"Good morning, Mavera." "How are you this morning, Billy?" "Oh, I'm all right, I guess," "I was just puttin' the displays out for Mr. Denke." "That necklace is very pretty." "Yeah." "It'd look real good on you." "Right now I'd settle for a stage ticket out of here." "But you've only been here three days." "You really gotta go?" "That's why I'm starting work at the Frenchman's." "A week's wages'll buy that ticket." "I've got to get over there, Billy." "Whoa!" "Whoa!" "Easy, easy." "Hey, easy now." "Come on, simmer down." "Easy boy." "Come on now, simmer down, simmer down." "Why, you darned fool!" "I'm sorry." "I didn't tell 'em to fall down." "All right, he... he is clumsy." "But we put up with him." "You understand?" "Yeah, I understand." "Like he said, he didn't tell 'em to fall down." "You got a decent place to eat around here in this dust hole?" "Frenchman's across the street." "Mavera, she just started work there this morning." "You tell her I sent you." "Thanks." "Come on." "And treat her nice." "Nice fella." "Ha!" "You should be grateful I didn't let him hit you!" "Now go on, pick them up!" "Pick them up!" "Ah!" "Tight." "There." "Now, mademoiselle, you are a waitress." "Just like that." "If you could really change yourself that easy." "Ah." "First customer." "Good luck, mademoiselle." "Good morning." "We've got eggs, beefsteak, potatoes, pancakes, sweet rolls, coffee, milk." "That's fine." "What's fine?" "All of it." "Oh, you can leave off the milk." "I'll hang that up-- Oh!" "I'm sorry." "You know somethin', ma'am?" "I haven't been in this town for five minutes-- five minutes-- and already I've been almost dumped off my horse, and now you want to drown me." "I can sure understand why you and that kid across the street are friends." "You hadn't walked in here like a small dust storm, it wouldn't have happened." "Ooh-whoo!" "Boy, you're a hard-mouthed one, aren't you?" "Maybe you'd just like to go out in the street and wrestle?" "You touch me and I'll break this on your head." "Mavera, what talk is this?" "Your first customer and you want to hit him?" "I am sorry, monsieur, but she is nervous." "You understand?" "Sure, I understand." "She's playing mud pies with that kid across the street." "Mud pies?" "Oh, no, monsieur." "She's a sweet girl." "Sweet." "Sweet?" "She didn't mean, monsieur." "She didn't mean anything by it." "She wouldn't harm anyone." "Hey, how many men has she killed since she come in here?" "Oh, Monsieur, I swear you are the first one." "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, I mean, she has hurt no one." "No, monsieur." "No." "What's wrong here?" "There's nothing wrong." "We're just talking." "This man giving you trouble, Douchette?" "Well... no." "Maybe you better get out." "Look like the man said, there's no trouble." "I was just funnin' with him, eh?" "Like I said, get out." "You better take your hand off me, mister." "Mr. Cogan." "There was no argument." "The girl spilled water..." "a little accident." "No trouble, you see?" "You wait on them..." "I will serve the gentleman." "What time did you get in last night, Jim?" "Midnight." "What did the young Brocious boy do?" "Curly Bill Brocious was his father." "After he wandered through here," "I found out who he was, trailed him and brought him back." "What would you like?" "Just coffee." "Oh, here's Ed." "Mornin', Dad, Sis." "Ed, have some coffee." "Can't." "Gotta hustle over to the telegraph office and run a check on the Brocious kid." "Oh, no hurry about that." "Sit down." "Well, the kid's in jail without charge." "I figure there is a hurry." "Decided to stay in town a while, huh?" "A little while." "Fine." "Say, if Douchette has the prisoner's breakfast ready," "I'd appreciate it if you'd run it over for me." "I'd be glad to." "Thanks." "Well, see you later." "Just a minute, son." "I want to talk to you." "I'll be right back." "Jim, do you really think you should hold that young man just because his father was a criminal?" "Evil begets evil." "There's a line." "You cross it, you have to pay the penalty." "Do you have any proof that young Brocious crossed that line?" "I've heard stories." "And what I've heard is proof enough." "No room for error?" "Not for me." "You see, no man really knows right from wrong." "That's why laws are invented." "I've lived by them all my life." "It's