"I been there and back, son." "Cumberland Trail to the Coyote Pass." "Crossed the Great Salt Desert where the water's scarcer than the legs on a snake." "You know the one thing I learned?" "Tell me." "Dust tastes the same all over." "So you might just as well stay in one place." "But the land is more than dust." "When I was your age I thought the exact same thing." "That road there." "What about it?" "Where does it lead?" "Nowhere." "Just a placed called Nineveh." "I must go there." "But you said you was heading for Eureka." "I must go to Nineveh first." "That's kind of sudden, ain't it?" "Yes." "Well, ain't nothing there worth an owl's hoot." "Still, I must go there." "Why?" "If I knew, I would tell you." "You have been kind." "Josie, you gonna bring us some drinks over here?" "What are you drinking?" "A little sip of whiskey." "Enough, brother, to cleanse my throat and sharpen my powers of prophecy." "That should be quite enough for both." "Don't worry, brother, you are not being deceived." "I'm not here to play upon your charity for the price of half a drink." "I am truly blind, brothers, but only to the present." "What?" "You heard me." "I suffer a most curious affliction." "Whilst I must feel my way amidst the most familiar surroundings I can see into the future with the vision of a hawk." "Good brothers of Nineveh, I read the future." "I tell fortunes." "Divine the mysteries hidden inside tomorrow." "Where's your crystal ball, old man?" "Crystal balls are for witches with warts, brother." "I need only these ancient tarot cards." "Now, which among you will be the first to brave a look into his future?" "What about you, silent brother?" "Or do you already know what lies ahead?" "Then how about you, young man?" "They've sewn his eyelids back." "He's blind." "Shuffle the cards, brother." "Go on." "That's how they get to know you." "There." "Now what do I do?" "Just put your faith in me, brother." "Nothing more or less." "It doesn't come as any great surprise to me Hercules restraining the lion with his bare hands." "A symbol of your courage and strength." "Don't look much like you." ""Courage and strength"?" "All right." "You go on, fortuneteller." "This card foretells a terrible disaster about to befall you." "Why me?" "lf it's any consolation to you, brother you won't be alone." "And what does that mean?" "The town of Nineveh and all its inhabitants will suffer a similar fate." "What are you talking about?" "There is an evil shadow hiding in Nineveh, my brothers." "So evil that everything it touches withers to a darkened ash." "The Almighty will not allow such evil to exist nor will he show mercy to the town that offers him refuge." "Do your cards give this evil shadow a name, fortuneteller?" "Only one." "The Hanged Man." "Fortuneteller, you can't see forward, backward, no way." "You're up and down, sideways and crossways, pure without sight." "You are alive." "Who would know it, friend?" "Are you in pain?" "I have known better days." "Are you in pain?" "l'm blind." "Listen." "Are you gonna set me on fire, little brother?" "With what?" "The match." "I have no match." "What do you take me for?" "A blind man." "Yet you felt it." "So would you." "Heard it." "Yes." "Smelled it." "Yes." "Blind." "Yet you know who stands before you." "You know I have a match in my hand." "Reach out and touch me." "If my arms were longer." "You saw me move." "With these?" "Yet you know where l am." "Your voice comes from where you are." "I heard your footsteps." "Tell me what I have in my hands." "You know." "Smell of kerosene." "Say it." "The lamp." "is it lit?" "You have ears." "Do you hear a flame?" "lt's off." "Touch it." "Confirm it." "It's off." "is it day or night?" "Day." "is the window open or closed?" "Tell me." "Feel it on your skin." "Open." "For a blind man, large brother how much you know." "Are you drinking?" "I tell fortunes, brother." "Divine the mysteries hidden inside tomorrow." "Then you are not surprised to find me here." "No, I am not, little brother." "But I had hoped it wasn't so." "Why?" "I have my reasons." "You look well." "And so do you." "You are staying here in a hotel?" "I'm a poor man, little brother." "I have rooms across the way." "We can visit there." "You wouldn't recognize the Davey Peartree Church of the inner Vision, little brother." "It gets bigger every day." "I never realized there's so many sinners on the earth." "But it won't be the same without Sunny Jim." "I saw the poster on the way here." "I am very sorry." "He was like a son to me, little brother." "You remember how he used to follow me around everywhere I went?" "Yes." "And when I lost my sight, he became my eyes." "Always walking beside me." "So afraid I might get hurt." "We were never apart, little brother." "And even though he couldn't speak, I understood everything he said." "We had the most interesting