"Do not try to woo your fortune, Paladin." "The cards are between us." "Now, you must select a card- your card." "Aha, how true." "The Chevalier of the Sword." "Your fortune is a refreshment... after telling a hundred bored old ladies that their future is nothing but boredom." "Ah." "The Wheel." "The Wheel of Life will turn for you." "You will travel far soon and see much." "I will travel to Temple City in the morning, and that's not all that much." "And besides, it's not until the morning." "Scoffer." "Well, there I am again." "Now, what does that mean, Elaine?" "What does it mean?" "It's so bloody." "It..." "So bloody." "Oh, Paladin, I..." "Oh, come on." "Elaine, come on." "Look at me." "Come on." "Now, read the cards." "You haven't finished them." "I'm dying with anticipation." "Come on." "But it's the Reaper death." "The Reaper death and the bloody b..." "Well, I guess I better send for the cavalry." "Oh, but this one will help you." "The Drowned Sailor- the-the Phoenician." "He'll help you." "Elaine, you really believe this, don't you?" "Oh, and so must you, Paladin." "A drowned sailor in the desert to help me against the Reaper death?" "No." "¶" "Juney." "Well, now, if one year can do this to a skinny little girl," "I, with Pericles, will be guided by time, the wisest counselor of all." "I ain't skinny no more." "I'll say you're not." "What'd you bring me from Frisco?" "I brought you a doll." "I'll change it." "I'll change it for French perfume or China silk stockings." "Juney." "Juney." "You ain't finished back there." "Pa, he just got here." "You heard me." "Hello, Cus." "Thought you'd consider Juney and stay away from us, Paladin." "Cus, that's not much of a greeting for an old friend." "I know, I..." "Cus?" "What's wrong?" "Man in town says he's going to kill the first gunfighter he finds." "I don't want it to be you, or anybody else." "Who?" "His name's Danceman." "All right, Cus." "I can understand your not being enthused about a houseguest who's marked for a shooting." "Bye, Cus." "I got Juney and the business to think of." "Liquor's cheap." "Ah, he's only an old bar rat, mister." "Yeah, who are you?" "Yeah, who are you, butting in like that?" "Touch him off, Taylor." "Don't touch him off, Taylor." "Hey." "You know what he is?" "He's a gunfighter, that's what he is." "Yeah, a gunfighter." "Need some help with him?" "Thank you." "Get him over here on the bench." "Gee, it stinks." "Those swine were going to burn him, huh?" "Yeah." "Yeah, we let him sleep it off here, he'll be all right." "He looks like a drowned rat." "Or perhaps a drowned sailor?" "A Phoenician?" "You know the cards?" "They're just superstition." "He won't help you." "Well, I'm much obliged to you." "Uh, I suppose you've noticed we wear no guns in this town." "Yes, I have." "It's a very laudable idea." "Well, I'm..." "I'm glad you agree." "But since I'm just passing through," "I think I'll, uh, keep this one." "Well, suit yourself, Mr., uh...?" "My name is Paladin." "Mine's Danceman." "I've heard of you." "I'm not surprised." "I'm going to kill you, gunfighter." "Always ready to go for the gun, aren't you?" "It's a sign of the breed." "How many men have you killed, Paladin?" "More than I would've wished." "Hmm, no trick to finding a reason to kill, if... if that's all you want is to kill." "What's your reason, Danceman?" "Well, you're a gunfighter." "I laid claim to the first one set foot in this town." "Well, I'm happy to know it's nothing personal." "You'll let me know when you're ready." "I'll see you in the morning." "If you don't leave, that is." "Oh, you won't leave." "You've got gunfighter's pride, that makes you stay." "It's kind of a curse, ain't it?" "Once you're called out, there ain't nothing you can do, except kill or be killed." "Now, who told you that?" "I'd be foolish, indeed, to walk into a fight that I could walk around." "I don't believe that." "You ain't no different." "There's only one thing I would like you to believe:" "I make a very reluctant victim." "Well, it's going to take more than reluctance to save you this time, gunfighter." "And don't look for any help from anybody else." "They know I've got my claim staked out, and you're as good as dead." "See you in the morning." "Well, Phoenician, you all right?" "Name's Philpotts." "All right." "Did you meet him?" "I met him." "What'd he say?" "He said he was going to kill me." "So, now you know." "What are you going to do?" "I'm going to do what I usually do when I'm tired- I'm going to bed." "He said he wouldn't kill me until tomorrow;" "he gave me that." "Then why don't you leave now, while it's easy?" "Danceman