"They come closer every day, Pa." " They on our land?" " No, sir." "Well, then, it doesn't concern us." "Does it?" "You have something else to say?" "No, sir." "Lord, we..." " What'd I do?" " Well, it's what you haven't done, Boy." "A man that eats with his hat on is going nowhere in a hurry." "Now, your mother wanted all of you raised as good Christians, and I might not be able to do that thorny job as well as she could, but I can do a little something about your manners." "Now, shall we...?" "Lord, we cleared this land." "We ploughed it, sowed it and harvested." "We cooked the harvest." "It wouldn't be here, we couldn't eat it, if we hadn't done it all ourselves." "We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb, but we thank you just the same, Lord, for this food." "Amen." " Where'd you come by the hat, Boy?" " Down by the creek, sir." " Some fella down there passing out hats?" " I found it." "It was just lying there." "Jacob, you look like you got something on your mind." " Say what you're thinking." " We've been through it all before, Pa." "Don't paddle around with me." "You were raised to say what you think." "You were all raised to say what you think." "The only thing I can't stand is a lot of noisy silence." "Let's have some talking." "Now, if you're going to make a speech, I'm sorry I said it." "I know how you feel about this war, Pa." "I guess we all more or less feel the same way." "But I don't see how we can just sit by and ignore it any longer." "Now, you say it's not our business, not our fight." "Well, we're Virginians." "I believe anything that concerns Virginia concerns us." " You do?" " Yes, sir, I do." "All right." " John?" " Sir?" "What are you gonna do?" "Are you going to keep your slaves or let 'em go free?" "You know I don't have any slaves, Pa." "That's right, John." "You don't have a slave to your name, do you?" "James, what about you?" "Did you ever think you might like to own a slave?" " I guess I never thought about it, Pa." " Well, think about it." "Think about it." "If you had the money, would you buy a slave?" " No, sir, I wouldn't." " Why not?" "If I can't do my own work, with my own hands, it'll never get done." "Suppose you had a friend that owned slaves, and suppose somebody's gonna take 'em away from him." " Would you help him fight to keep 'em?" " No, sir." " Your name's Nathan, isn't it?" " Aw, you know my name, Pa." "Well, I seem to remember somethin' about..." "I was talking to Henry." " Sir?" " Well, what do you think?" " No, sir, I wouldn't." " Why not?" "I see no reason to fight for something I don't believe is right." "I don't think a real friend would ask me to." "Why we have this same conversation every Saturday, I'll never know." "But I'm going to pray to the Almighty that this'll be the end of it." "Pass the biscuits!" "Papa?" "We're ready to go, Papa." "You still miss her, don't you, Papa?" "Miss her?" "Oh, Jennie, you don't know what I feel when I come up here." "Even after all these years. 16 years gone." "16 years." "And even so, I..." "I somehow... feel that she's not dead at all, but only resting." "And it's like I'm just waiting for her to get up and walk home with me." "# Be of sin the double cure" "# Save from wrath and make me pure" "# Could my tears forever flow" "# Could my zeal no languor..." "Did you bring it?" " No!" "Liquorice." " I'll see you after." "# Thou must save, and Thou alone" "# In my hand no price I bring" "# Simply to Thy cross I cling" "# While I draw this fleeting breath" "# When my eyes shall close in death" "# When I rise to worlds unknown" "# And behold Thee on Thy throne" "# Rock of Ages, cleft for me" "# Let me hide myself in Thee" "# Amen" "There are, no doubt, some present, Charlie Anderson, who wonder why you and yours are never on time for the Lord's services." "Have I kept the Lord waiting, Pastor Bjoerling?" "You have not." "Our message for today... is duty." "Now, this means many things to many people." "But for a Virginian they all lead to one." "James." " Get that fish line." " The three... most important duties are..." " Tell him to stop that." "...duty to God that created us, and loves us." "Duty to the state that gives us sustenance, and provides for us." "And duty to our neighbour." "Our fellow man, without whom... we... could not live." "When you good people can find it within yourselves to refrain from doing whatever it is you're doing," "I'll get on with the Lord's work." "Duty, to a Virginian, is not just a word, my friends." "For the last time, Charlie Anderson, I need that mule of yours." "I don't