"Why don't you buy it?" "The hair of the doll." "Look!" "It is real." "From the scalps of the Comanches." "It costs you three pesos." "Give me my doll!" "My doll." "It's mine." "Go!" "My God!" "Comanches!" "Comanches!" "Medicine arrow, guard this this woman well." "I will come for it later." "Go!" "Go!" "Maybe there's a way to make a deal?" "A rescue, perhaps?" "I have money." "I will pay you." "Plenty money." "Plenty gold." "Many Comanche scalps." "How many times Huarte Rosa get $50?" "You know my name?" "It is wise to know the name of those who still collect gold for Comanche scalps." "Mercy, mercy great chief!" "Don't shoot me!" "Many soldiers coming!" "Hold!" "They have crossed into the United States." "Comanches!" "Get the scalps out of the wagon." "Hurry it up!" "Burn them!" "Burn them." "Untie them!" "Let them go." "Give them horses." "Fresh Comanche scalps in the their wagon." "The Mexicans are enemies but white eyes are worse." "For each Comanche scalp, take ten of theirs!" "Why didn't you save them scalps?" "I was saving my own!" "We have company." "Coming fast." "Comanches?" "You don't see Comanches until they're on top of you." " Any patrols out?" " No, Mr. Read." "Just us." "Something is spooking those riders." "We better wait and see." "It's Art Downey and his bunch." " Friends of yours?" " Not exactly." " What's you're hurry, Downey?" " Comanches." "They jumped us." "They got our wagons." "What are you doing in Indian territory?" "Hunting buffalo." "No law against that." "There ain't no law here at all." "That's right!" "We're west of the law." "There's the law of the scalping knife." "You know better than to rile Comanches." "I'd like to rile them real good.!" "Peters and Flanagan." " How'd they get away?" " Thought they was dead for sure." "There we were, tied spread-eagle to them wagon wheels and them savages putting brush around my legs..." "One Comanche looked like the boss..." "Quanah?" "Whoever it was, told them to let us go." "Never seen an Indian with a face like his." "I felt his eyes cutting right through me." "They gave us horses and turned us loose." "Quanah is trying to say something." "I know what I'd like to tell him!" "I know, Downey." "You've made a career out of Indian hating." "Now, I'm telling you: you stay out of this territory." "Let's escort them to camp, French." "Hold on, Read." "Ain't you gonna try and get out wagons back?" "The whole regiment couldn't get 'em back." "Read." "Are you really aiming to keep me out of Indian territory?" "First, you had me kicked off the scouts, and now..." "You were no good, Downey, and you know it." "They say you're prettty good with a gun, Read." " Well, just how good?" " I manage to stay alive." "I asked ya a question, Read." "How good?" "That's your gamble!" "At one time I would have called and drawn." "But here..." "Here, I say you're an Indian lover not fit to be around whites." "Nobody moves." " Just who are you, soldierboy?" " Second Lt. John French." "Now move, or you're all under military arrest." "All right, soldierboy." "I be seeing you, Read." "You probably will." "Why don't you two ride out and see if you can save any scalps from those wagons?" "Well, there's headquarters." "The general will probably be waiting." "Well, thanks for everything French." "Don't forget, you're on Downey's list, now." "Thanks." "I'll remember." " How do you you?" " You got here fast." "You said it was urgent, General." " We cut across the staked plains." " With Comanches loose?" "We traveled by night, mostly." "Comanches hole up at night." " It's a bad medicine for them." " Today is going to be worse." " Why, what's the trouble, sir?" " Everything happens at once." "Comanches are raiding into Mexico, again." "John Ward, Indian Bureau chief is here from Washington." "Senor Gonzalez, Mexican embassy." "Ward wants martial law." "I don't, but he has the power." "Big medicine, huh?" "Let's see just how big!" "We signed a peace treaty in 1848, which terminated the hostilities with Mexico." "In 1853, through the Gadsden Purchase, we paid $10 Million for parts of this territory, and established our borders." "These treaties, guaranteed that we would stop the ferocious Comanche raids into Mexico and return all captives and property." "President Grant directed me to stay out here until this is accomplished." "If the comanches don't come in peacefully, we're going to make them." "There are thousands of Comanches." "Who's going to tell 'em?" " You." " I don't think so." "You take Army pay, don't you?" "As a scout, not as a political." "Read, Gen. Miles, rates you as the best man on the plains." "These biggest outbreaks since we took over the territory." "Washington... the whole nation want them stopped." "It's preposterous, this Mexican and Comanche carnage, should go on