"Look here!" "Lindsey!" "Megan!" "Those sow-wallowing monkeys' asses." ""The Lord is my shepherd;" "I shall not want."" "But I do want." ""He leadeth me beside still waters." ""He restoreth my soul."" "But they killed my dog." ""Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..." ""..." "I shall fear no evil... "" "But I am afraid." ""...for thou art with me..." ""...thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. "" "But we need a miracle." ""Thy loving Kindness and mercy..." ""...shall follow me all the days of my life. "" "If you exist." ""And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. "" "But I'd like to get more out of this life first." "If you don't help us we're all going to die." "Please?" "Just one miracle?" "Amen." "Quitting, Mr. Barret?" "No, Eddie, just going to town." "Ain't that kind of dumb?" "You remember what happened to you last time?" "You quitting, Mr. Barret?" "Just going to town." "Ain't that kind of dumb after what happened last time?" "It's Barret." "Good afternoon, Mrs. B." "Damn fool!" "At least wait till the smoke clears." "We seem to need a few supplies." "All new camp, the way I hear it." "You've got sand, boy, but less sense than a sack of beans." "We've got no choice." "They ruined McPherson's shack." "Busted some others." "If it snows, the children will get sick." "Go on!" "I expect you'll pay for all of this in gold, right?" "When I put together a few ounces, I'll bring them in." "It'll take more than that." "Throw me that ledger!" "The last payment you made was eight months ago, when Lindquist brought his dust in." "There's no color left in Carbon Creek." "Then why is LaHood driving us out?" "He ain't used to being said no to." "There's color and nuggets." "Spider panned one out this morning." "Spider Conway?" "I've got that son of a bitch down for $85.33." "Forty-three cents." "He wants cyanide to bleach his dust." "That tears it!" "Tell Spider and the others that this is the end of the line." "The tit's gone dry!" "No more credit, you hear?" "You're a decent man." "We're grateful for what you've done." "Don't coddle me!" "I ain't doing this for you." "I'm the only merchant in town LaHood doesn't own." "It does my soul good to see a few thorns in his side." "One day, when we strike it big, I'll pay you off myself." "With interest, Mrs. B." "Just get your goods in that wagon and skedaddle." "Keep moving no matter what they say." "You take care, Hull." "We got a beef with you." "When we rode through the canyon, you didn't say hello." "Told you to stay out of town." "When I kicked your head, it must've jarred your memory." "Kick him again, maybe it'll come back." "Tell us about your Wheeler women." "You humping just the growed one or both?" "Probably both at the same time." "The little one is just out of knickers, ain't she?" "I'll bet she's as juicy as a freshwater clam." "What will make you fight like a man?" "I didn't come here to fight." "Then you shouldn't have come." "You made a big mistake, tin pan." "You know that?" "Can I take a look at your goods?" "Leave them be." "Canvas, burlap and wood." "Looks like the makings of a good fire." "You shouldn't play with matches." "Goddamn!" "There's nothing like a nice piece of hickory." "Much obliged." "Hull Barret's my name." "You from hereabouts?" "Nope." "Just passing through?" "I hadn't thought about it." "After what you did, I wouldn't stay in town." "My cabin has two rooms." "You're welcome to one." "I wouldn't want to be a burden on you or your family." "All I got is a kind of fiancée." "It would be a pleasure, not a burden." "Three hots and a cot is the least I owe you." "So long, Hull." "Where you going?" "Going." "Getting out." "Where the hell to?" "Away." "Can't fight no more." "I'm not the only one." "Good luck." "You'll quit, too, if you're smart." ""And power was given to him that sat to take peace from the earth..." ""...that they should kill one another:" "and he was given a great sword." ""When he opened the third seal, the third beast said, 'Come and see."'" "Fetch me some butter and syrup." ""And I beheld, and lo a black horse..." ""...he that sat on him held a pair of balances." "And I heard a voice..." ""...amidst the beasts say, 'A measure of wheat for a penny..." ""'...and three of barley for a penny..." ""'...and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.'" ""When he opened the fourth seal, the fourth beast said:" ""'Come and see.' And I looked..." ""...and behold a pale horse:" "and his name that sat on him..." ""...was Death..." ""...and Hell followed with