"Oh, she stood right there In the moonlight bare..." "Off." " What, here?" " Maybe." "A two-week scout and no signs." "Now 15 miles from the fort, that inner sense of yours has gotta act up." "Another stretch of sand." "Wore it out cleaning up their tracks." "Cut a lot of fresh branches." "Took a lot of rubbing." "The main party headed toward the fort." "What are Apaches going into the fort for?" "Trade for trinkets?" "A couple of them headed up that way." "Maybe to the other side of the hill." "I'm going up." " Let's go." " Not you." "I wanna be sure where the main bunch is." "You just go along easy." "Are you talking as plain Ed Bannon, or you talking as Mr. Bannon, Chief of Scouts?" "I'm all through talking, Sandy." "Just go along easy." "Turn around, dirt." "Bannon!" "If I always obeyed the Chief of Scouts, the Chief of Scouts wouldn't live long." "Halt." "What went wrong?" " Ed Bannon's up there, sir." " That's what went wrong, sir." "And Sandy Mackinnon." "Both all right." "Take a detail, Captain North." "We're going up." " Sergeant Stone." " Yes, sir." "First two set of twos." "Lead up." "Lead up." "Noses up." " Hi, Ed." " Hi, Bill." " Jim Eagle." "What tribe were they?" " Tontos." "Azuni's band." "I asked what tribe they were." "Bannon's never wrong about Apaches, except this Apache." "They're Tontos, sir." "Chief Azuni's men." "This is one time I wish you were a soldier, Bannon, so I could have you drummed out of the Army for what you've just done." "I'd be interested to know what I've just done, colonel." "Orders from Washington, try a peaceful approach with the Apaches." "Would you mind clearing that up for me, colonel?" "I'm a little..." "I'm a little backward." "Today Chief Azuni was to bring his people into the post." "These men Bannon murdered were to lead me to him." "Colonel, these are Apaches you're dealing with." "You're no longer telling us how to deal with Apaches." "In civilian talk, you're fired." "I just resigned." "He just resigned." "Which way you going back to the post?" "The way every detail goes back." "Pick another way, colonel." "These Apaches were here for peace." "Do you see any paint on their faces?" "They don't have to have it on their faces, but they can't fight without paint." "They gotta have it on them somewhere." "Isn't that right, Jim Eagle?" "It is not for me to say." "I am no longer a savage." "Yeah." "See what I mean?" "Same here." "Jim Eagle, any truth in that?" "No truth, sir." " No truth in you either, Apache." " That's enough, Bannon." "Without your help, we'll try again with Azuni and his Tontos, and we'll succeed." "Pick another way back to the post anyway, colonel." "We're at peace." "It's a good way to stay alive while you're at peace." "Advice from the white Apache." "Sir, request permission for burial detail." "Permission granted." "Sergeant Stone, pick and shovel." "Ives, get that packhorse up here." "Burial detail, forward." "Lead out." "I'll get our horses, Chief Ex-of-Scouts." "Those Tontos were decoys." "That's adobe country the colonel's riding through, sometimes three, four ravines to the mile." "A ravine's got two walls." "From behind any wall, any time, the Tontos can spring the prettiest ambush you ever saw." "And they get to pick the wall." "Azuni gave his word he'd come in peacefully today." "You're as blind as the colonel, if that's possible." "And it's possible." "Don't say that to me, Ed." "I'm Army, I like it." "Yeah?" "You were probably pretty good at Gettysburg." "But this isn't Gettysburg." "What do you know about Gettysburg?" "You've never been east of the Pecos." "If you had, you wouldn't wear those Rebel pants." " Sure I would." "I like gray." " You like being ornery." "You keep on hating Apaches, we're gonna be digging one of those for you." "I don't hate them, I know them." "What you did stopped the Tonto tribe from coming in." "Which it never was." "What's worse, the Chiricahuas might not come in tomorrow." "Chiricahuas." "There's no white man on earth could get them to come in." "Tomorrow." "Toriano's Back East." "He's coming to the post tomorrow from the Indian school." "How do you suppose we could get the rest of the Apaches to come in if we couldn't guarantee them Toriano's people would come?" "And he just happens to get back from the East the same day?" "Coincidence." "It happens." "Use your common sense." "For four years, I was the adopted son of an Apache medicine man." "They got their own kind of common sense." "Toriano's people are coming in because his father asked the Army for help." " Chattez?" " Good man." "Maybe he is." "So tomorrow he brings in his Chiricahuas, the most vicious Indian on earth, to be shipped off to a reservation the same day his son gets back from school?" "You call that a coincidence?" "You know so much about Apaches." "What's the answer?" "I haven't got hold of it yet, but there is one." "Well, in the meantime..." "Jordan, Cassidy, Ives." " Yes, sir?" " Finish up." " Yes, sir." " Yes, sir." "The quickest way is straight across that river." "That's not the way the detail went back." "Won't do any good to tell you it's the safest." "So I'll repeat, it's the quickest way to catch up with the colonel." " Forward." " Lead