"This must be the saddle bum they damn ran off our deer." "Well, we'll be." "You do that?" "You run off our deer?" "Only deer that's been through here passed that way, about an hour ago, I reckon?" "You calling me a damn liar?" "Ain't one to judge a man before I've had a chance to meet him." "Wade McCurry." "Archie Ainsworth." "He ain't apologized for the deer." "That there's my brother Ben, we're out of Georgia." "Where do you hail from, Wade?" "Cheyenne." "Before that?" "Texas originally." "Pleasure is all mine." "And you reckon your brother might lower his sidearm?" "Ain't going to shoot a fellow Southerner, are you Ben?" "Hood's Texans, you know at the sight of them, them damn Yankees just throw down their guns, run like a wind." "You should have seen them at CHeckamauga." "Yellow-belied cowards, the whole damn lot." "Running don't make a man of coward." "Who do you serve under?" "Was it Hood?" "What you all boys doing now?" "We're heading west." "I heard there's a strike" "Shut your trap." "I ain't got no interest in mining." "That's like saying you ain't got no interest in making it rich." "Can't rightly say I do." "The fact is, I'm trying my hand at farming." "Farming?" "You don't look like no farmer I ever saw." "That's on account of being Deputy of Cheyenne the last two years." "Well, Deputy, you ain't said who you served under." "I thought." "Hold it there, Ben." "We're keeping company with a deserter." "I thought." "Under Taylor then?" "Not under Taylor." "Not under Smith." "Hector or Hood neither." "I served in the command of General Thomas." "Don't know no General Thomas." "Thought you boys said you're CHeckamauga." "Yankee traitor!" "Don't." "I got to go before a judge." "Promise me, next time, a self-respecting Southerner asked you who you served under." "I ain't no traitor." "Next time you ought to lie." "I ain't no liar neither." "Yeah, just 'cause you made peace with your past don't mean the world has." "Well, that damn well cooled off already." "I got to go before a judge or not?" "No." "It seems like a fair fight to me." "I'll just have stovetop Charlie bring his China man over." "Yep." "You're going to be pig food." "Yes, you are you dirt." "Wade, seeing as how you ain't been around lately." "By the by, the way has been talking sounds as though she's aiming to make a respectful man out of you." "Thank you kindly if you'd dispose of that for me." "Joe McCurry your Pa?" "I reckon that depends on which one of us you're asking." "Don't you think you ought to read the thing?" "Ain't as though he read any of mine." "That's your family." "No." "This man said he'd shoot me if I ever came back to him." "This is why we have horses in the first place." "Can't ride them all day." "Just give me a gosh darn minute." "Shit." "I'm starting to have second thoughts whether you're going to be all right without me." "Hell Wade, you were my Deputy, it ain't like we're kin." "I ain't your responsibility." "I told you to quit about the damn letter." "My boy is hiding down in Mexico on account of a killing over a girl." "That's a hanging offense." "And yet a day don't go by where me and Janie don't think on him." "'Cause that's the thing about blood, Wade, ain't nothing in this world can truly break it." "Come on." "He really threatened to shoot you?" "I ain't home now, am I?" "Well, ever occur to you that he just might have changed his mind?" "And so saith the Lord, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways."" "All we know is this world around us and the people who inhabit it." "We trust your grace of love to" "This ain't no saloon." "Fine sermon Reverend." "Sure is." "Ain't for his ears though." "There ain't no kind words ever escaped your father's lips about that fella." "We are here to remember the dead not dishonor them by brawling on their grave." "Well, this here greedy carpetbagging son of a bitch is a doing your family the damn dishonor." "Now, you know, I would never do Joe no disrespect, but it ain't right." "It'd be fine if you come stand by Heck and me." "Pa would've wanted it that way, I think." "You mean that?" "He lost to you at cards more times that he could count." "Still he kept on coming back." "But you think you and Heck might maybe want to come and visit the lonely old man one of these days?" "You sing with me?" "Shall we gather at the river where bright angel feet have trod." "With its crystal tide forever flowing by the throne of God." "Mr. Lane." "My apologies for the trouble my presence has caused." "As far as meetings with Three Penny Hank go," "I'd say yours wasn't all