him."" "Here's a towel for you." "Dinner will be ready pretty soon." "You should have seen how he waded into McGill and his men." "He sounds no different than any of LaHood's men." "He wasn't afraid of them." "We need someone they can't scare." "You scared of them?" "He should be." "But he's too all-fired stubborn." "I was scared and they knew it." "LaHood's got us all scared." "Lindquist left and didn't even know where he was going." ""I'm just going," he said." "The colony is beaten." "The only one who doesn't know it is you." "And me!" "I'm not leaving until LaHood's men are whipped." "Hush, Megan!" "You got her talking more like she's your daughter." "Tell her that fighting is nonsense." "Who's talking about fighting?" "You, talking about this stranger!" "Is he a gunman?" "I hope so." "I'd chip in an ounce of dust for a little protection." "From a hired killer?" "Who said he's a hired killer?" "Megan, we're going home." "Sarah, please." "Get rid of him!" "I will." "Today!" "Right after supper." "No!" "Now!" "He saved my life." "I hope I'm not the cause of this excitement." "Do you mind?" "Go right ahead." "There's nothing like a shot of whiskey to whet a man's appetite." "Fine looking fricassee." "Don't want it to get cold." "I apologize." "I didn't realize...." "I'll be damned." "Here, come right down here." "I'll get you some biscuits." "There's your stew, some butter and syrup." "You want anything else?" "Just some company." "Aren't you joining me?" "Of course!" "How do you do?" "Thank you for helping on Hull's behalf this morning." "I'm Sarah Wheeler." "This is my daughter, Megan." "I guess we got carried away but from the way you handled those men, I never would have thought" "Will you say grace?" "Certainly." "For what we are about to receive may we be truly thankful." "You should've started an hour ago." "I apologize." "We'd have been here, but we got tied up at the sawbone's." "What the hell happened?" "We had a little set-in with Barret in town, Boss." "And you got whipped?" "In LaHood, California, by a tin pan?" "There was a stranger who gave him a hand." "A big guy." "Who're you talking about?" "He left with Barret." "We didn't stick around." "McGill, take the sluice." "Jagou, Tyson, Elam, take over the monitor." "This man, LaHood, he's the one you all are feuding with?" "Him and his son." "Old Coy LaHood, he's a powerful man." "He came up here in '54 or '55, I think it was." "He was the first to strike it rich." "He saved himself a poke, then he'd stake new claims and mine them out then buy some more." "Lately, he's been using big hydraulic monitors." "They blast a place to hell." "Excuse my French." "LaHood's more powerful now than ever." "Carbon Canyon's the only place he hasn't ruined." "He's greedy for it, too." "Does he have any rights to your canyon?" "No, our claims are filed in Sacramento." "The only way LaHood can take this land legally is if we leave it." "I take it he's been kind of persuasive." "I don't care if they all leave, I'm staying." "He killed my dog and Grandpa." "Isn't there any law around to take your case to?" "If there was, LaHood would own them like he owns everything." "And there's not much a lawman could do even if we had one." "LaHood ain't killed anyone yet." "Meg's grandpa's heart gave out." "I've been taking care of Sarah and Megan ever since." "It ain't that we're living in sin or that I won't marry her." "But one day, a few years back, her husband Megan's father, lit out on her and left her with a child." "And since then, getting her trustful of a man hasn't been easy." "But when we do get hitched, will you do it?" "If you're waiting for a woman to make up her mind, you may have a long wait." "Yeah, I guess so." "Meantime, why don't you put me to work?" "No, I couldn't ask you to...." "Maybe something spiritual." "That spirit ain't worth spit without a little exercise." "Tell me where." "Well, okay." "I always thought that if I could split that rock there and get to the gravel underneath, there's gold been waiting there forever." "Every morning for two years, I've been coming out here, and you see it's like this rock and me have kind of an agreement." "I'm going to do it in, or it's going to do me in." "I'd hate to lay odds on who's going to win." "I thought of drilling and blasting the son of a gun, but that would" "Wreck the stream?" "Dam it up, be the end of everything." "There's few problems can't be solved with a little sweat and hard work." "Somebody's coming." "You recognize them?" "The one on the left is LaHood's boy, Josh." "The other one I ain't never