"Come in." "I'm sorry about Nellie, Gus." "Nellie had been... needing' to go for a while now." "I know that." "Needin' to go's one thing." "Bein' gone's another." "What's the ruckus?" "Civil war's over." "Lee sat down with Grant somewhere in Virginia." "Sit with me for a minute, Woodrow." "Wasn't hardly married a year." "I wish Nell could have lived on and on." "If I get that sick, I see no point in lingering'." "We're all just lingering', Woodrow." "None of us can avoid dying'." "But ol' Scull did the best job of it of any man I know while that ol' bandit had him." "Captain Scull predicted the war years ago, remember?" "Went off to be a hero... while me and you stayed in Texas, helped the governor keep the Comanches at bay." "That's why I come." "Governor wants to see us." "Maybe I oughta be fully sober if I'm gonna meet with the governor." "Well, I've known you for a good many years, Gus but I've rarely seen you fully sober." "He may not wanna wait that long." "Durned if that boy of Maggie's isn't the spittin' image of Woodrow Call." "You hush up about that, Joe Stewart." "That's none of your business." "Maggie's wonderful help, and if you say a bad word about her," "I'll nail your hide to the back door." "Gosh, Annie, I wasn't gonna say anything bad about Maggie." "She's the best clerk anybody could want." "She's also a woman who's done her best, and you don't be commenting' on things that are none of your business." "Gosh." "If ol' Scull had died in that pit in Mexico, you think the Yankees would've still won the war?" "How would I know?" "They made Scull a general." "He won some battles, but I don't know about the war." "Yeah, Robert E. Lee could've eventually whipped Grant and Sherman, but you throw Scull into it... that's too much for even Robert E. Lee." "Entwhistle, this is a damn shock." "Would... wages persuade you to stay?" "I'm afraid not, sir." "The truth is," "I cannot abide Madame." "She made a rather licentious suggestion this morning, and well, it's more than I can tolerate." "If you'll excuse me, sir." "What's wrong with that fool Entwhistle?" "I just passed him, and he didn't bow." "He just gave notice." "He doesn't work for us anymore." "I assume you offered to copulate with him and he turned you down, didn't he?" "As a matter of fact, he did turn me down, the insolent prude." "Now that the war's over, and you've returned to tend to our affairs, our plantation in Cuba requires a visit." "I booked passage out of Boston Monday next." "It's a free country, Inish, or at least it was until you filthy Yankees won the war." "It was your imbecile cousins that lost the war, my dear, and I should shoot you where you breathe, you impertinent slut." "Since when has propositionin' the butler been grounds for murder?" "You have much to learn about the ways of Boston, my dear." "Copulation can be forgiven... but the loss of a butler... is fatal." "Well, gentlemen, our old Confederacy is lost." "That'll mean changes." "Union military men will start showin' up pretty soon, tryin' to tell us what to do." "It would be foolish to disband the Rangers, Governor." "Somebody's gotta fight the Indians." "True enough, but the military attitude is that regulars are always better than irregulars... like your troop." "So we'll just have to see what develops." "My wife died in a room that was hardly fit for a dog." "If I ever get another wife, I mean to do better by her." "If that means quit rangerin', then so be it." "We may not get a chance to quit." "The Yankees may fire us." "Well, I'm gonna excuse myself and take a little ride." "If I don't, I'll just sit around thinkin' about Nellie." "That's no good." "Be back before dark." "Be watchful." "Those wild Indians are as wild as ever." "I'm wild myself, Woodrow." "Yeah, there you go, yeah!" "Go, Newt!" "Keep it goin'." "The chilies in the stew came straight from Maggie's garden, Captain." "I'll be headin' home now so's you can enjoy your meal together." "Thank you, Pearlie." "Bye, Pearl." "Good day, Miss Coleman." "Bye now." "Those belong to Jake." "He's my friend." "Those are Jake's gardening' boots." "He's been helpin' me put in a better garden." "Store keeps me so busy, I can never seem to get my peas to grow or my turnips, either." "Newt's mighty fond of snap peas, and I need my chilies and peppers." "Jake's been a help." "He's helped me with my penmanship, too." "Now that I do the accounts, take inventory at the store," "I need to improve my old scrawI." "I'm surprised Jake writes such a careful hand." "Jake's never been too careful about much of anything." "He's makin' me a top." "For being such a help to your mother." "I seen you carryin' her groceries home." "What do you say, Newt?" "Thank you, Captain Woodrow." "Thank you for the meal." "Those pork chops were mighty tasty." "Good night, Woodrow." "Good night." "Good night, sir." "where's Captain McCrae this morning?" "Captain McCrae came back yesterday and left again." "Did he say where he was goin'?" " No, sir." " Or when he'd be