"Hey, look at that!" "Look." "Right through him." "Prospector." "Skinny little feller." "Them bones ain't hardly as big as my little finger." "Let me see it." "Apache." "Apache country, ain't it?" "There are a few Apaches around here." "Mostly they're farther south." "That's all we need— to run into some crazy Indians." "All this country around here like this?" "Pretty much." "Up north there are lots of canyons and draws... if you know which ones are open." "Those hills over there back right up into the mountains." "Those are salt flats down south." "Even a rattlesnake couldn't get across 'em." "I wonder if she's got any plans after she gets through riding' that horse." "What'll it be?" " Well, this is a whiskey saloon, ain't it?" " We got whiskey." "Then we'll have whiskey." " Beat it." " Give him one." "It ain't necessary." "They tell me this town was full of Confederate sympathizers during the war." " Is that right?" " There was some seceshes here." "I was a Union man myself." "You ask anybody." "They'll tell you." "Well, what about the marshal?" "He a Union man too?" "I never ask a man his politics." "Where is he now?" " Around." " No, he ain't." "He's out putting' up tax warrants." "I seen him go." "You fellows plannin' on bein' in town long?" "Depends on what you got to offer." "Depends on what you got on your mind, sonny." " Where do you keep your water?" " There's a well out back." "Let's fill 'em up— all of'em." "I'll take care of my own." "Hand me another bottle." "A full one." "Yes, sir." "I sure would like to know what she plans to do... after she gets through riding' that horse." "Now lay down, everybody." "Why don't you do like he said?" "Never mind, you." "Open it up." "Drop back, Jed." "Keep your eyes open." "Just like robbing' a kid's piggy bank." "I kinda liked that town." "Nice and obliging'." "Yee-ah!" "Fire!" "Let 'em go!" "Save us the trouble of hanging 'em." "Whoa." "Whoa!" "Whoa!" "Them garrison soldiers just can't take country like this." "Maybe they've got sense." "Sure was mighty inconsiderate of old Jed to get hisself killed like that." "He owed me six bits." "I'd feel a lot better if there were seven of us instead of six." "This desert's a mighty unlucky place." "A man needs all the odds he can get." "Hey, that reminds me." "Hadn't we better be starting back?" " Back where?" " Where we come from." "Right into the lovin' arms of the army?" "Are you crazy?" "Why, it's a good 70 miles across this sink." "Maybe more." "It's just a place." "A place can be crossed." "Speak for yourself." "I'm easing back, soon as it's dark." "Well, that's up to you." "There's your share." "Make your choice." "I sure never thought I'd come to this... but I guess I'm gonna have to trade some whiskey for some water." "Ain't nobody gonna trade me some water for a good swig of real nice whiskey?" "Put that back!" "Give me that!" "Look out, you fool!" "You'll spill it!" " Give it to me!" " Oh, no, you don't!" "Give it back!" "Give it to me!" "Give it to me!" " Give it to me!" "Give it to me!" " Oh, no, you don't!" "Leave go ofhis canteen..." "and cut it out!" "You too!" "You shouldn't oughta done that, Stretch." "You might've hurt me." "Oh, my poor feet." "The way they hurt." "If I didn't know better, I'd say it was gonna rain." "Walrus, bring your horse up here." "Kind of noble, aren't you?" "A horse is a useful animal." "No use letting' him suffer just because he belongs to a jackass." "Looks like he's not the only jackass on this trip." "I told you we'd never make it." "Nobody said you had to come." "Old Walrus here has got nearly a thousand dollars in his pocket." "Can't even buy hisself a drink of water." "Don't that beat the devil?" "Look at that old lizard there." "He's better off than you, Walrus." "Yes, sir, a heap better off." "That ain't right." "You got no call to do that." "What's eatin' you?" "It's just a lizard." "It wasn't doin' you no hurt." "What'd you have to kill it for?" "Well, of all the— Say, what's got into you anyhow?" " A lizard!" " Shut up." "All this fuss over one little lizard." "If I don't get some water pretty soon..." "I'm just gonna fall down and die." "Yeah, it looks that way." "Come on, boy." "Come on." "Come on." "I think I see..." "a town over there." "It is a town." "I can see it." "I can see it!" "It's a town." "Water." "Water!" "It's a dead one." "A ghost!" "We just come in across the sink." "We need water bad." "There's a spring here, but you'll never make it." "You just point it out." "We'll make it." "It's up behind those big rocks at the head of the street." "Get up." "Water." "Anybody