seen him before." "Friend of yours, Barret?" "Yep." "He's our new preacher." "I hear you messed up some of my boys." "Nothing personal." "Don't you take it personal, but get the hell out of Carbon Canyon." "There's a lot of sinners hereabouts." "I shouldn't leave before I finish my work." "Jesus!" "Your work done now, Preacher?" "Part of it, leastways." "Put it in a little ice, that'll take care of it." "Thanks for stopping by, son." "You think you can make it?" "Ice!" "The Lord certainly does work in mysterious ways." "Preacher, my ass!" "Watch that step!" "Why?" "Damn thing move since we left Sacramento?" "Thank you, Mr. LaHood." "Welcome home, Pop." "How was Sacramento?" "Paradise!" "Two politicians for every Chinese laundry and two whores for every politician." "If there was gold in the delta, I'd go there." "How's business?" "We're pulling low-grade ore out of number five, but it's about played out." "We went down 20 feet more in 12 shaft, got only manganite, and shut it down." "And that vein in Cobalt Canyon is wearing thin, too." "What about Carbon?" "We ran another raid through there a few days back and scared them good." "We damn near run them out, lock, stock, and barrel." "Seems a stranger came through and pulled them together." "Ain't that right?" "Yeah, he pulled them together." "This one stranger did that?" "I expect you boys didn't explain to him just who we are." "I expect that once you explain things to him, he'll decide to move on!" "There ain't much for a preacher to do here, right?" "You let a preacher into Carbon Canyon?" "We didn't invite him!" "He took up with Hull." "What's wrong with a preacher?" "When I left, those tin pans had all but given up." "Their spirit was nearly broken." "And a man without spirit is whipped." "But a preacher, he could give them faith." "Shit!" "One ounce of faith, they'll be dug in deeper than ticks on a hound." "You boys throw a rope around that man." "You bring him to me!" "No, don't." "If we get too rough, we'll make a martyr out of him." "Don't want that." "That's true." "You didn't get no help from Sacramento?" "Sacramento ain't worth moose piss!" "They didn't sign the writ?" "Not only that some of them bastard politicians want to do away with hydraulic mining." ""Raping the land," they call it." "We got to move on Carbon, and move fast and dig deep." "Because the way the wind's blowing, we may be out of business soon." "And those tin pans have got to go!" "And that preacher!" "We'll have to find a way to deal with him." "Were Grandma and Grandpa happy when you got married?" "They didn't have a thimbleful of choice in the matter." "Were they surprised?" "Grandpa took the measles, and Grandma got drunk." "I suppose you could say it surprised them some." "Because they thought you weren't old enough?" "Your grandma was 15 when she got married." "No, I think what riled them was who I married." "Will you be happy married to Hull?" "Who says I'm marrying Hull?" "He's nice enough, isn't he?" "Yes." "He's nice." "Do preachers get married?" "I don't see why not." "How do I look?" "You look lovely." "You are the prettiest daughter I could ever have." "Break your hand?" "It's a nugget!" "The biggest damn nugget I've ever seen." "Look here." "Look at that!" "Isn't that beautiful?" "Almost as beautiful as Sarah." "Yeah, it figures." "It came from underneath that boulder." "I was right." "I was right." "It must weigh four oz." "That's a quarter pound of gold." "Is that real?" "Real?" "Just look at it." "Let's celebrate." "Can we go into town?" "I don't think that's a very good idea." "That would clear your credit, wouldn't it?" "It would, and then some." "Can we, please?" "What do you think?" "Why not?" "We've got as much right in town as the next person." "Going to town again?" "That's right." "Want to come along?" "No, our daddy wouldn't let us go to town." "Sure is a nice day for it, though." "I'll be back." "I'll go square things with Mr. Blankenship." "Take care of the ladies." "That won't be hard." "We'll get a soda after I'm done." "Look." "I'll go get Hull." "That's all right." "He'll be fine." "My papa wants to see you, Preacher." "He does, does he?" "All right." "Don't go." "I know it's a trick." "I'll be all right." "What if they hurt him?" "Shut up." "I'm sorry." "It's all right." "Preacher, my name is Coy LaHood." "I know." "Do you imbibe, Reverend?" "Only after 9:00 in the morning." "When I heard a parson had come to town I had an image of a pale, scrawny, Bible-thumping Easterner with a linen handkerchief and bad lungs." "That's me." "Hardly." "Your