"take the rifle and aim it and fire it, doctor." "You said your patient was already dead." "Or were you wrong?" "Howdy." "Goin' to mercyville?" "I was." "We're waitin' to make up a party." "They said there was a few pyotes riding' ahead a few miles." "You ride with us?" "Glad to." "Good enough." "Let's get outta here." "All right?" "You go ahead." "I'm goin' around the telford route." "let the horse take you across." "He won't let you down." "He's afraid of high places." "Don't be silly, corey." "We've been waitin' here three hours." "Now you change your mind." "It's easy for you, doc." "They say it's in my mind." "You don't know." "Hi there." "Hi there." "What are you doing?" "Getting my instruments." "He may need a doctor." "It's all right to be afraid, boy." "Can you see him?" "Hello!" "Can you hear us?" "Likely knocked out." "Give us a sound!" "Maybe he's hung up." "If he hollers, he'll fall off." "Let me listen." "Mister?" "There he is!" "See?" "There." "He's dead." "Is he dead?" "Can you move?" "We can see your hand and foot." "Try and move 'em!" "Mister..." "Cass richards." "Cass richards, will you belay us at the end of that line?" "Wanna let the doctor down the cliff to have a look at him." "We'll put you just on this rock ledge down here." "You won't have to do any climbing'." "Just hold the line." "On that rock?" "No, sir." "I've never done this before." "You're refusing?" "He's got the brains in the head, that one." "Well, I-I'm willing to do what I can," "But I-I got a family and a business." "Wouldn't be fair to them to risk my life." "You?" "You give me a place where I don't have to look down," "And I'll do anything." "Yeah." "Well, you really aren't much help to us, then, are you?" "You two make some coffee." "We're gonna be here a while." "We better hurry." "Yep." "All right, cass." "Come on." "Give me some." "Pull on it, cass!" "Here she comes!" "Hold it!" "That's all there is!" "Ain't no more!" "That's it." "Can you reach him?" "Can you hear me?" "If you can't talk, move your fingers." "All right." "Pull me up." "For a minute I thought you got off the hook!" "Ha-ha." "Yeah." "Come on." "Well, here's the boys." "Kept the home fires burnin'." "Pour me some of that coffee, will you?" "I'm sorry, but I just couldn't go out there." "You know I'd just be a danger to you as well as myself." "Doctor, what do you think?" "He's got a deep cut on the occipital region." "Lost some blood, but the bleeding stopped." "From the way he's lying, his shoulder's dislocated" "Or his neck is broken." "I knew he was dead." "He couldn't live through that." "He was just smilin' and yellin' out, and then gone." "He didn't ask for a vote." "Doctor?" "He's dead." "Do you often pronounce your patients dead from ten feet?" "I know my business." "He's dead as a mackerel." "Doctor, don't try to put me off with that..." "Professional," "Callous, man-of-experience talk." "It is my professional opinion that the man is dead." "Are you sure enough he's dead to ride off and leave him?" "I'm sure enough he's dead so I'm not goin' down there again." "And don't remind me of my responsibilities." "I've spent a lifetime learning them." "For a hundred miles around, I'm the only doctor these people have." "I owe them something, too." "Something I'm..." "Sure of." "There's time yet to get around by the telford way before dark." "I'm with you, doc." "We done what we could." "Can't do it alone." "'sides, there's too many gals I ain't courted yet" "And too many saloons I ain't drunk in yet." "I don't aim to give 'em up on account of some dead body" "Lyin' at the bottom of a cliff." "Where's the kid?" "Corey?" "Why, he's taken off." "Help!" "Help!" "Help!" "Get this line around the rock." "Come on, boy." "You're all right now." "steady." "Please get me..." "Easy, now." "Just hang on." "Oh, god." "Please get me back up!" "Please!" "Easy, now." "Oh, please." "Steady, now, son." "Help me." "Don't wanna lose the best coffee maker this side of santa fe." "Come on, now." "I'm gonna get this rope around you real easy, now." "Easy." "That's a boy." "Easy does it, now." "With this rope tied around you, you're gonna be fine." "You couldn't fall off even if you tried to." "Uh-huh." "All right?" "Now, they're watchin' it up on top." "Just you go easy, now." "All right?" "Breathe deep." "Stay relaxed." "We'll pull you up outta here in just about two seconds." "Doctor." "Easy, now." "Just you breathe easy." "All right." "I'm gonna fall." "no, you're not." "Come on." "Come on." "Help yourself a little bit." "Come on." "Come on." "Now, what were you tryin' to prove by that?" "I had to find out." "Did you?" "Oh, I just can't do it!" "he's just bound to grow up, ain't he?" "Like a little fella." "He'll learn to walk" "If enough people pick him up when he falls." "Oh, stop that hyena laugh." "The kid feels terrible." "You just keep a civil tongue in your head." "Why don't you both keep a civil tongue in your head." "Well, how you gonna get him?" "Doctor says he's dead." "Kid's a-scared of heights." "Stebbins, he's..." "Stebbins got a family." "Well, go ahead!" "Why don't all of you just ride out." "I'll stay, but I just can't go down there!" "Son, that does not help the man." "He is not gonna be rescued by magic" "Because you happen to be here on this ledge" "And not 350 miles away from him." "Oh, mr." "Paladin." "What did you do, search my saddlebags?" "You can't talk to me like that." "You come ridin' in here with your gun tied down low." "I got the right and the obligation" "To know who I'm ridin' with." "All