the only way I can be sure of myself." "No matter what you think, I have to know I'm right." "Jim, I wonder what you would do if you found out" "I'd broken one of your laws." "Have you?" "I don't know," "I think I've done pretty much what I was supposed to." "Then that was a foolish question, wasn't it?" "Aren't you hungry?" "It's good food." "Yeah, but it sure is a lousy atmosphere." "You got a real pretty smile." "That helps a little." "Then eat, hmm?" "You spend much time in jails?" "You should ask if I spend much time out of jails." "What're you in for this time?" "Same as all the other times." "I got the wrong last name." "You see, my daddy was a real bad man." "And too many youngbloods borrow his name when they're out raising Cain." "Cogan" "I mean, the marshal-- how long will he hold you?" "It's hard to tell." "He's got a real bad case like none I've ever seen." "A case of what?" "I call it blood hunger." "It eats away at a man's guts, and it don't matter what side of the law he's on." "You don't understand what I'm talking about, do you?" "I understand." "More than you think." "Ruth, there's a dance Saturday." "Might be a good time to announce you and Jim's marriage date." "You seem a little impatient." "Well, you and Jim been on the fence quite a while now." "Folks begin to wonder." "Does that bother you, Father?" "You're the prettiest girl hereabouts, Ruth." "We're the most of everything, we're the leaders." "And Jim's like us." "Is he like us, Father?" "Lately I look at him and I wonder... and I'm afraid." "I don't understand-- why should I let her go?" "This is my town, Douchette." "I want it kept clean... for decent people." "Mr. Cogan..." "Marshal." "It make no sense to me." "A nice girl." "Douchette." "All right, Mr. Cogan, if you think best." "That'll take care of her stage fare out of town." "Yes." "When'd you get here?" "Three days ago." "Now that you've found me, what are you going to do about it?" "I didn't find you, Cogan." "When I came here and learned you were the marshal," "I was sick inside." "All I could think of was to run before you got back." "Well, you better start running now." "If you've said anything against me to anybody in this town, I'll..." "I haven't said anything and I won't, but not because I'm afraid of you anymore." "I haven't got the stomach to talk about it out loud." "Mavera..." "Mavera, can I see you a minute?" "What is it, Billy?" "Well, I-I got something for you." "I mean, if you like it." "Billy..." "it's beautiful." "You really like it?" "Yes, very much." "But you shouldn't have, Billy." "I don't think I" "Please, Mavera, I want you to have it." "Billy!" "Where is it?" "Where is the necklace?" "So... you gave it to her already!" "He took it right out of the case, just like he was a thief!" "Mr. Denke, I was going to pay for it, working in the store." "Here, I'll put it back." "Oh, stupid, clumsy fool!" "I'll fix it." "I'll fix it." "I'll string 'em together... just like... new." "She tell you to take that necklace?" "No!" "No, I was askin' her if she'd like to have it." "And..." "And I was gonna pay for it, working for Mr. Denke." "I'll pay for it." "How much is it worth?" "Well... uh, five dollars." "Five dollars." "He told me he was gonna show it to the girl, Marshal." "What's your name, fella?" "Dunson..." "Dave Dunson." "A little while ago I let you off easy." "Now, I'm warning you." "Stay out of this." "You believe he took it?" "I mean, are you gonna press charges?" "Well, maybe he, he did talk to me about it." "I never listen to half of what he says." "Kind of looks like you got no case, Marshal." "You're under arrest." "No..." "No, I didn't steal it." "I didn't... and you ain't gonna lock me up." "Stop him, Ed!" "Let me go, Ed." "That's enough." "That's enough." "What's going on here?" "Oh!" "Book both of 'em." "This one for attacking a federal officer, that one for theft." "What?" "Do as I tell you!" "Get going." "I'll be over in a little while." "You can sign a complaint." "Well, maybe we can talk about it later." "I'll give you a choice." "Either be on the noon stage, or I book you as Billy's accomplice." "If you're smart, you'll keep your mouth shut." "First it was the army uniform." "Now it's a badge." "Some day you'll make a mistake and stand all alone." "All right, Billy." "In there." "Ed, Mr. Cogan's made a bad mistake... 