"Wilson, I told you I'd travel a long way to catch up to you." "Your little treasure hunt has cost three men their lives." "Don't force me to make it four." "Ten minutes after 7:00." "Well, poker does make the evening go quickly, doesn't it, mr." "Wilson?" "Would you care for a night cap?" "Or, perhaps more accurately, I should say an eye opener?" "No thanks." "600 dollars." "You want to count them?" "That won't be necessary." "Too bad the cards were running against you." "If you'll get me a pen, I'll..." "No, mr." "Wilson." "No checks, cash." "I don't carry that much on me." "The banks will be open in about three hours." "I'll be very happy to accompany you." ""a wise gamester takes the dice as they fall" ""and pays down quietly rather than grumble at his luck."" "Sophocles." "You can hardly expect a man to enjoy losing $1,400." "Particularly when he doesn't have it." "I've had enough of this." "You wouldn't honor my check" "And now you accuse me of cheating." "You can just wait for your money." "I'm not in the habit of waiting, mr." "Wilson." "No one forces a man to gamble." "He comes to the table with his eyes open," "And he's expected to honor his losses immediately." "I" " I'm not a welcher." "I'll pay." "I'm sure you will." "It's just that I'm a" "A little short right now." "It'll take me a few days." "This morning, mr." "Wilson." "Well, I just took" "I'll make a deal with you, paladin." "$1,400, cash on the line." "I'll give you twice as much, $2,800... $3,000?" "You're very generous with money you don't seem to have." "But I'm going to get it." "Look." "Here." "Ah, don't tell me, mr." "Wilson," "This is the map to a hidden treasure." "Part of a map." "There are three other pieces." "When they're fitted together, you can pick up $25,000." "I can?" "That's the deal, paladin." "I'm supposed to meet the men who have the other pieces" "Day after tomorrow." "I want you to go in my place." "Why?" "Frankly, I don't trust them." "And do I also look like a complete fool, mr." "Wilson?" "You play poker with money you don't have." "Offer me part of a treasure you don't have," "And then ask me to find it for you." "Did you really think I'd even consider it?" "You don't have any choice, paladin." "It's $3,000 or nothing." "Your gun won't even get it for you." "It might get me a lot of satisfaction." "$3,000 worth?" "Mm." "Who are the other men?" "Well, they're former partners of mine." "Who obviously trust you as much as you trust them." "Where are you supposed to meet them?" "In the tuscaroras." "Decker's setting camp in the valley, 20 miles west of blue springs." "Decker?" "He's one of my partners." "This was all his idea." "And whose $25,000?" "What difference does that make?" "I'm somewhat particular about accepting stolen money." "Oh, it was stolen allright." "But a long time ago." "And from so many different places," "You couldn't possibly return it." "Hm?" "Oh, no." "Not by me." "By a couple road agents," "Operating in and around northern colorado." "We got the map from one of them." "And what happened to them?" "They were killed." "Trying to escape." "Well, that's very neat." "Very concise." "Can you give me one reason why I should believe it?" "Well, as I said before, paladin," "It's $3,000..." "Or nothing." "Mm." "Well, those are convincing odds." "Now, mr." "Wilson," "If you should be trying to make a fool of me," "I'll travel a long way to find you." "Pull the trigger." "Cost you $25,000." "Now ask your partner to come out, too." "Stoneman." "Hardly what I'd call "western hospitality."" "What do you want?" "What are you doing here?" "The carbine, mr." "Decker, please." "Thank you." "My name is paladin." "Your partner, wilson, is a client of mine." "Somebody steered you up a blind trail, mister." "We don't know no wilson." "We're just riding through." "Oh?" "Well, this is hardly worth anything, then, is it?" "Right where you are, decker." "It's burning up!" "It's a scrap of paper, not the map." "Not worth burning your fingers." "Now, gentlemen," "We all know what we're doing here and why." "And whether we like it or not, we need each other." "So, let's try to get along peacefully, at least until our business is concluded." "Why'd wilson send you?" "Just to play the fourth piece to your puzzle." "Let's see it." "I'll produce it when the proper time comes." "Which I imagine will be fairly soon." "Decker." "Stoneman." "Who's this?" "His name's paladin." "Wilson sent him." "Took you long enough to get here, gale." "Don't talk to me like that." "You're not in the barracks now." "Just leave me alone." "Let's get this over with." "Well, this is a nice, friendly partnership." "Shall we get down to business, gentlemen?" "That's it." "The whole trail from here." "Will take us about a day and a half." "Maybe two." "We'll leave in the morning." "If you don't mind, I'll keep my part of the map myself." "Listen, maybe wilson didn't tell you," "But I'm the one who figured out this whole deal." "I'm top hand." "He told me." "But there's a very good reason for dividing this map." "None of you trust the others." "And that reason still holds." "How do you expect me to follow a trail with the map split up?" "Simple." "Mr. Gale has the first part." "He leads until stoneman's part." "Stoneman leads until my part, and so forth." "For somebody who don't belong, you give a lot of orders." "Not orders, just suggestions." "Not a bit like the old army days, is it?" "By the way, did you three get honorable discharges?" "Or did you climb over a stockade wall?" "Cut it loose!" "You always do his dirty work" "Or is this your idea of reveille?" "What do you think you're doing, gale?" "I'll tell you when to stop." "It's the end of my part of the map." "That's right, here's the stream." "Pick a point." "Mount up, gale, or