right, now, doc, you say the man's dead." "Yes." "You have doubts." "Right." "I've got doubts." "I'm not gonna carry 'em around with me for the rest of my life." "All right, then." "Satisfy yourself." "Go ahead." "If he's dead, it doesn't matter." "If he's still alive, it'll be a merciful end," "Compared to lying' out there takin' a week to die." "Besides, you're used to it." "I was even gonna pay you." "Stebbins, you can't buy your way outta this." "My offer still stands." "My usual fee is a thousand dollars." "I can pay that." "That's a cheap price, stebbins," "For unloading the kind of nightmares" "You're gonna have for the rest of your life." "What's my nightmares got to do with it?" "If you kill, you kill." "That's your business." "If you're that particular about how you do it," "You could see what it'd be to do it for somebody who needs it." "Really put it on the line." "Stebbins, I never thought I'd feel disgust" "For anyone like I feel for you." "What's the matter with you?" "You said he was dead." "What difference could it make?" "Please." "He's dead anyway." "That's right." "If you're that particular about the money angle," "Just figure you're doing it for suffering' humanity." "Only way." "If I was in his place," "A bullet would be what I'd beg for." "Quick and sure." "All right." "Here, doctor." "You take the rifle." "Yes." "Of course." "Show me how to use it." "there you are." "No reason to be squeamish." "Just putting a bullet into something dead." "If that's the way you practice medicine." "Fix a bad leg, broken arm, aching stomach." "Same way you'd repair a fence" "Or mend a tear in a pair of pants." "That's the way you practice medicine, doctor." "You don't have to worry about that man." "Do you?" "Paladin, it's all decided." "I'll need help to get down to where I can hit him." "stebbins?" "Well, doctor," "Unless cass can get you in position for a good shot," "You're gonna have to fly." "You won't help?" "Not a chance." "Come on, doc!" "Old cass'll be anchorman and let you down." "Rope!" "More?" "Why don't he shoot?" "I got to get a better shot." "All right." "Pull me up." "I'm sorry." "I couldn't do it." "Well, we all set ourselves up as god enough" "To pass judgment on another man," "And none of us is man enough to execute the judgment." "But he's just dead." "What's the matter with you?" "Why?" "What makes you so sure he's dead?" "You haven't even tried." "You just stood here." "He could be alive." "You were so sure he was dead." "Listen, paladin." "I'm a man with doubts like anyone else." "Nobody asked you to kill yourself" "To save another man's life." "The first law is self-preservation." "You kill to protect yourself." "Am I right?" "I don't know, doctor." "How do you feel?" "You feel like stebbins?" "He wanted to give me" "A thousand dollars to get rid of a bad memory." "Something bothering you?" "Come on, cass." "paladin." "I better go first." "All right, doctor." "Corey?" "How?" "Every time I look over that edge..." "It's like weights pulling' me over." "Blindfolded?" "blindfolded?" "You'll get the kid killed." "You leave me alone." "I'm not like you." "I don't want your help." "I'll try it blindfolded." "If you're willing to risk it," "So am I." "All right, corey." "Now, what about you?" "Y'all gonna do this." "Hmm?" "Well, I'm not a strong man, but I'll..." "I'll do what you want." "Thank you, stebbins." "Just remember I got a family." "Not like the rest of you." "All right." "All right." "Now, I'll hold the doctor." "And cass." "We'll put corey on this ledge" "So he won't have the hard part of the climb." "Stebbins, you belay us here on the rock." "Supposing he drops us?" "Corey, you'll trust stebbins because you've got to." "Just a minute, mr." "Paladin." "You go on down there." "But you ain't got me." "Now, what's the matter with you?" "I ain't gonna go down no rope that the other end's being held" "By a old storekeeper and a kid that's gotta be blindfolded" "Before he can get hisself over the front stoop." "I had enough from you." "You did, eh?" "You forget I'm a grown man." "I held everybody at the end of that rope." "And I say you're a coward." "What was that?" "You held the rope for everybody else," "But you're scared to let somebody hold it for you." "I ain't a-scared of nothin'." "Now, don't you get up." "'cause I don't wanna do what I have to do." "Now, you tell me I'm no coward." "You are a coward, cass." "You can't call me a cow- I'll punch you like the kid." "You'll fight me, but you won't follow me down that cliff." "You callin' me a coward?" "That's right." "You're a coward." "Even the doctor'll go where you don't dare to." "I'll go down there!" "I'll show ya!" "You're ready to prove that, then we don't have any problems." "We can get started." "Can't we?" "I ain't afraid!" "All right." "Corey?" "Doctor?" "Everybody tight?" "We gotta swing out now." "Mr. Stebbins?" "What, boy?" "They're gonna swing out now." "C-can you see him?" "Yeah." "It's all right." "You're all right." "Tell me what's happenin'." "Sure." "You all right, boy?" "I-I-I think so." "now." "Mr. Stebbins, what are they doin' now?" "They're puttin' him on the ledge." "They're just about there." "He's dead." "He's been dead all along." "Mr. Stebbins, what is he laughing' about?" "Because we near got ourselves killed..." "For a dead man." "Oh, I'm sorry he's dead." "All right." "Get me outta here." "This was a stupid risk to take." "Yeah." "¶ "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 the man called ¶" "¶ paladin ¶" "¶ paladin, paladin where do you roam ¶"