"Almost pays for the nuisance." "Looks like you lost yourself a chicken." "Take South Street." "No, he ain't nowhere back there." "Sure had a bur under his tail." "Just picked up for fightin'." "He took off like the place smelled of skunk." "It does." "Tell George to run this over to Bluefield." "Take off any prints and put 'em on the wire." "Tonight." "You got it." "How long would you be gone?" "Couple of days." "Phil, they lost him." "You might be going down there for nothing." "I hope not, captain." "So do I." "So do I." "You sure it was worth it to bring them dogs up?" "The worst you could've done was fine him just a couple bucks." "It's important enough for him to run, it's important enough for me to find him." "What time you want the truck back?" "Uh, couple hours, I'd say." "That means I gotta go down and come back up again." "That costs you another couple of bucks." "Up and down is two bucks." "One time or a dozen." "Supposin' we just make it the once." "I ain't gonna just hang around out here." "Not unless I deputize you." "And I deputize you." "Drive on up above and take a look." "If you see anything, haul tail right back." "Now get." "Coy, put your dogs to workin'." "I got this out of his bag." "Here." "Stop." "Boy, I never seen a man so pure mean." "What are you tryin' to do, kill me or somethin'?" "You were following me." "I was no such thing." "I was just walkin' along." "I been walkin' this mountain my whole life." "Just so happened I was walkin' the same way as you." "You all right?" "Well, sure." "Little hill like that?" "I mean, I slid down twice the size." "Come on, I'll help you up." "Well, you better help yourself up." "From the looks of yourself, well, you're gonna need it too." "Oh, that must be two miles up, the least." "Mountain does that." "It plays tricks on ya." "That's the same with them dogs." "They must be five miles down the valley." "I was you, I wouldn't worry none." "Who said I was worried?" "Jesse Hobart came up to the house this mornin'." "He said, uh, some fella run out on the sheriff." "Some fella that, uh, he picked up for fightin' last night." "Oh, uh, it was a city feller." "I'll race you to the top." "Oh." "Twice in one day." "That would've been somethin'." "You headin' over the mountain?" "Maybe." "I figured." "Wouldn't nobody wanna stay this side." "I'll show you the way." "That's the third time they've brung us right up to the water." "Oh, he musta crossed." "Ain't no dog in the world can track a man through water." "Them dogs couldn't track a bear through a flour mill." "Five lousy bucks a day for nothin'." "Day's not over yet." "There ain't nobody home except Grams." "She'd be proud to have you stay and eat." "You wanna go hungry?" "Sheriff must be kinda mad at that fella." "I mean, just gettin' the dogs out and all." "He's gonna find you too, unless you get some help." "I know every foot of this mountain." "I could show you the way." "After you eat." "Grams!" "Hey, Grams." "Grams, we got us company." "This here is Mister." "He's gonna sit and eat." "It's a good 60 miles." "A trip like that costs money." "How much?" "Hundred and 50." "I'll give you a hundred." "How soon can we leave?" "Let's go." "You can't hold a feller like that." "You can't keep him for a pet like he was a rabbit or somethin'." "Well, I found him." "Ain't nobody gonna take him away." "Child." "Oh, you rather give him to Coy Peters' dogs?" "I warn you." "You scare him off, and I'll sit you down on your skinny old shanks." "Grams, uh, when I get him cleaned up, uh, he's gonna be pure pretty." "You won't find anything in that." "No, there ain't nothin' in it, so there's no harm done." "You ain't gonna go." "Mister, you ain't gonna get far, not knowin' the way." "And them dogs." "Only chance you got is if I help you out." "I" " I can do it, Mister." "I can- I can get you clear." "You keep saying that." "But I mean it." "I know this mountain like I" "So you know what?" "We could use a truck." "Yeah, we, uh- We got this old pickup truck." "It's up the logging' camp right now." "Ames Woodruff, he asked could he borrow it for the day." "All you gotta do is just, uh, wait for the truck." "You know, you just sit and eat." "Heh." "I got side meat." "Fresh bread and gravy." "Well, when will the truck be back?" "Well, real soon, that's for sure." "'Cause, uh, Ames Woodruff, he don't like to work past noon." "You're Sheriff Bradley?" "That's right." "I stopped in town." "I'm counting on you to find this man." "I've come a long way to get him." "Lieutenant." "One of them flying' grasshoppers." "They must want him real bad." "I want him, as you put it, real bad." "I swear, I never did see a man eat so clean." "Where you from, Mister?" "Lot of places." "Yeah, well, I was just askin' for one." "You said the truck could be back?" "Yeah, well, uh, Ames Woodruff must've stopped to jaw with Miss Keel." "See, her old man's up in Clarksburg, uh, lookin' for a job." "She and Ames used to be real close till she got married." "I guess maybe they still are." "Well, you ain't got the sense" "God gave a beetle." "If Ames Woodruff, uh, gets one look at you, he's gonna tell it all over the mountain." "Now, you- You just stay outta sight." "She had her way, she'd keep you here." "I guess you know that." "I told her." "Fella like you... wasn't even a chance." "Make more sense, did you take her along." "You mean, y-you'd just pack her