"We have business, you and I?" "We have business." "There is no need for shouting between us." "We can conduct our business like gentlemen." "Now, tell me." "Tell me." "Here." "This, I think, must be the place." "Good day to you, lad." " May we have some water?" " Water is free." "Free." "Free, you say?" "Not so." "Not always." "Even this, you're building a fence around." "You can help me, sir." "I'm looking for an Oriental gentleman, very close to your age." "A man about your height, not too far from your width." "What would you want with such a man?" "Well, when I find him, I'll tell him." "Your tread must be light and sure as though your path were upon rice paper." "It is said a Shaolin priest can walk through walls." "Looked for, he cannot be seen." "Listened for, he cannot be heard." "Touched, he cannot be felt." "This rice paper is the test." "Fragile as the wings of the dragonfly, clinging as the cocoon of the silkworm." "When you can walk its length and leave no trace you will have learned." "Bravo, Clarence!" "Drop it." "Drop it." "Drop it, I said." "Blood has no part in this." "Magnificent." "Making fools out of my fools." "If the fighting's dirty, these two are worth a platoon of mercenaries." "They've defended their dishonor in saloons from San Francisco to Madagascar and nobody ever did what you did to them before." "I'll stake my life on it." "You've the brand of the tiger and the dragon on your arms, eh?" "You are Kwai Chang Caine." " And if I am?" " I am Brandywine Gage." "Captain Gage, ashore from the ship Peking Lady rumpsprung and calloused where no man ought to be calloused." "This brace of surly dogs:" "My first mate, Clarence Murphy." "And Pan Chao." "He can peel a potato at 20 yards just by hating it." "You're angry, lad." "This should make amends." "What is it?" "More than you ever dreamed about, lad." "Kwai Chang Caine, I have a ring for you." "And a name." "Ywang Kyu." "Mean anything, eh?" " Master Kyu?" " Yes." "There is an injured man at the gates." "Are you the old man who heals?" "I am he." "It is gone." " Come, let me see it." " You deserve it, drunken fool!" "No one deserves pain." "All will be cared for, but you must do just what I tell you." " You may see him tomorrow." " I have work to do." " And so has he." " We shall do what we can." "Come." "Yes, I know him." "Old teacher of yours, eh?" "You have news of him?" "He is well?" "He's dead, lad." "The yellow house in town, Caine." "After you've read your letter..." ""We, by the grace of heaven, emperor instruct all men to note this, our edict." "The priest, Kwai Chang Caine condemned to die for crimes against our imperial throne, has..."" " Yes?" " It's me, Ellie." "You didn't come to supper." "You are very kind." "You've changed things around here, Caine." "I didn't even see what things looked like after Father died." "Things seemed so hard to get done, like that fence." "You make it look like a whole range crew's been working on it." " It will serve." " It's the best fence in the county." "What did those fellows want this morning?" "They brought me this." "What is that?" "A pardon from the emperor of China." " Your men are shooting at me." " Belay that!" "This is none of mine." "Stay down." "Chi!" "You're a bloody, bloody fool." "You almost ruined everything, you don't even know it." "I ought to have you flogged till the whip cries mercy." "You are my husband, and I belong to you." "And you may whip me, if it pleases you." " But I will shoot him again if I get a chance." " Ching, you..." "Kwai Chang Caine?" " I am here." " Catch." "There'll be no more shooting." "Come in." "Mister Caine..." "Come along." "I'd like you to meet my mischievous, most dear wife, the Lady Chi Ching." "She is of the royal court and niece to the emperor himself." "Ching, be a lovely girl, will you, and apologize to Mr. Caine as you meet him, eh, my sweet?" "I wish to please you, my husband but do not ask me to apologize to that murderer." "He's just killed the royal nephew!" "Get the guard!" " Did you kill him?" " Yes, my master." "You must leave the country." "The boy you killed, the nephew to the emperor, he was her brother." "They were very close." "I am sorry." "There, you see?" "He's a proper gentleman." "So I must insist, dear wife, apologize." "We may be barbarians in America but we don't go around shooting one another often." "I am sorry, Kwai Chang that I tried to shoot you and missed." "I'm afraid that'll have to do, eh, old fella?" "It will do." " Now to business." " Can I have my pistol back, please?" "No more of that." "Give it here." "And you go in there and sit down like a good little princess and behave yourself." "So, Kwai Chang you read the emperor's decree." "I do not understand." "He's sworn to see me die." "Aye and nothing would please him more." "But like all men great and small, trouble came to him." "His newest bride, pretty, little girl, Meui Ling came down with the brain fever, don't you see?" "Well, his majesty announced whoever could cure Meui Ling should have whatever he desired." "Your old shaman, Ywang Kyu, came along and cured her right up." "And what he desired was forgiveness for you." " This is true?" " As true as I'm standing here." "Well, the emperor