"As quickly as you can, snatch the pebble from my hand." "When you can take the pebble from my hand it will be time for you to leave." "Time for you to leave." "I would be grateful for some water." "You got it." " Mr. Ran kin?" "Nope." " He is here?" "Nope." "He will be here?" "When he gets back from snaking." "What is snaking?" "Rattlers." "You know, a zoo full of women wouldn ' t ask your questions, so state your business." "Greenhorns ain ' t favored on a cow spread." "I seek my brother." "Daniel Caine." "I was told in town to ask for Mr. Ran kin." "There ain ' t nothing to ask." "Drifter ' s a drifter." "They drift." "What about Danny Caine?" "Leave it be." "Pa made you a foreman." "You aim to be a mother  you get yourself a bonnet and a Bi ble." "Come on, slanty man." "Mush in a mess of wind." "I said, come on." "Your brother left some things in the bun khouse." "You want them?" "Where does your pebble wal k to, grasshopper?" "It wal ks." "Its journey is to nowhere." "Each journey begins and also ends." "Then the ending is the bottom of the pool." "Does not the pebble, entering the water, begin fresh journeys?" "It seems unceasing." "Such is the journey through life." "It begins, it ends." "Y et fresh journeys go forth." "Father begets son." "Who becomes, in turn, father, who begets son." "Then the roots I have are me." "And I am they." "Grasshopper, seek first to know your own journey' s beginning and end." "Seek then the other journeys of which you are a close part." "But in this seeking, know patience." "Wear that traveler ' s cloak which shelters and permits you to endure." "Ain ' t much, slanty man, but he weren ' t much either." "Had a face that belonged in a bridle." "If you ' re any part of his blood, you ' re a lying coward just li ke him." "You hear me?" "Yes." "I called you a lying coward." "Did you hear that?" "Yes." "Well, get your gun to you." "I have no gun." "Well, then get a knife." "We ' re gonna do some cutting." "I have no knife." "Well, ain ' t he the candy head." "I wish no trou ble." "Then I ' m just gonna push you some, slanty man, till your brains come to order." "Then I figure you ' ll tell me where to find your kin." "And I ' m gonna be there, all liver and lightning." "When you leave these walls  you will come upon the many pillars of violence." "May not a man one with nature, seeing such pillars, avoid them?" "Other men stumble in the way." "They go in eyeless search for peace." "Must I then tumble down these pillars?" "Seek always peace." "Wear no path for the footsteps of others unless the soul is endangered." "We are all lin ked by our souls." "T o endanger one endangers all." "And if thus endangered, master?" "In such times, the soul must be the warrior." "Any luck?" "Y eah, Joe." "I got me five of them wide-back Malapai rattlesnakes." "Joe...." "Listen to them praying." " Ed." "Ain ' t a worry, Joe." "They don ' t stri ke in the dark of the sack." "Don ' t know where from when." "Benson taught me that." "Learned it from his lnjun ma, right, Benson?" " I ' d allow." "Moss here nearly stepped on one." "You know how we figure he ' s older than the rocks?" "An antelope couldn ' t have jumped higher or sweeter." "Foolishness." "Right, Clint?" "What does a mule know about rattlesnakes, you old sore-sided boar?" "Enough not to get nosy." "Then I ' ll tal k to him." "Cookie get some bait on in there?" "On the stove." "You boys go on in." "I ' ll see you later." "Don ' t let him tal k to you, Clint." "Next thing you know, you ' ll be coiling and rattling." "Rest of the boys get in for the gather?" "Expect them in about sundown." "Why do you do it, Ed?" "Every man learns something by watching what he ' s afeard of." "You, afeard of something?" "Every man ' s afeard of  what he don ' t know about." "Least, the white of him is." "I guess there ' s not enough lnjun in me, Joe." "Well...." "We ' re both dry and bourbon ' s wet." "Moss done caught sight of a man afoot." "That' d be the Chinaman." "Chinaman?" "Well, not exactly a Chinaman." "Wants to see you." "T al king to Breck now." "It ain ' t nothing, Ed." "We' re dry and bourbon ' s wet." "Come on, get up!" "Let ' s go, get up." "I said, get up!" "Get up." "Get up." "Him?" "Y eah, him." "One-way conversation." "Now, slanty man, where you gonna meet him?" "Don ' t you hear nothing?" "Where you gonna meet him?" "I know less of him than you." "Well, you better start knowing." "Breck." "Breck, you pound sand into him, you ' re liable to