"You're faith is beautiful, Melissa, but I was hired to clean up Bugbear." "When I've finished, I'll collect my fee... and I'll have earned it." "Yeah, come in." "Mr. Paladin." ""Bugbear by any other name smells so like Bugbear."" ""March the 9th." ""Once playground of wild bunch," ""Bugbear is cleaning house under a new mayor," ""and a new town spirit." ""First, town fathers announced" ""they have change the name from Bugbear to Elysium." ""Next, they promise to rid the town of violence." ""But no one answered the toughest question." "How?"" "Good morning." "Good morning." "Yeah, rear slipped off that axle." "Like me to fix it?" "Well, I'd be extremely appreciative." "Now, when I lift you push." "." "You were supposed to push when I lifted." "I'm sorry, but I have to talk to you." "Talk?" "Talk?" "About that." "Well, what about it?" "I'm against it." " Well, so am I." " I'm serious." "So am I." "You seem like a gentleman." "Why should you have to carry a gun?" "Because in the world around us there are number of men who are not gentlemen." "Haven't you chosen to be one of them?" "You go on killing." "I'm sorry." "I should be fair." "I don't know that you've killed anyone." "Well, I have." "So you'll go on killing, until someone or something makes you understand." "Understand what?" "That the only way to end it is to stop the violence." "Take away the weapons." "All it does is beget more." "I know that, probably better than you do." "Now aren't you getting far from the subject?" "We were fixing a wagon." "Your gun." "Young lady, may I ask where you're going and what you think you're doing?" "I'm going to Bugbear, to take away their guns." "I've shown the path of peace and light to men even more sunk in violence than you." "Well, I believe that." "Then you'll give me the gun?" "No, I may need it in Bugbear." "You're going to Bugbear?" "On business." "How can you say that?" "To you killing is only a business?" "How can you..." "I'm not a gunman, Miss..." "Melissa." "Sister Melissa." "I'm a missionary." "I shall pray for you, Mr..." "Paladin." "And I thank you." "I'll be there, to help, if you need me." "Is this your first mission alone?" "At the mission school they said I was ready for it." "They said they couldn't hold me back anymore." "Oh, I believe that." "You are beautiful, and your faith is beautiful." "But sometimes the essence of beauty is its fragility." "And Bugbear is not a good place to test it." "Are you afraid of a test?" "No." "Nor am I." "So if you'll fix the wheel, then we can get on with it." "I should think that thing would be very uncomfortable to wear." "You'll see Mr. Paladin how happy you'll be without it." "Wheel." "Tell him I'm here." "There he is." "That's the one who did it." "Do you want some of me, Harper?" "No." "Drinks are on Will Durbin." "Harper?" "Right." "I got your wire." "Then you'd be Paladin." "My name's Barber, Mr. Paladin." "I'm glad you're here." "Thank you." "You better come along with me." "We got a lot to talk about." "I can see that." "I won't pretend I like what Paladin has to say." "All right, I admit, I was first to favor sending him money to do the job." "But Paladin has ideas of his own, so I'll let him explain it." "Well, let's hear it." "Now, there is not one hooligan in this town who's gonna give up his gun, or ever believe in law and order as long as law and order is applied to him alone, and all the rest of you are exceptions." "Well, what are we gonna do?" "We're decent people." "What do you mean?" "It means that if I disarm the hooligans, what's to convince them that you people are not gonna massacre them?" "They wear their guns in self-protection the same as you do." "I say what you hired to do is to get out there and show 'em who can shoot faster." "Leave a couple of them dead out there, and run the rest out of town." "Use a whip, a club, a gun." "That's what they understand." "And you're telling me that those people having nothing to fear from you?" "Now, if I take this job, the same rules apply to everybody." "I disarm them, I disarm you." "No other conditions!" "I don't know." "Hold it." "I just want to say this." "I never felt like shooting nobody anyhow." " You mean you're running out on us." " That's right!" " I'm with you, Paladin." " Thank you." "Harper?" "I'll give mine when they give up theirs." "Now, wait a minute." "Am I hired?" "You got the job." "I never went back on a promise." "But I got to see results." "Hey, give me a plate." "Here you go." " Now give me one of them." " Okay." "All right, gentlemen, shower down." "Thank you." "And thank you." "You gonna do it?" "He ain't done yet." "You got business, Johnny?" "Johnny, a little word." "That don't happen to be no rye finger saddlebum inside there." "I guess you might've heard of the Durbins now, huh?" "Well, if he ain't, he has now." "You sure scratched hide off the wrong brand, mister." "When his brother hears, we're gonna ride in." "And when we do, we'll take this town apart, board by board." "You'll do it barehanded." "Bring it over here." "Now, put them in there." "Put them in there!" "Now, you just got started." "Whoa." "You couldn't wait for me, could you?" "Or you might have said that I was smoothing the path for faith." "You poor, blind, deaf man." "Listen." "Listen!" "No, not to me." "To the voice inside each of you." "To the voice of truth." "The voice of charity." "Listen with your hearts for that voice is in each of you, no matter how you seek to strangle its cries." "And as each of you is the Lord's own begotten creature, so it will be there everlastingly." "Do you hear it crying out from the wilderness of your souls, beseeching, pleading, demanding?" "Do you hear it?" "Hey, Sister, how about some cootch music?" "Take strength from me." "Feel the message from my hand." "Put down your gun." "Now, do you feel the weight of terror that has been lifted from your soul?" "I