out." " Up there!" " Look in the hills!" "Chiricahuas!" "Stone, get going on foot." "Behind the rocks." "Get back." "Continue firing!" "The closer we get, the more we get." "Come on." "On the hill!" "Fire!" "We could've got a lot more if you'd let us get closer." "They could've got a lot more too." "If you want to give orders, join the Army." "We can still mount up some kind of a detail, sir." "What else could we expect?" "The Apaches played fair, sent out their go-betweens, and Bannon murdered them." " Get rid of him." "That's an order." " Yes, sir." "Get rid of..." "I'll get rid of him right now." "Stone." "All right, let's get started." "Take the dead back to the post for burial." "Halt." "What happened?" "All because Bannon hates Apaches." "This many dead would've been alive." " Dismiss the company, sergeant." " Yes, sir." "Twos left!" "Why didn't you tell them those Apaches weren't coming into the fort?" " They were waiting for us." " Tell them." "Who we gonna convince?" "Come on up and have a drink." "Bannon is back." "Nita's glad." "Nita bring you laundry." "Now, what more does a man like you want?" "Nita?" "I don't understand you." "You say you hate Apaches." "She might be half-Mexican, but the other half's Apache." "Well, among other things, she's the post laundress." "Washes my clothes awful good." " She's still half-Apache, remember?" " I always remember." "Going to see Lee?" "Why?" "Did she say she'd marry you yet?" "Practically said." " You let me know when she does." " Leave her alone." "Look, Bill, with the colonel dead, you're top man around here." "But I've just been fired, remember?" "Don't try to give me orders." "Are you gonna make me stand here, or do I get myself a drink?" "Please go, Ed." "I'll say again, your husband had the finest taste in whiskey a captain's salary could buy." "Just have your drink." "Am I wrong, or wasn't there a time when you said it'd be just us?" "Was I wrong for not knowing what you were?" "All I've gotta do is be around you and everything I think comes out wrong when I say it." "Even when I want it to be good, it comes out wrong." "Because you're one thing and I'm another." "Can't you remember?" "Ed, please stop bringing back what we started out to be." "We're what we are now." "And you're not unhappy." "I watched you ride in." "I saw your laundress speak to you." " What's the matter with Nita?" " Nothing." "She's a good laundress." "You never make any offers." "Glasses are over there." "They are if you're drinking tea." "I'm not drinking tea." "The tumblers are still where they used to be." "Captain Frank Wilson, dearly beloved of Lela Clark Wilson." "Ed, please go." "Yeah, I'll go." "I'll go like I've had to go ever since you married a man who fought the Apaches like he fought the Virginians outside of Richmond." "You still can't stand me close to you." "Ed, please don't." "Will you listen to me?" "Will you come out here?" "Well, we're out here." "I watched the column come in." "A lot of casualties." "Very unusual for a colonel to be among them." "I heard the sergeant blame the deaths on you." "You've got good hearing." "Is it true?" "Did you murder the go-betweens just when the Apaches were ready to come in in peace?" "That's what they say." "Ever since I've known you, you've been a murderer." "Your husband was killed because he wasn't a murderer." "He trusted the Apaches, went out to make peace with them." "Your father was killed by them too, but you were too young to remember your father." "I can't hate all Apaches for what some of them might have done to me." "But you can." "Maybe it gives you an excuse to murder every chance you get." "Because you lived with them, and you're ashamed to be thought of as one of them." "The Apaches have a saying:" "Think what you want to think." "You have to live with your thoughts." "When you've killed till you can't kill any longer, what do we do then?" "Run away and live in peace?" "Lee, I think we ought to call on the colonel's wife." "When she gets over the shock, she'll kind of be at a loss." "I'll get my things." "You were right." "She'll stick to the Army." "All right, that's enough." "You've had enough water to drink, you hammer-headed goat." "Settle down!" "Whoa!" "Easy." "Whoa." "Whoa, easy, easy." "Whoa, baby." "Leave off, Mr. Bannon, this ain't your business." "Your business is killing Apaches and making the soldiers back you up." "Take him back to the stables, he'll go now." "All it was, he wanted more water and more water's bad for him." "So you jerked at him." "Horse hasn't got much sense, Baker." "He depends on you for that." "You come at him scared and tough, and he'll be scared and tough." "Tougher than you." "Come at him gentle, he'll be gentle." "Take him along." "Be kind to animals, from a white Apache." "Apaches don't like horses, sergeant." "They ride them till they drop, kill them and eat them, then steal some more." "You even think like an Apache." "You gotta think like them to lick them, sergeant." "Why don't you get out of here." "You've been fired." "Nobody around here can stand the smell of you." "Before you go, this is from the colonel." "Only an Apache would've broken your back, sergeant." "All right, break it up." "Let