"This is the story of five men who were the product of a long and bloody war." "Five men who turned their backs on the Confederate cause to run." "History has a name for the man who runs in the face of battle." "Deserter." "But to the rank and file of the men in the Confederate lines..." "He was called..." "Where are the others?" "There weren't none." "Where are your men, Colonel?" "Your scout spoke the truth." "I am alone." "He ain't alone." "He's come to take us in." "The very last one of us." "Let's get, Sarge, whilst we can get." "Hold it, Johnny." "How come you're on our trail just now?" "I'd think that'd be a business of my own." "Under the circumstances, Colonel, or whoever you are..." "I'm afraid it's our business, too." "A wise officer always realizes the advantages of a tactical withdrawal." "I'm here to meet the man to whom this letter was addressed." "I trust at least one of you men can read." "What's it say, Sarge?" "Who's he here for?" "'The Seminole named Yellowcat.'" "'The Seminole named Yellowcat!" "'" "Well!" "Ain't this cozy-like!" "Sergeant, I suppose there's some reason for this laughter." "There's your reason, Colonel." "The Seminole named Yellowcat." "We're going to bury this letter from the point of rendezvous." "Nor direct westerly course through those countries known as the Everglades." "To a point here marked by the sea." "Put his badge aboard the British blockade runner  HMS Redoubtable to the Cuban islands." "For safety from the ravages of war  between the Confederate and the United States of America." "Just like ours!" "If it ain't just like ours!" "And him a colonel, buying' his way outta the ranks, just like us!" "Now that you've had your humor, I see no further need of my staying here." "I'm going to find my guide." "Go on, look for 'em." "But ya won't find 'em." "We've been all over here lookin' for 'em, Colonel." "There is no Yellowcat." "Your papers are as worthless as mine." "Four hundred miles." "Four hundred miles, for this!" "My arrangements were needed." "The conduct I pay for at the sea didn't include deserting scum from the ranks!" "Whether you bought it from a company bootlegger or a blue-nosed lawyer, don't make much difference, Colonel." "There's all classes of scum." "I'll leave you gentlemen." "I prefer my own company to the sea." "Now, hold on, Colonel." "You and your high-and-mighty ways!" "You're somethin', ain't ya!" "Credentials all proper-like." "Just like ours!" "Well, I may tell ya." "I don't believe a word of it!" "I don't like the smell of you!" "Lift one muscle, take one breath, and I'll open you from head to toe." "I know your kind." "I've laid your miserable cards, and I've seen ya run." "Miserable bargain you were for the Confederate cause!" "A foreigner, eh?" "Aye, English." "Mercenary." "I fight wherever I fight." "And you'll run whenever you can run." "Cowards, the lot of ya!" "Runnin' pants high fast from the battle." "Got your insides full and ya quit." "Well, go on and run." "Better off without you." "And so am I." "Now, wait a minute, Colonel." "Now whatever you think of us, there's safety in numbers." "How far could you get in this stuff?" "There's no turning back." "Sarge, there's enough of us without him." "Let 'em go, Sarge." "Let 'em die in this stinkhole." "There's your guide, Colonel." "The Seminoles killed 'em." "Who's gonna get us to the blockade runner?" "How we gonna get to them Cuban islands and wait til this smelly war blows over?" "We'll have to try it alone." "Let's move." "Hey!" "Wait up ahead there!" "Look at them." "Buzzards." "I think we're crazy tryin' to get through this jungle by ourselves!" "Nobody forced ya to come with us." "You think I'd stay back there by myself?" "We ain't got a chance!" "I know we ain't!" "Go on back." "Go back?" "Go back alone and have them buzzards feed on my bones?" "Are you crazy?" "Then stay here and shut up!" "Now see here, Colonel." "What makes you think you're a cock robin, eh?" "You're not a might better'n the rest of us, not a might!" "If we're going to be taking orders again, I say we might as well be back and fighting in the blasted war is what I say!" "And if we wanted to that, now we wouldn't be here, would we?" "As I see it, I figure my rank's as good as yours." "And the same goes for the rest of us." "Ain't that so?" "Well, ain't