was outraged at first." "Had Ywang Kyu thrown out of the palace." "But then..." "Then?" "Then they struck a bargain." "The emperor insisted that royal honor demanded a beheading and they so agreed." "Of what use is such a pardon?" "What is pardoned, my headless body?" "Peace." "Listen to me, not your head, lad." "A token, a small beheading." "The small finger of your right hand, they agreed." "That's all." "Why that?" "The emperor wanted more, believe me." "He's not a charitable man." "No, this was Ywang Kyu's idea." "He said that you would understand." "Because I was a rascal and a fool." "I gambled away all the month's rent from my tenants bought wine for everyone paid the flower girls for their songs." "There was nothing left, at last." "They goaded me into it." "I bet my finger." "Mao threw the dice and I lost." "It hurts, Master Kyu." "It hurts." "And what would you have won if the dice had been otherwise?" "Four pieces of silver." "As many as I have fingers left." "And with the four pieces of silver you would have bought more wine and flower girls, would you not?" "Then perhaps with the finger, you have bought wisdom and that would be well worth the price." "You say Ywang Kyu is dead." "Yes." " Cognac?" " No." "How do you come by his ring?" "Given to me by the emperor along with the parchment I put in your hands." "There's sorrow in you, lad, for the death of the old man." "And it does you credit." "But you and I are alive and so I ask you, are you ready to leave?" " Leave?" " Aye, lad, leave." "Go home to China." "My ship lies in the bay loaded and provisioned for the Orient and I am like a beached whale in this barren land dying for a splash of water and salt air." "What is to hold you?" "Why, you, lad." "It's free passage I'm offering you." "Well, lad?" "First, I must decide if I wish to pay the price." "The price?" "The way the world is, this bids fair to be a bargain for you." "Everything you ever wanted:" "Friends, home, freedom your good name." "And all it costs, a little finger." "Then, I must decide if you speak the truth." "Not to offend you, Captain Gage but it well may be you mean to betray me." "Why should I do that?" "I do not value myself very highly but I believe the emperor has much to give to a man who would bring me to him." "Lad, you don't know, and it's not for me to try and convince you." "With or without you, we leave tomorrow at noon." "We sail one hour after we're on board and it's all the same to me whether you're on board or not." "May I speak to the lady?" " Why?" " I believe I may learn the truth." "Lad, the minute she sets eyes on you she fires a cannon in your direction and you're looking for the truth from her?" "Yes." "Why go ahead then." "Talk to her." "Is this truth?" "Am I pardoned?" "How can you believe whatever I say?" "You know I hate you." "If I say it is true, the pardon may be false." "You will go back to China and die." "And that would please me." "And if I say it is false the pardon may be true." "But you will stay here and live among those barbarians barred forever from your native land." "And that, too, would please me." "You have not answered." "The letter you have read is as it is." "And it was written under my uncle's order." "Do you believe me?" "Yes." "Well, then, lad, come along." "I'll see you out." "You were magnificent." "How artfully you picked your way around the truth." "I did not lie." "My uncle is indeed the author of this tale the fool believes." "Brandy, would the American emperor do such a thing?" "Lie, make a false promise?" "My dear child go ask..." "Ask an Indian, eh?" "An emperor is an emperor by any name you call him." "Then, honor is a children's game." "We are rich." "You should have let me shoot him." "With twice the reward offered for him alive?" "It's throwing money away." "You tell me that no chain will hold this Shaolin priest." "No man may take him." "And yet, you bait a trap with words." "It's the only way, my pet." "He'll walk onto my ship because he wants to." "And he'll step up to the emperor's chopping block because he promised." "And if he does not?" "If he does not..." "If he does not..." "Well, if he does not we'll shoot him." "Eh, lads?" "No." "No, you cannot." "You cannot." "I have lost too much already." "You cannot!" "The fire has entered the hand through the wound and the hand is dead already." "And if we do not remove the fire, you, too, may die." "Do you hear me, Liu?" "Liu, I've done all I could but the spirit of the finger is calling to the hand." "If we do not give it, the spirit will be angered and may even demand more." "The spirit?" "Have you seen the spirit?" " Was it here?" " It is here, at the window." "Drive it away!" "Drive it away!" "No, you cannot have my hand!" "How can I work?" "How?" "Here you are, broth." "You looking for this?" "It had a tear in it." "I patched it." "It had no tear." "Yes it did, on the button." " You must think I'm an idiot." " No." " I just wanted to show my appreciation." " For what?" "For everything you've done around here." "You feed me give me a place to sleep." "It is as it was agreed." "But it seems so cheap." "I want to do something useful for you." " Useful?" " Cook, clean, sew all the things a woman