"But I assure you..." "I, uh, um, assure you..." "Hey Boy, do you know what an emancipationist it?" "A feminist?" "Yes, she want to vote." "Exactly, exactly, she wants to vote." "You insulted her?" "No, I said..." "I merely explained to her that women are the heavenly roses of our earthly existence, the most precious flower in the universe, and that being the case, I couldn't, for the life of me, understand why she wanted to waste the entire evening" "discussing universal suffrage." "Oh." ""Mad-dog killer freed."" "Editorial." ""Today, the Supreme Court of this state" ""freed a lunatic murderer on the grounds" ""he didn't know what he was doing" ""when he cruelly killed Charles Trainer," ""his wife and eight-year-old son." ""Well, this newspaper says hogwash." ""Doctors at the lunatic asylum have announced" ""that murderer Carl Soddenberg will be transferred" ""from prison to the state asylum for a voluntary arrest" ""before being returned to society again," ""before being sent to another unsuspecting community." ""Maybe so, but maybe the kin of Soddenberg's victims will have something to say about that."" "Dr. Weiser?" "Paladin?" "Where's Soddenberg?" "He's still with the sheriff." "Doctor." "You have a personal interest in this." "No more than anyone else concerned with the advancement of mental medicine." "Carl Soddenberg is a symbol." "He's the first murderer in the history of this state to respond to therapy and be adjudged cured of a mental disorder and be returned to society." "It is important that he does not revert." "Well, I hope he doesn't." "I've arranged a meeting with the sheriff." "Shall we start?" "Weiser." "This Paladin?" "That is right." "All right, let's just make sure we understand each other." "I give you Soddenberg, you take him across the county line." "After that, I have no more responsibility." "That is right." "I'll pick up supplies and meet you at Murdock's." "Murdock will guide you through the mountain." "And I am to take Soddenberg directly to the hospital at Marysville." "That is right." "Any sign of trouble?" "You want to start now?" "Now, the family of the man that Soddenberg killed, the Trainers, are they friends of yours?" "Friends enough." "But friends or no, this isn't the kind of a job I'd take for money." "Nor I." "It just happens that I don't believe in lynch law." "Now, where is he?" "Is this where you've been keeping him?" "!" "Better than having my jail burn down with him in it and me in it." "We let him out for a half an hour every night." "How long has he been in here?" "Since the court freed him." "Give me the key!" "I purely need a shave and a bath." "How are you, Doctor?" "How are you, Carl?" "I feel pretty good." "She dressed herself in scarlet and red" "And rode on over to town." "Now, that was good." "The shave was good, the bath was good." "In the asylum, they used to make us take a bath once a month, whether we needed it or not." "I thank you for knowing that... if I have got something, whatever it is, it isn't catching." "You have chains." "Not for you." "I have sometimes hunted men, so I have sometimes carried chains." "Would you feel better if they were on me?" "Some." "I'm willing." "No." "Mr. Soddenberg, I'm here to help you, not to hurt you." "We're going to Ben Murdock's." "That's right." "We'll meet Dr. Weiser there." "He's bringing supplies." "The old doctor." "He's done a lot for me in his own way." "Ben Murdock a friend of yours?" "Ben Murdock's a friend of the world." "They burned his house down once because he hid me before the trial, before they caught me." "I'd purely hate to go back." "Hello, Ben." "Trouble's come back." "I'm glad to see you, Carl." "Step down and come on in and eat with us." "If you'll pardon us, Ben, we've already had dinner." "Ben..." "I'd rather he stayed in the shed." "I want you to have this shirt of Ben's." "I thank you." "I'm scared of you, Carl." "I can't help it." "I'm afraid for my baby." "I've already lost one." "I understand that." "You're welcome in, mister." "No." "Mister?" "I ain't as bad as you think." "He's two men." "One of them I like real well, but... the other one done those things they said he did, and if he's