"I'd like you to take a look at this gun." "The balance is excellent." "This trigger responds to a pressure of one ounce." "This gun was handcrafted to my specifications, and I rarely draw it unless I mean to use it." "Thank you, Mr. Paladin." "Your pen, Mr. Paladin." "Thank you, Hey Boy." ""Rancher invades Mexico." ""Pursues eloper's attempt to assault on Perdido." ""Jesse Reed, prominent cattleman of this territory" ""took fast action" ""when his daughter Nancy ran off with Dave Enderby" ""for whom the US Marshal holds a murder warrant." ""Mr. Reed led 26 of his ranch hands against Perdido," ""a notorious outlaw refuge in the Sierra Grandes" ""where the young couple are believed to have fled." "21 dead, three wounded, including Mr. Reed."" "Jesse Reed." "Portalis..." "New Mexico." "Gotch!" "Gotch!" "Oh!" "Never around when I want him." "What can I do for you?" "My name's Paladin." "I got your wire." "What do you plan, Mister?" "Your name Jesse Reed?" "Yeah." "And what about it?" "You and 26 of your men tried to take the town of Perdido in Mexico." "Only six of you came back and not in very good shape, either." "I sent a card offering my gun;" "you wired acceptance." "Where do you get all this knowledge?" "In the newspapers in San Francisco." "Well, you better go back to San Francisco and read some more papers." "I never sent you no wire." "You didn't send me..." "Well, howdy, Mister." "Gotch is the name." "Never mind all of your sociability, Gotch." "Show the well-dressed fella to the door." "Now, that ain't being very hospitable, Jesse." "I don't need to be hospitable." "Man claims I sent him a wire." "He just ain't telling the truth." "Well, I sent the wire, Jesse." "What?" "!" "Well, who asked you?" "What's going on here?" "Who are you?" "Oh." "A fast gun, huh?" "Fast enough." "And what do you think you can do for me?" "Well, Dave Enderby ran off with your daughter, shot you in the leg and ambushed 21 of your men." "I guess you'd like to see him." "If I couldn't bring him back here with 26 men, just how do you think you can bring him back here alone?" "The Greek Phalanx was developed out of a specific need." "They fought shoulder to shoulder on small battlefields and they were considered invincible." "Then the Mastadonians hit them with cavalry and that was the end of the Phalanx." "There are all sorts of tactics, Mr. Reed." "Ex-army officer, huh?" "Among other things." "West Point, sounds like." "Let's stay with your problem." "I know the breed." "He can't work, can't sleep, got to have action and money." "And that brings me to my fee." "I am not paying anything." "I didn't ask you, and I'm not paying." "You're paying for Dave Enderby delivered and breathing." "And when I deliver him, that will come to $1,000." "That big black gun of yours comes high." "Let's have a look at it." "What do you think of that?" "I asked a man for his gun, and he hands it to me." "Why, you overdressed tin soldier, you have about as much chance against Enderby as a ribbon clerk." "I'll have my gun now, Mr. Reed." "I don't think you got a very good look at this gun while you had it." "The balance is perfect." "This trigger responds to a pressure of one ounce." "If you look carefully in the barrel you'll see the lines of rifling." "It's a rarity in a hand weapon." "This gun was handcrafted to my specifications, and I rarely draw it unless I mean to use it." "Would you care for a demonstration?" "Are them your working clothes?" "They have been." "All right, Mister, you've got yourself a job." "Which way is Perdido?" "I can tell you how to get in there." "It's the getting out that's dangerous." "Thank you." "Which way's the road?" "You go west from Portalis until you get to Twin Peaks." "Then head dead south... through the brush country about a half-day's ride from here." "The Rio Grande- she's running pretty low at this time of year." "You won't have much trouble crossing." "You're not deep enough into Mexico until you can see the Sierra Grande Mountains." "A half-day's ride will bring you to the foothills." "The only way up to Perdido is through the passes." "That's where I left 21 good men." "Just remember this." "They say a lone rider can get into Perdido, but the main trick is the getting out." "Buenos dias, amigo." "There's a man called Dave Enderby." "Señor Enderby." "My friend." "My heart longs to see him." "When two friends meet, there is much to talk about." "Is he alone?" "Señor, it is not permitted to quarrel in Perdido, even among good friends." "One comes to Perdido to rest and be safe." "I'll ask for it later." "I will pay for water at the price of tequila." "If that were a man's neck you would have missed him a mile." "I don't miss when it's a man." "Oh, yeah?" "Double the bet?" "Why not?" "Oh, too bad." "Can't ever beat that." "Now, ain't that a crying shame?" "Hey." "This time I'll use your knife." "Now I ask you, stranger." "Ain't that a mean, dirty trick?" "Take another man's knife?" "I don't know the rules in this town." "It's a dirty trick in any town, ain't it?" "Hand it over." "You can use my knife." "Hand it over." "Señor!" "There is one law in Perdido." "We do not fight with each other." "Well, I want to thank you for reminding me of that." "We're just having a little fun here, and, well, I ain't going to be the one to spoil it." "Go ahead." "Try it." "Señor!" "I don't mind giving stuff away, but nobody takes anything from me." "You savvy?" "I tell you, stranger." "Don't ever get mixed up with that Dave Enderby." "Dave?" "I've come looking for you." "He likes his little jokes." "He's Enderby." "Señor!" "Get out of here!" "I hear another flat out of you" "I'll poison you in your own liquor." "Now, you were looking for me?" "That's right." "I'm going to take you back across the border." "Oh?" "You forgot something." "Uh, well, if I need one, I'll find it." "Who sent you anyway?" "Jesse Reed." "He wants you alive." "How do you figure on getting me out of Perdido?" "A lot of sentries out there." "You don't suppose this village is sick enough of you by now to want you to go?" "Uh-uh, it'd be bad for future business." "What's your name anyway?" "Paladin." "Paladin, huh?" "You know, you're more fun than old man Reed and his whole army." "Come on along with me." "Nancy'd get a big boot out of you." "Thank you." "I'd like very much to meet the young lady that caused all this." "After you, Mr. Paladin." "Ay, Señor O'Brien." "Cómo ésta?" "Muy bien, amigo." "Is that one a friend of yours?" "This is Mr. Paladin." "He's come to take me back to Jesse Reed he says." "The tools of a craftsman, señor." "Very excellent." "His?" "You should not leave weapons in the serape of a poor sleeping man, señor." "He might have bad dreams." "I was very careless." "Fortunately, we are not." "Oh, meet Señor O'Brien." "He's the alcalde here, our mayor." "An interesting village, Señor Alcalde." "Our soil is poor." "All we have to offer is hospitality, for those who need it." "Or so long as their money holds out." "It's a poor business, señor, that does not show a profit." "Oh." "I must tell you about our bell." "If it should ring when one leaves here, that one is always met in the pass." "Looks like a church bell." "It was." "But we did not need the church." "It's a very fine bell." "So stay with us and be comfortable, señor." "And when you leave..." "Leave?" "He doesn't have to leave." "I like him." "That is your business, señor." "My business is to keep Perdido prosperous and peaceful." "Hasta luego." "Good-bye, señor." "I hope the bell does not ring for you." "You must be very happy here, Mrs. Enderby." "Tell him, honey." "I have the right to follow my husband." "I'd like to think he'd follow you just as quick." "What happens is nobody is going anywhere right now." "Dad wasn't completely honest with you, I'm afraid." "All he wanted, I guess, was to set you against Dave." "I don't suppose he told you that every time Dave fought, he was forced into it." "That's the gospel." "The Gospel by Saint Enderby." "English bone china." "Beautiful." "We had this at home when I was a boy." "And your silverware is very handsome too." "It all came with the house." "Dave wanted me to have the best." "Dad wouldn't even understand what made one thing better than another." "No, I guess he's just a good judge of men." "He's raking me with them spurs again, honey." "See?" "You think you're going to get me to go back?" "Honey, he came for me." "Your daddy don't even want to see you again." "He said so." "It's true." "He won't ever want to see me again." "How do you know?" "She knows her old man." "He's got a hide thicker than an alligator." "You managed to put a bullet into that hide." "Don't you believe it." "I told our boys to leave your daddy be, and they did." "I saw him ride away with my own eyes, without a scratch." "Your dad saw Dave try to bushwhack him." "Don't that prove he'd say anything to split us?" "I guess you got a real problem, Nancy." "Who's the liar?" "Your husband or your father?" "Dave is wild, but he's no outlaw murderer." "He wouldn't shoot my father any more than he would me." "If I did half the things folks said, then I'd be dancing at rope's end long ago." "There's still time." "Nancy, will you go in the house and get me that old bottle of wine we've been saving?" "He's trying to make you fight, Dave." "Don't let him." "Go in the house and get me that wine." "You have to fight, Dave." "Or come back with me." "You've got both my guns." "I give you my word I haven't another." "Now let's see you fight." "You're a miserable, slimy, yellow, scrawny coward, who bushwhacks men or stabs or shoots them in the back." "If you had any stomach for fighting, you'd have finished that boy at the cantina." "You'd have finished me." "But you couldn't because we were face-to-face with you." "You're about as much man as a wood louse." "I'm taking you home." "I wish he had killed you." "We'll talk about that on the way." "You're crazy to think I'll go." "You'd rather stay here with him?" "Yes." "Then I'll have to finish him." "You wouldn't!" "Self-defense, that's what he'd say in my place." "No." "Please." "I'll do anything you ask." "Will you go back with me?" "Yes." "no trouble." "No trouble." "All right." "We've got a long way to go." "Come on." "Buenos días, señora." "You've completed your business in Perdido, Señor Paladin?" "I had bad luck." "I came after Dave Enderby, and he's still there." "I see you changed your gun, señor." "A sign of friendship, perhaps?" "Possibly." "Anyway, I've put myself in Mrs. Enderby's hands." "It's all right." "I'm going to ride to the foot of the pass with Mr. Paladin." "Then it is good-bye to you, señor." "Perhaps we'll meet again someday." "In Perdido?" "I would like it to be in Perdido." "Hah!" "Sounds like Dave's on the way." "You'll be sorry you ever saw us or Perdido." "Well, we'll have to ride fast to stay ahead." "It's hot." "It's cooler near the Rio, Nancy." "Let's get to it." "We going to ride all night?" "The idea is to lose Dave, isn't it?" "Let's go on." "Aren't we ever going to rest?" "I guess we can now." "He'll be catching up to us about now." "Between the two of us, we left a clear enough trail for him to follow." "Between the two...?" "If the trail was any longer, you'd have a real problem in modesty." "And he'll come after you." "Not out of any feelings for you, but because of his brag that no one takes anything from him." "Was it one of your lies about Dave shooting my father?" "He tried to shoot your father in the back." "That's the way he works." "If there's a way to crawl around to a man's back, he finds it." "No, you're wrong." "He loves me." "He doesn't know you forced me to ride away, and I'm going to tell him." "He was aiming at me." "You want to prove that, just straighten up." "Don't." "He'll kill you." "Nancy, what I said about him is true." "He'll never face up to a fight." "He'll stay under cover." "You're welcome to try." "Now wait a minute." "I don't want to go in there." "$1,000 delivered and breathing." "Yeah, but not for long." "Now wait a minute." "I've got a right to a hearing." "Shut up, you!" "Why you..." "I didn't agree to become an accessory to murder." "There's a warrant out for this bushwhacker, and you're going to let the law take him." "I am paying for him, and he's mine." "Only as a son-in-law." "And the hangman will arrange a quick divorce." "Now listen..." "Reed, you vindictive old goat, your daughter's outside waiting for you." "Nancy?" "Look at me, girl." "Don't grab me like I'm some puny little babe." "I can take of myself." "How are you, Dad?" "How do you feel?" "How do you think I feel?" "With a daughter that hasn't got any more sense than to stay out here in the sun when-when she's got a house to go into." "Go on up to your room." "Get washed up." "You look like you've been in a stampede." "How does a man throw away the most valuable thing he'll ever own?" "I'll never understand that." "Well, Dave, the marshal is waiting for you." "Let's travel." "Then it's the Golden Gate for me, and I wonder what kind for you." "Welcome home, Mr. Paladin." "Thank you, Patrick." "It's nice to be home." "I'll send Hey Boy out for the luggage." "Thank you, sir." "Oh, Mr. Paladin." "I'm so happy to see you." "Hello, Hey Boy." "You have good business trip?" "Hey Boy, this business was a pleasure." "Hey, boy, two fresh decks of cards, Room 204, right away?" "Right away." "Game, Hey Boy?" "Big game, lots of money." "Do the other players happen to know who that gentleman is?" "Oh, him?" "Him lose all the time, Mr. Paladin." "He always does." "Until he switches to his own deck." "I think I'll sit in that game, Hey Boy, just for relaxation." "My luggage is outside." "¶ "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 a man called Pal-a-din ¶" "¶ Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?" "¶"