can do." "You do not believe in yourself?" "Of course I do." "Then why do you need to perform for me?" "Well, I just don't want you to think that I take you for granted." "You know, that paper, the pardon from the emperor it made me realize that you weren't tied here that you have your own life and your own interests." "Whatever they are, they don't center around this ranch or what happens to it." "There's nothing here to hold me?" "What, a worn-down little farmhouse and a few acres of land?" "A few head of stock?" "I know what I have." "I know what I am." "You do not know what you are." "Tell me." " Ellie." " What's Ellie?" "A name." "A woman." "A person." "There are a lot of women in the world, a lot of people." "But only one Ellie." "Alone, and fighting." "Fighting for what?" "You look into the mirror and you see only yourself." "What else is there?" "You are alone and separate but you are also part of the land." "Part of the people part of the whole." "Everything is within your reach." "Where do you fit in this whole, in all this?" "I also am in part of the whole." "With me?" "With you." "Yet, we're apart." "We are joined." "Are we?" "Now, are we?" " Caine?" " Yes?" "I've never met anyone like you before." "About last night the way I came in..." " You must think that I..." " I think you are Ellie." "You've decided to go, haven't you?" " Go?" " Back to China." "I do not know." "Well, there's nothing to keep you here." "There's a great deal." "Then why go?" "I have asked myself that." "There is much here that I have loved." "The land the people." "Half my life is here, and through my father, my roots." "But China is home." "What must we say of a mirror that receives tranquility yet, reflects troublement?" "The mirror I spoke of was you, student Caine." "It is not for myself I am troubled, master but for the sick man, Liu." "If he does not accept the loss of his hand, he will die." "Did not Ywang Kyu make this clear to him?" " Yes, master, but..." " Yes?" "Shall we not act in spite of the obstinacy of the sick man when inaction may destroy him?" "Is it your feeling that Ywang Kyu is not forceful enough?" "I have asked myself that question." "Look to the water at your feet." "Does not the sage say:" ""What is more yielding than water?" "Yet, back it comes again wearing down the rigid strength which cannot yield to withstand it."" "What is more forceful than quiet water?" "Look at him." "How can you trust them?" "You can't." "I am not asked to trust them." "Stop her." "So you are Caine's woman." "My husband spoke about you." "I'm the woman he works for, or did." "He has then decided to come with us?" "You'd better ask him that." "Say, what's you name?" "Chi Ching." "Caine told me about you." "I've never seen a princess before, but you look like one." "You do not dress like the other American women." "Why is that?" "I have to work for a living, that's why." "You are a peasant, then?" "I wouldn't say that." "I own 100 acres of land and I have near 20 head of horses and as many cattle." "That is very much." "Yeah, too much for me to handle myself." "And you people are taking away a good hand at a bad time for me." "It would always be a bad time for you to take Caine away." "You care about him very much." "Now, what would you know about that?" "I've seen the way you look at him." "I am a woman too." "What I don't understand is how you could care so deeply...?" "Who said I cared...?" "So deeply about a murderer and a criminal." "I've known a lot of men, and not many decent men among them." "This man, Caine, is the decentest, kindest man I've ever known." "Well, priest, what have you decided?" "I have made no decision." "Is it that you do not trust me?" "I am certain you cannot tell a lie." "Well, then?" "I have received a pardon from the emperor." "Now I need a pardon from his nephew, your brother." "But he is dead." "You killed him." "That is why I ask his pardon." "How can you ask pardon of a dead man?" "Have you not sometimes talked to the dead?" "Your ancestors?" "What have they to do with this?" "It is the principle I speak of." "Do you think he will hear you?" "If he thinks me worthy." "Poor priest." "You do not think me worthy?" "I think you a fool." "Is anything wrong, Lady?" "Wrong?" "What should be wrong?" "I don't know, Lady." "Silly girl, did I say anything was wrong?" "No, Lady." "Then stop prattling and come and fix my hair." "Well, lad, what's your answer?" "Still suspicious?" "I believe, captain that your wife can only speak the truth." "Which is as much to say that I do not?" "I mean no offense." "I will not surrender my finger." "Lad, that's none of my doing." "I've no use for that kind..." "Does that mean you're going?" "If you have room for me, I will go." " Splendid." " Oh, Lady, the demon!" "Murphy, Pan Chao, quick, upstairs!" "Why did you scream?" "I could not help myself, Lady." "The scream erupts from your body, then, at will?" " When I saw the demon upon the window..." " It was no demon." "But, Lady, it was." "Did you not see its eyes?" " I saw." " It was the eyes of a demon." "Foolish girl, demons are for children." "Don't you know that?" " It was..." " What?" "No matter." "Take the boxes downstairs." "Do you believe that