back?" "Oh, hell." "Morning, sir." "Would you be Captain Woodrow Call?" "I am, and good morning to you, Major." "Is Captain McCrae available as well?" "I was told to contact the two of you about the availability of scouts." "Captain McCrae had to bury his wife yesterday." "He needed to take a ride." "Now that's awkward." "When will the man be back?" "He didn't say, sir." "Damn it." "We're all apt to have to bury wives." "I have buried one myself without feeling it necessary to leave my post." "I can send our tracker out to track him if it's urgent." "Of course it's urgent." "I'm told that during the Civil war, the savages, Comanches in particular, have gotten completely out of hand." "The Comanches have always been completely out of hand, Major." "We're only 20 rangers, doin' the best we could, but it's a big frontier and water's scarce once you get up on the state plains." "I suppose I can find water when I need to, Captain." "Send your tracker and bring Captain McCrae back now." "We'll be having two platoons of cavalry here by the end of the week, and then we'll show those Comanches what for." "All right." "Hello, Famous Shoes." "We've lost Captain McCrae." "His wife died." "He's gone off to grieve then." "I killed this weasel yesterday." "What's so important about a weasel?" "There ain't even that much to eat." "It's a black weasel." "Belongs up by the Platte River, not here." "Could you spare the time to find Captain McCrae?" "Captain McCrae passed by early this morning." "Then you can catch up with him." "Go with him, Corporal Parker." "Tell Gus the military is pressing us and he needs to get back." "Quicker you go, quicker you'll be back." "Dear Gus." "I'm so sorry to hear about Nellie." "She was not very robust even when I knew her." "There is grief in this house, too." "We lost our brave little Jimmy in February." "It is a grief that will never leave my heart." "Thankfully, my girls are healthy sprats." "There is plenty harsh in the pioneer life, but there is enough good mixed with it to make it bearable." "Bob's doing well in the horse business." "Take good care of yourself, Gus." "My girls hope to meet you one day." "Love, Clara." "Gussy." "Gussy!" "You didn't say good night." "I might have wanted a kiss." "Clara, I have had..." "Durn you, Clara!" "Get on my horse backwards, which I'll never live down, now I put my hat on backwards, too!" "I won't tell." "Now that you're awake, could you spare a spot of bacon?" "I left in a hurry and didn't provision." "If it ain't the legendary Charlie Goodnight, the scout who's never been lost." "In the saddle bags, along with the fry pan." "There's a hard biscuit or two if you can find 'em." "Do you fear God, Charlie?" "Nope." "Too busy." "You a God-fearin' man?" "I would have not supposed it." "I ain't... but I suspect I oughta be." "He took my wife." "He could take me next." "He might as well if you lay around sleeping' till the day is done." "I heard you plunged into the cattle trade." "Nope, but I will when I pass this way again." "Market in Colorado's very active now." "Yeah, unless you've got a new breed of cattle that can drink the air, you'll never make it to Colorado." "There's mighty sparse water in that direction." "There's the Pecos." "Fine, wet river." "Yeah." "Well, if you make it to Denver... and you run into Matty Roberts tell her that she's got a friend in Texas." "Matty's a fine woman." "She's in the love business, but love ain't been kind to her." "What do you mean, love ain't been kind?" "Matilda's dyin', that's what I mean." "Matty's dyin'?" "Of what?" "I suppose she's just dyin' of livin'." "That's the one infection that strikes us all down sooner or later." "You look poorly to me, McCrae." "If you were under my orders, I'd order you home." "Well, I ain't under your orders." "And I ain't a child that nobody appointed you to watch over me." "I was concerned you might've lost your snap." "But I guess you ain't." "Good-bye." "Durned if I can understand how you can see tracks, movin' as fast as you do." "I'm not tracking Captain McCrae." "I know where he is going." "You know, Gus is pretty stubborn." "What if he don't want to come back?" "I'm not a jailer." "Well, he sure ain't gonna listen to me, then." "He might not even listen to Captain Call or even the governor, for all I know." "So where's he gone off to, anyway?" "The place where Buffalo Hump almost killed him when he was young." "It's a place with many spirits." "I think he wants to visit some of the spirits he once knew." "Well, ain't this a surprise." "Guess you're both workin' for the Yankees now." "No, we ain't, Captain." "I'm still a ranger just like you." "I sure am glad you ain't dead." "He ain't crazy, is he?" "No..." "I just rode off to think for a few days, and one of the things I was gonna think about was the fact that I ain't dead." "Why you need to think about that?" "Because people die, Pea, they die every day." "You remember when we found you setting' next to that corn crib?" "Bunch of farmers and their families