forever." "It's been happening for over 200 years now!" "Senor Read is correct." "This hatred of the Comanches and my people is ancient." "no one in truth can say when it began." "When the Spaniards first explored here around 1707, they were received with open arms." "It seems the Indians had had some tribal belief that the white man come from the East" "It would be something special, almost a god." "Well, the white man came and he proved to be really special, all right!" "They discovered silver and forced the Indians at gun point, to work in mines for them." "It was slave labor, paid for with beatings, brutality and death, at the whims of the overseers." "The Comanches got sick of that." "They rebelled." "They massacred every Spaniard they could find." "By the time the Comanches, Navajos and Pueblos had avenged themselves," "There wasn't much left in the settlements of Pueblo and Taos." "There wasn't much left of people, either with all the torture and mutilation." "A pretty messy business." "So the, the Spaniards passed a law, offering a bounty for every Comanche scalp." "Ranging from $25 to $100 a scalp." "The $100 was for the warriors." "you got $50 for a squaw and $25 for a baby, the Papoose." "Correction, sir." "Since our Independence, the Mexican government has revoked it." "No longer will Mexico pay for the scalp of the Comanche." "Your government is to be complimented, Senor, but renegades on both sides of the border got rich." "They made big business out of hunting down Comanches." "Looking for scalps, like animals for their pelts." "Once they staged a big fiesta and invited the Indians." "More than 400 came." "Men, women and children." "And they massacred them all for their scalps." "So, that's the way it is:" "Comanches kill Mexicans to get even with the Spanish," "And, the Mexicans kill Comanches in revenge for that." " It's become a way of life." " I can see how it began." "But the Comanches must throw away their war paint, or we'll have to make them." "If they knew they'd paying a bounty for the scalps," "It would make big medicine with them." "That's right." "We could base peace talks on that." "I don't know." "I still think troops are the answer." "People can't go on killing each other forever." "You see, Commissioner, the Comanches are known as "lords of the south plains"." "They're a very proud warrior race." "Maybe they'd sit down and talk peace, but they'd get right up and go again, if they weren't given honorable terms." "As the personal emmissary of President US Grant," "I have explicit powers to make the peace with the Comanches and get it ratified." "But, naturally no agreement is good unless it's fair to both sides." "If we could only get through to Quanah Parker!" "Parker?" "Quanah Parker?" "Chief of the Antlopes, the Comanches deadliest tribe." "If he'd stop fighting, all the rest will." "But..." "Parker, that's an American name." "It's his mother's family name." "How could any American girl..." "She was kidnapped by Quanah's father." " Sounds like one of those frontier legends." " No, sir, it's not a legend." "Have you tried to reach Quanah, General?" "I sent runners twice." "They didn't come back." "What about this Quanah?" "Can we trust him to keep his word?" "He's never been known to violate it." "He'll keep his word, if you'll keep yours." "I believe my integrity, Read, equals that of Quanah." "Then, it's on a pretty high plain mister commissioner." "You really mean that, I'll try to find Quanah for you." "Or let him find me." "I'll travel by day, this time." "You know, don't you, that since Quanah bolted that peace council at Medicine Lodge," "No American has faced him and lived." "Until today." "Two of Downey's hunters were captured and Quanah freed them." "I never met him, but I known Indians." "Freeing those two men is a sign of peace." "Well, it's your hair." "If you're not worried about losing it..." "I'll tell the quartermaster to issue your supplies." "By the way, who's going with you?" "Next time, we play with four aces." "Him!" "Puffer?" "That old buzzard?" "He knows the country as well as I do." "What are you doing here?" "Hiding from the Injuns?" "At it again, huh?" "Get down to the quartermaster's tent." "Get some jerk beef, biscuit, bacon and beans, plenty of cartridges." "Where are we going, Jim?" "Back to our gold mine?" "Get enough for two weeks supply." "Where are we going, Jim?" "Dang it, Jim, where are we going?" "What about that gold mine?" "We're going to pay a social call on the Comanches." "Please don't mention them critters to me." "I'm a sick man." "Go ask that General for a leave of absence." "Except, you couldn't find your way without me." "You'd just get yourself lost." "That's all." " Puffer?" " Yeah, that's the name." "I've got something for you." "Hmmm?" "I got it in Santa