"Only men to whom nothing was impossible could've driven more than 2,000 miles to reach Prescott, Arizona, through hostile country, crawling with Apache Indians." "But of all the men who came to this frontier there were two who had nothing in common, save ambition." "Even their courage was not of the same breed." "Jacob Stint believed in getting what he wanted by any means that came easiest." "Cynical and unscrupulous, he turned his vicious talents to whatever might give him an advantage or a profit." "Jackson Redan had seen service as a cavalry officer in the Confederacy." "With the end of the war, he was seeking a new home where the name of Redan might climb to its old importance." "Halt!" "Whoa." "Prescott, Arizona." " And the gold diggings." "Probably by tomorrow I'll be washing nuggets out of some creek." "Gold may not be so easy to find." "Let me find some of it, I'll scoop up what comes easiest and never get another callous on my hands." "Not Jacob Stint." "Never another day's hard work for me." "When did you do your last day of hard work?" "The same day as you!" "You're a fine one to sneer at me about work, you that had a slave to pull on your pants in the morning!" "I wonder if they've got women here." "Women, yes." "Such women as you crave..." "In this wilderness, there may be women that can't be ladies." "You don't like me any more than I do you." "I'll be glad to see the last of you." "I wonder." " You wonder?" "If we have seen the last of each other." "Seems to me it's a country where white men are likely to be thrown together." "Should be room for both of us without crowding." "We'll keep as far away from each other as we can." "Good evening, sir." " Good evening." "I bid you welcome to Prescott and to the Diana, of which I'm the proprietor." "Thank you." " Did you arrive with the wagons this afternoon?" " Yes." "My name's Crane." " I'm pleased to meet you." "Will you quench your thirst with me, sir?" " Thank you." "I don't know very much about this sort of..." "Well, as our Chinese friends say, he who acknowledges ignorance is on the road to wisdom." "And I don't have any money, either." "Rich men don't come to Arizona." " I must earn a living." "This country offers opportunities." "I'd be grateful for information." "I have a wagon and six mules." "Well, you could rent them out, or hire men to drive." "However, the freighting business is profitable but dangerous." "I don't hire men to go where I'm afraid to go myself." "We're discussing business, not personal bravery." "Then there's ranching." "Land's free, if you can hold it." "Indians." "We Redans have had land in our blood for generations." "Broad, fertile acres." "I can't imagine a future for myself which would remove me from the land." "There's no hurry..." "the land will be here." "Oh." "That's Johnny-Behind-The-Stove." "My swamper." " Swamper?" "Mm." "Keeps the place clean." " But not himself." "I make him take a bath once a month, all over!" "Tell me, did you ever deal faro?" " No." "I've never seen it played." "You have an excellent appearance and manner." "Manner's important in a faro dealer." "The wages are high." "I think a month's practice will fit you to sit behind the box." "Uh..." "I'm grateful, but I don't think I'd like it." "I hope you avail yourself of the Diana." "You'll be welcome." "I thank you again." "You've been more than courteous." "And without obligation." "How be ye?" "One of them new pilgrims?" "Yes, ma'am." "Could you tell me where to get a good meal?" "I'm tired of my own cooking." "You've come to the right place at the right time." "Only place in Arizona serving' goat's milk in the coffee." "Board $25 a week, gold." "In advance." "You can sit right down, if you've got a mind to." "Sit anywhere." "First come, first served." " Thank you, ma'am." "I ain't a ma'am." "Name's Mary." " Yes, Miss Mary." "Just 'Mary'." "But... the family name?" "Them that don't ask questions don't hear no lies." "See them goats outside?" " Mm-hm." "Drove 'em from Tucson by hand." "Come Injuns, come fire or high water." "I named this here house Fort Misery." "Don't know there was a good reason, except I had plenty of misery in my feet by the time I got here." "Wanna mention your name, pilgrim?" " My name's Jackson Redan." "Boys, get acquainted with Jackson Redan, just come in with them wagons." "How do you do?" "Howdy." "Jones is my name." "Fly-Up-The-Creek Jones." "Earned his nickname flying' up one creek or another, searching' for gold." "Prospector, too, are you?" " No." "Are you craving' to be a merchant, selling' wares over a counter?" "I wouldn't care to be a merchant." "Every man born to woman is filled with a craving' and a desire." "What's yours?" " To get on in the world." "Reva, meet Jackson Redan." "This is Reva Cairn." "She sings down at the Diana saloon and gambling hall." "How do you do?" "Behaves nice, don't he?" "Draggin' out your chair for you an' all." "Regular sugarfoot, ain't he?" "Sugarfoot Jack." "Do I offend you in some way?" "I'm sorry if I seem to be staring." "It's just that you're not what I pictured gambling-hall girls to look like." "It surprises me." "It surprises you?" "It surprises you that I'm a human being?" "You're the same as all the rest of them." "Do you think I have no life or existence outside the Diana?" "I'm afraid I don't know much about..." " I agree, Mr Redan." "You don't!" "Good evening, sir." "Number 27, red." "What'll it be?" " The same." "Meet Sugarfoot Jack, just got in from the east today." "Howdy." " How do you do?" "Thank you." "# When mother used to caution me, she'd say:" "# 'You're going to run into a man someday" "# Above all, make sure the man you meet" "# Is a gentleman, born of the elite. '" "# Oh, he