were massacred that day, too." "I once knew a fine gal named Matty Roberts." "The Great western, we used to call her." "We met Matty on my first ranger patrol." "Now, Charlie Goodnight tells me that she's dyin' up in Denver, and I hope it ain't true, but if it is, Matty gave life a good go." "She came up from this river carrying' a big ol' snapping' turtle which she pitched into a bunch of us younger rangers, and Long Bill nearly fell off the bluff... tryin' to get free of that snapper." "Now Billy Coleman's dead... my Nellie's dead... and a bunch more people I've known ain't among us anymore." "Good luck and bad." "Now, that is a matter to ponder." "Right out there's where ol' Buffalo Hump nearly killed me with his lance during a lightning' storm." "I outrun him, and all I got to show for the experience is a scar on my ass." "Luck." "Pure luck." "Buffalo Hump is not the leader anymore." "The cholera weakened him." "Peta Nocona is the leader now." "Well, whoever it is will have to contend with the Yankee army now." "I give 'em five years at most till the Comanches are finished." "Where you goin'?" "See if I can find more of those black weasels." "Just saw Jake comin' out of Maggie's place." "I seen him carrying' her groceries a time or two." "A man ought to help a woman carry her groceries." "I mean, I know he's been helpin' her with the garden." "I am ignorant in that field myself." "Not as ignorant as you are in the woman field." "If Maggie was the sun, you'd need to carry around a sundial just to let you know it was a cloudy day." "You can just hold off on the fancy talk." "You think he'd try to... compromise Maggie?" "Jake's been bunking' with Maggie for at least a year now, Woodrow." "How you have managed to miss it this long is a question for the wise men." "I never would have expected her to accept Jake Spoon." "Why not?" "I admit Jake's lazy." "I expect he cheats at cards if he thinks he can get away with it." "But he helps ladies with their groceries." "He'll even paint a lady's house if he thinks the lady's pretty enough." "Maggie's pretty enough." "She is, yes, though I ain't noticed Jake doin' many favors for ugly gals." "Damn it." "That man has taken advantage of her." "No, I don't think so." "Jake's been about as good to Maggie as he's capable of bein', and a damn sight more helpful than you've ever been." "Now, why would you say that?" "I say that because it's true." "I have no doubt you think I'm in the wrong." "You fuss at me about my whoring'?" "I guess I got a right to fuss back a little, especially if the matter under discussion is crystal clear." "It may be crystal clear to you, but it's damn murky to me." "That boy is your son, as sure as sunlight, but you won't claim him or give him your name." "Pea Eye's more of a pa to him than you are." "So am I." "So's Jake, so are most of the boys." "He's right, Captain." "Sure as sunlight." "Maggie Tilton would give anything to be married to you, Woodrow." "She knows Jake ain't half the man that you are, but he ain't the worst fella in the world, and at least he tries." "What I don't understand is why Maggie tolerates you at all." " Deets." " Captain?" "Would you... take Newt over to his mother?" "Ask her to provide him with a cap." "With no cap, the boy might get a sunstroke on a day as hot as this." "Glad to do it, Captain." "Ma, Captain Woodrow says you need to give me a cap." "He says I might get sunstroke if you don't." " Hello, Deets." " Ma'am." "Thanks, Ma." "If I was taller, I bet I could reach up and touch the moon." "If you was taller, maybe you could." "Jake says there's a man that lives in the moonbeams." "How'd he get up there?" "Well, when the moon got close to the Earth... and real big in the sky like it is now... it might be that he had a good, strong horse and they got a running start, and they jumped right up onto that moon." "I'm gonna tell Jake." "When I asked him, he said he didn't know." "Yes, Jake mostly stays here when I can keep him out of the saloon." "You let Jake stay?" "Why?" "I ain't a stone, Woodrow." "I guess I don't know what you're trying to say." "No, you don't." "You're too strong." "You don't understand because you ain't weak, and you got no sympathy for those who are." "I'm tryin' my best, Woodrow." "Not everybody's like you." "I can't live without affection." "I need a friendly smile now and then, a man to put his arm around my shoulder." "If that makes you think less of me, I can't help that." "Jake is kind to me, and he likes Newt." "I swear, if I didn't have someone around who liked my son," "I expect I would have given up the ghost." "I don't want you to give up the ghost." "I wasn't meant to live alone." "I know it suits you, but it don't suit other people." "I know Jake's been a help with the boy and with the garden, but he's young and he's careless and..." "I just hope he hasn't compromised you." "That was wasteful." "Wasteful?" "Not as wasteful as my life has mostly been." "You compromised me, Woodrow, you!" "Not Jake, you!" "I