understand your reluctance to talk about the sale." "That mule is a matched Kentucky Red, matched with another that pulls just like she does." "Matched, Abernathy!" "Do you understand what matched means?" " How much?" " 30 dollars, Federal." " I'll give you 50, Confederate." " I'll let lightning strike her first." "Miss Jennie?" "I'll be leaving soon, and..." " I'll be leaving soon and..." " You said that already, Sam." "I did?" "Oh, yes, I did." "I, uh..." "I'd be eternally grateful if you'd permit me to call upon you this evening." "Eternally is a long time, Sam." "Not when one carries the memory of you, Miss Jennie." "I'll look forward to seeing you after supper, Sam." "Abernathy, your idea of a deal makes my stomach hurt." " You want me to get that mule now?" " Get in that wagon, Gabriel." "Charlie Anderson, I wonder if you'd be good enough to tell me why you bother to come to services." "Meaning no disrespect, of course." "It was my wife's last request, Pastor Bjoerling." "Meaning no disrespect, of course." "Whoa, boy." "Doc." "Mrs Witherspoon." "Charlie." "Looks like I'll be paying you a visit soon." "Uh huh." "You haven't said a word." "I don't know what to say." "I mean..." "Well, I know what to say." "I just don't know how." "Must be all very complicated, then." "No, it's... just all memorised." "Everything I wanted to say, I've said a dozen times." "I said it to my horse and it sounded good." "I said it again to the trees and it sounded better." "I said it to the moon and it sounded perfect." "The moon can't hear you, Sam." "He smiles and smiles, but he never hears." "I do." "Well, I'm sure gonna miss her." "Is she going somewhere?" "Every woman goes somewhere sooner or later." "You don't expect her to stay here and take care of us all her life, do you?" "I hadn't thought about it." "I hadn't planned on her going anywhere." "Well, you'd better get used to the idea, Boy." "Your sister's ripe and the pickers are here." "Of course, I don't suppose you know what I mean, do you, Boy?" "I'm not as dumb as you think I am, Pa." "Whoa!" "Halt!" "Go back up to the house, Boy." "There's a rumour you have the coldest water this side of the Shenandoah." "That's right." "The best east of the Mississippi." "Six foot deep, 20 foot down." "Help yourself." "Dismount, Sergeant." "Glad you're here, Johnson." "I need to have a little talk about those cannon of yours." "My chickens have stopped laying, the cow's dried up." "Who do I send the bill to?" "You might try Abe Lincoln." "They're mostly his." "When are you going to take this war seriously, Mr Anderson?" "Now let me tell you something, Johnson, before you get on my wrong side." "My corn I take serious because it's my corn." "My potatoes and tomatoes and fences I take note of because they're mine." "But this war is not mine and I take no note of it." "You'll take notice when the Yankees drop a cannonball in your parlour." "I might as well tell you now, I can't think of another thing I wanna hear you say." "You have six sons, don't you, Mr Anderson?" "Does the size of my family have some special interest for you?" "As a matter of fact, it does." "We need men." "Two of these men here are no more than 16." "It seems strange that none of your sons are in the army." "It don't seem strange to me with all the work there is to do around here." "I'll come right to the point." "I came out here to get 'em." "I say something funny?" "You came all the way out here to get my boys?" "Yes, sir." " Where are your sons now, Mr Anderson?" " You wanna see 'em, do you?" "Yes, sir, I do." "Jacob?" "James?" "John?" "Nathan?" "Henry?" "Boy?" "If you've got anything to say to 'em, they'll listen." "There's a Yankee army breathing down your neck, Mr Anderson." " You're town bred." " I don't see what that has to do..." "I've got 500 acres of good, rich dirt here." "While the rains come and the sun shines, it'll grow anything I've a mind to plant." "We've pulled every stump, we've cleared every field, and we did it ourselves, without the sweat of one slave." " So?" " "So"?" "So can you give me one good reason why I should send my family, that took me a lifetime to raise, down that road like a bunch of damn fools to do somebody else's fighting?" "Virginia needs all of her sons, Mr Anderson." "That might be so, Johnson, but these are my sons." "They don't belong to the state." "When they were babies, I never saw the state coming round with a spare tit." "We never asked anything of the state or expected anything." "We do our own living, and thanks to no man for the right." "But seeing as how you're so