"Territory of Nebraska" "Come on girls!" "Whoa." "All right." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on." "Whoa." " Hello, Bob." " Afternoon, Miss Cuddy." "C'mon inside." "I got supper ready." "The pie is made out of peaches... from a can!" "Mmm-Hmm." "They had four of those cans." "I don't know who got the other three." "I don't know who could afford em!" "It's good pie." "If it pleases you, we might have a postprandial recital." "Say what?" "A bit of music." "I like music." "♪ On the distant Prairie where they had a while♪" "♪ In its quiet beauty lived and smiled ♪" "♪ Stands a little cottage and a creeping vine ♪" "♪ Loves around his porch to twine ♪" "♪ In that peaceful dwelling was a lovely child ♪" "♪ With her blue eyes beaming soft and mild ♪" "♪ And the wavy ringlets of her flaxen hair ♪" "♪ Floating in the summer air ♪" "♪ Fair as a lily, joyous and free ♪" "♪ Light of that prairie, home was she ♪" "♪ Everyone who knew her felt the gentle power♪" "♪ of Rosalie the prairie flower ♪" "That sure was pretty singing, Miss Cuddy." "I got some cheese." "Cheese?" "Yes ma'am." "You know I've a few sheep out." "I know." "I made some cheese outta their milk." "I wonder if you'd like to have some of 'em." "I got some here in my pocket." "Well,... some cheese would be a fine finish to our fried chicken dinner and peach pie this evening." "Well then." "Here it is." "Hmm." "This is fine cheese, Bob." "So why not marry?" "Do what?" "Why not throw in together?" "Lands, animals, implements, lives." "The whole ball of wax!" "We could use my capital and know-how to improve your claim and mine." "And if the union produces children, then so much the better." "Look at from any angle, it works." "So why not marry?" "I reckon, I go back East to find me a wife." "Please, Mr.Giffen." "I won't take no for an answer." "Miss Cuddy..." "I appreciate the offer and supper... and concert and all..." "But I cannot marry you." "Will not." "Won't." "I ain't perfect..." "But you are too bossy... and plum damn plain." "Ain't no medicine for it." "This one here's still breathing a little bit, Mama." "Mother is dead!" "She is dead." "I'll take her outside." "No!" "No." "We must bury her properly!" "I'll prepare her." " I'll take her outside." " No." " She will smell soon." " No!" "No." "No." "We must bury her properly!" "You wanted her to die!" "You hated her." "I hate you!" " Take her inside!" " Let go!" " Take her inside!" " Let go!" "Take her inside!" "Let go!" "Ice..." "Cold..." "Frozen!" "Oh My Jesus!" "To what do I owe this pleasure, Reverend?" "Springtime Miss Cuddy!" "Are Clydene and the kids getting along alright?" "Meaner than ever and growing by the minute." "Put your mule up and come on inside the house." "Yam." "There has been some trouble amongst the women hereabouts." "I've heard about it." "It's bad." "Guess what I'm ordering?" "I couldn't..." "A melodeon." "You are not!" "Yep." "I don't trust shipping a piano, so..." "Soon as I get into Loup, I'm going to order a Mason and Hamlin melodeon." "You'll have the only melodeon in the territory." "Back home, I used to play the piano by the hour." "I can't live without real music much longer." "I could help you with them dishes." "I don't want any help with the dishes." "So, uh... how you getting along with that Giffen boy?" "He uses my mules when I don't need them." "He helps me with my corn." "We planted some potatoes together and we keep the fences up." "How you getting along?" "When my bulls have finished their work here," "I let him turn them out on his heifers." "Well..." "Seems like you are getting together along alright." "Feed him a meal every now and then..." "Like you do me." "You're a good citizen, Mary Bee." "The bed up on the loft has fresh linen on it." "Take the slop out to the hogs before you go to sleep." "You're gonna give me a son." "You're gonna give me a son." "Hell no!" "This here is a goddamn free country, Dowd!" "Can't nobody make me do it." "Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain, Vester." "Specially not in His own house." "No, I won't go." "I can't." "Why not?" "In the name of our Savior, Vester." "I ask you, why not?" "I can't take no time away from my crops and I got the girls to look after and I can't afford to pay for no wagon." "I ain't in on this deal." "Then what are we gonna do about Theoline?" "Pitch her down a hole in the outhouse." "You are a poor specimen of a man, Vester Belknap!" " I came here for the drawing." " Me too." "Let's get it over with." "What about Vester?" "I'll draw for Vester." "What do you mean?" "I said I will draw for him." "What did she say?" "I said I will draw for Vester Belknap." "Can we proceed?" "This is a painful occasion for you and your families and I grieve for you." "Your wives are fine and godly women." "But life gave them more than they could bear." "Now