"Yeah." "Ah." "Oh?" "Mmm." "What's he doing?" "He is knitting." "he is not." "he's knitting." "Mr. Paladin." "Mm-hmm?" "Hey boy, this lady says you are not knitting." "Sure." "I'm knitting up the raveled sleeve of care." "Macbeth." "Pay me." "Well, whatever his name is, he's sweet." "Mr. Paladin." "Mm-hmm?" "I stay alert and awake to give you this urgent message." "Oh?" "Hold this, hey boy." "You stay awake and alert to give me this, hmm?" "Excuse me." ""will you help me in my hour of need..."" "Well..." "He left me to die, and he wants help?" "Where did this come from?" "Trouble." "Please, you not go." "Hey boy, where did this come from?" "You go?" "I go." "Is there any more to this?" "Wait." "Uh, I got the paper story." "I save for you." ""simon quill, confidence man, wanted for the murder" "Of a woman in elko, nevada, September 14, 1872."" "How you find him?" "The letter says, "find lily."" ""find lily."" "He's sweet, too." "Morning." "Plenty of water and grain." "Yeah." "This burley, idaho?" "Well, it ain't texas." "Thank you." "Is there a sheriff in burley?" "I own most of what you see." "What did you want?" "I'm looking for a lady." "Oh, well, ain't the most of us?" "This one is small, blonde, green-eyed," "Easy way of going." "Last time I saw her, her name was lily." "Lily?" "Hm." "Lily, she lives in the shack around the back." "Thank you." "How much do I owe you?" "Well, you've tooken up my time." "Maybe a dollar." "I'm sorry to have tooken up so much of your time." "Here." "simon?" "You all right, dear?" "Ah, yeah." "Ooh." "I'm fine." "What time is it?" "Will he come?" "Are you sure?" "As night follows day," "I give you my word, lovely one." "Paladin!" "By the lord harry, I knew you'd come." "Your letter wasn't too explicit," "But I see they haven't hanged you yet." "They haven't caught me either." "Was it ever man's destiny to die before his time?" "Break out a bottle, old girl." "The prodigal's returned." "How long has it been?" "Come." "Sit down." "It's been three years." "How time does fly." "You haven't changed a lick." "He told me you'd find him." "Who but you would know that I could trust myself to lily's loving hands," "In a place well hidden?" "Lily, this time I'm gonna marry you, with paladin as best man." "Lily, how many years have you loved him?" "I never counted." "That would give her age away." "You never ask a woman a question like that?" "To the halcyon days, old friend." "What's the trouble?" "You don't need this." "Paladin, I feel as thin as a lath." "It will fatten you up for the hanging." "When was the last time we saw each other, simon?" "I'll tell you." "Buffalo, north dakota, September, 1872." "That's right." "Three years ago." "That's why I called you here." "I need you." "I'm sure you do." "But I needed you then," "Remember?" "Remember what?" "I'll jog your memory." "I was still sleeping when you skipped town in a woman's dress." "I was being hunted by cutthroats." "You killed rafe cabell for what you thought" "Was a map to a gold mine, and his brothers were after you." "No." "I won the map from the boy in poker." "Later he attacked me, and I shot him in self-defense." "You came to me, sold me the map for $1,000." "I needed cash." "You were the only one I could get it from." "You needed someone to die for you." "I don't believe that." "Paladin," "A man must sometimes take the fat with the lean." "I gave you my room," "As heaven is my judge, because the town was full." "You needed a place to sleep." "And you went next door to what was her name?" "Don't listen to him, lily, please." "Woman have always been my downfall." "It's all right, simon." "I love you, no matter what you've done." "And you do me an injustice." "Do I?" "You left me there to catch your bullets." "Well..." "If you want the truth, I..." "I saw the cabells enter town." "There was only one way to escape." "I didn't know they'd find my room and mistake you for me." "But you knew they were after you." "I guess." "I read about it later." "Later." "After I killed one cabell and wounded his brother." "Paladin." "Then he's our enemy." "You forget who you were fighting." "Would I call you up here if I'd done that to you?" "Come on." "Try charming me." "Not you." "No, you've gotta have the truth." "But you had me worried." "What are you being hunted for now?" "It's fantastic, paladin." "Some marshal caught me up in elko." "Blamed me for the murder of a girl three years back." "I never touched her." "I didn't even know she was dead." "I went to see her and they nabbed me, and I escaped." "You're the only proof I've got that it wasn't me." "Am I?" "Come now." "I was with you three years ago, north dakota, 1,000 miles from elko." "I was signing my name in the assayer's office," "The night I sold you that gold mine." "Fool's gold." "Of course, that wasn't your fault." "This the paper, simon?" "This the paper we were signing together?" "I knew you'd bring it." "Lily, that's my proof." "No court can lay a hand on me now." "Yes, they can, simon." "Without this paper, they can hang you" "For the murder of that woman in elko." "What can I do to show you I never meant to harm you?" "You showed me that you did, three years ago," "Leaving me there to catch your bullets." "They'll hang me for a crime I didn't commit." "There has to be some evening' up of justice in this world." "How many times have you escaped, simon?" "How many other men have paid for your misdeeds?" "You can't let them do that." "I