worried about it, I'll tell ya." "If any of my boys thinks this war's right and wants to join in, he's free to do it." "Y'all hear that?" "D'you hear it?" "Do you want to dress up like these fellas?" "Here's your chance." "Patrol, mount." "Mr Anderson, if you can sit in the middle of this war and not get touched, I congratulate you." "Where are these Yankees now?" "About ten miles that way, about ten or twelve miles that way, and about five miles that way." "Which way are you headed?" "That way." "What do you do with dead soldiers?" " Where's their army?" " Harrisonburg." "You ride over there, Nathan." "Take Henry with you, tell 'em to come get 'em." "Yes, sir." "Does it concern us now?" "You go to the house, get something and cover 'em up." "Come on." " Don't you think we ought to wait?" " No." "Papa?" "Sam would like to talk to you, Papa." "All right, Jennie." " Good evening, sir." " Sam." "It's bedtime." "Bedtime?" "Why, it's only..." "Picker's here, Pa." " What did he mean by that?" " It's nothing, Sam." "Have a seat." " I'd prefer to stand, sir." " No, you sit down, Sam." "I never talk to a man who's looking down on me." "Now, there's something you want to talk to me about?" " Yes, sir." " Sit down, Sam." "I've wanted to talk to you for a long time now, sir, but..." "Well, to come straight to the point of the matter, sir, I..." " I want to ask for your daughter's hand." " You mean you want to marry her, Sam?" "Yes, sir." " Why?" " Sir?" " Why do you want to marry her?" " Well, I..." "I love her, Mr Anderson." "Well, that's not good enough, Sam." "I beg your pardon?" " Do you like her?" " Well, I just said I..." "No, you said you loved her." "There's some difference between loving and liking." "When I married Jennie's mother, I didn't love her." "I liked her." "I liked her a whole lot." "I liked Martha for at least three years after we were married." "And then one day it just dawned on me I loved her." "I still do." "I still do." "You see, Sam, when you love a woman without liking her, a night can be long and cold, and contempt comes up with the sun." "Do you understand all this I'm telling you?" "Yes, sir." "Well?" "Well, I..." "I like Jennie, sir." "I've always liked her." "All right, then." "You be good to her." "Because if you don't, it's between you and me, boy." " Then you have no objection, sir?" " I didn't say that." "Thank you, sir." "Thank you, sir." "Thank you, sir." "Thank you." "I suppose that means Papa Charlie gave permissión?" "Sam'll be a couple of miles down the road before it dawns on him to tell me." "It was Mother's." "You'll look beautiful, Jennie." "Being married to someone you love must be the most wonderful feeling." "When I was a little girl, I slept all alone in a big room." "My bed had a feather mattress." "Outside, there was thunder, lightning and rain falling on our tin roof." "I'd lie there under my blankets, feeling so snug and good and warm." "Because I knew I was safe." "I was loved and somebody cared." "And now, married to James, it's that same little-girl feeling." " I'm loved, and somebody cares." " Oh, I am so happy, I want to shout." "That's what it feels like, too." "First-rate-looking animals you got here, son." "They should be." "I do everything but sing 'em to sleep." "Anderson's the name, Mr Carroll." "Nine horses and two mules." "You're right, Mr Tinkham." "These'll do just fine." "These folks sure know quality." "I'll take these two and four out in the pasture." "What do you mean, you'll take 'em?" "Well, howdy, Mr Anderson." "I ain't seen you in quite a spell." "Well, I don't get around to visiting jails much, Tinkham." "This here's Mr Carroll." "Mr Osborne, Mr Marshall." "They're Federal purchasing agents." " Buying horses for the cavalry." " That's right, Mr Anderson." "We've got a set price we can pay, but I'd like to hear what you think they're worth." "The horses aren't for sale." "What my son tells you is the gospel truth, gentlemen." "You can carve his words in stone if you've a mind to." "The horses are not for sale." "That may be, but I just think I ought to tell you we're authorised to confiscate any we can't buy." " What's "confiscate" mean, Pa?" " Steal." "No, I don't think you quite understand." "You're not going to take one horse off this farm." "You might as well forget it." "You said these were reasonable people." "Mr Carroll, everybody in the county knows they're just sitting out the war." "I think what Mr Tinkham means is that he figured anybody too yellow to fight wouldn't mind making a couple of dollars off the war." " "Yellow"?" " I apologise