find grit." "Not this thing, Pa." "He don ' t say more than a blin k." "Breck, you ' re taking the wrong route." "Don ' t carry a gun, knife." " I told him to move on, Ed." "Now, wait a minute." "Short minute." "You enjoy being trussed up li ke a hog?" "What ' d I tell you?" "What is it you want?" " Mr. Ran kin?" "That ' d be me." "I am told I might find my brother Danny." "The drifter." "T ake him on back." "His brother did it." "And this one ' s of the same blood." "Beating on a dead frog don ' t make a fight of it." "I know, son, you ' ve been wronged." "But this ain ' t no way to go about it." "Joe." "Come on, Breck." "Breck." "If you say so, Pa." "You better get rid of him, Ed." "If he don ' t sting k of death, I never saw a carcass." "Your brother ain ' t here." "But there ' s a lot of us here who ' d li ke to know where he ' s at." "lf my brother has done wrong, I will" "What he ' s done wrong, he ' s done." "You can ' t wal k life out here by dues." "Now I see you ain ' t got a knife or a gun." "There ain ' t no harder land in this country this side of hell than what you ' re standing on." "You know, Apache' d have you drawn and quartered before you ever saw a shadow." "That' s the red of it :" "lnjun." "You mix the red with the white  and you got a burned bear dancing on cactus." "And that ' d be me." "I ask only" "I ' m telling." "You stand at the bottom of your grave  and you ain ' t closer to death than you are on this ranch with my son." "Way he was raised, man ' s property can ' t be stole without stealing a piece of him." "Why don ' t you go back where you come from." "Lord puts a faith on fools." "Fools." "If they don ' t stay at it too long." "Come on, Billy boy!" "Come on!" "Ride him!" "Hang on there, hang on there!" "Come on!" "Come on, now!" "Thattaboy." "Who in the name of--?" "What do you thin k you ' re doing?" "Now, there goes your bet, Billy!" "You was supposed to ride him all the way." "Well, I was, till this stupid-- Mangy" "Bet was to ride him, Billy." "Don ' t take to dangling around li ke a Christmas tree." "I thin k your boy could have rode him, at that, general." "Helping hands is best kept to the pockets." "I thought you were in need of help." "Help?" "You know what you done?" "You lost me $ 20, that' s what." "I could ride that wag-bait up a tree and plant him there." "But no, you gotta come in here and-- Well, who are you?" "!" "Hell with it." "Cost me $ 20, that fool did, Pa!" "He just did what he thought was best, son." "That horse' ll be around to ride again." "These suckers know I can ride him now." "20 sweet dollars up a dude' s arm!" "I ' m General Thoms, the sheriff." "You passing through or staying?" "Passing through." "Well, it doesn ' t take long." "This will be a town, though, of size and thought." "The railroad coming in improves the purpose." "T ook sand to do what you just did." "Sand?" "Guts." "Courage." "You know much about horses?" "A little." "Figures." "It takes a power of doing to step into something you haven ' t tried on before." "I did not...." "I did not mean to spoil your son ' s ride." "Just a bet." "The way of things." "Around here men ' ll bet on how much dirt they got on their necks." "Always a bet, son." "Where are you from?" "Not your duty to answer." "Just mine to ask." "And I ' d answer, friend." "The general, he tal ks low but he moves high." "Got frijoles and chilies waiting, general." "Than ks." "Than ks, Ed." "Yours?" "My brother ' s." "Being who?" "Daniel Caine." "You don ' t seem much li ke him." " I do not know." "We have not met." "Your own brother?" "But you want to find him." "Why?" "My own brother." "And we have never met." "Do you know him?" "I had him in jail." "Fighting." "Breck Ran kin and a woman." "T wo divided into one." "That ' s always trou ble." "Now, your brother ' s gone, son." "If he ' d stayed here, he ' d be dead." "And you aim to follow him, I reckon." "Yes." "You eaten?" " No." "Well, son, your brother ' s got a full two weeks ' start on you." "Let ' s go inside here and have some beans and peppers." "Way Wide Ed makes them, you pack a few of those things into certain areas  and the devil with a long rope can ' t keep up." "That old sand-pounder wasn ' t nothing." "I ' d have been taking your money about li ke a thief with a basket." "But you know, they got them an old smoky dun sunfisher out at Ran kin ' s." "That big bronc ain ' t never been close to rode." "Shoot, he bit Breck about to the middle." "Of course, Breck