him through." "You lived with them and you got to be one of them." " But they kicked you out." " And you're using us to pay them back." " You got us ambushed." " Where you going?" " He ain't going nowhere." " Let him have it." "Get him!" " Get in there!" " Hold him down there!" "Let him have it!" "We gotta even this up, friends." "All right, break it up." "Fall out." "Dismissed, all of you!" " You want me to say thanks?" " Get out of here while you can." " I'll say it to you." " Come on, Ed." "Would you say everything's in order, sergeant?" "Yes, sir." "I'd say." "You are awake at last?" "Put the laundry over there, Spanish." "You can go now, Spanish." "Thanks." "Get out." "Get out!" "He understands Apache better than Mexican." "Same as you, pretty." "I came here before." "It was empty." "I went away." " I got here as quick as I could." " No, you did not." "You went first to the widow of the officer." "Pay my respects." "Afterwards you have a fight." "You fought because you were called a white Apache." "Did real good with the sergeant too." "Made another enemy, faithful for life." "All this you did when you knew Nita was waiting." "Believe me, I could've done without doing it." "Will Bannon say he is glad to see me now?" "Get me a drink." "What makes an Apache so pretty?" "Must be her Spanish blood." " Maybe her love for you." " I know that's her Spanish blood." "We drink." "It's against the law for an Indian to drink." "I drink in Spanish." " Mexican." " Mexican and Spanish." "Mexican, Spanish, Apache." "If only you were ugly." "I love you, Bannon." "What you'd love is for Bannon to tell you what he heard in his mind while he was out in the field." "Did he hear the Apache drums?" "Did he hear the singing of the wise men?" "How much does he know?" "Does he know what'll happen tomorrow?" "Bannon is wrong." "He knows my brother and I were cast out by the Apaches because our blood was not pure." "They put you here to keep an eye on me." "That's all right." "I can keep an eye on them through you." "It all depends on which of us gives something away first." "Get me another drink." "Why don't you come in." "Do you want me to put your laundry away?" "Official business, Ed." "You're paid up through the end of the month." "I'll need your signature on your discharge papers." "You gonna introduce me to my replacement, as long as he's drinking my whiskey?" "There's no need for us to meet." "We know about each other, Bannon." "Jerry August, bargain maker." "Jerry believes in showing the Apaches we want peace." "He'll be a lot better to have around than you with the Chiricahuas coming in tomorrow." "How much do you know about Chiricahuas?" "Enough, even though I didn't get to be one of them." " Get him out of here." " He's taking over your quarters." "You mean, like, tonight?" "That's up to you." "You gotta be out of here by morning." "I'll be out." "Bill." "If the Chiricahuas come in tomorrow, and if Toriano comes home tomorrow, don't think of it as good." "Think of it as bad." "And watch out." "Unless we do it your way, you don't give us half a chance, do you?" "This is the right way, Ed." "The house is clean." "It wait for furnitures." "Bring furnitures." " This is it." " What is this?" "Furnitures?" "All right." "The saddle will be a chair." "The bridle will be a curtain." "The blanket is to be a rug and a bed." "And this going to be table." "We just need a place to come back to." "It doesn't have to be a hotel." "Don't be angry." "I'm in a hurry." "Toriano's supposed to come in from the East this morning." "You don't believe?" "The soldiers are making ready to receive the Chiricahuas." "You will go out to see them come in?" "First I want to see if Toriano comes in." "You better stay here and glue yourself back together." "You got a wagon due from the train depot." "Little late, isn't it?" "Just a little." "Don't wait for it in here, Mr. Bannon." "You get out." "You're not paid to put people out, Johnny." "Toriano's coming in on that wagon, Mr. Bannon." "That's why you're here." "But I've been waiting for this ever since he went back to that Indian college." "Toriano's more than my friend." "We played together when we were young." "Look at this." "We made ourselves blood brothers." "There's just one way an Apache can put an end to that relationship." "He kills you." "I don't feel about Apaches the way you do, Mr. Bannon." "I got a graduation present for Toriano, and my son's middle name is Toriano." "That's real friendly." "And now he's coming back." "And I don't want you here to spoil it for me when I see him." "Mr. Gunther." "Whoa." "Toriano." "Welcome back." "I'm glad to see you." "It's good to see you, Johnny." "You look fine." "Come inside, I've got two surprises for you." " I'll come back later." " I've got a graduation present for you, and I've got a son." "You can guess what his name is." "Do you wear that collar to hide the scar?" "I never want to hide it or forget who gave it to me." "You want to meet your people as they come in?" "Toriano, come on inside and get your present." "When I come back for this." "Johnny, do you have a horse I can borrow?" "Take the sorrel." "I brought a guest." "Toriano." " We've never met." "My name..." " I