would have been a good wife to you, Woodrow, and Newt is your son, and he's a good, fine little boy, but you won't claim him." "I hope you think about that." "I hope you think about how you betrayed your little son, every day, till the day you die." "You don't deserve Newt." "You don't." "You don't even deserve me." "Oh, I'm sorry." "I'm sorry, Newt." "I'm so, so sorry." "I'm so, so sorry." "Come on, ladies!" "Hurry, come on now!" "Yeah, run!" "Something needs to be done about Blue Duck." "What now?" "He is killing so many travelers that the Blue Coat soldiers are going to be coming." "Have you seen these Blue Coats, Idahi?" "There are hundreds of them." "They are not as good fighters as the Rangers, but they keep coming." "If there are so many, why haven't they attacked me?" "For the same reason they do not attack me." "We are old men." "We do not matter." "They want Peta Nocona." "They want Quanah." "Quanah?" "But he is just a boy." "Young, yes, but he is still the leader of the Quahadi Comanche." "How many red savages do you estimate we're pursuing, Captain McCrae?" "The problem with gettin' an accurate count of these Comanche parties is that by the time you get close enough to do a precise job, they turn around and... give you the kind of haircut that you don't want." "Well." "You mean they might scalp us?" "Yeah." "Dickas here is bald." "He wouldn't have much to offer a scalper." "And glad I am of it, sir." "Don't get too comfortable, Corporal." "They might find something else to cut off you." "How far ahead do you suppose Captain Call and Mr. Goodnight are with the main body of our troops?" "Too far to suit me." "We're the slow wing in this operation." "Slow, sir?" "You consider us slow?" "Seems to me we've come quite a distance since we left the fort." "That would not be Charlie Goodnight's opinion, nor Woodrow Call's either." "We camp at night and sleep." "Call and Goodnight rarely pause just 'cause the sun's set." "Charlie Goodnight probably sleeps in the saddle as much as he sleeps in a bed." "That's quite irregular, Captain." "I seem to have lost my compass." "I must have dropped it when we were crossing that... declivity... what'd you call it?" "Gully." "If you dropped your compass there, Major, it's covered over with sand by now." " I got a spare." " No, sir." "It won't do." "That compass was given me by my father, who was given it by his father." "It was made in Reading, England, and my father will certainly expect me to hand it back when I'm through soldiering." "I will find it." "While I'm gone, Corporal Dickas will give out some prunes." "Regular motions are essential on a mission like this." "It's a waste of time arguin' with men like that, Captain." "Agreed." "Let the plains do the arguing'." "I'm damned if I'm gonna eat one of them wrinkly things, so you can have that back." "What kind of tree grows a prune?" "Don't scorn the prunes, boys." "Humble though they may be, we may find ourselves out on the plains where a few prunes will look mighty good." "Easy, easy!" "Easy." "Find your compass, Major?" "Of course I did." "That's why I'm back." "It was right there in that declivity." "Gully." "Captain, we got company." "Uh-oh, trouble before breakfast... if there is breakfast." "I expected you to keep up, McCrae." "I suppose the military held you back?" "Oh, we're mainly a speedy troop, but the major here lost his compass and had to go back to recover it." "It was made in Reading, England." "As you can see, Mr. Goodnight, we could all use a bath." "Any good springs along this route?" "Well, yes, now that you mention it, there's an excellent spring about 300 miles north." "You could make it there in a week if you don't lose your compass again." "There's a bright side to everything, even though you're slow to see it." "Now, thanks to the major displacing his compass, our horses got a fair night's rest, which they surely needed." "Might make all the difference if we have to chase a Comanche very far." "Your horses are just glue bags with legs." "Charlie, I fear you're mad at me for not keeping up." "I'll get over it." "But I won't come back for you and your men, Major, if you drop your compass again." "That damn skunk ain't hardly never polite." "I don't see Peta Nocona or Quanah, either." "Nope." "Gone hunting'." "There's an abundance of buffalo up by the Canadian River." "There's only a few warriors." "We won't get the leaders, but we might get that horse herd." "Let's move." "Round 'em up, boys!" "Move 'em along!" "Don't shoot, Charlie, she's got blue eyes." "Get in there!" "It's all right." "It's all right." "Easy." "Easy, easy." "It's all right." "It's all right." "This woman could be the long-lost Parker girl." "Who's the Parker girl?" "Cynthia Ann Parker got stolen nearly 25 years ago." "What makes you think it's her, Charlie?" "Been around the Parkers ever since I came to Texas." "This woman looks like a Parker to me." "They say Peta Nocona's her husband." "Quanah's her son." "They're the Comanche leaders now." "She's