"His name was Jeremiah Johnson." "They say he wanted to be a mountain man." "The story goes that he was a man of proper wit and adventurous spirit suited to the mountains." "Nobody knows where he came from and it don't seem to matter much." "He was a young man and ghosty stories about the tall hills didn't scare him none." "He was looking for a Hawkin gun, 50 caliber or better." "He settled for a 30, but damn, it was a genuine Hawkin." "You couldn't do no better." "Bought a horse, traps and other truck that went with being a mountain man." "And said good-bye to whatever life was down below." "Where is it I could find bear, beaver, other critters worth cash skinned?" "Ride due west as the sun sets." "Turn left at the Rocky Mountains." "This here's his story." "Jeremiah Johnson" "Made his way into the mountains" "Betting on forgetting" "All the troubles that he knew" "The trail was wide and narrow" "The eagle or the sparrow" "Showed the path he was to follow" "As it flew" "A mountain man's a lonely man" "And he leaves a lot behind lt ought to have been different" "But you often-times will find" "That the story doesn't always go" "The way you had in mind" "And Jeremiah's story" "Was that kind" ""l, Hatchet Jack being of sound mind and broken legs do hereby leaveth my bear rifle to whatever finds it." "Lord hope it be a white man." "It is a good rifle and killed the bear that killed me." "Anyway, I am dead." "Yours truly, Hatchet Jack."" "A 50 caliber Hawkin!" "Come on, you." "That'll be far enough, pilgrim!" "Where are you?" "You're a fine target, pilgrim!" "Empty your hand." "I ain't seen no live man in 2 months." "I am Bear Claw Chris Lapp." "Blood kin to the grizzly that bit Jim Bridger's ass!" "You are molesting my hunt!" "I know who you are!" "You're the same dumb pilgrim I've been hearing for 20 days and smelling for 3!" "How come you ain't been scalped?" "Ain't been too lucky?" "This place has been trapped out since '25." "Why are you here?" "I hunt griz." "Grizzly bears, pilgrim." "I collect the claws." "I had one in that thicket back there." "Ready to shake hands until you came along!" "I'm sorry, then." "You look it!" "Hungry too?" "Come on." "You know how to skin griz?" "I can skin most anything." "You sure are cocky for a starving pilgrim." "There she be." "You go in, get warm, get yourself something to eat." "I've got a chore to finish." "My boy!" "Are you sure that you can skin griz?" "Just as fast as you can find them." "Skin that one, pilgrim, and I'll get you another!" "Must have missed another war down there." "Didn't miss nothing." "If I head due west tomorrow, will I find good places to trap?" "If you head due west or any place tomorrow you'll be starving in a week." "You ain't likely to meet someone of my good nature." "Mountain's got its own ways." "Use that skin pad, pilgrim, before you lose all your fingers." "Whatever you learned down in the flat will serve you no good up here." "You got some work to do." "Utes and Flatheads are generally peaceful critters." "Crows, they are fearful." "Mighty warriors too." "In my opinion the Crows are the handsomest Indians there is." "And proud too." "There ain't a man alive can match them on a horse." "I've seen them run with one foot on the horse's rump one wrist through a loop in the mane shooting arrows and guns under the horse's neck!" "But they are an adulterous people." "Adulterous." "Here you are, pilgrim." "Sharp enough to scale a fish with." "Ever get lonesome?" "For what?" "Woman?" "Full-time night woman?" "I never could find no tracks in a woman's heart." "I packed a squaw for 10 years, pilgrim." "Cheyenne, she was." "And the meanest bitch that ever balled for beads!" "I lodgepoled her at Dead Wolf Creek and traded her for a Hawkin gun!" "Don't get me wrong, I love the women, I surely do!" "But I swear a woman's breast is the hardest rock the Almighty ever made on Earth and I can find no sign on it." "Now these coals here will simmer until sunrise." "You better go do likewise." "Didn't put enough dirt down." "Saw it right off." "You track well, pilgrim." "Kind of like it, don't