"This land has a name today and is marked on maps." "But the names and the marks and the land all had to be won." "Won from nature and from primitive man." "a mere 125 years back this land was known only as the West." "Known only to a handful of white men lonely trappers wandering its vastness in search of beaver." "a new breed." "Linus Rawlings." "More Indian than the Indians in all but blood." "They held to no law but their own... kept forever on the move." "Their mocassined feet and unshod horses leaving no trace on the land." "with whom they were at peace... and little of that." "the harsh country were as unchanging to them as the stars and just as unyielding." "beyond the rolling plains..." "people who were restless in another way." "The kind who'd look at a mountain and see a watershed look at a forest and see lumber for houses look at a stony field and see a farm." "Their faces and their instincts had been turned to the West ever since Plymouth Rock and Jamestown." "The trapper's road was the trail of a wolf or the bend of a canyon." "But for whole families chaffing to follow the sun there had to be broader ways." "only rivers." "And they flowed in the wrong direction:" "north or south." "Or else they stopped at the Alleghenies." "a new river took source in the mind of a man named DeWitt Clinton." "He conceived of a river that would go west." "it came to be." "The Erie Canal left the Hudson above Albany and carried clear across to the Great Lakes." "People who yearned for virgin land and a new life now had a highway to take them." "And they moved along." "Pride of Utica now loading!" "All aboard for the Pride of Utica!" "Peter Smith the Skoga family!" "All eight of them!" "All aboard for the Pride of Utica!" "Is the Iaddie's health the reason you're heading west?" "Partly." "Only partly." "Mostly our trouble East was rocks." "I had me a farm where some years I'd raise 100 bushels of rocks to the acre." "you hadn't ought to lie to the man like that." "and I tell the truth as I see it." "I never used a plow." "I'd blast out the furrows with gunpowder." "I hauled the bucket up out of the well... the bucket was full of rocks." "Rocks." "I just stood there right still trying not to blaspheme." ""You've got a son that's ailing you've got a daughter what won't take to herself a husband." "mooning as usual." "Pa." "You've got another who don't seem quite right in the head." "Lilith?" "Pa?" "sir." "I'm still standing there holding a bucket full of rocks and staring into a bleak old age." "So I made me a vow right then and there. I said:" "If I can find a man with $500 who likes rocks then there's gonna be another fool owning this farm." "the Lord provided such a man and here I am." "Mr. Harvey." "We had the best farm in the township." "RockviIle Township it was." "Stone County." "it was not." "It was his itching foot that brought us here." "Heaven knows where we'll end up." "Brutus and Colin." "How do you do?" "Hello." "I think they're already acquainted with your daughters." "single so far." "this Illinois country's beginning to sound better to me." "Lilith?" "here." "Strike up a little tune for these handsome lads." "there's a time for coaxing this ain't the time." "All right." "All right." "A captain bold in Halifax Who lived in country quarters" "Betrayed a maid who hanged herself One morning in her garters" "Lilith." "you know better than to sing a song like that." "What ones do you know?" "We know "Yankee Doodle." ""Yankee Doodle"?" "Their mother's dead." "They haven't had much learning in the social graces." "give them "A Home in the Meadow." "you too." "That's it." "join in." "That's it." "Come on." "Stop." "Loading for the Flying Arrow!" "All aboard for the Flying Arrow!" "The Prescott family!" "Here we be." "Come on." "Alec Harvey and three sons!" "Jeffrey Rose and family!" "But the canal was only the first step toward the promised land." "The next steps were longer and harder." "Those who could raise the fare went by steamboat to the end of the line." "Illinois and the open spaces beyond." "listen to this:" "Theirs was a poignant parting in the forest." "The handsome young backwoodsman carved two hearts on a tree trunk... hurled a knife at the junction of the two hearts." "Junction." "What's that?" "listen:" "His marksmanship was uncanny." "he said the first time." "divine love" he said the second." "a plea for love undying."'" "Isn't that beautiful?" "I reckon." "If anybody ever talks like that." "not the talk." "Eve." "but you don't wanna marry a farmer." "Neither do you." "Of course not." "I don't wanna have nothing to do with farms." "I want silk dresses and fine carriages and a man to smell good." "not West." "But I'll get there yet." "You watch." "You don't know what you want yet." "not where he lives." "now?" "Ready." "I suspect." "ZebuIon?" "Don't know." "They say no honest man travels this river at night." "Pa." "I hear that's a favorite pirate trick." "They hide in the bottom of the boat till they're ready to jump you." "Pa." "stranger." "And keep your hands where we can see them." "Name's Linus Rawlings." "I'm hungrier than sin and real peaceful like." "What have you got in the craft?" "Beaver pelts." "I said beaver pelts." "Mr. Rawlings." "I'll show you one." "There you are." "That's real soft." "ma'am." "sir." "We was afeared you might be a pirate." "I ain't no pirate." "let's have supper and get acquainted." "ma'am." "you sure set your cap in a hurry." "Is he the backwoodsman you've been waiting for?" "More than likely he's got a wife and six kids waiting for him." "that was right tasty." "You've only had four plates." "I was beginning to think you didn't like it." "ma'am." "How come you're to be traveling so late at night?" "I'm kind of anxious to get to Pittsburgh." "I ain't seen a city for a long time." "I aim to whoop it up a little." "we've never seen a mountain man before." "them Rocky Mountains as high as they say?" "I just don't rightly know." "I never climbed one. I've...." "Uh.... that just ain't exactly true." "Jim Bridger and me... you know." "we see this fella and he has a great big pair of white wings and a harp in his hand." "And I said to Jim... I don't like the way that fella's looking at us." "And Jim said he didn't care too much for it neither so we both skedaddled down out of there and to this day I ain't never had a good look at the Rocky Mountains." "I remember one time" "Zebulon." "What?" "One liar at