looked like he might buy wine" "# Which I thought of as a certain sign" "# He had that air about him you'd call verve and dash" "# That certain something in the curve of his moustache" "# Oh, he looked like he might buy wine" "# When he asked me would I care to dine" "# But my dreams went up in smoke" "# And this heart of mine he broke" "# If my mother knew, she'd be in tears" "# Oh!" "# He looked like he might buy wine" "# But he asked the waiter for two beers" "# Oh, he looked like he might buy wine" "# And I didn't think I should decline" "# He took me by the hand and how my heart did sing" "# I wouldn't be surprised That's how he took my ring" "# Oh, he looked like he might buy wine" "# Which is why I sit alone and pine" "# I was starry-eyed until" "# He said, 'Would you pay the bill?" "'" "# If my mother knew, she'd be in tears" "# Oh!" "# He looked like he might buy wine" "# But he asked the waiter for two beers" "# Oh, he asked the waiter for two beers #" "Two beers!" "More!" "More!" "More!" "What are you so skittish for?" "You've got no call to put on airs." "Anybody would think you was a lady." "I got money." "That's what you want, ain't it?" "I spend freely on a woman." "I want no money spent on me." "I want to be left alone." "Stint, you heard Miss Cairn." "This ain't your business." " I'm making it my business." "If you're going somewhere, be on your way." "I knew this town wasn't big enough to hold the two of us." "You're heeled." "I ain't." "That makes it your day." "My day'll be comin'." "Morning, Mr Sugarfoot." " Good morning." "Good morning." "You..." "Mr Sugarfoot, you really not know me yet." "I am Wormser." "You know, because I speak Spanish better than I speak English," "You see?" "I-I tell you all." "This is my store." "Will you step inside, please?" "I don't want to buy anything." " Oh, no." "Oh, no." "You do not come in for buy." "For talk." "You have been in Prescott already one whole week." "You run here, run there, to ask questions, and... you do not come to Don Miguel." "Why?" "I..." "No, come in, come in." "Pour out" "If they buy, yes." "If they don't buy, also yes!" "But one dram only." "It's the rule." "For one man, one dram." "Here in Arizona it is not like where you come from." "It isn't like Alabama." "But anyway I think you have come to stay." "I like men who have come to stay." "They will prosper." "So I say the man who comes here must not be able to do only one thing good, he must do many things good." "He must be a Jacks-of-all-trade with eyes open." "Are you advising me not to start a plantation but to be a Jack-of-all-trades?" "Yes, but all the time learning." "Then a man who saves his money and has learned many things, he will be ready." "That is good advice." " Yeah?" "You have a good wagon with mules." "I think maybe together, between me, you and your mules, something good could happen to us." "You know the city of La Paz?" "In that town there is merchandise, but nothing comes from there because of bad road." "Do I understand you want me to get your merchandise in La Paz?" " Mm." "There is also in La Paz other stranded merchandise, which will be auctioned." "I give you money." "If you are smart, you buy cheap." "Then of that matter we will make partnership with each other." "Partnership?" " You buy, I furnish gold." "Of the profits, if we make any, you should take 25%." "Huh?" "It is good not to jump." "You should go out now." "You ask this man and that man, is Don Miguel's money good?" "Does Don Miguel deal fair?" "You ask, is this Don Miguel with the funny coat and whiskers keeps always his word?" "Then you make up your mind." "Lots of business we will do together, Mr Sugarfoot, you and me." "Is Mr Crane in?" " Sure, Sugarfoot." "JC's up and around." "Hey, JC!" "Sugarfoot's craving' to see you." "Well, what can I do for you?" "I wanna ask about... that foreigner, the merchant across the street." "Do you refer to Don Miguel Wormser?" " That's right." "In Prescott we do not refer to him as 'that foreigner'." "In Prescott we do not answer questions about other men." "I beg your pardon." "Hold your horses." "Mr Redan, you come of a class of men accustomed to take for granted that they're better than other men." "In your manner, your speech, it's apparent that you were reared to be an aristocrat." "Now, that might be a very good thing to be, back wherever you came from." "It is not a good thing to be out here." "In Arizona we do not judge a man by the accomplishments and the standing of his grandfather or by the name of his family." "But we do have an aristocracy here." "Don Miguel Wormser belongs to it." "You do not." "Yet." "Am I clear?" " You are clear." "No offence?" "On the contrary, my thanks." "So..." "You will use your judgment, Sugarfoot." "You have $5,000 gold in your money belt." "It will be enough to buy this stack of goods." "Pay as little as you must." "I'll get a good night's sleep and leave first thing in the morning." "Good luck." "See you when you come back." "Someone hit me over the head as I stooped to get into my tent." "When I came to, the gold was gone." "No-one besides you and myself knew I had this gold." "It's possible to think I planned it this way." "Mm, it could be thought." " Well, it isn't true." "But it is true I was careless." "I took no precautions and lost your money." "So?" " I assume the responsibility." "I haven't the $5,000, but I have my mules and a good wagon." "You know the fair value." "I know what they will fetch." "If it doesn't come to $5,000, I'll give you a note for the balance." "I do not like to own mules." " Then we'll find a buyer." "Look, if I keep my monies in my safe till now, they still would be in the safe, no?" " Yes." "Also, if