been with 'em so long she doesn't know English anymore." "She was born a Parker, but she's Comanche now." "If you're certain she's white, we'll have to take her back." "We know that, Major, but what you don't know is the hell her life will be once we do." "Been merciful if you'd shot her." "We can't shoot her and we can't leave her." "Take her back to Austin." "Her folks can claim her there." " Looks like a white woman." " Yeah." "Hey, Newt, what you been up to, huh?" "I've been waiting for you to come home." "Yeah." "It's a real cowboy." "Guess we finally made it back, didn't we?" "See that woman and that baby over there?" "She's been livin' with the Comanche for 25 years." "Pea's the one brought her back." "We raided their camp, and they almost got us." " They did." " They almost got us!" "Arrows and lances." "we had guns, though." "Yeah, we did." "You should have been there with us." "We made it back." "They almost killed me!" "Clara?" "My God!" "It's really you!" "why didn't you write?" "what if I'd missed you?" "I knew you'd be back, Gus." "I did write, but I decided to come see you instead." "How's your... family?" "I lost a son, my Jimmy... but both my girls are hardy as horses." "And Bob enjoys good health." "We got a frame house now." "Finally gettin' out of the sod house." "No more scorpions falling' down into my hair." "They're a great nuisance in sod houses, you know." "So you're well-married, and I'm but a widower." "Gus, I was so sorry to hear of your loss." "So here you stand, and I'm already back in love with you again." "But you're married, and that's that." "Now I have to go through losing' you again." "Tryin' to say you wish I hadn't shown up" " to disturb your bachelorhood?" " No, course not." "With you, I gladly take what I can get." "The reason I'm back is I'm selling the land my parents owned on the south Guadalupe." "I could've hired an agent, but Bob, he don't trust agents." "Oh, he don't trust agents, but he trusts me?" "Of course he don't trust you." "But he trusts me." "Thought we might hire a buggy and go out, take a look at the land one last time." "I'll do it, but I'm dusty." "At least let me take a bath." "Go, get your bath, but don't linger." "It's a fair distance where we're going." "It's a damned nuisance not having a butler, Uncle." "Now, Augereau, what would you need a butler for?" "There's a colonel at the door who wants to see you." "Let him in, please." "But I was reading Vauvenargues!" "Vauvenargues can wait." "Not colonels." "I say." "Will Auntie be back soon?" "It's a good deal more jolly when Auntie Inez is here." "No." "Not soon." "She's down in Cuba, testing the virility of the overseers of our new plantation." "Let the colonel in, please." "Uncle, this is Colonel Tom Soult." "Colonel Soult, Uncle." "Pardon my manners, Colonel Soult." "We lost our butler recently." "Terrible calamity for a Boston family." "State your business and do it succinctly." "As you can see, I'm deep in study." "General Grant sent me, sir." "He asked that you take the west." "Take the west." "Take it and do what with it?" "Why, administer it, of course." "And what does General Sherman think of that plan?" "I don't believe General Sherman has been consulted." "I come from General Grant." "And he also said to mention that if you won't take the whole west, will you at the very least take Texas." "You're a poor sort of messenger, Colonel Soult." "First you offer me the whole west, and then before I even turn down the big offer, you reduce me to Texas... where I've already been." "All I did was ask General Sherman's opinion, which evidently you can't provide." "I beg your pardon, General." "I was not trained in diplomacy." "Well, I was." "Grant and Sherman just want me to go back west to eat dust so they don't have to eat it themselves." "I respectfully decline both offers." "As you can see, I'm a man of the library now." "My war from now on will be an opponent even tougher than Robert E. Lee or Napoleon, either." "The English sentence." "Excuse me, General... the sentence?" "The sentence, Colonel Soult, on the most frightening battlefield in the whole world... the blank page." "No, my future plans include only the writing of a book... a comprehensive study on the flea." "The flea." "Now, you'll have to show yourself out." "As I said... we lost our... our butler." "Where you goin'?" "Goin' on a little buggy ride, Woodrow." "Clara's here, selling' some property that her parents owned." "She wants to take a look at the land one last time." "That horse trader must be a fool if he allows her to go off with you." "Now, some females are trustworthy, Woodrow." "I'm not, of course." "Clara is." "Bob Allen need have no worries on that score." "Thank you for keepin' my arrival a surprise, Maggie." "Oh, Clara, I'm just so glad to see you again after all this time." "And it was worth it to see the look on Gus's face." "It's been real hard for Gus since Nellie died." "I'm sure it has." "I'm sure, too, that Woodrow Call wouldn't know how to