"Lady to see you." "Oh?" "This, um, this is yours." "A friend gave it to me." "Can we sit down?" "Forgive me." "I need your help." "Paul, my husband," "There's a reward, you see?" "$2,000." "The reward is for your husband?" "He's being hunted like an animal." "Where?" "And why?" "Blanton, arizona." "We live there." "He's a clerk in the bank." "He was a clerk in the bank." "Sherry has a habit of making the words come more easily." "The bank was robbed, and a man killed." "Paul was blamed." "They're hunting for him." "It-it's impossible." "Paul just isn't the kind to do such a thing." "Oh?" "Well, why was he blamed..." "If he isn't the kind?" "I don't know." "Nobody'll tell me anything." "All I know is some of the most vicious men in blanton are tracking him." "They'll kill him without giving him a chance to explain." "You want me to find your husband before the others do?" "You won't have to find him." "I know where he is." "There's a canyon we used to go to." "I know it's silly, but we felt it was sacred to us." "We never told anyone about it." "Well, how do I find it?" "You follow the road north out of blanton." "Where it curves up into the hills," "You'll find several water holes just off the side of the road." "And beyond that, there's a split-rock wall." "That's the entrance to the canyon." "Why didn't you kill it?" "I thought that was a good place for you to stop." "You got a reason to be in these parts?" "Now, that's not a neighborly question." "It's a question." "And a fair one." "All right, sheriff." "This bandit that's on the loose," "I'm looking for him." "That's right civic minded." "$2,000-minded." "A bounty hunter." "Let's don't get in each others' way." "You know, we could use him." "Bounty hunters make awful good trackers." "Hey, mister." "You, uh, got a name?" "My name's paladin." "Well, paladin, we could partner up." "$2,000, split five ways," "That doesn't leave much profit for a bounty hunter." "Figure it this way, we got five chances to find him." "Or you can figure it this way:" "We don't want strangers wandering around this area." "Either you join us, or clear out." "Our camp's close by." "You're welcome to noon with us." "Now, he doesn't look like he'd know which end of the gun to point." "He was expert enough to drill my deputy." "Anybody see him do the killing?" "Just my deputy." "Dead men ain't in the habit of telling what happened to them." "Not around here, anyway." "You know something?" "For a bounty hunter," "You're awful picky." "Hey, give me some of that." "You know, you ask more questions than association detectives." "Well, I don't want to gun an innocent man." "He ain't innocent." "Gunfire pulled me out of my office" "And the rider hightailing it away from the bank was martin." "I saw him." "He dropped this." "It's the gun the bank gave him to protect his cash box." "It's the gun that killed my deputy." "That makes it easy." "We're hunting an unarmed man." "Well, what do you know?" "He hit the target first time." "I'll try and do it again." "That knocks out the dead part of this poster." "We don't have to kill him to bring him in." "Breck?" "No, too tired." "Going to sleep." "Yeah, breck sets a good example." "Well, I'm flattered." "He picked me." "Imagine that." "Out of all the people in the world," "That one liked you." "Yeah, you know, I thought even a snake was particular who it holed up with," "But I guess I was wrong." "Paladin." "Paladin, pay him no mind." "They been in the woods too long." "A snake bite in the right place can kill a man in two hours." "Are you hinting that snake didn't just wander into your blanket?" "You call it a hint if you like." "I prefer to call it a blunt statement." "I can't go along with that." "Well, go along with this, maybe." "If martin is innocent, anybody could be guilty." "Even one of those men over there." "I saw him ride out of there." "It was his gun..." "You didn't actually see him kill that deputy, did you?" "Go along with me a little further, then." "If the guilty man is here with us." "He's got to see that martin doesn't get back to town alive" "To tell what he knows." "You're right, but why try to kill you?" "Because I'm the one that's emphasizing martin should be taken alive." "Oh, all minds travel different trails," "But if that rattler didn't just wander into your blanket," "Maybe we both better watch out for snakes." "Sheriff." "Sheriff, we figured out how to get martin." "I'm listening." "Well, we been trailing this boy for seven days now, right?" "That's the combination right there." "Everybody's talking in riddles." "Even a dude has to eat." "Now, if he comes out during the day," "We'd spot him, sure." "He's got to be getting his food at night." "That's when he comes out of hiding," "At night when we're sawing wood." "Makes sense." "Look, couldn't we put this off 'til tomorrow?" "Oh, we'll saddle up now." "Oh." "Gyppo!" "Sheriff?" "You got something to tell them?" "Uh, yeah, remember he's unarmed." "There's no use to shoot him." "Hold your fire." "Did you do that shooting?" "Hasn't left my holster." "Get him?" "Did you fire those shots?" "I didn't even see him!" "He got away." "Aw, I already had my $400 spent." "No use looking for him any more tonight." "One thing for sure, his hideout is close by." "Well, we'll nail him in the morning." "You try to nail him tonight?" "You playing detective again?" "You want my gun, paladin?" "Suit yourself." "Breck, did you fire those shots?" "I told you once." "Maybe you told us wrong." "And maybe you'll be dead soon." "Easy way to make your point." "Well, somebody's a liar." "...And beyond that, there's a split-rock wall." "That's the entrance to the canyon." "Come on, gyp, let's go hunting." "Yeah." "Hey." "That paladin's gone." "Gone?" "Yup." "Tell you something," "We made a mistake letting him get away." "Where you been?" "I been out in the hills looking for the gun that tried to kill martin." "I figured maybe somebody had a spare." "Why should one of us want to kill him?" "Any number of reasons." "Person reasons." "Beckett, you set your mind to it," "You'd be surprised the things you could think of." "Yeah, like for instance, breck might want to kill martin." "He's always out to kill somebody to revenge his brother's