you killed by Apaches and the money is gone, it is my loss." "It would be." " Then there is no difference." "It is better, because you are not dead, only the money is gone." "There is the difference of my carelessness." "Apaches also kill careless people." "Nevertheless, I assume the obligation." "I cannot honourably do otherwise." "Sugarfoot..." "Honour, that's a thing." "Some honour is honour, and other honour is foolishness." "Every man must live up to his own conception of it." "I'll repay the $5,000." " Repay it?" "You have a busted head." "That's nothing." "You could not start today to La Paz with the wagon, not with a head that is busted." " It only aches a little." "First I fix you up, and then you come with me." "Come." "I speak to Mr Crane." " He ain't awake yet." "I make him awake!" "Who's there?" "What is it?" "Oh." "Because I need $5,000, I must wake you up." "Did you have to need it at this hour?" "I cannot pick and choose when I need it." "5,000, eh?" " Mm-hm." "Gold?" " Yes, gold." "There you are." "I wish you slept later." "Now clear out of here." "I want to go back to sleep." "So..." "Then you start quick." "You should hitch your mules to the wagon." "YOUR mules." "Oh, that we talk when you come back, if you are alive." "Not now." "You mean, our agreement stands?" "You mean, you still trust me after my carelessness?" "Every man is entitled to be careless once." "People don't act this way." "How can you trust me again?" "It is not a man's mistakes you trust, just the man." "Now you go, Sugarfoot." "You make me a good dicker." "And you come back alive, not sticking full with arrows." "Good luck to you." "Who busted your head?" "Injuns get you?" "I heared you had a wagon and some mules." "Nice mules." "Gimme mules every time." "Mules is fortunate people." "The only critters I know that don't get distracted by women." "Give me a hand to harness up?" " Sure thing." "Makin' off, are you?" " Yes." "I wouldn't suffer none if you never come back." "Where were you last night?" " Here and there." "When I come back I'll inquire." "Do that." "This town suits me plumb down to the ground." "It's a town where a man's got to know how to take of himself." "I'll see that canary bird don't get lonesome while you're gone." "Don't like that there fella much." "He's got a slinking' eye." "How much do you like me?" " I like you fine." "Enough to work for me?" "I reckon." " Come on." "Let's hitch up." "Whole blasted country ain't worth a cornshuck." "Ain't good for nothin' but to be killed in." "Look!" "Well, we ain't being' neglected." "Big Chief's braves keeping' an eye on us." "His name's Dalachi." "Smartest Injun there is." "Excusin' Cochise." "That's cos Cochise is dead." "As long as we know he's smart, we'll just have to try to be smarter." "Hep!" "Spoke like a real amateur!" "Rest your animals." "Heh-uh-ep!" "Come on." "I wanna show you somethin'." "Can you make it out?" "No." "Rattler." "Apaches catched this here fella and tied him up, so as he couldn't move nothin' but his head." "Then they fetched this here diamondback and made a slit in the skin back here, just ahead of the rattle, and shoved a rawhide string through it." "Then they tied the rawhide to this here stake, so as that when the rattler struck it'd be hauled up with a jerk a couple of inches from this here fella's face." "The snake's mad about his sore tail, keeps striking'." "Man keeps rearing' back his head." "Ain't no way of knowin' how long he's able to keep it up." "Ain't agreeable to think about it." "I come to look at it every so often." "Sorta reminds me to be cautious." "Hm... that oughta fit." "Looks good, too." "I understand you have a stock of stranded merchandise to be auctioned." "Yep." "Everything from bolts of calico to ploughs." "Auction will be held tomorrow, four o'clock." "Any charges against this merchandise?" "1,745 dollars and 73 cents." "That's what the company's expecting to get out of it." "Will there be many bidders?" " Who's gonna bid?" "Who's got the money around here?" "Maybe that fat man with the hat, eh?" "Who's he anyhow?" "Snoopin' around, asking' questions." "Me, I don't care who buys, or if." "Ain't no skin off my nose." "I'll be buying for Don Miguel of Prescott." "Figure out what I owe you for this." "And this." "Ahhhl Very good meal, Fly-Up-The-Creek." "Glad you liked it." "Good evening." "Good evening." "Could we have a word together?" "Uh... a private word, a word of business?" "My name is Goodhue, Asa Goodhue." "You are a businessman, I hope?" "With an eye always open to turn an honest penny." "You take my point." "You take it exactly." "Now, by asking questions, I learned that you come here to buy a certain stock of wares." "Oh, not for yourself but as an agent." "There will be few to bid, possibly only you and I." "Now, sir, if you bid and if I bid, the price will be high, the profit reduced." "Come to the point." " Suppose you were to say to me," "'Friend Goodhue, I will give you $500 to refrain from bidding at this auction'?" "Then I do not bid." "I turn a penny without risk of capital." "On the other hand, I say to you," "'Friend, I will give you $500 not to appear at the sale. '" "Then I buy without opposition." "That is talking common sense." "Father used to say the lowest form of life was a Northern Abolitionist overseer who'd hire himself out to drive slaves." "Father was mistaken." " That was not friendly." "Scatl" "Comical cus, weren't he?" "I bet he's in politics." "But he's had his rattles cut off." "Fella wouldn't have much chance aging a snake with his rattles cut off." "Could hit you without warnin'." "I wouldn't estimate Mr Goodhue as being dangerous." "That's right." "An amateur like you