that bad." "Best not begrudge a man in mourning." "Me and your father were very close." "Well, ain't nobody else could stand neither of them." "Well, my thanks to you for allowing me to be in attendance." "You've come to understand a man sitting across a negotiating table and your father was as fine as he was hardheaded." "Well, perhaps one day soon, you'll get to know us that well." "Is that a fact?" "I'm not my father, Mr. Lane." "And you certainly are not." "I do imagine you have an asking price." "Mr. Lane, you're paying respects to my father." "Business will be conducted at the proper time." "I appreciate your support in this." "Lady said her goodbyes." "Well, you let her know I'll be back in a month's time with a bill of sale." "Well, I do think Martha aims to be done with this place, a might bit sooner than that." "Tell me, Mr. Kirkland, you ever traveled to Morris, Kansas?" "I may have ridden through." "Well, I hear it used to be beautiful, especially by firelight." "It'll be a pleasure doing business with you." "Damn mule got in the locoweed again." "I have to put it down." "It needed to be done." "Lane ain't by today." "He'll come." "A few weeks is what he said." "You got to eat." "I like how much you like my food." "We got enough." "These all the food we'll have in San Francisco?" "Well, I heard took another herd up to Kansas." "It could be." "Cows are no better than crops." "We're opening a hotel." "I ain't exactly the hotel type." "We weren't exactly the farming type either." "It'll be a grand place." "Grandness in San Francisco with large green drinks, a polished wood entrance, children running all through." "Lane's coming." "That ain't Lane." "Do we have to?" "Stay in the house." "This McCurry place?" "Who's asking?" "I ain't angling for a fight." "Folks don't ride out this way lest they're angling for something." "Be obliged if I could water my horses." "Been riding hard this last day." "Wrong way?" "Got business with the McCurrys." "Ain't you heard?" "Joe McCurry is dead." "I heard, I heard about James and Billy." "Dead too." "Dead?" "No they ain't." "See for yourself." "Stranger?" "All of them." "If you want to water your horses, be on your way." "It's fine by me." "Why is he asking about my family?" "Stay inside, he'll be gone soon." "Maybe you ask him how he knows Billy." "Thank you kindly." "I was wondering" " Martha?" "1 Oh, how'd you do so much growing?" "It's Wade, your brother." "Best ride on out of here right now, mister." "It's been a while, I know." "But it's me, sure as a gun." "Wade is dead." "Killed by a horse 10 years past on his way to war." "You still got that scar from the fever?" "One right inside your arm?" "The trip is supposed to take four days, but I had to ride six straight on account of the weather." "they never would have tried to bleed you." "Wade." "I ain't dead little sunshine." "And then, Wade here comes bursting through, half his face white with cream the other smooth as a baby's bottom, and me I'm standing there covered in mud and dirt sobbing like the little girl I was." "It must have taken you a good hour to wipe all that dirt off of me." "And that the last time you saw each other?" "I'm looking at her now." "That night Wade left for the war." "Any youngins?" "This ain't no place to raise a child." "Sure is a fine piece of land though." "Found it with fresh eyes I'd imagine." "And how come it is, this is the first years you're seeing it?" "Heck." "It's a fair question." "What's that?" "It's a letter." "Would you ever imagine your baby sister be reading and writing?" "This is from Pa." ""Wade, it is with much worry that I seek myself to pen you."" "How'd this get so burnt?" "It's legible." ""Things do not stand well between us." "I make no apologies and I write you now only because I see nowhere else." "You were always the responsible one and I beseech you now to be responsible for the family."" "When did you get this?" "Two weeks past." "Joe has been in the ground a month." "Yeah?" ""We've been living for these past years on a homestead and I beseech you watch over the family for if you're reading these words then I am killed."" "What are you aiming to do here, mister?" "No, no, no." "It's all right." "It's all right." "Who sent it?" "I reckoned you did." "Are you taking leave of me?" "It wasn't my intent to cause you pain." "How did he die?" "He was thrown by a horse." "Something bothering you?" "You can tell me." "It's strange is all." "Seems how we thought you dead." "Why you reckon Joe wrote me that letter?" "I think I'd rather know what it is you're