death." "Oh, shut up." "His brother was hanged." "He was a rustler." "You might say he had too many irons in the fire." "Oh, shut up." "Well, he is always looking to revenge his brother's death." "You know one of these days you'll talk yourself to death?" "And this might be the day." "That's not exactly what I had in mind." "I thought maybe one of us might have robbed that bank." "And the only way to keep the loot," "Would be to silence martin for good." "Oh, no, no, nothing like that." "No, let's get back to gyppo's idea, revenge." "You see, gyppo fancies himself to be a prime dandy, anyway." "Why, he had helen martin hog tied and ready to go until paul came along." "Took her away from him." "Isn't that right?" "Why, he's had it in for the two of them since the wedding." "Squabbling amongst ourselves don't solve nothing!" "No." "That's still revenge." "Now, is there anybody here who might be interested in a profit?" "So, it's between the three of us?" "'course, you ruled yourself out," "So it's really between the sheriff and me, huh?" "Well, sheriff, you're always complaining about earning only $50 a month." "Maybe you robbed that bank?" "20 thousand dollars can be mighty tempting." "Sheriff was with me when the shots were fired." "Anybody else with anybody?" "Oh, come on, beckett, tell him why you robbed that bank." "You get funnier every minute, gyppo!" "Beckett had this friend, see?" "Well, he owed some money." "The bank wouldn't extend him a loan," "And he lost his spread." "Beckett, I don't blame you for busting that bank." "No, now we're back to revenge and we ruled that out." "Uh, didn't we?" "Look at him." "Like a hound dog on a scent." "Don't you see what he's doing?" "He's trying to get us on each other's necks hoping we'll draw blood." "And something almost burst loose." "Didn't it?" "I still favor martin as the one." "We find him, we're out of the dark." "Now, get your breakfasts, and let's get him." "Blood." "He's been wounded." "All right, bounty hunter." "You're the expert." "Follow the blood." "He must have it pretty well bandaged." "I don't see anything else." "I do." "There!" "There's blood!" "There, there's a smear." "Paladin!" "Looks like that wound wasn't so well bandaged as you thought." "Maybe martin'll get lucky." "Bleed to death before we catch up with him." "Must be holed up in a cave somewhere in those rocks." "Yeah, spread out and keep your eyes open." "Down here!" "He came this way." "This blood's fresh!" "This means we flushed him out of his hole and he's in the open." "You're right!" "Here's more!" "Easy, paul, easy." "I'm a friend." "Your wife sent me to find you." "She said you were innocent." "Helen, how is she?" "Worried about you." "That's all the time we have for small talk." "I want straight answers." "You rob that bank?" "No." "All right, make it good." "I was alone, working that night." "Auditing the books." "Masked man came in and made me open the safe." "I took a chance and got a gun out of the drawer." "He pulled it out of my hand." "You know who he was?" "Jim wilson, he's the deputy sheriff, he happened to come in." "Man shot him dead with my gun." "Then he made me get on my horse and ride." "Sheriff came out of his office and started shooting after me." "I was scared, I kept on going." "When my horse ran out of wind, I had time to think." "The deputy was killed with my gun," "And I had the combination to the safe." "I didn't think anybody was gonna believe me." "So, here I am." "Would you take a chance with your life to save your life?" "Do I have a choice?" "No." "What do we do now?" "Wait." "You got him." "Now we can get at the truth." "He'll talk, sheriff, but only in front of a judge." "Just give me five minutes...!" "Wait!" "What's the objection of letting a judge hear it?" "None." "Sheriff will watch the prisoner with me." "Get all our horses and equipment back at the camp." "That's a good idea." "Break camp and bring up the horses." "Now." "Get going." "What's on your mind, paladin?" "Sheriff, paul'll talk, but he can't tell much." "Sheriff, you've known me three years, since I came from the east." "Do you think I could do this thing?" "I just do my duty." "Your duty is to protect the innocent." "That's my oath." "The guilty man'll never let paul reach town." "That's what you say." "Sheriff, breck, or beckett, or gyppo." "Whichever one it is will sneak back here and try and quiet paul." "We don't know it was one of them." "Well, it's worth a try." "Paul, if you go back and sit down at the base of that rock." "And sheriff, if you'll quench your thirst at the far pool," "I'll try the boulders on the other side." "All right, this is your party." "But if there's no surprises, I take him in." "Here." "Keep that hidden in your hand, just in case." "Well, if I drink any more, I'll be water-logged." "Never thought I'd be so anxious for someone to shoot at me." "Well, have we had enough?" "Well, sheriff, we don't have a problem anymore." "No, we don't." "But you have." "You were all in on it?" "Whose gun were you lying about this morning?" "Ha!" "Beckett's." "I near died laughing when the sheriff smelled his gun and said nothing." "Well..." "I guess now there's gonna be a shorter split on that $20,000" "Under the floorboards of the sheriff's jail." "Look, we gonna stand around listening to gyppo's bad jokes" "Or we gonna finish what we started out to do?" "All right, it's your kind of play." "Get on with it." "A'right." "Go, paul!" "Go!" "Back!" "Paladin!" "Paladin, it's me." "The sheriff." "I'm listening." "I got a deal for you." "Go ahead." "You send martin out, you go free." "Now, how you gonna arrange that?" "Send him out, we'll take him with us." "When we're gone, you can go." "All we ask is, you keep on going." "How far you think I'd get with a bullet in my back?" "You got to have food." "We can wait here 'til kingdom come!" "He says no!" "Paladin!" "You're in no spot to act the hero now." "The last chance!" "What do you say?" "I say the siege is over!" "Drop it!" "Sure gonna be a long ride to san francisco and helen." "Well, paul," "I guess this is the first time the man's ever brought back the posse." "All right, sheriff, lead out." "¶ "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?" "¶"