health." "It occurred to me it must be difficult for a man of faith to carry the message on an empty stomach, so to speak." "I thought why not invite this devout and humble man to preach in town?" "Why not let the town be his parish?" "In fact why not build him a brand-new church?" "I can see where a preacher'd be mighty tempted by an offer like that." "Oh, indeed." "Then he'd be thinking about getting himself a batch of new clothes." "We'd have them tailor-made." "Then he'd start thinking about those Sunday collections." "Hell, in a town as rich as LaHood, that preacher'd be a wealthy man." "That's why it wouldn't work." "Can't serve God and mammon both." "Mammon being money." "I opened this country." "I made this town what it is." "I brought jobs and industry." "I built an empire with my own two hands." "And I've never asked help of anyone." "Those squatters, Reverend, are standing in the way of progress." "Theirs or yours?" "Here, look." "Just look at that writ!" "Comes hot from Sacramento, giving me mineral rights to the whole canyon." "That hardly seems likely." "If you had those rights, you'd have exercised them." "No, those people have legal claims." "You can't mine there till they leave." "Damn it!" "You read that writ!" "If it was worth the paper it's on, you wouldn't be trying to bribe me." "What's your business with those tin pans, Reverend?" "Nothing." "They're just friends." "You and your friends got 24 hours to pack up and leave or my men will ride through that canyon and run you out!" "I've been a law-abiding man, but now I'm out of patience." "And any blood that gets spilled will be on your hands." "You're a troublemaker, stranger." "You spell bad cess in letters that stretch from here to Seattle." "Thanks for the drink." "Now, I've reasoned and I've bargained with you and I've come up short." "But what's mine is mine, and if you make me fight for it, I will." "There is a man, a marshal." "He keeps the peace, if you take my meaning." "His name is Stockburn." "And he won't be as patient as me." "These people in Carbon Canyon, would you pay cash for their claims?" "Buy them out?" "I'd do anything to prevent bloodshed." "How about $100 a head?" "How about $1,000?" "I'll tell you what:" "I'll go up to $125." "Stockburn and his deputies will cost you a lot more than that." "How would you know?" "How much is it worth to have a clear conscience?" "$1,000 per claim then." "But I want them out of here in 24 hours!" "I paid him off in full." "I even have enough to pay off Sparters." "Where is he?" "In there." "Well, do something, Hull!" "What were you doing in there?" "LaHood was buying me a drink." "Thanks for the thought." "So we all vote in favor?" "Speak up!" "All those in favor?" "Are any opposed?" "Me and LaHood's seen a lot of ground together, starting back in '55." "He may be greedy, but he ain't no fool." "If he offers $1,000 a claim, it's because it's worth five times that." "The way LaHood works, maybe." "The way we work we're lucky to see $1,000 a year." "I say we take his offer." "Suppose you struck a thousand bucks in nuggets." "Would you quit and blow town?" "Or keep digging?" "What do you say, Preacher?" "What I say doesn't matter." "It's your sweat he's buying." "Why don't you sleep on it, make the decision in the morning?" "What if we don't decide in the morning?" "What happens if we can't decide?" "Then I suppose LaHood'll take that as no." "Then what?" "He said he'd call in a marshal." "What kind of a threat is that?" "We have nothing to fear from the law." "This is no ordinary kind of marshal." "His name is Stockburn." "He travels with six deputies." "And they uphold whatever law pays them the most." "Killing is a way of life with them." "I'm telling you this because if you decide against LaHood's offer, you'll meet him." "You know this Stockburn?" "I've heard of him." "We all know what we're up against." "He ain't just saying, "Take my offer." He's saying, "Take it or else."" "We're family men." "We're no match for seven guns." "Yeah, but how many of us are there?" "Twenty?" "I heard the preacher." "I know these men are professionals." "But it's still twenty against seven, ain't it?" "And we know how to pull a damn trigger, don't we?" "If it comes down to it, I'll fight before I'll quit my claim but, damn it, LaHood's offer's fair." "I still vote we take his money and we start afresh elsewhere." "Starting fresh sounds good when you're in trouble but before we vote to pack up and leave I think we should ask why we're here." "If it's no more than money, then we're no