a time is enough." "I reckon it's about bedtime." "Gotta get an early start in the morning." "We'll be expecting you for breakfast." "Mr. Prescott but sometimes I wake up and get the urge to move." "but thank you." "I wanna thank all of you." "Good night." "Good night." "kind of like a wisp of smoke." "that looks like my blanket." "It is." "ma'am." "Whose bed would it be?" "Yours." "I ain't ever saw a bed like that since last time I come east." "Why'd you do it?" "Ain't polite to ask a girl why she done something for a man." "I reckon my manners ain't much at that." "ma'am." "Are them Indian girls pretty?" "I reckon that all depends on just how long a man has gone without seeing one." "How long's it been since you seen a white girl?" "I ain't quite sure why you asked that." "How pretty do I look to you?" "ma'am ain't you just being a little bit forward?" "you're headed upriver and I'm headed down." "There's no time to get these questions answered." "You dead sure you want them answered?" "Yes." "Glory be." "it seems like you've been kissed before." "I've never been kissed permanent before." "you sure use surprising words." "I never heard "permanent" mixed up with a thing like a kiss before." "I can still feel that kiss." "you said something before that we had not forget:" "I'm heading upstream and you're headed downstream." "Lovers have parted before and come together again." "Ma'am." "Eve." "I'm a sinful man." "sinful." "I'm on my way to Pittsburgh to be sinful again." "Likely I'll stay drunk for a month." "I won't even remember the fancy gals I dally with or the men I carve up just out of pure cussedness any more than I'll remember you." "I'm asking you." "Can you still feel that kiss?" "Eve.... you make me feel like a man standing on a narrow ledge..." "There just ain't no ignoring the situation." "Eve!" "Eve!" "what's the matter?" "you're here." "I thought you'd gone with him." "gone." "I knowed you were setting with him..." ""At least she's looking at a man." "Even a wisp of smoke like that is better than-- what does that mean?" "tell me what that means." "Pa." "What time did you come to bed?" "Pa." "It wasn't." "It was late." "I'm only gonna ask you once." "Is there anything for your ma and pa to worry about?" "there ain't." "He'll be back." "I'll see him again." "But you expected to see him this morning." "You know you did." "I don't care. I'll see him again." "Look." "You got a growed man to do that?" "I did." "Just like in the book." "Did you get him to say them crazy words?" "it's the sentiment." "he didn't even giggle nor nothing at such foolishness?" "He said it was a real solemn occasion." "Like shooting the rapids without a paddle." "he did it just to get rid of you so as he could clear out." "You know that's so." "And you're lucky he did." "Do you wanna live like a squaw all your life?" "say anything you like but I'll see him again. I know I will." "And he ain't got a wife and six kids." "He ain't got a wife at all yet." "Pierre!" "Someone's coming upriver." "Customer." "seems like." "See how that cover bellies up?" "Could be furs." "mister?" "Drier than a grasshopper on a hot griddle." "sir." "Iate colonel of the Alabama militia." "Where you bound for?" "Pittsburgh." "Pittsburgh?" "Well." "Pop." "Sure enough mountain man." "Indeed." "One of our explorers gonna extend our domain to the far shores of the Pacific." "sir." "Whiskey?" "Right." "No pepper or rattlesnake heads in this." "Nothing but the pure grain and the sweet kiss of the malt." "huh?" "sir." "Sure will." "you're right." "That's real sipping liquor." "you suppose he might know what that varmint is we got?" "he just might." "we caught us a cave-dweIling critter that no man in these parts has seen before." "it'd be right satisfying to having you tell us what it is." "I don't know too much about cave-dwelling varmints." "Just yonder." "Take your jug." "I...." "I don't know." "WOIt's right over here." "You know any sweet-talking gals in Pittsburgh?" "yet." "Pop and I are hoping we'll vacation there." "I'll be at the Duquesne House if it ain't burned down." "you sure you got a varmint in here?" "you" "WODo you hear him?" "Huh?" "WOHe breathes loud and fierce." "We keep him in this hole just yonder." "You keep him in there?" "You gotta look a little closer." "Pa." "daughter." "I ain't so sure." "He was hard muscled." "I couId feel the blade just skitter along his ribs." "that's all." "It's a pity you ain't got the knack your ma had." "Lord rest her soul." "men." "come on." "We got more fish to fry." "Down to the island." "rafts are coming." "Pa?" "it says." "How much is it?" "It's only 15 cents." "Fifteen cents?" "Put it back." "sir." "Absolutely right." "You save the pennies and dollars will grow." "Likely you've growed many a dollar." "all my life I've been striving to avoid becoming a millionaire." "I think I've succeeded right well." "I've got a little put away in the sock." "It'lI stay there." "them's my sentiments exactly." "sir." "You look like a man of property." "a thousand dollars." "maybe." "don't be afraid." "there's women and children here." "would you?" "folks." "It's in our noble tradition that we conquer the wilderness with nothing but our bare hands and stout hearts." "You can build new rafts and sally forth in the spirit of your forefathers." "you pious old scoundrel." "I'll see you burn." "Americans can't be whipped." "It's him." "I knew he'd come back." "It's him." "Now let us pray." "O Lord we thank thee for our salvation." "We commit the souls of our dead to thy gentle keeping." "We pray for a speedy recovery of our wounded." "And now another matter." "O Lord without consulting with thee we have sent thy way some souls whose evil ways passeth all understanding." "We ask thee humbly to receive them." "Whether you want them or not." "Amen." "it'lI be a job but I guess I can patch her up good enough to get to Pittsburgh." "Eve let's just not talk any more about it." "you don't know your own mind." "maybe not." "I ain't saying that you haven't been on my mind some." "I ain't saying that." "But I still went to see the varmint with that pirate girl." "Eve." "I just ain't cut out to be a farmer or a husband." "I ain't never bringing up the subject again whether ever I see you or not." "it's for the best." "Eve." "And I ain't said that to anybody for a long time." "Pa." "White water." "Look." "Look." "we must've taken the wrong fork." "Let's beach her on this