we'll draw lots." "Whoever draws the black bean will carry the women home to from where they come from." "Shall we defer to the lady?" " I'll draw last." " I'll go first." "Keep your hands closed until everybody has drawn." "Thor." "Miss Cuddy." "Put your hands in the circle here." "On the count of three." "One..." "If that bean in my hand is black." " Two..." " I dunno if I" " hush boy." " Three." "Does that mean Vester has to go?" "He said he wouldn't." "He has to." "He is one of us." "I baptized him." " I don't trust Vester." " Me neither." "It's true, Reverend." "Vester is a brute with no conscience." "I'll go." "You can't." "Yes, I will." "What?" "A woman?" "I can ride as well as anybody." "And handle a team and shoot." "You all know that." "And I can cook and care for those women better than any of you can." "Hell, she's right." "She's sure as hell right." "That's mighty kind of you, Miss Cuddy." "You tell us what you need, we'll-we'll see to it." " When will you leave?" " As soon as I can." "Today's May 5th." "She could be back in time to celebrate 4th of July with us." "Reverend Dowd, we cannot allow this." "It is not a lone woman's place to drive a wagon across this country." "Much less when it carries three of the Lord's least capable children." "Then why not go with me come, Miss Linens?" "We can do it together." "You too, Miss Polhemus." "Better still." "No, you have husbands and family to care for, as you should." "But I do not, because I live uncommonly alone." "Enough!" "Please,... be seated." "I'm afraid y'all are right about Mr. Belknap." "He's untrustworthy with a task of this gravity..." "And we need a homesman." "We will do everything we can to equip and accommodate you for this journey, Miss Cuddy." "If you gentlemen will excuse me for a minute." "Come to look after your wagon?" "I did." "My Lord!" "What is that?" "It's train wagon." "Traded for it last year." "Since then, it's been sitting out here in the snow." "When Svendsen and Sours come around here wanting' a wagon..." "I gave 'em a hell of a deal on it." "I give it to 'em." "I cut the windows a little bigger." "Greased it real good." "Set some new spokes and felloes." "That's just the right thing for them women." "I put a sliding bolt on that door." "What for?" "Lock them ladies in." "Why would I do that?" "Stop and think about it." "Oh." "What's that?" "You might wanna tie something down." "Put in ten of 'em." "Oh my!" "I'm not sure I'm ready." "Are you scared?" "A little." "Listen here, Mary Bee." "You got a passable rig,... mules,... and you're as good a man as any man hereabouts." "And you're doing a hell of a fine thing." "So go ahead on." "Get to it." "And do it." "Does everybody know?" "Yep." "What do they say?" "Don't say nothing." "People like to talk about death and taxes." "Only comes to crazy,... they stay hushed up." "Miss Cuddy!" "Mary Bee!" "Mary Bee!" "Ho." "I tried to catch you in town, but you was already gone." " What do you want, Reverend?" " To give you these." "They're letters to the women's closest of kin around Hebron, Iowa, and on back East." "Your journey will be long, difficult, and dangerous." "I expect it will." "God bless you woman." "Bless you and keep you." "You know I believe in you, don't you?" "I truly do." "I know it." "I go in your place, if I could." "Now let us pray." "Heavenly Father,... look down upon my daughter." "Bless her in this undertaking." "Grant her thy strength." "Guide her with thy grace that she may carry home these poor souls." "We beg of Thee." "In the name of Jesus Christ, thy only begotten son... who gave his life... for the sins of man." "Amen." "Come on out outta there, you claim-jumping son of a bitch!" "Come on down in here and you'll be a sad bastard as long as you live and that won't be very long." "Then you're a son of a bitch foo, you bastard." "But, this here is Bob Giffen's place." "Bob Giffen done gone and abandoned this place." "And I have a filed a new claim with..." "lawyers!" "Get the hell off my roof, or face stifle recourse!" "Goddamn it, I got lawyers!" "We need to hang that son of a bitch!" "Come on." "Ho." "Whoa." "Whoa." "Whoa, whoa." "Uh-uh." "Uh." "Oh." "Are you are an angel?" "You're not dead." "Help me." "Would you help me?" "For God sake?" "Suppose I do." "What would you do for me?" "Anything!" "Anything!" "As God as my witness!" "If I cut you down, would you do what I tell you to?" "Hell, yes, I will!" "Swear to God!" " You swear to it?" " I swear." "Swear to that Almighty God you've been talking about?" "Ah..." ""Vengeance is Mine"... sayeth the Lord... bring in sheaves and... do unto others and... if you cut me down from this Goddamn tree,..." "I'll do anything you tell me to." "I swear on God's holy name." "Please." "Uhuh." "Alright." "I'll save you." "I got a job of work for you." "But if you try to hurt me, or you