"¶ ¶" "¶ ¶" "Mm." "Thank you, Stewart." "Surely." "Waiter?" "For Mr. Paladin, please." "Yes, ma'am." "Mm-hmm." ""Aut Caesar Aut Nihil."" "Either Caesar or nothing." "Aut Paladin aut nihil." "Won't you sit down, Mr. Paladin?" "Thank you." "Now, Mrs. Neal, your note says you want me to bring your husband back to you from a poker palace in Cavinaw City?" "I'll pay $5,000 now and $5,000 when you bring him back." "Well, spoiling your husband's poker weekend sounds terribly dull." "Poker weekend?" "John Paul Neal began his poker weekend five-and-a-half months ago." "And I want him back." "Five-and-a-half months ago, and you want him back now?" "I admire your restraint." "How do you know he's still alive?" "You don't mind?" "Well, no, not if you don't." "Yesterday he withdrew $300,000 from the bank, blew a million in fine, prime timber to raise another $400,000, and then headed back for Cavinaw." "$700,000." "Mrs. Neal I'm beginning to catch up." "I married John Paul Neal wealthy, and I plan to see he stays that way." "Well, they'll keep him nailed to that poker table in Cavinaw City until they're finished with him." "There's $50,000 at the disposal of your draft in the C.R. Overland." "Bargain with it, Mr. Paladin." "Now do I interest you?" "Mrs. Neal, you interest me, and John Paul Neal- he'll fascinate me." "Stewart?" "Yes, Mr. Paladin?" "Uh, bring the brandy over here, and another glass, please." "Certainly, sir." "Whoa." "Yes, ma'am." "Sarah's the name." "All right." "Sarah what?" "Sarah's all you need." "It's all anyone needs." "Did you come looking for Neal?" "Well, now, I never talk about Neals before dinner." "I do happen to have a bottle of Brown  Sturges here..." "Well, I never drink Brown  Sturges before I talk about Neal." "I am looking for a game with him." "Well, you'll find it quick enough if you've got the stakes." "Well, that's why I came." "Now, "Five card stud stays to the end on king, ace..."" ""A low pair, tr... "" "Neal plays poker like this?" "Well, it's sad, but it's true." "I've watched him play like that for five months." "Well, no, thanks." "It'd spoil my fun." "Now, what's your game?" "I want Neal, and I haven't got a chance against his wife as long as he has his money." "It's silly, isn't it?" "He's 40, he looks 50." "Over." "But I love him." "I need him." "It's the same thing, isn't it?" "Well, take it!" "No, uh, I think if Neal plays poker like this that I very probably will never need it." "Thank you very much." "All right." "Come on." "John Paul's right upstairs in the hotel." "Your good health." "Thank you." "You flash this, uh, fancy man a peek at your knees, and you... you promised him a star-spangled, three-week honeymoon in Frisco after you finish trimming me, right?" "That's a laugh." "You trim yourself better than any man I ever dealt cards to." "Well, you blab my poker play to every high-stake gambler in town." "Why don't you put a notice in the paper, too, huh?" "I advertised for a man, not some punk curtseying to Waller, whining for better cards." "You make me sick to my stomach." "Take your friend out of here, Sarah." "I'm sick of him and you... and the game." "Well, why don't you go home?" "Home to your wife?" "My wife?" "!" "He's from my wife?" "!" "You said you wanted to see him about a game." "John Paul, she misses you." "She misses you about $700,000 worth." "The dirtiest thing I can call you is a man." "Another lying, double-crossing man." "Thank you." "Mr. Neal, you have a tiger by the tail." "I am offering you a chance to let go and back away." "John." "John, she paid him to bring you back, like an animal." "John, you're gonna listen to him?" "John, she don't love you." "Don't you see, you're no good to her?" "Don't listen to him." "Shoot me." "Shoot me!" "That's what she wants, ain't it?" "That's what Waller wants." "Oh, I'd like to see her face when she hears that you killed me." "She'll laugh herself to death." "Oh..." "I'm no good to anybody." "Let Waller have me." "Let him kill me." "Oh, he won't kill you yet." "You still have some of your big money left." "Why don't you go beat your horse and leave this man alone?" "This man?" "This man?" "You think this wreck of self-pity, this whining, leftover of two women is a man?" "I had nothing to do with it." "I'm throwing my money away, all right." "All right, I made it." "Whatever I want to do with it is none of Mrs. Neal's business and none of yours." "It's none of your blasted business!" "All right." "Waller wouldn't let me leave." "Even if I tried, he'd never let me out alive." "Well, that's entirely up to you." "He'll save you from Waller, but he'll turn you over to your wife." "You're better off here." "You never know when to help yourself out by shutting up, do you?" "I want to hear him talk." "I'm gonna say this to you just one time." "Now, it'll take you and your gun, but I will help you." "All right." "All right, whatever you say." "All right, I'll try whatever you say." "Whatever you say I'm gonna try." "No!" "No, you can't go back!" "I've made up my mind." "Don't leave me." "Mr. Waller wants to see you, Mr. Neal." "He's in his room." "Neal, you in there?" "Coming." "On the way." "Well, Mr. Paladin, would you like to buy me that drink of Brown  Sturges now?" "Hello?" "That mice, or is there somebody out there?" "Suppose I could get some of those pork chops, beans on the side?" "All out of those." "About everything else, too." "Why don't you hit the casino for a free meal?" "What do you eat?" "There's beans on the stove." "They're pretty good." "Then there's eggs." "I can handle them, I guess." "Some morning coffee's left over." "It'll bite like a dog." "You're pretty obvious, you know