side." "Harvey!" "Rapids!" "Rapids ahead!" "Beach her!" "Beach her!" "Hold her steady." "Rein!" "we're in the current!" "Zeke." "I don't wanna." "Pa." "Lilith!" "Hold it steady!" "I can't!" "Go on." "Go on to help Pa." "I'll get it." "Lilith!" "Lilith!" "Lie down!" "Lie down!" "What happened?" "They took the wrong fork of the river and they went over the falls." "Did you happen to hear the name of the family?" "I think." "Something like that." "As soon as they're buried decent I'm heading back East on the first boat that comes along." "you would too." "Linus." "Eve?" "I.... all the time I was paddling down here I was thinking... I'd" "Eve?" "Linus." "I'm staying right here." "I ain't moving a foot one way or the other." "would you explain that a little?" "they wanted a farm in the West and this is as far as they got." "Seems to me this is where the Lord wanted the farm to be." "and winter's coming" "There's no sense talking about it." "I'm gonna do it." "you just ain't making much sense." "I reckon." "All right." "All right." "you're a strong-minded woman." "I reckon I seen that varmint for the last time." "The westward course was no smoother than that of true love." "but the impediment of war." "Trouble over land smoldered along the Mexican border." "including Congressman Abe Lincoln of Illinois." "and in the end vast new territories came into the Union along with their rich Spanish names:" "El Paso." "California named after a mythical island of pearls and gold in a 15th-century novel." "in 1848... a man found something he wasn't even looking for at the bottom of a ditch." "And the cry of his discovery was heard clear across the continent..." "Savannah..." "Berlin." "But nowhere was the clamor of gold heard more eagerly than in St. Louis the busiest fur-trading center in the world..." "most uppity town west of New York." "I say there's no more than three." "Six." "Six?" "It's that lace that fooled you." "I say three." "you can never prove it." "We're going to be late for that poker game." "I've just stuck you for the most expensive dinner in St. Louis." "I don't mind sticking you a bit deeper." "I'll lay you a hundred it's no less than six." "How will you prove it?" "Go backstage and find out." "If I go back and check with you." "Fair enough." "Second girl." "Miss Prescott?" "Miss Prescott?" "Later." "It's rather important." "It's always important." "the more important it gets." "please." "I am Hylan Seabury attorney in the matter of Jonathan Brooks." "He means nothing to you?" "That old goat?" "Miss Prescott." "Why?" "You're included in his will." "you have to make the trip to California to claim the bequest." "I wouldn't go to california if John Jacob Astor left me San Francisco." "no." "property is not to be scorned." "Miss Prescott." "Gold." "Gold?" "Precisely." "Miss Prescott." "It yielded $3500 the very first week." "Gold mine?" "I...." "That sweet old goat." "For heavens...." "Well." "This is an unexpected pleasure." "Where's the money?" "Money?" "Money?" "to our little agreement." "One hundred to start you off and my share of the winnings." "I'm somewhat embarrassed to report that the hundred no longer exists." "I assure you will turn out to be the best investment you have ever made." "gentlemen beyond your wildest dreams." "I'm gonna earn you a piece of a gold mine." "Gold mine." "You ain't gonna earn nothing." "you ain't gonna do nothing unless we get that 100 back by the morning." "you don't mean that." "mister." "We'll be waiting." "was the jump-off point for emigrants from everywhere." "God-fearing families bound for the farmlands of Oregon and get-rich-quick adventurers racing for the gold of California." "Try it." "I suppose?" "I can get one." "And a team to pull it?" "I can get everything I need." "Mr. Morgan." "No traveling companion?" "I'm traveling alone." "Not on my wagon train." "Alone and single brings out the deviltry in a man." "Gets them all worked up and they're wild enough already." "Mr. Morgan." "woman of your sort?" "and there'd be hell to pay just figuring out who." "Mr. Morgan?" "ain't you the feisty one." "I like spirit in a woman." "you got a pretty face under that powder too." "I wager." "Aggie Clegg." "Why don't you go see her?" "Thanks." "no." "I was hoping to make this trip with a husband." "Nearly got one last week." "I hear there's 40 men to every woman in California." "I'd be willing to pay you." "I don't need money." "I need a man." "Any man." "ladies." "Beautiful morning." "happen to be Miss Lily Prescott?" "Not unless you got a big imagination." "Then you must be the lady in question." "at your service." "At your every command from here to California." "thank you." "I don't need." "Perhaps you don't understand." "I do." "I know a tinhorn when I see one." "Miss Prescott." "I'm offering you an honest day's work for an honest day's pay." "Mr. Van Valen." "Goodbye." "Miss Clegg." "May I say I have never seen a woman with more beautiful hair." "What a prize catch it'll make hanging from the waist of an Indian." "and who's to protect you?" "No one." "Not one person won't be looking after himself." "Well.... ladies." "Good day." "Nobody ever said that to me before." "What?" "That I had such...." "Such beautiful hair." "You know something?" "I got a hunch you're gonna draw men like fish to the bait." "Maybe I can catch one of them while they swim by." "You got yourself a partner." "Thank you." "men?" "It's all clear through here." "Look for a little mudhole up through the next pocket." "maybe half a quarter." "thanks." "Looks a little higher up on that ridge." "There's a water hole up there about half a mile." "Let's head for it." "Water hole about a half a mile ahead." "you're driving." "I was raised on a farm." "Water hole about a half a mile ahead." "Aggie?" "sure." "Thanks." "Ladies." "At your service." "I thought we'd gotten rid of you." "I just couldn't bear to think of you two making this trip without my help." "I'd never forgive myself." "You came 100 miles alone?" "but I'll take your word for it." "mister." "Going back." "I want men who can fix it not bet how long it'll take." "You don't mean you'll turn me out?" "Pass me adrift at the mercy of savage Indians?" "I'll cast you adrift-- sir." "I'm prepared to wager you that I stay with this train." "wait a minute." "I hired this man." "We'll put up his stake." "Miss Prescott?" "If Miss Clegg says so." "Ma'am I'll be forever grateful." "I'Il unpack my