'cause I'm no thief." "Now, you can talk to Mr. Denke, and make him understand." "All right, Billy." "I'll talk to him." "All right, in there." "You didn't have to do that." "He resisted arrest." "Resist?" "He could hardly stand up." "I could understand your methods when this town was wild and needed a rough hand." "But I don't understand this, and I don't like it." "You don't have to like it." "Besides, you're too inexperienced to understand." "I hope I never get enough experience to think like you." "Where you going?" "I'm going over to the telegraph office, to see if we got an answer on the Brocious kid before you beat him half to death, too." "I've never been in a jail before." "Then this is an occasion." "They hurt you, too?" "You fought 'em when they tried to arrest you?" "Maybe I did argue a little bit, but not much." "I'm not much good at fighting'." "If they come after me..." "I usually accept an invitation to jail without too much fuss, but maybe I'm a little bit tired of that now." "If he comes in here and tries to hurt you..." "I just might do my best to kill him." "Otto." "Sign it." "Marshal, you don't understand about Billy, because you've only been here one year." "He's lived here all of his life." "He had no papa, no mama." "We... we-- everybody takes care of him." "He's simple, but he's not a criminal." "In Prussia, sometimes men marched through the villages." "They were the Kaiser's soldiers." "They were the law of the land." "They liked to march." "Sometimes they dug their heels into the dirt and sometimes they marched through the grain fields." "And the next year... some of them died because of lack of bread." "Sign it." "Well!" "Thought I'd be alone this time." "You will be." "How was the trip?" "Hot and dusty." "Better water the horses down before you take off." "After you've delivered this money to my branch manager in Casper, you go over to the hotel, pick up the judge." "All right." "What's his name?" "Miller." "The marshal wired him a little while ago." "He'll make his own connections to Casper, then you bring him back here." "Kind of sudden, all this, ain't it?" "The marshal's a man of action." "Yeah, well, if this Dunson fella was tryin' to kill him," "I could understand." "But Billy, it don't seem right him being locked up." "Well, it's unfortunate." "But perhaps we're better off without that element around here anyway." "Maybe you know best." "Mister... how long before we leave?" "In about five minutes." "I'll be right back." "Ohh." "You feel better?" "Sure." "I feel great." "They're gonna send me up for 10 years" "I feel just great." "Well, thanks anyway for what you did." "That was real decent." "That was real stupid." "True." "But I'd take my hat off to you if it wasn't already off." "I came to say goodbye." "I'm leaving." "Well, that figures." "I've got no choice, Mr. Dunson." "Sure." "Mavera, where you gonna go?" "She's going to find somebody who can steal her a necklace without getting caught." "You're beginning to sound like Cogan." "You've got no right to pass judgment on me." "Look, there's no use fighting among ourselves." "Now, I don't think you came up her just to say goodbye." "You're here because you feel responsible for these two, right?" "I guess I did have some crazy notion about getting you out of here." "That's not crazy." "It's the first thing that begins to make sense." "Don't you see?" "We're committed to each other, the four of us." "Boy, that sounds like real brotherly love." "It's not love that holds us together, Dunson." "It's hate." "Hate for Cogan and for all the others like him in all the other towns we've ever been in." "Why should I let you out?" "You'll be released anyway." "Sure, I'll be released, I'm always released." "And I crawl away or turn the other cheek." "Well, I'm tired of it." "You bust out of here, boy, you're nothing, but a darn fool." "Then you're a bigger fool, because you put your neck in the noose for somebody you didn't even know." "You can't fool me, Dunson." "You're an honest-to-goodness hero." "Aw, get out of here." "Look, don't you see?" "We're not alone anymore." "We've got something to hang on to." "They're in the other desk." "Wait until the stage pulls out." "All right." "Bless you, sister." "You might say thank you." "You got me in, you got me out." "Thanks." "Good