"You are sworn in secrecy and blood to serve our order the Order of the Avenging Dragon." "You are sworn to wipe out the stain upon our honor as guardians of the royal household for our failure to protect the life of the imperial nephew." "Sun Lo Wong Ti Han Su Lok we, your brothers, call upon you to fulfill your oath." "Your proven excellence in separate skills have earned you the sacred privilege of being the first to be sent forth." "The order compels you to leave at once for America." "Somewhere within that country's western lands the man who has dishonored us wanders at will separated from our vengeance by a great ocean." "You must cross the waters of that ocean." "Search out this man who has dishonored us and destroy him at the cost of your lives." "This renegade Shaolin priest Kwai Chang Caine." "Your tread must be light and sure as though your path were upon rice paper." "It is said a Shaolin priest can walk through walls." "Looked for, he cannot be seen." "Listened for, he cannot be heard." "Touched, he cannot be felt." "This rice paper is the test." "Fragile as the wings of the dragonfly, clinging as the cocoon of the silkworm." "When you can walk its length and leave no trace you will have learned." "Where'd you come from?" "A man has died here last night." "That's news to me." "Sheriff...." "Matter of fact, a man did die." "He is here in this building." "Now, listen, I don't" "Matter of fact, he is." "Vinnie was figuring on putting him away tomorrow." "I would like to see the body." "Why?" "I believe it is someone I have known." "Well, that's more than the rest of us can say." "The way it is, I've been away most the day." "We found him in a shack outside of town." "Looks like he set fire to the place burned hisself to death." "Vinnie here is the coroner." "Undertaker." "Body was burnt pretty bad." "Even if you knew him likely you wouldn't recognize him." "I will know him." "Follow me." "This is where we keep the body." "Wait for somebody to claim him." "There he is." "Well?" "His name is Henry Raphael Caine." "My grandfather." "Stand up, please." "You have your father in you." "I've nothing to give you." "Through you, I have a father, a grandfather a great-grandfather, stretching back to the roots of time." "This was my father's." "This was your father's." "That's all I have." "That's all I have." "That's all I have." "That's all I have." "Mr. Caine." "Mr. Caine?" "I'm Dr. Baxter." "The sheriff told me that you're the one who identified this man." "Yes." "Are you related to him?" "He was my grandfather." "Henry Raphael Caine." "The stonecutter." "Oh, I knew him many years ago." "Mr. Caine it may comfort you to know that smoke overcomes a person quickly, mercifully." "I'm sure that your grandfather's death was less cruel than it might seem." "My grandfather did not die of smoke or fire." "What?" "When I washed his body, I found a bullet here." "Murdered?" "Why?" "Henry hasn't lived in these parts for many years." "That shack where they found him, no one ever goes there." "A drifter." "Yes, that could be." "Henry passing through, stopped to rest a drifter came upon him, wanted his money." "He was not robbed." "His money is here." "Saddlebag." "But you say he was shot." "There must be some reason." "I will discover it when I find his murderer." "You seem very sure." "I am." "What are you after, vengeance?" "Justice?" "Peace for his troubled spirit." "When you've crossed the sea you will abide, for a time, in a city called San Francisco." "And all this time, you must cling to your blood oath and the strength of your will." "The vengeance will reach out and touch the source of our shame." "The loathsome presence of the hated Shaolin is strongly felt." "He is near." "Even now, our power goes forth to seek him out." "Let us prepare to meet him." "Within this cup in the manner of the first triad of the sublime servants we mingle the blood of our veins with the blood of the Avenging Dragon and pledge the destruction of Kwai Chang Caine." "Soon, our challenge will be presented." "We will face our enemy." "The ancient forms of the code of Ta T'sing Lu Li will be honored." "He will respond as he must and we will be free to accomplish our destiny." "Death to the priest Kwai Chang Caine." "How'd he handle, sis?" "Easy." "Very quick." "I told you he was a top animal, Mr. McLean." "And he'll sire you a lot more just like him." "Looks to have some barb in him." "Why, he's a purebred from the Darley Arabian." "What do you think, sis?" "Looks pure enough Arab for me." "Look, a true Arab has a more finely tapered head." "And his tail isn't set so low." "There may be no more than a trace." "I don't doubt you could argue it." "Sorry, sir. lt's not good enough for my little sister." "No sale." "Pull him out." "Sara." "Oh, come in, George." "Come in." "It's been quite some time." "Can I get you something?" "Oh, you have something on your mind." "Yes." "Yes, Sara, I'm sorry. lt's about Henry." "He's dead." "He's murdered." "They found him in a cabin." "There