gear." "have you gone crazy?" "He says he's a man wanting to do an honest day's work." "And he'll do it. I can promise you that." "keep up that slack." "Keep it up." "Get that team moving." "Keep them moving there." "Don't let those lines sag." "Keep them up." "Keep them up." "Keep those teams moving." "Keep them moving." "Don't let those lines sag." "keep them moving." "Pa." "Get in there." "mule." "Miss Prescott." "I want to confess I have lied about why I wanted to work for you." "I know." "that I'm in love with you." "No." "It's the truth." "I've known that I couldn't live without you." "Mr. Van Valen." "Miss Prescott." "I'm prepared to assume the responsibilities of a faithful husband." "and are you ready to assume the responsibilities..." "Mr. Van Valen?" "Really?" "What kind of property?" "Mr. Van Valen." "from what I understand." "shiny gold." "I had no idea." "I really mean" "Here comes Agatha." "If you must propose to somebody I suggest you get on your knees to her." "she has beautiful hair." "Look at them." "Think they was getting ready to bury somebody." "Ain't we worn down enough as it is?" "let's wake them up." "everybody." "That's the spirit!" "That's the way to feel!" "Mr. Morgan!" "Aggie." "For lunch." "Thanks." "Nice nest of fish." "Mr. Morgan?" "I've been thinking." "Oh?" "you're the handsomest woman I ever did see." "sturdy body." "Miss Prescott." "childbearing would come as easy as rolling off a log." "Mr. Morgan." "you got the build for it." "I want you for my wife." "I've got a cattle ranch just below the Merced." "fit and proper." "Mr. Morgan." "then you just couldn't do no better than marrying me." "we'd have ourselves a fine family in no time at all." "I believe that." "Mr. Morgan but I can't accept your proposal." "Why not?" "a woman likes to hear something a little more inviting." "ain't that what I've been doing?" "Inviting you?" "Miss Prescott." "Mr. Morgan." "ain't it?" "Must be something else nagging at you." "Well..." "Miss Prescott." "You can count on that." "What did he want?" "Children." "Children?" "I'll be" "Why didn't he come shopping at the right store?" "I'll take a look." "Well." "are we pikers?" "I'm gonna see and I'm gonna raise this fine pistol London-made and loaded for bear." "I'll take part of that bet." "I told you I wouldn't stand for you fleecing any" "Cheyennes." "There's too many to fight." "We'll have to run for it." "You can't outrun them with wagons." "cut your teams loose." "get moving." "Chances are they want our stock more than us." "let's get moving." "Keep them closed up there." "I don't know how to unhook them." "watch out!" "Cleve!" "pick me up." "We'll be moving at daybreak." "see if we can find him." "Christian burial." "Someone's coming!" "Someone's coming!" "and I'Il give you a good team." "Pick it up in the morning." "That'll be fine." "Could you tell me the way to the Brooks claim?" "the claims are down by the river." "Which road should I take?" "Only one road." "along the river." "Thank you." "Sure welcome." "We're looking for a Mr. Huggins." "You found him." "This is Miss Lilith Prescott." "I figured." "They told me you was a real looker." "Yup." "It's all here for you." "Just the way Mr. Brooks staked it out." "Must've had 20 men working on it." "where are they now?" "Who's digging the gold?" "Gold?" "I ain't never seen a better grade since I come here with Millie." "though." "nothing but a pocket." "we cleared 4200 before it played out." "about that 4200.... he spent three before his heart give out." "I put up 600 for a brass-handled casket." "I figure the rest you owe me for sitting on your claim." "ain't it?" "wouldn't you--?" "all right." "How about you boys?" "Come and see the brand-new attraction." "gentlemen." "Miss Prescott?" "Mr. Morgan." "but it's a little cramped." "This is no life for a fine woman like you." "I heard your mine was played out." "But where's your fancy friend?" "Cleve?" "he was in Hangtown." "You mean that no-good went off and left you?" "He went off and left me." "But I don't agree that he's no good." "that's all." "Miss Prescott." "When a skunk needs killing... it ain't enough just to say a skunk's a skunk." "Mr. Morgan all my life I've wanted to marry a rich husband." "Can I blame Cleve for wanting to marry a rich wife?" "Both of us may have been born for the poorhouse but we're not the kind to like it." "or is it just words?" "tell me the truth." "The truth is Cleve and I couldn't live alone just on love." "Not for five minutes." "Then you've answered the question I've been asking for better than 2000 miles." "I got the biggest ranch you ever did see." "You can't ride across it in a day." "That land's gonna mean money sooner than you think." "You want a rich husband you're looking at him." "There ain't a blessed thing you have to do except mind the kids." "I'm sorry." "Not now." "Not ever." "What a waste." "Someone put together like you." "Aggie." "Those who struck it rich wanted all the pleasures that money could buy." "And there were plenty to sell to them." "Even the Sacramento riverboats took on luxury goods." "I'll see it." "It's up to you." "Betting?" "What's the matter with you?" "I'm checking out." "Checking out?" "What's the matter with him?" "I got to talk to you." "I found myself throwing in a winning hand." "I just never thought I'd do that for any girl." "Lily." "How'd you like to hook up with a no-good gambler?" "we are on our way." "I got $1200 right here." "open a gambling house?" "No." "A married man should spend his evenings at home." "Then we'll open a music hall in San Francisco." "No." "I can still sing and dance." "No." "A married woman should spend her evenings at home." "But we can't sit at home on $1200 for" "Lily." "Have you seen San Francisco?" "and it's full of fleas." "And it burns down about every five minutes but each time they keep on rebuilding it a little bigger and better than before." "It's alive and kicking and nothing can stop it." "And it makes you wanna build something too." "A railroad." "A steamship line." "Something to help the baby grow." "on $1200?" "We could start out with a wagon or a rowboat." "I'll bet we make it." "Young America was not only a union of East and West." "There were North and South too." "the bonds were weakening." "now retired from Congress and practicing law realized that the South would fight to mold the new and uncommitted territories to its own image." "Still two years from the