wanting." "I'd prefer not to sleep in Joe's room if that's all right with you." "I do believe we could do something about that." "He should be gone." "We'll speak on it in the morning." "We'll speak on it now." "We will do no such thing, Heck Kirkland." "We'll say nothing on it 'til you've regained your moral character." "Don't I know it?" "Wade will kill you if he finds out what you've done." "He's my brother." "Joe was your father." "He's in a better place now." "Wade raised me more than Pa ever did." "I ought to run him off." "What if I don't want that?" "You put it to him?" "There ain't nothing that keeps a man away for coming on 10 years." "Of course, there's a reason." "Maybe I ought to find out what it is." "Maybe while you're thinking on it, you got to ask yourself why the father declared his son dead." "You're going to shoot?" "Where is your?" "Martha believes I'll make a better husband without it." "Best not argue then." "Pinfire ain't it?" "Federal I took it off of claimed he got it from Jeb Stuart's." "I reckon he didn't part with it easily." "No man would." "Good talk." "Where you've been these last years?" "I ain't one for repeating myself." "Being a Deputy in Cheyenne." "I'm a farmer now." "That still don't explain why you ain't never come through." "Maybe you ought to ask Joe." "But I guess you missed your opportunity for that." "You do anything that's going to hurt her, there won't be no conversation next time." "You stole the words right on my mouth." "It's your responsibility." "Got that talking too as well?" "This day I don't know if we deserved it or if just plain enjoyed giving it." "I don't mean to be out of line, but isn't this your husband's responsibility?" "Look at where we live." "There's more chores than people around here." "How did you two start courting?" "I wouldn't exactly call it courting." "Heck turned up looking for work at Three Penny Hank's place and found his way over here." "Three Penny Hank?" "He's just a fool whoremonger." "Heck is a good man." "He would never do me no harm." "A man who carries a gun like that, he has a certain kind of past." "Help me with something?" "Who'd you bury in my stead?" "Nobody." "I got good news this week." "Wade is alive and well." "Guess you probably knew that." "but right now he's standing right here next to me." "He's been living up in the Wyoming Territory where he used to be a Deputy Sheriff." "He's not married yet but not for lack of interest in women, I'm sure." "And I'm hoping that he'd be staying here with me and Heck for a spell." "Is there anything you'd like to say?" "Howdy?" "Would have been nice to see you all, alive I mean." "Gently." "Sorry." "It's all right." "We never got any bodies back from the war." "Not for you, not for James, not for Billy." "Ma is actually buried here." "As is Pa." "Of course." "How'd she pass?" "She got weak after the war." "Doc said he didn't know why but it was on account of losing her boys, sure is the day is long." "Pa, he moved us out here thinking maybe a fresh start might help." "In this place, the killers life." "James signed on soon after Pa told us you died." "All the boys in town did, whole town was so proud, mightily so." "None came back, not a one." "And more left, this time Billy signed on." "He lost a leg at Chickamauga." "Billy died of infection on his journey home." "There's something wrong with the way they healed his leg." "Every boy between the age of 13 and 34 out of Old Grandridge," "Texas gave their life fighting them damn federals." "Except you." "I fought." "Not with the First Texas." "I was injured early on." "When I was fit for duty, I was reorganized into convalescence regiment." "Was it bad?" "I ended up in a hospital, if you want to call it that." "I was lucky to survive, that's a fact." "Let the past lie, little sunshine, this is the here and now." "Still hanging on to that damn letter for one." "That damn letter brought Wade home to me." "Why don't you just focus on killing us an elk, couple of pheasants just won't do." "Look, family don't turn against each other without reason." "The time when Pa took wasn't too much of a surprise when Lombardi came back looking for a refund." "And Pa, he'd have none of it but Wade, he gave them their money back." "All of it." "He did something the beating he'd be taken for it." "Say, reasons to try to get." "I was thinking of asking Wade to come with us to San Francisco?" "Yeah." "Heard you're going hunting, thought you could use a repeater." "You couldn't hit a buck with that antique." "Is that a damn Yankee rifle, 16 shooter?" "Mighty