"Somebody out there?" "Who?" "Who's out there?" "I got a gun by me." "That you, Medford?" " Who's that?" " Matt Weaver." "Weaver." "You stop right there, Weaver." "Don't you come no closer." "You crazy?" " What are you doing here?" " Doing?" "This is my farm." "No more, it ain't." "I'm warning you." " This is my house." " No more, it ain't." " I bought it." "From Sam Brewster." " Brewster?" "Yeah, Brewster." "After Grant mustered us out." "Why, this ain't been your house, Reb, for pretty near three years." "Now, you start walking off my land and keep off." "Welcome." "Welcome home, Señor Matt." "Home?" "It's been stolen out from under me by this thieving town." "My house is yours." "A roof over your head." "I aim to sleep under my own roof." " What's going on here, Billy?" " Matt Weaver." "Weaver?" "He's got a gun." "He's heading for Brewster's." "Tuttle!" "Hey, Tuttle!" "Tuttle!" " What's the rumpus?" " The Reb is back." " It's the Reb?" " Tuttle!" " Hey, Tuttle!" " Yes?" "What?" " Matt Weaver's here." " Jumping Joseph!" "Headed for Brewster's." "With a gun?" "!" "Wait for me!" " Crane, what is it?" " He's as big as life out there." " Matt Weaver." " What?" " I'll put a bullet through him." " Crane, please." "And end my nightmare for good and all." " Crane, you're drunk." " Don't say it." "Don't you ever say it." "Oh, God!" "Brewster!" "Open up, Brewster!" "Brewster, open up!" "Brewster!" "Brewster, open up!" "It's the Reb, sure enough, pounding on Brewster's door." " Let's hurry!" " Brewster!" "Brewster, I'm coming in." "Come on down, Brewster, or I'm coming up!" "Weaver!" "Stand clear!" "Crane!" " Ruth." " It's between me and him." " You got him in the arm." " I aimed for his Reb heart." "Your performance is never up to your intentions." "Ruth, take Crane home." "Welcome, Sheriff, welcome." "Now that you're here, is it in your capacity to arrest this man?" " He broke into my house, tried to kill me." " Kill?" " I came here to ask about my farm." " To ask?" "Ask and it will be given thee, but with a rifle in your hands..." "Matt." "Come on, Matt." "Sheriff." "Matt, get a hold of yourself." "Put Brewster out of your mind." "You're trying to take on a whole town, not one man." "Old folks and womenfolks and Mexicans, a couple of cripples like Crane, that's what this town is." "But you come back on your own legs, swinging your own arms, seeing out of both your eyes." "Well, I found my daddy." "In Tennessee." "It was my daddy, all right, but his head was shot off." "So, er..." "I picked up his rifle." "Picked up where he left off." "And I stayed to the end." "The end." "Now it's over." "The war's over." " Not here, it ain't." " No, sir." "Not while Brewster can keep it going." "He said Medford bought my farm from Brewster." "Well, how did Brewster get it?" "How did Brewster get it?" "When they auctioned it off, nobody had any ready cash except for Brewster." " Anted up just to keep things legal." " Legal?" "Legal?" "We was mustered out to return home." "Articles of surrender didn't mention confiscation." "Hey, boy, you just lost a pint of blood." "You quiet down." "So Brewster picked up my farm cheap, sold at a profit to Medford?" "Just widows and old folks dying off, and who's picking up their leavings?" "You get out of this town, boy." "Comes morning, you're still here, pick up your gear and walk out of here." "Keep walking." "Never come back." " What's the holy racket?" " Church summons." " On Tuesday morning?" " Funeral for John Medford." "Crazy Reb killed Medford out at his farm last night." "This is the meetingest town." " How long is the stop here?" " In Pecos, no longer than I can help." "Quarter-hour, maybe." "Our good reverend, Father McMichaels, has given me leave to speak a few words over the body of my friend and yours." "A Union hero of Apache Canyon." "One of the few to return to us from that valley of death." "May John Medford's soul rest in peace." "Amen." "Peace for John Medford, but not for us, my friends, not yet." "This morning, we woke up to find that we've got still another widow in a town that's already got more than its share, and she was widowed by a Reb, Matt Weaver." "No, the war is not over for us, friends." "This confederate soldier - he's still in uniform, mind, still bearing arms - invaded this township, broke into my house, broke out of jail, if you believe our good sheriff." "And in the secret places he did smite to death an innocent." "I put it to you, how do we smite this enemy of the Lord?" "Now, listen here." "You listen here to me." "I brung the first wagons in." "I can bring