conversations." "I'm breaking in a new pair of eyes." "You remember Mule Jesse from my church?" "He drove me here." "But, Lord, I'm gonna miss Sunny Jim." "Have you left Lordsville forever, Serenity?" "Lordsville is my home, little brother." "When my business here is finished, it's where l shall return." "Why are you in Nineveh pretending to be a fortuneteller?" "Because Sunny Jim's murderer is here." "The evil shadow you spoke of?" "You ask too many questions, little brother." "Do you know who he is?" "l will when the time comes." "What will you do then?" "In the darkness, no man's eyes are better than mine." "Will you fight him, Serenity?" "I've told you enough, little brother." "All you need to know." "But are we not friends?" "For as long as this tired body takes up space on this good earth." "But Sunny Jim is my affair." "So leave Nineveh, little brother." "It was good to see you, but you have no other business here." "I will know him when the time comes." "I know him now." "Mule Jesse, it is good to see you." "Little brother." "What are you doing in this here dust trap?" "lt's good to see you." "l have come to see Serenity." "Well, then you've come to the right place." "I have seen him." "He told you to mind your own business." "Yes." "That don't surprise me one little bit." "He's a stubborn old fool." "Do you object if we continue this indoors?" "You know what he wants to do, don't you?" "No." "Revenge Sunny Jim's murder." "It's a terrible thing, little brother." "How did it happen?" "Serenity sent Sunny Jim to the bank in Lordsville with a small poke of gold dust that a good neighbor had donated to the Davey Peartree Church of the inner Vision." "On his way there, someone waylaid the poor little guy and when we found him, the gold was gone and Sunny Jim was dead." "And I mean dead, like I ain't never seen anybody dead before." "ln what way?" "His neck was broke like someone tried to twist his head right off his body and darn near did it." "It sent a shiver through the whole town." "A couple people saw it and said it was a big man and he was powerful." "He had skin the color of candle wax." "Had a strange way of holding his head." "Bent-like and stiff." "Like a man that's been hanged once, only the hanging didn't take." "Now, Serenity thinks that man's right here in Nineveh." "But he does not know where in Nineveh." "No." "And ain't nobody gonna tell him." "I'm telling you, friend." "This town is scared." "And so am I." "It's gonna be a nice day out today." "Not too hot, not too dry, not too windy." "Maybe a good day for you to be moving on." "Tomorrow would be as good." "Perhaps even better." "That depends." "Yes?" "On whether you and your blind friend are here for the same reason I am." "What is that?" "Hunting someone." "And that would be a deadly mistake." "I've waited a long time." "I trailed him, staked him, and now he's mine." "You understand it, friend, that more than the weather is gonna decide whether tomorrow's a better day to move on than today." "I am not a hunter of men." "I am." "Who is it?" "My name is Caine." "What do you want?" "To speak to you." "Well?" "l saw you running in the street." "So?" "You are all right?" "I have a question to ask you." "Go ahead." "What is it that made you so afraid?" "I do not ask out of idle curiosity." "It is for my friend, the blind man upstairs." "I believe you and he have somehow, something..." "...with the same man." "Who?" "A big man with a twisted neck, as if he had been hanged." "You know." "Nobody like that in Nineveh." "Then why are you so frightened?" "I'm not afraid, I'm just tired." "It's been so long since I've had any rest." "It is not so hard to sleep if you're at peace and you are unafraid." "What do you want?" "To help my friend." "To keep him from being hurt." "Then tell him to leave Nineveh." "He would not listen." "Then what can I do?" "I believe you know this man he is looking for." "I see it in your eyes." "Which is why you cannot rest." "Tell me, where can I find him?" "I don't know anyone like that." "I don't." "Sunny Jim was a bad-luck boy." "Born of parents who didn't want him and suffering an accident that left him mute." "And then the final misfortune of all..." "No." "Somebody too evil to be called a man who took away his life." "As for his worldly possessions all that remains will soon be ash." "Blown away by the wind." "But his memory will last forever." "That's how it should be." "That you, little brother?" "Yes." "A requiem, my friend for my friend." "Ashes to ashes." "And now the time has come for you to go your way." "Where shall I go?" "Wherever your business calls you." "It calls me here." "I tell you straight out, little brother, go away." "Serenity?" "is the fire burned out, Serenity?" "I still feel its warmth." "And have the sparks stopped?" "Not likely, little brother." "They fly all ways." "Yours and mine." "How