"Oh, Wakantanka, Great Spirit of the Sun, source of all life, created in violence, pleasure and pain, which then takes life to sustain life, in the eternal cycle of life and death " "I stand humble and obedient before you." "Make me worthy!" "How many is that?" " Six, your Lordship." " Maddock...?" " l'm sorry." " John." "Address me as John." "Yessir. lt won't happen again." "You slip at least once a day." "How many weeks have I been telling you?" "Yes, sir, John." " Six, did you say?" " ln a row." "That's good shooting, John." " Thank you, Maddock." " You may address me as Joe." " Joe..." "What did you say that was?" " Prairie chicken." "Grouse." "Grouse." "At home in England, I'd be shooting grouse." "It occurs to me, I've travelled halfway around the world at great expense, simply to kill a different kind of bird." "What's wrong with that, if you ain't got nothing better to do?" "I ain't Joe." "For five years I ain't got nothing better to do." "You must have picked up a lot of beans somewhere." "Not only beans, Joe, but family titles, family property, family position..." "All picked up." "All inherited." "Everything I ever wanted in life I've bought. including you three." "In England I looked up to God and royalty and down upon everybody else." "What you been doin' for five years?" "Looking, Joe." "Just looking." "In 1 820 I committed the unpardonable sin of resigning my commission in the Guards." "It wasn't an earned commission." "In my family, it came with birth." "So here I am." "Shooting birds." "Your Northwest Territory...it is beautiful." "Hey, Ed." "I dumped the water out of that damned tub into his tent." "All over his tent." "And look what I found." " Rum." "That spell rum, don't it?" " Yeah." "R" " U" " M." "Hey, Ed..." "Draw!" " Still drunk as coots." " l'll have to talk to those two." "In a pinch, I've know them to drink coal oil." "Beat the drums and sound the brass, here come one big horse's ass." " What were you two firing at?" " Nothing in particular." "That was an accident." "Even at this range, I'm inclined to believe you." "How long would it take to go to St Louis?" " A month, if that wagon holds up." " We'll start in the morning." "If the wagon breaks down, abandon it and the team." "We'll travel by riding horses if necessary." " ls them orders, John?" " Those are orders, Maddock." "Well, you've boozed us out of another job." "We ain't shutting down camp." "He guaranteed us four months wages." "You'll get your money." "The dude ain't cheap." "Yeah, and if he's short, his family can sell the castle." "I've never seen such a fella." "He won't even chew tobacco." "That water's powerful cold, your Lordship." "Thank you, Maddock. I can assure you I've been bred to get used to it." "This ain't gonna be no bath." "He's going ice-skating." " Listen, you rum-heads, that's enough." " We was just warning him." " Something must have spooked him." " No, he's seen Morgan going by." "Oh, my God!" "Christ!" "I've had enough." "You bunch of bloody bastards." "I'm not a horse. I'm not an animal." "Wee-cha-shad, or whatever the bloody hell the name is." "Man!" "Man!" "I am a man!" "American, eh?" "American?" "Don't be absurd." "Anglais." "Me speak Anglais." "Good Anglais." "Well, when you address me, would you kindly speak it?" "Yes. I will speak it." "You lucky Chief like angry." "You yell." "Make strong." "Lucky not kill." "Yes, very lucky." "I can hardly believe my good fortune." " Who the blazes are you?" " Batise." "Prisoner." "Five years." "Five!" "You speak French in a most peculiar way." "You're not French." "Sacrebleu, non." "Papa Français." "Blue eyes, see." "Mother flat-head Indian." "Pure." "See." "Family all killed." "These Indians...these Sioux." "I can well believe it." "Did you never try to escape?" "Yes." "Cut leg." "Oh, yes." "Zip!" "If I try go again, zip-zip other leg." "After...crawl." "Crawl." "But now me very clever fellow." "Play crazy, see?" "Indian don't kill crazy man." "Crazy