"What do you want, Anderson?" "The horse?" "You could've had him for the asking." "The golden-haired woman?" "Or is it only my life you want?" "Morning." "Oh..." "Morning, Mr. Paladin." "Morning." "Hey Girl." "Oh, Mr. Paladin." "You turn the day upside down." "It's morning." "Morning of what day?" "Wednesday, October 16th." ""Kidnapped white woman believed seen with Indians." ""Captain John Bryson, leading a patrol" ""south of the Deschutes River in Oregon," ""saw what appeared to be a blonde woman traveling" ""with a group of mounted Nez Percé." ""Captain Bryson gave chase but was unable to close with them." ""Mary Grange was kidnapped in a Nez Percé raid" ""and her father has offered" ""a $2,000 reward for her return."" "Hmm." "Shall I help you pack?" "Hey Girl, that would be very nice of you." "Close it up!" "Close it up!" "Heels down, toes out!" "Detail!" "In single file, at a gallop." "Column left, ho!" "All right, close it up!" "All right, sit up straight in the saddle!" "Straight in the saddle and close it up!" "Straighten the saddle, you'll hurt his back!" "Heels down, toes up!" "All right, Corporal, take over the detail." "Column left, ho!" "You get close to the girl, Lieutenant?" "About a mile." "I used eight power government issued binoculaurs." "Eight into a mile, that's 220 yards..." "I have heard that the Nez Percé, when they're traveling with white prisoners, force them to daub dark clay on their faces and cover their hair if it's noticeable." "Yes, sir, most times." "Well, Lieutenant, do you consider yourself a qualified observer?" "Now, Mister, the whole United States Army says I'm wrong..." "I might be." "I'll need a guide going in." "What are you after, the family's reward money?" "Well, there is the girl, too." "She might not like it where she is." "It's possible." "Try John Anderson over there." "John Anderson?" "He's an Indian scout." "He lived with the Sioux for ten years." "He married there;" "became one." "Then he came home." "A good man?" "In the high country?" "In the high country, he is a Sioux, Mr. Paladin." "What's wrong with him?" "He's a drunk." "Mister..." "Good luck." "Get your hands off that pommel!" "Anderson?" "I'm told you lived with the Sioux." "I was a Sioux." "I'm also told that they're the best trackers in the world." "That's right." "With the possible exception of the Nez Percé." "You wanna go after Bryson's girl with the golden hair, huh?" "Would a couple of men have any chance at all?" "Men?" "Couple of Oglala Sioux, maybe." "Maybe even me, seven, eight years ago." "But you..." "They'd stake you out between two poles and flay you alive." "$250 if you take me in and out." "I don't even own a gun." "But I got no more money for rotgut... so let's go." "Well, this here's the place." "Ten or 12 of 'em." "For a soldier boy, the general had good eyes." "General." "That's right, Anderson, you were an Army scout, weren't you?" "Call all commissioned officers "general."" "That's democratic." "That's contempt." "No, I have no contempt for the Army." "Exterminating the Indian nation is a dirty job." "And they do it as well as the next." "How old are the tracks?" "Four, five weeks." "Well, that fits in with what the general said." "You read a track four or five weeks old, or are you leading me a merry chase?" "There was 12." "Five men and seven women." "One of the men was either an important chief or a respected warrior." "Or medicine man." "One of the women was very old." "One of the women very young." "And a white woman." "Now, if you don't believe me," "I'll take you out of here and it won't cost you nothing." "I believe you, Mr. Anderson." "You wanna run?" "Not as small as the Apache or as tall as the Sioux." "They have been called the greatest light cavalry in the world." "They can outride you but they won't outrun you on your mount." "How about you, Mr. Anderson?" "I'm tired of running." "If I'd stolen it, or take it..." "I wouldn't want it given to me." "Tell him if he lays the barrel of that shotgun on me once more, I'll kill him." "...shotgun." "Tell him these are gifts for the great Nez Percé chief" "Chagra Tentes." "Why presents?" "For the white girl." "Which one?" "The Nez Percé are great warriors." "They've stolen many white women." "The one with the golden