know you, Captain North." "We've met many times." "In my thoughts." "Your father, Chattez, and his people were to be here by now." "They are here." "Mr. Bannon, you've no longer an official capacity in this formation." "You're dismissed." "I want you to know I see this, but I don't believe it." "You and your people aren't coming in to be shipped off to a Florida reservation." "Bannon, get out." "You've convinced the Army, but I wanna know what you're up to." "I'll be around watching you." "Any move you make, I'll be around." " Sergeant Stone." " Yes, sir." "See that Mr. Bannon leaves the formation." "Forget it, I'm on my way." "Sir, the United States Army appreciates and respects your arrival here." "Toriano is here, and I see him!" " Toriano!" "Toriano!" " Toriano!" "Toriano!" "There has been much time between us, my father." "During that time, I have come to believe the soldiers are our friends." "I have asked them to move us to a place where my young men will not die fighting their brothers and the whites, for a land where each year there is less food to feed us." "We've arranged for a place for your people to wait, sir." "We'll escort you." "We're to wait there until all other Apaches come in." "Then you'll escort us to the railroad, put us in boxcars" " and ship us to Florida?" " And no blood spilled." "Your father not only signed the treaty, he requested it." "Will you take us to the place that has been arranged for us?" "Tell your people to follow me." "Name?" "Your name?" "Look, you may not wanna wear one of these, but you got to." "We wear them, it's a means of identification." "Make them give their names." "All right, give your name." "Things would go much better for you if you do." "You wanna eat better, live better, give your name." "Don't make any promises we can't keep." "Give your name." "Bannon." "Help Stone identify these men." "I have no official capacity in this formation, captain." "Remember?" "If your people won't name themselves, you'll have to name them, sir." "So they can have collars around their necks, like oxen?" "So we can feed them, bed them down and count for them." "This is the military's idea." "Let the military carry out their idea." "Bill." "Anything Toriano's for, I'm against." "In my unofficial capacity, I'll see what I can do." "This one's Kuni." "He speaks English, all right." "Just playing dumb." "Kuni." "Tag number B, one." "Next." "What's the matter, Wakamaza?" "Ashamed of your name because I killed your brother?" "Wakamaza." "Tag number B, 15." "Next." "Look, I'm not getting paid for this." "Let's get Toriano and his honored father tagged." "Save time." "The rest won't give you any trouble." " You're next." " Wait a minute." "Toriano can decide for himself." "He's next." " Toriano!" "Toriano!" " Toriano!" "Toriano!" " Toriano!" "Toriano!" " Toriano!" "Toriano!" "Others in the school cut their hair like white men." "I did not." "I am not a white man." "I will go next in line." "My father will follow me." " The name is Toriano." " Toriano." "Tag number B, 160." " And this is Chattez." " Chattez." "Tag number B, 155." "Name, Goli." "Name, Doron." " Name, Nanez." " Name, Tucsos." "Wait a minute." "Now that you're in such a hurry, slow down." "Kind of gave you the short end, didn't he?" "Going in, aren't they?" "That's what you want, isn't it?" "Toriano." "You are certain now is the time for you?" "I have waited five weeks to be certain." "My thoughts tell me my people can wait no longer." "How is it with my father?" "You above all others know." "Then it is good, so far." "It is my hope." "You do not believe?" "I believe in what has been handed down to me to believe." "Then all is good." "It has been foretold." "Now I will say it." "Wait a minute!" "Geh!" "Geh!" "Toriano comes." "Toriano comes!" "Hear me." "In this land, there is a place where we drink the water and it cools us." "Where the fish, the turkeys, the buffalo, the deer are our food, but we kill only when we are hungry." "The land I speak of is ours." "It is here, beneath our feet." "But a fort has been built upon it." "A pen for us has been built upon it." "I have been in the East." "In my thoughts there have been visions." "The Great One put us here on earth first." "He is displeased with those who have come second." "To please him, we must rid the earth of these second-comers." "The ghosts of our fathers demand this." "And they have shown us a way." "To please the Great One, we must dance before we kill." "We must dance to let the ghosts of our fathers know that we obey their wishes." "We must dance the ghost dance." "And I will show you how it is done as it was given to me in my vision." "All will dance in toward the fire, crushing out the white-eyes." "Then back then in again, crushing them more each time." "And we will sing of death to the white-eyes." " Ten-hut!" " As you were, soldier." "Everything in order, corporal?" "Seems to be, sir." "Outside of that racket out there." "I found this on a tree back there." " Ed Bannon been through here?" " No, sir." "Hold that." "You're not going in there, sir." "They'll tear you to pieces." "Keep them till I get back." "Bannon!" "I've come to speak with Chattez." "You will speak with