try and run away," "I'll kill you." "Take off the noose." "I need to collect my possibles." "Ho, ho." " This is Bob Giffen's place." " I never met him." " What happened to his sheep?" " I eat 'em." "Now you've been blasted out by vigilantes and hanged... for jumping Bob's claim." "Hell!" "That's abandoned." " Look at it." " He didn't abandon nothing." "He just went back East to find himself a wife." "It's abandoned." "I'm sure it's." "This is abandonment." "Damn." "Ho." "Unhitch and stable the mules." "And tend to my mare, Dorothy, and see to it that all the stock on the place is fed and watered." "Your horse needs feed too." "Of it you don't care to, I will." "Then your supper will be an hour late!" "Get up that way now!" "Get up there now!" "Come on." "Step up!" "Go on." "Get over there!" "Clean up before you come in here." "What's this job of work you have in mind?" "Would be grateful if you not use my good chair that way." "My name is Cuddy." "Mary Bee Cuddy." "Where is Mr.Cuddy?" "I'm unmarried." "What's the job?" "Three women in this country have lost their minds." "Their husbands can't care for them properly." "You and I are gonna take them back across the river to Iowa." " The Missouri River?" " We'll leave tomorrow." "Hell, that's five goddamn weeks from here." "I will not sit still for profanity in my house." "I see why you're single!" "I need someone who can hunt and guide and spell me at the rains... and help me with the animals on the trip." "That's why I set you free." "It's your job and you sworn you do it." "Three crazy women for five weeks is a lot more than I bargained for." "If you lied to me... and intent on abandoning your responsibility, then you are a man of low character." "More... disgusting pig than honorable man" "Thank you for the kind words, sister." "You're no prize yourself." "You're plain as an old tin pail, and you're bossy." "But I'll sit out with you, because I said I would." "And I'll help you tend your cuckoo clocks as long as it suits me." "However, I will up and leave when, where, and if I please." "Now, if you don't mind me asking you, where the hell is my Goddamn bed?" "In the stable." "Where you belong." "What are you doing, Mom?" "Cleaning." "You see I'm cleaning." "Why?" "Why do you clean?" "Our house is clean." "Our house was always clean." "You've lost your mind, Mom." "Dirt is made of dust." "You're going to dust off the dust?" "♪ This house will be clean ♪" "♪ Cleanliness is next to godliness ♪" "♪ Up there, at the crossroads ♪" "♪ There is a small house ♪" "♪ Whose walls are curved ♪" "♪ Up there, at the crossroads ♪" "♪ There is a small house... ♪" "The winds blown all the corn over." "I know it." "All we can do is burn the cobs and the stove." "There ain't more corn for us to eat." "Just cobs." "Just bare old cobs." "I know it." "The wheat and Oats are dead." "I know it well." "What do you know?" "Are you crazy?" "Pull up there." "Ho." "Better lock me in the wagon." "Why?" "I done cheated one rope." "I don't wanna chance another." "Them son of bitches'll try to hang me again." "Oh." "You might be recognized." "You got any money?" "Some." "Why?" "I need 3 boxes of paper cartridges for a Navy Colt .36 and a jug of whiskey." "Bullets maybe." "But no whiskey." "Why not?" "Can't have you getting drunk around poor defenseless women." "No." "Well then I won't go East with you." "Goodbye, Cuddy." "What's your name?" "That's my business." "I'm going to the bank and I need your name." "Oh, well, um, let's say George." "George what?" "Umm..." "Briggs." "George Briggs." "That's right." "George Briggs." "George Briggs." "Read this." "Here, I'll read it for you." ""Mr.George Briggs, care of Mrs Altha Carter," "Ladies Aid Society, Methodist Church, Hebron, Iowa"" "So?" "I put bank notes for $300 inside this envelope." "It's for you." "Oh!" "Why not let me have it now?" "Right this minute, I'm going to the Post Office to put it in the mail." "Why not carry it along with us?" "When we get to Hebron, Mrs. Carter will have it for you." "Her boy is not very not old." "We'll have to watch him close." "I don't know what he'll do when we take Arabella away." "Ma'am..." "Well, there she is." "My wife, Belle." "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Sours." "She won't say nothing, Miss Cuddy." "She just sits and looks out the window." "It's like her body is all stoved up." "I have to carry her to the hour house, undress her nights, dress her in the morning." "How long she been like this?" "Ever since..." "I don't even know her no more." "How old is your wife?" "Nineteen." "And you?" "Twenty one" "I see." "Ma'am, but she was beautiful, Miss Cuddy." "She may be once again." "Mr.Briggs, will you interrupt your leisure long enough to lend a hand?" "Now." "I wish you God's comfort, Garn." "And there's this too." "Her grandma's wedding gift." "I