better than LaHood himself." "Spider here asked a question." "If any of us turned up $1,000 worth of nuggets, would he quit?" "Hell, no!" "He'd build his family a better house and buy his kids better clothes maybe build a school or a church." "If we were farmers, we'd be planting crops." "If we raised cattle, we'd tend them." "But we're miners so we dig and pan and break our backs for gold." "But gold ain't what we're about." "It ain't what I'm about." "I came out here to raise a family." "This is my home." "This is my dream." "I've sunk roots here." "And we all have buried members of our families in this ground." "And this is their dream, too, and they died for it." "Now we're going to take $1,000 and leave their graves untended?" "We owe them more than that." "We owe ourselves more." "If we sell out now what price do we put on our dignity next time?" "$2,000?" "Less?" "Or just the best offer?" "I say to hell with LaHood!" "I ain't a brave man, but I ain't no coward neither." "We took our chances this far." "I vote we keep it up." "To hell with LaHood!" "Let them come!" "We're ready!" "I buried my dog over here." "That's hallowed ground then." "I said a prayer for her." "It was after the raid." "I prayed for a miracle." "Maybe someday you'll get that miracle." "It was the day you arrived." "I think I love you." "There's nothing wrong with that." "If there was more love in the world there'd probably be a lot less dying." "Then there can't be anything wrong with making love either." "I think it's best just to practice loving before you think about the other." "If I practice just loving for a while, will you teach me the other?" "Megan, most folks around kind of associate that with marriage." "I'll be fifteen next month." "Mama was married when she was fifteen." "Will you teach me then?" "Ninety-nine out of 100 men would be proud to say yes to that." "But a young girl, a young woman like you you wouldn't want to spend your future on me." "Why not?" "That's just the way it is." "I don't understand." "I don't believe you." "I don't want to believe you." "Whatever you're saying isn't true." "It isn't fair." "Come on now." "That's no way to pass the test." "Test?" "Trust." "If you love someone you got to try to trust what they tell you is true." "Even if it means we can't be together?" "Someday a young man's going to come along." "The right man." "And then none of this will matter anymore." "If I was your mom, I'd be worried about where you are." "It's my mama you love, isn't it?" "Your mama's a fine woman." "And so are you." "The way you look at her and the way she looks at you...." "It's true." "I don't care!" "You can have her!" "I never want to see you again!" "I hope you die and I hope you go to hell!" "Tell your father they turned him down." "You're just in time for the mail." "Hell with the mail." "The boss wants this telegram sent right now." "Preacher?" "He's gone." "What?" "Who?" "The preacher." "Packed up and left." "But, why?" "Where to?" "I don't know." "He must have left before sunup." "He must have gone to tell LaHood about the vote last night." "With his bedroll and coat?" "I can't believe that he's gone." "It's not like him." "He would have said something to us." "Well, I reckon we'll survive." "All this talk about fighting, no wonder he's gone." "What's that supposed to mean?" "LaHood be damned!" "Isn't that what you decided last night?" "I spoke my mind, if that's what you mean." "You got the rest of them to vote your way." "They voted their conscience." "They voted to fight!" "Damn right!" "If it comes to that." "You think they'd have voted that way before the preacher came?" "Or if they knew he wouldn't be here?" "They voted to stick together." "The preacher held them together!" "They knew he helped you in town!" "They watched him stand up to that animal LaHood sent out here!" "They were counting on him to beat LaHood himself." "I reckon I did all right by you before he came." "Didn't I?" "Damned if that don't cut it!" "LaHood dammed up the creek." "If you'd accepted LaHood's offer, this never would have happened!" "$1 0...