"[¶¶¶]" "[¶¶¶]" "Get dirt in that new press, and I'll whale the black juice out of you." "I'll put the cover right back on it, Mr. Garvin." "Just as soon as I finish this special edition." "Well, see that you do." "Better proofread his copy." "We got lady readers." "[LAUGHS]" "Looks like we got company." "Whoever would that be?" "Somebody with a taste for solitude." "Texas Trail makes lonely riding for a man alone." "[¶¶¶]" "Great godfrey, a woman." "You never see one before?" "Sure, but not out here in the middle of nowhere." "What can I do for you, ma'am ?" "I heard there were wagons southbound." "Been riding' to catch up." "Any objections if I join your train?" "No, help yourself." "Afternoon." "Where are you headin'?" "Texas." "It's a big state." "San Antonio." "Where are you going?" "I'm for Fort Worth." "We can travel together for a piece." "Good idea." "Pretty dangerous for a woman alone." "My idea exactly." "A woman needs a man to look after her." "Don't you worry, lady." "You'll be safe with me and Mr. Britt." "Britt?" "Hey, Mr. Britt!" "Let's go!" "All right, Toby, alley-oop." "Aah." "Attaboy." "Toby's ma died in Dakota." "His pa was killed by Injuns before Toby was born." "It won't do him no harm knowing a man like Ned Britt." "No harm at all, ma'am." "They have a good deal in common." "You know Mr. Britt?" "He rode into Texas 20 years ago, alone." "His only friend was a gun." "But it fed him and kept him alive in many other ways." "Ned Britt?" "Why, he claims firearms is just for heathens that can't read." "He's joshing you, ma'am." "I saw him when he rode out of Texas... a one-man arsenal, off to join the Southern cavalry." "[¶¶¶]" "TOBY:" "Yippee!" "Lookie, Mr. Britt." "[MEN YELLING]" "And what's that?" "Cattle on the drive for Dodge City." "[CATTLE LOWING]" "You'll wanna remember your first cattle drive, son." "Be something for you to tell your children." "Bellies full of good Texas grass, they're heading north to the railroads." "By the time you're grown, iron rails will be crisscrossing these prairies, and the cattle will be riding to market instead of having all the good meat run off of 'em." "Be more efficient, but nowhere near as pretty." "[¶¶¶]" "[CATTLE LOWING]" "We're gettin' close to Buffalo Wells." "The cattle smell it." "Well, let 'em drink." "We'll bed down here." "Hey, Gabe." "Yeah?" "Trouble's brewin'." "Know who's on his way to Texas?" "I don't know and I don't care." "You will." "He's camped yonder." "Ned Britt." "Ned Britt?" "Ain't he satisfied he made Abilene and Dodge City unfit for human habitation?" "What's he goin' to Texas for?" "I'm just a north-riding stranger." "Who is this Britt?" "He sets up a newspaper in Texas." "You'll read about all the brand blocki" you've pulled." "[LAUGHS]" "Just a type slinger." "Him and Ben Garvin own a couple of papers in Kansas." "I hear they figure to get a whole string of 'em clean across the Southwest." "They make too free namin' names." "Names like..." "Gabe Clevenger?" "I won't have him in Texas." "Now, who's gonna stop him?" "[LAUGHS]" "Don't tell me you jaspers are scared of some quill pusher." "No, not scared." "Just gettin' along kind of comfortable." "Why, you big brave bunnies." "I'll show you how to han" "Shut up, you big wind, and put that gun away." "Now don't tell me that you're scared of your own shadow." "Afeard to throw lead at some ink dauber." "He throws lead, jughead, type." "And it's got aplenty scatter to it." "You drill one of them newspaper fellows, and what have you got?" "A dozen more ready to step in and blast the print at you." "Ha, ha." "That don't scare me." "[¶¶¶]" "GABE:" "You and that hot trigger of yours." "We got a jumpy herd on our hands here, and I ain't a-payin' you to stampede 'em with gunfire." "Did I hear you send for me, Gabe?" "I didn't send for" "Yeah." "[CHILDREN SHOUTING]" "[¶¶¶]" "Whoa." "There you are, boy." "Stay and eat, Mr. Britt." "Thank you, ma'am, but, uh" "I'd be pleased to." "TOBY:" "Lady, I want you to meet my friend, Mr. Britt." "Howdy, ma'am." "Hiya, High Pockets." "Stop skittering." "I've called you that often enough, though I had more freckles when you" "Flora?" "Flora Talbot." "About time you came home, Ned." "Were you the one riding south?" "Heading back from Dodge City." "Alone?" "Have you forgotten when you used to ride herd for Dad?" "Cowhands still like to go on a weeks' toot when they hit Abilene or Dodge." "[LAUGHS] I left 'em there." "Must be some pretty strong attraction back in Fort Worth." "There is." "He's a lucky man." "You be sure to tell him so." "He'll be awful glad to see you, Ned." "Blair." "Of course." "Might have known." "I hear he pretty near is Fort Worth now." "I've been hearing some pretty bad stories about you." "It figures." "Ned Britt, a respectable newspaperman." "Blair will die laughing." "Your father wouldn't." "No, he'd have been proud of you, Ned." "Just as I am." "He did better raising you than he did me." "He'd have been pretty proud of you too, if he could see you." "[PLAYING FOLK MUSIC]" "It's a still night." "Hot." "Cattle will get restless." "Don't you worry." "That Caster will get the job done quiet as a breeze." "Quiet, everybody." "Quiet." "Special edition." ""On Monday, April the 1st," ""the wagon train was attacked by hordes of Indians." ""Only the trusty gun of Toby Nickerson" ""saved the immigrants from destruction." ""Scores of redskins bit the dust." ""And when the smoke cleared," ""young Nickerson was seen to be in complete command of the situation."" "Bang." "Bang." "[GROUP LAUGHS]" "You wrote that." "A boy ought to have something to show his grandchildren." ""Miss Flora Talbot," ""now returning home after driving her own herd" ""to market in Dodge City," ""joined the wagon train today." ""To all our young buckoes, let it be known" ""she will shortly wed" ""Mr. Blair Lunsford of Fort Worth." "He is the crack shot of Tarrant County."" "[GROUP LAUGHS]" "Blair would be dancing in the streets if he knew he was gonna see you." "Hm." "It's been a lot of years." "Be worth turning off the trail for a sight of him." "Why don't