"You sent for me, offered me a job" "In order to accuse me of stealing your money?" "Mister, you're playing a dangerous game." "mr." "Paladin." "Hey boy, your timing is abysmal." "Thank you, mr." "Paladin, but credit go to mailman." "He just bring special delivery letter for you." ""bank of colton." "Colton, wyoming." ""dear mr." "Paladin, your job wasn't finished." ""there's a large bonus for you upon completion." ""I'd appreciate seeing you at your earliest convenience." ""yours very truly, e.J. Randolph."" ""reward for information leading to recovery of money" ""stolen from colton bank."" "Get two tickets to opera tonight, yes?" "No, hey boy." "One ticket to colton, wyoming." "I'm looking for e.J. Randolph." "Over there." "Yeah?" "My name is paladin." "Paladin?" "Well, come in." "Sit down." "Thank you." "Well now... have a cigar." "no, thanks." "I certainly appreciate this, paladin." "I hope I didn't inconvenience you." "I understand there's still snow up in the passes." "Have any trouble getting through?" "Have you found a place to stay yet?" "I recommend..." "I'm not at all certain, mr." "Randolph," "That I'm going to stay." "Certainly not until you've told me what this is all about." "The last time I was here, you were out of town." "I've never met you, we've never done business together." "About three months ago, you did a job for john griffin." "I got your card from him." "Griffin, from the broken spur ranch." "He hired you to bring steve morrow back." "Remember him?" "You don't forget a man you've killed." "Come now, paladin." "Certainly a man like you don't care whether he..." "Well, I mean, you are paid for what you do." "It can't really mean anything." "I'm not a bounty hunter." "I do some jobs that other people can't or won't do." "Steve morrow's case was unfortunately a matter" "Of self-preservation for me." "I didn't mean any offense." "Let's get back to the point." "Griffin wanted morrow 'cause morrow killed his son." "I don't see what that has to do with you." "You know what it's got to do with me." "Steve morrow robbed this bank before he killed the griffin boy." "He took $30,000." "Still don't see the connection." "It's all very clear to me." "A friend of mine saw you recently in san francisco." "He said you live exceedingly well." "Like a king, in fact." "I enjoy the niceties of life." "On my money." "Now mr." "Randolph..." "Let me get this straight." "You sent for me." "You offered me a job" "In order to accuse me of stealing your money?" "What's the trouble, mr." "Randolph?" "Arrest this man." "Paladin?" "Tell him, marshal." "What's the charge?" "He's got the money that steve morrow stole from my bank." "Do you have any proof?" "It's obvious, isn't it?" "The money's still missing." "No one's found it." "Paladin was the last man to see morrow alive." "That's not enough." "It's enough for me." "You put him in jail and sweat it out of him." "Maybe you know about money, mr." "Randolph." "But I know about law." "I can't do it." "Thank you, marshal." "Excuse me, mr." "Randolph." "Don't let him go, jaffey!" "I can't hold him." "Thank you very much, mr." "Randolph," "For telling me the money is still missing." "$30,000 would be gratifying compensation" "For a long and wasted trip." "Stop him, jaffey!" "On what grounds?" "He..." "Might find the money." "You were the one who told him about it." "I'll pay a reward." "I'll pay a 10% reward." "All right." "I'll post that reward." "In my office and on the town board." "Paladin." "I'd forget about that money if I were you." "Just keep riding." "Right back where you came from." "Marshal, I've got 30,000... 30,000 and one good reasons for staying." "If I find stolen money on you, I've got to arrest you." "I'll remember that." "Marshal, does rose morrow still live out there on that farm?" "Who?" "Steve morrow's widow, rose." "Her name's lucy." "You're wasting your time going out there." "We already took the house apart." "That puts you one up on me, doesn't it?" "Don't wait up for me, marshal." "Mrs. Morrow, my name is paladin." "Did you think I could forget you, mr." "Paladin?" "I'd like to talk to you if I may." "Come in." "Excuse me." "These are beautiful." "They're an eastern variety, must be difficult to grow out here." "They're worth the trouble..." "To have at least one lovely thing out here." "They were a present from my husband." "He brought me some cuttings after one of his trips back east." "You never knew what he did on those trips, did you?" "I heard." "After." "Do you think it would have made any difference, mr." "Paladin?" "No, I suppose not." "Mrs. Morrow, this hasn't been easy, has it?" "I've managed." "Why have you stayed?" "I have nowhere else to go." "And I don't have any money." "Except of course the money you left for me." "Your fee for mr." "Griffin." "He