wouldn't." "I was careless once." "Don Miguel says a man's entitled to one carelessness." "I have Don Miguel's money in my belt." "Then we'll take turns sitting up and watching it." "You first, then me." "Asa Goodhue may run up the price tomorrow." "Or maybe he won't." "Uh... maybe." "You ain't drinking', pilgrim." "I am an abstemious man." "I find liquor and business do not mix." "Meanin' you ain't inclined to be friendly?" "Sir, you never met a more friendly man, a man more desirous of being on good terms with all the world." "We don't admire your way of showing' it." "Very well, gentlemen." "Very well." "I lay aside prejudices and personal desires." "I join with you in friendship." "Bartenderl Drinks for the gentlemen." "You sure must suffer with the heat, mister, what with that coat and hat an' all." "One must not complain." "Fly-Up-The-Creek, I ain't been swimmin' since I was knee high to a toad." "As I recollect, it was a cooling process." "Swimming..." "Gents, there's a sped of water up a piece under some beautiful trees." "I don't know when it was I got to wash me all over." "Anything's better than this blistering'." "Come on, gents." "Come on, stranger." "I have no desire to bathe." "Never seen such an offish fella." " Oh, he's comin'." "Them lowdown gang of amused skinning' skunks!" "Hey, take a look!" "What?" " They've stole our clothes, that's what." "Stole our pants and here we be, all them Injun women looking at us!" "Drive them away, drive them away!" "You drive them away." "I ain't dressed for it." "But the auction, it is near to the hour for it." "I must get out, I must have my clothes!" "Wish I could help you out, but I'm in the same hole myself." "I don't calculate to go paradin' through them women in my drawers." "It ain't modest." "A good friend to Mr Sugarfoot, are you not?" "We'll be seeing more of each other in Prescott." "I am bent on going to Prescott." "Oh, yes, indeed." "I am much more eager to go to Prescott than I was yesterday." "I am looking forward to our further acquaintance, Mr Sugarfoot." "Whoa." "Well..." "You come back safe." "Good." "You came quick." "You get it?" "You buy those things?" "All the merchandise is here." "You make a good deal?" "How much do you have to pay?" "There were no other bidders." "I got it for the freight bill." "But you wouldn't have." "There is a story?" " Why, this dude " "It was nothing." "Young man, I think you know how to deal with situations." "Stint!" "Not in here, Sugarfoot!" "Gentlemen settle all arguments outside." " If you please, Mr Crane." "This piece of business must be transacted in public." "Stand up, Stint." "Don't I get a chance?" "Don't I get an even break?" "This isn't pleasure, it's business." "If I prove to be wrong," "I'll give you satisfaction." "Take off your coat." "Take off your coat." "Now your vest." "Uh-huh, it seems as though I won't have to apologise." "Give that money belt to the dealer." "Mr Crane, that's yours, I think." "Am I right, Stint?" "You were carrying that money as a messenger for Don Miguel Wormser, weren't you?" "Bringing it to Mr Crane." "I have stated the facts, haven't I?" "I reckon so." "Very well, Mr Crane, Mr Stint completes his errand." "Funny way of doing an errand." "Mr Stint is a funny man." "I'm Judge Backus." "You making any charges against this man, Sugarfoot?" "None." "I came to remind him he had an errand to do, which done, that's all there is to it." "You can put on your coat again, Stint." "And I apologise to all for the interruption, especially to Miss Cairn." "One of us is leaving Prescott." "You will be gone before noon tomorrow." "I'll be walking West on Montezuma Street at noon tomorrow." "Kinda churning' inside?" "Always that way." "Hand steady?" "So far, so good." "Gun loaded?" " Yes." "How do you know?" "Looked at it today?" "No." "You better." "Here, let me have a look at that holster." "I've knowed pistols to stick..." "just when they hadn't ought to." "Now, jerk it out two or three times." "Looks dandy." "Now, mind you, watch his eyes, not his hands." "Even when he's so far away that you can't see his eyes." "And walk limp and slimpsy." "And leave your arms hanging floppy." "Well, I reckon that's all the advice I got to give you." "Thank you." "Lay him sudden." "In this game you can't copper no bets." "I... better be going." "Yeah." "Out here, you don't fight to see what a nice gentleman you can be." "You fight to kill." "I've learnt that." " The trouble with you is you was watchin' for what you was sure he was goin' to do." "Not for what you were sure he weren't gonna do, so he got you." "I got him, too." " Yeah, lucky for you." "But he's walking around." "And here you be." "Yeah, walking around." "Him and that there fat fella." "What fat fella?" "That pop-eyed dude you horn-swaggled over La Paz." "Pair thicker than a couple of mongrel puppies." "'Bout the only thing I've accomplished here in Arizona is to make a pair of enemies for myself." "Hello." " Welcome, Don Miguel." "Sit down!" " Sit down, sit there." "Sit, sit." "It's nice to see you so." "You are very lucky, Mr Sugarfoot." "I am as good as new." "I hope there will be no more bullets for you." "But I think, Mr Sugarfoot, you are the man that bullets look for." "We have a nice little money together." "First you have your share of what La Paz goods sell for." "It's two thousand, three hundred, eleven dollars." "My share amounted to so much?" " Si." "Also, while you are in your bed," "I think it is bad that your team and wagons are idle." "So I take freighting contracts for you." "From this is more or less one thousand, one hundred and twenty dollars." "I'm obligated to you for much kindness." "Bad things come in this territory." "There is