you?" "Why don't you start your paper in Fort Worth?" "It's your home." "So was Abilene and Dodge City." "So will San Antonio be." "Newspaper's gotta start where there's readers." "You know what I mean." "Why haven't you ever come home?" "I...kind of forgot that." "Was it because of Amy Brooks?" "Maybe in the beginning." "Whatever happened to her?" "MAN:" "Where are you, Britt?" "!" "That's that rider's guide." "How'd he get in there?" "That you?" "I don't wanna make any mistake about it." "I heard Clevenger's camped next door." "I suppose you're one of his hands." "My name's Jack Harvey." "Happy Jack Harvey." "Now put that name in your public prints." "Happy Jack don't do no pot shooting'." "I'm giving you notice to get yourself a gun." "Boy, you're right out of a dime novel." "So go back and tell Clevenger you scared me." "Go join a Wild West show, anything." "But stop bothering these people here." "You don't care they see you afraid to fight?" "Not a whoop." "Let it go at that." "Yellow-belly!" "[LAUGHS]" "But that won't save your hide." "[COCKS GUN] [LAUGHS]" "Don't fire that gun!" "Don't, you fool!" "It'll stampede the cattle!" "[FIRES]" "[CATTLE LOWING]" "[¶¶¶]" "Ride for the herd!" "Hyah!" "Clevenger." "One of his killers." "[CATTLE GROANING]" "BRITT:" "Stampede." "Stay off the prairie." "Your wagons are your only cover." "Get to them, under or in them." "Luther, guard that press with your mortal body!" "WOMAN:" "Let's get out of here!" "[CROWD SHOUTING]" "[¶¶¶]" "[SCREAMS]" "Mr. Britt, Mr. Britt!" "Toby, come here!" "Here!" "Get back, Toby." "Toby, get under." "Get under!" "[WOMAN SCREAMS]" "[WOMAN SCREAMS]" "Hyah!" "Hyah!" "Hyah!" "[¶¶¶]" "Toby." "Mrs. Nickerson... you'll have to go on alone." "They killed Toby." "What are you gonna do about it?" "Destroy them." "With words?" "If you wanna call it that." "I'm glad my father can't hear you now." "He shot men just for topping his herds." "And so did you, Ned Britt." "I've learned better." "You." "The man I used to worship." "You and Blair, because together you could whip all Tarrant County." "Sure, I could step out there and kill Clevenger men, and get killed doing it." "You afraid of getting killed?" "What have they done to you, Ned?" "Why don't you grow up?" "I've seen killings, death by wholesale, but I found something in the blood and dirt of it." "A little Southern newspaper that kept pounding away at the truth, about the lost cause and the lives we're paying for it." "That's sane truth." "It took courage in those crazy days." "It was a hated truth." "But it shaped opinion that taught me." "That the presses are a thousand times more potent than gunpowder." "I doubt if Blair will... quite know you." "[¶¶¶]" "[¶¶¶]" "Well, I'll be danged." "People coming in instead of moving out." "Fort Worth." "Ha!" "Cough real hard, and you'd blow the place down." "We had big dreams here, till the panic hit us." "Somebody ought to welcome 'em." "That's you, sheriff." "They look old enough to vote." "Hi, there." "It's Flora Talbot." "You bring settlers with you, Florie?" "They swung off the trail to bring me." "[SALOON PIANO MUSIC PLAYS IN BACKGROUND]" "Blair..." "You loon." "Getting loonier every day." "Figured maybe you jumped the fence with some jayhawk." "No, but I brought one with me." "It can't be!" "But it is!" "Ned Britt, that prodigal son of mine." "Fourteen years ain't done you a bit of good, boy." "Hey, Flora, you told me he was good-looking." "Well, this boy is an awful sight." "Oh, I'm prettier than you." "I guess they don't carry 'em up around Kansas." "Oh, I was spruce enough till Clevenger's bunch mussed me." "One of them tried some shooting." "They were after Ned." "Stampeded the herd, and..." "And a boy was killed." "Something, at last, to hang Clevenger." "Yes, sir, Mr. Lunsford, but" "You arrest him when he returns, hear me?" "Ned will bear witness." "There were others there too." "This is Mr. Garvin, Ned's partner." "Glad to know you." "And Luther Wickes." "I'll make a deposition." "There you go." "Everything's gonna be all right with Ned here." "We're not staying in Fort Worth, Blair." "What tune are you singing?" "Ben and I need a town with enough subscribers to support a paper." "But this is your town, Ned." "Flora, bring his partner along." "We'll show 'em." "Come along, Mr. Garvin." "Luther, you stay here and guard that press." "You ought to let us know you were coming." "We'd have had brass bands and parties galore." "I have no ties here." "Old man Brooks went into bankruptcy like most of the people in the town." "Only he didn't live to suffer from it." "And his daughter, Amy?" "She moved to greener pastures." "You never heard from her, Ned?" "Once." "She returned our engagement ring." "I got it at the Battle of Five Forks just before Richmond fell." "Forget her, Ned." "I have." "Here you are, gents." "Drink up." "Ned... there's the world:" "Texas." "You own Texas, and you can buy the rest." "And here... right here, is where all its treasures are gonna crisscross, going east and west, and north and south:" "Fort Worth." "Gents, you are standing on the hub of the nation right now." "Uh" " Your axle's busted." "Well, you're dead right." "Mice are starving in this town." "My creditors look like an army roll call." "But I'm giving it to you dark, boys." "You see, Mr. Garvin, I don't want anybody who's looking for a ready-made paradise." "I know Ned's courage." "I envied him out there, fighting the battles." "You did your part." "We'd have starved without you and your kind." "Let's be level, Ned." "They paid for my beef." "Oh, I put my head on a block right enough... running the gulf and through the lines." "But when the war ended," "I had a small fortune." "That came without asking." "Well, I didn't think much about it until it was all over." "And then I saw what I could do." "Bring the railroad in and make this the richest county in the state." "Unfortunately, the railway company wasn't impressed." ""What have you got to freight?" they said." "And Blair said, "Cattle." "We'll build a packing plant and ship it all the way from