reckon it should go with her." "I'll keep it for her and see she takes it home." "We'll be back in a few weeks." "You'll hear from me or Reverend Dowd that she's safe." "Step up there!" "Yah!" "Goodbye!" "Goodbye!" "You don't love me." "You won't even look at me!" "You don't give a tinker's damn!" "Just go on home and play with that damn doll!" "Leave me up against it!" "You don't love me!" "Bye." "For all I care, you can just go to hell!" "Bye!" "You don't love me!" "Good Morning, Mr.Svendsen." "Come in." "She is ready." "Why is she tied?" ""God will strike you down", she says to me." "Yo!" "She thinks she's God." "Her cousin will pick her up in Iowa and take her to the asylum." " Ow, ow, ow!" " Cut it out!" " Ay!" " Stop that!" "How will we get her loaded?" "Unbolt the wagon door." "Stop it!" "Stop it!" "Stop it." "Open the wagon door!" "Help me." "Push-Push her in." "There." "Do not untie her." "She'll try to kill you." "She'll try to kill her, too." "Out, out!" "What are you doing with that son of a bitch?" "No." "He's going with us." "He's the one who tried to take over Bob Giffen's place." "I need help." "Surely you understand!" "He was suppose to hang." "Mr. Svendsen." "Get down of that wagon." "Get down of that wagon right now... or I will shoot you where you sit." "I can't do this alone." "I need him." "Now you leave us be!" "Get us moving." "Ogh!" "You boys don't have balls to hang me." "You wanted my horse to do it for you, didn't you?" "Come on." "Let's go." "Pull out girls!" "Come on!" "Keep that gun on that son of a bitch." "I'll watch over your wife, Mr.Svendsen. I promise." "She'll be safe with me." "You'll give me a son..." "But you refuse." "You'll receive my seed, woman." "You will bear my child." "You girls go to your room while I talk to your mama." "Theoline, this is Mary Bee." " Undo." " Undo your hands?" "I am." "Undo, undo..." "Undo, undo, undo, undo." "Do you know me, Theoline?" "Undo, undo, undo..." "My darling." "I-I am Mary Bee, your friend." "Tha." "Don't you know me?" "Tha, tha, tha." "Tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha." "Now listen, girls." "Your mother is very sick." "But, she loves you just the same as she always has." "And you must love her too and help her as much as you can." "There are some things I want you to do for her." "I want you to undress her,... heat some water,... and give her a nice bath,... with soap, from face to feet." "Right on the bed?" "Right on the bed." "Wash and dry her hair too." "Then brush and comb it." "Then find some clean clothes for her and underwear... and dress her again." "And while you do all this,..." "I want you to smile at her and say kind things." "Do you know a little song you can sing?" "We know "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton"" "That would be fine." "And when you're finished with this, I want you to do chores for your father too." "You are now the ladies of the house." "I want you to sweep it out,... wash the dirty dishes,... take the bedding outdoors and air it,... show him how grown up you are." "Will you do that for him, for me?" "Alright." "Now start singing." "♪ Flow gently, sweet Afton ♪" " ♪ Among thy green braes ♪" " And remember... love your dear mother." "Now you get busy as bees." "Give me these foreheads." "♪ Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise ♪" "♪ My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream ♪" "♪ Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream ♪" "♪ Thou stock-dove whose echo resounds tho' the glen ♪" "♪ Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den ♪" "Mrs. Svendsen, is that you?" "Please, stop wailing, Mrs. Svendsen!" "Mrs. Svendsen, I asked you to stop." "Please do!" "Stop!" "This instant!" "Just stop!" "Hyah, hyah." "Do you think these mules will make it all the way to the Missouri river?" "I doubt it, not without a good feeding of corn." "The one twitching her ears, she knows she's the subject of our discussion." "She's a thinker." "The other one's a worker." "They should have names." "What should we name them?" "Mules don't need names." "They need feed." "And corn's the best there is." "I'll name that one Grace, and that one Redemption." "My mare, her name's Dorothy, after my sister." "She's married to a doctor up in New York state." "That's where we're from." "Dorothy has a little six year old boy and a baby on the way." "Our mother died when we were little girls." "What's your horse's name?" "Brown." "You didn't give me the two dove's skinny blankets." "It gets cold at night out here!" "You noticed." "We need to head south-east, follow the river bottoms." "No." "We'll meet more people that way in case we need help." "You're gonna meet three kinds of people out here." "You're gonna meet wagon trains that don't want to see crazy people," "You're gonna meet traders who will surely rape