Fe." " Well, where is it?" " Open it and see." "This is the dangest scalp as I ever did see." "It's not a scalp, you skinhead, it's a wig." "What's it for?" "To keep that bald head of yours warm." "I'm sick and tired of hearing you complain all the time." " You look almost human." " Damn!" "Here, take a look for yourself." "I bet I'm the only dude on the Staked Plains with an extra scalp." "It might come in handy, sometime." "It sure makes a heap of difference, Jim." "It's been many years, since I enjoyed being out in the cold morning air!" "No matter what anybody says, you wear it!" "I'm not waving the flag, you don't need it." "Just remember this." "All out Indian war or peace hinge on the success of your efforts." "Good luck and get back as soon as they can." "Thank you Commissioner." "Two weeks, maybe less." "So long, Jim." "Normally, I would be warning you to stay away from the Comanches." "Well, this is a little different, Sir." " Ready, Puffer?" " I'm always ready." "Let's go." "Good luck, Read." "You're sure going to need it." " Why do you say that?" " Oh, I got my reasons." "Just who are you?" "My name Downey, commissioner." "Art Downey." "I used to be chief scout, until I retired." "Retired?" "What do you do now?" "Ah, a little prospecting, buffalo hunting..." "Just what do you know about the Comanches?" "Well, Sir, I've lived out here for 20 years." "I taught Jim Read all he knows." "You said that he would fail on this mission." "Why?" "Well, it's nothing personal, sir." "Jim's a good man." "One of the best." "It's the thinking that's wrong, Commissioner." "You don't send out one man to talk to an Indian tribe." "You just don't do it.." "What do you do?" "Well, Sir, the Comanches are just plain savages." "They live by force and obey by force." "If we try to reason with them," "They're going to think you're weak." "You got to show they you're stronger than they are," "They respect force." "Just like they respect a Cavalry regiment." "I said virtually the same thing to General Miles and Read." "They felt otherwise." "You're the only person I've met out herewho thinks as I do." "Well, sir, like I said, I've lived out here for 20 years." "I scouted for six of them." "You got to learn something about the Indians in that time." "The worst part is sending one cousin to do business with another." " Downey?" " Sir?" "You're talking in circles." "To whom are you referring now?" "Jim Read and Quanah Parker." "I hope I didn't hear you right." "Did you say Read was cousin to a savage?" "First cousin." "Their mothers were sisters." " Why wasn't I informed?" " You mean you weren't?" "No, I was not." "That makes it worse than ever." "Two cousins... dealing for and against the government." "I better speak General Miles about having Read recalled." "Dang them Comanches." "Ain't never around when we want 'em." "You know, Jim, I just can't help enjoying and looking at this here store hair" "I can feel myself getting better in less time than it takes a rooster to make a chicken green" "A Spanish gal." "She been shook clean down to her innards" "Do you understand English?" "Comprende English?" "Where did you come from?" "I ask you, where do you live?" "Where's your home?" " What'll we do with her, Jim?" "Poor thing's gone loco." "Come on." "No!" "I will escape again!" "It is better to die." "Oh!" "The blood of my parents is in your hands." "Get them away." "I will not go!" "You will not do this to me!" "We're your friends." "I'm not going to harm you." "Sorry if I hurt you." "Are you hungry?" "I have not eaten since..." "I don't know when." "Rustle up some grub, Puffer." " Do you feel better?" " Muchos gracias, Senor." " It is a terrible country!" " No, It's not the country." "To me, it is." "It's frightening." " Where do you live?" " Durango, Senor." " What's your name?" " Margarita Alvarez." "Where are your parents?" "The Comanches..." " Massacred?" " Yes." "I'm Sorry." "Comanches, savages!" "All should be killed!" "To stop this murder and torture." "No, Senorita." "That's not the answer." "You defend the Comanches, Senor?" "Trying to explain them, maybe." "You think they are human and can be treated that way?" "Most of them can, yes." "And you think it was necessary for my parents to be killed by them?" "No, I didn't mean that." "I hate the Comanches." "I will always hate them." " Puffer!" " I ain't deaf." "Whoever it is, they ain't shooting at us." "Get up there." "It's Downey's bunch." "Yeah." "A little scalping party." "We're friends." " What's your tribe?" " Antlope." "Quanah Parker's tribe." "Can you take us to the camp of the great chief of the Antelopes?" "We come to talk peace." "The white man brings no harm to our chief?" "Where ever we meet, your chief will need no more weapons than I have now." "Then, I will take the white man