Fort Worth."" "That's a great idea." "Is it, Ned?" "Every cent I own is sunk in it." "An empty packing plant big enough for Kansas City right out there on the outskirts of town." "Panic stopped the railroad from coming in." "Why not haul to Dallas, ship from there?" "That's the remark of a foreigner, Mr. Garvin." "Even if Dallas wasn't cotton and industry, we still wouldn't make 'em a gift of our cattle business." "Oh, we'll do all right, once we break Clevenger's terrorizing." "He knows he'll have no trail-driving contracts once we get rails." "He keeps the panic going, but we'll beat him." "Ned pulling double with me... we can beat a dozen Clevengers." "And with your paper, put some fat on the bones of this town." "Enough to guarantee the freight to bring the railroad to us." "[¶¶¶]" "We'll make our noise heard across the state." "We'll get us our own governor in Austin." "You, Mr. Lunsford?" "[CHUCKLES]" "BLAIR:" "Why not?" "But I'll need your paper." "And I'll need your guns, Ned." "The whole suffering county needs 'em." "Don't look, Blair." "He never wears them." "What?" "What have they done to you, Ned?" "Flora will tell you." "Come on, Ben." "Yes, go on." "Go as far south and west as you like, Ned." "And I hope you hear the beating of the hoofs of cattle in your sleep." "I'd just as leave set up shop here if I didn't have a partner." "GARVIN:" "Me." "And a penny newspaper." "Sounds cheap, don't it?" "But a penny newspaper can make or break the millionaire's dollar power on Earth, turn the beam on them that shine, drive the vermin to their holes." "Why, I can bring good people to this town like moths drawn to the light." "That's kind of high-flown, Ben." "Mind if I put it simpler?" "No." "Go ahead." "We're going to delouse this burg." "Oh, Ned." "BLAIR:" "You can pour me a drink on that, Mr. Garvin." "[¶¶¶]" "And you wasn't gonna let Britt set up shop in Texas." "Their office is up the street." "We'll clean it out." "And have the papers in Dodge City and Abilene a-screamin' their lungs out about it?" "Man, you'd have the federal agents a-sniffin' at us." "I tell ya, boys, just keep a-workin' on this town, it won't support no newspaper." "Them that's smart enough to read will get wise enough to move." "Come on." "Fingers getting itchy?" "No, but I bet Blair's are." "Ha." "I doubt it." "He ain't ready to tangle with Clevenger." "Just a reporter's tip." "Sheriff's got his chance now." "I got to go post them sheriff's sales notice." "I better help you." "Come back here, you no-good" "I said, come back here!" "CLEVENGER:" "Sheriff!" "You allow filthy trash like that to be circulated?" "W" " W" " The license for printing ain't my orbit, Gabe." "Well, maybe you're right." "And maybe it's a civil court affair, suing them scoundrels for libel." "But I don't like to go to court." "Well, I don't reckon you do, Gabe." "I don't reckon anybody does." "B-but this here warrant says you're sure going to court." "What warrant?" "Mr. Britt signed murder charges against you." "Well, now, don't get mad at me, Gabe." "I ain't sitting in judgment." "[LAUGHING] You just arresting' me, huh?" "That's all." "You'll excuse me, sheriff, for talking so harsh to you, won't you?" "No hard feelings." "Shake." "[LAUGHING]" "Hey." "ALL:" "Hyah!" "[MEN YELLING]" "MAN:" "Oh, look at him!" "[LAUGHING]" "A town that can't support its law don't deserve a paper." "What did you mean about Blair not being ready?" "Nothing, Ned." "Nothing yet, leastways." "News comes in pieces, boys, like a suit of clothes." "Don't ever sport the jacket unless you're sure you got the britches on." "Ah." "But did you know he's buying up Tarrant County property?" "Well, what's wrong with that?" "Shows good civic faith." "He couldn't." "He's broke." "[SCOFFS] So am I." "But I can always snag two bits for coffee and beans." "Just like Blair can borrow the big stuff to buy up options." "Uh, by the way... you accidentally have two bits?" "You'll give away the whole newspaper sometime to a bunch of birds with hard-luck stories." "You coming to supper?" "Eat later." "Got some work to do." "[¶¶¶]" "Here's your editorial." "Read it." ""Aside from Gabe Clevenger's lawless activities," ""the civic corpse of Fort Worth" ""shows no sign of life whatsoever." ""We can personally vouch for the fact that yesterday," ""a panther was seen sleeping at midday" ""in the center of Belknap Street, unmolested by any of our brave citizens."" "Pretty good." "Mr. Garvin would want to know the age and sex of the panther." "No interest, except to another panther." "Come on." "Let's go to press." "Now, you only have to gun Britt, and the old one will dry up and blow away by hisself." "Well, Britt's in there." "I seen him." "Good." "Now, Mort will plug him from the alley." "But take no chance on him gettin' out." "When you hear Mort shoot, you move in the front." "Where are you going?" "To church, if I can find one." "'Cause I want to be someplace where I don't know a thing about this." "Outside papers will start digging." "And them newsies stick together like sorghum." "Fix yourself a libation, Mr. Garvin." "That's real Kentucky." "Uh, it's still working hours for me." "An interview?" "Sort of." "Why do you want this town on the rocks, Mr. Lunsford?" "Me?" "You've been puffing locoweed." "The Lewis ranch, this section here," "6,000 acres over there, and right here in town-- this and this and this" "and this whole block here... all under option to Blair Lunsford." "I don't suppose you have any idea where I could raise the money to pick up those options." "Not yet." "No, I didn't think so." "But only a fool would buy 'em unless'n he thought Fort Worth had a future." "You're no fool." "Thanks." "Other hand... anyone owned as much of the county as you do wouldn't let Gabe Clevenger terrorize it unless'n it suited his purposes." "What do you want me to do?" "Take the law in my own hands?" "We've got a sheriff" "[SCOFFS]" "Scared of his own shadow." "Now you've said something." "You know what they call you, Mr. Lunsford?" ""Mr. Fort Worth."" "Seems to me" "Mr. Fort Worth could get himself