for my son's manners." "He was taught to have more respect for his elders." "I accept your apology, sir." "Jacob, I don't know what gets into you every once in a while." "You know you shouldn't hit this gentleman, as long as I'm around to do it!" "James!" "Henry!" "I'm not in the habit of making promises to strangers, but you have my word." "If you don't get off this farm this minute, I'm gonna shoot you stone dead." "That fella Tinkham, he's the only man I know that started at the bottom and went down in the world." "He used to steal horses for nothing." "Now he gets paid for it." "Boy, get out of there before you catch cold." "Go on in the house." " See what you got us into?" " Me?" "You hit him." "You would have if I hadn't beat you to it." "Pa, first it was Johnson, and that was on our land." "Now they come driving right into our yard." "Aren't we going to do anything about it?" "Well, I must be getting old." "Seems to me we just did." "It's no easy job, Sam, taking care of a woman." "No, sir." "Yeah." "They expect things they never asked for." "And when they don't get them, they ask you why." "Sometimes they don't ask." "And they just go ahead and punish you for not doing something you didn't know you were supposed to do." "What, for instance, sir?" "Well, that's a very difficult question to answer, Sam." "You're never quite sure." "It's just that it's sort of, you might say, relative." " Relative to what, sir?" " How they're feeling at the moment." " How's that?" " You never know." "I don't believe I understand what you're telling me, sir." "I know." "I never understood it myself." "I never understood it." "It's just one of those things, Sam." "It's around." "You just don't ever see it." "Now, suppose..." "Suppose Jennie started to cry one day." "You don't know what she's crying about so you ask." "You follow me?" "Yes, sir." "You ask her, and she won't tell you." "And that's when you ask her what it was you did that caused her to cry." "She still won't tell you." "And that's when you start to get angry." "But don't get angry, Sam." "She won't tell you why she's crying because she doesn't know." "Women are like that, Sam." "And it's exasperating." "It's... urgh!" "But don't let it make you angry." "No." "When she gets like that, just walk up and hug her a little bit." "Cos that's all they really want when they're like that, Sam." "A little loving." "You understand me, don't you?" "No, sir." "You don't, huh?" "There's something you must remember." "Husbands like to be alone once in a while." "Why?" "You never know why." "But I can always tell when James wants to be alone." "A mood comes over him." "I can always see it in his eyes before it really gets there." "I don't know where the mood comes from or why." "But that's when I leave him alone." "It seems sometimes things get so thick around a man, that he comes to feel everything is closing in on him." "And that's when he wants to be left alone." "You understand, don't you?" "No." "Dearly beloved, forasmuch as marriage is a holy estate, ordained by God, to be held in honour by all..." "To love and to cherish till death us do part." ""According to God's holy ordinance, and thereto I plight thee my troth."" "According to God's holy ordinance, and thereto I plight thee my troth." ""I, Jennie, take thee, Sam, to my wedded husband."" "I, Jennie, take thee, Sam, to my wedded husband." ""To have..."" "To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health." "To love, cherish, to obey, till death us do part." "According to God's holy ordinance." "And thereto I plight thee my troth." ""Receive this ring as a token of wedded love and troth."" "Receive this ring as a token of wedded love and troth." "Join your right hands." "Forasmuch as Sam and Jennie have consented together in holy wedlock, and have declared the same before God and in the presence of this company," "I pronounce them man and wife." "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." "Amen." "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." "Congratulations, Sam." "Jennie." "Excuse me." "Excuse me, sir." " The captain's compliments, sir." " Go on, Corporal." "He wishes to see you immediately." "The Yankees broke through at Winchester, sir." "Very well, Corporal." "I'll have to leave now." "You know that, don't you?" "Do you understand?" "Do you?" "Ugh!" "It's started." " Pa!" " You just sit quiet." "Pa, something terrible's going to happen if we don't get Ann home." "All right." "Take the carriage." "Jennie and I will go with Harkens." "Jacob, drive them home." "Nathan, go with