much anger, and can be much suffering." "I don't know what to do." "What bad things go on?" " Well..." "Look, all business in Arizona depends on the army." "To feed the army, to supply the army, to grow crops for the army." "Now, the government cancelled its contracts with our ranchers and the army quartermaster will not buy." "The army must have grain, it has to buy grain." "Animals must be fed." " Sure." "They buy from California when grain raised in Arizona at their door must rot!" "And the ranchers must starve." "And why?" "Politics." "Because palms are greased." "That's intolerable." "I think I'd be violent myself." "No, no." "Violence is not good." "There is wild talk." "Our ranchers say that this California grain must not come in." "They say the wagons should be seized on the way, and the grain burned with fire." "But that is bad." "There will be killing." "It will be bad for the dead and for the living." "Who's planned this thing, who's engineering it?" "Engineering..." "I don't..." "For sure I don't know." "But in Prescott there's now a man by the man of Asa Goodhue." "Mr Goodhue." "Goodhue goes here and there." "He's friends with the quartermaster." "He is a man who brushes himself very clean and neat outside, but inside he is creased." "In his smiling you see it." "I've met him." " Yes, you have met him." "Also goes with him, Jacob Stint." "When do you expect this grain to arrive from California?" "It is said it will be in Yuma or La Paz, in maybe ten days, in maybe two weeks." "Is it your belief that Goodhue is the agent of the California parties?" "I think so." "I think he offers this grain at half the price to ruin us." "It means that the ranchers would be abandoned and he would have no competition." "Have protests been made to the General?" "Be sure, he's..." "He's asked..." "The orders cancel come from Washington." "Washington." " Hmm..." "I know what it means to depend on the land for a living." "Don Miguel... if our men fight, I will fight with them." "If only I had the wisdom of Solomon..." "God bless you, Sugarfoot." "You ain't got the sense that God gave geese!" "I'm tired of being coddled, Mary." "I'm well." "You're well?" "You go traipsing' around, bust open that wound, you'll see how well you be." "Now you're here, sit down before you fall down." "I got venison stew." "That'll put meat onto your bones." " Mm..." "Hey, Reva, look who's here!" "Is this wise?" " It's been days since I've seen you." "I'll wait on you." "Then sit down." " Sit down now." "I'll wait on you both." "Seems I remember you in my tent" "Seems that I would awaken and see you there." "There was need for nursing." "But then you stopped coming." "When the need for nursing was over." "Hmm... the days were very long." "Every day I hoped you would come." "If we let them skunks fetch that grain from California, we're nothing but a pack of pesky coyotes." "Well, I argue against it." "We gain nothing." "But if you boys vote for trouble, I'll string along." "Might as well be shot dead than starved dead." "It's like a dare." "Like, if a man tells you to get out of town before dawn." "All right, Johnny." "I'll see Miss Cairn the rest of the way home." "That's what you think." "Ain't nobody gonna molest her on the street no more." "I'm personally responsible to walk her home every night." "It's all right, Johnny." " Oh!" "It's him, hey?" "All right, all right." "You two walk ahead and spark, but I'll be maudlin' right behind till you get to your door." "You know what the ranchers were discussing today?" "There'll be trouble." " There'll be a profit for Goodhue and Stint if there is trouble." "Goodhue wouldn't hesitate to interfere with his own shipments to make the authorities think the ranchers were guilty." "It's the only use Goodhue would have for a man like Stint." "Stint's leaving Prescott." "I must follow and somehow prevent him doing what he plans to do." "You're still weak." "A weak, unsteady man would stand no chance against Jacob Stint." "He won't be alone if he means to attack those wagons." "You'll be alone." " There'll be Fly-Up-The-Creek." "How would you stop the attack?" "How can I know that?" "Thing like this, one has to act when the time comes." "I could mind my own business and do nothing about it." "It would be possible to do that." "Would you advise it?" "You're already determined to meddle in it." "You couldn't help yourself." "No advice of mine would stop you." "When I come back I'll..." " If you come back it'll always be this way." "Always hoping to see you just once again." "Just once again until..." " Until I don't come back?" "Or until I come back to tell you Jacob Stint's dead?" "I'll come back to you." "Stint's pulling his freight." " Huh?" "Yeah, him and three other skunks." "They're saddling'." "Calculate to travel by night to circumvent the Injuns." "We'll give them a half hour start." "Well, you keep on a settin'." "I'll sneak some horses out of town." "No use shouting' that we're movin' out on Stint's trail." " Good." "Them wagons will be on the move soon." "Maybe we guessed wrong." "Maybe Stint formed some other plan and isn't coming to La Paz." " No, he's coming." "Don't you fret." "We should have stayed behind." "We shouldn't have let them out of our sight." "I calculate we'll see 'em plenty soon." "Ain't no other town, ain't no other grain and ain't no other wagon train." "And if you ain't been took in complete, the place for us to be is where them wagons is." "Stint's got to come to 'em, ain't he?" "So just soothe yourself down, Sugarfoot." "Don't fret yourself into no lather." "Look there." "Come on, kick your heels in that critter." "Come on, let's get out of here!" "Stint!" "What did you do that for?" "They're