"I wish that you had not burned the cabin." "You are like a musician who only knows one tune, Machado." "I'm getting a little tired of it." "Just that, when a man creates something..." "In the city, Machado, you can create something worth your labor!" "If you are a shadow of the man I thought." "Even a simple man, with such a wife, can do whatever he puts his heart to." "You will see." "Yes." "I will see." "Be quiet!" "Who is there?" "Are you trying to drown yourself?" "Come with us." "We'll take him to the wagon." "No!" "First of all, who are you?" "What does it matter?" "The man is ill." "His eyes burn with fever." "He is a Yanqui." "Does that make him dishonest?" "And what is there to rob me of, huh?" "A broken wagon?" "Is that how you consider me?" "!" "Come." "Come." "We'll give you some food to hold down the river you have swallowed." "Come." "Sabina, food." "The man is exhausted." "He's hungry." "I thank you for your trouble." "It's an old fever." "Oh, do you think my wife enjoys feeding only the goats and myself?" "You two, you're a long way from civilization." "My wife's very words." "But we're going back to the city now, to the things that my wife has missed so much." "I passed a burned-out cabin two days ago." "Would that be yours?" "Oh, si, senor." "But it was not the bandidos who fired it." "No... it was my wife." "Thank you." "You had something of value?" "Value?" "No, no." "Only my wife, senor." "Eat." "See, that is the cleverness of it." "When the bandidos found the cabin burned, they would believe anything of value was destroyed with it." "So, they do not harm us." "Oh, she is a very clever woman." "Still... to cure the disease by killing the patient does seem a little bit harsh." "Who do you run away from, gringo?" "The bandidos or the Federales?" "That make any difference?" "All the difference in the world." "Uh, senor, my wife means, if the bandidos caught us hiding someone they wanted badly..." "Mm, they would hang you by the heels and set fire to the straw under your head." "Mm." "And you... mm." "So, to hide a man at such a risk would be foolhardy." "Unless..." "Unless." "Unless the reward were equal to the risk." "Oh, no, it is not a matter of payment, senor." "You have understanding, gringo." "Sabina, no." "Enough reward to live in a city again." "To be a woman again." "Can we talk about it in the morning?" "I'm tired now." "Senor... it is only that I am a poor man, and we have lived a lonely life for such a woman." "For such a woman." "All right." "Say a thousand pesos until I've recovered my strength?" "Oh, no, that is far too much." "Agreed." "And... and who knows what happiness your generosity may bring?" "You have the money with you?" "The equivalent." "Well, suppose tonight you die?" "He who dies pays all his debts." "He will sleep in the wagon." "Eh?" "Well, as you say, he is sick." "You want him to sleep on the ground?" "No." "No, but the wagon?" "Come." "A thousand pesos." "I could have died of shame." "Is it so shameful to dream of something better than this?" "Woman..." "I have the right to know what is in your thoughts." "A hunted man with no friends." "A stranger who belongs nowhere." "The moment he feels he is out of danger, he will give us nothing." "So, I am going to take what is rightfully ours." "Tonight." "And how, at sunrise, can you look him in the face?" "There is no accusation in the face of a dead man." "Is he sleeping?" "You seem to have recovered your strengths." "A little." "Just enough to... claim the reward for my generosity." "You are claiming for something you have not yet earned, senor." "Senora, so are you." "What do you mean?" "It is the equivalent of a thousand thousand pesos." "Where did you steal it?" "A man in Durango hired me to sell it for him, but his partner felt there'd be more profit in giving a hint to the bandits, so now the partner is dead... and I'm tired." "It is the color of a sacred stone." "It is said that such a stone can open the eyes of even a blind man." "Do you truly think I am interested in just a dirty pebble?" "Yes, senora, I think you truly are." "You're a fool." "He is asleep." "Do it quickly." "I will wait here." "The face of a Madonna... and the claws of a cat." "It's very tempting." "But as I said..." "I'm tired." "You are a fool." "Have a restful night." "Where's your husband?" "He's gone." "Where?" "?" "Quien sabe?" "Maybe to the bandidos." "Perhaps to take revenge on the man who dishonored his wife." "What did you tell him?" "I told him that within an hour, when you had recovered, we would go away together." "I thought he was going to kill you, but my husband has the heart of a chicken." "All he did was apologize to me for being such a poor husband." "Where's the rifle?" "He took it with him." "You mean he was fool enough to believe that the bandits would take me and leave you?" "A jealous man is-is not famous for his logic." "No." "Nor a selfish woman for her charity." "Well, you must see it from his point of view." "How could he be sure that you wouldn't steal me and leave him to the bandidos?" "Why are you afraid?" "Will a mouthful of water drain the ocean?" "No." "But the taste is bitter." "You know, if you're not lying, we may have no choice;" "we may have to run for it." "That is exactly what I planned, that we should run for it... together." "You do not have much time to make up your mind." "Machado, where are the bandits?" "They're camped beyond the hill." "I think they saw me." "When I saw them, I..." "I could not do what I had gone to do." "I ran." "You child!" "They would have paid you for him!" "With a machete across the throat." "I ask myself:" "who has driven her to these evils?" "I." "And what of my honor?" "She who has nothing has nothing to lose." "Senor, you must try to understand her." "Machado, it is not I who must learn to understand her." "Those bandits saw you." "Won't take them long to track you here." "Machado." "Machado, give me the rifle." "Come on." "Now take your wife and get out of here." "He's right, Machado." "We should run away." "No, it is too late to run." "They will kill us all." "What is it they want from you, senor?" "Machado, for six days, I played tag with these people across this hellhole of a country." "Cost me a good horse, my good disposition." "Cost them four men, and that's what they want of me... that... and this." "Perhaps if you, if you offer them that which they seek..." " Sabina!" " No." "Take a look at it, Machado." "It is only a common rock." "The one she stole from me last night was not so common." "Oh." "Well, she has gone to bargain it for our lives, huh?" "Well, it could be just that." "Do you have another weapon?" "Si, I have another pistola." "Get it." "I pray you will forgive her, senor." "To hold such wealth in her hand, after all the poor years, to know what it could buy her... the temptation was very great." "Yes." "She probably stole a horse from them." "They had extras." "She was a very resourceful woman." "And a very beautiful one." "It's strange." "You know, with her as my wife," "I have always thought of myself as a rich man." "Well, a man can be rich in different ways." "Rich in material things." "Beautiful wife." "A man can also be rich in spirit, through knowledge and acceptance and understanding." "You do not think she is alive, huh?" "Machado..." "Senor... someday, when I am worthy of such a woman," "I will find her again." "You understand?" "I understand." "And I hope that time will bring you understanding." "No, you are wrong!" "Do you think you have the right to tell me how to think?" "No." "No, sometimes a dream is better than reality." "I will find her again." "You will see." "And until you do..." "Adios." ""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" "Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?"