"I am a friend." "Inside the shirt." "What?" "The shirt." "Inside." "My wife." "I want her to have it." "Yes." "Where is your wife?" "Fort Nomie." " Sir, we heard your shots." " I'm glad you were out looking for us." "Yes, sir." "The men, are they all dead, sir?" " Yeah, all of them and the surveyor too." " We'd better get you back to the fort." "I led my men out here, and I'll lead them back." "Now, you go about your duties, understand?" "!" "Yes, sir." "We found it on him, sir." "Just say the word." "I'd love to put him out of his misery." "I am ready." "Had you good cause to risk this danger?" "My purpose was to prove my agility and my courage." "I had hoped such qualities were already yours." "I sought to test them." "For yourself or them?" "Is it not better to see yourself truly than care about how others see you?" "Yes, master." "If I look truly, will I see truly?" "It can be done." "Mrs. Piper." "Mrs. Piper." "I don't see anybody but the lieutenant." " You think they're all?" " Yeah." "We were ambushed by bandoleros up in Crow's Canyon, with results as follows:" "Twelve dead, including the civilian, Piper." "Oh, my God." "Prisoners taken:" "One." " Reede." " Sir?" "Take the lieutenant and dress his wound." "Sir, request permission to carry out my responsibility to my men." "I'll see to your men." "Yes, sir." "We could've been with them in that wagon." "Yeah." "And for what?" " Let us at him." "We'll fix him." " How brave we are all of a sudden." "Too bad you weren't when the guns were firing." "That's a funny thing about them shallow wounds." "They got a way of hurting even more than the deep ones." "Particularly one like this." "You got powder burns besides." "Had to have been at extremely close quarters, sir." "No, you don't have to say "yea" or "nay" to me." "I can tell." "I've been around enough wounds." "I can read them like they was printing." "Yes, sir." "I can tell." "You're just like your father before you an Army man, a fighter through and through." "Yeah, it's gonna be all right." "First platoon ready for muster, sir." "Very well." "Wagner, Eugene." "Corporal." "Here, sir." " Faulkenberg, Charles." "Private." " Here, sir." " Ferraze, Joseph." "Private." " Here, sir." " Callahan..." " I'm glad nobody's sounding off for me." " Durand, Thomas." "Private." " Here, sir." " Whalan, Edward." "Private." " Here, sir." " O'Neil, John." "Private." " Here, sir." " Raleigh, Henry." "Private." " Here, sir." " Schwab, Joseph." "Private." " Here, sir." " Morgan, George." "Private." " Here, sir." "Piper, James." "Civilian." "Here, sir." " Sergeant." " Honor guard, prepare." "Fire." "Fire." "Prepare." "Fire." "Order." "Arms." "No tribute can repay the sacrifice of these men." "The honor we do them here is of no meaning to them." "But if we hold high their courage as a standard to be met I believe their departure from our ranks will have been nobly marked." "That is the least we can do." " Mrs. Piper." " Lieutenant." "I'd like a few words with you, lieutenant." "Yes, of course, ma'am." "Please." "I trust your leg isn't too serious." "No, ma'am." "It's just a scratch." "Thank you." "I don't suppose you have a wife, lieutenant." "No, ma'am." "Jim and I were married for 17 years." "Mrs. Piper, I wish there was something I could say that would comfort you." "At night, when we'd be having our dinner, Jim would always tell me what he did that day." "It was his life, but we shared it, every moment of it." "Yes, ma'am." "I want to hear how Jim died." "I didn't see Jim get hit." "But your platoon was supposed to be right there with him, protecting him." "The platoon was there, ma'am, all around him." "When the firing began, I was knocked to the ground and the main action swept by me and I tried to get back to Jim and the men, but I couldn't." "I had my own battle going on." "I didn't understand." " I'm sorry I bothered you, lieutenant." " It's no bother." "I guess there's no one who can tell me about Jim." "That's Jim's watch." "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot." "I meant to give this to you." "He always kept it inside his shirt." "He wouldn't keep it in his pocket." " I'm surprised you knew this." " I didn't, ma'am." " But you found it." " No." "A bandolero found it, ma'am." "The prisoner we brought back." "I want to speak to that man, lieutenant." "Mrs. Piper." "Please." "He asked that I bring this to you." " My husband spoke to you?" " As best he could." "He's lying, ma'am." "Jim was already dead, and this thief was looking for what he could find." "That is not so." "Where did my husband have this?" "In a pocket?" "No." "Here." "Inside." "You can't let these people fool you, Mrs. Piper." "Lying is a