getting away." "We'd better worry about getting away ourselves." "Them soldiers don't know which from the other, and they're kind of mad it seems as though." "You know, a fella ought to try everything once." "Now I can discover how it feels to be an outlaw." "Nonsense." " Yeah?" "Them cavalry boys think we're part of the gang that attacked them." "Me and you is murderers, that's what we'll be." "We attacked and shot down a United States army." "And if we get took, we'll be hung." "Stint's the man they want and he's getting away." "Yeah, going lickety split." "And them army riders will never catch up to him neither." "He got plenty experience during the war." "I don't know how you feel, but I've got to get him." "I've got to capture Stint." " There's no use killing our animals." "If they was to bog down, we would be in a fix." "Now listen, we know where this Jacob Stint's heading..." "Prescott." " Yeah." "There ain't a crack or cranny in this whole territory I ain't poked into." "I know Arizona like it's the palm of my hand, and I just don't see how he's gonna get back to Prescott without passing through Bell's Canyon." "Maybe you do." " I don't know the country." "Well, you will before you get home." "Now seems to me, if you want to lay hands on Stint, the thing to do is to wait for him where he's got to be." " Right." "Let's get to Bell's Canyon first." "If the Injuns don't get him, we'll be there waitin'." "Squat behind this rock and send them flapping their wings to kingdom come." "Easy as rolling off a log." "I'm taking them to Prescott alive." "They'll be no good to us dead." "Well, that's a horse of a different colour." "I didn't come to Arizona to hide away with a price on my head." "We didn't ride to La Paz to help Goodhue throw the blame for that massacre on the ranchers." "There's no way out of it." "Stint or his bearded friend must talk." "Well, they'll be kind of reluctant." "I got mine." "Here, let me tie him up." "Maybe you ain't so handy with knots." "When you tie a fella, tie him for keeps." "A man can be mighty disconcertin' if he can get a hand free." "Well, we're going red whiskers." "We're going to him how?" "What have you got in mind?" "Remember that skeleton you showed me?" "We ain't Injuns." "White men don't torture white men." "In La Paz white men were murdered without the chance of lifting a" "You've seen me through so far." "Fly-Up-The-Creek, I'm obliged." "There's the road." "You're at liberty to ride." "I calculate I'll stay, but..." "it goes against the grain." "This man is going to talk." "If you stay, you'll have to do as I tell you, so make up your mind." "I'll stay, but... maybe I won't sleep so good when I remember it." "Put something in Stint's mouth." "Ought to be snakes in these rocks." "You know how to catch one?" "Sure." "Didn't want to be catched, but he's a good 'un, and rattling'." "What's your name?" "I asked your name." " I'd answer polite, if I was you." "Billings." " Ever heard of a man named Goodhue?" "None of your business." "But I never heard the name." "Never." "Stint recruited you..." " Never heard of no Stint." "Stint hired you to go to La Paz." " I've never been to La Paz." "Not never in my life!" " How much did he pay you?" "How much to hide behind houses and shoot down unsuspecting men?" " Nobody hired me." "Never seen this here La Paz." " What's your price for murder?" "$100?" "I never done no murders." "I'm a peaceable, hardworking man." "Let me go and I'll give you what money I got in my poke." "He hired you to attack the wagon train and escort." "No such thing!" "You're a blasted liar!" "I saw a skeleton once." "It was a man." "Close to it was another skeleton, that of a rattle snake." "The Indians tied the man down so that the only thing he could move was his head." "Then they fastened the snake, so that when it struck it could not quite reach the man's face if he strained his head back." "Does this sound inviting, Billings?" "That ain't no way to talk to a man." "Why don't you go after him?" "You're doing the talking." "Did Stint send you to La Paz?" "Get your snake ready." "I've given this man plenty of chance to talk." "You're foolin'." "You ain't gonna set that snake onto me!" "Ain't gonna set no poisoned snake onto me!" "Billings..." " What?" "This is your last chance." "Talk, or we'll be riding away." "Take it away!" "Get it away from me!" "I'll talk." "I'll tell what we done." "I'll tell what you want me to know, only get it away from me, mister!" "How much did Stint pay you?" " Fifty dollars." "How were you to earn it?" " It was to bushwhack the wagon train." "To shoot into 'em, make it look like ranchers by the things we hollered." "There were six of us." "Four got killed." "Stint and me, we got away." " Who hired and paid you?" "Stint." " Who told you what to do?" "Stint." " Would you repeat this in Prescott?" " Yes." "No ranchers were involved in these murders?" " No, no." "Let me go." "Kill that there snake and let me loose from here." "Kill you snake, then get our horses." "Don Miguel, I have another shipment for you." "What happened?" " Well, I'll tell you, judge." "Weren't nothin' much." "These here fellas kinda started a little fracas." "And that, er..." "Such a change is in your face." "Is it true what Fly-Up-The-Creek's saying about Stint?" "Have Billings sign his name to what he confesses." "Sugarfoot, you've done your part." "Reckon we're under obligation to you." "Get a rope!" "Wait a minute!" "Wait a minute!" "Gentlemen, wait a minute." "These men must live." "They must give evidence against themselves." "They will hang, but they must not hang before they speak." "Boys!" "Sugarfoot caught his meat." "He has the right to cook it how he