presidency he pleaded that the free West be allowed to remain free and warned of the hazards of a house divided against itself." "seeing its power and influence wane struggled against the inevitable in dozens of Western towns." "the bitter seeds of civil war took root." "Ms. RawIings." "whoa." "what's that suit you got on?" "Mrs. Rawlings." "A uniform." "Our militia company was sworn in..." "Ohio Volunteers." "You won't be seeing me for a spell." "from way out in California." "Lilith." "Dear Eve.... could you wait a minute?" "I wanna answer this right away." "Zeb?" "come on down here." "we was hoping that Zeb might be going with us." "His pa went when the first bugle blew." "Ain't one enough?" "corporal." "get Mr. Peterson some buttermilk." "Buttermilk." "It's from your aunt Lilith." "She says there ain't no war out in California and they don't expect there'll be one." "Business is brisk." "Many opportunities for an energetic young man." "There's talk of building a railroad east." "CIeve has hopes of getting in on the ground floor." "We would welcome Zeb if he wants to come." "did you write her about me?" "did you?" "I told her you didn't like farming any better than your pa did." "you got the wrong idea about this war." "corporal?" "You know Pa's having the time of his life." "I got it from the captain himself that we ain't gonna be gone no time at all." "Pa left it up to you whether I go or not." "But you know what he really felt." "there ain't much glory in tromping behind a plow." "Reckon there's no hurry in answering this letter." "Thank you for waiting." "You mean I can go?" "there'll be things to do." "Ma...." "Gotta get your underwear washed and your socks darned." "Do they give you one of them suits?" "One of them uniforms?" "I reckon." "though." "I'll wash it for you." "they aren't ironed yet." "I...." "Why'd you call me that?" "It's always been "Ma" before." "I don't know." "All of a sudden "Ma" didn't seem enough somehow." "cowpoke!" "dog!" "Go on!" "Pa?" "boy." "blood." "I guess that's why I love him so much." "Pa." "Help me pray." "Ohio." "Ohio!" "come on!" "Anybody here from the 12th Michigan?" "Thirty-sixth Indiana." "1862." "The guns that had roared all day fell silent around a little church called the Shiloh Meeting House." "Many a man had met his God that Sunday but not in church." "men." "He's dead." "this here is Captain Rawlings." "Captain Linus Rawlings." "men." "soldier." "Watch it." "Saw." "Brandy." "Chloroform." "all of it." "we're just in the way here." "It had been the bloodiest day of the war on the Western front." "but by nightfall no man cared to use the words "win" or "lose."" "After Shiloh the South never smiled." "You tasted that water yet?" "No." "try it." "huh?" "Yeah." "I seen it before sundown." "It was pink." "Pinker than sassafras tea." "You mean...?" "It don't seem fitting a man should have to drink water like that." "Don't seem fitting a man should have to do any of the things we've done today." "Did you kill anybody?" "I don't think so." "I got knocked dizzy right off." "it was busted." "And then some more soldiers come along and tried to stick me in the arm." "All the rest is mixed up after that." "neither." "And I don't want to." "where you from?" "Ohio." "This fool war started in the East." "What's us Westerners doing in it?" "I don't rightly know anymore." "It ain't quite what I expected." "There ain't much glory looking at a man with his guts hanging out." "Where are you from?" "Texas." "Say.... are you?" "I ain't so sure." "Seems like I ought to be shooting you." "you got anything to shoot with?" "No." "All I got's this bayonet." "I got a pistol." "I took it off a dead officer." "why don't we skedaddle out of here?" "why don't--?" "Just leave this here war to the folks who'd want it." "They say there ain't no war out in California." "Get that battery over here." "you!" "I'm planning to move Rousseau's brigade into this area." "placed well before dawn." "Do you approve?" "I'll approve any dispositions you wanna make." "we'd have been whipped for fair." "let's sit down a minute." "There's something I wanna say to you." "Lantern." "You may find yourself in command here." "Why?" "I've seen some of the dispatches the newspaper correspondents have filed today." "They're saying I was taken by surprise this morning." "You weren't taken by surprise." "I was." "No matter." "They're saying I was drunk again last night." "Were you?" "No." "But you can't fight front and rear." "tomorrow I intend to resign." "Because of the newspapers?" "Because of a general lack of confidence in me." "don't you think I've ever felt like that?" "A month ago they were saying I was crazy." "Insane." "I'm the same man." "It doesn't matter what the people think." "Grant." "You mean that's Grant?" "I reckon." "General Grant." "and how to win it." "Everything you've done proves it." "And I say that a man has the right to resign only if he's wrong." "Not if he's right." "I guess I never thought of it that way." "I'll think it over." "What is there to think about?" "The Army's better off with you than without you." "That's the test." "All right." "Thanks." "Sherman." "What are you doing?" "Why did you make me do that?" "Fire." "Zeb!" "Didn't you get my letter?" "I wrote more than four months ago." "She never was quite the same after she got the news about Pa." "except she wanted to see you again." "Of course Pa ain't really there." "I put up a stone anyway." "Well better be on my way." "Way?" "Where?" "Zeb." "Only one thing brought me back." "She's.... this farm is half yours." "I was thinking we'd finally clear away that patch of woods down by the river and...." "You're twice the farmer I am." "You don't need me." "Farm's all yours." "It's only fair." "Sure don't feel right about this." "What are you gonna do?" "I haven't mustered out yet." "I can still transfer to the regulars." "maybe." "Go west." "Have to fight Indians?" "Zeb." "what do you wanna do that for?" "Do you like fighting?" "You remember the story Pa used to tell us about fighting that grizzly bear?" "Yeah." "why'd you get in such a fix?" "Do you like fighting grizzlies?" "He said:" "not especially." "Uh...." "I just wanted to go somewhere and the bear was there first." "I...." "I guess I just wanna go somewhere too." "Zeb." "Even while North and South were being torn apart East and West had been drawn together by the Pony Express the most daring mail route in history." "in all