"Father Montalvo, if I didn't know you for the retiring, timorous, unworldly man that you are," "I could almost swear you'd been using me for my horse... and my gun." "¶ ¶" "My dear fellow, what kind of a move is that?" "You're absolutely hopeless." "Ah, such a lovely girl." "But obviously, it's been too easy for you to get by on your good looks." "And you let your poor wits wander until they're useless to you." "I take your bishop, my good man." "Now, really, your game is much too stupid." "Here's your money back." "Interesting, my dear... but naive." "Is there nowhere in this intellectual wasteland of mine that can present a challenge in so modest a way as a little game of chess?" "Your queen, sir." "Huh?" "What?" "Your queen is in jeopardy." "Take your time, Captain Zimmerman." "Take your time." "Mr. Paladin?" "Hmm?" "It has come." "They want you in Monterey." "Your bags are packed." "Thank you, Hey Girl." "What about Captain Zimmerman?" "Don't disturb him, shh." "¶ Amen... ¶" "One of you fellas get a fire started." "It's getting about that time." "Afternoon." "Mission not closed, is it?" "It's open." "Oh, I'm glad to hear that." "What's your business in there?" "Well, whatever it is, it's mine." "Suppose you come down off of there and we'll talk about it?" "Is your business with Vernon Good?" "Not that I know of." "What's your name, mister?" "Paladin." "Yours?" "Harkness." "This here's Cordilene." "Well, I gather that you gentlemen are not particularly anxious for me to go inside the mission." "What seems to be the trouble?" "No trouble." "I figure you'd do well to keep going." "Well, I appreciate your advice." "And I know you'll understand if I don't take it." "Excuse me." "Now, I don't know what you two think you're up to, but the right to journey freely is one that I prize highly." "And I do mean to protect it." "Now, hold on just a minute." "Were you sent for, Paladin?" "Or are you interfering with something that's none of your concern?" "They sent for him." "Where are you headed for?" "Monterey." "We've no right to keep people out if they're not mixed in with Vernon." "You go on in." "Be sure you're gone in the morning, mister." "Cordilene, you're a very stupid man." "Come on." "Cordilene, if you don't leave me alone to eat my s..." "Oh, uh, e-excuse me." "I thought you were someone else." "Not at all." "A man's meal is interrupted, he has a right to be angry." "No." "Food is just to sustain the body." "How and when I eat is of little importance." "Won't you share with me?" "Thank you." "I had hoped you could put me up for the night." "Of course." "Come in." "That is beautiful." "Spanish, isn't it?" "16th Century." "In here, please." "Brother Thomas, we have another guest for the supper!" "Sit there, please." "Thank you." "You'll forgive me if I continue to sustain the body." "Of course." "Though, how any man can say that food is merely to sustain the body is beyond me." "That's because you haven't had the food yet." "Oh, Brother Thomas, we were just discussing the food that you and Brother Francis prepare so faithfully for us." "Thank you." "Mmm..." "Father... if orisons be the food of the spirit, pray on." "Well, in the meantime, some wine." "Father..." "Montalvo." "Father Montalvo, what is going on out there?" "They want to throw a noose around that young man's neck and hang him to a tree." "He would be Vernon Good, then?" "He rode in here two days ago with them hard on his heels." "And you granted him sanctuary?" "I did." "Just as I would for you, if you asked for it." "Well, right now, all I'm asking for is a night's shelter." "Right now?" "Perhaps some other time?" "Who can say?" "Then sanctuary is something that you may one day need?" "Well, sanctuary is something, Father, that any man may need." "Truly spoken." "But you, perhaps, more than anyone else?" "Are you telling me?" "Or asking me?" "To tell would be to presume, and to ask would be to intrude." "No, I..." "I was merely acquainting you with our... facility." "I stand acquainted." "And just in case any errant curiosity should disturb your serenity..." "You live by the sword." "In part." "Which part, my son?" "Surely not the soul." "That would be a terrible thing." "Now, Father, when you forswore the sword, that decision came from the essence of you, the "soul" as you call it, right?" "Absolutely." "Well, then grant me the right to pick up the sword with equal conviction." "No, my son, I have to disagree." "You see, when I say that I live by my faith," "I say it without any reservation." "When you say you "live by the sword,"" "it is, well, by your own admission, only in part." "Therefore, I just cannot accept your conviction as equal to mine." "Not even in quality?" "That would depend on by what you mean by "in part."" "Now, I ask you again, which part?" "That part of me which remains after what other poor resources I have have failed." "Resources?" "What resources?" "Agility, for one." "If you parry your enemies as readily as you do your friends, y-you're safe enough." ""Give me the avowed, the erect, the manly foe." ""Bold may I meet him, perhaps may turn his blow." ""But of all the plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send," ""save, save, oh, save me from the candid friend."" "It's true." "I know, I..." "I have the worst possible nature for my calling." "I know I have a curiosity that I cannot control." "I have a... a temper that's so unpredictable that even I find it remarkable." "And I have lived with it for some 35 years." "Paladin..." "I know that we live in a hard land among hard and... sometimes desperate people." "By nature, my way through this wilderness is more or less your way." "But by conviction, by belief, by faith, my way is this way." "So, if I do seem to attack you, it-it may be just to reaffirm my faith." "You don't take it uncharitably." "Father Montalvo..." "Uh, you must be tired after your long day on the trail." "Forgive me." "I'll show you to your rest." "I don't believe Mr. Paladin finished his wine, Vernon." "Whatever's left may help your meditation." "Well, Father, this looks, uh... reasonably free from temptation." "Clean, wholesome surroundings." "Except, of course, for this." "It's a nice piece of work, built to your own specifications." "Yes, it was, Father, and it, uh, has bullets in it." "I've always found that these create more problems than they solve." "Well, be that as it may, I think I'll keep mine with me." "That way, I know that whatever problems it causes will be my own." "Father, what is Vernon Good supposed to have done?" "I didn't ask him." "Well, isn't there any law in this part of the country?" "No nearer than Monterey." "That's why I gave him my word that no harm would come to him." "And how do you expect to keep your word if those men outside get restless?" "Oh, they don't bother me." "If they did, I wouldn't return your gun so readily." "Good night, my son." "Good night, Father." "I ain't about to stay out here till winter waiting for him to come out of there." "My old woman's gonna be chewing little green apples as it is." "No point in the whole bunch of us just sitting here, Cordilene." "We leave two men to watch for him while I ride into Monterey and fetch the sheriff." "You may be licked, Harkness." "I'm not." "You're sure you won't stay for a while?" "Thank you, I'd like to." "You're not afraid that I'll convince you of the power of love, and you'll be without a vocation, are you?" "No." "Knowing your temper, I'm much more afraid that I'll convince you of the wisdom of the Old Testament injunction to keep the munition..." ""Fortify thy power mightily."" "Thanks, Father." "No, we ask no thanks, but, uh... there is a mission maintenance fund, if you do feel obliged." "Well, I was just about to suggest the same thing." "Well, of course." "Uh..." "I just wanted to spare you embarrassment." "Father, you're, uh, too kind." "Not at all." "How's that dirty little killer holding up?" "If you believe that, why don't you prove it in a court of law?" "He's a killer; he'll get what's coming to him." "There's nothing you can do; he won't come out." "Then I'll go in after him." "Well, then you'll go without me." "I'll have nothing to do with desecration." "If every killer and horse thief knows he can go in there for safety, there'll be no law and order anywhere." "Cordilene, somehow in your mouth, those words sound hollow." "Now, you listen to me." "You want to give that padre a break, you'll go back inside and tell him" "I'll give him to sundown to turn Vernon Good out." "If he don't, I swear I'll take my men inside and drag him out." "How I dearly would like to get my hands..." "Break in here, would he?" "Does he think he's out of the sight of the Lord?" "I... he-he must be... braver than any man has a right to be or... or-or crazier!" "I-I'd like to..." "I..." "I..." "I must pray for divine guidance." "Father, in all respect, will you try and get it before sunset?" "You won't have to wait, Father." "I'll get out." "I gave you my word." "Then you can have it back." "All bets are off." "I'll take my horse and run for it." "Wait." "I'll go with you." "What good do you think that'll do?" "They wouldn't dare attack Vernon when he's with me." "Cordilene is a madman." "He will hang Vernon, and then he will hang you if you interfere." "Let him try it if he thinks he's man enough!" "Look..." "Paladin, I..." "I'm beginning to believe that your faith is a very poor thing." "I..." "My faith may not be much greater." "But I have no doubt that we'll get through." "It's not your faith I question, Father." "It's your good sense." "You're willing to stand trial for murder," "I'll try and get you to Monterey." "Can't ask for more than that." "Sundown." "Where is he?" "Where is he?" "Ha!" "Come on!" "Ya!" "All right, rest the horses here." "Come on." "You see what a little faith will do, Mr. Paladin?" "Especially if it rides a fast horse." "Well, sometimes it needs a fast horse, and sometimes it need only be put on the right man." "You know, it's surprising... but someone who lives partially by the sword has been known to do God's work." "If I didn't know you for the timorous, retiring, unworldly man that you are," "I might suspect that I had been used." "I'm glad you know me so well." "I want to thank you, Mr. Paladin." "Save that for Monterey, Vernon." "Well, like you said," "I'm far enough ahead of them now." "There's no need for you to go any farther." "Yes, he's right." "I'll ride along, see he gets there." "And who's gonna keep you alive, if he decides to head for the border?" "Why would he want to do that?" "Well, maybe he's guilty." "Or maybe it's just that I don't think that judges and juries always find out the truth." "There you have it, Father." "Two very good reasons." "I think I'll just, uh, ride along." "Where did you get that gun?" "I had it all along." "What is it, Vernon?" "You're guilty?" "Or just scared?" "That's for you to figure out." "Unbuckle your gun belt." "What do you think you're doing?" "Put that gun away." "Do you think I schemed and connived and asked divine intervention for this?" "!" "If so, it's best you think again." "Now, give me that gun!" "Stand back." "Give me that gun, before I do something that'll I regret for the rest of my life!" "Get away!" "You've killed him." "And just before he killed you." "Where is he?" "Guilty as sin." "Was he?" "Wasn't he?" "We'll never know." "Who shot him?" "I got a hundred dollars for the man who killed him." "Now who gets it, you or the padre?" "I believe I would've struck him if you hadn't." "That's why I took the liberty." "It rests a little more lightly on my conscience." "¶ "Have gun will travel," reads the card of a man ¶" "¶ A knight without armor in a savage land ¶" "¶ His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind ¶" "¶ A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin ¶" "¶ Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?" "¶" "¶ Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home. ¶"