being as mean as he is, he bit him back." "Ain ' t that right, Pa?" "Old Violet that Breck rides?" "Well, wouldn ' t be a Ran kin horse if it didn ' t want fire for breakfast." "Breck will bring him into shape." "Man." "All man, that old Breck." "Come on." "Drin ks, boys." "Your son?" "Drin king?" "A boy." "Man, maybe." "He never knew his mother." "Smallpox." "You don ' t raise a boy in this country." "He raises himself or he doesn ' t get raised." "Let ' s try those beans." "Hey, Pa." "Here comes old thunder now." "I ' ll get us a couple of bowls." "Then you ' d best be on your way." "Howdy, Breck." "How you doing?" "What rock you come crawling out of?" "I ' m all right." "Bring out the snake skulls, the hawk is a-flying." " Breck." "General." "Have a plate of beans?" "Sure, Breck." "Set and supper." "What ' s he doing here?" "He just moving through with the rest of the weeds." "Come set, Breck." "Shut up, you squirrelly pig." "Now, come on, Breck." "Ain ' t no call for you to tal k to me" "Shut up or I ' m gonna shut you up final." "What ' s the li kes of him doing here, Thoms?" "Li ke my son said, Breck." "Just passing through." "We done told him to leave." "You remember the other one, general?" "Now you got this one." "Feathers don ' t cover him." "T wo things, slanty man." "Get out of my face and give me the doodads you stole off me." "My brother left the watch." "It is not yours." "My pa ain ' t here to help you now." "Ease off, Breck." "We can all tal k." "Not with no slanty man, I won ' t." "Not li kely." "Give me them." "Get." "I done told you!" "Why, he ' s still alive." "But why, Pa?" "For a drifter?" "Calm down, son." "But Breck Ran kin for him?" "You got any notion what old man Ran kin is gonna say?" "Not to say what Ran kin will do if his son dies." "He ' s dead, general." "You ought to have had a doctor, Pa." "You joshing?" "I been doctoring since long before rain was even wet." "I mean a real -- Well, it ain ' t nothing against you, Molly." "Not much to doctor, son, with lead through the center." "Pa, old man Ran kin, he ' ll come riding in here...." "That ' s li kely." "He ' ll come in so riled up he won ' t look to see who or what." "He ' ll just wreck the whole town." "Oh, shut up, Burt." "Well, that' s easy for you." "Get a wall of ice over this town and you ' ll still do business." "But the rest of us, we ' ll be lucky if the walls are still standing." "Well, general." "What ' s to do?" "Get a casket, Burt." "Pa." "You killed his son." "That happens, boy." "Not to Mr. Edward Ran kin, it don ' t, Pa." "He owns everything for 1 00 miles around except the breathing." "They' re right, they" "He ' s gonna come in here and come down on them harder than toads in a cave-in." "On us too, you come to it." "He ' ll kill you, Pa." "He ' ll kill you and then where we got?" " Us." "You and me." "We ' re not through, son." "Pa, don ' t even say it." "We done everything wrong." "Well, least" " Pa." "Ran kin ' s got all them hands and guns on every one." "Besides, he ' s strong enough himself to throw the moon in his boot." "I ' ll take care of it, boy." "Pa, you done took care of it." "And for a pilgrim li ke that." "You leaving?" "Yes." "That ' s about the only thing makes sense so far." "There was a reason to it all." "Your brother took that woman of Breck Ran kin ' s." "He didn ' t win her." "He took her." "And out here, a gun, a blan ket, a woman, that ' s considered a man ' s property." "You look at it, son, any way you care to  but your brother took her and he went off somewhere." "And in this country, that ' s death in a basket." "My boy' s right." "Ed Ran kin will come." "With a need in mind." "Seeing in me my brother." "I don ' t know a lot about many things, son, but I do know men." "You ' ve got a difference in you." "There ' s an ease in you." "Probably that ' s because you don ' t know this country." "Maybe I don ' t." "But death." "You see enough of death  it starts to haunt you." "Fills your eyes, your ears, weighs in your belly." "You come to know it." "Each journey of a man crosses this path." "And each man sees death in his own mirror." "I ' ve seen death piled around me till the air couldn ' t gather." "I ' m afraid of it." "Smote dry waiting for it." "Gone past my luck." "Ed Ran kin ' s gone through it li ke I have." "But fear has never touched that man, being Indian they believing life runs flat li ke a table and death isn ' t a fence." "But I ' m white." "And I know." "What do you