said my "gunfighter's pride"" "would keep me here." "I prefer to think it's my native reluctance to be pushed around by an unbalanced man who doesn't even carry a weapon." "That don't seem to matter." "At least it don't to the others." "We'll see." "Go to the hotel now." "I don't think they'll give you a room at the hotel, Paladin." "Sheriff." "Well, thought you'd be gone by now." "One way or the other." "My guns were stolen last night." "Stole your guns, eh?" "Well, he don't mind bending the odds in his own favor, does he?" "Where do you stand now?" "Danceman's made this a peaceful town, but he's made it his own." "That's right." "Then you don't mind going to Danceman with your hat in your hands asking for permission to live?" "I've never had to ask him, mister." "I..." "I agree with him." "Well, the minority respectfully bows to the majority, but I would like a gun to protect myself against a madman." "You figure that Danceman is mad, do you?" "Maybe." "You know he lost his son to a gunfighter?" "That's how come he's gonna kill you." "I don't think that's really the answer to Danceman, though." "Mad?" "As a March Hare." "A gun?" "I can't." "Look, like I told you, I don't own this town." "He does." "Captain, Captain, I want to thank you for what you did." "It's quite all right." "Well, now wait." "Now, let me have a minute." "I want to thank you for helping out an old bum like me." "I want to give you a token of my appreciation." "You want to give me something I really want, give me a gun." "A gun?" "I don't have a gu..." "Nobody in this town's got a gun." "Well, I don't have time right now." "Here." "Buy yourself a solid meal." "Stay away from the liquor, at least for tonight." "But..." "I don't want your money!" "Captain!" "If you didn't want me around, why did you save me?" "Answer me that- why?" "Paladin, I knew you'd get back." "Well, Juney, I'm not leaving right away." "I need a gun." "Gun?" "I lost mine last night." "Now, where do you keep your guns?" "Juney... where do you keep your guns?" "We don't sell guns." "Oh?" "A general store that doesn't carry guns?" "Come on." "You tell me where they are, and I'll pick one out." "Juney... now I don't want you to be a silly little girl." "I want a gun." "We don't sell guns, Paladin." "Juney should have told you that." "Juney did tell me that, Cus." "And I find it very hard to believe." "Ride out, Paladin." "You don't need this fight." "I'd be delighted to ride out." "You're right, I don't need this fight." "All I'm asking for is a gun to protect myself with against your local assassin while I do ride out." "Now, Cus, I want a gun." "You'll have to take it from me." "I could do that." "Like as not." "Cus, loan me your gun." "I can't take the chance." "He'd find out." "How?" "Juney?" "I think it's fixin' to storm." "Cus..." "Cus, this is your daughter." "She..." "Danceman's got a hold on folks in this town." "Well, what is his hold?" "I'm not all that sure I know." "The one thing I do know, his talk today is the thing that happens tomorrow." "He got us to do away with our guns, and we're a better town for it." "All right, Cus." "All right." "I'll ride out." "Juney." "It's gonna be all right." "Paladin?" "I hear you're going to leave." "Or is it things look different when you ain't got a gun?" "I'm going to kill you, just like I said." "Danceman, why do you have to kill?" "Nobody owns life." "We just rent it." "Try to get it as cheap as possible." "People make things- babies... poems, gold, silver." "What do you make?" "!" "I'll tell you what you make." "Dead bodies is your business!" "Why don't you tell me about fighting for the just cause?" "Right and wrong, law and order and all them other things, huh?" "Seems like you justice gunmen have got a license to kill half the population, and get away with it." "Everything you say is filled with truth but you're a lie, Danceman!" "I do not lie, Paladin." "And you... you kill!" "You preach on one side of the street and kill on another?" "Twist, distort." "You turn friend against friend, child against parent." "Have you got anything more to say?" "Get out of here." "Hey, there." "I got something for the captain, something he wants." "Up here." "Don't shoot the captain." "Maybe he was right, Juney." "When this town is standing on its own feet again, when it's taking care of its own affairs again, then you decide." "Come on." "Well, thank you, Phoenician." "Uh... name's Philpotts." "Who are you?" "I guess you'd have to call me "the Bloody Chevalier."" "Hmm." "Who is he?" "He?" "Oh..." "He's Death." "He's the Grim Reaper." "¶ "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."