them." " Henry, you find Doc Witherspoon." " What shall I tell him, sir?" " Nothing." "When I send for him, he knows." " Yes, sir." "I'll be back, sir, just as soon as I can." "You take care of yourself, you hear?" "Congratulations, son." "It's a boy." "I know the sound." "Congratulations, James." "Ann wants to see you." "Something went wrong, Charlie." "I'm sorry." "It's a girl." "James?" " No." "I might break it." " How do you break an Anderson?" "I don't know how you could bring yourself to do this to me, Tom Witherspoon, after all the business I've given to you over the years." "It's not that I have any objection to girls, you understand." "It's just that it's awful hard to break a habit." " How old are you now, Boy?" " 18, sir." "That means you'll be 20 in four years. 18 to you is 16 to me." "Just a little bit, sir." "I've never tasted it." "That's no good reason." "I've known men that've been drinking hard all their lives." "They've never tasted it either." "Isn't that right, Doc?" "All right, here we are." "Here we go." "Here's to the ladies." " Well, these are busy days." "Good night." " Good night, Doctor." "Tom..." "Tom, what's happening?" " Virginia's losing, isn't she?" " It looks that way, Charlie." "How do you feel about it all?" "I was born in Virginia." "Lived here all my life." "Raised three sons and two daughters under her flag." "My oldest son, Paul, is buried somewhere in Pennsylvania." "I'm sorry." "I didn't know that." "They said Gettysburg is where he fell, at a place called Little Round Top." "My youngest boy came home last week with tuberculosis." "He won't see another Christmas." "My third son rides with General Forrest." "I don't know where they are." "You..." "You were asking me how I feel about it all." "That's the only way I know how to answer you." "If she needs me, send for me." "There's another baby due up the river." "Go on." "Get out of here." "Git!" "Or go find yourself a tree." "Just don't draw no fire to me." "Get out of here." "Get out of here now." "Get out of here." "Get out of here!" "Git!" "You hear?" "Well, now, look how young this one is." "I swear to goodness if these Rebs ain't gonna be sending out grandpappies next." "Let me hold that rifle, Johnny." "My name isn't Johnny." " Let me have the rifle." " What for?" "It don't set right with the officers when they see prisoners walking around armed." "Now give me that rifle before I put a ball through that dumb head of yours." "I admire spunk in a boy." "But if you don't do what I say from now on, you're gonna find out spunk don't come free for nothing." " All right, Reb, let's go." " I'm no soldier." "I don't look that ignorant, do I?" "We seen enough of them Johnny Reb caps to last us a lifetime." " Go tell my Pa." " Where they taking you, boy?" "I don't know." "Just tell him what happened." "You don't have to tell his pa nothing." "You're free." "Master Anderson!" "Master Anderson!" " They took him." " What are you saying?" " They took him." " Who's "they"?" "Who'd they take?" " The Yankee men." "They took the Boy." " How many Yankee men?" "I don't know." "Five, six." "I don't know." "Now it concerns us." "Nothing." "There's footprints, but they don't lead anywhere." "We haven't seen another man since we left the house." "What do we do now?" "Well, we'll go home and we'll pack up... and we'll leave tonight." "It's late." "Won't Mr Abernathy be looking for you?" "He gone, Missy." "Gone to Richmond." "Left the field boss in charge." "Won't he be wondering where you are?" "Old Jethro don't care about me." "When my momma died, he even took our cabin." "I don't got to go back, do I, Missy?" "Man say I'm free." "Don't that mean I don't gotta go back?" "Well, if the man said you were free, Gabriel," "I guess that means you can go anywhere in the world you wanna go." "You mean I can just walk on down that road and keep on walkin'?" "You can run if you like, Gabriel." "Goodbye, Missy." "We can probably make better time if we stay off the roads." "We can cut across here." "There's a Unión camp the other side of the ford." "Here." " Is that the closest?" " Yes, sir, far as I know." "The ones that took the Boy were probably skirmishers." "I don't think we'd find 'em." " They turned him in as a prisoner?" " That's about all they can do." "All right, we'll try that one." "Mount up." "I'll be with you directly." "Come in." "Hello, Papa Charlie." "Well, I think she's getting bigger than you are." "Ann, we're leaving, and James is staying with you." "I don't know how these people dare take a son of mine." "When I catch them, it's gonna