$20 and $30." "Thank you." "Come back and see us." "Reverend." "What can I do for you?" "There you are." "It's time to pack up the missus and light out of here." "Don't seem like we have much choice." "How about you, Barret?" "Any ideas?" "Where's the preacher?" "He'll know what to do." "He ain't here." "You mean he's gone?" "He went to tell LaHood we turned him down." "But before he left he said if anything happened, he hoped we'd do like he'd do if he was here." "Shit." "I don't know." "I suppose we could dry pan for a couple days." "I know he'd hate to see us quit, without giving it our best." "Let's play it out a few days." "What can we lose?" "One nugget." "I'd like to find me one big nugget." "I'd shove it so far up LaHood's ass it'd wink at him when he washes his teeth." "You got sand, Barret but you can't lie worth a damn." "With the preacher gone, your life won't be worth spit." "If I was you, I'd pack them two ladies and git." "You angry at me?" "No." "Whatever gave you that notion?" "You angry at Mama then?" "I wouldn't say that." "Not angry." "She hurt your feelings, didn't she?" "I know how that feels." "Let's talk about it later." "Can I borrow the mare?" "Can you saddle her?" "I already did." "Sure, take her out for a stretch." "Rich, by Christ!" "I've struck it rich!" "Look at this!" "You pair of clodpolls." "Come see what Daddy pulled out of the stream." "LaHood!" "You sugar-legged toad, I beat you!" "Look at this!" "Old Spider's struck it rich!" "What've you got, Daddy?" "You brainless barn owl...it's gold!" "Go get the mules!" "We're going to town." "Us?" "We're going to town!" "I want to apologize if anything I've said or done is gonna stand between us." "Can't think of any such." "Sure looks like Spider's payday's come." "Maybe it's just his turn." "Like it was your turn a couple days ago." "At least someone will leave Carbon Canyon a few dollars richer." "When we all pack up there's room in my wagon for anything you want to take with you." "Are you asking us to leave here with you?" "I reckon we're all going, aren't we?" "Ever since your daddy died I've done what I could to help you, without putting any conditions on it." "Now I'm putting one on." "You owe me the truth." "What do you have against me?" "Nothing." "Is there a chance for us being together?" "You are the most decent man I ever met, Hull Barret." "The answer is yes." "I apologize for being so high-strung lately." "It's just that I've been so confused." "With what's been going on, it's a wonder we all ain't crazy." "We've got nothing more to worry about." "We'll start all over again someplace new." "The three of us." "The first town we get to..." "we'll find ourselves another preacher." "Yes." "Another preacher." "Come to see how the rich do it?" "Maybe." "Your mama know where you are?" "I don't tell her everything." "She wouldn't like your being here." "I'm 15." "Same age as her when she got married." "I can do what I want." "You want me to show you around?" "Isn't that why you came here?" "Three-quarters of a mile up the stream we diverted half of Cobalt Creek." "It flows through a ditch along the slope." "It ends up about 100 yards up yonder." "It can't just end." "It doesn't really." "It flows into a length of three-foot pipe." "Then that flows downslope real steep." "Then that narrows to a two-foot pipe then a one-foot pipe." "All that time it's going down slow but it picks up speed and force by going into a thinner pipe." "It hurts my ears." "By the time the water reaches the monitor I've got about 200 pounds of pressure per square inch." "I could blast that gravel out of that cliff." "Then it washes down into the bed and travels through the sluice." "It looks like hell." "I can get 20 tons of gravel a day on this rig." "So, what did you really come up here for?" "I was just riding." "Thought I'd take a look around." "I'm wanting to take a look, too." "At you." "Real close." "Look what I got me, boys!" "A tin pan's daughter." "Stop!" "Stop, please!" "LaHood!" "It's old Spider!" "Come on out and have a drink with an honest man, you skunk's butt!" "Is he one of them?" "A piece of trash." "Name's Conway." "Used to work for me!" "It's too bad." "For a while, I had them buffaloed." "Then this preacher come along, shot them full of sass." "You take care of him along with the rest." "Made me look bad in front of my men." "He whipped four of them." "A preacher did that?" "You're damn right he did." "What did he look like?" "He was tall and lean." "His eyes...." "Yeah, his eyes...something strange about them." "That mean something to you?" "Sounds like a man I once knew." "Might be." "He recognized your name." "It couldn't be." "The man I'm thinking about is dead." "I know you're in there, Coy!" "I got something to show you!" "Come on out and have a drink you old sow belly in bloat!" "Sounds like your daddy's running out of steam." "You better take him home." "No." "Hell, we only get to town here once a year." "Where's LaHood?" "Inside." "What is it you want?" "You're Stockburn." "These are my deputies." "Gentlemen, say hello to Mr. Conway." "I have no grief with you." "It's Coy I want to talk to." "He's listening." "You creepy-legged lizard." "I don't think Mr. LaHood wants to talk to you tin pan." "Maybe he'd like to watch you dance, huh?" "I don't know how to dance." "It's easy." "Just move your feet to the rhythm." "Stay where you are, boys!" "Some music, gentlemen." "Take him back to Carbon Canyon." "Tell that preacher to meet me here tomorrow morning." "Stop!" "Who are you?" "You know which end of that thing shoots the bullet?" "You won't believe what's happened." "LaHood dammed up the stream!" "Spider found a rock full of nuggets!" "The Wheeler girl's horse come back without her." "I'll be damned!" "She got caught up at LaHood's, but she's fine." "You're home now, Megan." "Your mama's here." "You better come outside." "Then him and his men they shot him." "Forever." "The bullets kept hitting him forever." "It was him, wasn't it?" "It was that marshal you warned us about." "Stockburn." "Stockburn and his deputies." "He said, "Tell the preacher to come in the morning."" "Why you?" "The night you warned us about Stockburn, it sounded like you knew him." "Spider asked you that himself." "Is it true?" "The vote you took the other night showed courage." "You voted to stick together." "That's just what you should do." "Spider made a mistake." "He went into town alone." "A man alone is easy prey." "Only by standing together can you beat the LaHoods of the world." "No matter what happens tomorrow, don't you forget that." "You've got a brave man there." "Give him a decent burial." "You are going into town tomorrow, ain't you?" "How can you say that?" "Megan feeling any better?" "She's sleeping." "Thank you for what you did." "There's no need." "I'm just glad I happened by." "That first day, when Hull told me what happened in town I knew you were a gunfighter." "Lots of people carry guns." "Megan told me what you did with Josh LaHood." "Who, but a gunfighter, could have done such a thing?" "Would you care for some coffee?" "The folk here tell me you're planning to go to town and face that marshal." "That's right." "Don't." "Please." "It's an old score and it's time to settle it." "I wish there was something I could do or say to change your mind." "When you left the other day it reminded me of a time when someone left me." "After that, I swore I would never be hurt again." "Or love again." "Then you rode into our lives." "I couldn't help what I felt." "God, I wish I could control my feelings." "After you left, I thought you'd gone for good." "It forced me to grow up." "See things differently." "Appreciate what I have." "I need a man who would never leave me." "Can you understand that?" "And you would leave again one day, wouldn't you?" "Yes." "Then it's best this way." "I'm going to marry Hull." "Hull is a good man." "Yes, he is." "This is just so I won't wake up at night for the rest of my life wondering." "Goodbye." "Preacher!" "Who was that?" "A voice from the past." "Close the door." "Who are you?" "Who are you really?" "It really doesn't matter, does it?" "No." "Good morning, Barret." "Little early, isn't it?" "A little." "Good gun for buffalo." "The problem is there aren't any hereabouts." "I'm going with you." "There's no buffalo where I'm going either." "I know." "Even with that rifle, you wouldn't stand much of a chance." "That's for me to decide, isn't it?" "Suit yourself." "Run, damn it!" "Run!" "What the hell are you doing?" "You're a good man, Barret." "You take care of Sarah and the girl." "So long, Preacher!" "I thought you were still sleeping." "You're dressed!" "The preacher's gone, isn't he?" "Yes." "Did you tell him you loved him?" "He knows we both love him." "Did you say goodbye to him?" "Yes." "I didn't." "Yeah, that's him." "That's the preacher, all right." "You ever seen him before?" "Can't see his face from here." "I'll be damned." "What's he up to?" "Well, son, coffee?" "Here we are." "Piping hot." "I think you and Mr. Blankenship ought to take a stroll." "He's just sitting there drinking coffee." "He's even got his back to the door." "I reckon all of us don't need that marshal...do we?" "It appears you won't have to bother with the preacher." "Are you through?" "Jesus!" "What the hell is he up to now?" "He's inviting us to join him." "Fan out." "Find him." "You!" "Long walk." "Where is he?" "He's gone, Megan." "Child, he's gone." "You can't drive these horses any more." "You'll kill them!" "Preacher!" "We all love you, Preacher!" "I love you!" "Thank you." "Goodbye."