can let them do anything they want to." "Because as far as you're concerned, I'm dead," "And this paper is buried with me." "What are you gonna do?" "I've already done it." "I wired elko." "They're sending a deputy for you." "No!" "Simon, you should have kept me alive." "Without me and this paper," "There's nobody to say where you were." "You're beautiful, lily." "I'm as dead as mutton." "He's comin', pa." "Then get his horse." "Clemmie, come on." "What's this say, pa?" "It's a business card." "Emmet, get on him." "Who said he could ride my horse?" "He ain't yours no more." "I just bought him." "You know him?" "These two are my sons." "Like I told you before, I'm the law in this town." "Now, you paid me a dollar for feeding." "But you were late coming back, and that'll cost you extra." "So I sold your goods for what you owed me." "You're being just a little bit severe." "Not a great deal." "Just a little bit." "Besides, I hadn't left yet." "Well, I didn't know that." "The kid bought your horse for five dollars." "Mm-hmm." "Clemmie paid a dollar for your saddle." "Now, you can take it," "Or you can leave it." "Get up!" "Get up out of there!" "Get up!" "I'm buying back my horse for exactly what you paid for him" "And the saddle and the saddlebags." "Money's here on the ground." "You can take it or leave it." "And I'm staying on here awhile." "Whiskey." "You look like you need a long drink." "Paladin." "They said you'd be here." "Said you'd have quill." "Where is he?" "You're the deputy from elko?" "Mm-mmm." "They couldn't send one." "But I've been looking for quill for a long time." "I suppose a lot of people have." "Maybe I have the best reason." "You ought to remember, paladin." "He murdered my brother three years ago in north dakota." "You killed the other one." "Your brother attacked me." "It was a fair fight." "Yeah, I know." "I have a crease across my belly to prove you almost got me." "Cabell..." "For a man who might have to kill you," "Maybe you ought to know my first name." "Call me roy." "You want me to call you now?" "I don't think I'm gonna have to take that chance." "I can get a couple boys in this town to even the odds." "bartender, keep her out of here." "Run out on quill now." "Well, if that's the way it has to be." "In about 20 minutes, you ought to be dead." "After that, I won't have much trouble" "Finding a man who's already wounded." "How long can anyone hide out in this pesthole?" "Paladin." "He's gonna kill simon." "Well, say prayers for all the poor people" "That simon swindled out of their money" "Or charmed out of their lives." "It's my life and my heart." "But he can't fight with that wound." "Have you ever been shot?" "Yes." "Didn't make you understand more." "Just made you hard." "Is that it?" "No." "I just want him to have this chance." "Please, paladin, help me." "Listen, I've got a right!" "Look, if there's something you want, help me." "I can pay you out of what I earn." "I can pay you so much." "Simon will walk out on you" "Like he walked out on everybody else!" "Who do you think you are, my father or something?" "Where were you before?" "Watching over me?" "You care so much what happens to me now." "Why don't you see I got a good, hard-working man?" "Instead of someone full of nothing but liquor..." "And hard luck." "Okay, come on." "There must be something you want." "What is it?" "If you don't want money and you don't want me," "I don't have anything else to offer." "Simon wanted me." "He did." "Why can't I have him now?" "Get him ready." "All right." "What's gonna happen after you get him past cabell?" "Ten minutes from now, we'll never have a chance to find out." "Go and get him." "What?" "Simon can take his chance on a fair trial in a court of law." "Now, go on!" "Go!" "I'm closing up." "You." "You forget what you heard." "I forgot." "It's your fight." "Just keep it out of my saloon." "Hey, mister." "Good luck to you." "Luck's gonna have almost nothing to do with this." "Now, just remember," "Paladin's not so fast that the three of us can't take him." "Here." "How else could you earn $5.00 so easy?" "I'd kill him for a lot less." "Except this is better." "Your man just got his horse, mr." "Cabell." "He's getting quill." "Come on." "Let's get started." "I don't want nothing to happen to you, boy." "Leave him be, pa." "Let him grow up." "Where is he?" "Where is he?" "He didn't think your plan would work." "There wasn't time." "So he'd just leave me there alone," "Wait till they come and get me?" "Is that it?" "Yeah." "He walked out on you again." "Lily." "Did you know that when you begged me" "To risk my life for him again?" "No." "But he's alive." "Is he?" "Hey, honey." "Where you going with that horse?" "Kid." "You call it, cabell." "Kid, get around the side." "Your brother's dead from fighting his fight." "Stay out of this." "All right, cabell." "Just the two of us alone." "I'm gonna defend myself." "Just like I did with your brother." "You draw if you have to." "You might even kill me." "I wouldn't blame you." "But I will defend myself." "Just like with my brother paul." "That's right." "Just like with your brother paul." "For five dollars." "He got hisself killed..." "For five dollars." "¶ "have gun, will travel" reads the card of a man ¶" "¶ a knight without armor in a savage land ¶" "¶ his fast gun-for-hire heeds the calling wind ¶" "¶ a soldier of fortune is the man called ¶" "¶ paladin ¶" "¶ paladin, paladin where do you roam ¶"