be a horrible thing to behold." "The Boy means a great deal to you, doesn't he?" "All of my sons mean a great deal to me." "But the Boy..." "My Martha died the night he was born." "I look at him, I see her." "I'll pray for you." "It's too late to do any praying for me and expect satisfactory results." "There." "You and James decided on a name?" "Martha." "Oh, she'd like that." "My Martha'd like that very much." "Ann..." "I haven't told you, but we're all mighty proud to have you in our family." "I love you very much." "Now, you take care of yourself." "You hear me?" "We'll be back, just as soon as..." " Where do you think you're going?" " Wherever you go, Papa." "From what these preachers tell me, where I'm going, you wouldn't like it." "You may be on your way, but you aren't there yet." "Never mind that." "You're not going with us." "So unstrap, unhook, get out of your brother's clothes." "You're a woman." "I'm a woman, but I don't see anybody here I can't outrun, outride and outshoot." "I'll unstrap for you, Papa." "And unhook." "I'll even sit here and watch you ride out of sight." " And then what?" " I'll follow." "That's what I thought." "Don't worry about the place here, Pa." "We'll manage." "You just keep that little Martha warm and fat." "She'll probably turn out to be the only one around here with a brain." " Bye, son." " Goodbye, Pa." "You the leader of this band of fools?" "Colonel Fairchild is my name." "Whether or not I am the leader of fools is a question which often enters my mind." "To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking, sir?" "Charlie Anderson is my name." "You better decide later whether speaking with me is a pleasure or not." " You have business with me?" " Yes, sir, I do." "All right, Mr Nelson." "What can I do for you, sir?" "Well, you can return my son, for a start." "Then you can issue some kind of order, or whatever it is you do, and instruct your people to keep off my farm and leave my family alone." " Your son?" " My youngest son." "Your people came on my farm and took him." " Why?" " That's what I'd like to know, Colonel." " He's a prisoner and your army's got him." " He isn't a Confederate?" "No, sir." "He's an Anderson, and that's all he is." " How old is he?" " He's 16." "Could you show me on the map where your farm is?" "Well, it's Shenandoah Gap." "It shows here." "Right there." "It couldn't have been any of my men who took your son, because we haven't been in your section." "But I think you should understand something." "My men fought a battle the other day with Rebels who threw stones at them, because that was all that they had." "We took 1500 prisoners and there wasn't 50 rounds of ammunition among them." "What are you telling me, Colonel?" "Only that what you're trying to do is nearly impossible." "Every corps in our army is taking thousands of prisoners each day." "How do you expect to find one 16-year-old boy?" "If I had him, Mr Anderson, I'd give him to you." "But I don't have any prisoners." "We sent them all to the railroad for shipment north." "If you find the boy, give this slip to the officer in charge." " It may help." " What is it?" "It's a statement from me that your son was taken by mistake, and it would be considered a personal favour to me if he is released to you." "Where's that railroad you send your prisoners to?" "It's at Ivy Glen." "I do wish you good luck, Mr Anderson." "I have a 16-year-old son, too." "He's in school in Boston... thank God." "No stragglers back there!" "All right, keep moving." "Go on inside." "Keep those men moving back there." "All right, move along." "The Boy couldn't be with them, could he, Pa?" " I've a note for Captain Richards." " Sir?" " You Anderson?" " I'm Anderson." "There's nothing I can do for you." "I don't recall asking you to do anything for me." "I'm looking for my son." " I don't have him." " How do you know that?" "All I'm asking is to look through these cattle cars." "Is that too much to expect?" "If your son is among these prisoners, you're too late." "There's a war going on." " Sergeant!" "Lock 'em up." " All right, lock 'em up." " We have schedules to meet." " Lock 'em up." "What'd he say, Pa?" "He says he has schedules to meet." "Sergeant!" "Get this stuff off of the tracks, mister." "What are you doing?" "Know what the penalty is..." "You'd all please me if you'd drop your guns and stick your hands up in the air." " Drop the rifles!" " Right now!" "Now I remember." "Anderson." "Your name is Anderson." "You can all turn around and start walkin'." "I don't care where you go, as long as you get