luck, Billy." "Evenin', Mr. Dunson." "The ladies been expecting you." "Hey!" "Darn fool," "I think you're enjoying this!" "You bet your sweet..." "Ed saw Mavera leavin' and he's coming in here." "Hey!" "Get back of the door!" "Billy!" "He'll be all right." "Come on." "Let's just get him in a cell, then." "Well, I guess if I'm going to be a wanted man," "I might as well wear this." "Every well-dressed bad man does, Billy." "All right, where's yours?" "Ooh, I left it home about nine years ago." "For my own protection, you understand." "Tsk tsk tsk." "See this?" "It's a rifle." "It shoots bullets." "Heard tell." "My horse is across the street, but there's some right out here in front." "What?" "Are we gonna steal 'em?" "Spoken like a true desperado, Billy." "There goes the stage now." "All right." "I'll get the horses and bring 'em 'round back." "Anybody sees me they'll just figure I been let out." "All right." "Hey, the back door's locked." "Here's the key." "Come on, Billy." "Hey, what's the extra horse for?" "Billy says the deputy saw our girl leaving the office." "She might get picked up for letting us go." "Come on." "Hey!" "Pull up!" "Pull over!" "All right, pull over!" "Stop!" "Stop or I'll shoot!" "I'll stop them." "All right, stop." "Whoa!" "All right." "Throw it down." "You get the girl." "I'll tend to Billy." "They know I let you out?" "If they don't know now, they soon will." "Giddup!" "Hyah!" "Whoa!" "What are you stopping here for?" "I'm taking a cutoff into town." "Git!" "Hyah!" "Hyah!" "Billy, this sure is your day." "You not only steal your first necklace, you break out of jail, help rob a stage, and get yourself baptized in the bargain." "Yeah, it's some day." "Where you going?" "I'm going to see what I can do with this money." "You mean take it back?" "Yeah, that's right." "Well, I can just see that." "You just go riding back into town and stop somebody on the street." ""Pardon me, sir, I wonder if you'd mind" ""taking this money off my hands." ""You see, I just broke jail this morning," ""right after I tried to kill the marshal." ""Then this fool stage driver come riding up" ""and throwed it right in my lap," ""and then he high-tailed it back for town." ""Now since my specialty is murder and breaking jail," ""I really don't have any use for it." "You understand, sir?"" "Well, brethren, what do we do now?" "That's the spirit, Dunson." "We've got to get out of here so I can get a bandage for Billy." "They must have found that other deputy by now, too." "And by the time that stage gets back to town, they'll know right where to look for us." "They're sure not gonna have any trouble tracking us down in this terrain." "Well, we got no better choice." "We'd best get moving." "Come on." "Will you be able to ride, Billy?" "Sure." "Let me give you a hand, hmm?" "We're following you, Dunson." "Come on." "Here's where they turned off." "Marks said that he winged Billy, so they won't be able to travel very fast." "If we catch up with 'em before dark, they may give up without a fight." "Hey, Will... how is Billy doing?" "He's not lookin' too good." "We better get somewhere where there's some water so we can tend to his shoulder." "Okay, come on up here." "Come on, boy." "The tracks are getting a little hard to follow through these rocks." "Blood." "Whoa!" "Listen, I'm gonna go fill the canteens while you bandage the kid." "Come on, get the horses out of sight." "Take 'em up there." "How you feelin'?" "Oh, I'm not so much feeling' as thinking." "You know, I'm kind of glad all this happened." "Folks will be looking for me now." "I've got a face now." "Didn't you have a face before?" "No, I had a nose, a mouth and a couple of eyes, but I never really had a face, 'cause nobody ever stopped to notice or to look twice... except maybe Mavera." "You've got a kind face, Billy." "That's why... we're friends." "We've got to get him to a doctor." "I'll get some water." "How is he?" "He's a little weak." "You kind of like her, huh?" "Yeah, I do." "She's a good friend." "I've got to take care of the horses." "I'll be right back." "Come on." "We got some company." "Cogan?" "Yep." "Looks like we got a fight on our hands." "No." "No, we take their guns, give 'em back the money, then we send 'em home." "Are you out of your head?" "Listen, boy, you've been walkin' on the edge of trouble all your