way of life to them." " Would it serve me to lie?" " You know it would." "The penalty for robbing the dead is execution." "Is it not the same for any bandolero?" " I'm not gonna argue with you." " Did you?" " Did you kill my husband?" " No." "Why would I kill him?" "He had done me no harm." "He was a surveyor." "He didn't even carry a gun." "I am grateful the watch has come to you as he wished." "Is there anything else my husband told you?" "It was hard for him to speak." " There was so little time." " Oh, my God." "He knew he was to die, yet he did not complain." "That would be like him." "Jim was never anyone to think of himself." "He thought of you." "Thank you." "I'll go now." "Paulding." "Why don't you believe that man, lieutenant?" "Mrs. Piper, I just can't see Jim asking any man who was part of that slaughter to do him a favor." " But that man is kind, lieutenant." " He's a killer." "That's how he stays alive." "You're a kind man, lieutenant and isn't that how you stay alive?" "I don't understand your reasoning, Hamel." "What's today got to do with us?" " Captain has to find replacements, right?" " Right." " Where is he gonna find them?" " The division." "Where else?" "The division's below strength already." "You figure it out." "The captain's gonna put us back in the ranks." "Yeah." "He has to." "That means we're gonna end up just like those guys in the wagon today massacred." "Maybe you are." "Brave men who are gone and the brave man who came back." "What is it, Bill?" "What are you feeling?" "Guilt?" "Remorse that you survived and the others didn't?" "That's a natural reaction." "It's commendable, but it hurts." "You'll get over it." "Captain I would give anything to claim I was like those men who died there today truly brave but I can't say that." "I heard the same kind of talk from your father after his first engagement only I happen to have been fighting right beside him and saw what he did." "You are like him, son, in more ways than you know." "No, sir." "No, I'm not." "I always hoped I would be but I'm beginning to realize it takes more than having the same name and going to the same academy and wearing the same uniform." "More important things are a soldier's heart, which you have and the opportunity to prove yourself." "You did that today." "You certainly did." "In fact, you virtually made your career today." "The Army gives preferential treatment to any young officer who distinguishes himself in his first test of fire." "Sir, I lost a whole platoon of men." "Despite being wounded, you took a prisoner and you held your ground until your dead could be brought out." "You want to end up in a command like this facing retirement, still nothing better than a captain?" "No." "Oh, you'd come to accept it, Bill but only because you finally realized there's nothing you can do to change it." "Yes, sir." "Twelve men are dead, and I'm to be rewarded and that's what I have to accept?" "That's right." "Now, if they hang that flag upside down, you still salute." "That's what makes an army." "You stop faulting your luck, son." "Glory in it." "Ride it for all it's worth." "Maybe you can match your father and make colonel before you're 35." "Nothing would honor his memory more." "What is your name?" "I am Caine." "I didn't believe any of those things you told the lady but I let you get away with it because I knew she wanted to believe it." "She loved her husband very much." "Yes." "So I guess, in a way, you helped her." " Did you kill her husband?" " No." "You can admit it." "It's not going to make it any worse for you." "Or maybe you don't remember how many people you killed out there today." "It was all so sudden so violent." "All those rifles firing at once." "Then the screams." "Maybe you didn't really know what happened." "You just did it." "You must have killed more than your share just to have survived." " I was not there." " You were there." "I saw you, remember?" "Tell me." "How do you kill a man?" "You are a soldier, and you ask me?" "In training, we only played at killing." "Today was my first time against a real enemy." "I cannot tell you what you want to know." "You do nothing to save yourself." "Do you realize that in the morning you'll be hauled before a firing squad?" "Who will give the order to shoot?" "You?" "Perhaps then you will have the knowledge you seek." "Grasshopper." " Yes, master." " Have you injured yourself?" "My knee hurts from hitting the stone, but it is nothing serious." "I am glad." "Did you not think to look where you were going?" "I placed the sash over my eyes." "I chose not to see." "Do you prefer darkness to light?" "I wanted to know darkness." "Why, grasshopper?" "I wanted to