to my chief." "The camp of your chief is not far from here?" "One day?" "Two days?" "He's not at the camp." "He rides at the head of many warriors." "He's returning from an attack?" "The last... before the cold and snow set in." "The women light the victory fires, even now." "We'll rest here." "When the sun rises again," "We'll ride together to find your chief." "I will tell him, when he is before his warriors, that he..." "I hope he's all right." "Besides, we might spend days looking for Quanah without him." "I never seen so much paint in all my born days." "What do you mean?" "Sure glad I got me an extra scalp." "We're in no trouble." "That girl is." "We came to talk of peace, remember?" "You know, he knows it and I know it." "But, do them Comanches know it?" "Let the young braves kill the white eyes in the tribal manner." "We came to talk treaty with the great chief of the Comanches." " Is this the way to talk?" " Kill them!" "My brother still lives." "We return to our strongehold." "My brother dies, the white man's death will not be as swift as his." "We'll see your tongue torn out by the root." "torn out by the root." "They are coming." "Quanah brings many things." "There is enough for all." "The west side of Blanco Canyon." "That's what I figured." "We've been looking for this hideout for years." "No talking!" "Look at that dirty, ugly face." "Quiet!" "It's just one of those days when everything is agin us." "And it's gonna be worse if Quanah's brother dies." "Without telling him what happened." "You have hurt my husband." "Morning Star, the white men..." "I must speak to..." "There are many horses and mules." "Many guns, many bullets." "Much powder." "Cloths of many colors." "Mexicans captives for those who need them." "There are two white faces." "Later, we'll find out how long their spirits can stay in their bodies under endless torment." "Great Spirit, mighty Sun God here is the body of Nokona." "His blood has been spilled without reason." "Hear the sorrow and grief of his family." "There is no joy in that sound." "Let the sound reach your heart." "Let this youth live." "Givethe word now!" "The white eyes must die." "By nighfall, those Comanches will be roaring drunk." "Kiowas." "The worst dang varmits on the plains." "Did you ever see a man when they finish with him?" "Quiet!" "We have more plans for you." "Torture is for enemies." "We come in peace." "I bring big medicine from the chief of my nation to Quanah." "Quanah cares nothing for your chief or of his medicine." "He grieves for soon he will hear the death song of his brother." "What is your death song, white man?" "The scalp moves!" "The wig scares them." "They think it's a scalp." "Take it off." "Here." "Here." "Cowards!" "Has the evil spirit turned you into women?" "His medicine, too big!" "Your medicine not so big." "Now you will suffer for two." "Dark Cloud, unbind him." "Unbind him!" "These Americans did not lift weapons against my brother." "but drove away other white men who were putting him to death." "From this day on they have no enemies in my camp." "My brother lives." "Come with me." "Savvy Black Jack?" "Savvy food." "Savvy squaw." "Ah, nice." "Very nice." "I got me a widow woman San Antone." "When she sets her poor old eyes on me in this store-bought hair, she'll be a shak'n and a shiver'n and a sight to behold!" "And vica verse." "Speak!" "I come to ask the great chief of the Comanches to" " a peace council." " With the Americans?" "The Comanches are at war only with the Mexicans." "But there's much bad blood than fighting." "My people have never first drawn a bow or fired a gun against the Americans." "But there is bad blood in fighting." "Because the Americans have taken the places where the grass is thickest, and the timber is best." "Instead of hunting game, they kill our braves for campfires fires they burn our villages." "Our women wail and cut their hair short in sorrow for the dead." "Yet, Comanches are not weak and blind." "They kill Americans like Mexicans." "Their scalps hang in our tee-pees." "The white women cried, and our women laughed." "But it was not begun by us." "The Americans sent out the first soldier." "We sent out the second." "Many seasons ago, when the war with the Americans and the Mexicans ended." "The Americans gave much gold for this land." "It now belongs to the Americans." "Soon there will be American forts and soldiers." "Many Americans will come here to plant grains and raise cattle." "They'll dig in the earth dig the earth for of gold and silver." "This has been agreed between the Mexicans and the Americans?" "Yes." " No comanches?" "Gold was given." "A line has been changed in the earth." "The Americans and Mexicans agreed, no Comanches." "We were here long before the Americans." "Mexicans even." "But no one thought