here to stay, I want you to put chains on him." "Go in the house, Mary." "Now, the Trainers are in these hills." "There's a brother, cousins and uncle." "They're hot; they're angry." "There ain't no telling." "You sleep light." "Murdock, why are you helping him?" "'Cause he needs help." "You afraid of the Trainers or me?" "Both." "That's honest." "Plain honest." "I like that." "Honest like the woman." "Yes." "Like her." "She's honest because she's built that way." "I'm being honest with you because if I weren't, it'd show and there wouldn't be any point to it." "Now, you, every man wants to be loved, appreciated." "It takes a very reasonable man to understand that... that can't always be the case." "Yes." "A very reasonable man." "Or a... a madman." "Well, Dr. Weiser has a lot of hope, belief in you." "It's important to him to believe in me." "He took me a long way." "He took me a long way." "Did he ever tell you about me?" "No, not much." "I got the feelings when I was about 12 years old." "I had to kill things." "Once it was a cat." "Another time a dog." "A cute woolly lamb." "Finally a man." "His name was Bert Sydney." "He liked the kids." "He gave me an old rusty pen knife." "I slit his throat with it." "Before long, that old town was all up in arms." "They were scared to death of the... mad dog that was roaming free." "I don't blame them." "Golly, I-I felt so..." "You can't understand what unhappiness is, what it is to lose hope, to despair... unless you've had what I had." "When I killed something, I..." "I felt better." "I was..." "I was relieved." "The whole world smelled sweet again." "The whole world smelled sweet again." "And does the whole world smell sweet again now, Soddenberg?" "If you don't believe me, you can put the chains on." "But-but don't push me." "I am a human being, and I've got a bad temper." "I'd hate to be put away again because I lost my temper." "I've kept steady for... eight years and six months." "Mr. Soddenberg, I thank you." "It is my war, too." "Paladin!" "That one dead?" "Yes, sir." "And these two." "This one." "Jimmy Trainer, age 19." "Well, that charge was a foolish thing, but in some ways, you can't blame them." "Do you blame them, Ben?" "We'd better bury them." "I asked you, Ben..." "do you blame them?" "Carl, I got no warmth in me for any man today." "I ask too much." "Paladin." "Carl and I are old friends." "He'll come back with me." "Murdock, you don't find him by nightfall, you come on back." "There was a rifle on that horse." "I saw the fresh graves out there." "What happened?" "Step down, Doctor, and I'll tell you all about it." "Soddenberg, bring that rifle in with you." "And bring it in easy." "Guess there's no place for me to go, Doctor, but back to you." "You see Ben Murdock?" "No." "I didn't see him." "I'll go look for him." "You'd better chain me up first." "No." "That's not necessary." "You chain me." "With her condition and all, Mary will feel better." "And I'll feel better." "You got enough water to last you tonight, tomorrow morning?" "I'm gonna chain him to that pump out there." "Would you hold this for me?" "I'm afraid for Ben." "He shouldn't be chained." "You want me to turn him loose?" "You that sure?" "Or are you just playing a calculated risk?" "Carl Soddenberg is harmless." " You believe that?" " Yes." "Do you know that?" "One does not know..." "And you want me to turn him loose?" "Hyah!" "Doctor?" "Dr. Weiser?" "Doctor?" "Carl?" "Dr. Weiser, I'm no animal." "Did he leave the keys with you?" "Is it coming back, Carl?" "No, no." "But I'm no animal." "I'm no animal." "I don't have the keys, Carl." "Carl." "Carl?" "Carl." "Run away." "Please run away." "Run away." "Please run away." "Please run away." "Please go away." "Please." "Next time." "Next time." "Doctor, Ben Murdock is dead." "We shall try again and again." "I'll bury Soddenberg." "Then I'll go get Ben." "Is there anything else I can do?" "Money?" "Anything?" "You can stay till I get a hired man." "I'll do that." "I hope he looks like his father." "Ugly as a scarecrow, tall as a mountain and strong as an oak." "He was a brave and gentle man." ""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."