life." "Now whether you realize it or not, today you just dove in." "Maybe you need it." "I don't." "Listen, Dunson." "The good and the evil in this world don't walk around with signs on their backs." "Now we're four little bugs scratching' for a hole." "Cogan forced us into this, and we got every right to kill him." "Nobody makes me do what I don't want to do." "Not even Cogan." "Sister mine, will you talk sense to this mixed-up hero of ours?" "Maybe he's right." "Come on." "Let's get Billy out of here." "Come on, boy." "Come on." "All right." "Hold it right there." "Throw 'em down on the ground, Cogan." "Come on!" "Throw 'em down on the ground!" "All right." "Your stage driver got a little excited, and he dropped this." "Dropped it?" "We just wanted the girl." "You must be soft in the head to think we'd believe that." "I told you it wasn't any use, Dunson." "Let me kill him." "No!" "Now listen, Cogan... you know and I know just exactly what you are." "We also know that nobody deserves to be hunted down like animals." "Now maybe there's some folks in town who favor bloodsuckers like you, but I don't." "This is the last time I meet you halfway, mister." "Now you get on your horse." "Now you people ride out!" "Well, brethren, now what?" "Now we ride." "Come on, Billy." "You figure the stage has left town again by now?" "Sure." "Should be near the Casper turnoff by now." "Hyah!" "Come on!" "You got 'em." "Toss us your guns." "Old man Flynn'll be happy to see this again." "He just about had a heart attack when..." "I said toss us your guns!" "Where're you goin'?" "I'm going after them." "No, you're not." "You pushed 'em far enough." "Put that thing down." "They never really asked for that money, did they, Perkins?" "No." "You believe Dunson?" "That doesn't really matter now." "You pushed those four until they had no choice but to run." "Now you want to hunt 'em down, feed on their misery." "After all they did give us the money, marshal." "You know, you could be legally shot for what you're doing?" ""Legally"." "That's the word you like, isn't it?" "Well, maybe I could be shot, but I'm buying them some time." "So give Perkins back his gun." "Then we're taking a long, slow ride back to town." "Unbuckle that belt." "Ed, look out!" "I had no choice." "You remember that." "I reckon it ain't tore too much inside, Ed, but it's gonna bleed pretty bad." "Take him home." "And if they ask, tell 'em straight." "Oh, I'll tell it straight, all right, Marshal." "You can count on that." "If you catch up with them, I hope they kill you." "I'll be back in a minute." "All right, Billy." "Why are you staring at me?" "You've known Cogan for a long time, haven't you?" "You've known him, too... maybe with a different face, in a different town." "But he didn't scare you." "And no matter what he did, he couldn't change you." "What're you dodging my question for?" "Why did you have to ask it?" "Gabe..." "Aw, let's just forget about it." "We'll be splitting' up soon anyway." "Why?" "Because I wouldn't answer your question?" "Billy." "He's out this way." "If you want him to keep breathing, drop your guns." "Billy!" "He's dead." "Oh, Cogan." "All right, pick him up." "Let's go." "All right, come on, off the horses." "Ruth, I..." "I'm sorry about your brother." "He-- He didn't understand." "Oh, I'm not going to press charges or anything like that." "He died this morning." "But, Ruth, he was wrong!" "He was going to let 'em get away!" "You all look ready to back off, let Mister Cogan hide behind the law again." "So I think there's something I better tell you." "Mavera, you better shut up." "He came to my town as a Union officer and established martial law." "Martial law-- it was his law." "My brother and others fought him because what he wanted, he took." "If he couldn't stop them one way, he found another." "He even murdered." "Then he used me as an example to the others." "His soldiers degraded me!" "And then" "Why don't you tell them about how he cold-bloodedly knifed Billy in the back." "Now, Brocious..." "You're all free to go." "We're wiring in his resignation." "The charge will be murder." "Put him in a cell." "I said I'd see you without a uniform or a badge to hide behind." "You wanted an answer." "Now you have it." "He never did get to show off his brand-new face." "He was my friend." "I will bury him."