a good law enforcement officer." "If he wanted one." "All right, mister." "You asked for information." "I'll give it to you." "Sure, I bought up all the property I could." "I love this town, Mr. Garvin." "I've got faith in it." "But there are others who live here besides me." "I've got one vote, and that's all I want." "I'm one citizen." "Just because I own more property than the next fellow," "I don't ask for any more rights or any more privileges." "What are you doing here?" "!" "Well, ain't you gonna ask me in?" "I wouldn't ask you into a hog wallow." "You'd dirty it up." "Uh, you've got no call to take that attitude toward me." "You neither, Mr. Garvin." "And don't let him fill your paper with his spleen." "I appeal to you, Mr. Lunsford, to stop pounding me out of my rightful living." "To stop your unholy persecutin'." "Heh." "Never saw so many martyrs." "[LAUGHS] Persecute you?" "Mr. Garvin here thinks I'm in cahoots with you." "Cahoots?" "And you're in cahoots with the devil to rub salt in my sores." "Why, I count it lucky anymore to get a herd to drive." "Wicked unfair, Mr. Lunsford, to have the bread taken out of my mouth before that railroad even gets here." "I'm not raising cattle." "No, but Miss Talbot is." "And if I could get the contract to take her herds north, then the rest of them ranchers might open up their hearts so" "[GUNSHOTS]" "[¶¶¶]" "Where'd I put that shotgun?" "Crawl for the front door." "I've got to find that shotgun." "[GUNSHOT]" "Mr. Britt!" "Where are you, Clevenger?" "!" "You said you wanted some gravy, didn't you?" "Well, come a-runnin' and bring the rest of your scurvies with you!" "Why, you rampaging old longhorn." "Biggest thing out since Sam Houston." "You print that, son." "I like the sound of it." "[LAUGHS]" "[MEN CHATTERING]" "[¶¶¶]" "[WATER SPLASHING]" "Wait a minute." "Flora invited you to dinner too." "Tell her Mr. Garvin regrets." "On account of Blair?" "You never liked him from the first, did you?" "Not even after he saved my life." "He couldn't afford to let you get killed." "Those pieces you've been writing on him..." "It'd have to be by George Washington out of Queen Bess." "The paper's half mine." "That half says what I think." "[CHUCKLES]" "Stop fitting the truth to the shape of your heart." "You'll be a better newspaperman." "Oh." "I know it isn't easy." "What with friends around who say you're just hard mean." "You ever wonder why I never got married?" "Boy..." "I was foolish human once." "She was pretty." "Just as pretty as Flora." "But I printed her old man right into the pen... where he belonged." "[¶¶¶]" "Ben's a great man, Luther." "Right." "[CHUCKLES] Going to make him real mad someday by telling him so." "[KNOCK ON DOOR]" "Uh, Mr. Britt." "The roomer in 201 wants to subscribe to the Fort Worth Star." "Thanks, Bob." "Every new one counts." "Amy." "Hello, Ned." "So good to see you." "The years fall away, and you haven't changed at all." "I've changed right enough, but you haven't." "You're even prettier, if anything." "I wish I could believe you, Ned." "It's been a long time since anyone has said..." "I've been living in New Orleans, and I just got back." "I wanted to see you first of anyone." "How'd you know I was here?" "I read about you in the Picayune." "You're big pumpkins now, Ned." "Your articles get quoted way over in Louisiana." "Makes me mighty proud to know you." "Fort Worth will seem pretty dull to you after New Orleans." "Not to me." "Most I've seen of it was through a millinery shop window." "I bet you hold with the idea a girl shouldn't work." "Mm-mm." "Even knew a woman who worked on a newspaper once." "She wrote a column on cooking." "Oh." "I" " I was wondering how to ask you..." "About a job?" "No, Ned, I" "I was just hinting a-about supper." "Walking into a hotel dining room all by yourself" "I just wouldn't know how." "Suffering catfish, I forgot all about it." "I'm sorry, Amy, but I'm booked for supper." "Late too." "Here's proof that I'm not even making excuses." ""Miss Flora Talbot will entertain the staff of the Star at dinner with Mr. Blair Lunsford."" "I'm sorry, Ned." "If I'd known, I wouldn't have suggested it." "Wait a minute." "There'll be an extra place at Flora's table." "This will give us a real chance to talk about old times." "Blair and Flora and-- You're sure they'll want me?" "They'll be delighted." "Come on." "Get ready." "All right." "[¶¶¶]" "Give him a drink of water and tie him up, Lu." "[KNOCK AT DOOR]" "Brought you a little surprise, Flora." "Amy's sitting in for Ben." "Why, Amy, I'm delighted." "Same here." "Thanks for smuggling me in, Ned." "This is all I wanted you for." "Just a chance to throw a dead cat in Blair Lunsford's lap." "Get her out of here." "Ned wouldn't do that." "Not my old flame... your friend." "More likely he'd shoot your head off, Blair, for cutting his fences the minute his back was turned on us." "Flora..." "Don't believe her." "She was heading the wrong direction long before she left Fort Worth." "If I was, it was in your direction." "Tell her, Blair." "Tell Flora how it was me you were going to marry." "Tell her how Hardy Talbot died, and you saw all those dollar marks in her eyes." "Tell her how you put me out to pasture in New Orleans." "Goodbye, Flora." "And thanks again, Ned." "And so long, Fort Worth." "Thanks for all the hayrides." "Why did you bring her here?" "Not that it matters, but I didn't know this about Amy." "You're in love with Flora." "I never said so." "That's why you dug up that woman." "Believe what you want." "Let it go at that." "You've got a paper to use against me." "To take Flora, you will use every dirty card in the deck." "I won't use the newspaper for a personal fight." "Then you'd better get yourself some guns." "[¶¶¶]" "Thanks for the ride." "Okay." "Giddyap." "He's fallen asleep." "No." "Someone ran out the alley door just as I came in." "Send out the word." "[RUSHING FOOTSTEPS]" "[DOOR OPENS]" "There's the knife killed Ben." "There's the one aimed at me." "Two peas out of the same pod." "Both from Clevenger's killers." "But Gabe ain't been in