was a fire, but first he was shot." "How do you know this?" "You've been to Lordsville?" "That happened here." "He came back?" "To California?" "Why?" "I don't know." "From the looks of things, he was stopping over." "I thought he might try to contact you." "I closed the door on Henry Caine over 40 years ago." "There's never been a word exchanged between us since." "Nor reason for one." "Not many between us, either." "I saw Johnny and Margit." "They could've been our grandchildren." "No, George, never." "That's a dream you had alone." "I know." "I know better now, believe me." "But, Sara, I came here to talk about Henry's death." "You must realize the sheriff will have to make an investigation." "That doesn't concern me." "lt might." "There's a man in town." "Henry's grandson." "Good." "Maybe he can give the sheriff a hand." "He won't wait for the sheriff." "He'll look for his own answers." "I thought you should know." "Thank you, George." "Thank you for coming by." "Dr. Baxter, how've you been?" "Fine, Margit." "You?" "Fine." "Anything wrong with Sara?" "Oh, no." "No, no." "I just rode out to speak to her about an old friend." "Anybody I know?" "His name was Henry Raphael Caine." "Was?" "He's dead." "Murdered." "Sara never mentioned him to you?" "No." "I never heard of him." "Well, take care." "Good day." "Johnny." "What's wrong?" "Tell me." "What are you talking about?" "Hey, I'm your sister, remember?" "I can tell when something's bothering you." "You know more than I do, then." "I don't think you're telling the truth to Dr. Baxter about that man." "Sis." "Now, you said you never heard of him." "I think you did." "What can I do to convince you?" "Listen, sis, tell you what I'm gonna do." "Soon as I figure out what it is that's bothering me I promise I'll come running to you, and you're the first person I'll tell." "Okay?" "Keep, then, his hated image before you." "Know that he may look for concealment in the vastness of spaces." "For within this vastness, there is a closeness." "And within this closeness there is one who will betray him." "Afternoon, Miss McLean." "Hi." "Dr." "Baxter?" "Oh, Margit." "I always seem to come to you, don't I?" "Well, I wouldn't want that to change." "Why did you come out to the ranch today?" "Well, I haven't seen your grandmother in a long time." "But why today?" "It had something to do with that man that was killed, didn't it?" "What was his name, Henry Raphael Caine?" "Who is he?" "He was an old friend of your grandmother's." "You both knew him?" "Yes." "Tell me about him." "What was he to grandmother?" "Margit, she's the only one who can answer that." "Yeah, but she won't." "You won't either, will you?" "Look, Margit" "Listen, Dr. Baxter, I'm scared." "I'm scared for Johnny." "And I don't know what to do." "Yes?" "I did not know you were busy." "I am sorry." "Miss McLean is just leaving." "Margit McLean Kwai Chang Caine." "Caine?" "I'll see you out." "Anything else you want me to do, doc?" "What?" "No, no." "Just go on sweeping." "You're doing a good job." "You are the new student." "Come closer." "You cannot see." "You think I cannot see." "Of all things to live in darkness must be the worst." "Fear is the only darkness." "Take your broom and strike me with it." "Do as I tell you." "Strike." "Again." "Here, catch." "Never assume that because a man has no eyes, he cannot see." "Close your eyes." "What do you hear?" "I hear the water." "I hear the birds." "Do you hear your own heartbeat?" "No." "Do you hear the grasshopper which is at your feet?" "Old man, how is it that you hear these things?" "Young man, how is it that you do not?" "I'm sorry to keep you waiting." "What can I do for you?" "I found this in the fire a book of the Bible." "Inside, an inscription, in a woman's hand." ""ln Memoriam."" "is it not strange that this would be sent in memory of my grandfather before his death?" "How do you know it was sent to him?" "Suppose he picked it up somewhere." "There is a passage marked." ""And when he had opened the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, 'Come and see.'" "And I looked and behold, a pale horse." "And his name that set on him was Death."" "A threat." "A warning." "A prediction." "Or perhaps, as it says a revelation from the Lord." "You don't know that it was meant for him." "Yet I believe that it was." "Mr. Caine, you've buried your grandfather." "Let him rest in peace." "A murdered man cannot rest in peace, nor can I." "It is my duty to remain until the truth is known about my grandfather's death." "And where do you expect to find the truth?" "Who was that woman who was here?" "Margit McLean." "Why?" "Do you know why my grandfather came to this town?" "No." "No, I don't." "Thank you." "What's so funny?" "Well, ask your brother." "I thought it was a perfectly innocent remark." "Innocent?" "Sara." "I'm really going to have to do something about your manners, Johnny." "Was there something you wanted, dear?" "Who was Henry Raphael Caine?" "Why do you ask?" "Do I always get evasions