away with any man that's willing?" "No matter who or what?" "Matters aplenty." "Been lots of men willing and anxious, but since the mines closed, all we got is the Del Jackson kind." "None of your style." "Seen how she been lookin' at you." "Wouldn't have to be ashamed of her." "She can be real handsome in a dress." "Mister," "I ain't got much time left." "If I just knowed she was down off this mountain..." "Hey, Cassie!" "I got somethin' to show ya." "I just been deputized." "Oh, they swearing' in fools and jackasses now?" "You just ain't got no respect for the law." "Hey, Grams!" "She ain't here." "She ain't here?" "She ain't here." "Said she went out to pick us some berries." "She must've just knowed I was comin' by." "You see any weasel traps around?" "You been deputized." "Deputy, go." "Grams!" "I told ya, she ain't here." "Well, I know she ain't here." "I just wanna get me some coffee." "We ain't got none." "We didn't make none today." "That's the first thing a person does in the morning." "Are you sure you ain't got some other reason?" "Like what?" "Well, like, maybe you got some company." "Like that fella the sheriff's lookin' for?" "I told you once and for all that she ain't here." "She don't need no help." "You ornery little" "Now, Del, you back off." "You climb in that jeep and get outta here." "Go on!" "Well, that's Del Jackson." "He stops by sometimes." "More than Ames Woodruff, huh?" "Yeah, well, it ain't the same thing." "Oh, no, it isn't the same, because there is no Ames Woodruff." "'Cause he isn't bringing a truck back, because there is no truck, because you're lying to me." "Thanks a lot for the food." "Mister, Mister, uh, you can't just walk out." "No, I'm supposed to stay here till he comes back." "Yeah, well, you can't make it alone." "I know." "Yeah, there's no question I was lyin', yet I was just tryin' to help." "I was just tryin' to keep you here until they pulled them dogs out." "Thank you." "Mister, that mountain's pure mean." "Now, there are 10,000 ways to get yourself lost." "Now, you gotta believe me, there are things a lot worse than gettin' took by them dogs." "Now, I can get you to the top, and the other side's easy." "And I can show you how to lose them dogs." "She could." "Lost him again." "Dogs lost him." "Can't expect them to track through water." "Do we need the dogs?" "He crossed somewhere and headed up the mountain." "An instinct as old as life itself." "A hunted animal always runs up." "Hey, sheriff!" "Sheriff." "I found him, sheriff." "I found him for you." "Where?" "This is Gerard, police lieutenant." "He's after him too." "Where is he?" "Up there, the Boland's place." "They're kin to me." "Cabin near the old mines." "Did you see him?" "Well, no, I didn't see him, exactly." "Sheriff, he's up there and that's for sure." "And Cassie Boland's hidin' him out." "How do you know?" "She wouldn't even let me past the front door." "If I was her, I wouldn't either." "I'm tellin' you, sheriff, she shooed me off with a gun." "And look at what she did to me, she sank half-inch of teeth in my hand." "She do that today too?" "No, that's last week." "It's worth checking out." "How long will it take?" "Ten minutes in the jeep." "And warning' him all the way too, if he is up there." "Every time that old junk pile jounces" "Any other way to get up there?" "Straight up the mountain." "Do you think you can make it?" "I'll make it." "You must want him bad." "Coy, you can rest the dogs in the jeep and bring 'em up in a couple hours." "I'm gonna go around and cover the back, yeah?" "Yeah." "You wait here." "Jackson said there was a gun." "Okay." "I'll go in first." "Why?" "Because it's my job to go in first, not that I don't respect your authority." "Try respecting my intelligence too." "I respect your gumption." "You got plenty of that." "Sure messin' up that fancy suit, ain't you?" "Maybe next time you'll wear Levi's." "If I'm right, sheriff, there won't be any next time." "If you're right, and I ain't sayin' you ain't, you better cover me when I hit that door." "What in the name of the seven sins?" "!" "Del Jackson said there was a feller here," "Miss Boland." "Ain't no young feller been here unless I'm blind." "Where's the girl?" "Your granddaughter?" "I don't see as you got the right to ask." "Miss Boland, Del said that" "You wanna ask, that's different, Sam." "Cassie went out to pick us some berries." "Where?" "Where?" "Anywhere there's berries to be found." "Could be anyplace on this whole mountain." "Sorry to have troubled you, Miss Boland." "That's not gonna give much light." "Ah, it'll give lots more than light." "As long as this burns, you know the air is good." "I guess that's somethin' they don't teach you in the city, huh?" "Be pretty risky, these old tunnels." "Timbers rotting'." "Ain't nobody been in 'em since the mines gave out." "Except me." "I" "I come up here all the time." "One tunnel running out of another." "Oh, you get lost, you'll be in here a hundred years." "One of these go through to the other side?" "Well, sure." "That's how I'm gonna get you out." "Half a day lost." "Well, maybe not." "She said, "young fella."" "Now, how would she know that?" "Somebody washed up." "That's not unknown, even here, lieutenant." "Not too long ago either." "What's the matter?" "It's dry." "They didn't use a towel." "Now, what sort of man wouldn't use a rag like this?" "A man who expects a