weather." "half riding west between Missouri and Sacramento carrying mail across country in days instead of months." "they rode to save weight." "and on thin paper too." "skill and speed..." "hell and occasional high water." "men were already building a faster message carrier across the country: the Overland Telegraph." "And the Indians found a new amusement listening to the level tune of the singing wires." "But far less amusing to the Indians was the coming of the steel roadway of the iron horse." "the Rocky Mountains and the equally discouraging High Sierras." "But range upon range could never stop the titanic contest between two corporate giants racing to put down the greatest mileage of track before they met." "The Central Pacific eastward from Sacramento through the Sierras." "forging westward across the plains with the Rockies still to come." "vast parcels for every mile of track laid." "Land that would one day be worth millions." "Hold it." "Set it down." "up." "Where'd you find them?" "About a mile back yonder." "That's Johnny Hormatz." "That's Jack Perkin." "What the hell is this?" "A picnic?" "you were the foreman here." "all of you!" "Move it!" "Fast!" "sir." "You're the foreman till I can find somebody better." "sir." "Get them at it." "Wait a minute." "Move it!" "Your name Jethro Stuart?" "get at it." "you're hired to hunt buffalo to feed these men not to stop their work." "Why'd you bring these bodies here?" "They're raiIroaders. I thought somebody in the railroad might be interested." "I'm the railroad and I'm not interested." "then tracked down the Indians who did it." "I was hired to hunt not to dig graves or fight Indians." "Those fellas are mostly old soldiers." "You wouldn't think a couple dead men bother them much." "I don't want anything in their thick skulls but their work." "Do you understand?" "get rid of those bodies." "Start tracking those Indians." "my job's buffalo." "It was buffalo." "Go to the paymaster and draw your time." "you didn't fire him." "You just took him down a peg because you needed him." "Who's gonna shoot buffalo?" "You?" "What the devil is that?" "Milk." "Milk?" "The Army must've changed since I was in it." "huh?" "But you'd rather watch them than eat." "Is that it?" "That's it." "I wish you were as eager to protect this railroad." "Did you get any word about those two men who were killed today?" "I tracked the Arapahos and talked to the chief." "Those men were a mile off the right-of-way... drunk and chasing squaws." "As much their fault as it was the Indians'." "That a fact?" "not to agree with them." "there were 200 Arapahos and I had 20 men." "to me agreeing seemed wiser than fighting." "huh?" "I might just send off a wire to the colonel." "He may not agree." "I already reported." "He does agree." "Acknowledged and understood." "Sergeant." "sir?" "I don't know." "lieutenant." "I got a message:" "Indians are up to something." "You know anything about it?" "Chief says railroad busted the agreement." "come smack through Arapaho hunting grounds." "You sure the chief's right?" "Plenty sure." "They're getting the war paint ready." "Can you stand there and tell me that one little change is gonna cost the Arapahos one buffalo." "Or even one jackrabbit?" "Mr." "King." "They can be made to see it differently." "Who's hurting them?" "What's a railroad anyway?" "Two tracks and a whistle." "It's not the tracks they're afraid of." "It's what the tracks bring." "The buffalo hunters slaughtering off their herds." "And then the settlers coming in." "maybe?" "we'll all be dead." "Right now we're just crossing the land." "That's all." "Land that's safe to the Arapahos for our lifetime." "you go talk to them." "Smoke a peace pipe with them." "Do anything they want." "Just get them to make a new agreement." "isn't it?" "Keeping the peace?" "Mr. King but you keep your promise." "you're from Ohio." "could it?" "Could be." "Knew him." "Jethro Stuart." "He used to speak of you." "Used to?" "Pa was killed at Shiloh." "Mr. Stuart." "better than dying behind a plow." "I tried it." "Settled down for a year once." "Took 10 years off my life." "Your ma...." "She must've been something real special getting old Linus to stay put." "Mr. Stuart." "Very special." "Old Linus." "Two years running once." "Your pa and me trapped together." "Up along the Waunakee." "we had to tie them tail-to-tail just to drag them down the mountain." "that line of beaver pelts." "my father could take the truth and stretch it about six ways." "You sound just like him." "I'll take it you meant that kindly." "I'd think twice before I called you a liar." "talking about liars." "Why would a son of old Linus get mixed up with a man like Mike King?" "I know what you mean." "But Mike King isn't the railroad." "Oh?" "I don't think he knows that." "is he?" "No." "I know." "But he'd do anything to gain a day on the Central Pacific." "and neither do the Arapahos." "I think I could get them to agree to this change in route if I sit down and talk with them for a while." "How you gonna get them to do it?" "That's just it." "I need somebody that knows the language and who they trust." "Mr. Stuart?" "Your pa could set a trap like no man I ever come across." "bam." "You'd better do something so he'll know you're pledging your word." "That blame whistle's like the crack of doom for all that's natural." "My ma felt a man ought to make his scratch on the land." "Leave it a little different than when he come." "thanks for fixing things with the chief." "Me?" "I fixed nothing." "You put the words to my mouth but that won't make them come true." "I said what I had to to keep the peace." "I know there's a risk." "Risk?" "Maybe you don't understand." "You pledged your word back there." "not the railroad's." "It's your word told them they'd keep their hunting grounds." "I think they will." "I think you got your neck stuck out like a prairie chicken waiting for one side or the other to chop it off." "Your pa and me got kicked out of one territory after another... putting up towns." "It ain't gonna stop." "Your treaty's gonna get broke and I don't wanna be around to see it happen." "Look me up when you get your bellyful." "Where you going?" "Heading back to the mountains." "A high lonesome where there ain't no people at all yet." "So long." "the Central Pacific had broken through the wall of the high Sierras and was straining eastward across the flatlands of Nevada." "thanks to