you?" "Maybe." "Figures." "Human man he likes tracking and killing." "An lnjun, he figures it's natural." "Wind's right." "But he'll just run, soon as we step out of these trees." "Trick to it." "Walk out on this side of your horse." "What if he sees our feet?" "Elk don't know how many feet a horse has." "No, you damn fool!" "Slide it up over the saddle!" "You got him, pilgrim!" "You nailed him clean." "We got us an elk to skin!" "Can't figure people down there eating hog when they could feed on elk." "Didn't like it down there?" "Ought to have been different." "ls that so?" "Many a child journeys this high to be different." "To get from here what their natures couldn't get them below." "It comes to nothing." "Can't cheat the mountain, pilgrim." "Mountain got it...." "Probably Crow." "They'll steal our horses unless we bribe them." "It's their territory." "They figure we're trespassing." "Yep, Crow." "Fellow by the name of Paints-His-Shirt-Red." "That's his sign." "Just stand still." "You two know each other?" "I saw him once." "He says you fish poorly." "You understand their language?" "Paints-His-Shirt speaks English, he just does this to aggravate me." "Says he's got enough bear claws." "What's your name?" "Johnson." "Your Christian name?" "Jeremiah." "You've learned well, pilgrim." "You'll go far." "Providing you ain't burnt alive or scalped." "I will do my best." "You can cut wood and leave it up on the Judith." "Riverboat captains will leave you gold if you put out a pouch." "Good thing to know if times get hard." "Watch your topknot." "Watch yours." "I told you not to go play outside." "You got yourself all dirty and also, young lady without your shoes." "And you, Josh dirty!" "Look at you!" "There, now!" "Mary Lou, you knew better than to go out in the sun...." "Have I told you not to go out without a bonnet on your head?" "You better stop there." "Woman, I am your friend." "We have graves to dig." "You were borne on the wind today." "Josh was being a bad boy." "I must tell your father." "Time to start the garden." "If the wind would stop." "We will now sing." "Shall we gather at the river" "Where bright angel feet have trod" "With its crystal tide forever" "Flowing by the throne of God" "Yes, we'll gather at the river" "The beautiful, the beautiful river" "Gather with the saints at the river" "That flows by the throne of God" "Boy, did you see all this?" "Better get one of these biscuits, boy." "I make damn good biscuits." "Here's food." "I could not find your husband anywhere, madam." "So, maybe he will come back here." "The Indians will not bother you now, on account of you are touched." "They will be afraid." "What about the boy?" "Maybe you and the boy best come with me now." "I will take you down to the Judith." "Put you on a ferry." "Take him." "What?" "Take him!" "Madam, I wouldn't know how to tend after...." "You got a name, boy?" "I will call you Caleb." "It is a name I have always admired." "You like that?" "Caleb?" "Do what you like." "I was much the same myself." "Damn!" "Are you all right?" "Sure, I got a fine horse under me!" "Got one of them feathers in my nose." "Keep sneezing, it'll come out all right." "Haven't seen anyone pass by recently, have you?" "Nobody's gone in front of me." "Can't say what's happened behind me though." "The Injuns put you here?" "It weren't Mormons." "A chief, name of Mad Wolf." "Nice fellow, don't talk a hell of a lot." "You wouldn't have an extra hat on you, would you?" "Shade's getting scarce in these parts." "What did you shave your head for?" "Mad Wolf figures like every other lnjun I know." "Says this scalp ain't fit for no decent man's lodgepole." "Ain't the first time I protected my head in such a way." "Name's Del Gue." "With an "E."" "How long since they've been through?" "Not more than a few hours ago." "I will be happy to see my horse." "I hate walking." "I knew you would help me get my pelts back." "I wouldn't leave a man without a horse or gun." "Ain't that Hatchet Jack's rifle?" "How did you get it?" "I found him, froze to a tree." "Damn!" "That Hatchet Jack was a wild one." "He was living with a