it?" "He's a deserter just like the rest of us!" "Do we want him giving orders?" "I say no!" "I say yes." "You say what?" "I said yes." "We need a leader..." "We can't go stumbling through these jungles and expect to stay alive unless we organize." "It takes a leader to do it." "You'll go that far?" " All for that, I am." " You're our leader!" "What do you say, Plunkett?" "Ain't the Sarge our leader?" "We've got to have one, that is." "Cockney's right." "You're our leader, Sarge." "Say, what did I tell ya?" "How 'bout you, Kid?" "What do ya say havin' the Sarge to lead us?" "Sure!" "I wouldn't follow anybody except the Sarge." "Now, that's what you think." "Fools!" "Snaggle-headed mopheads!" "Do you wanna live?" "You shiver and quake in your pants at every shake of a leaf!" "But you're too big for a real leader?" "Well, let me tell ya." "And soak this up with your sponge-headed brains..." "You're gonna have a leader." "And the colonel's gonna be your leader and you're gonna follow him, 'cause I say you are!" "Because I wanna live through this rotten mess!" "And with him, we stand a chance." "That's that!" "That's it, Colonel." "You're the leader." "Just a minute, Sergeant Todd." "I admire your control of the men." "I wasn't fortunate enough to have a sergeant like you in my command." "You lost one little detail in this whole affair." "I don't want to be the leader." "You don't want to lead?" "I believe I spoke quite clearly." "I'll put it another way." "If I wanted to lead, I'd be back fighting the war." "If I wanted to lead, I wouldn't want miserable, quavering, filth-infested scum like this in my command." "Oh, you go ahead and lead the men, Sergeant Todd." "I'll just come on my own." "I prefer it that way." "Orders are we'll haul in here for the night." "Bed down the best ya can." "About the colonel..." "Yeah?" "Anything special you noticed about him, partner?" "All I know is I'd like to cut his heart out and throw it in his face!" "I smelled whiskey on his breath." "Bargain your heart he's a drunkard." "You're batty!" "He's a drunkard, I tell ya!" "He's probably the finest drunken colonel from Murphrysborough." "To my mind, a drunkard ain't a fit leader." "Thievin', looting', even murdering'!" "None's as bad as bein' a drunkard when you're a leader." "Now, ain't that so, Plunkett!" "Ain't that so, Plunkett?" "Stinkin', slimy, scurvy rat!" "Tell me what you hashed at my belt!" "You'll talk, 'cause you know I'll cut your stinkin' throat if ya don't!" "Come on, talk!" "I know what you're after, but I wanna hear you say it!" "Say it!" "I'll cast my ghoul at ya." "Now you listen to me." "I didn't go to all that trouble to steal that gold from Confederate Army  and gettin' chased all across Virginia, and gettin' shot at all the way down there to Florida  just to let you steal it away from me." "The next time I find you tryin' any of your tricks..." "You won't have any need for gold after I get through with ya." "Now, get!" "Go on, get!" "Aye..." "Hey, Plunkett!" "It's me, Cockney." "We ain't through with this business yet, Plunkett." "From now on, ya better keep your eyes open all the time." "All the time." "'Cause you ain't gonna know from which direction I'm comin' the next time." "Now get this." "I ain't followed you all the way down here to give up that easy." "So, take my advice, Plunk." "Watch your gold." "Or I'll be gettin' it before ya have a chance to spend it!" "Try gettin' this gold." "And you'll get this!" "Do ya like that tune, Sarge?" "Yeah, sure." "All us boys know this when we left Georgia." "When we started off, we was all singin' it." "How many were there in your outfit?" "Oh, hundred, I reckon." "A hundred wet-faced kids bleeding Georgia blood in Virginia." "What?" "Nothin'." "Just thinkin' of them dying'." "We sure had an outfit, though." "Jackson says it was as good as most of 'em." "Me, I was doin' picket duty most o' the time." "But I hear tell how brave they was." "Ain't much time for bein' brave between the gunshot and the time it hits." "They was brave, I know they was!" "Alright, so they were brave." "They ran up and tickle a Yankee's nose before they got their heads blown off." "Bein' brave didn't keep 'em alive, did it?" "Maybe I'm sick o' hearin' about brave men." "Tired o' hearin' about the way they die." "Tired o' hearin' 'em scream and