hair." "Mary Grange." "There is no such one." "Ah!" "He says they will let you go but that they will keep the Sioux squaw who has no gun." "He says they'll take the gifts, too." "He says if you don't want your life, they'll take that, too." "Tell him if he tries to lay the barrel of that shotgun on me once more" "I'll kill him and the others, too." "You made your threat, Mister." "But he don't believe you can make it good." "Tell him I don't want to kill him." "Now I see what you mean, Mister." "Anderson." "Why?" "Because you didn't kill him." "That's true, I didn't." "They're yours." "I never got the habit." "No extra shell." "Ain't that just like a Nez Percé." "You leave them their scalps and they'll die and go to heaven and act like heroes." "They'll lie and say that their enemies didn't kill them." "They died in bed, old men." "They would've taken yours." "You got a fine head of hair." "Well, we better go get the girl before Chagra Tentes finds out this one is dead." "¶ ¶" "How much further?" "We will not find their camp." "They're gonna find us." "He's got the girl and will look at the presents." "He will say that she is a warm sun in the coldness of his old age." "And that she is promised to his son, who is a great warrior, whom he hates to disappoint." "That was his young son you killed, Mr. Paladin." "I know." "Comes to me that you'd be worth killing." "How so?" "You hold on to life hard." "It will have to be torn away from you." "To do so would be a fine coup for a warrior." "For a Nez Percé warrior..." "or a Sioux?" "A Nez Percé or a Sioux." "A Comanche or a Blackfoot." "Or a..." "Test of courage?" "That's right." "You come when you are not invited, white man." "And you attack my people." "No favors, Chief of the Nez Percé." "I come bearing gifts and your children are rude to me." "I did no more to him than I would do to my own, if they were rude to a guest." "First you beat my children with a club, then you teach me manners in my own tent?" "You are rash." "I have a short temper." "My journey has been long and hot." "You are not a Sioux." "How long have you lived with the Sioux?" "Ten years." "Have you taken the scalp of the Nez Percé?" "Yes." "At least you do not lie, as most Sioux lie." "A Sioux does not lie." "A Sioux is a dog." "I will see your gifts." "The girl." "The gifts." "It is not enough." "Let me talk to the girl." "Mary Grange..." "You may answer." "Yes." "What is your father's given name?" "Simon." "The gifts for the girl." "They are not enough." "Not half enough." "That is a fortune." "What woman is worth more?" "This one has golden hair." "That is a treasure with the Nez Percé." "Not among my people." "I have... almost promised her to my son." "That is a fortune!" "How many wives could he buy with that?" "What is the great difference between one woman and another?" "It is not enough." "Her people can only afford to pay so much." "We could kill you." "This is not worth six of your children dying." "It is done." "You have my word on it." "Leave the Sioux with me," "I will be more happy with my bargain." "No." "I need him to guide me out." "He will slit your throat by-and-by." "He is a Sioux." "In a week, you'll be home." "Did they hurt you?" "What are you gonna do with that thing without any shells for it?" "It's a nice gun." "Two days travel southwest and you'll be safe." "I will go now when you give me what you owe me" "$250." "You're heading east?" "I'm going home." "In ten years, the Sioux nation will be gone." "We will make a fight that the white men will remember for a hundred generations of men." "Where we ride, not even the tears of God will make things grow again." "We will be known as the Sioux, the enemy, the most savage, as long as the ground we walk on exists." "Now, I will go to my people." "Your privilege." "I will take the woman, too." "Anderson, you remember what I did to those three Nez Percé." "They did not know your strength." "I would've gone with him." "They say the Sioux are kind to their women." "¶ ¶" "Why?" "Why?" "For the woman?" "!" "What is a woman?" "For the horse?" "He was yours for the asking." "A Sioux warrior going home... must take a coup." "What a truly fine head of hair you have." "¶ ¶" "¶ "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. ¶"