town for over a week." "Heh." "It don't seem fair to blame" "Sheriff." "Some of his boys are." "Joe Castro's with 'em over by the Chuckaway Saloon right now." "They done it, they'll answer for it." "I'll bring 'em in." "I got me a real deputy now." "Come on, Walter." "You didn't know Ben." "He meant nothing to you." "You want a deputy, you got one." "Any objection?" "Glad to have you, Mr. Britt." "Right glad to have you." "I can handle it." "I've heard that song before." "[CHAMBER CLACKS]" "[CHAMBER CLACKS]" "Who is it?" "The sheriff, maybe." "Funnier than that." "Inkpot Britt, bowleggin' a pair of guns." "No." "Don't scare him away." "Let him walk into it." "Castro's right." "Nobody can target a pistol at that dist" "Did he say nobody?" "That bird's a ringer." "[GUNSHOT]" "Here's your gun, sheriff." "I've done your job for you." "You keep the guns, Ned." "And you keep the badge too." "You done good, Mr. Britt." "But you didn't need to." "Suppose I should have let 'em ride out of town again?" "Didn't say that." "Didn't mean it, either." "I said I could handle it." "And I aim to." "You remember that libel you printed about the panther asleep in the street?" "Well, you made us all-fired mad." "It's no libel." "And my partner's dead." "But not mad at you, Britt." "Mad at ourselves-- shameful mad" "for letting Clevenger and his gang run the monkey show around here." "We're calling in our bunch the Panther Club, Mr. Britt." "And it ain't gonna be no joke to Clevenger." "I didn't know different," "I'd swear I was back in Fort Worth." "I mean the town I used to know." "[ALL MURMURING INDISTINCTLY]" "[¶¶¶]" "LUTHER:" ""Our most eminent citizen stands in the rays" ""of the Star today." ""Is he a man worthy of the governorship..." ""or another hero in muddy boots?" ""Here are facts for the people of Fort Worth." ""The terrorism of Gabe Clevenger's drovers," ""added to the financial panic," ""has decreased our population from 5000" ""to less than 1000 discouraged souls." ""Blair Lunsford has capitalized" ""on this discouragement" ""by buying property options" ""from sellers reduced to utter poverty." ""Though he has shown his faith" ""in the future of Fort Worth," ""he has failed to take any steps to ensure that future." ""Never, that is, until April 18th, when," ""having acquired the last available" ""piece of city property," ""he made his now-famous stand" ""against Clevenger's assassins," ""when they attempted the life of Ned Britt at the offices of the Daily Star."" "M-Mis" " Mr. Garvin never even got to proof it." "Railroad comes in, and..." "Lunsford will own everything." "Well, he won't strut so big when he reads this in tomorrow's issue." "He won't read it." "We won't print it." "But we got to print it, Mr. Britt." "Mr. Garvin wrote it." "He's dead." "I'm running the paper." "Lu..." "Yes, sir?" "Listen." "I'll tell you what I'm up against." "Why?" "Like you say..." "Mr. Garvin's dead." "It's your paper." "I have a personal fight with Lunsford." "I can't use the paper against him." "It'd be hitting foul." "Lunsford ever makes governor... it'll foul the state." "[DOOR OPENS]" "What do you want?" "Not a thing..." "Except to say I'm sorry about Garvin." "He wouldn't want your sympathy." "Read it." "Your hands won't make it any dirtier." "[CHUCKLES]" "Print it." "What?" "You've got no obligations to me." "Print anything you like." "You hog-tied me when you figured I'd use the press to take Flora." "I wasn't thinking about her, Ned, or me." "I was thinking about you and Ben." "About how you'll sleep better if you think you've done what he wanted." "But he was wrong, Ned." "Wrong about me." "This is my town." "And I'm building it." "It'll take more than words." "Who do you think organized the Panthers?" "Who do you think they'll benefit?" "Fort Worth." "I'm burying this... for now." "So far your sins against this town have been sins of omission." "But I find you've committed just one," "I'll lay it above you or Flora." "I'll break you in this state." "[SLAMS DRAWER]" "So be careful where your scent leads." "Ben made me enough of a newspaperman to follow it." "But you don't have to follow, Ned." "You can ride right alongside." "This town's going places, and we're going with it." "We can pull double-- That's out for me!" "Not in your dirty harness." "All right then." "That's the way you feel about it." "But we're not the worst team in the world." "[¶¶¶]" "Where are you going?" "Clevenger's got a droving contract." "He's down at the stockyards now." "Panthers are gonna arrest him, and I've got to cover the story." "Stay where you are." "You don't cover that story with a pencil." "[¶¶¶]" "GABE:" "We get these few head over the mountains there, we'll be on our way." "SHERIFF:" "Gabe!" "Climb down off of that horse real easy." "[LAUGHS]" "You ain't gonna tell me I'm under arrest again, are you, sheriff?" "And this time it sticks." "[LAUGHS]" "That's why I voted for you, sheriff." "So as you'd be a big help to these here ferocious" "What is it they started calling theirselves?" "The Panther Club." "[LAUGHS] The "Panthiers."" "Well, uh, healthy-looking cat's all right." "Their noses is cold, and so's their feet." "You think I won't blow your head off, try finding it in the morning." "Haul him out of that saddle." "Mort Springer too." "The rest of you we're giving time to get across the county line." "I'll shoot the first man who tries to come back." "Don't move, gents." "Stand where you are." "Drop that rifle, Walter." "I've got a bead on your back." "And you, Lunsford, got a lead pill all labeled for you." "Not yet, Shorty." "Ned Britt." "Yeah." "Looks like this is our lucky day." "Now, keep your sights cool till he's ripe." "GABE:" "Pick it up, sheriff, and make out like you got us covered." "And the rest of you keep your mouths shut and your hands still, unless'n you want Shorty to plug you in the back." "Now, let's us get our hands up." "[CHUCKLES]" "GABE:" "I only asked the chance to raise my bail, sheriff." "And I'm partial to a quick hearing." "A word from you with the judge will help matters a lot." "Sheriff, I