do feel it." "I do feel it, Sister!" "Oh, hallelujah!" "Hallelujah!" "Don't be afraid now." "Stand forth in the light." "Give up your guns." "His power and His glory are all the weapons you need." "Thank you, brother." "Feel the joy of men who have given up death and chosen life." "Thank you." "Take the pledge." "Give up your guns forever." "Well, it's working ain't it?" "It might." "Paladin, I'm gonna take the pledge for her." "Safe from fear and the enemies..." "Thank you." "Thank you you all." "Here, Sister." "Do you swear never to touch a gun even though you face death?" "I'm through with killing." "Killing..." "He never killed nothing more scary in his life than a horsefly." "I know it isn't easy to let in the light when there's been darkness for so long." "But the pleasure at the end is worth the pain at the beginning." "Give up your guns." "Look at your friends." "They took the pledge." "Take off your guns." "Oh, thank you, brother." "You won't be sorry." "You won't be sorry." "Perhaps we could strike some kind of a compromise." "I make it a practice never to wear a gun when I'm having dinner with a lady." "Perhaps that's just when you should keep your powder dry, Mr. Paladin." "The cattlemen burned out all the other homesteaders in the valley, but my father wouldn't run." "He had right on his side, but they had guns." "That's how I came to the mission orphanage." "They found me in the ashes of the house." "I made a vow then." "And I've kept faith with it." "But I won't rest until I see every gun, every weapon of violence in this land destroyed, including yours." "Well, you are a woman of great determination." "Does that frighten you?" "It's frightened every other man." "No." "But I do puzzle about you." "Perhaps you imagine me leading the martyrs into the Coliseum?" "Oh, no, I shall be very concerned for the lions in that case." "Then how do you see me?" "As a woman." "Yes, as a woman." "Sew and cook and scrub and hope." "And then sit meekly by while her men are shot down because they haven't the simple faith and courage to stand unarmed in the sight of God." "Faith and courage." "Yes, faith and courage." "They had courage today when they put down their guns." "You saw them." "Melissa..." "You think I don't know what you're going to say?" "They put down their guns today because they were afraid of you." "I'm not a fool." "And you still have faith?" "God has chosen stranger instruments than you for his work." "God has chosen." "Melissa, Mr. Harper and his friends chose me." "They hired me to clean up this town." "And when I've done it, I'll collect a fee." "And I will have earned it." "Mr. Harper?" "He took the pledge." "Well, God has chosen stranger instruments than Mr. Harper for his work." "And the important thing is that the guns are gone." "Bugbear has changed." "Melissa, nothing in this town has been changed here by either one of us." "In a year, perhaps in a month, this town will go back to being exactly what it always was." "They're afraid now or moved spiritually, but the first time they're threatened they'll scurry for their guns again." "And if you can't see that, then you're terribly naive and terribly in need of protection." "Well, if you can believe that, then you're very cynical and very much in need of faith." "And if I were a man..." "If you were a man." "Melissa..." "If you were a man," "I think I should be very sorry." "Mr. Paladin!" "They're coming." "Durbin." "Where is Harper?" "Where would you think?" "After his guns with the rest of them" "No, you've all taken a pledge to give up gun forever, even at the cost of your own lives." "But this is real." "Those Durbins still have their guns." "You haven't talked to them yet." "Please, listen to me!" "Please!" "Who are you with, Paladin?" "Now, you people made a pledge and you're going to stand by it." "You got give us our guns back now." "You paid me to take them away from you!" "Here they come right now." "You can't take them alone." " Give me a gun, I'll stand by you." " You made a pledge, didn't you?" " I know, but..." " Well, I didn't." "Now, get her out of here." " All right, come on." " No." "They didn't really mean their pledges, did they?" "They did then while you were talking to them." "Did they pay you for this?" "Go on, get out of here." "Go on!" "Why would you risk your life for money?" "You've taken it upon yourself to do my job." "But I can't have your blood on my conscience." "I took a job." "I want you to know I'm very, very proud of you, and grateful to you." "Whatever else happens today, I want you to know that." "Thank you." "But I can't let you do it." "There are no guns here to face you." "And the only fear is that of the Lord." "Now, preacher lady, he's got a gun." " Melissa." " No." "I'd do like he says, preacher lady." "We're gonna kill him." "No point your getting in the way." "Will you put your guns, if they give up theirs?" "I do like what she says." "You ain't got no chance anyhow." "That depends on your angle of vision." "You I will kill." "The chance is which one of those other two I'll kill." "Your death and his, what will it prove when all you have to do is to put up your guns?" "Maybe." "But we sure ain't laying ours down first." "I'm sorry, Melissa." "I just don't have your faith." "I won't move." "Now yours." "Preacher lady... you ever see a pig shoot?" "Now, will you get out of here?" "Well, here it is." "As some us feel by rights, you should split it." "You couldn't have done it alone." "I didn't say I could." "But, since Melissa has your guns, and your pledges and that's all she asked for." "I will accept your money since that's all I asked for." "That's fair, I suppose, but, of course, I don't have your pledge." "No." "Ain't you going her way?" "Heraclitus says that all the ways are the same way." "And it could be that he's right." ""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"