seein' 'em fall." "Maybe I'm just about sick o' killin'." "That's why ya deserted, ain't it?" "Let's get some sleep." "Sarge, sometimes what you say don't make sense!" "I mean, I heard tell about how brave ya was and..." "Well, I reckon that's why I followed ya, but..." "Oh, I guess it does make sense." "But it sure is confusing'!" "Stop it!" "Can't ya see he's scared to death?" "Ya could've killed him." "Some people can't take things like that." "Now leave him alone." "Thanks." "Thanks, Governor." "Look." "Seminoles." "Let's get outta here." "Sarge, ain't they gotta be buried?" "Those men ain't been dead very long." "That means Seminoles can't be too far away." "He's right, Sergeant." "These men deserve decent burial." "I'm for gettin' out of here." "Me too." "Let's get." "There's no military regulation that says you must bury these men." "But there's a code." "Code of common decency." "Especially among fellow soldiers." "Then who's gonna bury us?" "Besides, we ain't soldiers no more." "We're deserters, and so are they." "Each man for himself in these conditions." "I guess that's the way it stands, Colonel." "Run for your lives." "I'll stay and do what's decent." "Well, Kid, come on." "Let's go." "Sarge!" "Sarge!" "It ain't right what we're doin'." "I don't feel right about it." "Then go back with the colonel and get a dagger in your back." "I wanna face something worse than daggers." "And Plunkett, get the others." "Melissa!" "Melissa!" "Melissa!" "He's gettin' delirious again." "Leave him be." "The fever's getting worse." "Let's leave 'em behind." "He's just gonna slow us down and then die someplace else." "Long as he can walk, he's coming with us." "Correction, Sarge." "He's comin' with you." "I ain't having' nothin' to do with nobody that's as good as dead." "Yellin' lock o' bloomin' banshee!" "He scared the liver outta me!" "He's gonna die." "I know it." "Once that fever gets in your blood, it eats ya up dead." "He ain't never goin' to get to Cuba." "Sometimes I wonder  just who is gettin' to the sea." "I am." "I'm gettin' to them islands." "Where I can start livin' again." "With all them Spanish girls and all." "Boy!" "That's really gonna be somethin'." "Reckon with what I got, I'll be livin' high for sometime." "Lookin' forward to that, ain't ya, Plunkett?" "Spendin' it all by yourself." "What a shame." "We ain't quite there yet, are we?" "Not quite." "We still got a lot ahead of us, ain't we?" "You and I." "Listen." "Ya hear that?" "I don't hear nothin'." "It's on the wind-like." "Hear it?" "What is it, Sarge?" "What's doin' it?" "They're attacking' us, boys!" "They're attacking' us!" "It's the whole green hell turned on us!" "Hear it?" "Every growing tree!" "Every knob, root and limb!" "Hide us!" "Don't run!" "Here we are!" "Better to face it!" "Come on!" "Come back!" "Come back!" "Don't let it beat you!" "Kid!" "Kid!" "Sarge!" "Sarge!" "Ah!" "There he is!" "Dead as a doornail." "A fat old pig!" "Rob his old soul." "It's a blasted shame." "God bless your fat old heart." "Oh, I'll remember ya, I will..." "I will..." "With all them Spanish ladies." "You ain't dead!" "No, I ain't dead!" "But you just as good as dead." "You had your last chance." "It's my turn!" "Seminoles." "Maybe it's Seminoles." "Could be deserters like us." "I'm gonna find out." "You stay here." "I'll scout it." "Sure wished I knew where he was." "Been gone too long." "If ya ask me, the Seminoles got 'em." "And while they're payin', they're ain't no point in waiting'." "Look at this." "That smoke's 'tween us and the direction where we're goin'." "Maybe we could follow his trail for a bit." "We'd still be headin' the right way." "Let 'em stay." "It's a good enough grave for 'em." "Good-bye, Your Highness." "Looks deserted." "It's one o' them slimy Indian tricks." "They got the Sarge in there." "I know it!" "If they do, they're awful quiet about it." "I say they already finished 'em off." "Nothin' we can do now." "Let's go." "No!" "Let's stay." "If they got Todd, the quicker we start movin', the better our chances'll be." " I ain't goin'." "I'm stayin'!" " Then stay!" "If this be the enemy, why stand we here?" "Roscoe!" "Run the full attachments!" "The cannon for a blast!" "Forward!" "Die!" "You hear?" "They have failed my command!" "Take us not for what we appear to be!" "Yield to us not