this rebel boy in to stand trial." "I got to bring him in." "We're not forgetting what you done when you was able, you old warhorse." "We won't send you out to get cut down by a crazy Reb." "Suppose you tell us what you're working us up to." "Lacking a posse or a sheriff able to do the job, come to me, we could call on the US Marshal in Santa Fe for help." "Except the US Marshal's got a territory full of looters and Rebs to clean up." "They got a backlog a year long." "But we can't wait a year." "We can't wait a week." "Business will go to pot." "How many more can Matt Weaver widow in a year?" "I hear you, Mr McKeever, so I'm digging into my own pocket." "I sent Crane Adams to Amarillo to hire a lawman able to flush that Reb out of these hills and end this war we thought was over." "A lawman, Mr Brewster?" "Crane went to find a gunfighter." "A gunfighter kills the man he goes after." "No trial, no jury." "Guilty or innocent, he kills him." " Are you asking us to believe...?" " I'm asking you nothing, Mrs Adams." "Women don't vote here." "You turning this funeral service into a meeting, Sam?" "Well, I've got a vote." "And I'm asking you, are you saying we're not gonna hear Matt's side of it?" "Dispense with the whole due process of law?" "How many here besides me lost sons?" "Hands!" "Hands!" "How many here lost husbands?" "Hands!" "Due process of law, Barker, in wartime?" "Until every last murdering Reb lays down his arms, it's still war, and we got a new widow in our midst that needs our help." "Stint not, brother." "Stint not." "Give." "Give and it shall be given unto you." "All aboard!" "You paid through to Santa Fe." "Found you a little life, huh?" "Don't look for it to last." "Giddup!" "How did it go?" "Medford's gone for good and Weaver's good as gone." "I'll take over." "You sure you want this side of town?" "Mexican town's just over the wash." "You'll be a sight more comfortable here." "Billy, take Mr..." "Take the gentleman's bags up to number five, front." "Staying long, Mr...?" "You knew I'd open for that signal." "Well, who's out there?" "Crane?" "Who else?" "Nobody's out there." "I came here to find out for myself." "Did you kill John Medford?" "Well, I went crazy." "I tried to scare him off with bullets." "Well, old Medford come out with his hands up." "To talk, he said." "No guns, he said, so I put down mine." "He got close and pulled this." "He missed and I didn't." "Ruth, I swear that's what happened." "If I believed you, what difference would it make?" "The whole town is after you." "I know." "Five weeks walking here, Ruth." "And now I get here and..." "Ruth, I'm tore up." "Not just Medford." "You and Crane, how could you marry?" "If you ever came back," "I wanted to be sure that I wouldn't be waiting for you." "Well, you fixed it sure, all right." "You never believed that I cared that much about men buying and selling other men." "You wouldn't let yourself care." "You didn't love me enough to stop doing the one thing that could finish us for good." " I told you I had to go find my daddy!" " That is not why you went!" "You went because you're pigheaded like your father." "Because you couldn't do like the rest if it killed you." "Matt." "Yell at me again." "It feels real homelike." "You were such a mean, stubborn boy, it was the only way I could make you listen." "I used to wonder if you'd ever grow up." "And you never did." "Hold that." "I grew up, but you're right, I never was much on reasonableness." "And having my farm stole out from me doesn't make me any more so." "You never were and you never will be." "I'm glad I didn't wait for you." "Are you happy with Crane?" "Crane left town yesterday." "He went..." "He went to find a gunfighter." "Gunfighter?" "To fight what?" "To fight you." "Brewster." "It'll take Crane a week." "If you leave now, they'll never find you." "That's my mother's grave out there, Ruth." "I planted them vines on the porch." "I live here till I die." "Sooner or later, however long I live, I'll fight the town for the right to die here." "Now you answer me." "You happy?" "Happy?" "This is the house I was going to live in until I died." "You planted vines." "I knew where I was going to plant roses." "I loved you." "I loved you so much that now I hate you because you're a thief, Matt." "You stole yourself away from me for nothing." "For nothing." "You stole my rightful life away from me." "I got a half-dollar says he's a skinny runt tied to a big gun." "Them skinny runts get handy with a gun." "They got to, you know." "Wait here." "I'll go find Brewster." "Dancer." "Let