know?" "That it ends, son." "We struggle and we grow old and it ends and that' s all there is." "And it is black inside that box." "I come all the way out here and here it is waiting for me." "Grinning  breathing its breath on me." "What the eye sees disappears with a blink." "Or a wandering puff of breath." "Wh ere th ere was li gh t  th e eye, d en i ed, sees n oth i n g." "Watch." "M y eye i s d en i ed." "No I i g h t." "No can d I e." "O n I y n oth i n g." "C ome." "Th at i s wh at th e eye sees." "Wh at th e sou I sees can n ot be d en i ed." "Wi I I n ot th e sou I, too, see n oth i n g  wh en d eath bl i n ks i ts eye?" "No." "Th e sou I sees always." "Y et th e body di es." "Does th e sun di e?" "I t d oes n ot shin e at ni gh t." "I t shin es somewh ere." "You d o n ot see i t." "I t d oes n ot en d." "Th e j ourn ey g oes on, from on e time to an oth er." "Nothin g dies that was ever something." "Son, I don ' t know what the hell you ' re tal king about." "Ran kin is afraid." "How do you know that?" " I know." "l, too, was responsi ble for the death." "You ' re free, son." "You go." "Yes." "Go." "The boy 's telling it, Ed." "Was you th at sai d i t." "" Mu sh in a mess of win d. "" "Breck, your own boy." "Bury him, Ed." "I t ju st h app en ed." "Ain ' t th e same times n ow." "You g ot to ch an g e wi th th e times." "How ' d i t g o ag ain, boy?" "Pa di dn ' t h ave n o oth er way to i t." "Breck forced him." "He was all fired up, right down to the toes." "You know how he gets." "Well, Breck, he" "Had to happen sooner or later, Ed." "You go and spill blood on the sand  and you ' ll have more marshals sniffing around than wolves on a calf crop." "Thoms is a law man, Ed." " Law." "Ain ' t no other law but property." "Private property." "Now, that other one, the brother  he done took Breck ' s girl right from behind his back." "His property." "That ' s right." "So Breck, he had himself a good reason." "That ' s right." "And I got myself the same reason." "Yes, but it won ' t help, Ed." "Help?" "!" "I never ask for it." "And I never give it." "I ' m sorry, Joe." "Now, we been over hell edge to edge." "Now, you can smell hell, but you don ' t own it." "But a man owns his own blood." "And that boy, that ' s my blood, that ' s me." "Gonna kill your pa, son." "You best go tell him." "Now you ' re doing it right, Mr. Ran kin." "We brought your son back, Mr. Ran kin." "What ' s he doing here?" "It was him was the trigger to the doing, as you ' d li kely say" "Billy." "You, Thoms." "He don ' t know sideways from up, but you, you come to me li ke a big skinned mule." "I came to appeal to you, Ran kin." "What ' s that mean, general?" "T o reason it out." " Reason?" "I know the reason." "I ' m looking at him." "I ' ll throw enough lead in that reason to drill a well." "Now, you stand aside, general, and draw your gun." "No." " I won ' t." "Why?" "I ' m afraid." "You ' re afraid?" "Yes." "The general?" "The hero?" "At one time, maybe." "A coward now." " Ran kin " "General, hero, coward  or inside straight, you shot my boy." "That ' s me, now." "I ' m gonna kill you." "Ed, that won ' t help." "Oh, just leave it be to me, Joe." "Now, this is your last chance, Thoms." "Then I ' m taking what ' s mine." "The cobweb' s gonna stop a bullet?" "Get that Chinese teacup out of here." "I ask you to stop." "You ' ll just have to pardon my manners, sonny." "I was born on the wrong side of the bed." "Who are you?" "A man." "Not afraid, if that is what you want to know." "I ' m about to know you from the inside out." "But you." "Will you know yourself from the inside out?" "You thin k you know me?" "Not well enough." "Let me introduce myself." "I ain ' t gonna kill you  but this land is filling up with more shirttail lizards than rocks to hide them." "But I ' m gonna teach you a lesson." "You ' re gonna have scars to remind you of the name of this land." "This country." "This is private property." "You ' re alive  my boy is dead." "Discipline your body, grasshopper..." "... that you may find a greater power." "But, mas ter, wha t grea ter po wer is there?" "Th ose wh o su rr en d er th emsel ves fi n d i n n er str en g th." "Wi I I th i s p r otect me mor e th an cou I d my arms an d I eg s?" "Wh en th e h eart kn ows n o d an g er, n o d an g er exi sts." "Wh en th e sou I becomes a warri or, al I f ear mel ts." "As th e sn owfl a ke th at fal I s u p on you r h an d." "Th ese scars are g onn a remin d you." "Don ' t you g et th e