Toriano." "And there is little time left for you to speak." "You are even less wise than I thought." "Bannon, the Apache killer, has walked toward Toriano..." "Unarmed." "I know Apache law." "It will not be us who break our law." " Kuni, where is his knife?" " There was no knife." "You have been a quick thinker." "You have remembered your Apache training and come among us alone and unarmed." "I will not break the law this time." "You will not be touched this time." "From now on, whether you have weapons or not, you will be killed." "The warning is fair." "Go and let yourself not be seen by us again." "Chattez." "You were always the wise one." "There is a new thinking in the beat of your drums, a new dance." "I want to be told what they mean." "So that we may more easily be killed." " You will go before you are killed!" " Toriano!" "Remember the law." "I will go but first, listen to these words." "I do not stand among men." "Around me are the animals I ran from." "Whenever I am called an Apache, I grow sick with shame because I lived with you and I know you." "Because I know you, I don't believe you've come to this place in peace as the soldiers believe." "But I tell you this:" "I know the beat of your drums and the words of your thoughts, and I'll learn the meaning of what you've started tonight." "Whatever it is, I'll fight against you until those Apaches still alive will look back on this night as the worst in their memory." "And you will get down on your knees and thank Johnny Gunther for being your blood brother." " Toriano!" " My father will be silent." "He has no weapons either." "Another minute and we were coming in after you, sir." "Another minute and you wouldn't have had to." "You're post commander now, captain." "What made you go in there anyway?" "Because I never know what you're gonna get us into next." "Corporal, arrest this man." "Take him to the guardhouse." "Are you crazy?" "You stir them up." "With you out of the way, we'll all be better off." " Till further orders, corporal." " I'm a civilian." "What's the charge?" "Out of uniform, off-limits, absent from formation, take your pick." " Get him out of here, corporal." " Walk!" "You dirty, double-crossing, hardheaded, blue-belly..." "Post number seven!" "All secure!" "Post number two!" "All secure!" "Magazine!" "All secure!" "What you doing around here, Spanish?" "Smelling around the magazine for all those Apache rifles" " that were brung in here?" " I don't blame him." "At $110 apiece, he can smell, can't he?" "You know what I'd do with just half the money them Winchesters would bring?" "Kuni." "Toriano." "You never came for your present." "It's been five weeks." "I almost got to thinking you didn't want it." "Keep your present." "What's the matter?" "You and I are blood brothers." "Sure." "I'll never forget that summer." " We hunted, fished, played together." " That was a mistake." "What do you mean?" "No Apache such as I may have a white man for a blood brother." "Your death will make up for my mistake." "Toriano this is Johnny." "I want you to meet my son named after you." "Let's go!" "Devils!" "Coyotes!" "Let's go!" "Still can't get it, huh?" "Chattez ain't trying to contact his son?" "No." "It's like nothing I ever heard." "Come on, let's get down to the sutler's." "That noise is driving me crazy." "I don't sit around and listen to it all day like you do." "Come on." "I thought I knew every ritual in the Apache book." "This one's got me beat." "It comes close, then it goes away before I can grab it." "When I was with them, young, something I was told or saw or found out." "It's there, but I can't bring it back." "You will." "Come on." "You wanna go back to the guardhouse?" "I didn't let you out to come nosing around." "Let's go." "I didn't have any idea of going in among them." " I'm just listening." " You're always listening." "Look, I got Jim Eagle and Jerry August out to find Toriano." "If the Apaches come in, they'll get a fair trial." "Only the guilty will be punished." "I can see Toriano and the rest running neck and neck to get back here and get hanged." "Don't leave this post, understand?" "You know, I could make a lot of trouble for you for throwing me in the guardhouse the other night." " Sergeant Stone." " Yes, sir." "Detail a man to guard Bannon's quarters." "Ives, you heard the captain." "Captain, you're a smart man." "Got lots of brains, you're real intelligent." "Just kind of stupid." "I made one of these like the soldiers do." "They are not good." "Where's Spanish been since Toriano broke out?" "Hiding, maybe." "Toriano's free, and Toriano never trusted Spanish." "What's his backbone made of?" "Soup?" "Don't talk against my brother." "The Apache in him came out, didn't it?" "He's with Toriano now." "You will be here tonight?" "Don't worry about me, I'm not going anywhere." "Corporal." "Just drop it." "Over here." "Inside." "Corporal!" "Corporal of the guard!" "Over here!" "On the double!" "Corporal!" "Well, it figures." "Tamos, Nayoni, Ochoa Flats." "Now here." "It's the circle." "I think they're swinging too wide for a circle, Ed." "Maybe they're not using a pattern at all." "Apaches always use a pattern for their campaigns." "I've seen them fight in