me through." "Let me through, please." "Mr Brewster, this is Mr Dancer." "Good morning, sir." "You one-armed toad!" "Drag me 100 miles in that hearse for what?" "For nothing!" "Your brain's rotten with booze." " Mr Brewster..." " Can't you do nothing right?" "I sent you after a gunfighter." "What did you come back with?" "How do you find a gunfighter?" "You don't go to church." "You go to a saloon." "Saloon keeper says the top gun is a fella by the name of Jewel, but he had to move on and now we're using Dancer, so I tell Dancer we're paying $300..." "And you pay his coach fare here, and where is he now?" "Here." "He's here." "Jewel." " Where?" " There." " Your name Jewel?" " No." "The hotel register." "My name is..." "Jules..." "Gaspard..." "D'Estaing." "Jules... soft J, silent S." "Gaspard... silent D." "D'Estaing... just a touch of diphthong." "Touch of diphthong?" "Well, try Jules." "Jewel." "That J is still a little hard." " Try this." "Zzh." " Zzh." "No." "I'm just gonna call you, if I need you, Jewel." "Step along to my office now." "I'll find out soon enough if I'm gonna need you." "How many steps?" "Right down the street here to the bank." "The bank... where the money's kept." "Too hot." "You a gunfighter?" "We got a little problem round here." "It's quite a story." "Quite a story." " There's this Reb..." " Where?" "On this farm he owns." "Just a short ride out of town." "Horseback ride?" "I stay off horses." "Well, I guess you could walk it." "I'm not much for walking, either." "I'll take care of your Reb. $500." "I am not Dancer." "I will take his $300 on account." "Now." "There... in your breast pocket." "The banker's sweating." "My hotel room's cooler." "After the time you've wasted for us, you'd better pray this Jewel's what they say he is and does what he says he'll do." "That's two things I'm settling right now." " I'm back." " I put your coffee on your desk." "What I want to hear is how you're going to earn your money." " With a bullet in his back, no doubt." " In his..." "What I am talking about is you're here, and he's out there." "Now, you won't ride." "You won't walk." "He will have to come to me." "He can't work a farm under siege." "He's been shooting his food." "Every sunup we hear his rifle cracking away." "Weaver's always been a dead shot." "Not with an empty rifle." "Now, where would a man buy or steal bullets in this town?" "The emporium." "Suppose I'm tired of this hotel room, and the emporium might seem more... homelike." "Not hardly." "The Adamses live upstairs." "Crane might, but Ruth..." "The way you walked into my room, I'd say you owned the hotel." "Wouldn't surprise me if you owned a piece of every business in this town." "I own more than a piece of the emporium." "I can tell you that." "So you see, I have more faith in your powers of persuasion than you do." "I'll put it to Crane." "If a man know not how to rule his own house..." "Is he a man?" "Yes, sir." "Catch Weaver red-handed stealing." "That is a cut above a bullet in the back, you got to admit." "Hear you held a town meeting the other day." "How did they vote?" "Who?" " Mexicans?" " Don't vote." "Live here." "Around about." "They go their way, we go ours." "Two separate towns, like." " And farmers?" " Work our farms if they want to eat." " Don't eat much." " Don't need much." "They're different." "I can see how you could afford to go Union." "We went Union because we're against sedition and slavery." "And sin." "All but one die-hard Reb." "Well..." "let's close him out." " Ruth!" "Mrs Adams, this is Mr Jewel." " Yes." "Well, Crane, I brought you some business, boy." "A bit out of your line, maybe." "I got a boarder for you." "A boarder, for a couple of days." "Mr Jewel don't fancy the hotel much." " We don't take in boarders." " First time for everything." " We don't take in boarders." "Ruth!" " I'm putting it to you." " What's Ruth got to do with it?" " The work." "A woman's work is never done in a boarding house, I'm sure." "I've been meaning to take a long look at these books of yours, first chance I got." "Crane, boy, you can't afford not to take a boarder." "You'll find Mrs Adams here sets a nice table." "You heard." "You'll be doing the work." "If you don't want him here, speak up!" " Well, that's all settled." " Yes." " I'll be on my way now." " If you'll show me the way." "Certainly." "Oh." "A spare room." "Means room to spare." " It was never a question of room." " Yes, just the company." "I do hope you don't find me too troublesome." "And what if I do?" "Isn't it easier to keep an eye on me here than from your front steps?" "It's Crane's." "He... played beautifully." "Sleep well, my child" "Silvery dreams be thine" "May happiness" "Illume your way" "Comme dans chaque vie" "Bien qu'il soit tôt ou tard" "On dit qu'il faux qu'il tombe un peu de pluie" "French!" "That was French." " You French?" " Creole." "Creole?" "New Orleans?" "Born in New Orleans?" "It's funny." "Don't you see the joke?" "Joke's on Brewster." "We hired a Reb to kill a Reb!" "Born in New Orleans, but no Reb." " Union?" " No." "Well, now..." "Let's just hear how you managed that." " Managed to be in Mexico." " Sat it out." "Slacker, eh?" "Reb or slacker, which makes you feel better?" "Nothing can make me feel better about you." "Put nothing past you." "Know what I think?" "I think you're lying straight through." " Creole?" "I say you're Mexican." " Crane." "I'll tell you what I am and what you are." "I am a man with a gun, and you're drunk." "Please go." "Good night." "Deuces wild." "I'll open with a dollar." " I call." " I'm out." "A dollar... and raise you 15." "I'm out." " Call." " Out." "Light." "Cards?" "Two." "One." "One for the dealer." "I bet 25." "Out." "25... and 25 better." "I call you, dammit." "Beat four aces!" "Five kings." "Show 'em!" "Four kings... and a deuce." "No deuce." " Five kings." " You..." "What?" "What's this?" "Never dealt a hand like that before." "Never seen such a town." "Nobody challenges the deal." "Brewster's trained you." "Mr Tuttle will collect for me." "I'll come by for my money tomorrow." "Your own hired hand, and you're letting him thieve you and walk away." "Jewel!" "We hired your gun." "Might favour us with a sharpshooting exhibition." "Tomorrow, maybe?" "Fancy shooting exhibition tomorrow night." "Bring your friends." "Crane?" "Don't tell me the boarder made it home first." "I heard shots." "They woke me." "Just a little gunplay in the saloon." "Nobody hurt." "Gunplay?" "Guns are playthings to you?" "Play and work, Mrs Adams." "Work and play." "Tell me something." "The truth." "I never lie." "I..." "I have this feeling that you... that you are playing with us, all of us." "And... that you really don't intend to do what you've been paid to do." "Is that a question or a request?" "I'm not sure." "Maybe both." "First smile." "First in a long time." "Much longer since I've laughed." "My mother used to scold me for laughing too much." "Is that why you stopped?" "My mother died, and my father." "When the war reached us here, I don't know, one day I stopped laughing." "You were not born here." "New England." "In a white town in a green valley." "I wish we'd never left." "This came from New England with Crane's family." "Nothing good comes from the savage South." "I'm not one of those Northerners who despises the whole South." "We knew a family here that..." "Well, a Southern family." "They were wonderful people." "Warm, kind, happy." "Your second smile." "You didn't answer my question." "Will I do what I have been paid to do?" "What would I gain by answering it?" "Well, your second smile was your last for a while." "I'll answer your question." "I'm in business for money." "And pleasure, too." "A town that hires a gunfighter is always a henhouse with just one rooster, a few fat capons, a few clipped wings." "What happens when a man with a gun walks in?" "That's play, Mrs Adams." "Fun!" "When the fun is over, I'll pull the trigger." "Where does Crane go at night?" "Why does he drink?" "What is Matt Weaver to Crane?" "What is he to you?" "Tell me." "Was Crane a whole man before he lost his arm?" "Are you a whole woman?" " Always this hot in Pecos?" " Hm?" "Hot?" "Oh, it'll get much hotter before it cools off... in winter." "We have snow in winter." "Mr Guthrie used to say it's either burn or freeze in Pecos." "The late Mr Guthrie." "Are those fresh flowers?" "Oh." "Yes." "They're from my garden." "May I?" "Thank you." " I want to buy a horse, Mr Kenarsie." " Buy?" "Recollect you saying something about staying off horses." "Until I have to get on one." "Keep it here and saddled up for the next 24 hours." "I hear you." "Knew we could look for a little action soon." "Well, er..." "Let's see what we got here." "Ah." "Here's a goodie." "Yes, sirree." "Here, boy." "There's a steal. $30." "Who is stealing from whom?" "Four hours' ride and this horse will go lame." "You got a pretty good feel for a horse-shy city fella." "Let's see." "What else we got here?" "You've got nothing here but that." "No." "That sorrel ain't for sale." "I nursed him up from a colt." "Ride him myself." "I wouldn't sell him for gold." " $30 in currency." " No." "I wouldn't sell him." "I can't allow you to cheat yourself, Mr Kenarsie." "$30 when I take him out." "He's worth 200." "30." "Now saddle him up and keep him saddled." "Matt!" "Señor Matt!" "Cornmeal." "Un pollo." "And news." "Gunfighter in town." "He's due, don't worry." "But I do, amigo." "I have seen him." "Today he bought a horse that he will use before tomorrow night." "Yeah, well..." "I'm ready and waiting for him." "If you got it to spare, thank you kindly." "But this..." "You can't spare that." " I can shoot mine." " True." "To us they will not sell shot." "Shave, one dime." "I admire your enterprise." "The war shorted me on customers, in a manner of speaking." "I had to do something to make ends meet." "Show me that." "I'm showing that on consignment for one of our local widows." "Husband didn't make it back." "Bargain at $50." "I'll take it." "I'll pay Mrs Guthrie when I see her." "Well, now, I didn't say Mrs..." "No, sirree." "I don't do business..." "You can't..." "What am I going to tell Mrs Guthrie?" "I'll tell her." "My motto is eliminate the middleman by hook or crook." "Señor, a usted le han pagado para que mate a Matt Weaver." "Señor, you will kill Matt Weaver?" "Señor, why does it interest you?" "He is the only man here who treats us like men." "Matt Weaver and his father before him." "The Reb?" "People aren't simple, are they?" "Yes, I've been hired to kill Matt Weaver." "Save your breath and tell them they've been wasting theirs." "If only a man with a gun can solve their problems, I'm not the man." "I'm not even interested." "You have time to kill me and get away." "Cover up for a thief?" "I won't do it." "Oh, Matt." "If these bullets keep me alive, I'll pay you back." "Say what you mean." "Say you're ready to keep on killing." "I told you, Ruth, I'll fight to keep what's mine." "I'm ready for your gunfighter now, so you just send him after me." "Is that the way you came in?" "Well, leave that way now." "Ruth, I never thanked you for coming out to warn me." "I do thank you, Ruth." " Hurry, Matt." " Ruth..." "I'm saying goodbye." "Only way I know." "I love you and I'm sorry I'm like I am." "Don't you cover up..." "May I join you?" " Who's he?" " I board here." "No, sir." "You're the gunfighter." " A gunfighter without a gun." " You're taking quite a chance." "I passed up my chance of killing you." "I wanted to look you over, ask a question." "Look quick." "I killed so many men these past four years, one more don't matter." "You passed up your chance." "You think I'm gonna pass up mine?" "Truce for tonight." "Then you believe them when they say I'm crazy?" "So am I, but it's a funny thing." "A man crazy to live takes a chance and dies." "A man who doesn't care takes the same chance and gets away with it." "Let's call it Jules Gaspard's Law." "All right." "All right." "So far you're getting away with it." "Now, about that question." "Why were you the one Reb in a Union town?" "What kind of a question..." "Well, I used to have a reason." "Lots of them." "Was it to defend your... let's call it your slave-owning rights." "Slave-owning rights?" "Slave-owning?" "Whoever seen a slave in these parts?" "You, Ruth?" "Only my pa and me slaving away for Brewster." "Paying off loans for seed and stock." "Took longer to pay off the interest than the loans." "I know." "I know it's a poor, mean excuse of a reason to carry arms." "Sometimes..." "Sometimes it seems like to me I went Reb just to cross Brewster." "Don't believe him." "He's what he is because he can't do anything like anybody else, and because he hates this town as much as you do." "You both hate this town and you've let it set you against each other." "You think you've found a way to get me not to do what I've been paid to do." "Have I?" "If I were human." "I'm not, I'm told." "You don't want to be." "I believe that you are." "I say you're gonna try to earn your blood money." "Right." "You stand between me and something I want." "Mm-hm." "When the time comes, it'll help to know you aren't human." "Ruth!" "Where are you?" "Ruth!" "You stopped me." "Couldn't have you claiming my $500." " You let him get away." " My aim was off." "I don't see you hotfooting after him." "I'm tired." "Your wife caught him stealing." "I made a mistake of coming to her rescue without my gun." " We'll make a fresh start tomorrow." " Sure." "Good night." " You caught him stealing?" " Yes." " Or arranged it?" " No." "Or maybe set up a truce parley between him and the gunfighter?" "Sober up before you accuse me." "What did you promise the gunfighter to let Matt go?" "Oh." "I saw Mr Adams." "Then I saw you through the..." "It's early, but I thought you might be..." " You're not open?" " We just opened." "If Mrs Adams isn't about yet, I can just come back a little later." "What did you have in mind?" "Just some thread." "So it can wait." "Mrs Guthrie, do you know that I am now the proud possessor of this?" "That isn't why I came here." "Don't think that's why I came here." "Are you willing to part with it to me?" "I must part with it..." "if you're sure you want it." "I want it." "Now, what did Mr Fiddler say it was worth?" "He said..." "He thought I might get $25 for it." "Now, 50's the price Mr Fiddler quoted and what it's worth to me." "I can't allow you to..." "Now, Mrs Guthrie, don't you think you owe yourself... a new dress?" "I haven't had a new dress since..." "Well, it's been a long time." "Silk." "Or maybe something gay." "I really can't decide." "I'm afraid of losing all control with my new-found riches." "I'll have to think it over and come back later." " Thread." " Yes." "Thread." "I do need some thread." "It's white." " Thank you for opening for me." " There you are, Ruth." "Good morning, Hannah." "One spool of thread." "That's 12 cents, please." "It's a lovely morning, isn't it?" "Just lovely." "I pray that the watch will be worth $50 to you." "Mrs Guthrie, if one dollar of it finds its way into Mr Fiddler's pocket," "I promise you I'll smash the watch." "Yes." "You..." "Here you are." "I think I'll buy enough material to make a bonnet to match." "You don't keep a record of 12-cent sales?" "What are you?" "You know all you need to know." "A hired killer." "How could you choose such a life?" "Choose?" "Why did you marry Crane Adams?" "Shall I help?" "You both loved music." "He lost his arm in the holy war to free the slaves, lost music with his arm." "So you made it up to him, hating slavery as you do." "If you do." "Because I've never seen it?" "Can't you hate an idea?" "I hated it." " And loved Crane for hating it too?" " Wanted to." "You're forgetting I was born in New Orleans, where we see things differently." " Black men are born to be slaves." " You can't believe that." " Because all men are born equal?" " They should be." "Now, you wanted to know how I turned gunfighter." "Well, my father educated me beyond what the New Orleanians would call my station in life." " I don't understand." " You don't?" "My mother asked my father to improve my position." "He refused." "She kept asking." "It annoyed him." "So he sold her." "You see, we could say that Crane lost his arm to free me." "To free me for what?" "That is the question, Mrs Adams." "Have you lost your voice?" "Don't look like that." "It's not what you've just told me, it's..." " It's what it's made of you." " No." "There was a wide choice for the son of a quadroon slave." "Piano player in a fancy house, back-room gladiator for white gentlemen betters." "But your name, that beautiful French name." "Oh, yes." "My father's name." "I'm covering it with glory." "You pity him?" "I pity his son." "Save your pity for Matt Weaver." "He's dying tonight." "Please." "Last night you let him live." "Today you're going to kill him because of something I've said or done?" "There's something I want from you." "It's not pity." "Leave your husband and this hellhole of a town with me." "Think about it." "Will you kill Matt Weaver, señor?" "Señor, I am not here to talk." "I am here on very important business." "Do not kill Matt Weaver." "I've been paid to kill him," "I swore to kill him and I want to kill him." "Then why do you drink in the morning?" "Don't worry about the Reb." "His skin is white." "If the white town finds out they need him, they'll find a way of getting to him." "No." "Never." "Soon." "If I am wrong, if he lets himself be used," "I will load your gun for you." "Stand by, señor." "Stand by." "I guess you didn't hear Crane Adams." "Jewel let Matt Weaver fly free as a bird last night." "Shot at him and missed." "Fine gunfighter." "He's a dead shot." "He done it on purpose." "He's from New Orleans." "Mr Brewster, he's a Reb, just like Matt." "You all had your say now?" "All right." "I want to do whatever's right and best for us all." "Whosoever would be chief among you, let him be your servant." "So, let's hear the will of this meeting." " Get rid of the gunfighter." " Now." "So be it." "I'm elected to do the talking, am I?" "Then you all bear me witness I do it right." "Today we'll vary your diet." "There." "God in heaven." " Going to the hotel." " Yeah." "Going past it now." "Fiddler's locked