for what we can become!" "Down!" "Down, you fools!" "Take cover!" "Take cover!" "There we are, fightin' in another war." "Look out, Sarge!" "Look out!" "... blasted..." "I think maybe we won." "Don't seem to be no more lions comin' around." "Well, we gotta get out." "They'll be back when it gets dark." "He won't die." "He's still alive." "I can't make it." "Get him out of here, Plunkett." "Ah, he's as good as dead!" "I said move him out of here." "I hope to God they don't see it." "As good as dead if they do." "We're as good as dead without a fire, Sarge." "We be dead with lung fever in all this dampness." "Move the colonel a little closer." "He's close enough." "Tryin' to warm a dead man." "This isn't the way he wanted to die." "I don't know what we're carryin' a corpse around for anyway." "It ain't worth much." "Right you are." "I estimate he's wantin' maybe a medal or two." "A few Yankee green dollars, say maybe ten." "And a right fine gold watch." "Real nice one, ain't it, gents?" "You bull-eyed thief." "You'd even rob the dead." "He ain't dead yet." "Besides, I don't think the colonel'd begrudge me a timepiece, as a memento." "Now would he?" "Did ya leave the gold in his teeth?" "That were a nasty remark, it were, Sarge." "Needless, too." "He's got as nice a set of natural teeth as I've ever seen." "I sure hate to see 'em die." "It ain't natural here." "It's all the same, Kid." "Slip on a puddle, get a billow in the spleen..." "Or die rotting' in a stinkin' jungle." "There ain't no difference." "Listen, please." "I wonder what he's thinkin' about." "I wonder if he knows he's dyin' right now." "Deep thoughts from you, Plunkett." "Sort of amuses me, I reckon." "Him and his officer's blue-blooded ways." "I wonder if his thoughts is anything like mine'd be." "He ain't dying' in some filthy wench's arms, like you'd be." "The more to be pitied, limey." "The more to be pitied." "I ain't never seed a colonel die afore." "Goes easy-like, though, don't he?" "Just like he was a regular one of us." "It ain't easy, Kid." "He's fighting to live like all of us would." "Every breath he's fighting for." "Fighting the coldness in his veins." "He hates to die, too." "Right, gentlemen." "You're so right." "Don't let me disturb you, gentlemen." "Please." "Voice of the dead!" "If it wouldn't disturb the staff, I'd like to quench this thirst." " Sergeant?" " Yes." "Would you be good enough to bring me a bottle?" "From my cases." "Do you hear me, Sergeant?" "Right here, sir." "Right here." "The devil with you, Sergeant!" "Where's the fire?" "Where's the burn?" "My whiskey, blast it!" "I'm wounded, aren't I?" "Yes." "Where is it?" "A bullet?" "A grape?" "Where is it?" "The back." "In the back." "An officer, Sergeant, isn't wounded in the back." "An officer doesn't " "Where's the armory doctor?" "Orderly!" "Get this stinkin' surgeon, blast you!" "What was the outcome?" "Did they run?" "Something so satisfying, gentlemen, in seeing Yankees run." "Were there any prisoners?" "What..." "Reckon not, Colonel." "Killed all the blue-noses, eh?" "Not a prisoner in the lot!" "Go to work, gentlemen, go on." "We were a hot number, too, weren't we?" "Takes one Southern boy to lick ten Yankees, eh, Sergeant?" "Make a report to my orderly." "Tell him, hear?" "Yes, sir." "I'll make a report." "Colonel, care to lie down?" "Sergeant..." "Sergeant." "Sergeant, what the devil's the name o' this place?" "What works are these?" " Well?" " It's Murphrysborough, Colonel." "Murphrysborough!" "It isn't!" "Here, here, Sergeant." "It isn't!" "Gentlemen of the staff, there's been a mistake." "I was ordered to retreat!" "It was an order, do you hear?" "I didn't run!" "I tell you, gentlemen, I didn't run." "I took the men out." "I took them out, I tell you!" "I had to!" "They were chopping' 'em up like meat!" "Why, they were using cannon with grape!" "Twelve pounders!" "It was slaughter, gentlemen." "Slaughter!" "This is indeed an honor, sir." "On behalf of my brave boys, young gentlemen of the South  I accept." "You know it's hard, General." "The skirmishes I've been in so far  have been so no-account." "This is my first major campaign." "I've been hopin' for this." "I'll display it on the mantle at Marino." "A lot of fine men have come from there, General." "Proud men." "This is indeed an honor, General Lee." "Thank