carry of thi s, sl anty man?" "Ran kin." "Well." "Th e h ero fin ally foun d hi s voi ce." "Nothin g matters mu ch to you." "Nothin g except your prop erty." "Th at ' s th e way I ' ve h el d i t." "Hel d i t wi th my stren gth." "Stren gth!" "Wh at woul d you kn ow about stren gth?" "You ' ve always h ad i t." "Nothin g ever ch all en g ed i t." "I t ' s stren gth." "Li ke li ftln g up a stu d h orse on a bet." "Li ke your youn g years, h onin g your gun to qui cker than a blin k  instead of looking at the natural wonder of things." "That isn ' t strength." "Strength is when you ' re so used up you feel li ke a walnut with the insides gone." "Well, now, general." "That was quite a speech." "I told you I was afraid." "I said why." "Do you want me to take a shovel and dig my own grave?" "Would you take comfort in that?" "No, no." "It wouldn ' t give me comfort." "But it would one of my boys that might have to dig it." "You have the weakness to defend your injury with killing." "Have you not the strength to forgive?" "Well." "We done a little tal king and we done a few stunts, we tried to impress one another." "But what have we learned?" "I ' m gonna give you a chance I never gave anybody in my life before." "You ' re at the wrong place in the wrong time, do you understand that?" "Now, what is it?" "What is it you want?" "The life of Mr. Thoms." "For your fear, Mr. Ran kin." "My fear?" "Of what?" "Me." "You?" "Your fear hangs in the air." "Li ke the smell of a man close to death." "That ' s enough, Ed." "Crazy, all of it ' s crazy." "Nothing to prove." "There is something." "Mr. Ran kin knows what." "The life of Mr. Thoms for your fear." "Well." "I guess I ' m gonna have to kill you too." "Your fear would yet live." "Fear?" "I ain ' t afraid of nothing, never been." "Where are you going?" "I said, where are you going?" "!" "Let him go, Ed." "Your fear lives, Mr. Ran kin." "Here is its temple." "Ed." "Ed!" "I got no say, but I ' m saying it, Mr. Ran kin." "It ' s all gone too far." "Shoot him." "Just shoot him." "He done give you the cause." "They don ' t ask, they do." "Certain death, every one of them." "You would not wal k among them?" "Down there?" "Down there." "Caine, you ' re new to this land." "That ' s a death that inches through you squeezing and twisting li ke a knife." "That' s the first thing he' s got right yet." "You are afraid." "Afraid?" "Y es, just as a fool would be afraid." "A fool would take a pistol and put it to his ear and pull the trigger." "What would you put on his gravestone?" "" Here lies the body of a brave man "?" "No." "" Here lies the body of a fool. "" "Afraid." "And you ' re not?" "No." "Then go on in." "And Mr. Thoms goes free." "Your bet." "Your body." "But the big black birds ' ll be hovering over you in the morning." "No." "Stay." "This isn ' t your doing." "What I did, I did." "Leave him be, general." "Look, now." "Look carefully." "You ' re looking at a brave man." "As the hero said as the knife slowly turned :" "" Shake hands with every one of them. "" "Master how does one find the strength within himself?" "By being one with all tha t is without himself." "Yet thes e s ometimes con tend." "When fire meets ice, which prevails?" "Ice." "Y et in dying, does no t the ice, becoming wa ter, als o die?" "Will the fire die?" "Tha t prevails which refus es to kn o w th e p o w er o f th e o th er." "Wh ere fea r is, do es n o t da nger a Is o live?" "A n d wh ere fea r is n o t, do es n o t da nger a Is o die?" "Wh ere th e tiger a n d th e ma n a re tw o, grass h opp er, h e ma y die." "Y et wh ere th e tiger a n d th e ma n a re on e, th ere is n o fea r, th ere is n o da nger." "For wha t crea ture, on e with a ll na ture, will a tta ck its elf?" "I ' m g et ti n g mi g h ty th i r sty." "I c ou I d u s e s om e wh i s k ey." "G o on." " M r." "Ran ki n?" " You h e ar d m e." "G et ou t of h er e." "Wh at ' d h e say?" " I n d i an." " Y eah, I kn ow, bu t wh at ' d i t mean?" "Th ere i sn ' t an I n d i an w ord f or " h ero, " son, bu t th ere i s f or " man. "" "Wh at h e sai d i s :" "" M an  i s often h i d d en. "" "C ome on." "Grasshopper, be yourself and never fear thus to be naked to the eyes of o thers." "Yet kno w tha t men so often mask themselves  tha t wha t is simple is rarely unders tood." "The dus t of truth s wirls and s eeks its o wn cra cks o f en try." "A nd a tree falling in the fores t, without ears to hear, makes no s ound." "Y et it falls." "[ E NG L I SH]"