was jealous of you." "I used it to buy a headstone for my husband's grave." "You seem uncomfortable, mr." "Paladin." "Do I embarrass you?" "No, why should you?" "Your husband was an outlaw and a killer." "And you had a job to do." "I'm not an executioner, mrs." "Morrow." "I tried to bring him back." "Of course." "And you can't be blamed for protecting yourself." "I'm sorry." "I find that hard to believe." "Not for your husband." "That would have happened sooner or later." "I'm sorry for you." "You said you wanted to talk to me." "When your husband robbed the colton bank," "He took $30,000." "That money has never been found." "That's right." "He stopped here at the farm" "Before he holed up on the mesa where..." "He didn't tell you what he did with the money?" "No." "Mrs. Morrow, a man who brings his wife rose cuttings" "Would not leave her destitute." "Mr. Paladin, I don't know anything about the money." "And when my husband left here," "All he had in his saddlebags was food." "I know." "I packed them myself." "I'm very sorry to have bothered you." "May I?" "Of course." "Thank you." "I think that third bush could use some more water." "Bye." "Good evening." "I'd like to see mr." "Griffin." "Paladin!" "Come in." "What took you so long?" "I didn't know you were expecting me." "Oh, sure." "The marshal told us you were in town." "It wouldn't be very friendly not to drop by." "You know clete and the boys." "Sit down." "Clete, pour him a drink." "No, thanks." "I can only stay a minute." "Oh." "I hear you're supposed to be living high on old man randolph's money." "Mr. Randolph's a regular town crier, isn't he?" "You know how it is." "Poor old randolph," "He must be just about at the end of his tether." "A while back he was swearing that everybody in colton had the money." "Why?" "Morrow hid out on the mesa where you found him." "Everybody figured he buried the money up there." "Folks went up there with picks and shovels" "And you never saw such diggin' and poking' around in your life." "I swear that mesa's ten feet lower than it was." "Morrow didn't have the money when I found him." "His wife says he didn't have it when he left the farm." "You talked to her?" "I just left the farm." "Clete, you and mr." "Griffin's son" "Followed morrow after he robbed the bank, right?" "We were in town just passing the bank when he came busting out" "Waving a gun and carrying a sack." "You could tell right away what happened so we took after him." "He rode east, back to that farm of his." "But he bushwhacked us." "Killed his son." "Shot my horse out from under me." "You think he went on back to the farm?" "Must have." "That's where the posse picked up his trail again." "Thanks." "Sorry to interrupt the game." "Oh, griffin..." "The morrow farm adjoins your property, doesn't it?" "Yeah, in the south." "I see it's up for auction." "It should be worth a couple thousand dollars to you." "Couple thousand?" "I'm gettin' it for a couple hundred in taxes." "Somebody'll outbid you at that price." "I don't think there'll be any other bidders." "Downright shame, ain't it?" "Griffin, lucy morrow didn't kill your son." "Her husband did." "My only hope is that somehow he'll know." "Come in." "Marshal, you're up rather late tonight, aren't you?" "I make it a habit of never turning in" "Until the town's settled for the night." "You can start by tucking me in any time you want to." "You covered a lot of ground today." "How did you make out?" "Poorly." "Go ahead, open them." "I'll believe you." "Just wonderin' if maybe you weren't gettin' discouraged." "Not a bit." "There's a lot of territory between here and the mesa." "Morrow could have hidden the money anywhere." "He didn't hide it on the mesa." "This town proved that." "I don't think he'd have hidden it anywhere along that road." "Not without telling his wife." "Since when does a killer stop to worry about his wife?" "Morrow loved his wife." "He spoke about her when he was dying." "Come on, paladin." "You told me he was talking about some woman named rose." "A man like him probably had women all over the territory." "I just can't see it that way." "Suit yourself." "Marshal, what about that auction tomorrow?" "Griffin said he's gonna take that farm for the taxes." "Is that true?" "That's the way I hear it." "That place is worth two or three thousand dollars." "Nobody's gonna bid against him." "This town figures he's got something coming." "He lost a son." "He lost a son to steve morrow, not to steve morrow's widow." "That's the way the people here want it." "It's within the law and I can't do anything about it." "Do you have to be so legal about everything?" "If I wasn't, you'd have been in jail this afternoon." "Good night, paladin." "Good night." "It's kinda late to go callin', paladin." "Especially on a