be a help under those circumstances." "No, he wouldn't." "Woodrow hasn't changed a bit, I see." "How do you do it, Maggie, work and take care of your little boy, too?" "Must be difficult." "Pearl Coleman's been a great help to us." "She'll watch Newt sometimes after school, and cook for us too, if I have to work late." "Pearl has been a good friend to me, a real good friend." "I'm sure you've been a good friend right back." "Jake Spoon's been kind to us, too." "I try to give Jake back what I can... it ain't much." "But he's young." "He may not know it ain't much." "Howdy, Maggie." "Hello, Gus." "Buggy's right outside." "I haven't the luxury of women friends in the wilds of Nebraska." "I'm so glad we got to visit, Maggie." "I know you buried your wife, just as I buried my son... but I haven't given up on children, and I surely hope you haven't given up on marriage." "You got too much to offer, Gus." "I doubt I'll ever marry again." "Seems I don't have good luck when it comes to matrimonial affairs." "And you oughtn't tease me so, Clara." "You're the only woman who's ever really had my heart." "My whole heart, that is." "You're the only woman who ever will." "It's hard for me too, sometimes." "But you still feel like you made the right choice?" "I made the right choice... without knowin' it was the easy choice." "I'm sorry, Clara." "I shouldn't have done that." "You're forgiven." "You wouldn't be you if you didn't try to kiss me." "I'm expectin' a visit from you, Captain McCrae, sometime within the next ten years, 'fore my girls marry and leave home." "Well, the rangerin' work is about over, I think." "Woodrow's talking about gettin' into the cattle business, so there's no telling where that might take us." "Plenty of room for cattle in Nebraska." "Bye." "That horse won't take you far." "He won't have to." "I'm your wife's brother." "Let me help you on this journey." "No." "The People need you more." "Anyway, you are wrong about the horse." "He is taking me on the longest journey of all... the journey to the Other Place, the spirit place." "You are the greatest Comanche of our time." "The Peoples of the plains will soon know you are gone." "The birds will tell them." "Or the buffalo." "Your enemies will know." "They will come for your people." "I see your manners have not improved, Nephew." "Kill the animal if you want, but do not debase him." "I didn't invite you here." "Even in death he should not be humiliated." "Just as well you killed it." "Skin it, Ermoke." "We have bear meat for our guest, my uncle Idahi." "I have never cared for bear meat, and I am not staying." "I came to tell you your father is at his death place." "I was in the canyon with the People when he left." "Where did his horse take him?" "Only your father knows." "And now I will tell you something else." "You have robbed and killed too many whites, been crazy with their women." "The Texas Rangers, Call and McCrae, will come to this filthy camp and wipe you out." "If they come, it is the Rangers who will be wiped out." "I will feed them to my bear." "You don't have a bear anymore, remember?" "Should've killed him when you had the chance." "Now he will tell the Texans how to find us." "Suppose the Texans don't know where we are?" "Maybe I will kill him another day... or maybe I'll kill all you fools in his place." "He had a fine Sharps rifle." "I've killed men for less booty than that." "You think you could kill Idahi, have at it." "You think we can't handle one old Comanche?" "Is that what you think?" "For young Jake, hands up!" "He's goin', goin'..." "Boom!" "Is he down, is he down?" "No!" "Out cold!" " Get up!" " You all right?" "Will you miss Jake when he goes, Mag?" "Oh, Jake's as helpful as he knows how to be, but havin' him with me is like havin' two boys." "It's Newt that'll miss him the most." "Well, you and young Newt have each other, at least." "You could be married tomorrow if you wanted, Pearl." "Least a fellow a week comes into the store asking' about you." "Not me, honey." "Long Bill was my one true love." "A man would be hard pressed to live up to Long Bill." "So, Woodrow." "Jake's leavin' us to go get rich in the Colorado gold mines... or so he thinks." "He was drunk when he arrived, he'll be drunker when he leaves." "Can't say Jake's learned much from bein' a ranger." "Ain't you even gonna say good-bye?" "Jake's got half the town to shake hands with." "You've been his captain all this time." "You owe him a handshake." "Careful on the roads, Jake." "It's wild country yet, despite our efforts." "Thank you, Captain." "Don't take up with any hoodlums." "We'd hate to have to hang you." "All right." "Take care." " Deets?" " Sir." "Jake Spoon." "Thanks, Stove." "Good-bye, Jake." "Mama says to... to tell you good luck." "Now, Newt, I want you to keep this rope, and I want you to practice hard and learn to use it." "Now, you see that stump?" "Practice on it." "I want you to be the best roper in this camp." "Practice and practice so when I come back, you can make