owe you an apology." "Who's got the drop?" "I have." "It ain't my fault, Britt." "Gabe made me hold this empty gun." "[ALL LAUGH]" "Two in the bag, Gabe." "And I hear you ain't particular anymore about offending the press." "All right." "Why don't you reach for your gun." "That what he's trying to do:" "make you use 'em." "He'll claim it was fair draw." "Guess we couldn't be that lucky." "Cock-a-doodles like you hang on to your lives till the last breath is squeezed out." "Get your rope, Mort." "All right." "Toss your guns in." "Reminds me of that day at Saw Hill." "Same bad fix." "[GUN DROPS]" "[GUNS DROP]" "Couldn't do anything about it then." "Can't now." "GABE:" "Get rid of them guns." "[GUNSHOTS]" "[GUNSHOTS]" "Don't hurry!" "You might catch 'em!" "MAN:" "Come on, after 'em!" "[¶¶¶]" "Hah." "Hyah!" "You double-crossed yourself that time for fair, didn't you?" "Riding double-harness whether you like it or not." "Don't count on that." "I said I'd delouse this burg, and I haven't changed my mind." "Ain't nobody yet proved Ben was wrong about you." "Well, you prove it." "I'm going to Dallas tomorrow." "You come with me." "Watch me sell those railroad moguls on drivin' the line through." "Learn how a man can play his honest opportunities... without a cent in his kit." "The way you played Amy?" "[¶¶¶]" "[WHISTLE BLOWS]" "I've got buckboards waiting to take us from the end of the line into Fort Worth." "Show you how easy it'd be to grade that right away, Mr. Engineer." "Our agreement was that you'd lay track from there on at your expense." "We're to pay you back out of earnings from Fort Worth." "If any." "Well, times have changed." "You'll have to put up the money." "[CHUCKLES] What I thought." "You've learned your cash, banked over in Dallas, is better than a lot of rusted rail." "Or was that money a dream, like your talk about Fort Worth bein' the great cow town of the future?" "It was no dream, Sam." "I've got the cash, but I can't use it right now." "That was our agreement." "And I aim to keep it." "As soon as I get all the options I wanted." "But a friend of mine has got a padlock on my cash." "I open it up, he blows me right out of Texas." "Besides, you don't need the cash." "Not when I'm offering you the best potential market town in the state." "Lunsford's ridin' in style." "Yeah." "He aims to get that general manager to put up the money to extend the line to Fort Worth." "Now, wasn't that obligin' of that Dallas paper to keep me informed?" "Well, what are you birds a-waitin' for?" "Go on." "And the products of my packing plant are no more than half of what you'll freight." "Goods of all kinds." "People." "Read our newspaper." "See how we could benefit the country from the gulf to the Kansas prairie." "Frankly, it was the Star boosted us into taking another look at the prospects." "Yeah, I give Britt full credit." "He brought back old citizens and new ones too." "Fought by my side for law and decency." "We wiped out such problems as Gabe Clevenger" "[GUNSHOT]" "[GUNSHOTS]" "[¶¶¶]" "Friends of yours, Lunsford?" "Clevenger's men." "Any rails are laid beyond Eagle Ford, you'll lay 'em." "I'll risk neither workmen's lives nor company money on them." "Looks like luck has been running a streak against me, gentlemen." "[¶¶¶]" "You boys know what supplies to order." "I'll meet you back here." "Put this in caps." "New paragraph here." "Now get to work." "Flora." "Come in." "Howdy, Miss Talbot." "I, um, brought you some news for the Star." "Good." "The youngest Henby boy came down with the measles." "And there's a harvest social at the Dills' ranch next Thursday." "You're both invited." "That's pretty hot news, Luther." "Better get it set up right away." "We're sure gettin' a better-lookin' class of reporter these days." "Be just as good if I go to lunch?" "Uh, just as good." "So long, Miss Talbot." "You've made Luther's day for him." "Sit down, Flora." "The items were only an excuse." "I wanted to see you." "You don't need any excuse for that." "You haven't been out to the ranch." "I've been busy." "Ben's funeral and" "Not wanting to cut Blair's fences." "I heard the words between you the night you brought Amy." "Time you learn no shock will kill a woman's curiosity, Ned." "Fella says a lot of things when he's mad." "I hope you know how sorry I was about Ben." "That I took for granted." "And welcome back into the fold." "Dad would've kicked the bung out of a barrel of mash celebrating' the gunnin' you gave Clevenger's men at the stockyard." "I wonder if Ben would." "I still believe the printed word is stronger than guns." "Only seeing him dead..." "Makes a difference when it's a friend." "Been you instead of Ben..." "I'd be on Clevenger's trail myself." "If it'd been Blair?" "Yes, I'd fight for Blair." "I'm not a schoolgirl that never heard of all the Amy Brookses in the world." "Blair's walkin' in four-leaf clover, having a woman so broad in the mind." "Hm." "You ought to thank me for bringin' Amy out." "Tell the truth, I felt sorry for her." "Her kind have their day, but it sure ends fast." "She's got claws, though." "She got to me when she talked about the dollar marks in my eyes." "Oh, don't you believe it." "I took a quick look at my bankbook." "That was reassuring enough." "Any dollar marks I've got are red ink." "That'll change." "The railroad comes through," "Blair's packing plant starts humming, and you'll be fat as a goose." "If that's meant for a compliment, you've got a lot to learn." "Don't keep yourself such a stranger, Ned." "It gets lonesome out there." "Blair will keep you company." "Blair's not on my visiting list." "But you just said" "I said that to you." "You don't think for one minute" "I'm not gonna make him squirm." "Maybe his clover crop ain't as thick as I figured." "By the way, where is he?" "Far as I know, still in Dallas." "Dallas?" "What for?" "Ah, don't worry." "It's not another Amy." "He's arguing the railroad through." "If he does that, I'll forgive him awful fast." "Come out any time, Ned." "Don't wait for the invitation." "I won't." "I can't pass up the kind of