its long peace with the Indians was able to keep up pressure just as avidly in the opposite direction." "but also costly and both companies were itching to earn money from tracks already laid." "Jake?" "No better than I did." "much less buffalo." "Just get them to water right away." "You say no buffalo hunter come." "ilar." "We scout for you no more." "you said." "And there they are." "The buffalo slaughterers and the settlers." "it's sooner than I figured." "But the railroad's broke." "They need money to keep moving on." "no railroad." "It's as simple as that." "What about the Arapahos?" "Just take a look at those people." "Half of them straight from Europe." "but they'Il make it." "And do you wanna know why they'll make it?" "Because they're willing to change their ways." "they're finished." "I know they have to and someday the land will be taken over by these farmers with their towns and their cattle." "But not like this." "and I don't have to be a part of it." "lieutenant?" "aren't you forgetting that uniform?" "I'm forgetting it." "I'm resigning." "And now." "I don't see how that's gonna help the Arapahos." "Nothing will help them." "But nothing's gonna stop them." "Indian attack!" "Indian attack!" "Take cover!" "Take a good look." "You wanted a war and you got one." "I hope you're the first man killed in it." "Turn those wagons over!" "Shoot for the lead horses." "Pick off the chief." "try that." "The Indians are stampeding the buffalo." "Dirty skunks." "Come on." "I told you there'd be no war." "Look at them." "They've quit." "They'Il be back." "They just sent a bunch of animals to kill an animal they call the "iron horse." "isn't it?" "And nothing's gonna stop it." "You think you can live with that?" "or I can die with it." "Just listen." "You can live with that?" "That?" "That ain't crying." "That's just new life going on." "Pick up this woman and put the rest of the injured in the tent house." "Merv-- back to work." "We got a railroad to build." "Well...." "Looks like you finally got your belIyful." "Jethro." "Appears you're doing well." "Can't complain." "fighting their way into the trap." "No white men looking over my shoulder and the Indians are plumb cordial." "Toss your stuff in there." "Plenty of room for two." "Thanks." "You'll be bunking yonder." "Take your bearings now so you can find it when you need it." "you can build your own cabin." "I'll furnish the ax." "Thanks." "I'm just passing through." "Through to where?" "Anywhere you go is like where you've been." "Ain't you lost enough tail feathers back there?" "I've been plucked some." "But that's what I like about this country." "There's always greener grass over the next hill." "Not no more." "Not since that damn railroad come." "with a lock on it." "Maybe I'll just have to climb a little higher hill to find it." "How about coming along?" "You crazy?" "These rocks and trees around here feel no call to move." "Why should I?" "Jethro." "But I'm sure not a rock nor a tree." "like him or not." "The coming of railroads brought changes in the land through which they passed." "Now immense herds of cattle were driven hundreds of miles to meet the lines bound for markets in the East." "cattle trails were barred and a long and bloody wrangle began between cattlemen and homesteaders." "The law was in the hands of whoever could shoot fast and straight except where there was somebody determined to stand for law." "Others might look on sheep and a shepherd as a pastoral scene." "Not the cattleman." "and grass came dear." "And if a man's life were held cheaper than grass..." "not a crime." "the man with the star was only one against many." "But time was running out for the reckless ones..." "the gallop-and-gunshot boys as more and more citizens demanded respect for the law and showed themselves ready to fight to uphold it." "And the raw new towns that sprung up in the West began to dream of becoming as refined as that one-time hooligan city by the Golden Gate." "San Francisco was now respectable." "it even had mansions up for auction." "Two thousand dollars." "Two thousand dollars." "Is that your last bid?" "this trophy is solid gold and fully inscribed." "president." "San Francisco-Kansas City Railroad." "It's a treasure he held dear to his heart." "Do I hear $3000 for this priceless possession?" "my foot." "We used it for a doorstop." "Twenty-five hundred." "Twenty-five hundred dollars." "Twenty-five hundred dollars." "Twenty-five hundred?" "Sold $2500." "Lilith." "Sad?" "We made and spent three fortunes together." "What's so sad about that?" "we would've made and spent another." "Mrs. Van Valen." "What?" "it's been sold." "I'm sorry." "take it." "Quit apologizing and take it." "madam." "If there'd been some other way to pay off the debts...." "It doesn't matter." "I've got two things no one can ever take from me:" "This and my land in Arizona." "I don't want to dash any hopes but that ranch is nearly worthless." "isn't it?" "but most of the cattle have been sold off or stolen." "I'll get cattle." "You'll need someone to work it." "Someone to manage it for you." "I'll get that too." "Who?" "My nephew." "He's a marshal out there somewhere." "it might be kind of rough." "Rough?" "My ma and pa were killed going down the river just looking for land." "I guess I got a little of that Prescott blood in me after all." "Pa?" "Is Aunt Lilith's house on Nob Hill as high as that?" "son." "you ask your aunt Lilith." "She'll tell you." "Honey?" "Do you think you'll know her?" "What?" "You aunt Lilith." "Do you think you'll recognize her?" "Sure." "Zeb?" "What's the matter?" "Nothing." "Come on." "Thank you." "I am." "Lilith." "Zeb." "Zeb Rawlings." "goodness." "I swore up and down I wasn't gonna cry." "You're just as pretty as Ma said you was." "Julie." "Pleased to meet you." "I'm pleased to meet you too." "I just can't tell you how pleased." "underneath all the jam." "Come on and meet Sam now." "Sam?" "Sam's our horse." "He could pull two wagons if he wanted." "I have my orders to meet Sam." "Come on." "boys." "But he's on the other side." "Come on." "Okay." "Come on." "Just a minute." "I think this means a whole lot to her." "You have no idea how much it means to me to be able to settle down to a life of peace and quiet." "I'll get the luggage." "boys." "Jake." "Tom." "Pablo." "Zeb." "Let's go." "don't tell me you come all the way to Gold City just to meet me?" "I hardly expected it." "And the