a circle covering hundreds of miles, or an X as big as the whole Territory." "Even a zigzag pattern." "We gotta be sure which one they're using now." "I'd say the settlement at Torva's next." "Well, if you're right, then it's a circle for sure." "Come on." " Maybe they didn't see us." " Maybe you've lost your mind." "Devils!" "Coyotes!" "Some of you look around." "Go!" "This occasion means a lot to the Army and to me." "Corporal Eagle." "Jerry." "I want to extend the Army's thanks." "More important, here's two months' pay for both of you." "Have a good time." "Excuse me, ma'am." "Lee I came over for some more of your husband's whiskey." "You've been drinking all day." "I've lost my taste for that stuff they sell at the sutler's." "I didn't think you'd show your face back here." "Ed, sit down, please." "Nita, will you get a chair." "I don't want a chair." "I don't like your company." "What's the celebration?" "Jim Eagle and Jerry August contacted Toriano." "He's gonna parley with us." "We'll discuss the peace terms that both the Army and Chattez want." "What makes you two think you can guarantee Toriano will hold still for a peace parley?" "We found him." "We talked with him." "He gave us his word." "His word." "How did you find him?" "It's plain you didn't see him, or if you did, you ran." "That's right." " I ran." " It figures." "You're the reason Toriano left here." "You know he's not gonna trust you, because he knows you don't trust him." " Trust an Apache?" " That's right." "Trust an Apache." "All of you trusted Nita's brother, Spanish." "Fine, upstanding, educated Apache." "Only there wasn't one of Toriano's burnings and killings he wasn't in on." "Yesterday, he pushed a Winchester in my face." "Tried to pull the trigger." "Souvenir from a fine, upstanding Apache." "Where's Spanish now?" "Probably still at the bottom of the creek, where I left him." " You dirty, lying..." " That's enough." "Bannon, this time you're going to that guardhouse for as long as I can make it stick." "This time any of your blue-bellies lays a hand on me, I'll cut it off." "You're going out tomorrow to parley with Toriano." "Well, there won't be any parley, there'll be an ambush." "Because you listened to Jerry August, who listened to Jim Eagle," " who's an Apache." " Shut up." "Corporal, I apologize for this civilian." "Go back to your quarters." "As long as this civilian's here, can I go?" "Go ahead." "You don't have to apologize for me." "I don't care what happens to any of you, just so I know you were warned first." "And I'm warning you." "You can't make deals with Toriano." "You should know Toriano." "You were that high, learning arithmetic." "I was that high, learning how to cut a man's throat so it takes him nearly a day to die." "That's Toriano." "Ed, you'd better go." "There's a scar on Toriano's neck." "I gave it to him because he was a good Apache." "He had a baby brother born sickly." "Like a good Apache, he took him out and bashed his head against a rock." "I tried to stop him." "Toriano fought better Apache than I did." "He still does." "So I had to run and keep on running." "Nearly ten years now." "I had a ranch down near White Sands they burned." "I never could get set up again." "Had to keep on moving." "Trying to settle down, just live." "But they were always one step behind." "A man gets selfish living that way." "Scared too." "Finally, I figured out they wouldn't always be one step behind." "They had to be stopped." "And the Army was the best stopper I know, with me to show them a few tricks." "But the Army likes and respects the Apache." "The Army wants to make peace." "Orders are orders." "You go on out tomorrow and try and make peace." "See how many of you come back." "Sir, let me lock him up." "Ed." "Why didn't you tell me?" "Tell you what?" "I wish I could have been with you all those places you had to run away from." "You never told me you just wanted to..." "What you said, settle down and live." "Maybe I never really wanted to." "Maybe I was just scared." "When you're scared, you run." "I never thought you knew how it is to be scared." "Name a day when I'm not." "I love you, Ed." "You've always known." "Better come in, Lee." "You gonna make a point out of this too?" "You think Lee hadn't better get back to her guests?" "I'll go wherever Ed goes." "Where?" "To his shack?" "What'll you do about his laundress?" "Try it when you're sober." "What's the difference?" "According to him, I'm supposed to be dead" " with my whole company tomorrow." " You're not going out." "Not after what he just told you." "You should understand the Army, Lee." "You were about to marry it again." "Remember?" "Ed?" "You're not going to let him go." "Can you see me stopping him?" "But you'll go with him." "I'm not just about to go with him." "But you said he wouldn't come back." "You said none of them would come back." "Why don't you go back in there and worry about him." "You can worry together." " What's the matter?" " Ask her." "The Apache in you finally came out." "You killed Spanish." "Maybe I killed Spanish because he tried to kill me." "He was with Toriano." "They were waiting for me." "Maybe you went to Chattez and told him I'd gone out, that's why