out of my sight." " You're the man looking for his son." " You're the man with schedules to keep." "Come on, move out." "Come on, let's go." "Let's go, Captain." "You heard him." "Come on." "Move." "How long do you intend to keep my train here, sir?" "I'm glad you asked, because I believe in a man knowing all about his business." "First I'm gonna empty your train, and then I'm gonna burn it." " Burn it?" " Open up those doors." "You can't do that." "You can't burn my train." "Maybe." "You gotta give me credit for trying." " But why?" "Why?" " It's not the kind of a train I favour." "You can get out." "You're free." "Boy?" "Jacob!" "Boy's not here, Jennie." " Sam!" " Jennie..." "You'd better leave soon." "There's a regular cavalry patrol on these railroads." " Pa?" "What about the train, Pa?" " Uh, sir?" "Sir, I've been the engineer on this train for ten years." "She's been a good train all that time and, well... it ain't right to burn her just cos she come onto hard times." "Now, you run a sad kind of a train, mister." "It takes people away when they don't wanna go, and won't bring 'em back." "But I'll leave it to the ones that were on it." "Sam?" "Burn it." "Burn the train!" "Burn it!" "Henry, give Sam the Boy's horse." "The rest of you, get mounted." "Come on." "You be the only officer here, sir, and the boys are after knowing what to do." " Go home." " Home, sir?" "The war is lost." "Go back to your families." "I had no right to tell him that, but those men can't go through another fight." "We knew before the last one we couldn't win." "Why'd you go?" "Easier than running, I guess." "If there's a cavalry patrol around, we'd better move." "Hello, Carter." "You can have your chance tonight, Boy, if you wanna take it." " Chance for what?" " To run." "They don't waste many men on prisoner duty and they're usually the worst." "They plan on herding us on that stern-wheeler." "Some of us don't fancy no sightseeing trip up north." "When they open that gate tonight, stick as close to me as a flea on a hound dog." "There's something else." "Once we get going, you're on your own." "I gotta forget that you ain't nothing but a lap baby." "Nathan, you and Henry take the horses over to that barn there." "Yes, sir." " Jacob, see if you can get a fire started." " Yes, sir." " Say, what's Pa doing in there?" " Sleeping, I guess." "I can hear him moving." "That's sure gonna taste good about now." "For somebody, it is." " Sam?" " Sir?" "You too, Jennie." "Here." "Your mother and I had it a little better than this." "It's not very comfortable." "But when you've lived together for years, you'll realise that comfort's not what counts." "It's customary for a gentleman to carry his bride across the threshold." "So, if you wanna..." "you can go ahead and..." "Yes, sir." " What are you looking at?" " Nothing, sir." "All right, move along." "Move along." "Inside!" " Move along there." " Now!" "Get that other guard." "Come on." "Come on." "This way." "Get down." "Get down." "Get down." "Get down." "Them blue-bellies must be everywhere." "What we're gonna have to do is travel at night, heading south." "Always south." "Then we can't hardly help coming on something friendly." "But our farm is north." " You hear something?" " I smell something." "Wood smoke." "That's a Confederate camp." "Wood smoke ain't all you smelled." "You smelled country boys." "I gotten these over at the hospital wagon." "Fellas they belonged to won't be needing 'em no more." "The lieutenant says they'll be pulling back and we're welcome to go with them." "That was good of him." " What is this?" " Don't ask." "It ain't nothing your mama ever set the table with, you can believe that." "But we're walking in tall cotton, Boy." "Down in Vicksburg, they're eating rats." "Yankees!" "Yankees!" "Here, take this." "Don't fire till I tell you." "I've never shot at a man before." "They ain't gonna know that." " Lieutenant?" " Yes, sir?" "Is that a Confederate cow or a Unión cow?" "That must be a Unión cow, sir." " Are Unión cows tasty?" " Quite tasty, sir." " Then take her prisoner." " Yes, sir." "Hyah!" "Sorry, sir." "That's all right, Lieutenant." "You scared a few pounds off her." "Get ready." "Fire!" "Fire!" "Charge!" "Charge!" "Fire!" "You might as well know something now, Boy." "In case you got any doubts, we ain't got a dog's chance in hell." "I ain't never seen nobody get so peevish over a cow before." "What you..." "Howdy!" "Hello." "What can I do for you?" "Just a drink of your water, if you don't mind." "Come a long ways." "Got a long ways to go." "You're welcome to