widow woman living all alone." "Clete, what are you doing out here?" "Just looking out for mr." "Griffin's property." "He doesn't want any trespassers." "It isn't his property yet." "It will be." "Tomorrow." "I wouldn't try to argue the point." "Go on, paladin." "What about it, clete?" "You want to continue the argument?" "Go back in the house, mrs." "Morrow." "I'm sorry this had to happen here." "Did it have to happen at all, mr." "Paladin?" "Have guns and killing become your way of life?" "No." "I hope not." "Is this the best one you have?" "Nothing better west of the mississippi." "I hope not." "I got a lot of digging to do." "That ground's baked mighty hard out there." "Hasn't been ploughed since steve morrow died." "Here you are." "Thank you." "Did he buy that shovel?" "Sure did." "Paladin!" "You wanna bury something, paladin?" "Or dig something up." "What time is that auction out at the morrow place?" "Two o'clock." "I wouldn't want to miss that." "I'll see you out there." "Somebody's gonna get rich." "That stranger there just bought one of these shovels." "I wonder what he's up to?" "All right, let's settle down!" "Get to business now." "According to law, I'm supposed to read" "The whole official tax auction notice." "But you all know what it is so let's get right to it." "Hold it a minute, marshal." "Looks like you got another customer." "Wait a minute!" "What's he doing here?" "Why haven't you got him in jail?" "He killed one of my men last night." "It was self-defense." "Mrs. Morrow here was a witness." "What are all these people doing here?" "It's a public auction, mr." "Griffin." "Anybody's got a right to be here." "Don't tell me he's got business here." "As much as anybody else." "All right." "We're here to auction off this farm for taxes." "There's $276 due." "We'll start the bidding right there." "Anything over that goes to mrs." "Morrow," "But the county's got to get it's back taxes first." "Now who'll start the bidding?" "$276." "Mr. Griffin says $276." "Anybody else wanna bid?" "Nobody else?" "Well, that does it, I guess." "The farm goes..." "$500." "You can't do that." "You've got no right." "You heard the marshal." "It's a public auction." "You're just trying to jack up the price." "How do I know you've got that kind of money?" "I'll have it." "I'll have it when the time comes." "My bid was $500." "$600." "Make it $700." "$750." "$800." "What are you trying to do to me?" "I changed my mind. $800." "$1,000." "$1,100." "$1,150. ] $1,200" "Mr. Paladin's bid is $4,500." "Anybody want to say more?" "$4,600." "$4,700." "$4,700." "Is that it?" "$4,800." "$4,900." "$5,000." "No, I can't." "Then it's up to you, mr." "Paladin." "Mr. Griffin, you have just bought yourself a farm." "All right." "Clear out of here, all of you." "Wait a minute." "I bid $4,900 on this place." "As the second high bidder, I'm entitled to see your money." "You don't think I'd carry that kind of money with me, do you?" "Then you don't own this place until you pay for it." "Ask randolph." "My money's in his bank." "Perhaps mr." "Randolph will make out a promissory note" "Payable on demand." "Is that all right, marshal?" "Sure, but maybe we should do the technicalities inside." "Hurry up, let's get this over with." "] take your time, griffin." "I'm making this note out." "Don't forget the deducted taxes, mr." "Randolph." "I have." "Sign here, griffin." "May I see it, please?" "It's legitimate." "Payable on demand." "That's fine." "Now if you'll make out another draft" "For $3,000, payable to mrs." "Lucy morrow." "What?" "That's the reward I believe you offered." "10% of the stolen $30,000." "Yes, but I..." "No you don't, paladin!" "Anything on this farm belongs to me now." "That's correct." "Marshal jaffey has the money in town." "Mrs. Morrow turned it over to him this morning." "What?" "Then she had the money all the time." "without knowing it." "It was only this morning we both realized" "Why one bush out of a dozen would wither and die." "Roses need water, not money at their roots." "It took her three months to find it out?" "It took me all night to realize" "That a dying man doesn't call his wife "rose"" "When her name is lucy." "He was just trying to tell me where the money was buried." "If I may have that draft, please." "You tricked me." "All of us!" "I know what you thought, griffin." "I'm afraid your imaginations were working overtime." "Paladin!" "No, no, no!" "Thank you, marshal." "Griffin, remember what you said last night" "About hoping that somehow morrow would know?" "Well, so do I." "Mrs. Morrow, I'm afraid this is small compensation" "For a man you loved." "Part of this is yours." "No, I consider this more than an adequate fee." "Mr. Paladin, you are a remarkable man." "No." "Just a man who's used a gun..." "Perhaps too often."