sweet of you." "That Three Penny Hank fellow, you reckon he's the one who sent Joe's letter?" "The hell kind of cartridge is this?" "44 M fire." "I can't say I thought of it much." "That his place I saw miles west of here?" "Three Penny Hank has been living by himself on a dying farm for more years than I can count, makes the man a little crazy." "I've been thinking on something, plow that land out there, plant it right, this farm could really be something." "You don't think Joe tried that?" "It's a fine piece of land ya'll got here." "We're selling the farm." "Well, if it's help you need, I can stay on and stretch, bear some of the burden." "Well that is a shame decision's had been made." "Are you sure little sunshine?" "Decision is made." "Three Penny Hank?" "I don't take kindly to that name, mister." "Give it here, I ain't a young man no more." "Well, Sergeant Major McCurry, I swan." "I wasn't sure there was going to be a body on the other end of this." "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Sergeant Major, a real pleasure." "It's Wade." "You ain't trying to pull one on me now are you?" "Joe didn't say nothing?" "Hell no, he did not." "I can see it though." "You got your father's eyes." "Well come on in, it's not as a whorehouse on nickel night." "We can deal a few hands, see if you got your father's luck too." "Joe, he wouldn't have changed his mind." "One hand." "I ain't had a visitor since your Pa was killed." "Well, I reckon you better take that up with this horse." "Hold on just one minute." "I ain't no soaker, but we respect the dead before we speak on him." "Here's to you, Joe, it turns out I was right." "You were a lying son of a bitch." "You will be missed." "Joe." "You mustn't think much of me." "I can't say I made much of an opinion." "No." "But I know a lot of folks who don't." "Crazy old coot, couldn't grow mushrooms on manure." "But I'm a hell of a good farmer, just ain't much water, not around these parts anyway." "The letter." "Hold your horses, son, we're talking water here." "My family's stead, it's the only place that has it." "I can see you are the observant kind." "What ain't so obvious is that there's copper plenty around here." "And if the mining company- - if the mining companies ain't got no water to work their claims, well then that ore ain't ever seeing the light of day." "They need Joe's land and they sent some good for nothing carpetbagger name of Lane to make sure they get it." "under fire doesn't mean he can't be snake bit." "If and it was an accident, how come the coffin was closed." "That's an awful big charge you're making." "Well, he weren't scalped by no Apache, he was throwed by a horse." "Ain't no reason not to let us say our last respects, unless-- unless he weren't throwed by no horse." "And the law, they had nothing to say about this?" "There ain't no law around here." "You know Joe never said more than two words about you but I wager I could guess why he told folks that you was dead Sergeant Major." "Hell, he must have in it bad if he felt you were the one that he had to call out to 'cause like you said," "Joe ain't one to change his mind." "Were you present when Joe died?" "So you've been by Three Penny Hank's place?" "He don't take too kindly that name." "Nobody take too kindly of him either." "He mentioned a fellow by the name of Lane." "He came to Joe's funeral." "Mr. Lane is the buyer." "He kill Joe?" "Nobody killed him." "He was thrown by a horse." "Ain't that what killed me.?" "So you're saying I'm a liar." "This Lane, did he threaten you?" "I don't want this land, Wade." "The only reason we stayed so long is Pa wouldn't have survived out here on his own." "Hank seems to be doing just fine." "This place?" "It would kill me." "Sure as it did our Ma." "Joe threatened if I ever came home, he'd kill me." "And there he goes, writing me a letter, asking me back." "That sound like the pride-stricken man that raised us up?" "Nobody killed him." "I reckon I don't know how you can be so sure." "Asking you as your only family, will you please leave it alone?" "Ain't no reason to be scared, little sunshine." "I will strike down anyone who tries to harm this here family." "Howdy?" "Didn't know Hank brought on any hands." "Howdy." "Don't be bothering to dismount." "I do not believe we had the pleasure of acquaintance." "You're E.J. Lane." "Banker and killer." "I'm going to bring you before a judge for what you've done." "Wait, you let him go." "There ain't a judge for a three-day ride from here." "It's quite the impertinent way to treat a guest." "I do