you, and you're gonna meet the Indians who will kill you." "And then rape you." "After they kill me." "No, we gonna go straight east through the river." "We're hauling an odd lot of freight." "They are not freight." "They are human beings." "They're crazy." "They're precious to the Lord." "Precious to me too." "Give me that skillet." "About $300 worth." "Wakeup!" "Time to get moving!" "Getup and go pee!" "Go on there, girl." "Go on." "Watch your head on the hub there." "Baby go on!" "Go on." "All right." "Here you go." "Pee." "Goddamn!" "Squat now." "Squat now!" "Now, pee!" "God... will strike you down." "God will strike you down." "I love trees." "I don't get to see very many trees." "I miss them." "God will strike you..." "New York... has lots of trees." "Ho!" "Surely you wouldn't defile or desecrate..." "You are horrible." "And morbid!" "I don't wanna be cold anymore when I'm trying to sleep." "I need this buffalo hide." "That dead Indian don't." "I was in the Dragoons." "Company C, 1st US Division." "Fort Kearney." "Had us a right smart scuffle one time down there in Kansas with them goddamn Kiowas!" "Tell me." "We headed out to Fort Leavenworth." "Supply train of... six mule wagons and a herd of 300 horses." "And we had Kiowas like fleas trailing us!" "War paints." "Sassy." "Big as life and twice as natural." "Wanted them horses." "I see." "Well, we camped down on the Arkansas River one night... and them teamsters picketed 36 mules and they picketed 300 horses in the sand." "Sand!" "Hell them picket pens wouldn't hold a prairie dog in that sand." "Sure enough, that night,..." "Kiowas come through there and stomp-eded the whole bunch and away they went." "Oooh-wee." "Trampled the wagons all to pieces." "Got the stock all tangled up in the ropes and crippled up with the flying picket pens, and them Kiowas just running through there, hooping and hauling." "My oh my." "Weren't we riled?" "We blew the bugles, boots and saddles and away we went after them with the sun rising." "We caught Kiowas here, and we caught Kiowas there." "We caught them in bunches and killed every one of 'em." "We rounded up our stock and drove it right through the middle of goddamn Kiowas camp." "Tore it all to hell." "Pretty fair job of work." "Company C, 1st US Dragoon!" "How interesting!" "Oooh-whee!" "♪ I don't want none of your weevily wheat ♪" "♪ I don't want none of your barley ♪" "♪ Take some ﬂour, half an hour ♪" "♪ And bake a cake for Charley ♪" "♪ The higher up cherry tree ♪" "♪ Sweeter grows the cherry ♪" "♪ The more you hug and kiss a gal ♪" "♪ The more she'll want to marry ♪" "♪ Charlie, he's fine young boy ♪" "♪ Charlie, he's a dandy ♪" "♪ Everytime he goes to town ♪" "♪ He'll bring the gals some candy ♪" "What are they?" "Pawnee, probably." "What was that?" "Bugle." "Somewhere along the line, they killed themselves a US cavalry bugler." "What do they want?" "Whatever we got." "Trouble is they don't know what that is." "They never seen a wagon like this." "Could be goods inside." "Soldiers." "Anything to them." "Hell, they don't know." "I count four rifles amongst 'em." "If they think we were worth the trouble, we're dead." "I'll try to buy 'em off." "Ho!" "If something happens to me and they come all the way down here." "Don't you fool with that carbine." "You get in the wagon as quick as you can." "You shoot the women in the head then shoot yourself." "You got four good rounds." "Come on." "Go on." "Turn around here." "Come on." "Get out ..." "Get out of here!" "What will they do with Dorothy?" "They probably eat her." "No!" "No." "What the hell?" "She's gone, Mr.Briggs!" "Mr.Briggs, she's gone!" "She's gone!" "We have to get her back!" "Cuddy it was a god dammed horse." "Get up!" "You louch!" "She hasn't taken a step by herself since we put her on the wagon." "Hell's bells." "That gal done run off." " Morning!" " Morning!" "Where you from, friend?" "Freight train camped down south little ways." "Bigger?" "Thirty wagons, six yolk." "Two weeks ago outta Fall City headed for Salt Lake." "You a driver?" "I am!" "Out hunting meat." "You seen any?" "No, not today." "I am out looking for this young lady here." "She's lost." "She ain't now." "Friend..." "I got a frame wagon back there," "I am carrying three crazy women to a church... in Iowa." "So, they can go home, back East." "This young girl is one of 'em." "She is married." "Her name is Sours." "She had three little childrens and... lost them all to the diphtheria in short order and lost her mind." "She run away from us last night." "I'm her friend." "So am I." "No, you wouldn't want her." "Not the way she is." "She can spread her legs, can't she?" "I tell you what?" "Why don't we leave it to her?" "See here, sweet thing." "Who you rather go with?" "Him or me?" "Well, there you be." "She cottons to me already." "Friend, I'm taking this girl home." "Not likely." "She mine now." "Possession is nine points of the law." "And it's all of us out here now, ain't it?" "Sorry, I'll just have to have her." "God Almighty!" "Fight you for her." "Best man takes the prize, how's that?" "I'm agreeable." "Alright." "I say "pitch",... we pitch these guns." "How's that?" "Anytime." "Pitch!" "God Almighty!" "Say it again and act right this time." "Pitch!" "God!" "Aiy!" "Goodbye." "Did you have to take an eternity?" "Oh, she's nearly froze to death." "Oh." "You lost one horse, Cuddy." "Here's you another one." " Who'd you get this horse?" " Man let us have him." "Why would he do that?" "Because he was dead." "Mrs. Sours shot him." "Ho." "Who would do such a thing?" "Indians." "For the clothes." "Wolves." ""Cissy Hahn"" ""Eleven years, two months, nine days"" ""God loved her and took her home unto Him"" "Let's go, Cuddy." "I intend to tidy up this grave." " Getting late." " I don't care." "Well, suit yourself, I'm going on." "Then I'll take a horse and join you later." "Not mine, you won't." "You have to ride that freight horse." "I want a shovel too." "O sweet merciful Father,..." "Prince Jesus,... good shepherd... harvester of righteousnesses... take thee this token and bury them deep... carry and carry, in love let us sleep." "Send me summons to wed Thee one day." "Love us," "And love me." "O love me, I pray." "Amen." "Why...why?" "Why didn't you light a fire for me?" "What about supper?" "I did light a fire for you, Cuddy." "Where's that shovel?" "I lost the goddamn shovel!" "Who cares about a shovel?" "You... are...insane!" "The hell I am, Cuddy." "I'm trying to move a load to the river quick as I can and draw that $300," "That's all there is." "There ain't no more." "♪ If I should prosper ♪" "♪ Hear my heart pray ♪." "♪ Send me a summons to wed thee one day ♪" "♪ Take thee this token and love me always ♪" "♪ But if I should perish, thy promises keep ♪" "♪ Take thee our two hearts and bury them deep ♪" "♪ Take thee our tokens and love let us sleep ♪" "I couldn't sleep." "I could." "How long now till we get there?" "Oh..." "Uh..." "Mmm..." "A week... thereabouts." "Heck, maybe a month." "Hell, I don't know." "It's almost over now." "Will you stay in Iowa or come back to the territory?" "I dunno." "You are not much for making plans." "No, not much." "Mr. Briggs,... you're an intelligent man... and if you think on it,..." "I'm sure you will see the wisdom in it." "After we've turned them over to Mrs. Carter... why don't we marry and come back together?" "I'm 31 years old." "If I'm ever to marry, it better be soon." "And... you are not getting any younger." "You've seen my house and my stock." "I've got two fine claims and money in the bank." "I am in good health and capable of child bearing." "I plan to buy shoats next spring and fatten them on corn." "And come summer, I'll have 60 acres into wheat." "I plan to put in pumpkins too." "We'd make a good team, you and I." "If we pull together, we are bound to prosper." "Don't you agree?" "I ain't no farmer." "Well, you could try." "You could try." "I've tried it one time with a widow woman up north of Wamego." "Up and down them goddamn rows daylight till dark." "There's prettier things to look at than the ass end of an ox." "One morning I just rode off." "You deserted her." "When I left, I was sorry." "But I never did look back." "I see." "So, you won't marry me?" "No." "I won't." "I know, I am plain as an old tin pail... but, would you think about it from here to Hebron and talk with me about it again?" "Talk's cheap." "Mr. Briggs... perhaps you don't realize what a grand thing you are doing taking these poor helpless women home." "If you don't, I assure you the good Lord does and I do." "This might be the finest, most generous act of your life." "It might be $300." "You won't marry me?" "No" "Then I am plain." "I wish you'd say one kind word to me." "Like what?" "That I'm a good woman." "That I've helped you." "Fair enough." "You're a damn good woman, Cuddy, and you helped me." "Ah, uw..." "I deserted from the Dragoons." "That's right." "Company C, 1st U.S." "Fort Kearney!" "Stoled a horse and away I run." "I ain't attached to nothing!" "Just me." "No" "I want... to lie with you." "No" "You must." "I saved your life." "Well..." "Please." "Spare me my dignity, sir." "Ugh!" "Raise your knees." "Take me in your hand." "Just remember Cuddy, I didn't force you." "I will." "If I hurt you, I can't help it." "I know." "You asked me." "I didn't ask you." "I know." "So, let me in you." "Yes." "Cuddy?" "Cuddy!" "Ahhh." "My God in heaven, Cuddy." "We made a deal to carry these women back to Iowa." "And I kept my word and here you done broke yours." "See here?" "You see what you done?" "You killed her." "Look at her!" "You killed her!" "Too damn crazy to pay attention to anything." "Goddamn lunatics!" "You