man no hunt, no work." "Got spirit." "Wakantanka." " Good luck for village." " So you gave up." "Me give up nothing." "Nothing!" "Me very clever fellow." "But you the great, important English man!" "Yes, you go, yes." "Like fox - dodge hounds." "And you know what happens?" "Mean bad Indians out there - Shoshone, Blackfoot, Cherokee." "Cut off everything." "Zip." "Zip." "Zip!" "But you no man anymore anyhow." "You work horse for old woman." "Buffalo Cow Head." "Maybe she zip anyway." "Stallion no good for work horse." "Everybody be happy, except you...maybe." "It's rancid fat." "Don't you have any...dried meat?" "Batise." "What's going on?" "Black Eagle come for Yellow Hand sister." "I thought she was one of his wives." "No, no." "That one Running Deer." "She is sister." "Other one is wife, Thorn Rose." "Now, Black Eagle buy sister." " Buy her?" " Yes." "Marriage. Indian way." "Must buy wife." "Very important for Black Eagle." "He only chief number two." "If she have him, he be Yellow Hand brother." "Big trouble." "Yellow Hand say no." "Work hard, eh?" "Water?" "Yes..." "Now that the son is dead, she has no other man." "Nobody protect her." "Nobody care." "Cut off finger." "Scavenge." "Come winter...she die." "Like you." "One time big, grand English." "Now horse." "Stop that idiotic giggling, you bloody fool, and listen to me." "I've had enough of your nonsense." "Play your fool to them but not to me." "I'm going to get out with your help." "And why I do this?" "Because you want to get out, that's why." "These other Indians that you spoke of, we'll need a war party to get through them." "I don't suppose these Sioux have any guns?" "What they know about guns?" "Never see guns." "Must fight close." "More brave to touch enemy." "They count coup." "You look?" "You like?" "I have a big idea - you marry Running Deer." "Then maybe Yellow Hand give you war party." "All that for you." "Grand white gentleman." "She say no to Black Eagle and give herself away to Horse." "Hey, but you got mane!" "Not even old squaw kiss hair on face." "I have a lot to learn, Batise..." "and you are going to teach me." "Give them to your mother." "For her, with my compliments." "I didn't think that giving flowers was so humorous." "I'm..." "I'm sorry." "Me make love to her?" "Good God, no!" "What is this about her shoe?" "What is she trying to tell me?" "She say she have no hole in her moccasin." "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" " lt mean..." "It mean she virgin." " l have no reason to doubt it." "Virgin take any husband she want..." "but not you, Anglais." "Get away, you horrible old hag!" "Shoshone!" "They say you kill two Shoshone." "is true?" " And I took these horses!" " And scalps!" " Big chance...big chance." " l can't hear you." "Horses!" "Scalps!" " Wife!" "Now, wife." "Then warrior." " Then soon..." "Chief!" "The wife sounds grand right now." "Let's get straight to her." "And then war party." "And then we go!" "We go!" "We go!" "We go!" "No, no." "Do not look mother in face." "Taboo." "Or you be cinksi." " Cinksi?" " Son." "You be her son till she die." "Oh, that suits me perfectly." "Horse..." "Horses!" " Does that mean we're married?" " Not yet." " What the hell's going on now?" " Say no scars...no vows." " Scars?" "Vows?" " Yes, scars." "And "Vow to Sun"." "He say you make Vow to Sun." "Then vow you brother." "But I just bought her." "I just bought her, didn't I?" "What the hell did I do?" "Marriage is good, but must be made sacred first." "Sun Vow." "If no pain, nothing good is born." "Even seed burst to make grass." "Now make vow for courage." "I vow to prove my courage, to withstand all tests of pain." "You stand in sun all day, all night until sun come again." "Then suffer much pain." "God watch you now." "Wakantanka watch." "Now you ready for Sun Vow in tepee Wakan - holy lodge." "Hope for courage." "Pray Wakantanka let you live." " l will live, Batise." " Yes." "And after, we get war party." "And