bird was the spirit of my dead brother?" "Do you?" "You ask too much, priest." "You expect a murdered man to forgive his murderer." "Who else can?" "Isn't it enough to be pardoned by the emperor?" "It is a great honor." "It is very generous of the emperor to pardon you in that way." " Don't you think?" " To fulfill a promise." "He didn't have to keep his promise." "An emperor doesn't have to do anything." "Unlike sea captain's wives, who have to learn the virtue of silence." "We have him, love." "We do not wish to frighten him away." "You see, the trick is to get him in motion." "Once underway, his momentum will carry him to the ship." "And then, there's nowhere else for him to go but to the chopping block." " You should have let me shoot him." " No, no, my love." "We'll get him my way." "You're a princess." "Don't let his foolishness unnerve you." "Do not call it foolishness." " What is it, then, spirits and demons?" " A spirit is not a demon." "And a crow is not a spirit." "And it was a crow, a simple, ugly bird." "The land is full of them." "Ching." "Are we quarreling over a bird?" "You know, my love I would gladly exchange this crow anytime for my crow's nest and China." "But do not forget how much a grateful emperor can do for us." "My love." "Kwai Chang, you only decided to come when I told you who wrote the pardon?" "Yes." "My husband told you the same thing." " Did you not believe him?" " No." " Yet, you believe me?" " Yes." "Why shouldn't I lie?" "You have no need to lie." " But I might lie..." " Enough!" "But I didn't." "Lady, the demon!" "Make him go!" "Make him go!" "I will do as you say!" " You can have my head!" " But it may be too late." "Do you understand?" "I don't care!" "Try the gas on me!" "Go tell Master Kan." "And go to the laundry and get clean rags." "Hurry." " Kill it." " Do not shoot." "You've orders, man." "Put the beast out of his misery." "No." "It is the spirit of my dead brother." "It's the wart on my great aunt's nose." "Put it away, Murphy, with a bullet down its ugly gizzard." "No." " Do it, man, now." " Please?" " Fine shooting, captain." " Not bad, eh?" "Haven't lost the touch." "Murderer." "You killed him." "Use your head, princess." "If this was a spirit, could a bullet have brought it down?" "By your own lights, my pet this was no royal-blooded, imperial spirit to come tumbling down like that, eh, me love?" "Kwai Chang, it is all a lie." "There is no pardon." "If you go back to China, you will be killed." "I knew you would not lie to me." "A crow, after all." " I am sorry." " I would've wished it were true." "The emperor did write those words, but he did not mean to honor them." "That is why I tried to kill you first." "You realize, me bucko, I cannot let you go." "Why?" "I risked my good name with the emperor to win her." "She's part of the payoff, don't you see?" "An advance, so to speak." "I've invested too much." "Too much beautiful planning to lose it now." "The old man's ring." "The artful little thing about the finger, the clincher, eh?" "It was why I believed you." "No matter, Kwai Chang Caine." "We have an appointment in Peking." "Please, into the coach." "I would be foolish to do so." "Belay that." "This is for me." "Master Kyu, I was so much trouble for you." "You were much more trouble for yourself, Liu." "I see nothing to give thanks for." "I brought you my husband who had a hand and an arm." "And you returned to me a man who is half himself." "Woman, be still." "And you, boy, thanks for keeping vigil so long with me." "Master." "Come, woman." "Master why was the spirit not satisfied with Liu's hand?" "The spirit might have been." "But Liu, himself, had not done with gambling." "He refused, as we recall, to let me help him." "I do not understand." "What did the spirit want?" "That, we may not know." "Only what they do." "But it seems clear that the finger was lost foolishly and that angered the spirit of the finger to be ripped wantonly off with so many good years of work left in it." "But to take the arm and save the life that appeased the spirit, for it was a good loss." "The spirit decided to let Liu live." "Sometimes we must lose part of a gamble in order to win in the end." "Master, Liu might not have consented to the loss of his arm except for the appearance of the crow." "Yet, the crow did appear." "And on the floor of the sick room, I found this." "Liu believed in his demons by his own choice, not by ours." "If the appearance of one of his demons helped him make the right choice then we can only be grateful for the ways of providence." "Can we not?" "All right, lad, it's over." "There is a time when even an emperor must be disobeyed." "I am satisfied that the affair of honor between us is over." "I've never met a man like you." "Swear, I admire you more than I can say, but..." "I wouldn't be you for anything in the world." "Will they be in trouble when they get home?" "The emperor is vengeful." "But they have each other, and they have the ship." "I guess the fence will never be finished." " I will finish it before I go." " Don't." "Your horses will stray." "Let them." "Will you ever come back?" "Life is long." "Will you ever belong to anyone?" "No man can give himself away." "I would."