towel to be clean?" "A special kind of man?" "A doctor, maybe?" "Any idea which way they'd go?" "Well, like you said, lieutenant, up." "Mister, h-hey." "I should've told you." "Them shorings are loose." "Oh, you just touch 'em, and they'd maybe come right down." "See how easy you can get lost?" "Cassie, stop playing games with me." "Y-you said you'd get me to the other side." "And I said it and I meant it, and I'm goin' to." "I" " I just wanna ask you somethin' first." "All right." "A man can get tired running' alone." "You want to go along." "I won't be no worry to you." "I wouldn't hold you back none." "Cassie, you're holding me back now." "If you don't quit, you might as well just hand me over to the sheriff." "Oh, you're still sweating' about him?" "Sheriff ain't gonna find you here." "See, you" "You believe me, don't you?" "Is there any reason why I should?" "Well, sure." "Don't nobody know this old cave except me." "I come up here sometimes just to sit." "You know, uh, what I call it?" "I bet you wouldn't guess in ten hundred years." "The dreaming' room." "Now, I bet you" "You think that's pure foolish." "A grown girl dreaming'." "Guess it depends on what she dreams about." "Well, lots of things, but mostly gettin' down off this mountain." "One of them tunnels goes clear through." "You come out on the other side, and you can see the road, white and narrow like a, uh, fresh-washed ribbon, twisting' and turnin' all the way down, then kinda hurryin' straight across the valley," "like it just plain can't wait to get to the city." "If you could know how often I took that road." "Just, uh, dreaming', I mean." "Doesn't have to be a dream, Cassie." "That's what Grams says." "She run away to Nashville once, she stayed two years." "Came back just before my pa was born." "Takes a lot of gumption, to go down there alone." "I wouldn't know, uh, which foot to set in front of the other." "Unless somebody took me along and showed me." "Cassie," "I can't." "I wouldn't be in your way." "And there" "There wouldn't be nothin' I wouldn't do." "I'm sorry, Cassie." "Well, I mean, can't hardly blame you." "A fella like you and somethin' like me." "Somethin' you could've picked off a berry bush, walkin' down a city street, folks lookin' and whispering', and maybe laughin' behind their hands." "Anywhere, any city in the world, I'd walk with you." "I'd be proud to." "But I can't." "You know I can't." "You know I'm running." "Just for fightin'," "I mean, that ain't nothin'." "You can go back and sit in jail for a couple of days." "And that pays 'em back and then you" "You can stop runnin'." "There's somethin' more?" "Yeah, a lot more." "You did somethin' bad?" "They say I did." "They say I killed somebody." "You didn't?" "No, but I can't prove that I didn't." "That wouldn't be much of a life for you, would it?" "Always on the go." "Always looking back." "You'd never know who'd step out of a doorway, sit beside you on a bus or in a restaurant." "I don't care." "I do." "Yeah, well, it, uh, seemed like a kinda good idea." "Cassie, listen to me." "Now, just don't say anything." "Just listen to me." "You can get down off of this mountain, and you don't need me." "You don't need anybody." "All you need is something to get you started, and you've got that." "You want to go." "It's" "It's just all in yourself." "The wanting to go, that's all you need." "You understand?" "So... just pick up that ribbon and follow it down." "Promise?" "I guess you'd better show me that tunnel." "It's down this way." "Jesse, fire up that lantern." "Not even a decent light." "We're lucky the old woman even gave us this." "Well, this" "Here's the one." "Goes all the way through." "Gonna be hard to find him, lieutenant." "Must be a dozen tunnels branching off of the main one." "Smaller tunnels branching off of them." "You run." "I'll hold 'em back." "Go on." "Uh, sheriff's kin to me, he won't do me no harm." "Go on." "You say one of these goes all the way through?" "Yeah." "Question is, which one?" "Mr. Bradley!" "Mr. Bradley, you lookin' for somebody?" "You know who we're lookin' for, Cassie." "I reckon I don't, unless you tell me." "The feller that got away from me last night." "That's him." "Where is he?" "Where is he?" "You think I found me somethin' like this," "I'd let him get away?" "No use foolin' with her, we got him cooped up." "He can't get out on this side." "What about the other side?" "There's not but one tunnel." "I'll phone Barlow Springs and have 'em close it." "I'd better see if Jackson's come up with the jeep." "Run, Mister, run!" "Run, Mister, run!" "Plenty enough air coming in." "It's a question of digging' out is all." "I'd say, six or seven hours." "And if the others find us?" "Maybe two or three." "He could be halfway across the next state by then." "Ain't a bad place." "You get used to it." "And kind of a nice room for dreaming'." "We got kin in Wheeling, the Iversons, if you find you need some help." "I don't need no help." "Not them, not nobody." "You just remember that." "You don't need nobody." "Above the mountain, leaving it far below and behind him," "Lieutenant Philip Gerard returns home without the man he had come to find and recapture." "The other side of the mountain... of many mountains." "A road twisting and turning into the future, without promise, without assurance for the man who must always go alone." "Richard Kimble, fugitive."