home?" "What about me coming in for a minute?" " Stay where you are." " What you scared of?" "Nothin'." "What are you carryin' that gun for?" "Ain't nobody gonna shoot nobody." " What do you want?" " Somethin' to eat." "How long are you gonna stay here?" "Four or five days maybe." "Hard to say." "It ain't far to Alkali." "You can make it easy if you try." "Horses need rest." "So do we." "I ain't got enough in the house to feed six men." "We got money, if that's what's botherin' you." "I don't want your money." "I just want you to get outta here." "We aim to." "Meanwhile, we can't live on fresh air." "Now, listen, lady." "I don't know why I'm standin' here arguing with you." "There's six of us, and we usually take what we want." "Not from around here." "All right, lady." "If that's the way you feel about it." "I don't like women who act so high and—" "Why, you dirty, little—" "I wouldn't go stirring'up no trouble with that girl if I was you, young fella." "Quite a punch you got there, ma'am." "Come in mighty handy when you get married." "You're right, son." "She's as tough as a pine nut." "She oughta be." "She was raised with Apaches." " Apaches?" " Yeah." "Fine people if you understand them." " Any of'em around here?" " Oh, from time to time." " Come on, Grandpa." " Just a minute." "What about that food?" "Do we get it peaceful or don't we?" "Well, we might arrange for one night, Mike... seein' what a lean belly he's got." "I'll send a couple of the boys up after it." "You shouldn't have given in to him like that, Grandpa." "I know what I'm doin'." "Don't feed 'em, and right away they begin "suspicioning"." "Now, you act as if nothing had happened and leave this to me." "What you goin' to all that trouble for, Dude?" " You ain't hardly seen her yet." " He's seen her all right." "Course, it was kinda worm's-eye view— him right at her feet eating' dust." "What do you reckon a girl like her's doin' anyway livin' in a town like this?" "The old man's a prospector, most likely." "A little loony." "Lots of old-timers like him all through these hills." " Yeah, but her?" " Somebody's got to look after the old fool." "Hmm." "Look!" "Kinda cute-lookin', ain't she?" "Right nice swing to them hips too." "Yeah." "And when she tucks in that shirt—" "Better let me help you with that bucket, ma'am." " Looks heavy." " I can manage." "Just the same, ma'am, somebody oughta help you carry that bucket up to the house." "Well, now wait a minute, lady." "You don't mean you'd shoot a big, handsome fellow like me?" "If you got to shoot somebody... why, pick on Half Pint or Walrus." "They don't amount to nothin'nohow." "I've told you once." "Well, as long as I'm goin' your way anyhow—" "You heard what she said." "Sit down." " But I was just—" " Shut up." " I got a right to—" " Shut up!" "You gotta hit some people in the head with an ax." "Now, listen, all of you." "I'm figurin' on laying' up here for three or four days... till the horses get their legs back, and I don't want any unnecessary trouble." " Stay away from those people." " Listen." "You ain't—" "Yes, I am." "I ain't talkin' just to hear my own voice." "I'm ordering you." "If I catch any of you messin' around that house, somebody's gonna get hurt." " Is that clear?" " That include you too?" "That includes everybody." "There's an old saloon down at the other end of the town." "We'll bunk in it." "Gets kinda cold around here at night." " Where you goin'?" " Outside." "I can't sleep nohow with this fathead snoring' like a wounded buffalo." "Turn over!" "Sure is still tonight, ain't it?" "I wonder what Dude's up to." "Brother, am I sure gonna throw a shoe if he gets anyplace with that gal." "From what I saw, she'll tear him in two if he tries anything." "What are you doin' here?" "Lookin' for one of my men." "I told you if anybody came up here, he was liable to get shot." "I wish you wouldn't keep pointing' that thing at me." "Women got no business carrying' guns." " They're apt to shoot somebody they don't mean to." " Not me." "You know, if you was prettied up a bit... you might look almost like a female." "You—" "Just wanted to show you how safe you'd be if I really wanted to get rough." "You smell." "Even Apaches are cleaner than you." "Why, you—" "Didn't anybody ever tell you before that you smell bad?" "Mike!" "Mike!" "What happened?" "It's nothin', Grandpa." "It's just—" "I just caught someone prowling' around out here." "Did you get him good?" "Maybe I should have." "Good thing she can shoot as straight as she can, young fella." "Most women'd have lost their heads at a time like this, and you'd have been done for." "Ain't every girl can miss that close... on purpose." " Do you need any help?" " No!" "Better be gettin' back on inside, honey." "Ain't likely he'll bother anybody else tonight." "He's gonna be kinda dizzy." "Mike, how'd you come to shoot him?" "I don't know." "He grabbed me." "He made me feel—" "I don't know." "I wish I'd let him die of thirst when he came here." "What were you doing up there?" "I was lookin' for you." "I guess you didn't hear what I said about stayin' away from that girl." "Looks like you didn't even hear it yourself." "Anyhow, I wasn't bothering about her." "I was just nosing around, following a hunch." " What kind of a hunch?" " Gold." "It doesn't make sense— that old man and a girl like her... living up herejust for their health." "Sure enough, they've got half a dozen cradles and a big sluice box down in the canyon." "Well, how do you know it's not just old equipment left around here like everything else?" "Because there's a shack down there too." "Apaches been living in it." "I could smell 'em the minute I opened the door." "Strong as a fox's den." "Well, suppose they have found some gold, what of it?" "Too much money laying' around in banks for us to worry about any little dab they got." "Maybe it isn't so little." "Well, anyhow, we're not sticking around to find out." "We're movin' on as soon as the horses are fit." "Well, I don't know about you... but I'm getting a little tired of all this robbery business." "I've got a bullet floating around in me, right here." "Some tinhorn gambler who yelled like a stuck pig... because he dropped a few hundred dollars." "Claimed he'd been cheated." "Which he had, but that's neither here nor there." "I don't know if I ever told you... but I used to have a big faro layout in San Juan." "Best-looking woman in camp waiting on me hand and foot." "Then bang—" "Along comes this tinhorn— puts a bullet in me." "When I got on my feet again, the money was all gone." "Her too." "She lit out with a fellow who ended up beating her." "Which wasn't a bad idea either." "As for me, I was just a down-at-the-heels sharper... with one bad lung, looking for a stake." "But I told them I'd come back, loaded." "That's why I joined up with you." "Maybe now's the time." "Not interested." "Just thought I'd mention it." "Need any help getting back to bed?" "I'm staying here for the rest of the night." "I'll send the kid with your saddle and blanket." "By the way... that woman I was telling you about in San Juan—" "Her name was Lucy." "This girl kind of reminds me ofher." "Same figure." "Now wait a minute, boss." "I ain't doin' nothin' none of the rest of them ain't doin'." " And what's that?" " Lookin' for the old man's gold, like Dude said." "Where are the old man and the girl?" "They're up in the hills somewhere." "They lit out as soon as they heard us comin'." " Put that down and come with me." " All right, boss." "All right." "Get in there where I can see what you're doing." "So you fellows figure you got a new boss, eh?" " We want that gold." " Dude said you wasn't interested." " So we took a vote and—" " Decided that Dude's the leader." "Is that it?" "It just happens that votes don't mean a thing to me." "You wanna get rid of me, you've gotta run me out." "You ain't got no objections to bein' rich, have you?" "We ain't arguing' about that now." "We're talkin' about who's boss." "Personally I don't care who's boss... long as we get that gold." "Now you're talkin'." "No sense bangin' away like that, Mike." "You're just usin' up good bullets." "If I could just get one of'em, it might change their minds." "Looks like they got gold all right." " Yeah, that's what we've been tellin' you." " Let's get it." "My way." "Understand?" "Gonna get mighty hot up on that hill after a while." "Them two'll get good and thirsty." "All we gotta do is sit tight." "Sit tight?" "Like a bunch of scared rabbits?" " Well, there's six of us." "Let's root 'em out." " Go ahead." "It couldn't be that you're worrying about somebody else getting killed, could it?" "You and Lengthy get in the house... and see if you can find out where they got the ammunition hid." "Cinch they couldn't carry it all up there." "You and Bull Run look around the barn." "Whew." "Mighty hot sun." "Almost tempts a man to drink water." "Well, I declare!" "There's one of them waving'a flag of truce." "Tryin'everything, I guess." "It don't seem exactly right to shoot a man waving' a white flag, Mike." "I'll teach them to come around here, chasing' us out of our house." "Wait till he gets up a little