that." "Anything for you, Mr. Waller?" "Nope." "Mr. Neal went back to San Francisco for more money, and I take it the word got around?" "And you show up here and cash a draft for $50,000." "Mrs. Neal will pay that $50,000 to get her husband off the hook." "Oh." "Well, you know, Mr. Neal's not on my payroll." "He can leave town whenever he wants." "It's a sickness with him." "He can't leave, and you know that." "Now, he must be more trouble to you than he's worth." "Why Neal?" "What did he do to you?" "The big men stuffed the opportunity in their pockets." "Only thing they left was the desert." "Railroad's got most of that." "So, you take it right out of their hides." "And this time it's Neal's hide." "When I'm done with Mr. Neal," "I'll let you know." "Then you can come and fetch him home to his wife." "All right, Waller." "It's a game with you, hmm?" "A cruel game." "Well, let's make it a little bit more exciting." "Let's play for him- you and me- for his soul... if that'd interest you more." "Yes." "Yes." "Yes, that interests me." "Playing for this man's soul." "That's right, like Faustus." "Play poker for his soul." "And if Neal wins he can settle it his own way." "Look, it's not likely Mr. Neal would change the habits of a lifetime." "And if I remember my Faustus correctly," "Mephistopheles wins out in the last act." "No, he was the junior partner." "Lucifer was the commander in chief." "Yes." "I won't underestimate you, Paladin, I promise you that." "Thank you." "Mr. Neal likes to get started early, and, uh, you've certainly whetted my appetite for cards." "Mmm." "Good eggs." "They are?" "Call." "Cards." "Deuce, a pair." "King, five, ten." "Possible straight." "And a six to the dealer." "Deuce's bet." "250." "I'll call." "I call." "Play for 500." "Pass." "Call." "I'll, uh... uh..." "I'll see it." "What do you have, Mr. Paladin?" "Tens, a pair." "Exciting evening, eh, Mr. Neal?" "No money in the game." "Yes, Mr. Paladin's a man of many talents." "Well, in a difficult game like poker, a man should use all of his talents." "Give me another stack." "Let's play cards!" "1,200 back to you." "Well... at that price... it's worth a look." "Speak up, gentlemen." "Not with these cards." "I gotta fold." "Please, Mr. Neal, don't drool on the table." "Get in or get out." "Well, I, uh, got you beat on the board." "I'll call." "Three kings." "My two pair... will not beat those three kings." "We'd, uh, better get a fresh deck." "No new deck." "Get me some wine- a Rhenish." "A new deck won't improve your stupid playing, Mr. Neal." "You're a parrot." "A stupid, ridiculous parrot chattering "New deck."" "Do you understand me, Mr. Neal?" "Here's your wine, Mr. Waller." "Chilled as you like it." "Your deal." "I, uh..." "I knew we needed a fresh deck." "Pot's right." "Just the three of us." "John Paul, a king." "Pair of kings." "Mr. Waller." "Queen." "Possible straight needs a jack, and your jack to the dealer." "Your bet, Mr. Neal." "15,000." "Now, it's only money, Mr. Waller." "That's what you always keep telling me." "Thinking with your mouth as usual, Mr. Neal." "Think of your loving wife, you won't be so happy." "The bet is 15,000 to you." "You have a straight or don't you?" "Don't call or bring up my wife." "That's right, Miss Sarah's here, I completely forgot." "You lead a complex life, Mr. Neal." "Well, you are bitter, Mr. Waller." "You are very bitter indeed." "Sweeten up and play cards." "Mr. Neal's soul may yet belong to him." "The bet is 15,000 to you." "Yes." "I... raise." "Is it a good bet?" "Or is it a bluff?" "Bluff or bet, Waller, many a man has died of rat bite." "And they tell me the most serious, the most deadly kind of a rat bite is that of a cornered rat." "Sit down, gentlemen." "Sit down." "Sit down, sit down." "Mr. Neal's like an old friend of ours." "We'd like to see him win this pot." "Oh, no." "No, you don't fool me, Mr. Waller." "Not this time." "Take the pot." "Now, wait a minute!" "I'm still in this." "Mr. Hat, how much money is in that pot?" "A hundred and two thousand, three hundred and fifty." "And Neal." "What's he worth to you?" "I didn't think you meant it." "Yes, you did." "Well, no one could really win your soul, could they, Mr. Neal?" "Not really." "What do you mean?" "My soul's my own." "Nobody owns me." "See, Paladin?" "The rat thinks his trap is a palace." "Paladin?" "Too bad, John Paul." "You just lost your last chance." "If you'd stayed and won, you could've gone with me or stayed with Waller as you chose." "As things now stand," "Waller wins you if he wins this pot." "Well, you can't do that." "That's slavery." "I call." "Ace, king." "Jacks, a pair." "He's yours." "Wait a minute." "Wait a minute, look." "I got a pair of kings." "You're going home, John Paul Neal." "You're going home to your wife." "That's a shame, Mr. Neal." "You were just beginning to get lucky." "¶ ¶" "Get out there." "All right, come on, put it out here." "Aah!" "Oh, no, no." "Now there's no need for violence." "Well, Mr. Paladin, I believe you've won." "Congratulations." "John Paul, thank you." "Remember, the game's always open." "No." "No more." "I'm never coming back." "We'll be expecting you." "Oh, yes, John Paul." "We'll be waiting." "I've lost this battle, Mr. Paladin." "I don't expect to lose the war." "Enjoy your trip to San Francisco." "Thank you." "Mr. Hat." "Good morning." "¶ "Have gun will travel," reads the card of a man ¶" "¶ A knight without armor in a savage land ¶" "¶ His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind ¶" "¶ A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin ¶" "¶ Paladin, Paladin ¶" "¶ Where do you roam?" "¶" "¶ Paladin, Paladin ¶" "¶ Far, far from home. ¶"