beautiful" " Mrs. Rawlings?" "What a pleasure." "bright-eyed wife just as dazzling as that sun up there." "don't it?" "It makes a person wanna live." "That's Charlie Gant." "I thought you said he was in Montana." "Zeb?" "that's all." "Julie?" "sir." "sir." "Julie?" "nothing." "Eve." "Lou." "Zeb." "Got a minute?" "Of course I got a minute." "Here." "most respectfully to peruse the-- thanks." "what can I do for you?" "name it." "I saw Gant get off the train this morning." "There were three men waiting for him." "huh?" "That's it." "there ain't a thing we can do to keep Charlie Gant from going where he wants to in this territory." "I know. I know what he was but that's over now." "It was over the day his brother got-- but.... you didn't." "There ain't a thing I can do about it now." "Lou?" "Ain't you even curious?" "what do you want me to do?" "Run him out of town at the point of a gun?" "Do you think we still put the law inside a holster here?" "Zeb." "There's the law." "With all its writs and decrees and...." "We abide by that circuit judge now." "How many get killed meantime?" "Nobody's got killed." "Nobody's going to." "the Youngers...." "They're all gone now." "Charlie Gant ain't gone." "You get me a warrant." "I'lI get you Gant." "Lou?" "They want three guards in the wagon with the gold shipment tomorrow." "000 worth." "all right?" "Well?" "Well what?" "Doesn't that mean anything to you?" "It means we put on a three-man guard." "To the train." "What happens then?" "You know there's gold going out here every month or so." "There hasn't been a train robbery since Jesse James was killed." "we'll have one." "Zeb." "I don't want any trouble here now." "We've been friends a long time." "As a friend I'd like you to leave town." "get back from there." "son." "Do you know how deep that shaft is?" "Uh-uh." "That's a thousand foot deep." "Do you know how deep a thousand foot is?" "Uh-uh." "all standing on your shoulders..." "...you wouldn't be able to see over the top." "I'd be squished." "Come on." "I'll show you boys the donkey engine." "You boys go ahead." "I'll be along in a minute." "I hear you've been talking to the local marshal about me." "Would you call that friendly?" "I never considered us exactly friendly." "marshal." "I don't like what you and your kind are doing to this country." "I don't want any trouble." "just you and me?" "That's fine." "Gant." "marshal?" "Peace?" "There's only one kind I know of." "That's the kind my brother's got." "did it?" "marshal." "Floyd never made mistakes except the one time he trusted you." "And you're the one that got away." "I'm likely to pay you Rawlingses a little visit." "move along." "Get those gold boxes up there." "That's a lot of gold." "boys." "Zeb?" "Lou Ramsey's here." "Lou." "Zeb." "What is it?" "Gant came to see me last night." "Said you tried to start some trouble with him." "You believe him?" "you take your trouble to your own territory." "I don't want any more of it here." "Lou." "Gant's gone." "Rode out of here early this morning." "With who?" "His gang." "They should be somewhere between here and Kingman waiting on that train." "Zeb." "you're looking for Gant." "You still carry lead where he shot you." "That was Texas." "where you killed Floyd." "And now this." "Julie but I don't want my office to be any part of this." "Zeb?" "The boys have got the team hitched." "I know." "It's almost time to go." "Zeb?" "julie." "No one's asking you to face Gant." "No one's making you." "We could ride out of here right now." "We could forget it." "Maybe there's something you haven't told me." "Zeb?" "I'm asking you not to go." "Please." "Don't go." "julie." "I guess there's nothing more pigheaded in a man than his sense of honor." "every one of them." "You take my Cleve now." "Never could turn down a poker game." "Felt duty-bound to go." "but he wouldn't quit not if his life depended on it." "He" "I guess it isn't very funny." "Ma?" "Where's Pa?" "Out." "That's where he is." "What's the matter with Mom?" "in the other room." "we're gonna play." "That's a good girl." "That's better." "What's the matter with Mama?" "Nothing's the matter." "Do you know any games?" "We know tag." "Musical chairs." " Ugh." "Tag." "I know hide-and-seek." "do you know how to play poker?" "Poker?" "Poker?" "sit down." "That's it." "But we don't know how to play poker." "it's time you learned." "we'll start off with a little five-card stud." "Zeb." "Your pistol too." "Lou." "I just can't oblige." "Thought the law wouldn't let you use that anymore." "I'll use it if I have to." "and I'm taking this with me." "To kill Gant." "isn't it?" "It's something personal between him and me." "it could be if I settle down with my family and wait for him to come." "And he'll come if I don't stop him here and now." "breaking the law and then I'm gonna use the law to put him away once and for all." "Lou." "I'm gonna use the law but I haven't got much chance without your help." "How many men in the caboose?" "Just one brakeman." "never has been." "I'll be in the express car." "Lou." "Marshal?" "There's some riders up ahead." "I'll take a look." "there's a barricade ahead!" "wide open." "Zeb!" "Come on." "Come on." "Everyone make it?" "Frenchy's horse fell." "let's move." "It's a long way from here to that gold." "There's no danger." "Just keep going." "It's Rawlings." "Back this train up!" "And fast!" "Pa?" "son." "Here." "when we going to your house?" "Your daddy will decide when we get to your home." "can we take Sam with us?" "I think Sam is taking us." "how much further is it to Aunt Lilith's ranch?" "the next bend..." "...and the valley beyond." "Oh." "do you know that song?" "linus:" "That's our song." "Your song?" "I sang that song long before your pa was ever born." "Come on." "Zeb." "adventurers is long gone now." "Yet it is theirs forever." "For they left tracks in history that will never be eroded by wind or rain..." "never buried in the compost of events." "out of their vitality their hopes and their sorrows grew legends of courage and pride to inspire their children and their children's children." "From soil enriched by their blood out of their fever to explore and build came lakes where once were burning deserts..." "mines and wheat fields orchards and great lumber mills all the sinews of a growing country." "came cities to rank among the great ones of the world." "All the heritage of a people free to dream..." "free to mold their own destiny."