can you keep them falling only on yourself?" "You're a patient man, Mr. Bascomb." "But you don't want me." "Hello." "It's so nice out I decided to take a walk." "You have walked a long way." "l guess I lost track of the time." "Possible." "Just words." "Not the truth." "I came here to see you." "Serenity told me you found work here." "Something you said yesterday." "What?" "That I knew the man Serenity was looking for." "You could see it in my eyes." "But you said you did not." "But I had to." "Because I know him very well." "I have been very close to him." "I don't mean to be, but I can't help myself." "He has this power over me over everyone." "No matter how much he hurts me, I still go back to him." "Out of fear?" "Yes." "But sometimes because I want to." "In the end, he just hurts me the same." "That's why I've come to you." "What can I do?" "Help me get away from him." "I feel a strength in you." "Yesterday you helped me just by talking to me." "And when you touched me I felt more at peace than I have in a long time." "Then you must tell me who he is and where l can find him." "Caine." "I told you yesterday to move on." "You wouldn't listen." "I have done nothing." "Not what that poster says." "Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money for doing nothing." "And I aim to collect it." "I am not armed." "Wouldn't make much difference to me if you were." "Turn around, Chinaman." "Put your hands behind your back." "That's right, brothers." "Gold." "This is only a sample of it." "It's gold, all right." "Trust me, brothers, there's more where that came from." "Enough for a golden calf." "Life-size." "All I ask in return is where to find him, brothers." "You know who I mean." "I know you're here." "There's a strange chill in the air." "The damp smell of the grave." "You need a light to see me." "But I can describe you even in my darkness." "The soulless eyes." "The cruel, devouring mouth." "The look of someone who's never felt compassion." "I was right in calling forth the devil." "He has come." "But why?" "Why did you have to kill Sunny Jim for a few pieces of gold?" "Because he mocked me." "In what way?" "He wouldn't speak." "He couldn't speak." "The poor lad was a mute." "Didn't you see the scar on his neck?" "I saw it." "And it brought back memories." "Memories of a mob that tried to lynch me and failed." "Memories I try to forget." "Killing that boy helped me forget." "Killing anything helps me forget." "Serenity!" "He was here." "I called him forth and he came." "But I couldn't destroy him." "I'm an old man, blind and useless." "Not even able to avenge my dear friend's death." "He said if you want him he'll be waiting at the soap factory for you." "Master." "l am here." "I looked deep into myself and I saw something that frightened me." "What did you see, grasshopper?" "I saw dark and fearful shadows in motion." "Shadows that shunned the light." "Did you put a name to these shadows?" "I called them "evil."" "And what is the nature of evil?" "I do not know." "Do you sometimes feel love, grasshopper?" "And joy?" "Do you sometimes feel pride in what you have accomplished?" "Often, master." "And do you sometimes feel good?" "l try." "But the threads that make up our human nature are two-ended." "There is no capacity for feeling pride without an equal capacity for feeling shame." "One cannot feel joy unless one can also feel despair." "We have no capacity for good without an equal capacity for evil." "Must we not then fear evil?" "Shall we fear our own humanity?" "Must we not fight evil?" "Who can defeat himself?" "For what is evil, but the self seeking to fulfill its own secret needs." "All that is necessary is that we face it and choose." "What are you, Caine?" "A man." "A bounty hunter?" "I seek no bounty." "Good." "Which of us would be the pot, which the kettle?" "We're both wanted for murder." "What's your business with me?" "The death of a young boy, the baiting of an old man." "Do you take on yourself the death of every young boy the baiting of every old man?" "What man can?" "is it revenge, Caine?" "No." "Then why are you here?" "No one will stand against you." "Someone must." "Will it be you?" "Are you prepared to fight me, Caine?" "A man who comes to fight comes with a gun or a knife." "You don't have the look of a fighting man." "Yet you are afraid of me." "No." "Why else do you hide in the shadows?" "Not out of fear." "I have seen your face before behind me, in the mirror." "You bore me, Caine." "Josie's going to be all right." "Sunny Jim can rest in peace." "And I can get back to my Church of the inner Vision." "But what about you, little brother?" "Where are you going?" "I was on my way to Eureka." "I see no reason to change my plan." "Eureka. "l have found it."" "Well, my friend, I pray you do." "Mule Jesse, we've got work to do in Lordsville." "Let's get to it."