local news you handle." "Good morning, Flora." "How are you, Blair?" "You're beginning to look more like a lovesick bull every day." "What's the matter?" "Won't Flora moo when you bellow?" "Don't swing on the gate, sonny." "You might get a bellyful of horns." "You may as well get yourself reconciled." "I'm the one she's gonna marry." "Why?" "Because she spoke to you?" "I heard her say hello to a yapping dog out on the trail." "Oh, I guess I can savvy an insult when I hear one." "I don't have to have a barn fall on me." "But that's no way to treat a fellow that's bringing you some bang-up news." "You won your argument with the railroad." "No." "I lost it hands down." "Clevenger's men shot up the train." "There ain't nobody can take a hint faster than railroaders." "That's hard news, Blair." "Fort Worth will die without-- [DOOR OPENS]" "LUTHER:" "Mr. Lunsford?" "Yeah, son?" "I owe you an apology, Mr. Lunsford." "Well, that's a manly thing to say." "What for?" "Well, I've been distrustful of you." "But that meeting over at the hotel proved me wrong." "I told you I had some real hot news." "What meeting?" "The Panthers Club." "We're going to get the railroad." "They're gonna get their own free labor to lay track." "And Mr. Walter and the other deputies will protect 'em against Clevenger..." "o-or anybody else." "But it was Mr. Lunsford here who got 'em up to it." "I'm proud of 'em." "You should be too, Ned." "You created them, kind of." "They're big now." "Better than 200 good grizzly boys." "I gotta set type." "They got the muscles maybe, but it takes cash to pay for feed and materials." "Here's another item for Luther to set." ""Mr. Blair Lunsford has announced" ""that on Tuesday next," ""he will ship $50,000 in gold by train to Eagle Ford" ""to defray all cost of construction of the railroad."" "Gold sounds better." "So Ben was right." "You've been crying poor and buying up options for 10 cents on the dollar." "And all the time you had a big kitty buried in Dallas." "By japes, boy, you've got it." "That fine old Southern honor, that good old integrity." "I told you I pin one skunk act on you," "I'd print you out of the state." "This is the hole in the fence I've been waiting for." "Well, don't jump through that hole too soon, son." "You might tear your britches." "There won't be a nickel on that train." "What you holding in that head of yours?" "We've got to get rid of the threat of Clevenger, haven't we?" "Well, he and his boys oughta be pretty hungry by now." "That item in your paper ought to make sure-fire bait." "You've set yourself a pretty good rattrap." "And we'll load the train with Panther cats just to make sure." "No." "We don't want any noise around here." "Gabe's got big ears." "You and me... we'll be the express guides." "I'll make the arrangements in Dallas." "The railroad company, they won't be so tough to handle once we bury Clevenger." "And he'll strike a blow any time to keep work from starting." "And the money." "Talk about incentive." "Then you're with me." "You'll print it." "I'm already writing his obituary." "[¶¶¶]" "[WHISTLE BLOWING]" "Figured Clevenger's gang would show when we hit open country." "Yeah, after all the trouble I went through at the railroad to promote this trap." "It cost a king's ransom to hire a short-handed train crew." "Thought you were broke." "Since Clevenger stayed out of this," "I'm worse off than that." "What if he hadn't?" "You were supposed to line up some good gun hands in Dallas." "I'll look for a full load instead of those empty coaches." "Why?" "We got nothing to protect but some mail-order goods for the farmers." "Two bits will get you four if we don't pass that coach." "[WHISTLE BLOWING]" "Still looking for a soft touch?" "I only hope Clevenger ain't." "That's why we're here." "Be a horse on me if he passed up the train and held up that stagecoach." "I wouldn't give him pocket money." "You call $100,000 pocket money?" "[GUN COCKS] What the--?" "What tune you singing now?" "Little by little, I'm movin' all my cash to the bank at Fort Worth." "I can't put it off any longer, son." "Not even on your threat to print me out of the governorship." "Serves me right." "I should've known Ben was the only man to trust." "You had fair warning." "Money sure polluted you." "You used to believe in a fair draw." "Made kind of a nice setup for me, didn't it?" "You were number one, and Gabe was second." "And I figured he'd plug you if I gotta fire the shot myself." "Seems like my luck is running out." "The higher I stack the chips, the worse it goes." "Even staked your life on it." "If a man wants to hit the jackpot, Ned, he's gotta take chances." "Oh, if I get killed, of course, I'd regret it." "But Fort Worth would build a whopping-big pigeon roost of a monument to old Blair." "You'll get buzzards." "Not from you." "Move back." "Keep your hands away from those guns." "I'm givin' you one straight choice." "And I'm offerin' to make you rich too." "You ride with me, and I'll take care of you." "Big." "Well, what's your answer?" "Insane." "You're stark-crazy insane." "They said that about a lot of men." "Columbus, Washington... old Sam Houston." "He was insane too, with his dream of Texas... till he made it come true." "Now me." "Suit yourself." "I'm insane too... till I'm sittin' in the saddle, and Fort Worth is queen of the prairie." "And no two-for-a-penny newspaper is gonna stop me-- [DOOR OPENS]" "It's Britt and Lunsford." "[GUNSHOT]" "Let 'em burn." "They're better than the money." "[¶¶¶]" "We've gotta stop the train now" "Don't slow down till we get to the water tower." "Express car's afire." "Gabe said not to move in with the horses till they pass the water tower." "What he said ain't what he'll be sayin' now." "We gotta get him and the boys off of there." "Let's go." "Hyah!" "[¶¶¶]" "[GUNSHOTS]" "[COUGHS]" "Come on." "Let's get out of here." "[GUNSHOTS]" "[CLICKS]" "[GUNS CLATTERS ON FLOOR]" "[GUNSHOT]" "[GUNS CLICKING]" "[LOCK CLICKS]" "[¶¶¶]" "[KNOCK ON DOOR]" "Ned." "Oh, Ned, I've been so worried about you." "Worried?" "Well, how'd you know