don't know nothing about this world." "Can't even piss straight." "Hadn't been for you, Mary Bee wouldn't be dead." "She wouldn't even be out here!" "If you hadn't gone crazy,... she wouldn't have made this trip." "If you had stayed steady and strong, she'd be alive at her home." "In her own house." "And so would you, but no." "You went crazy." "And drove her crazy and it killed her." "What you got to say about that?" "Tha..." "Well, I'll be..." "I'm going on by myself." "You're on your own." "Far enough along here East where somebody will come along and tend to you." "There ain't a damn one of you can understand a word I'm saying." "Arg!" "Arg!" "O my God!" "Ho." "Ho!" "Phew!" "How do?" "I'm carrying three women outside, hadn't had anything to eat for three days." "They need supper now, rooms for the night and a hot baths." "We're full up." "With what?" "People." "Mister, I didn't come in here for trouble." "But, I am tired." "And when I'm tired, I'm easy to aggravate." "Now, this is a hotel." "I got money." "I want supper now, then I want a room for myself and I want a room for three women." "And I want four hot baths or the reason why not." "Wait here a minute." "Greetings!" "How do?" "My name is Aloysius Duffy." " And yours is?" " Briggs." "I understand you are in need of a meal and accommodations, Mr.Briggs" "That's right." "For myself and three passengers, women." "Oh." "Unusual cargo, I must say." "In any case, Mr. Briggs, I regret I cannot oblige you." "Why not?" "This is a hotel, ain't it?" "Have a drink on the house." "Grand." "Erhhh." "There she went." "Now then, Mr.Briggs, you couldn't have shown up at more inauspicious time." "It so happens a party of 16 potential investors is coming from St. Louis by steamboat and coach." "I trust you recognize, we cannot accommodate anyone else." "These are gentlemen of means." "And the fate of our entire venture may very well depend on" "We had a bad winter." "Traveled a long way to get here." "And they ain't had nothing to eat for three days." "I'm sorry." "The women are in bad shape." "They're... awful hungry." "Let me see them." " Arh!" " Good God." "You can't turn us away." "I can't..." "Mr. Briggs." "Those women are pitiful, I concede." "But we can't have them here tonight." "The milk of human kindness be damned." "Now kindly be out the door and take that wagon away from here." "And God speed to you." "Shoe's on the other foot now." "You put them guns on the floor real careful and get us our supper on the table right goddamn now." "Shoe's back where it belongs, Mr. Briggs." "Grand." "Well done." "Be on your way, my friend." "And lament your neglected my offering a whiskey." "All right." "But, I tell you what?" "You are the worst bunch of lying, thieving pissant sons of bitches I've ever run into." "You turn your back on these poor women you'll answer for it for the rest of your lives." "You won't sleep." "You'll choke on your whiskey and on your water." "The food you eat... will block up your bowels." "You'll die of your own shit." "Your mothers and your sisters... and your wives and your daughters will cuss your broke-dick souls." "Get on!" "Get on!" "Yah!" "Yah!" "Get on!" "Get on." "Get!" "Go on!" "Get on!" "Get on!" "Get on!" "Yah!" "Get on down now!" "Oh, for God's sake." "Got on there, mule!" "Get on!" "Got on there, mule!" "Come on!" "Come on, mule!" "Get on!" "Get on!" "I'm gonna go get us something to eat." "Now, y'all be good girls and go to sleep." "I'll be back directly." "You need to get on outta here." "Don't look back, darling." "Son of a bitch!" "Ah!" "Goddamn, that hurts!" "Ah, shite..." "Carefull!" "I mean, special." "Come on!" "She looked ridiculous in that feed sack bonnet." "Uh, pardon ma'am." "I'm looking for a woman by the name of Altha Carter." "Do you know where her house is at?" "That would be the Minister's wife?" "Yes, ma'am." "That's right, it would be." "Go on down to the Methodist church." "The house across the street, that's the parsonage." "Alright, ma'am." "Thank you." "Come, Maisy." "Don't look at him." "Come on!" "Ho!" "Wee!" "Ho!" "Sir?" "Afternoon, ma'am." "Are you Mrs. Altha Carter." "the wife of the Methodist Minister?" "I am." "Well, ma'am my name is Briggs." "I am from the territories, Loup." "And I've brought you three women." " Women?" " Uh-huh." "Oh!" "Oh, for goodness sakes, yes!" "You have been a long time coming, Mr. Briggs." "I am relieved you're here." "I'm-I'm sorry Reverend Carter isn't." "He's out burying a beloved member of our congregation." "Just a minute." "I thought a woman named Cuddy was bringing' em." "That's what Reverend Dowd wrote." "She was with us up to a week ago, ma'am." "I'm sorry to tell you that a fever took her." "I buried her and we moved on." "Mary Bee Cuddy... was her name." "Hmm." "Oh what a... terrible loss!" "She must have been a fine brave human