all you can drink and all you can carry." "Obliged." "Nice place you got here." "Must support quite a few." " Nine." " Nine?" "Lmagine that." "How come I don't see none of 'em around... except you?" "They're all away from home for a while." "Aw, Mule, you sure do a job up right." "Yeah, I'm bound to say it." "You sure do." "You two look around and see if they got any horses." "I'll see what's in the house." "Yeah." "James?" " Mule?" " James!" "James!" "This all there is?" "We used the last of the flour yesterday, and this is the last of the coffee." "You don't think we're going to find him, do you, Sam?" "No, sir, I don't." "Boy could be any place, Pa." "He may even be somewhere up north by now." " Federal prison, you mean?" " Yes, sir." "The horses haven't had a good feed in a long time, Pa." "They're almost spent." "I wanna say something." "I've known since the train that we weren't liable to find him." "It was just a hair of a chance that we got Sam back." "I knew that..." "Maybe I knew even before we left home." "But somehow I just had to try." "And if we don't try, we don't do." "And if we don't do, why are we here on this earth?" "I..." "I hope you all understood." "We understood you, Pa, and we're all with you." "Tomorrow morning we'll start back." "Pa..." "I'll admit I don't feel the same way I did before." "And I'll admit that I'd sure like to get home." "But I don't want you giving up because of us." "I'm with you." "I don't wanna go home unless you really want to." "Thank you, son." "We'll go home." "Maybe the Boy's there." "Hold your fire, men." "Hold your fire." "Dead!" "How old are you?" " How old?" " 16." "16... 16." "I'm not gonna kill you." "I want you to live." "I want you to live to be an old man." "And I want you to have many, many, many children." "And I want you to feel about your children then the way I feel about mine now." "And some day, when a man comes along and kills one of them, I want you to remember." "I..." "I want you to remember." "We'll bury him on the farm, near his mother." " Somebody sick, Tom?" " Where have you been?" "What's wrong?" " What's wrong?" "The baby..." " The baby's all right, Charlie." "Uh..." "James and Ann... are dead." "We..." "We figured scavengers did it." "From what I could tell," "James died instantly." "It wasn't until two days later I just happened to come by." "Ann had..." "She was dead, too." "I had them buried near Martha." "I thought you'd like that." "It somehow seemed the only place." " Where's the baby, Tom?" " Upstairs." "I found a woman to take care of her." "She's all right, Charlie." "The child is my granddaughter." "Her name is Martha." "It's been a long time, Martha, since I held a baby." "It's been a long time." "O Lord, we cleared this land." "We ploughed it and sowed it, and harvested." "We cooked the harvest." "We..." "It wouldn't..." "It wouldn't be here, we wouldn't be eating it, if we hadn't done it all... all ourselves." "I don't even know what to say to you any more, Martha." "There's nothing much I can tell you about this war." "It's like all wars, I suppose." "The undertakers are winning it." "The politicians talk a lot about the glory of it." "And the old men will talk about the need of it." "The soldiers, they just wanna go home." "I guess you're not so lonely now, Martha, with James and Ann... and Jacob." "And maybe the Boy." "You didn't know Ann, did you?" "Well, you'll like her." "You'll like her a lot, Martha." "Why, she and James are so much alike." "They're just like we..." "No." "We were never that much alike, were we, Martha?" "We just sort of..." "We just sort of grew alike through the years." "But..." "I-I wish..." "I wish I could just know what you're thinking about it all, Martha." "Then maybe things wouldn't look so bad to me." "If I only knew what you thought." "Ah, you..." "You never give up, do you?" "Thought you'd get away with it, huh?" "Why didn't one of you tell me it was Sunday?" "Now, come on, get cleaned up." "We're late." " You have something to say?" " No, sir." "Well, then, saddle your horses." "Get my carriage." "#... goods and kindred go" "# This mortal life also" "# The body they may kill" "# God's truth abideth still" "# His kingdom is forever" "# Amen" "For our second hymn..." "For our second hymn, we'll turn to page..." "How long, O Lord?" "With God's help, we'll turn to page... 137." "Shall we all rise and sing?" "# Praise God, from whom all blessings flow" "# Praise Him, all creatures here below" "# Praise Him above, ye heavenly host" "# Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost"