"Oh, mr." "Paladin." "oh, mr." "Paladin." "I know it's a bad moment," "But mr." "Kilmer says it's an emergency." "They're in room 319, st." "Mary's hospital." "Well, will you call my carriage for the lady?" "Yes, sir." "Oh, mr." "Paladin." "Wait here, please." "She's feeling a little better, mr." "Paladin," "But you can't stay long." "Miss kilmer, my name is paladin." "I received your note and my card." "Judge stoneway gave mother your card, mr." "Paladin." "My son martin..." "Mother's made the acquaintance of quite a few detectives" "In the past 20 years she's been searching for my brother martin." "20 years?" "A long time, isn't it?" "Mr. Edwards..." "Mr. Edwards, another detective." "There have been some leads, but nothing ever conclusive." "Mr. Edwards's letter." "He seemed to think that he'd found some clue." "Well, edwards says here that he found your son." "Now, surely that's more than a clue." "Is it?" "Edwards disappeared with my mother's money." "He was never heard from again." "How did your son disappear?" "we had a kid's argument over a hunting gun." "The gun went off accidentally and I was hurt." "Martin must have thought he killed me." "He ran off." "That was mother's second tragedy." "My youngest brother was killed in a hunting accident" "The year before that." "Please find my son martin." "Mother." "Mrs. Kilmer, why all the haste after 20 years?" "Mr. Paladin," "I don't have much time." "What are you going to do?" "I'm going to try and find your son." "Where?" "Where can you even begin to try?" "Where edwards left off." "come on, boy." "That's a dog." "Hurry up." "That's it, boy." "Come on." "Stand up." "Oh, what a good dog." "Hello." "Something I can do to help you?" "Well, I'm not sure yet." "Well, what's this?" "Paladin?" "I'm looking for martin kilmer." "Well, who's he?" "or tom edwards, a detective." "Oh, edwards, he died." "Oh, yeah." "It was an awful brawl." "There was six or seven of 'em." "And when they stood back, well, there was edwards, dead." "How'd you handle that?" "I couldn't hardly tell" "Which one give him the lick that killed him." "Might have been a couple of 'em hit him after he was dead." "Yeah, yeah." "Well, you see," "I didn't rightly know which one of 'em was guilty," "And harper told me that I couldn't arrest an innocent man." "Well, I felt the same way about it." "Harper?" "Yes." "It was all harper's men in this brawl." "Now that you've told me all about it," "Go tell mr." "Harper that I was inquiring about mr." "Edwards." "I was just on my way to do that." "Also tell him that I was inquiring about martin kilmer." "Yeah, sure." "Well, that's that." "That's what?" "Edwards was killed in a barroom brawl." "What a waste." "Edwards was a good professional detective." "He wouldn't drink on a job" "And he'd never get himself killed in a barroom brawl." "What are you gonna do now?" "I'm gonna find a hotel room with a bath." "come in." "Hey, a couple of fellas" "Are looking for kilmer and edwards, mr." "Harper." "From san francisco again." "One of 'em's a gunslinger" "And the other one's just only a gentleman." "What'd you tell 'em?" "Oh, nothin', nothin'." "I kept my mouth tight shut." "Yeah?" "Thank you." "Another one, jack." "They keep coming." "This one'll be tougher." "They can't live forever." "they keep proving that." "I'm gonna take a look at this one myself." "I don't see why we can't go home tomorrow morning." "Nope." "I want you to quit, paladin." "I'm ordering you to quit." "I'm working for your mother." "She thinks we're looking." "That's all that matters." "You know as well as I do we'll never find martin." "You've got your $1,000." "Why not..." "Hello." "Come right in if you're sure you've got the right room." "I think it is." "My name's harper." "Idiot." "It would serve you right if he beat your brains out." "Harper, you killed the last man" "That came here looking for martin kilmer." "I like my enemies out in the open" "Where I can fight them with no false courtesy." "I was gonna run you out of town, mister." "But stay." "You stay." "And keep your pussycat with you." "Don't do that, paladin." "Don't do it." "Might as well have hired a platoon of wild apes." "Why do you say that?" "Been here less than an hour." "We've already flushed harper out." "We're doing fine." "Why are you looking at me like that?" "Just wondering why you and the others" "Don't want me to find martin kilmer." "I resent that." "I should think you would." "What are you gonna do now?" "Well, I'm gonna find out where edwards went" "And who he talked to" "And, if possible," "Where he made his mistake." "Your name shorty?" "Shorty?" "I understand you rented a horse to a man named edwards." "That right?" "I'm sure I rented him a horse." "Edwards..." "Edwards..." "That were the feller that got hisself killed." "That right?" "That's right." "I'm interested in knowing how he arranged it." "Well, I don't know as I ought to get mixed up in this." "Well, I'm just interested in knowing who he might have seen," "Who he talked to, any trips he might have made" "That he'd have to rent a horse or rig for." "Reckon they pay you for this." "Am I right?" "Hmm." "Well, now, his mistake was making up to mosely." "If there's a man harper can't abide, it's fred mosely." "And edwards went to see mosely." "Sure he did." "You know why?" "Nope." "Well, will you throw in another answer for the same rate?" "Do you know where I can find mosely?" "Well, you won't find him today," "But tomorrow's Sunday, and he'll be here preaching." "You'll hear him." "Thank you, shorty." "Mr. Harper?" "What is it?" "Thought you'd like to know" "About the black-dressed man asking about you." "Mm-hmm." "He was wild to talk to fred mosely." "I can't imagine what put that in his mind." "You can't imagine, huh?" "Shorty, you never had more than one silver dollar" "At a time in your life." "it's Sunday!" "It's the lord's day!" "You don't sleep on the lord's day," "Not when there's the lord's work to be done!" "Come hear the joyous awakening of the world" "And the blessed word of the lord jesus!" ""god, give me the strength of sampson, of ten sampsons."" "And other men were beat down like willows under a hailstorm" "By this strength of mine." "I used this strength that god gave." "Raised up in my own anger and near killed a man." "Stopped only in time by the blessed hand of the lord." "amen." "Man reared back to bust his brother in the chops." "What can his brother do?" "Bust him a good one first." "Cain and abel." "Abel and cain." "Who can say cain weren't hitting' in self-defense?" "Cain says, "wait around." "Little old abel gonna bust me one."" "He gets a fear and he says, "why wait?" "Hit him first."" "He says, "save my life."" "But the lord speaketh and says, "cain," ""I curse you and make you walk the face of the land..."" "Paladin's there." "And cain said unto the lord," ""lord, my punishment is too great."" "Don't worry." "Let the man expend his rage and fury useless on the air." "That's enough." "We'd better end our meeting lest we be tempted into rage." "Come on, fred." "You're a big man." "You could probably pinch me to death." "I love you like a brother." "I wouldn't tempt you to sin by hurting me." "Mr. Mosely." "Stay out of this, friend." "Meeting's over." "I'd like to hear you finish if you'd like to." "Please, mister, stay out of this." "Then I'd like to talk to you about martin kilmer." "Keep your mouth shut, mosely." "Please, I want no help." "No fighting over me." "Please, mister, mind your own business." "No!" "Stop!" "Stay out of the way, mosely." "No." "You can't go on this way, harper." "Come on, mosely." "Lose that temper." "The lord gave it to you to lose, didn't he?" "I've been waiting a long time." "I've been waiting for almost ten years." "We'd better clean these out." "Mosely." "You sound like a frog under a haystack." "Don't talk." "Mosely, why does harper hate you?" "Why do men climb mountains?" "Some men it's gambling." "Others it's drinking." "With me it's talkin' the word of the lord." "That's what started it." "Harper knows he can't stand up to that." "So he hit me." "He tried to frighten me." "But you hit a man and he don't hit back," "And it gets to be a challenge." "He tried to kill you, mosely." "Kill me?" "Would a mountain climber tear down his own mountain?" "Fred?" "He found me out, jean." "I'm no better than he is." "Please, fred, don't." "It's no use, jean." "For the first time in my life, I hate a man." "Let this man help you." "No." "No, it's not his battle." "It's between harper and me." "Where's mr." "Mosely?" "He's gone to kill mr." "Harper." "When?" "It must be all over now." "You've been asleep hours." "Oh." "Poor fred." "His temper got away." "You can push a man just so far" "And then something gives." "Isn't it strange?" "The lord makes temptation so strong" "And men so weak." "Poor fred'll never forgive himself." "Oh, please." "Please." "paladin!" "Paladin, a terrible thing has happened." "I can see there's been a terrible thing." "Was it harper?" "Mosely came down the street with a rifle." "He killed him right there." "Where were you?" "In the hotel." "I mean..." "Are you through?" "Never thought they'd do that..." "That whip." "But you stayed in the hotel." "You kept your word, paladin." "You found martin kilmer." "But I got to him first." "Harper." "Martin kilmer." "My brother." "It was no accident he shot me." "He was also responsible for my youngest brother's accident." "Tried to cover by killing me." "When that failed, he ran away," "Changed his name." "And mosely knew his name." "Somehow mosely found out." "He was always afraid that mosely was gonna talk." "Didn't realize it protected him." "The truth will kill my mother." "What do we tell your mother now?" "The memory of the just is blessed." "The memory of the just..." "Why couldn't that have been martin's epitaph?" "Why not?" "A man called harper killed your brother" "As surely as he killed mosely." "Which one was your brother?" "Mosely." "I can tell mother mosely." "This is the way." "Walk ye in it." "I'd better go and see mrs." "Mosely." "¶" "¶ "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 ¶"