"If you want me to be responsible for you just because I saved your life, well, I don't wonder you're still alive, Boise." "You've got too much brass to die." "I say..." "Would you please notify Mr. Paladin that Miss Kirkland is in the lobby?" "Mr. Pal..." "He's out just now." "Gone to Los Angeles or maybe Denver." "Well, I could wait." "I think maybe he's in Chicago or Detroit." " I just don't know." " I will tell him you called." "Mr. Paladin's expecting me." "You may tell him Miss Ainsworth's arrived." "You go?" "Hey Boy, I go to Detroit, Chicago," "Cincinnati, New Orleans, Calcutta and possibly Bangkok and you, young gentleman, someday you, too, may be in trouble." "Which way'd he go, mister?" " Which way did who go?" " Boise Peabody." "I never knew a critter could move so fast without the aid of buckshot." "What's he done, this Boise Peabody?" "Ain't what he's done, mister." "It's what he ain't done." "Yeah, you see this?" "Big Fontana won 'em off a drummer passing through." "Fetch Boise, says he, and we's gonna have ourselves some entertainment." "Well, you mean to have Boise Peabody wear those?" "Sonny, some of the men back in our camp ain't looked on a woman since the boom, if you catch my meaning." "That's kind of cruel sport, for Boise Peabody, isn't it?" "Hey, that ain't Philadelphia up ahead." "Fetch Boise, says Big Fontana." "And when Big Fontana says jump, you better not be caught with your feet on the ground." "He wouldn't be wearing a checkered shirt, would he?" "That's Boise." "You seen him, did you?" "Yeah." "About a quarter of a mile back down the road." "Much obliged, Sonny." "Come on, let's go." "Get on the scent, boy." "All right, you can come out now." "Ain't that the dumbest pair you ever did see?" "I swear, they couldn't find a snowflake in a blizzard." "You sick?" "I am feeling poorly, for a fact." "Can you get back to your place all right?" "My shack ain't but a few steps." "When I get into town, I'll have the doctor look you up." "If it's not too much trouble." "No trouble at all." " Dr. Halop?" " That's right." "Boise Peabody's sick." "He'd like you to look in on him." "Well, I'm not surprised." "Boise ain't been right since he fell through the ice whilst under the influence last spring." "I'd best hustle over there." "Much obliged." "Beef stew." "How is the beef stew?" "Well, that depends." "How hungry are you?" "I see what you mean." "Well, you're new here, ain't you?" "Just passing through on my way to Sacramento." " Not today you ain't." " No?" " You're gonna spend the night here." " Why?" "You can't ford that creek, swollen up like she is." "Before you was halfway across, you'd be swept clear to Rio Vista." "Well, in that case, I'd better have some of your beef stew." "Yes, sir." "I'm parched, Doc." "It's like every drop of water had been squeezed out." "I swear I can feel my bones melting." "If somebody would just nail down the room." "It keeps a-bobbing." "Breathe deep." "Well, Doc?" "Boise, you know, medicine's still an infant science." "There's so many things we don't even have a label for yet, let alone find a cure for." "Don't tip-toe with me, Doc." "Look at it this way, son." "At least it's dying with a bed under you." "Dying?" "With mortality statistics the way they are in most mining camps, do you realize what the odds are against you getting a break like that?" "Doc, ain't there nothing you can do?" "Nothing at all?" "To come so sudden like, with no warning." "That's the way it goes sometimes." "A man's walking around, full of vinegar, and next thing he knows, they're shoveling dirt in his face." " Dirt?" " Dirt." "When I was a sprig, how I was gonna set the world on fire." "Now look at me." "I ain't even struck the first match yet." "It's a handsome pair of boots." "Just seems a downright pity to leave 'em here for just anybody to make off with." "Help yourself, Doc." "Thank you kindly." "How about the mack?" "If I'd just done one thing." "Made a mark of some kind." "This way, it's like I'd passed through life and didn't even leave a footprint." "Who's to know I'm even gone?" "Well, it's too late now." "That's water under the bridge." "There's the inscription for my tombstone..." ""Too Late."" "I'd stay with you, son, only I've got things to do." "I understand." "There ain't nothing to it." "You just lie back and close your eyes." "Come morning, it'll all be over." "Too late." "Too late." "Why does it have to be too late?" "Excuse me." "Bartender," "I better something to wash away the taste of that dinner." "What do you have that won't kill a man outright?" "I got one brand, mister." "I wouldn't recommend to nobody who ain't immune to snakebite." "Not so fast, shorty." "Ain't anybody told you the rules?" "Before a pilgrim buys hisself that first drink, he's gotta play the game." "Right, boys?" " That's right." "The game?" "You gotta challenge the local champ to a drinking bout." "It's quart of red-eye apiece." "First one that breaks off guzzling has to treat for the whole crowd." "I think it might be a little bit easier on my constitution if I bypassed the contest and just bought a round of drinks." "No, that'd be breaking the rules, and it might put a doubt in some folks' mind as to who is the real champion." "I don't wanna hold my crown by default." "You are the incumbent champion?" "Mister, I'm Big Fontana" "That makes me champ of everything." "Leroy, couple of jugs." "Any time you're ready, shorty." "The winner and still champion!" "What are ya waiting for?" "The loser's buying, ain't he?" "Hey!" "That's water." "I drank