you, sir." "Well, you just seen a colonel die, Kid." "Now, let's go." "Seminoles're lookin' for us for sure now." "We gotta get to the sea fast." "From now on, it's every man for himself." "I'm not risking' my neck no more." "The river." "The river!" "Sarge!" "Sarge!" "It's salty!" "I just tasted it!" "It is brackish!" " Maybe it'll lead to the sea!" " Sarge, Sarge!" "Maybe we oughtta take a break." "We've been hittin' a awful tough pace." "Sure, take a break." "Take all the breaks ya want." "You're on your own." "I'm movin'." "Sarge!" "Look, Sarge, the river's gettin' wider!" "Maybe it does lead to the sea!" "Yeah, sure looks like it." "I'll believe it when I see it." "You call this the ocean?" "What's the matter with you?" "Can't you read a compass no more?" "What're you tryin' to do, lead us around by the end of your nose?" "No." "By the sun, when I can see it." "I ain't got a compass." "I lost it." "Tryin' to lead us through this jungle without a compass?" "Why, you lame-bait stupid idiot!" "I oughtta " "Rattlesnakes." "A nest of 'em." "Come on." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Please, Sarge, please." "Maybe it's the way them snakes got Cockney." "Maybe it's what we been goin' through all this time." "Maybe it's this creeping', crawlin' jungle all around us..." "But I can't take it no more!" "Sarge!" "No Sarge!" "I don't know what's come over me, but I'm scared stiff." "I'm so scared I think I'm goin' crazy!" "If you're plannin' on askin' me to take care of ya, don't." " You stay here and be scared." " No, no, Sarge!" "Just let me follow ya, that's all!" "Just let me follow ya!" "That's all I wanna do!" " We'll ride it across." " Sarge!" "Look at them gators." "Paddle easy-like." "And don't splash." "Start pushing'." "Sarge, Sarge!" "That river crossing' was just great!" "Boy, you sure know how to beat this jungle." "We never would have made it without you!" "No, no." "I want you to know that I owe my life to ya." "I never would have made it alone." "It's up to you, Sarge." "It's up to you." "Just, please." "Don't leave me be alone." "Please, Sarge, please!" "Look, if ya fall back, you're on your own!" "No, no." "They'll get me, Sarge." "All them horrible, sneakin', murdering' things around us here'll get me!" "They're afraid of you, but they know I'm scared and they're gonna get me, Sarge!" "Look Sarge, I got a secret." "I don't want anybody else to know about it but you." "I got gold, lots o' gold." "I stole it from the army." "You gonna be rich, Sarge." "You gonna be rich!" "I don't want your gold." "You gonna be rich, Sarge." "Yes, sir!" "I don't want any part of it." "It's all yours!" "Yes, sir, all yours!" "Just get me outta here alive, that's all I ask." "Just get me out." "And look..." "My girl pictures." "My real, genuine, French girl pictures." "Look at this gold, Sarge!" "Look, and it's all yours!" "Rocks!" "Rocks!" "Where's my gold?" "Where's my gold?" "Cockney!" "Cockney!" "Cockney's got that gold!" "I..." "I can't..." "Sarge, you ever get tired running?" "Yeah, I get tired." "I'm so tired o' runnin', I'm sick!" "Sick to my stomach!" "You wouldn't know, wetface." "You ain't done enough to run away from." "You shouldn't've followed me, Kid." "You shouldn't've started runnin'." "I've been runnin' ever since I knowed how." "Runnin'." "Everything I never liked." "And I reckon there ain't much to like around this world." "I've been runnin' so long I don't know how to stop." "It don't do much good when you stop and figure why you're runnin'." "It catches up to you." "Ya can't run away from yourself." "Don't run away from nothin', kid." "It don't do no good." "You get so tired, you wanna die." "Hey, Kid!" "Quicksand, get back!" "Get back!" "Come on, reach me somethin'!" "Here ya go." "Come on, Kid, gimme a branch or somethin'!" "Get outta here." "Go on, get out!" "Get out of here!" "Sarge!" "Sarge!" "Oh, Sarge." "No!" "Why should they try to kill us?" " Every growing, living thing " " No, no!" "They'll get me, Sarge!" "All them horrible, sneakin', murdering' things around us here'll get me!" "... or by rotting' in a stinkin' jungle." "There's no difference." "Oh, no!" "... until I started runnin'..." "Ya can't run away from yourself." "Don't run away from nothin', Kid." "Gets so easy, ya can't stop." "Ya get so tired, ya wanna die."