Toriano was waiting." "You don't know." "You are not sure." "I'm sure of one thing." "I'm gonna have you locked up for a long time." "The Apache in you won't like that." "Especially because you won't be any use to Toriano, locked up." "Call the sentry." " The sentry?" " Well, call him." "Hey, sentry, over here!" "You will have me lock inside a prison room for a long time?" "That's just what I'm gonna do." "Over here, sentry!" "In here, soldier!" "Toriano." " What's the trouble?" " Somebody tried to knife somebody." "Don't touch me." "I hated your hands on me." "I failed but my people will not." "Even now, the dance they are making will protect them when you go out against them." "My hope is that you are alive when they take you." "There's a dead Apache in here." " Get it out." " First, I gotta report this" " to the officer of the day." " Get it out." "Forward, ho!" "Come to say goodbye?" "Where are you going?" "Getting out of here." "About time too." "Without letting me know?" "Did you want to know?" "I heard about Nita." "I'm sorry." "Sorry for her or sorry for me?" "I guess for you both." "Look." "Kirk's wife, Miss Mason and a lot more of their women who don't have the nerve to ask." "That's why you're here." "Is it?" "They want me to catch up to North's column and persuade them to turn around before it's too late." "Can you blame them?" "They're worried about their husbands." "They believed what you said last night." "What do you believe?" "It's hard for me to tell you now." "You try." "In the first place, I don't believe you can persuade Bill North to come back." "That's right." "Orders are orders." "Never mind what happens, as long as they're carried out." "Then you're not going out to try to save the others." "I'm glad." "What do you mean?" "I want you to stay alive." "Well, they're your people, not mine." "They're Army." "Do you want to see them get killed?" "You said you didn't know whether you were selfish." "Well, I'm selfish, I guess." "I just want you to take me with you wherever you go." "Seems to me, if we're gonna catch up to that column," " we ought to get started." " All right!" "I might have known." "I just don't want the Army messing up my chances at Toriano." "Ed please come back." "Just for a minute." "I'll come back." "Yo!" "Sir, it's as we said." "There's Toriano." "He waits for us." "Sir, I'd take the column in slow from here on in so they'll know we're not up to any tricks." "Forward, yo!" "Better hold them here, sir." "I'll go up first with Jim Eagle." "Get out of here!" "Take cover in the trees!" "Horse-holders, take cover!" "What are they doing?" "They're bunching up to rush us." "We can take the first rush." "Maybe the second." "Not the third." "All I want is for Jim Eagle to be with them when they come." "Yeah." "Hold your fire!" "Hold your fire!" "Hold your fire." "All right, you think they're coming to dinner?" "Knock them down!" "Sounds like we got here lastest with the leastest." "Well, they never spring an ambush without planting outposts somewhere." "That looks like as good a spot as any." "Hold your fire!" "Commence fire!" "Toriano." "Look." "We have been warned." "More of the white-eyes are coming." "There are not enough of us yet." "We will ride away." "In a few days, there will be more of us than the white-eyes ever dreamed of." " They're pulling out." " Why?" "I'd say we got less than half left, sir." "Yeah." "Look what's coming." "Stay here." "What did you do, follow us to make sure you were right?" " Take it easy, Bill." " Don't give me the easy." " How many men did you lose?" " Half my command." "Because I trusted Apaches." "I wouldn't listen to you," "I listened to orders." "It could've been all of us, right here." "Only they pulled out." "They saw some smoke and they pulled out." "Who do you think sent up that smoke?" "You did." "You knew about Jim Eagle too, didn't you?" "Well how long before you say, I told you so?" "Consider it said." "All right!" "The last order the colonel gave me was to fire you." "That's right." "Well, we're gonna junk the orders." "We're gonna pull out of here and go back and fight Apaches your way." "We can do it my way now." "What do you mean?" "We can hit Toriano when he least expects it." "Right now." "We haven't got enough men." "We've got enough to do it my way." "Give me your attention!" "This command is going after Toriano." "Now." "On my responsibility, we'll take our orders from Mr. Bannon." "I'll make it short." "There's only one way to beat the Apache." "Fight the way he fights." "Hit and run until he can't run any more." "You'll throw away every piece of equipment that rattles." "Each man will carry food, water, ammunition and one blanket apiece." "That's all." "Let's get started." "We bury our dead first." "That's exactly the kind of mistake" "Toriano would expect you to make, lieutenant." "I said, we start now." "All right!" "Start rounding up your mounts!" "Cease-firing!" "Hold your fire!" "Why don't we keep after them while we're still on our feet?" " We got them on the run." " Bannon says we don't chase them." " You'll get along, soldier." " Why don't Bannon fight with us" " if he knows so much about?" " As you were, sergeant." "We could've done