England we go." "England..." "Wherever you go, I serve you." "I serve you well?" "Oui, Batise." "You have served me well." " When do I kiss the bride?" " You prove you man in Sun Vow, and then she kiss." "She kiss plenty..." "in white tepee women make for you." "That one?" " She must make pure in sweat bath." " Sweat bath?" "Yes. Indian way." "She sweat, sing, pray, make pure." "Medicine Man pray to Wakantanka that no bad things come for you." "And then you have peace..." "and love." "Chief want me too." "Need my tongue." "He speak about Shoshone." "Counted coup scalps." "Big medicine." "Must show god you brave." "Must prove courage." "Now you say why you should be permitted to make Sun Vow." "Yellow Hand... when you first brought me here, you said I was a horse." "An animal." "And to me you were..." "All of you were mean, vicious, ignorant, superstitious," " ugly, benighted savages." " No, no!" "Repeat it." "Repeat it!" "Repeat it...accurately!" "To me, you are no different from men all over the world." "When your stomachs are full and you sleep the long night, you know you must hunt again for food." "And when you fight your enemies and their arrows pierce your skins, you bleed like all men." "But it seems to me that you only live to hunt your buffalo to fight the Shoshone and to have your women." "I know you would say to me, "What else is there?"" "Yellow Hand say your word is good, but Medicine Man say word not good." "Now, tell them this:" "one day, I will be a chief." "One day I will be a chief!" "Say what proof you brave?" "Suffer pain, yes!" "Give up now!" "Out!" "He said because you white, you weak." "You give up." "Shame before Wakantanka." "Medicine bag." "Bones." "Beads." "Good luck things." "Great honour." "Jesus!" "I am Tatankaska." "Spirit animal." "Buffalo White." "Speak the truth in humility to all people." "Only then can you be a true man and free of your chains." "I want you." "My hunger is real." "But freedom is what you mean to me." "When the chance comes, I shall go." "I know. I know." " Grouse..." " What did you say?" "Grouse. lt's a small bird, Batise." "I used to shoot it in England..." "a long time ago." "Batise!" "What's the matter with Yellow Hand?" "Yellow Hand take bearskin belt." "He swear to Wakantanka never to retreat in battle." "He now want brave death to save his honour, because Black Eagle take Thorn Rose." "He was her first man. Indian law." "That means Black Eagle can take Yellow Hand's woman... when he wants her." "If Yellow Hand complains, he is weak." "Hey, Anglais..." "This may be good." "He die - you be made chief quicker." "Get war party." "And we go." "Five years you've lived here and you've learned nothing about these people!" "All his death is to you, is a means of escape." "Take her away from this." "Take her away from this!" "You're making it very, very difficult for me, Little Freedom." "Very, very difficult." "Free..." "Free..." "Freedom?" "Freedom." "You are Little Freedom." "Mother." "Little Freedom, now is the truth." "You are part of me." "When I go, you go." "Forever!" "Dakota Lake, the mountains..." "Peace River, south." "Adirondack." "Medicine Man say buffalo go after winter." "Village move." "This place bad medicine now." "Move west." "Away from home." "You'd better finish that map, Batise." "He say something is wrong." "Go and get your weapons." "Get the weapons." "Shoshone Chief take bear belt." "Get everyone to the Ceremonial Lodge." "And get them bows and arrows!" "Line them up there, face the Shoshone." "Form two lines." "One in front and one back here." "First line to their knees." "Second line remain standing." "The first line fire only." "Fire!" "Now we go." "Anywhere." "Little Freedom." "John!" "Cinksi!" "Oh, my God." "You've got nobody left to provide for you." "You'll give everything you have away." "You'll scavenge for offal." "With winter coming, you won't last a month." "Son." "I will be your son." "Cinksi." "Goodbye, Little Freedom."