whiskey." "He drank the chaser!" "Here!" "Champion?" "You're not a champion." "You're a four-flushing fraud, Fontana." "I said I was champ of everything." "There's another game I like to play, shorty." "The loser gets to ride through town in a pine box." "Now there's $50." "You match it, shorty." "That way who comes in second best, his funeral's paid for in advance." "Don't do it, mister." "He'll gun you with your hand in your pocket." "I surely hope you got your burial money saved up, Boise." "I didn't come here for to die, Fontana." "I come here to watch you die." "I'm thinking some deck's shy a joker." "Boise, do you know what you're doing?" "Stick around and see." "Do like the little fella says, shorty." "You just wait your turn." "I tell you what, Boise." "Since you're so all fired anxious to kiss the sawdust, you draw first." "I don't get it." "His eyes." "He wasn't even scared." "Hey, I think I oughta tell ya, Boise." "You just bought yourself a part interest in an earthquake." "That's only half the Fontana clan lying there." "You wait'll you meet the little brother." "Should he come looking, he won't have any trouble locating me." "Little Fontana won't have any trouble finding me on account of by the time he gets here," "I'll be sleeping off the eternities on Boot Hill." "The doc gave me till morning, mister, and that's stretching the blanket some." "And that accounts for the foolishness here." "Tell you something, mister." "There ain't but a little bit of difference between being dead and being foolish." "I been dead all of my life." "Tonight, with one little bit of foolishness," "I come alive for the first time." "I seem to be coming all unpasted." "I'll get you home." "Come on." "My whole life," "I've played the cards so close to my vest," "I developed eyestrain trying to make 'em out." "A careful man, I called myself." "But careful's just a friendly name for chicken." "I guess there's a time in every fella's life when him and fear finally part company." "That's when death steps in between 'em." "Well, fear can't follow a man to the grave." "That's a cinch." "You've been so accommodating already," " I hate to ask you something." " What?" "Well, they say that dying's the one thing a fella has to do all on his own." "Still, that don't signify he shouldn't have some company far as the gates." "So if you wouldn't mind sitting with me for a spell." "It's cheaper than the lodgings" "Sure." "Sure." "Oh, no!" "Well, good morning." "Good?" "What's good about it?" " I'm alive." " So I see." "But I'm supposed to be dead." "Doc Halop promised me." "Not only ain't I dead, but I never felt better in my life." "What am I gonna do?" "Change doctors." "You gotta help me, Mr. Paladin." "Otherwise, I'm a dead man sure." "No deader than you were last night." "That was last night." "I was resigned to it." "This is different." "I see." "And the difference would be Little Fontana?" "That's right." "He'll come gunning for me, and I ain't got a chance." "You did pretty well against his brother." "That's because I didn't need a chance." "I was dead anyway." "But now I'm alive, and alive, I'm an orthodox coward." "Look... you're an expert in this field." "If I was to hire you to stand up for me." "Boise, when you gun down Big Fontana, you killed the incumbent champion." "That makes you the new champion." "You gotta defend that crown against all comers whether you want to or not." "I am not gonna stay here and protect you from all challengers." "Can't I resign my championship?" "That's crown will not come off without a bullet." "Then I'm running." "Boise, no matter how far you run, that legend will catch up with you sooner or later." "And that's a sober fact I've learned to live with for a long time." "You've gotta think of something." "You owe me that much." "For saving your life." "Well, I don't wonder that you're still alive." "You've got too much brass to die." "Passed away in his sleep, huh?" "Well, I knew it." "I never made a wrong diagnosis in my life." "That so, Doctor?" "Heard about what happened last night." "A downright pity losing Boise just when he had such a promising future." "Tell me something, Doctor." "Where did you study medicine?" "Well, I..." "Well..." "Study medicine?" "Well, I didn't exactly." "You know, I..." "That's what I thought." "Mr. Halop." "Some men are born great." "Some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." "I don't believe any man here can really say in which category the deceased belonged?" "One thing is clear." "The world has lost a brave, a valiant heart." "An humble man, a man of small pretensions," "Boise Peabody's last dying wish was..." "Boise Peabody?" "I come to see my brother buried, not the little snake that killed him." "Fill it up." "Wait a minute." "After the ceremony, all right?" "Fill it up." "Stop!" "Stop, stop!" "The proudest moment of my life." "The whole mining camp turned out to pay their last respects." "You ain't gonna spoil it for me." "Boise, ain't you dead?" "He is now." "Boise Peabody killed your brother in a fair fight." "Uh-huh, and now I'm gonna kill him." "He's not armed." "That's a mistake that you ain't likely to make again now, are you, Boise?" "Fontana, I won't stand here and watch you murder him." "Just do whatever you like." "Now then." "I, uh..." "Well, no man ever died more convenient to a grave." "You're sure that we're doing the right thing?" "I think it's best." "Best for you." "I guess so." ""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?" "Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home"