wants." "Leave it to us." " Let us handle these men." "We'll see them safely in custody before the boys get too joyous and change their minds." "Sugarfoot!" " Hmm?" " Sugarfoot!" "Wake up." "Get on your pants." "Jacob Stint escaped." "Someone slipped him a gun and he killed a guard." "Him and Billings grabbed a horse and disappeared." "We're getting up a posse to join the soldiers from the fort." "Here comes the posse!" "Here comes the posse!" "Stint made good his escape." "We lost his trail a few miles out" "While that man lives I'll never say goodbye to you in the morning without being afraid you won't come back to me at night." "Always be at the back of my mind." "He's gone, and while he's gone we shouldn't let him interfere with our lives." "We can't go on fearing tomorrow while today slips past us." "When will you marry me?" "Whenever you're ready for me." "We could marry now." "I have the wagon and mules." "I can earn our daily bread." "But it isn't enough." "I wouldn't be satisfied." "It would satisfy me for a beginning." "Very little would satisfy me." "Well, we've got to have a house to begin with." "Can you afford a house?" " I have a little money." "Won't you need it for other things?" "I have quite a bit of money." "My singing pays me well." "Your money is yours." "Do you mean you don't like the way I earned it?" "Not that." "I mean we Redans have been accustomed to give to our wives, not to have our wives give to us." "Was there never a Redan who married a rich wife?" "All you have is mine, isn't it?" "Yes, all I have or ever will have." "You'd like me to have it?" "It makes you happy to give it to me?" " Yes." "Well, then, it's not sensible to refuse me the same pleasure." "I'm not giving to you, I'm giving to us." "I'll be a Redan." "I'll be part of the family." "And when we have a son, he'll be all Redan." "Keep what you have and give it to him." "Now, go make your plans for a house." "It'll be my wedding gift to you." "Oh, you're stubborn, Sugarfoot." "You'll be a difficult husband to manage." "Not difficult." " No?" " Impossible." "That's what you think." " A big house with a veranda." "A little house with a kitchen, parlour and one bedroom, painted white." "Where will you get the lumber?" "Ain't no saw mill." "It burned down." "Then we'll have to build a saw mill." "I'm going over to have a talk with Don Miguel." "You get married now pretty soon." "As soon as the house is finished." " Oh, I wish you good things." "It is a good thing, this marrying." "It is a good thing for Prescott." "Also for..." "Arizona." "Civilisation, it is." "With each marrying comes more civilisation and with each baby." "I hope soon I hear Reva sing a kind of song she never sing before." "Hello." "JC." "JC, come here." "He wants to build a house." "So he must get a saw mill." "If there is no logs, I bet you he go and grow trees." "He is a man who gets what he wants." "Better everybody keep out from under his foot or we get trampled." "Wait a minute." "I hear there's a saw mill in Tucson." "What'll it cost me?" "How long is a piece of string?" "I have about $3,000." "Too bad there isn't a stage line so you can go there quickly to see." "It would save time if I take my wagon." "300 miles to Tucson, say 12 days there, 12 days back, if I can get the whole contraption on one load." "Sugarfoot, it isn't easy for a man to get ahead if he can't command a certain amount of capital." "I said I have a few thousand." "If I'm not willing to back my judgement with money, I get out of the argument." "I'm willing to bet on you and tell the dealer to flip his card." "Naturally, I'm complimented, sir, and grateful." "What I'm edging around to is that if you ever have a project like this saw mill business, for instance, you can count on me up to $5,000." "Why, I don't know what to say." "It's unusual." "It's generous." "Oh, hush your noise." "That's the way I play the game." "When you want the money, come and get it." "Come in." "I help you plan." "Come." "I'm going to marry Sugarfoot Redan." "I congratulate him." "I felicitate you." "The point I wish to make is I'm GOING to marry him." "Why do you say this to me, Miss Cairn?" "Sugarfoot starts on a trip today that'll be sufficiently dangerous in itself." "He must not be shot from ambush by Jacob Stint." "What an appalling thought." "And it would be wise for you to order him not to do it." "Because if Sugarfoot does not come back safely," "Johnny-Behind-The-Stove will shoot you." "Not from ambush but publicly, wherever he meets you." "Be a pleasure to do a favour for a lady." "Deader'n a mackerel, right slap dab there." "Good morning, Mr Goodhue." "Reva." "Why the conference with Goodhue?" "Private." "Very private." "Secrets from me?" " More than you'll ever guess." "Yeah." "And there's them that'll back her play." "I made him a promise and I think he's convinced I'll keep it." "What promise?" "That if any harm came to you, if you were hurt or shot from ambush," "Johnny-Behind-The-Stove will kill him." "Why, he may be totally innocent." "No matter." "If you are taken away from me, I'll see to it that someone dies." "Do you think I'm some tame, pampered girl from Alabama?" "I can hate as well as a man." "And I would hate more dangerously than a man." "Whew!" "Seems to me a body could do without a saw mill instead of traipsing 300 miles to get it." "Now 300 miles back." "Ain't no saw mill worth that much toil, it seems to me." "Well, it depends on how badly you want a saw mill." "Well, me here weren't never married so I ain't got no advice to offer you." "I doubt if advice about marriage is much good to anyone." "Likely you won't be gallivanting around much now, Sugarfoot." "Everything I've teached you is