me proud." "Yes, sir." "Bye." "I'll be seein' you." "Jake Spoon." "Well, what's for sure is Jake won't be the only man leaving'." "This rangerin' work is about to peter out." "Yeah, there'll mostly be sheriff's work when that happens." "Hey, Spoon!" "That fellow's deep in his cups." "I doubt if he's ever been that drunk before." "Nope." "The governor's pushin' us to clean out Blue Duck and his murdering' bunch." "They're somewhere between the Arkansas River and the Red." "If either of us had been better cold-weather shots, we'd have killed that devil long ago." "I liked that little half-built town, the one with the pretty French woman." "What was it called?" "Lonesome Dove." "It was called Lonesome Dove." "Still like the notion of a livery stable." "Well, I suppose it might be a way to ease into the cattle business." "Give old Captain Richard King a little competition." "Very little." "He did seem to enjoy our company." "Of course, there wasn't any other company." "Pea?" "I dreamed an angel came and flew me to heaven." "It wasn't an angel, Pea, it was me." "All I did was drag you out the middle of the road so you wouldn't get trampled." "You're gonna have one sure headache when you wake up." "Come on, get up." "I'll see what I can do about some salts." "I was singing well until you walked up." "When I heard Buffalo Hump had left the People to go and die, I understood." "He is old and had been sick." "No Kickapoo needs to understand why a Comanche does anything." "You don't even know that Buffalo Hump and I are of the same heart." "But you're not sick." "I escaped the cholera, but the time of the Comanche is ending." "I want to end with it." "But there is still Quanah." "Yes, there's Quanah." "He is a strong boy, but the whites want the People to live on reservations." "I don't want to live where the white man tells me to live." "Soon all Comanches will have to learn to grow corn or raise cows." "I hate cows." "There are no warriors left to fight the whites with me." "That is why I would rather go." "All my life, I have roamed this place." "This place was ours." "The buffalo were everywhere." "But the life of the free Comanche is over." "Now go away." "Take care of yourself and your mama." " Newt, Ikey." " How do." "Good luck, boys." "It's good Newt has the ranger boys, Pearl." "They're jolly with him." "He deserves better company than I can provide, bein' so sick." "Gus and Pea Eye and Deets... they'll see no harm comes to him when I'm gone." "They'll see no harm comes to him until you get well." "You're my best friend, Mag." "I can't bear the thought of losing' you." "Stop talkin' about bein' gone." "I'll have none of it." "Let's go inside now, Pearlie." "I need to lie down, just for a bit." "Remember that white woman that we rescued on that raid with Charlie Goodnight, the one he said was a Parker?" "I do." "Well, they say that she misses her Comanche family so bad that she grabs up her girl, tries to run off any chance she can get." "Folks gotta lock her up night and day." "Like I said at the time, it would have been merciful if Charlie had just shot her." "We ought to have never brought her back." "She's Comanche now, and that's that." "Durn." "Life on the open prairie with a good breeze to blow away the 'skeeters has unfitted me for this muggy weather." "I doubt there's an acre of country in Texas you can't find some reason to complain about." "You used to complain about the cold, now it's the heat." "If I didn't have the weather to complain about, Woodrow," "I'd still have you." "In all these years of rangerin'," "I can't remember you even payin' me one compliment." "Well, we got a hostile camp to clean out." "Maybe if we both survive," "I'll think of somethin' good to say." "Ermoke, that's not Idahi." "That's Buffalo Hump himself." "I'll stay here, keep him in sight." "You hurry back and get Duck." "There's likely to be a big reward in this." "You trust that Kickapoo?" "How do you know he's not on Blue Duck's side?" "If you local lawmen don't trust our judgment after bringing' us all the way up here," "I'd be happy for you to go back home." "Go home?" "That's right, skedaddle." "You're already in the way." "What about our quarry?" "Blue Duck has gone west." "He was in a hurry." "He took four horses." "Damn rascal." "What now?" "The battle is joined now, Woodrow." "Let's go!" "Don't move!" "Don't move!" "Round 'em up!" "Hands up." "Don't move." "Take these men in for trial." "we need to be after Blue Duck." "We're from a poor county." "If we pull hard-workin' citizens out of the field to try riff-raff like this, we'll soon be voted out of office." "What do you propose to do then?" "We're gonna hang them." "It's our jurisdiction." "I hear your darky cook is good with knots." "Maybe he'd oblige us with eight hang-knots." "He might oblige you with six... but you're not hangin' these boys." "They're here with the outlaws and a passel of stolen horses." "They're old enough to hang, and by God, they will hang." "Make him six hang-knots, Deets." "And as for these boys, we're gonna take 'em and make Texas Rangers out of 'em." "They're 'bout the same age that we started rangerin', correct, Woodrow?" "That would be correct, Augustus." "And I'll tolerate no more rash talk of jurisdiction." "We're Texas Rangers, sent by the governor himself." "Our jurisdiction is wherever we happen to be." "Understood?" "Captain, these limbs 'round here are too skinny to hold six men." "Might get two on that limb, might get four on this one." "Four's too many for that limb." "You don't want your men hanging' too close together while they're swinging." "We'll oblige you and hang six men." "Once it's done, you oblige us and take good care of the women." "We won't leave the women, Captain." "What's the matter with you, Augustus?" "Gloomy work, hangin' men in the mornin'." "Sun's up." "It's a fine day." "Those six men won't get to live it." "Besides, but for luck, could have been me hangin' there." "Oh, now." "Ornery as you are, I don't think you deserve hanging'." "But for luck, I might have." "If I could strike up a deal with ol' Buffalo Hump..." "I'd bring him down, turn him loose in the legislature." "If he scalped half the damn senators," "I have no doubt that they'd vote to let us buy some good horses." "Maybe we'd get better lawmen, too, while they're voting'." "Well, how would they vote if they were dead?" "Ah, there'd soon be more senators." "I'd make the new ones dig the graves for the old ones." "It'd be a lesson to them." "We got company." "It's Quanah and Peta Nocoma." "I see them wild men." "The last Indians left you can say that about." "They don't want to fight." "They're watching who's passing through their country." "It won't be their country too much longer." "Good Lord, Pea!" "Deets!" "Is that a snakebite?" "Oh, it's worse." "He just got a thorn." "Just." "Never seen a worse swelled-up knee before." "Hold on, hold on, hold on." "Gotta try to get it out, or Mr. Pea'll be gone." "That's the green mesquite." "It's more poisonous than a snake." "An owl." "Huntin' packrats, I expect." "No." "It means death." "When the owl flies over, someone dies." "Well, I guess it won't be me that's dyin'... thanks to you, Deets." "Here, Mama." "It's time for you to go to the store and do your chores." "The Stewarts brag about what a good little worker you are to anyone who'll listen." "But I don't wanna leave." "I'm scared." "I'd live forever if I could, Newt, just for the love of you." "I've loved you from the moment you were born." "I'll keep a close eye on your mother, honey." "Don't you worry." "Yeah, go on, now." "All right." "He ought to be with his father, Pearlie." "Mag, it don't have to be one way or the other." "Newt can stay with me when the menfolks are gone, and bunk with the boys when they're home." "Oh, if you wouldn't mind." "There ain't no mind about it." "You're my best friend, Mag." "And besides, everybody in this town likes your boy." "He'll be well-cared for." "You can rest your mind about that." "Howdy, young fella." "Ikey, I need to see Pea Eye and Deets and Gus." "When are they gonna come back home?" "They're Rangers, son." "Hard to say when they'll come back." "The Rangers!" "Are we gonna fight 'em?" "I didn't come here for them." "You've become lazy, old man." "You used to wake up before anyone else." "Hard to be old and slow." "You were a great chief, but look at you." "You can barely lift your own shield." "That's Call and McCrae." "My Lord." "Killed by his own son." "I remember him as bigger." "Even though I'm lookin' at him, it's hard to believe he's dead." "That's probably the same lance he stuck me with all those years ago." "Well, I ain't holdin' no funeral for him." "That's right, Woodrow." "He killed too many of our friends." "We should leave." " I'm for leavin', myself." " Me too, Mr. Pea." "Get the horses into that gully, boys, or we'll be left afoot." "Here!" "Damn, I lost 'em again." "There'll be another day, you can bet on it." " How bad you hurt?" " I can't feel a thing in my leg." "I fear I might lose it." "He didn't hit you in your leg, Captain." "He shot off your boot heel." "Well, I'll be." "I call that lucky." "How many horses we got left?" "Three." "And a mule." " Blue Duck's hopin' to starve us." " We won't starve." "There's a dry lake with a spring two days south." "Two days walkin', or two days riding'?" "Two days walking." "We'll have to eat the horses." "It won't be the first dry walk we ever made." "Yeah." "The bad Indian's dead, Woodrow." "He led two raids all the way to the ocean." "No Comanche's ever done that before." "They'll be singin' songs about him all over the plains." "Well, guess this means the fun's over." "Wasn't fun." "And as long as they're out there, it won't be over." "You can stay at my house, Newt." "There's nobody much at the bunkhouse except for Mr. Ripple." "I better just stay with the boys." "Thank you." "when do you reckon they'll come home, Ikey?" "I don't know, son, but they will come." "Subripped by:" "Tantico (Croatia)"