more damage if we'd have kept on." "Chasing them is the best way to let them know this is all the men we've got." "Let's get going." "We could stand a short rest." "The pattern Toriano's using, I figure he'll work to the right, then bear back." "If we go straight ahead, we can be waiting for him." "Let's get at it." "Sir, Mr. Bannon might not be as tired as the rest of us because he's been careful to keep himself out of the fighting." "All Toriano has to do is find out I'm with you." "If he changes to a pattern I don't know, we'll never know what hit us." "Get the detail moving, sergeant." "All right, climb aboard!" "Climb aboard!" "We're going for another ride." "You take the point, Sandy, quarter of a mile ahead." "Fire!" "Cease-fire!" "Few minor wounds, that's all." "Good, we can keep going." "Ed, the men can hardly move." "All right." "Give them a breather." "Forty-five minutes." " Thanks." " But not here." "We'll ride a mile or two, in case Toriano decides to come back." "All right, off and on." "We're taking another ride." "Wakamaza is coming." "Bannon." "He's with them." "I saw him." "He is dead." "He will not mind if we leave him." "And he brought good news." "Bannon will be at our meeting place tomorrow!" "Come on!" "Toriano." "That dust looks like he picked up some friends." "We've got about ten seconds to make it into that draw." "Halt!" "Halt!" "Dismount!" "Fight on foot!" "Dismount!" "Fight on foot!" " Why don't they come at us?" " Ask Bannon." "How's he got so many all of a sudden?" "Why don't they come in?" " I don't know." " Up till now you've known." "Now you don't know." "I think they left the hill." "They left five minutes after it got dark." " Where are they?" " Around." " Close?" " Maybe." "Thanks." " Cronin?" " Yes, sir." "See anything on your side?" "No, sir." "What do we do?" "Wait for them to jump us out of the dark?" " I've had enough of this waiting." " Easy down." "They're either out there or they're not." " There's only one way to find out." " Jordan, don't go out there!" "Keep down." "Everybody." " That's one of my men out there." " Kirk!" "I know how he feels." " Do you?" " That could be Sandy yelling." "Where you going?" "Bannon's gotta know what Toriano's doing out there." "You can't go out there." "Just don't let Bannon know." "Don't tell him." "Captain, over here." "Hold it!" "It's Jim Eagle." "We're gonna take this one back." "They got Sandy." "Every Apache knows the worst death is by hanging." "We'll take you back to the post and hang you." "You'll never get back to the post." "Then I'll hang you myself here." "Tie him up." "Maybe they'll hold Sandy as a hostage." "Hold it." "They're not coming in." "What's going on?" "All this time, and I couldn't catch it." "Now he's telling me." "I should've remembered." "What is it?" " Prophecy." " Prophecy?" "They never talked it." "It was always written, carved in a tree, painted on a rock." "The Invincible One would appear and lead them to victory over the white-eyes." "He would be one of their people and he'd come out of the East." "That fits Toriano." "That's why he went Back East to school, so he could make it fit." "No wonder he never came in." "Got a bunch of those tribes with him." "They'll come at us at dawn like the end of the world." "He wants me to sweat that all night long." "What happens now?" "I'm not gonna sweat it." "How long till dawn?" "Less than an hour." " I'll be back." " You crazy?" "Not many people out there now." "Most of them have gone to be with the Invincible One." "Stick around." "Toriano." "Over here." "Or I show them how invincible you are." "Over here." "Drop it." " Why don't you shoot?" " I'd like to." "Put your wrist out." "Put it out." "Against mine." "Say it." "Our blood is joined." "We are brothers as long as both of us live." "That's right." "Now you don't dare risk attacking us, for fear somebody else but you might kill your blood brother." "Fire at will!" "Cease-firing!" "Wait!" "Wait!" " Hold it." " Hold your fire!" "I tried the only thing I could think of." "If it doesn't work, nothing will." "It's just that from now on, we can't fire." " They're coming in." " We got no choice." "Bannon!" "There will be no more killing until Bannon has met Toriano." "Do you hear me?" "Is it agreed?" "I can hear you." "I agree." "My blood brother will meet me on the adobe hill at daybreak." "He will come empty-handed, as will I." "I agree." "Free Jim Eagle." "Mr. Bannon." "Want me to hold your coat?" "We'll do more good up there." "Let's go." "Let me alone." "Over there!" "Hear me." "You listened to the Invincible One." "You have left your homes to follow him." "There's your Invincible One." "Where's his magic now?" "Which of your people will Chief Chattez trust now that Toriano's gone?" " I will be the one." " You will be the one." "But remember, Chattez wants only peace for the Apache." " Will you take your tribe back to him?" " I will take them back." "All of you, go back to your homes." "This was a false dream." "Toriano was false, or he wouldn't be dead now, killed by the white-eyes he was going to kill." "Do I speak the truth?" "You have heard the truth." " You be all right?" " Yeah, how about you?" "I'll be all right." "Forward!"