closer." "You can always get him if he gets nasty." "That's close enough." "It's the only white shirt we got in the outfit." "Belongs to Dude." "He's kind of particular." "Don't wanna get it dirty." "Look, I shaved." "Changed my shirt too." "Smell like a lily." "Even combed my hair, right around the part you gave me." "What do you want?" "I thought maybe you and me could make a deal." "There's only one deal we'll make with you:" "Get out of Yellow Sky and stay out, or we'll shoot the lot of you." "Them bullets of yours ain't gonna last forever." "We found your ammunition." "Soon as you use up the ones you got, my boys are gonna come up and get you." "Well, at least you won't be among 'em." "Oh, don't a flag of truce mean nothin' to you?" "With thieves like you?" "Now, nobody's gonna hurt you if they can help it." "But we know you got gold, and we're gonna get it." "Come on back to the house and tell us where it's hid." "Maybe we'll cut you in for some." "You might as well be comfortable while you're gettin' robbed." "Ask him what kind of a deal." "You can't make a deal with him, Grandpa." "Fifty-fifty's better than nothin'." "Anyhow, it don't do no harm to ask." "Sit down and keep your hands in sight." "We haven't made up our minds yet what we're gonna do with you." "Get down!" "Dirty, double-crossin'—" "Grandpa!" "Oh, I gotta get you back to the house." "It's bleedin' bad." "Oh, I've bled before." "Hold your fire!" "They're givin' up!" "Bull Run and Walrus, get up there." "Somebody's been hit." "I sure hope it ain't that girl." "I got a different future picked out for her." "I've seen a lot worse than that." "Didn't even break no bone." "Don't look like you got no lead to probe for neither." "That's right." "Just got a hole in my leg." "Uh, probing is usually a two-quart job." "You'll have to excuse us, ma'am." "You see, we're used to men getting shot... and the boys just haven't stopped to remember... that this is your grandfather and the only one you've got." "Look, why don't you go?" "Can't you see he wants to go to sleep?" "I think we oughta get this deal of ours settled right now." " Where's the gold?" " He can't talk now." "Tomorrow when he's feeling better, he'll tell you anything you wanna know." "All right, Mike." "Might as well get it over with." "But, Grandpa, you're not—" "If we don't, first thing you know, they'll be twisting my arm for me." "Did you ever have a fellow twist your arm for you?" "It don't feel so good." "Get me my pipe." "I don't supposed it'd do any good to tell you boys... we haven't got any gold?" "Yeah, that's what I thought." "You'd just keep hunting for it until you'd made a nuisance of yourself... until somebody got killed." "Now, wouldn't you?" "Suppose I admit that we have got some gold... but don't tell you where it is?" "Now, you wouldn't do a mean thing like that to us, would you, Grandpa?" "Let me give you boys a little history of things here." "About 15 years ago, heavy silver was hit here in Yellow Sky." "The town boomed overnight." "Me and Mike here— Oh, she was just a baby then." "I was a young fellow myself— not a day over 60." "Well, we was late gettin' here... and didn't manage to put our hands on anything worthwhile anyhow... so it didn't matter one way or the other to us when the veins pinched out." "Well, it was right hard goin' for us for a while... but we finally hit on what we were lookin' for." "Pretty soon we hired us two or three young Apaches... from the old chief, Colorado." "Then things began to hum." "You know, I've been smokin' a pipe for 60 years." "I'm still havin' trouble with my puffer." "Yeah." "What was I talkin' about?" "Gold." "Oh, yes." "Yes." "Mighty dangerous thing... if you want it out of plumb greediness." "I've seen it ruin many a man." "Of course, I had good reasons for wantin' it myself." "Now, Mike here— I'm the only one she's got." "So, you see, I wanted to see her took good care ofbefore I died." "Come to the point." "What about our deal?" " What's your idea of a deal?" " Depends on how much you got." " Well, now, counting'the dust—" " Don't tell 'em, Grandpa." " Don't tell 'em anything more!" " Well, Mike, I thought—" "I had to do something." "I couldn't let you stay up there and die." "Now, listen, ma'am." "I've been tryin' to be patient with you—" "That money's yours, Grandpa." "I know how hard you worked and sweated for it." "They got no right to it." "Of course, you can't understand that, can you?" "'Cause you're no good." "None of you." " You're just born takers." " You still haven't said how much you got." "It ain't just the money." "Look