to agree with us." "Yet, we are not a conquered people." "No one has defeated us." "But... our numbers do not increase." "The Americans are without number." "Like weeds, like drops of rain." "No end to them." "The time has come to walk the path of the Americans." "This has long been on my mind." "The Americans are brave..." "they know many things." "We must learn from them." "Or, the sun will set on us forever." "The sound of your words is good." "But there's another thing." "My country has pledged to stop the Comanche raids into Mexico and to free all captive Mexicans." "The Mexicans still collect gold from the government for Comanche scalps." "Would you have me treat them as brothers?" "They will no longer buy Comanche scalps." "I ask you to call the Americans and Mexicans brothers." "You ask me to be better than my enemies." "I ask you to be greater." "A great man can grant great favors." "I have heard these words before." " Where?" "Many seasons ago, from the wife of my father." "The wife of your father and the wife of my father were sisters, with the name of Parker." "We are friends." " And cousins." "I will call a meeting of the council." "Oh... a... that young Mexican girl." "No harm will come to her?" "Tawaka and Morning Star care for her." "She's captive." "She belongs to the tribe." "I'd like to help her." "Others desire her." "One man has already offered four horses for her." "A man must have a fire in mind to offer four horses for one woman." "Black Cloud." "I do not question the wisdom of the council." "But it is tribal custom that warriors can buy their captives." "The Americans ask us to call the Mexicans brothers to stop our war with them and return their captives unharmed." "Americans ask us!" "A race that shoots without orders from their chiefs." "That kills buffaloes they can not eat." "That fouls the clearwater, so we can not drink." "That changes our earth, until we can not live on it anymore." "I do not think of Americans." "I think only of Comanches." "And of the children of Comanches." "And the children that will come from those children." "The Americans are here, they will stay." "We can not drive them out." "They will grow strong, while we will not." "We must learn from them, so that our children will not hunger, so they will be warm in winter, so they will grow strong as the Americans are strong." "I have told my white cousin that we will lay down our weapons and there will be an end to the fighting, if there is a treaty with honor." "Treaty with honor!" "I am among your warriors and in your camp." "The end of my time may come today or tomorrow." "That's in your power." "But I do not speak with a crooked tongue." "My chief has pledged the word of my nation to your nation." "And will there be laws for us to follow, like a conquered people?" "There will be laws." "Yes." "Those who obey them will be given the same rights as Americans." "Those who disobey them will be punished in the same manner Americans are punished." "Your chief will know what I have decided." "I walk the path of the Americans." "Those who this displeases, leave me now." "This is your right." "But those who follow me must not violate my word." "If they do, they will be my enemies." "I hunt them down and kill them myself." "It is Comanche custom that no man leads unless others follow." "The warriors will follow me." " I will not." "If you make peace with Americans and Mexicans." "And there are others who think as I do." "Black Cloud, you have a head for war and nothing else." "Our paths now separate." "You and your band leave this stronghold." "Take only your ponies." "Go now and take your your braves with you." "The girl and the captives stay with the tribe." "If there is a treaty, they will be freed." "It would be better if they had died in battle." "Did ya?" "You sure you ain't never played Black Jack before?" "One man, good" "Beat two kings, back to back." "Black Jack." "Ooooh!" "That was my last silver dollar, too!" "How do you feel?" " I am tired and frightened." "Everybody is freightened." "You?" " Sure." "You know what I think that you, senor." "No." "Not freightened." "Not inside of you freightened." "Does not fit." "It fits." "Lie down and see if you can get some rest." "What happened?" " We're all hiding out here tonight." "Here?" "Quanah wants Ward and General Miles here for a peace council." "Might be, they won't come." "Might be, they'll think it's too risky." " Not the General." "And Ward is very anxious for that peace treaty." "What about her?" "She'll have to stay here until we get back." "Safer anyway with Black Cloud on the loose." "Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing." "Quanah is sending a couple of guides with us who know a shortcut, water holes and all." "We should be back here in three