that...?" "Blair, it's Ned." "Isn't that wonderful?" "Wonderful ain't good enough." "Come on in, boy, and sit down." "You must be tuckered." "Fix yourself a drink." "I was just telling Flora how I got fouled up" "Played it smart, didn't you?" "You knew I couldn't work on you here." "Work on me?" "You loco, boy?" "Ned, what's the matter?" "Let him tell you." "He'll make it a good story with that rattlesnake charm of his." "What happened, Ned?" "Did you land on your head when Gabe kicked you off the train?" "This kind of a thing can be serious." "Take care of him, honey." "I'll send Doc Wilson out." "Get yourself fresh guns, Blair." "I'm giving you a better choice than you gave me." "You've got till tomorrow morning to make sure that paper don't come out." "You wait longer," "I'll print you out of Texas." "Ned, Blair... you have no cause to quarrel." "This is the way we should be:" "together." "This way too." "Look after yourself, boy." "[DOOR CLOSES]" "What are you doing?" "Pointing a gun." "I aim to use it on Blair." "He's right." "You are insane." "Not me." "Blair." "His crooked dream got too big for one man's head to hold." "Only a crazy man would rig it to swindle every friend he had and still want Texas to lift him up in glory." "He couldn't have done that." "I'm going to set print on him tonight." "And if he's to stop me, he'll have to kill me." "He's your friend." "He wouldn't shoot to stop you even if you printed a pack of lies." "Then you'd better stop me." "You seem to have picked your man to fight for." "I haven't picked anybody." "Keep your gun." "I could use it too." "Anybody who'd try to destroy somebody I loved." "Then why don't you... while you've still got a chance to sit in the throne room at Austin?" "[¶¶¶]" "[BAND PLAYING "I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THE RAILROAD"]" "[CROWD CHEERING] [GROWLS]" "[BAND PLAYING "OH, SUSANNAH" IN DISTANCE]" "All ready to pull a proof, as soon as you give me copy to fill that space you wanted saved." "I told you to clear out." "Uh" " Soon as I set the type for your story." "Must be a humdinger, the way you've been sweatin' on it." "Clear out now." "I don't want you around here." "Somebody's got to cover the Panthers starting to lay track." "I can still set type." "Well, if you're sure you can get on without me." "I won't let you down, Luther." "Paper will come out on schedule." "[DOOR CLOSES]" "[BAND PLAYING, CROWD CHEERING IN DISTANCE]" "You ought to keep that door locked." "Don't want it locked." "The way you messed up Clevenger's bunch on that train, he'll be feelin' peevish." "Fort Worth's the last place he'd show himself." "Well, it'll be a lonely place, what with every man, woman and mule off to work the railroad." "Including' me." "Everybody from the fire department to the Ladies' Cooking Society." "Oh." "You printing' up how Lunsford saved the day with the cash he brought in?" "Well, something like that." "Hear he hocked his warts to buy the rails." "Ah, you know, Mr. Britt, public spirit like that's just mighty scarce." "We ought to build a monument to him while he's livin'." "The way he's livin', there mightn't be much time." "Pride of the old Lone Star." "[CROWD CHEERING]" "[BAND PLAYING "I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THE RAILROAD"]" "You ought to keep that door locked." "You're the second one said that." "I expected you by the front door." "What were you after, a potshot?" "Didn't want anybody to see me come in." "I aim to go out the same way." "The undertaker's right across the alley." "It won't be too far to tote you." "Setting up your little story?" "That's it." "Just in case somebody does pass by, you're here alone, as you should be." "[¶¶¶]" "Don't go getting buck ague." "I'll give you a fair draw." "Just keep your hands away from those guns." "You talk to Flora about this?" "It's any comfort, she'll believe no bad of you." "I knew she wouldn't." "[SHUFFLING, FOOTSTEPS]" "I've been thinkin' a lot about her this evening." "About you and me." "Women." "Half the time they don't understand what a fella's talkin' about." "You can't make conversation with a pile of greenbacks." "Then give it up." "Let those options lapse, and the property will go back to the people you bilked." "They will lapse if you are dead." "I'm talkin' about life, Ned, not death." "Big, juicy wonderful life." "It's like I was tryin' to tell you when you first came home." "You grab the crossroads." "If it's a treasure-trove, then the world's your watermelon." "My offer's still good." "We can slice it fifty-fifty, you and me." "Neither of us." "Then it's spin the wheel, and... see what comes up." "It's your decision." "Always figured I was faster than you." "But I figured wrong." "Go on, shoot, boy." "Shut up." "Listen to me." "Shoot, you fool, or you'll be losin'." "[¶¶¶]" "[TWO GUNSHOTS]" "Ned?" "Are you all right, Ned?" "I had to see the truth to believe it." "I picked my side, but I didn't mean to kill him." "I only fired once, and he fell." "Say that again." "What?" "You only fired once." "What difference does it make?" "I killed him." "Who knows?" "There were two shots." "Somebody else was in there with us." "[COCKS GUN]" "Ned!" "[¶¶¶]" "[¶¶¶]" "Better get on down there." "Well, just as soon as I get some of this ink washed off." "It's mighty fancy." "Look at page three." "Thank you, Ned." "Thank old Ben Garvin." "He made the rules for the paper." "One was never to pitchfork the dead." "You all comin' along?" "We can see fine from here, Luther." "Well, then, see you at supper." "So long, Mrs. Britt." "Mrs. Britt." "And you were ready to plug me once, almost." "Almosts don't count." "[¶¶¶]" "[CROWD CHEERING]" "It's a different town than you rode into the first time, Ned." "Different than the one I came back to." "It's a good town." "Good town for little Toby to grow up in." "Toby?" "Why, he got killed by" "Why, High Pocket," "I clear forgot to tell you, didn't I?" "Why did you think I didn't want to go down there?" "Want to stay out of the crowds?" "You'll have to take better care of your boy's mother, boy." "[¶¶¶]" "[¶¶¶]"