at him." "He's an old man." "All he's dreamed about is seein' this town come to life again... with people livin'here and workin'and—and stores open." "The stage comin' through from Alkali." "And all because of him and what he done." "You see, Mike?" "They don't even know what you're talkin' about." "Uh, how about 50-50?" "How much?" "Oh, 50,000." "Fifty thousand dollars?" "Around that." "I think maybe we can do business." "Where is it?" "Go show 'em, Mike." "Mike?" "It's cached in the mouth of that old silver mine up under those big rocks." "When you came here this morning, we went up and knocked out a few timbers." "It's buried now." " If you want it, you'll have to dig for it." " Want it?" "Oh, my back feels like it's broke." "From now on, I'm stickin' to robbing' banks." "You sure don't catch that old Dude doin' no work." "Oh, he wouldn't be no good nohow..." "with that lung of his." "'Sides, somebody's got to keep an eye on the girl and the old man, don't they?" "That's what's bothering me." "He may keep too close an eye on her." "Why don't you shut up about that girl?" "Once you get your hands on all this gold, she won't look no better than a broken-down squaw." "Well, that's a lie." "She'll never look anything but pretty." "Well, of all the— You too?" "Whoa!" "Go on, Lengthy!" "Go on and kiss her!" "She ain't got no gun on her this time!" "Ride her, cowboy!" "Ride her!" "But watch yourself." " Ow!" " Looks like she's got a burr under her saddle!" "Why, you—" "Let him up!" "Let him up!" "You let him go!" "Let him up." " Let him up!" " I ain't letting' nobody up." "He hit me, and I'm gonna give it to him... good!" "You fellows just won't listen to me, will ya?" "It wasn't my fault." "She came down here swingin'herself pretty fancy." " I'll leave it to Walrus." " That's right, boss." "Looks like she was just askin' for trouble." "From now on, stay away from my men... and stop swinging'your hips all over the place!" "I don't know what you're so sore about." "She's just a girl." "I ain't gonna argue about it." "Still worrying' about what happened this afternoon?" "Nah." " You're mad at me." " No, I ain't mad at nobody." "Just thinkin', huh?" "That house up there... keeps reminding'me of our place back home in Ohio." "I just see my mama now, standin' on the back porch... callin' me to come in from whatever I was doin'." "And my old man yelling' at me to "Wash your hands before supper, Luke, doggone it"." "And all of us sittin' down, and him sayin' grace." "Poor boy." "I was afraid that was it." "You're in love." "I got a right to remember, haven't I?" "Sure." " Let me go." " Why?" "Thought you was enjoyin' it." "We got... no business kissing' each other, you and me." "Look here, lady." "This ain't somethin' you argue about." "No." "No." "No!" "What's the matter?" "Where you goin'?" "Inside." "Grandpa'll be missin' me." "Oh, he can't be in that much of a hurry." " His leg hurts him." "He's worried." " What about?" "You runnin' off with all the gold and leavin' us nothing." "I gave him my word, didn't I?" "Yeah, your word." "Thought I'd... drop in, see how you're gettin' along." "Sit down." "Uh—" "I thought maybe it might..." "ease your mind some about that gold..." " if you knew somethin'about me." " What kind of somethin'?" "Well... that I come from good people." "When I give my word, I mean it." "My folks was all farmers, sound stock." "They moved to Kansas from Indiana when I was about two years old." "Folks went through all the worst of the Border War." "Old man come pretty near gettin'killed by some of Quantrill's men." "Seems like I had a gun in my hand ever since I was about so high." "Somebody always shooting'at us or us shooting'at them." "Either chasing' somebody or gettin' chased." "Then a few years ago, along come an epidemic." "My old man died." "Ma too." " Course I was off in the army by then." " Which side?" "Blue pants." "My ma was sure a stickler for religion." "Church was about 10 miles away, but she used to go every Sunday, winter or summer." "I remember one Sunday, her and me almost got lost in a blizzard." "I could read the Bible by the time I was seven years old." "We used to have one of them big, thick ones... with all the family births and deaths and marriages in it." " Why are you tellin' us all this?" " Ah, just sort of talkin'." "I been givin' that deal of ours a little thought, and, uh—" "I figured maybe with you laid up here and all... you're gettin' kind of worried about it." "All I can say is that I'm stickin' to it a hundred percent." "I've seen some mighty big liars in my time." "Now, if