days." "Check the saddlebags and the horses." "I want to be out of the Canyon before the moon comes up." "Black Cloud won't bother us none, not at night." "Well, we're not taking any chances." "This is too important." "Might be, we'll get us medal for this, hey, Jim?" "You know, I've been thinking, Puffer." "Maybe we're wasting our time with the army." "If a man's country is in trouble, a man's gotta stick buy it, or a man ain't no man." "Yes, but what about that mining?" "All that gold?" "You think the U.S. government seen fit to make a messenger boy out of me then, by heck, the mine and the gold can wait!" "Now stop asking those foolish questions and let me out of here to check them horses." "Yes?" "I'll tell you when I get back." "You are going away?" " Only for a couple of days." "You will take me with you?" " You heard what Quanah said." "You'll have to stay here." "I will die before I stay alone with Comanches." "I'm afraid you don't have any choice." "No." "I will not stay." "You'll be safe here, with Quanah and his family." "Out there..." "The Black Cloud." "I have great fear." "Nobody here's going to hurt her." "It is not just for myself." "But I am afraid." "Margarita..." "Is it not strange to find love in this manner?" "No, no it's not so strange." "You do not just talk?" "No, I do not just talk." "I do not know how you say it." "With other men who stole my heart, there was nothing!" "And with me?" "I can not say it." " Say it!" "It's like a fire inside of me." "Is it shameful, maybe, to love so soon?" "So much has happened." "I have no time to understand." "When I get back, I'll be your husband and you'll be my wife." "I belonging to him now." "In a very special way." "Do not let anything bad happen." "Without you, I'm so alone!" "This is a good place." " Yes." "We live here like our fathers before us, and their fathers before them." "We were born here, where the wind blows free and there is nothing to break the light of the sun." "There are no enclosures and everyone draws a free breath." "In a way, your words are the same words used by the fathers of my nation." "Tell your chief" "The Americans and Comanches live as brothers." "My chief will be happy to hear your words." "He wishes to be your friend." "He'll return with me." "There is food in your saddle bags." "Medicine Arrow and Flat Mouth will lead you to the first water hole." "From there, you'll ride to Palo Duro Springs" "You'll know the way from there." "Wherever I am, is your home." "I'll be back." "Medicine Mound." "Sacred." "Comanche only going there to meet Great Spirits." "Duro Springs more far." " Let's go." "Black Cloud and his warriors have been here." "How long ago?" " Two, three hours, maybe." "Puffer." " I'm a hurry'n!" "Play 'em, Black Jack?" "Yeah, I'd sure like to get back my silver dollar." "Play one game." "Silver dollar against new scalp." "Not on your dang tintype!" "No hurry." "I get, you come back." "We go back now." "When the sun leaves the sky three times, we'll be there." "I hate this danged country." "Hotter than billy b." "in daytime and colder than San Antone winter at night." "Hurry up!" "That's too much smoke for a signal fire." "It could be somebody's cabin." "That's what I was thinking." "We better cut over there." "Kids." "Mother and kids." "Dead?" " Awful!" "Stopping Black Cloud is going to be a dirty job." "We 've got to get back with troops before he holes up in the hills." "We better bury them." "It must be about mid-morning." " Oh, I'd make it a mite past." "We must be getting close to Duro Springs." "I reckon a mite nearer than further." "Guns." " Yeah, lot's of 'em." "Part of General Miles outfit." "They sure been bushwacked." "We found you after all." "What do you mean?" "We were sent us to bring you in." "Then they jumped us." "Comanches." "About 50 of them." "Black Cloud." "A trooper got away." "He was rawhiding for help." "About four or five hours..." "ago." "He should be here..." "We'll stay here until the troopers arrive." "The regiment." "It's Quanah the dirty murderer?" "It wasn't Quanah." "It was Black Cloud." "What difference does it make?" "They're all Comanches, aren't they?" "See, Commissioner, it's like I told you." "You gotta use force." "There seems to be no doubt about it." "Lieutenant!" " Sir?" "Arrange a burial detail." "Yes, sir." "Quanah nust pay for this." "You're making a big mistake, commissioner." "Quanah is ready to talk peace." "You don't make sense, Read." "I've just come from Quanah." "I'm trying to tell you." "You're telling me nothing." "You're through." "Downey is our new chief of scouts." "You should have told us Quanah was your cousin." "What difference does that make?" "When two very close relatives are settling important opposing interests there is always the possibility for personal