we'll leave you behind." "No hurry, gale." "They're not going far without me." "Just get out of the army?" "Almost a year ago." "On a straight discharge." "Oh, that was for decker's benefit." "He just finished his hitch?" "Couple weeks ago." "Stoneman, too." "Must've been a bad time for them," "Wondering if you and wilson would beat them to the money." "Why do you suppose he divided that map into four parts," "And kept the last part for himself?" "He wasn't taking any chances." "Told us to wait until our hitches were up." "Strange he didn't keep the whole thing himself." "With three witnesses?" "We had enough against him" "To put him in the stockade for life." "You were in the same company?" "He was a corporal." "Treated us like a colonel." "Still, he was smart enough to figure out four cavalry men," "Who suddenly came up with a lot of money would be suspected." "They're getting too far ahead." "I didn't wait this long to lose out now." "Decker." "What happened?" "I don't know, I found him here." "Dead?" "Broken neck." "Must've been thrown." "A cavalryman?" "He was with you last we saw." "Maybe you know different?" "He was trying to catch up with you." "What are you doing back here?" "We got tired of waiting." "We came to shake you up." "Could've been an accident." "Mount stepped in a chuck hole, what difference does it make?" "About $2,000." "Difference between a third and a fourth." "Hey, that's right." "Like the colonel used to put on the citations," ""he didn't die in vain."" "This is the last time I'm gonna eat any beans." "No more beans for the rest of my life." "After this, I'm gonna eat real fancy food." "In fancy cafes." "Chicken, wild duck." "Veal marsala, and try chateau briand." "Huh?" "Yeah." "I'm gonna travel, too." "I'm going to see places like philadelphia, back east." "You know, new york." "Hey, decker, how much is my share again?" "Shut up." "Come on!" "What's $25,000 divided by three?" "Over $8,000." "Eight thousand dollars?" "And there might be more, too, you know?" "Hey, decker, how much the colonel say was in that payroll?" "Shut up, decker!" "All right, all right." "Decker." "You worried?" "What have I got to worry about?" "That's exactly what I was wondering." "You're the only one who knows where that money is." "You've got the last part of the map." "You ought to be safe." "What do you mean?" "Gale outlived his usefulness showing us the first part." "Stoneman finished his part this afternoon." "Huh?" "And by tomorrow noon," "I will have finished my job." "You won't need anybody." "You'll be self-sufficient." "I won't need you, that's for sure." "Hey, now, wait a minute." "Gale, he was an accident." "He was a very profitable accident for somebody." "That includes you, paladin." "You were alone with him." "Me and stoneman were together." "That's right, we were..." "Every second?" "Yeah." "Hey, wait a minute." "I rode ahead once and you laid back." "To wait for him!" "You could've circled around." "You sure came back fast!" "I was looking for you!" ""for his mind had grown suspicion's sanctuary."" "That's just a passing remark." "A fellow named byron mentioned it one time." "Well, if we're going to get an early start in the morning." "This ground's pretty hard." "I'm gonna move up a'ways." "Well, decker." "Half a share's even better than a third, isn't it?" "I'll start digging a hole for him." "You better hobble the other two horses here." "We'll pick 'em up on the way back." "Not yet, decker." "Put that carbine back where it was." "It's where I want it." "I'll take your piece of the map, paladin." "That carbine's giving you a false sense of security." "Give me the map." "Hand it over." "Now turn around and start riding." "Oh, you don't want to get rid of me yet." "I've been wanting to get rid of you since we started." "And I ain't waiting no more." "Don't you want to take a look at that map first?" "Where is it?" "You coming?" "What are you looking for?" "It's your honor, decker." "Lead off." "You first." "Leave it where it is." "Paladin!" "I told you I'd come a long way to find you." "Wait a minute." "Give me a chance." "Let me explain." "Alright, explain gale and stoneman and decker." "What do you care?" "I didn't do anything to you." "Did I?" "Only because you thought decker had done the job for you." "Look, there's $25,000 here!" "We can split it, right down the middle." "I told you, I'm particular about accepting stolen money." "Especially an army payroll, and your ex-colonel" "Is gonna be interested in your explanation of that." "We didn't take it." "That's the truth." "We were sent after the men who did." "Instead of bringing them back," "Decker shot them and took the map." "It was all his idea." "Except the end." "And you hang for that." "I'll give you more than half, paladin." "I'll give you $20,000." "All of it!" "You'll give it back to the army." "All right!" "The money." "Hi, hey boy." "How you like table, mr." "Paladin?" "That's fine, hey boy, just fine." "Oh, what's this?" "Bird's nest?" "No, it's a rat's nest." "Pack rat nest, to be exact." "Oh, gee, new money." "It used to be." "The rat's destroyed almost $15,000 to feather that nest." "The army managed to salvage the rest." "Put it someplace, will you?" "Where?" "Gee, be hard to dust." "Sorry, it's gonna have to be here in the room." "It's a permanent reminder to be careful in choosing my poker partners." "Alright, set it down there." "Oh, in my country, this makes delicious soup." "Great delicacy." "Mm, well, in my country, too, hey boy." "Oh." "Put it down." "¶ "have gun, will travel," reads the card of a man ¶" "¶ a knight without armor in a savage land ¶" "¶ his fast gun-for-hire heeds the calling wind ¶" "¶ a soldier of fortune is the man called paladin ¶" "¶ paladin, paladin, where do you roam?" "¶"