you ain't telling'the truth—" "That's a Bible there, ain't it?" "Yes." "I ain't seen one in years." "I hereby swear on this good book... that I'm goin' through with our deal... to the letter." "Well, young man... if you don't mean it..." "I don't see no point in you comin' here blaspheming'." "Shake on it." "I guess I better be goin'." "Haven't you got any better name than Mike?" "Constance Mae." "Dawson's mine." "James Dawson." "Ah— I guess the war has upset a lot of those boys... and set them off on the wrong foot." "You know, I've seen a lot worse fellows than him keep their word." "I'll put out your light now, Grandpa." "It's time for you to go to sleep." "Yeah." "Come on." "Let's get it." " Come on!" " Come on." "Ah, we've been sold." "Maybe the sacks are buried around here somewhere." "Here's one of them." "Here it is." "I've got it!" "Look out." "It'll cave in!" "I'm gonna get me some new clothes." "Hey, look." "What's that?" "Holy Moses." "Apaches." "Looks like that old man wasn't as..." "loony as we figured." "Yeah." "Let us dig his gold out for him... then his Indians show up just when we find it." "Maybe those folks are..." "worse off than we are." "Aw, shut up, you jape." "They told us them Apaches was friends of theirs, didn't they?" "We're sure gonna be mighty rich corpses." "Funny they haven't rushed us." "Maybe they're waitin' for sunup." "Indians always like sunup." "We better try to find out what they're gonna do." " Wait a minute." "What about all that gold?" " You carry it." "Maybe you fellas are givin' up on that gold, but I ain't." "I want it now out of just plain ornery meanness." "Stay here." "Well, that was quite a little powwow." "Yeah." "Apaches like to hear theirselves talk." "Looks like they ain't the only ones around here." "All right, turn 'em loose on us." "They may finish us, but we'll get our share of them before they do." "Do you think I'd turn crazy drunk Apaches loose on ya?" "They're friends of yours, ain't they?" " Why, yes, but I—" " You sent for 'em, didn't you?" "Well, did you or didn't you?" "Why, I didn't know they was within 50 miles of here... till some of the boys that used to work for me slipped in here last night." "Seems like they'd had some trouble over at the reservation." "They were out to kill." "Took a lot of coaxing'on my part, but I... finally got them to promise... to bring the big chiefhere to talk to me." "You know, he's an old friend of mine." "I just got through telling them... that if they went back to the reservation and behaved theirselves..." "I'd talk to the Indian agent myself and have their troubles took care of." "Huh." "Took a heap of arguing on my part." "That's what they're gonna do." "What about us?" "Why, I told 'em you was working for me." "Reckon what them fool Indians are up to now?" "Maybe Stretch give the old man a good talkin' to." "He's a great one for makin' deals." "It's that honest face of his." "One look at him and you say, "By gum, there's an honest thief"." "For all we know, they'll be back." "So let's stop shooting off our mouths and start loading this gold." "I wouldn't be in too big a hurry about that if I was you." "Where'd you come from?" "I told you to meet me behind them rocks." "You didn't do it." " Well, you see, Dude here—" " I'm givin' the orders around here." "We'll talk about that later." "Right now, we wanna know what those Indians are up to." "The old man told 'em to move out." "For good?" "Huh." "He must've been shot in the head, not the leg." "Well, come on." "Let's load up and git." "Just a minute." "Before we talk about loading', there's one thing I wanna get straight." " What about our deal with the old man?" " Well, what about it?" "There's a fortune in there— enough for everybody... including'the old man and the girl." "Now it comes." "Up to last night, I figured the same way you fellas did." "I was just tryin' to save us a lot of trouble when I said we'd split 50-50." "If it hadn't been for them Apaches comin'in, maybe I'd still feel the same." "But the old man played it square, stuck to his bargain." "If it hadn't been for that, we'd all be layin' around here dead right now." "Whether you like it or not, we're givin' 'em their full share." "If that don't suit you, you've got a fight on your hands and you better get at it quick." "It's a free country, ain't it?" "Majority rules." "I say we take a vote on it." "I told you once before." "I don't like votes." "We busted our backs diggin' this stuff out, boss." "We've been scared offby Indians, shot at by an old desert rat..." " and that he-girl ofhis." " Throw