prejudice." "Oh, I see." "With Downey here, we have no such a problem." "I've transfered you to to Fort Crook, Nebraska, Read." "Just a minute, Read." "I'm not through talking to you, yet." "Oh, yes you are!" "We're now leaving for Black Oak Canyon and Quanah." "It'll be a tough forced march." "I want to get there before sundown." "Lieutenant French." " Sir." "Your troops are to move out parallel to mine." "Stay 5 miles off my left wing." "If they attack one of us, we'll get them in a cross fire and wipe them out." "General, I must warn you again, for your own good." "Stay away from that Canyon." "Still trying to save your cousin's skin, huh, Read?" "Downey, one more remark from you and you'll answer to me!" "Lieutenant French, Downey and Marrow will be your scouts." "Read and Puffer, mine." "You won't object if I ride with Lieutenant French's column?" "Commissioner, you may ride where you please." "Let's saddle up." "What happened after I left?" "Downey convinced Ward that the Comanches can only be handled by force." "Ward wired to the Indian office," "They hopped on the War Department." "They wired me." "Quanah surrenders immediately, or wipe him out." "I'm madder than a wet hen, but what can I do?" "Both of my hands tied." "Quanah's not going to like an ultimatum, General." "I have to tell him." "Is that why you're taking us to him?" "Ward would have me arrested if I tried to go alone." "So would I." "I tell you General, you couldn't hurt Quanah if you stayed there a month." "His position is impregnable." "I'm not due back for three days." "If we could find Black Cloud before that..." "Maybe we'll be lucky." "Ride fast to Quanah." "Tell him many soldiers come for war." "Read spoke with crooked tongue." "Tell him to sound the war cry of theComanche braves." "I wait for his words at great end of Blanco Canyon." "Go!" "What are you stopping for?" " Comanches." "See, on the skyline?" "Well, Lieutenant, what are you waiting for?" "I don't know..." "I'd better notify the General." "I'll take the responsibility." "Well, Lieutenant?" "Well .." "Forward!" "Where in blazes is that other column?" "Let's head for Medicine Mound." "You can see for miles." "The Comanches don't go there, except to die." "Forward!" "See anything?" "No, not a thing." "How far is it to Quanah's stronghold?" "It's not far." " Let's go." "Oh, General, I'll take you there, but not them." "You're in command, until I get back." "Yes, sir." "Thank you, General." "Now you get to see that female he's been a fighting for." "Female?" " Name of Margarita." "You can dance at his wedding." "It's Black Cloud." "It's French's column." "Well, they been asking for it." "We got him trapped now, in the arroyo." "I'd like a crack at them, but what would the General say?" "Get down there and tell those green- horns to get away from there fast!" "Yes, sir." "But I don't think I should..." "I told you before, Lieutenant, I'll take the responsibility." "Forward!" "Come back!" "Come back!" "It's a trap!" "General's orders!" "What are you afraid of, soldierboy?" "Let's go!" "Come back!" "Come back!" "Come back!" "I'm a friend of the Comanches." "I came from Washington." "I'm your white brother." "Then, it is you..." "who brings the white-eyes to foul our land?" "No, no." "I have come to protect you." "No, no!" "Please!" "Yagonosh!" "General Miles." "Listen to me, Governor Miles." "Black Cloud said he would let me go if you let him and his warriors out of the Canyon." "Fool!" "Does your white brother let you die?" "Miles!" "Please, Miles!" "Read!" "Read!" "Y ou want to take the deal, General?" "A man's life is at stake." "The ranchers lives are at stake." "And their families, too, if that butcher is turned loose again." "This time, Black Cloud's trapped." "We've got you a form General and one behind him." "If Quanah stays religious." "I'd stake my life on that." " You already have." "Black Cloud, here is your scout." "He has brought me your words." "Here is my answer." "Dark Cloud... you die!" "Raise... pistols!" "Charge!" "Where in tarnation did you find my hair?" "I been looking all over these rocks for it." "Ain't never found it so hard just to stay alive!" "I know this man's heart." "What he has told me before, I have in my heart." "I'm tired of fighting." "I do not want my young men to die." "I do not want my old people to wail for the dead." "But let us be free men." "Free to choose our own teachers free to follow in the religion of our fathers," "Free to think and act for ourselves." "We will keep the peace, faithfully." "For, from where the sun now stands we will fight no more." "Forever!" "My chief is anxious that we start with no bad memories." "We'll make a new beginning." "We'll put the fighting behind us." "My country has pledged its word that our treaty never be broken by a white."