female panther." "Two years in a cave up in the Musselshell." "She never did get used to him." "That be them." "How many you figure?" "Three." "Just like before." "Are you smelling them Blackfeet?" "No, I'm locating my horse." "Dirtiest animal this side of hell." "Come dark, you give me your pistol." "Load that bear rifle full of nails." "No, I got no truck with them Blackfeet." "I plan to be here a long time." "And I do not want them down on me." "Them critters hammered me into the ground." "Took my rifle, horse." "Stole my pelts." "Not to mention what they done to that boy's folks!" "Then let it pass?" "Nope." "But they'll be asleep soon." "Should be no trouble to slip in there and then get your possibles." "Use this blanket, boy." "To keep you warm." "He don't say a lot, does he?" "No." "No." "Stay here with the animals." "I am Del Gue!" "I can whip my weight in wolverines straight through a crab apple orchard on a flash of lightning!" "You've stolen my pelts!" "And die, you must!" "You skinheaded son of a bitch, you almost got me killed!" "Where are you going?" "Don't you want any of these?" "What?" "Scalps!" "No." "Mother Gue never raised such a foolish child." "Stop that, boy." "What do you do with them scalps?" "Sell them to the English." "English?" "London is wallpapered with Injun scalps." "We could pull into those trees." "Don't go getting hasty." "Them is Flatheads, and they've hurt nobody that I know." "Just hold back." "What's he saying?" "Says they're Blackfeet ponies." "He asks if you are the great warrior who avenges the Crazy Woman in the Wolf Tail Valley." "She's big medicine." "And so are you, if you are that man." "So what's he shouting for?" "Scared of you." "But how did you...?" "l didn't know they'd be Flatheads." "It's all right, boy." "Chief here is named Two-Tongues Le Beau." "Mighty educated too." "French missionaries taught him their language." "Christian Indians?" "Lots of them." "He says the scalps are fierce and the horses are fleet." "Take them." "And the ponies." "I have no further use for them." "Damn fool, you may have cooked our brains!" "He brought us here to honor you and you want to give him a gift." "If he cannot give you a better one, it'll be an insult." "What's so funny?" "The danger is over." "He has thought of a better gift." "His daughter." "Now you have a son, you need a wife." "l don't want no wife" "He says he'll be very happy" "What is that word?" "Oh, yes!" "He may read the Bible, but he's still an Injun." "And his rules is his rules." "If you value your hair, you will get married!" "I do not think this is funny." "It ain't." "When you get out of here, you can take her to Fort Hawley and sell her." "But you best take her, friend." "Besides, maybe she ain't near bad." "He says she's called The Swan, but she'll answer to anything you want." "But maybe you need her." "You turn down this gift, they'll slit you, me, Caleb and the horses from crotch to eyeball with a dull deer antler!" "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Johnson." "Your husband has told me so much about you." "Congratulations, Two-Tongues." "Wonderful wedding." "Bye, Jeremiah Johnson!" "Where are you going?" "I wouldn't want to disturb your wedding night." "I'll see you in the fall." "Have a nice honeymoon, Mrs. Johnson." "The way that you wander ls the way that you choose" "The day that you tarry ls the day that you lose" "Do you speak any English?" "I don't speak any Flathead." "So don't bother me, neither of you!" "Sunshine or thunder" "A man will always wonder" "Where the fair wind blows" "Wondering about something?" "Go ahead, ask." "Leave it be." "Nothing wrong with quiet." "Cooking sure don't smell like Bear Claw's." "Tie him off, boy." "Suppertime!" "Go on, boy, and eat." "It's good for you." "I'm full." "You religious too?" "Religious." "I'm not going to harm you." "Religious." "Yes." "I'm not going to harm you." "Ain't that a lot easier than saying all that gibberish?" "Great hunter." "Fine figure of a man, yes?" "That is all you need to know." "For now." "You getting enough, boy?" "This wasn't my idea, you know?" "Lord!"