoreau once remarked, and it's a quotation you should know," ""there is nothing so much to be feared," ""as fear itself."" "Besides, sir," "You don't have any choice." "We're all out of milk, teacher." "Mr. Abbott was telling me about joe dane." "Now, mr." "Dane and abbott here were good friends." "He's understandably upset by the accident." "I was greatly distressed by his death." "He was also telling me some very interesting things about horses." "Mr. Abbott's got a big, flapping mouth." "Bert talman didn't steal a horse to make his escape." "But a horse was taken from the livery stable the night following the jail break." "Where do you think talman could've spent those 24 hours?" "What difference does it make?" "The only thing that concerns us is where talman is now." "Well, not quite the only thing." "Corvin, you told me the night you and your friends were gonna hang talman," "That you suddenly came to your senses." "Now, what cause this sudden return to sanity?" "Abbott, I'm sick of your company." "Get out of here while you can." "If you know the answer, sir, go ahead." "Joe dane." "He stopped them from lynching talman that night." "Thank you, mr." "Abbott." "You underestimated your own courage." "Now, why don't you go on home, sir?" "You're a fool, bland." "What are you trying to do, paladin?" "Whenever anybody pushes me this hard to kill a man," "I like to know the truth." "All of it." "However, whatever my doubts about you two gentlemen," "I have none whatsoever about bert talman." "Well, that's fine." "Pour us a drink on that." "You hit him, paladin!" "You hit him!" "What's the matter?" "Now we're closing up." "He's losing a lot of blood." "Well, come on, then, let's go get him." "We'll get him." "There's no hurry." "Maybe not for you, but he's wounded." "If we get moving, we can finish this right now." "He can't be far, let's go." "Corvin, have you ever been shot at?" "What's that got to do with it?" "Take a look at this country." "He's not gonna run forever." "He's hurt, and a hurt animal seeks shelter." "He could be behind any of those bushes," "Any of those rocks." "He could have us in his sights right now." "You get careless when you get eager." "And in this business, when you get careless, you get killed." "Well, if you're afraid, paladin, I'll go first." "Ah, perhaps you'll try it my way?" "I can't believe he went up there." "I know that canyon." "It's a box." "He went up there." "But he can't get out." "He has a certain amount of security for a hunted man," "Having walls around him, even if the walls are stone." "I'd choose such a place myself." "Talman's?" "You must've got him good." "Yeah, I got him good." "What're you worried about?" "If he fell off his horse," "We can just walk in and pick up the body, can't we?" "If he fell off his horse." "But maybe he didn't." "You think he's up there?" "He's up there." "Are you sure?" "You wanna go up and bring the body out yourself?" "No, of course not." "Only I wish we were sure." "Talman?" "You satisfied?" "But I'll do it my way, and right now my way is a pot of coffee and some beans." "Well, we might as well make ourselves comfortable." "What do you mean, "comfortable"?" "Go get him." "I will, when it's dark." "Quit stalling, paladin." "We've got him holed up." "Now, go on up there and kill him." "Corvin, you told me you were once a law man." "What kind?" "An executioner?" "Talman's a condemned murderer." "What kind of a law man?" "I was a guard at yuma territorial prison," "Not that it makes any difference." "And I never met talman there, if that's what you're getting at." "A guard at yuma?" "Well, I'm not surprised." "At least I'm not a hired gun." "Mm, there's that to be grateful for." "Now, you hired me to do a job, and I'm gonna do it." "Unless you'd like to go up there alone in broad daylight" "And bring that body out." "In which case, you're most welcome to go," "And I'll very happily refund your money." "All right, corvin, you can put the fire out." "I'll go up and get him now." "Well, it's about time." "Time is a tool, mr." "Corvin, just like a gun." "He's got to die, you understand." "I told you once before, that'll be up to him." "I won't murder him." "Obviously, you won't believe this, but even bert talman rates a trial." "He's had his trial." "Talman!" "Talman, you hurt bad?" "Not so bad I can't use this gun!" "Not for long, though." "You've lost a lot of blood." "Who are you?" "My name is paladin." "How do you figure in this?" "!" "Merle corvin wants me to kill you." "Corvin wants you dead, talman." "I want you alive!" "I want to know about joe dane and you're the only one who can tell me." "What about joe dane?" "I know he was afraid of horses." "What are you afraid of?" "Talman can't hurt you now." "Get out of the way." "Now, I'm gonna tell you this one time." "Put the gun up." "What's the matter with you?" "You afraid talman will tell me how you killed joe dane?" "What're you talking about?" "Talman and I already had our little talk." "He told me how joe dane broke up your necktie party," "How you promised joe dane if talman didn't die, he would." "Talman was hiding in the stables." "He saw you and your friends take joe dane into that corral" "And beat him to death." "Poor joe, had to stick his nose in, save my life." "Only time anybody ever did anything for me." "Died for it." "I wanted to run." "I wanted to run, but I couldn't" "Not after what you did to that old man." "So, talman set out to avenge the one man who ever did him a kindness." "And instead of notching his gun," "He notched a wooden cross." "Well, you're not gonna believe a man like that." "Corvin, it won't do you any good!" "Corvin, you might as well come back." "Come on, corvin!" "You know I'll get you." "Keep away from me!" "I'm not gonna hang." "You can't prove anything!" "Corvin!" "They would've hanged him." "On whose say-so?" "Mine?" "No." "Had to be sure." "Paladin." "¶ 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?" "¶"