be like you." "It is nothing to place one foot in front of the other but to walk without seeing is most special." "I never thought it special, only unavoidable." "Is it not better to enjoy the gift of light that is yours than to seek a darkness you are spared?" "Don't make a sound." " Get the Chinaman out." " What are you messing with him for?" "You wanna take a chance on him sounding the alarm?" "Come on, move." "Come on." "The lieutenant's out there." "Lieutenant?" " Hey, a mule could carry more." " But a mule can't jump a wall either." "Let's go." "Keep moving, Chinaman, or when we get clear, I'll leave you for the bandoleros." "All right, men, back to your posts." " Ready to move out any time you are, sir." " Very good, sergeant." " Good morning, sir." " Lieutenant." "They're probably headed for the border." "You shouldn't have much trouble picking up their trail." "Do you recall what I said about the Army's concern with positive achievement?" "Yes, sir." "One of the significant things you did was to take a prisoner." "Now that man's escaped, it tends to tip the scales the other way." " You understand what I'm saying?" " Yes, sir." "I understand." "Get him back, son." "Yes, sir." "I will." "I hope you find him, sir." "Ten-hut!" "Hey, go easy on that, will you?" "That's gotta last us." "We'll get more." "I'd like to know where." "You know, maybe we were crazy." "At least that cell was out of the sun." " Why don't you head back, then." " I'm thinking about it." "Well, I'm too young for a pine box." "We ought to be spotting them soon, sir." "They had all night to cover some territory." "A lot to cover." "You know, sometimes, sir, when you look at this big country of ours it seems like there's no end to it." "You know, sir, it takes several years just to be surveyed." "How long have you been stationed out here?" "Let's see." "About..." "Going on three years, sir." "You must be about ready to put in for a transfer." "No, sir." "Not until this job is done and we make this territory safe for the settlers to move in." " You like this duty, then?" " Yes, sir." "I like it." "I like the feeling of knowing that what I'm doing..." "Well, it's important." "What about the killing?" "I never really thought much about it, sir." "Canter!" "Get down." "There's a patrol coming." "Get on your feet." "Keep walking." "Go." "Don't look back, just walk." " Yes, sir." "Three it is." " Go in there and scout that clearing." "The lieutenant's shying off." "Just give him time." "You feared for your lives, and so you ran away and now you will take the lives of others?" "Just be ready to hand me that ammunition." "You wait till they're all together." "I'll give the word." "You come up against some bandoleros, sir, it wouldn't do to be out here alone." "Sir, I can spare one of the men." "That won't be necessary, sergeant." "Yes, sir." "Well, lieutenant, can I tell the captain that you'll be back sometime around nightfall?" "That man was one of the butchers of my patrol." "I'll be back when I have him." "Do not be afraid, little friend." "I do not wish to harm him, only to play." "He thinks you are as others and would have him for your supper." "I could never do that." " What is keeping his hand in the jar?" " Let us see." "If it is so easy, then what was it that held him?" "Put your hand in the jar." "Remove it." "This time take out the fruit." "I cannot do it, master." "How, then, can you remove it?" "By dropping the fruit." "That is a very foolish monkey." "The gardens are filled with fruit yet he chose to hold on to the one in the jar." "I am pleased you are wiser than the monkey." "I am much wiser, master." "I would hope you remain so and will know when to let go of those things which do not serve you but force you to serve them." "My father never shrank from his duty." "Why do I?" "What is your duty?" "It's to be a soldier." "Perhaps you are not suited to be a soldier." "But I wanna be..." "I am a soldier." "But I can't kill you." "Are you unable or unwilling?" " I'm afraid." "I'm a coward without the courage to kill an enemy." "Who is a man, like yourself." "You really didn't take part in that battle?" "No." "When am I gonna learn the secret to see the man to point the gun and to squeeze the trigger?" "Why must you learn such a secret?" "Because until I do, I'll remain a coward." "To endanger yourself to save another's life is this the act of a coward?" "It's not enough for a soldier." "It is enough for a man." "I'll say goodbye here." "What will you tell your captain?" "I'll tell him what happened." " Will you be a soldier still?" " No." "No, I'll look for a different way to be of use." "Something I'm more suited to." "You will find it."