being." "She truly was." "They've ridden all this way... in that box?" "O Mercy!" "Well..." " it's time to meet them." " Hmm." "I'm not sure I'm ready." "Get over there." "You must have had an awful winter." "We did, ma'am." "Put them on the settee, Mr. Briggs." "Do they speak?" "No" "Do they understand anything?" "Ma'am, I don't know." "I noticed their eyes move around the room, what does that mean?" "It's hard to tell." "Perhaps, each remembers a parlor." "From their own past." "Poor, poor dears." "Have you noticed any improvement in their condition?" "They don't scrap with each other or try to run off anymore." "Tell me their names." "This's Theoline Belknap." " She killed her baby." " Oh, no no!" "Please, don't tell me, Mr. Briggs." "I don't care to know." "That one there is Norsky woman by the name of Gro Svendsen." "Very well." "And that's Arabella Sours." "She's only a girl." "Why she even has a doll." "She had three little children, lost them all to the diphtheria in three days." "Dear Lord!" "Please, don't say anymore." "Now..." "There's letters on all three of 'em in this bag here..." " about their kinfolks and all." " Mmm." "I better move on." "They might just jump up and try to follow me." "No." "Ah!" "I think this room will hold them." "Hmm." "Oh!" "I almost forgot." "This is for you, Mrs. Sours." "It's lovely." "Maybe, you'll want it,... one fine day." "Well, goodbye, ladies." "God bless you." "They'll be all right." "I want to say goodbye to you." "You can give this wagon and those mules... and that freight horse and everything else to the Methodist Women." "Maybe they can sell everything and... use the money to pay for railroad fare and whatever else." "Oh, oh, Mr. Briggs." "I'm delighted." "How very generous of you." "Tell the reverend to give those mules a good feeding of corn." "Will you go back to the territory?" "I don't know." "If you do, please thank Reverend Dowd for me." "And wish him well" "Yes, ma'am." "Well then." "This is our goodbye, Mr. Briggs." "Give your hand." "God Our Father." "Bless this good man, wherever he may go." "Keep watch over him." "Cause Thy face to shine upon him... and bring him home to Thee one day." "In Jesus' name I pray, Amen." "I hope we meet again, Mr. Briggs." "Goodbye." "You can go on now." "Uh-huh." "Oh, yes, sir." "Look splendid, sir." "How old are you?" "Sixteen." "You ain't got no shoes on your feet." "Well, that's my business, ain't it?" "Uh-huh." "I'll take them shoes right there." "Playing high stakes, sir." "Can you show $50?" "There's $300, for you." "Mind if I have a look?" "Suit yourself." "Have a look at this, Mr. Carmichael." ""Bank of Loup"." "Up near Wamego." "How long since you been there, sir?" "5, 6 weeks." "Bank of Loup went bust." "Happens all the time to South buster banks in the territory." "I've lost more than my fair share to this wildcat paper." "Do you have any greenbacks?" "No..." "I spent it all." "I'm sorry, sir." "I cannot accept these banknotes." "Nobody around here will." "Sorry, but you can't sit at the table unless you're playing." "I have to ask you to leave." "What?" "Please, leave the table, sir." "You're not socially acceptable here, see?" "You ever know a woman by the name of Mary Bee Cuddy?" "No, sir." "These are for you." "You still gotta pay your bill." "That gravy and them biscuits you made was pretty good." "Thank you." "I got a good piece of advice for you." "When you get grown, don't marry some shitheel kid headed West to make a claim on a farm he ain't build yet." "Don't you do that." "You stay here." "Why?" "Because I told you to." "Who is Mary Bee Cuddy?" "Mary Bee Cuddy... was a fine a woman as ever walked." "You'll never know her." "Well then, so what?" "So what?" "You are the living, breathing reason she will never be lost." "That's what, darling." "You're a strange man." "I expect I am." "Why don't we marry?" "Maybe..." "Yeah, clear." "Haul away!" "Hang on." "Walking down." "Walking down." "I got it." "All right, we're moving." "All right, take it down, boys." "Take it down." "Let me catch up." "Bringing it up." "Go." "Get it up." "♪ Take her by her lily white hand ♪" "♪ And lead her like a pigeon ♪" "♪ Make her dance the weevily wheat ♪" "♪ Scatter her religion ♪" "You boys know "The Weevily Wheat"?" " Hell, yeah." " Get on up here." "♪ Oh, Charlie, he's a fine young man ♪" "♪ Charlie, he's a dandy ♪" "♪ Every time he goes to town ♪" "♪ He brings the gals some candy ♪" "Hush up that noise!" "There's people here trying to sleep!" "Hey!" " You sons of bitches!" " What the hell!" "We are headed West, Goddamn it!" "If it hairlips the goddamn devil." "♪ Oh, Charlie, he's a fine young man ♪" "♪ Charlie, he's a dandy ♪" "♪ Every time he goes to town ♪" "♪ He brings the gals some candy ♪" "♪ It's Charlie here and it's Charlie there ♪" "♪ Charlie over the ocean ♪" "Clap your hands."