kinda wasted." "Whoa!" "Whoa!" "Injuns got somebody bushwhacked in them hills." "Couple of 'em." "Let's crawl up and see who's doing what." "I'd rather shoot down onto them than be shot down onto." "It's Billings." " Who's t'other gent?" "A friend of yours named Jacob Stint." "See, all we gotta do is haul our freight outta here." "Just vamoose and mind our own business and let them Apaches take a job off'n your hands." "That would be easy, only the quarrel isn't between those Indians and Stint." "It's between Stint and me." "Listen, Sugarfoot, it's kind of a waste of time to go rescuing him from them Apaches just so we can bang a bullet into him ourselves." "Missed." "That'll be Asa Goodhue." "Maybe he'll scare them Indians off." "He'll think of something." "Better be givin' a thought to being on time to meet us." "Don't he know that a body can't sit too long in Injun country without inviting trouble?" "That'll about wind her up." "The rest'll skedaddle." "That ain't Goodhue!" "Damn skunks." "Them wobble-jawed slit-eared peasant-toothed skunks." "Taking a shot at me after we just saved their lives." "Now it's our bounden duty to get 'em." " No." "You're a comical fella." "Our job is not to cheat the law that'll hang 'em." "Stint!" "Jacob Stint!" "We just saved your lives." "We didn't ask you to!" "Why didn't you let the Indians do the job for you?" "I like to do my own dirty work." "You're a fool." "You were a fool not to let the Apaches murder me!" "You always will be a fool and because you're a fool you'll make it easier for me to kill you!" "He's talking sense." "You don't dare marry that singer while I'm alive." "Goodhue's up there." " I see him." "This here's a cat of another colour." "If that's a sample of his shooting, he isn't very fancy." "Takes a right good man to shoot accurate downhill." "Can't argue with a headstrong fella like that, wasting lead." "Ain't got no idea of economy." "Darn fool!" "Ain't I learnt you nothing?" "Stint and Billings, they're getting away." "Yeah, Stint don't miss no bets, does he?" "Plumb active 'tween the ears." "Come on." "Goodhue couldn't hit us with a cannon." "Maybe." "I helped bury a fella once, who took things for granted." "But Stint's getting away from me." " He's GOT away from you and you'll never catch up with him with a slug through your skull." "Come on, let's hyper of here and call it a day." "Reva!" "Hey!" "Reva!" "No need to holler the house down!" "Oh, I thought I would never see you again." "Shucks." "Before you get through with it, you'll see more of him than what you can endure." "Come on." "I've got something to show you." "There's the start of our house." "I'll be a good wife." "I'm going to deserve it." "I'll ride into town with you." "I won't be but a minute." "My, how that there gal's changed." "How changed, Mary?" " Kind of blossomed out" "She'd got to be kind of ingrown and offish." "But now she's just like a little gal again, smiling' and natural." "Most gals'd be tickled if their man gave them a fine present." "But to go singing and trilling around because a man was sweet and kind and big-hearted enough to let a gal loan him money is past my understanding." "Goodness." "How I run on." "Seems like my tongue just gallops away with my brain sometimes." "Lookee here, Sugarfoot, what are you aiming to do?" "This is going to be one of the proudest days of my life." "And the sweetest." "What's happened?" "Why do you look at me like that?" "Reva, before I left for Tucson, Mr Crane offered to loan me $5,000." "Yes?" " It wasn't his money he loaned to me." "No." " It was yours." "Yes." " Perhaps you have some explanation?" "Only that I loved you and wanted to help you." "I wouldn't have taken it had I known it came from you." "You're offended." "You're angry because I've just done something that injures your vanity as a man." "As a Redan of Alabama." "Deceit is not a good foundation for marriage." "Oh, you are stubborn, Sugarfoot." "You're relentless." "When I'm your wife, I will have to face that and deal with it." "When I cannot reason with you, nor persuade you, nor cajole you, Sugarfoot, I shall trick you!" "There you have it!" "It's the only way I can hold my own against you." "Did you think I was going to cry or beg for forgiveness?" "Please go away now." "Come back tomorrow maybe or the next day." "But I don't want to see you any more just now." "Come in." "Where's Reva?" " In her room." "Will you ask her if she wishes to see me?" "Listen, you, Sugarfoot." "If you've got the sense God gave geese, use it this night." "Use sense, you big lummox." "And understanding', and gentleness." "You..." "You once said that we'd have to prove ourselves to each other." "I know that I've failed you." "I've failed you, not only with myself but with Jacob Stint." "Reva, what I came to tell you is that you must cut loose from me." "Must I?" "Is that the way of it?" "For YOUR sake, for your peace of mind." "Would parting from you bring me peace of mind?" "Doesn't matter now." "Nothing matters." "Come humiliation, come resentment, come anything." "There's nothing left of me but... love for you." "There's nothing else to say." "Yet you would give me up." " Because I love you." "Sugarfoot!" "You're always in the way, Sugarfoot." "You meddle." "Not that I bear ill." "I deplore violence." "I am a simple man of business, Mr Redan." "A simple, peaceable man of business." " Shut up!" "Let Miss Cairn go away." " She'll watch." "That is all so unnecessary." "If you had but minded your own business, Mr Redan." "You have brought it upon yourself." "You are not a good businessman, Mr Goodhue." "You have had luck." "Now, take that first encounter at La Paz..." " Shut upl" "It had to be this way."