down your guns." "It's five to one." "Nobody's anxious to see you dead, Stretch, but we want that gold... and we want all of it." "There's plenty more left here." "If that girl and the old man want it, they can dig for it." "I've waited all my life to make a killing like this... and I'm not giving half my share to anybody." "Give up now, and we'll call it quits!" "You better do like he says, 'cause we're gonna play billiards with you... till we run you out of them rocks." "Then we're gonna pick you off like a turkey." "Fan out!" "We gotta flank him." " But I don't think—" " Who cares what you think?" "You're in this now whether you like it or not." "Come on!" "I'll keep you covered!" " What are you doin' runnin' around here?" " You're hurt." "Get down!" "Can you make it to the house?" " I gotta get their horses." " Horses are already in the barn." " Well, we had him." " That fool girl." "Almost filled us full of holes with that buffalo gun of hers." "Come on!" "Let's go back and load up and get out of here." "And spend the rest of your days... waiting for Stretch to stick a gun in your back?" "Not me." "I'm not leavin' till we get him." "I wanna sleep nights." "What happened?" "Oh, me and the boys had a little... argument." "About our deal?" "Couldn't see it your way, eh?" "Huh." "We figured that was it." "Grandpa!" "You shouldn't get out of bed." "Aw, a lot healthier down here." "Here." "Thanks." "What'll they do next?" "It's hard to say with me not there to tell 'em." "You've got yourself quite a granddaughter, mister." "I know that." "It's her future that's worrying me." "Yeah." "Mighty quiet out there." "Shh!" " Means they're leavin'." " Might... if Dude's got anything to say about it." "He's gold crazy." "Can't tell about Lengthy." "He's got other things on his mind." "You, Walrus, Bull Run— cover the back door." "I told Half Pint to take the front door soon as he gets back." "I'll cover the window." "If he comes out..." " let him have it." " Wait a minute." "Before anybody starts giving orders around here, let's get one thing settled." "I got first call on that girl, understand?" " Ah, who cares about her?" " I do." "All right." "Go ahead and take her." "All I want is that gold." "Come on." "Let's go." "Stretch!" "You listening?" "We know that if we try to blast you out, some of us are gonna get hurt." "On the other hand, if we run off with the gold and leave you still alive... we've got sense enough to know that you'll keep looking until you find us." "So we've decided to do what you wanted— split with the old man and the girl." "Course it's not exactly what we'd like to do... but you can't have everything." "What do you say?" "Get in back!" "I'm gonna open the door." "That suits me!" "Come on in!" "Did you get him?" "Yeah, I'm sure we did." "I saw him fall." "Why, you dirty—" "Hey, lady!" "Lady!" "It's me— Walrus." "I got Bull Run with me." "He's bleedin' somethin' awful." "This ain't no trick, ma'am." "I got it in the belly." "Looks like the kid's done for." "Let him in." "Bring him in!" "There you are." " We thought you was dead." " Well, you was wrong." "I hurt, Stretch." "I was kind of wantin' to get back to see my folks... but I hurt, Stretch." "Can't just let him lie there and die." "There ain't nothin' you can do for him now, ma'am." "Funny thing." "He was the only one against coming' here in the first place." "What are they gonna try next?" "Guess they ain't gonna try nothin' but... get each other and winner take all." "Where are they now?" "Dude took a shot at Lengthy, tried to get him in the back of the head... just when he thought he'd got you." "Then he let out for town, Lengthy after him." "Guess they didn't figure I was worth bothering' about." " Where are the horses?" " Down at the saloon, where we left the gold." " Half Pint's covering' the front door." " Tell him to get in here." "Hey, Half Pint!" "Dude and Lengthy run off!" "Ain't either of them aimin' to share that gold with nobody." "Me and Bull Run is... in here." "Keep your hands up and come on in." "Get over there on the floor." " Where you goin', boss?" " Where do you think?" "Now, you stay here, Mike." "Go on." "Grandpa!" "Grandpa!" "Grandpa!" "Come on." "Raise your hands." "It's all there, every cent we took." "Let me have that." "No, no." "Not that." "The hat." "How much you pay for that?" " That doesn't matter." "You can have it." " How much did you pay for it?" "Four dollars." "Oh, uh, thanks." "And he has my hat." "Here they come, Grandpa." "Whoa." "Whoa." " Well?" " We did it." "So help me." "It hurt, but we did it." "I paid for it."