instead of answers?" "Well, suppose I told you I never heard the name." "You both obviously know who he was." "He was a nobody." "Come on, Margit, what's all the fuss about?" "She's been talking to George Baxter." "Yes, I have." "George should've been born a woman, he enjoys gossip so much." "What's all this interest in Henry Caine?" "When I was leaving Dr. Baxter's office, I met his grandson." "Yes, he was carrying a book with a red binding sort of like the ones in your set, Sara." "How did he get it?" "I should think you'd have asked him." "Johnny, what do you have to do with all of this?" "With what?" "With what?" "Johnny." "What are you getting so upset about?" "There is something going on here that I don't understand." "But I don't like it." "And I am scared for you." "Come on, sis." "The only thing that's going on is in your imagination." "My imagination." "Listen, look we'll talk about it later." "But right now I have a few things that I gotta go over with Sara." "Okay?" "Margit." "This Caine, the grandson what does he look like?" "He's Chinese." "Chinese?" "Half Chinese." "I might've expected it." "She's not going to let it go." "What if she doesn't?" "Gonna let a Chinaboy worry us?" "Well, it wouldn't hurt to have a look at him." "If you say so." "Johnny." "Did I ever tell you how proud I am of you?" "l was in the post office getting your letters" "Richie, if you want to become a doctor you gotta start working on your bedside manner." "Sorry." "Here." "Thank you." "You know that man who was in here yesterday?" "Caine?" "l thought he looked familiar." "You know how I like to look through the wanted posters?" "That's him." "What are we gonna do?" "I'm a doctor, not a lawman." "What are you gonna do?" "I saw you working in front of the doctor's office." "is it not good to sweep to keep things clean?" "I only do that because I have to." "My real ambition is to be a doctor someday." "You have learned discipline and acquired many new abilities." "However, never forget that a priest's life is a simple one and must remain free of ambition." "Have you no ambition, Master Po?" "Only one." "Five years hence, it is my wish to make a pilgrimage to the Forbidden City." "It is a place where even priests receive no special status." "There, in the Temple of Heaven will be a festival the full moon of May." "It will be the 1 3th day of the fifth month of the Year of the Dog." "That is not such a great ambition." "But it is ambition, nonetheless." "Who among us is without flaw?" "Caine?" "I'd like to talk to you." "Dr. Baxter told me about your grandfather." "That he was dead." "I'm sorry." "Miss McLean." "Did you know my grandfather?" "No." "But you know something about him." "No." "Why did you come to see me?" "Well, yesterday you had a book." "The scripture, I think." "With a red binding?" "Yes." "I'd like to buy it from you." "Why?" "No special reason." "I'd just like to have it." "I do not wish to sell it." "All right." "The book was sent to my grandfather before he died." "There was a passage underlined." "Inside the front page, there were words." "Whoever wrote them knew my grandfather would be killed." "Chinaboy." "Johnny." "You think it's your place to talk to my sister?" "I do not wish to offend." "Well, then cool out my horse and curry him for me." "Now." "I am sorry. I cannot." "You're a stableboy, aren't you?" "I have been given other work." "I'm telling you what I want you to do." "Johnny, what are you doing?" "I'm not doing anything, sis." "I just want this stableboy to take care of my horse." "He's not a stableboy." "This is Caine, the man that-- l don't care who he is!" "I want him to do what I say." "And he's gonna do it, aren't you, boy?" "Or I have to use a little persuasion?" "I have no wish to fight with you." "It doesn't look like you have any choice." "Johnny!" "Let me see." "Leave me alone." "This don't end it, boy." "l am sorry." "Better get you to the doctor." "You gonna see me again." "This ain't the last we're gonna see of each other, and you can count on that." "Doc I've got a scratch." "Well let me have a look." "Get me some scissors, will you please, Margit?" "Here, sit down." "Fix you up in a minute." "How'd this happen?" "Some Chinaboy down at the stable got ornery." "And then you got ornery right along with him, huh?" "You wouldn't want me to back off a Chinaboy, would you?" "His name is Caine." "What was the fight about?" "It was nothing, just kids playing in the barn." "You think he's really playing?" "Grandfather's been murdered...." "l don't know what this means to you but he's not gonna forget it." "You saw what he's like." "He's gonna stay with this till he finds the man who did it." "Thank you, doctor." "You all right, Johnny?" "l'd like to send a wire." "And the message, Miss McLean?" "The Chinese legation in San Francisco." "The man you want for murder is here in Gurneyville." "How do you want to sign it?" "No signature." "The law requires it, Miss McLean." "Any name will do." "Judas." "Hear us, priest." "The moment of meeting written in blood from the beginnings of time is here." "According to the ancient codes of sacred honor we bid you here and we bid you come." "You must prepare yourself for what lies ahead in your chosen role as priest." "The nature of wind and fire and ice." "The frailty of the human condition in hunger and thirst and fatigue." "The predatory instincts of living things." "The greed and venality buried in the hearts of men." "You must be prepared to survive through all of this." "These graceful movements you now perform along with the rigors of all those disciplines which your masters impose upon you will help you to develop the inner strength that which we call "chi. "" "And when you come to meet your greatest tests your highest challenges when you call upon your chi it will not desert you." "Come on." "He's waiting on you." "You wished to see me?" "Mr. Caine something's been taken from this office here that concerns you." "A poster." "You know the one I'm speaking of?" "Yes." "It was removed without my knowledge or my permission by Margit McLean." "I didn't realize it till she'd gone." "You don't seem very alarmed." "There is nothing to be done." "Margit may notify the authorities." "I believe she has already done so." "They'll come here looking for you." "Yes." "You're just gonna let them come?" "I stand." "You're as stubborn as he was." "My grandfather?" "Yeah." "We were friends 40 years ago." "Till we fell in love with the same girl, Sara Kingsley." "is she still alive?" "Yes." "I talked with her this morning." "The inscription on the Bible was in the hand of a woman." "You still love this woman do you not?" "l ask you nothing else." "No, no." "Mr. Caine." "You've already met Margit's brother." "ln the livery stable." "Johnny?" "Whatever he might have done it was Sara that made it happen." "One more thing I think you should know." "Your grandfather, Henry Caine and Sara they had a daughter." "Johnny and Margit are her children." "You, Johnny and Margit are the same blood." "What do you look for beyond the sea, grasshopper?" "That part of me which I know little of." "The past out of which I was born." "Then someday you must seek it." "But is it good to seek the past, Master Po?" "Does it not rob the present?" "If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present." "But if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future." "The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past." "It will dull the pain." "It's already forgotten." "Of course." "I'd expect that." "There's another wound deeper." "Well, you told me to have a look at him." "Yes, exactly." "Had you done what I asked, you wouldn't need that." "You lowered yourself, Johnny." "Got down on his level." "Tussled like a common ruffian." "He doesn't fight like a man." "Did you think he would?" "People like that have no sense of form." "They make their own rules like animals." "Sara." "Can't we be done with it?" "I mean...." "l thought it was finished." "lt will be." "He's stubborn." "The doctor says he thinks he's gonna keep poking his nose in." "We may have to deal with him then." "Sara don't push me to that." "I'm not." "I'm only worried for you." "You've got a lot of years to live, Johnny." "You want to be free to live them gracefully like a Kingsley." "He's not a Kingsley." "He's a McLean, Sara." "Margit, suppose you leave this to Johnny and me." "Don't you think I belong in this?" "He's my brother." "Oh, Margit." "Listen, it's as if I never was a part of this family." "As if you two- lf you feel that way whatever is holding you here?" "You didn't have to do that." "I can't worry about her now, Johnny." "I'm concerned about you." "This Chinaman nosing around, it's not good." "Are you suggesting something?" "Yes. ln the future, remember who you are." "Do the right thing." "Sara." "I don't know what the right thing is." "There is a right." "There is a wrong." "We've always known it, and we've always acted on that principle." "You'll do it because you can't help yourself." "I'm sure of it, Johnny." "I have something to tell you, something I did." "I know." "A poster, you sent a telegram." "You know, and you're still here?" "You must hate me." "I do not hate you." "But I betrayed you." "Not from ill will to me but love for your brother." "You feared that I would hurt him." "I don't fear that anymore." "I don't feel that you'd hurt anyone deliberately." "And I don't believe what the poster said." "Why do they offer more for you alive than dead?" "The code of Ta T'sing Lu Li." "If I am alive then they may kill me in their own special way." "But you can run now." "As they are honor-bound to come I am honor-bound to stay." "Honor will be served, priest." "The time of our meeting is at hand." "We await." "Kwai Chang Caine." "We have come for you." "The Imperial Guards of the Dragon Throne at the center of the world who failed in their duty to protect the person of the emperor's favored nephew." "When you killed him the stench of dishonor descended on our order."