apologize, Mr. Lane, we had an" "I'd appreciate it if you get my horse." "She ain't to be ordered about." "Wade, is it?" "I'd be glad to know what I'm being accused of." "Didn't figure you were one for games." "Wade." "Well, you know that a crime, whatever it may be, requires evidence, so please present yours." "Moving, yet meaningless." "I'm sorry for your loss." "I've been known for trying to put reason to in my time." "I have a sale to attend to." "So you can either shoot me in the back like a coward or let me be on my way." "I reckon you know I ain't got no choice." "See, he's made an offer for this glass." "But this glass is full of whiskey." "What you're trying to do is buy this glass and get the whiskey for free." "Why don't you take that whiskey, pour it right back in that bottle." "I'm making a fair counter here." "It is a thousand dollars, 750 for all my acres, 250 for everything on it." "It's your property." "I imagined you've more to say on its fate." "Hell of an imagination." "Got a deal?" "On behalf of Mr. Moore, Mr. Crohn and Mr. Buck, thank you kindly." "I was invited here on business." "You just hold on a minute here." "I'm going to see you hung." "Innocent men have nothing to fear from the law." "Where's the nearest judge?" "No reason to fear, little sunshine." "He ain't going to hurt you." "Judge Hawkins in Alameda, a three-day ride from here." "Get up." "No boy." "Hold it." "He ain't taking leave of you." "I can get the drop on him." "No, no." "I will talk to him." "The only thing he's going to listen to is a bullet." "And what has he done to make you think a crazy notion like that?" "Goddamn it Martha!" "He dug up your father." "You stop right there Wade McCurry." "How's that one?" "The faster we get done with this nonsense, the better." "You best not try anything." "I have been trying to leave this place for going on four years now." "First Ma got sick then Pa needed me to stay and now you." "You're asking that I let him go." "I'm asking you to let me be rid of this place for good." "The world you want to go out into, it wouldn't be a place fit living." "Not without the law." "It would be better than here." "Let's sell this farm, Wade." "You and me and Heck, we'll go to San Francisco as a family." "Let's hope no one coming back this way, if you'll have me." "You do this, you're betraying the only kin you got left." "You sound like Pa." "I'm nothing like him." "Why'd he tell us you were dead?" "Don't think about past." "No." "No, it isn't." "He tried to stop me from leaving just like you're doing now." "The words he said to me aren't words you forget." "If you ride out of here, you ain't my son." "You're a goddamn traitor." "If our boys don't kill you, I will." "Where were you going?" "I reckon you know." "No." "I need to hear you say the word." "I was going to join the Union Army to fight for my country." "Were you at?" "No." "Chickamauga, what about Chickamauga?" "Why?" "Can't ride for three days without any sleep." "I ain't telling you not to." "I'll fall off." "And you pick yourself right back up again." "Oh." "I didn't kill your father." "That's for a judge to decide." "Hey." "Hey Wade." "Yeah?" "You know you are on old man Race's land." "Suppose he was the one doing the shooting at me." "You're lucky, I was coming after you." "Is that so?" "Yeah?" "Is that your blood?" "Don't see no one else around." "We best get up on out of this so we can see you bandaged up." "Shit." "Son of a bitch." "That'd be sixteen." "Didn't figure you one for a coward." "Ain't got no water and you are bleeding something fierce." "It's a mighty hard way to go." "I figure that's about what's due a damn Yankee." "Thanks for this here repeater." "It's a mighty step finer to that Enfield." "You must've had a hell of a time bushwhacking Joe with that old thing." "Can't say I'd rather know." "Martha is one hell of a shot though." "Had to be done." "Was it quick?" "Ain't no such thing." "At least for a goddamn Yankee traitor." "Nobody wants to die slow." "2 Mr. Lane, I do apologize for what you've been through." "It's been hard for all of us." "There a problem?" "Nine hundred dollars there, on account of your trouble." "You listen here." "We still want to sell this place and you still want to buy it." "So, you best make up your mind 'cause we don't got all day." "There's barely a hundred dollars in there." "It's 200 actually." "My husband saved your life." "From what?" "A three-day ride?" "A visit with Judge Hawkins." "Do we have an agreement?" "Bullshit, we do." "Two hundred dollars is more than enough to get you