his door." "Like a dog in a garbage heap." "Yes." "A mad dog." "What's he doing?" "Stop him!" "Talk, or I will." "Jewel..." "I'd like to have a word with you." "Well, here I am." "I..." "I'd like... a few words in private, Jewel." " A few words here." " All right." "Kneel." "On your knees, Mr Brewster." "Rooster ruler of the roost." "Get on your knees." "Repeat after me." "Don't face me, face this miserable animal." "He's doing it." "Now... repeat after me." ""I am a thief and a hypocrite" ""and I beg forgiveness" ""for all the filth I've burdened you with" ""in this dirtiest of towns" ""on the dirty face of the earth. "" "Say it." "Matt!" "Matt Weaver!" " Don't move, doc." " I won't." "But Brewster's coming in to parley." "We got trouble, Matt." "Crane's dead." "The sheriff's dead drunk." " Ruth?" " All right last I saw her." "Gunfighter's gone on a rampage." "He smashed up the whole town." "Everybody's hid out." "What you want?" "I'm going to give you the satisfaction of hearing that from Brewster." "That much you got coming." "Deed to your farm signed back to you by Mrs Medford." "She told me how Medford got himself killed." "How long you known that?" "Let's just call this paper a peace treaty." "War's over." "What you want from me for my own farm?" "Your help." "Why, don't look so sad when you make a joke." " No joke." " Funniest I ever heard." "You bribing me to kill a gunfighter you hired to kill me." " I'm laughing fit to kill." " You're right, Matt." "You got no use for me and I got none for you." "But fair is fair." "I was wrong about Medford." "I was wrong to hire the gunfighter." "I just pray you're a better shot than him." "You think you can pray me into being one of your fool hired hands?" "The town's full of them." "You can do it and you're gonna do it, so let's stop talking about it." "I know." "You know what?" "Ruth." "Ruth and the gunfighter alone in the emporium ever since Crane was killed." "And she went back of her own free will." "I saw." "Today Crane stopped fretting about you." "Tried to kill the gunfighter." "I got a notion how come he tried." " Go on." " Oh, Matt." "Now, we all know Ruth's still got a soft spot in her heart for you." "I got this notion she promised the gunfighter something..." "Let you go." "Crane couldn't stand that." "He said I stood between him and something he wanted." "Well, anyway, they been alone there together in the emporium this past hour." "We brung a horse for you." "You've changed your mind." "It was changed for me." "Crane's dead." "I'm half-dead." "If my going with you will save one whole life..." "Is that the whole reason?" "I wish it were." "But the truth is part of me wants to come with you." "And you know that." "I warn you." "It won't keep me alive very long." "You said you never lie, so I've believed everything you told me." "You said you'd kill Matt." "You said you aren't human." "I told you I'd been told that all my life." "It didn't have to be true." "But now you've believed it." "And now it's true." "I give you two lives for the one I took." "Yours... and Matt Weaver's." "Because what I feel for you" "might turn out to be the opposite of hate." "I can't risk that." "I'm going in." "There." "Hombres con pistolas... y Matt Weaver." "Gracias." " Looking for me?" " No." " You going somewheres?" " Yes." "Without earning your blood money?" "Which reminds me." "The blood money." "You might use it in my name, say for the emancipation of the local slaves..." "Reb." "I'm standing between you and something you want?" "You're standing between me and the road out of town." "Well, if it wasn't the money, what do you want?" "What did you get?" "Neither profit nor pleasure." "You can't make me draw on you." "Stop trying, boy." "Matt!" "Let him go." "Why is he going?" "What did you give him to let me off?" "Nothing." "Not true." "Cuidado!" "Oh, God." "Brewster." "Throw the gun." "Get on your knees." "This time say it." "Don't face me." "Face this mule of a Reb." "Say after me..." ""I am a thief" ""and a liar. "" "I am a thief and a liar." "Say, "Forgive me for betraying you and this town," ""this town that I now..." ""bequeath to your care. "" "Say it." "Say it." "We did it." "No, you did it, Brewster." "You turned me into one of them." "Now finish it." "Say, "Forgive me for betraying this town. "" "It's a Reb talking." "I warned you." "I warned you." "That's a Reb taking over!" " Say it!" " Stop him!" " Stop him!" " Say it!" "We just took a vote, Sam." "You heard it." "He'll walk this town like he owns it!" "Ruth, I..." "Hear as how you just won the war, Reb."