to, where was it?" "San Francisco I believe." "And do what once we get there?" "That, my dear, is up to you." "I'm a businessman, not a fool." "Now that ain't no way to treat your host." "Isn't that right, Martha." "Uh." "Uh." "Time to break most men." "Well, what if you don't?" "That man, he's stubborn." "Joe was stubborn too." "I told you no." "That's the thing about killing." "You open that door, there ain't no telling how many going to go through." "We won't last the winter here on what we got." "Without Lane, we got nothing." "Let's stay out here." "Heck?" "He's uncivilized." "Martha keeps a clean house." "You're going to be keeping a lot longer if you kill me." "Nah, what was it you said?" "Two hundred dollars is more than enough to get to San Francisco." "I could have gone to the law." "You're honestly trying to threaten me?" "Negotiate actually." "I think maybe you don't know the difference." "Heck, we talked on this." "Yeah." "You best stand clear." "He is a man of business." "He did not ride out all this way to leave empty-handed." "And what do you know about your husband here." "Did you know he rode with William Quantrill or Bloody Bill Anderson?" "He burned Lawrence, Kansas to the ground." "Killed the women and children and we know there's no war to satisfy his lust for violence." "He took up with." "He killed a Deputy of Missouri before he escaped west." "I know who I do business with Miss Kirkland." "And I know who I married, Mr. Lane." "no more." "Didn't he?" "Nine hundred dollars then." "I think that'd be acceptable to me." "All right then." "Let's go back to the house, make it official." "Will you take your hands off of me?" "Ain't no time to get all worked up." "No time, he agreed to the deal, you have no call to shoot him." "If I hadn't had shot him, he'd gone on straight to the law." "We had our deal." "There's always a better deal." "Two hundred dollars is no deal at all." "What about the law folks?" "They're going to notice Lane is gone missing." "They'll be too busy hunting Apache." "What in the world?" "What's the matter boy?" "They're heavy?" "Martha." "Martha." "Open up now, you hear?" "Give me , if that's all you got." "I'll lend you my best mare once you're strong enough to ride her." "Don't make me no horse thief." "You figure Heck killed Joe." "Sure as hell shot me." "I'll get my double barrel." "Dammit Hank." "I don't want you with me." "Joe was my friend." "He's my Pa." "Yeah?" "And which one of us you reckon knew him better." "Martha, she's the one who's supposed to have done it." "Hell, they was always fighting but still." "What you going to do?" "That's a family matter." "It's time for you to ride on out of here." "I know and you?" "You stood before lord and family and you made me a promise." "Pretty as a hummingbird, you still are." "Don't you start me with me, Heck Kirkland." "You scalped a man." "Well, that's the thing about getting hitched." "You learn about each other and you do things for each other." "Is that?" "Lane's." "How much?" "I ain't rightly counted yet." "A lot." "Should have negotiated better." "I figure that is more than enough to get us that hotel in San Francisco." "Who are you, Heck Kirkland?" "I'm the man that's giving you your dream." "Leave them." "Buy new china, nicer ones too." "there'll be no memories." "Yeah, well Apache wouldn't want no cups." "Sure would like these fritters, though." "You plan on living like a savage." "But we best leave like one 'cause we don't want no posse coming after us." "Stay in the house." "Heck!" "Get away." "Did you do it?" "Did you kill Pa?" "After all what you did to us." "You left." "My whole family died because of it." "You killed my husband." "You killed your little brother." "There was no one here to look out for us because he was on the other side!" "You trapped me here Wade McCurry." "Pa would never have brought us to this awful place if it weren't for you." "And you killed him for it." "I did what needed to be done." "Then you're going to need to go before a judge." "Martha." "It's best you stand clear." "You know I can't." "All you got to do is put one foot in front of the other." "Is that too much to ask of my only kin?" "This thing, it's for the law to decide." "What law?" "I haven't seen them around here." "The world don't work that way, little sunshine." "We got to face our responsibility." "You are more of a father to me than Pa ever was." "There ain't no running from what we've done." "Draw then." "Pull that trigger and you have to shoot me straight." "Draw, goddamn it." "I should have never left you."