"Don't move." "Turn around." "Keep your hands wide." "You want something from me, mister?" "Sure came up quiet." "Got to give you credit." "My name's Tate." "Guess that don't mean much to you, or anyone else, huh?" "This here is Pokey." "You fixing to meet somebody?" "Meet somebody?" "Who?" "Wouldn't mind if I did." "Wouldn't care who he was or where he comes from or what he does." "A man ought to always mind his own business, I say." "Looks like you're the one expecting company." "How long have you been here?" "Been poking around these hills three or four weeks now." "Got no calendar to know exact." "Got nothing to show for it either." "If you're ready to talk some, I'd appreciate your putting that gun down." "You might get bee stung or something but I'd be just as dead." "Got some breakfast coffee boiling." " You want some?" " No." "Tobacco?" "This party you're asking after..." "Friend of yours?" "He killed a marshal." "Kansas?" "You've come a ways." "It ain't every peace officer who'd do that." "I ain't seen Kansas since before the war, so I wouldn't know you to look at." "My name's Tate, like I said." "Jesse Tate." "Howard Kemp." "You figure he's back in these hills, Mr. Kemp?" "I lost his trail this side of the river." "Did you see any sign?" "Ran across a dead fire the other day." " Where?" " Back in there." "Got no map to tell you sure." " Now, you can tell me better than that." " Maybe." "If we was going the same way, but we ain't." "You got your job, mister, and I got mine." "Helping you don't put no money in my pocket." " I got $20 here." " $20!" "$20." "It's yours if you get me on a fresh trail." " $20..." " $10 now... $10 now, $10 when we find him." "Start out by showing me that dead fire." " Does this fellow know you're after him?" " He knows." "Then he might be waiting behind some rock." "Waiting for us to ride up in front of his gun." "He might." "It was still warm yesterday." "Horses moved out this way." "More than one, for sure." "This fellow got company?" "Could be packing an extra horse." "But there might be two of them waiting for us, huh?" " That's why you held the gun on me." " Come on, let's go." "Come on." "Trail's as plain for you as it is for me." "Another fire." "They ain't making much time." "Must be something wrong with them." " Looks like a horse fell there." " Yeah." "Well, it's no use guessing." " Look out, rocks!" " Ride!" " Well, I guess that's the end of it." " Yeah, if it was a natural slide." "Look out!" "Look out!" "Well, you found him." " He's got to come down sometime." " Yeah, but when?" "A day, a week." "And the chance is he sneaks down some night and gets us." "We'll take turn on watch." "Having it out with this fellow ain't my job, not for no $20." "You've got him, but he got you too." "Unless there's another way up there." "You're crazy!" "You can't get up there!" "Go up the trail and get some cover and take a shot at him every once in a while, and make him think we're stuck down here." "Ain't we?" "Come on." "Hold it!" " What's the trouble?" " Get down." " I heard some shooting and came to look." " Who are you?" "Oh, that's the way it is?" "Lieutenant Roy Anderson, 6th Cavalry." "Indian fighter extraordinary." "You're a long way from an army post, Lieutenant." " I quit playing soldier last week." " Uh-huh." "Let's see your discharge." "I'm riding east, from Fort Ellis." "What's wrong with that?" "Nothing, except the Bozeman Trail runs east from Ellis." "How come you're this far off it?" "Well, you see, there's some bad-tempered Indians along the Bozeman Trail." "And seems this chief's daughter fell into some trouble with a handsome, young army lieutenant, and..." "Well, you know how it is." "The army never did understand me." "Yeah." " Hey, how about these?" " All right, give him back his gun." "Come on." "Oh, you never did tell me what the shooting was about." "I don't even know who I'm talking to." "This here is Mr. Kemp." "My name is Tate, Jesse Tate." "You don't say?" "We've got an outlaw killer trapped up there starting rockslides every time we show our heads." "An outlaw killer throwing rocks?" " That sounds real desperate." " Come on." "Show him the picture, Mr. Kemp." "Come on, show me." "You followed him all the way from Kansas?" "He did." "I joined up with him this morning." "Sort of helping out." "Like a deputy." "Looks like you got yourself a real interesting problem in tactics, Sheriff." "Yeah." "Come on up the trail." "Crazy, ain't it, Pokey, what one man will do to catch another?" "Now, if it was gold up there, instead of this outlaw," "I'd put my carcass to climbing that cliff and never think twice." "Hey, come on." "I thought you said you were going someplace?" "Oh, don't mind me, I won't get in the way." "I'll be right here behind you, Sheriff, in case the bad man sticks his head out." "Wonder if I can make it." " Now, what do you want here?" " Just offering my help." " Why?" " Why are you turning it down?" "If I burn my hands, I'll let you try it again." "Now, stand by with your gun." "I did as much for you." "Now, ain't that the way?" "A man gets set for trouble head-on, and it sneaks up behind him every time." "That's life." "Get up." "Open your gun belt and let it fall." "No need to fuss there, soldier." "I've been out of cartridges since Abilene." "You can see." "Now why don't you just do what I say?" "Hey, you two!" "It's all over!" "Get him, Ben!" "All right, Ben." "Tie him up!" "Let me go, let me alone!" "Let me alone!" "Calm down, sweetheart, we're not gonna hang you." "I ain't fighting you no more, Howie." "Not the three of you, I ain't." "Who's she?" "You remember old Frank Patch, don't you, Howie?" "This here is his daughter, Lina." "I remember an outlaw the name of Patch lying dead in front of a bank in Abilene." "I don't remember any talk about kinfolk." "He was my father." "What's she doing here with you?" "I guess she don't know nobody but me." "And I didn't figure on seeing Kansas again." "Till now I didn't." "All right, get up." "Come on, get up!" "Here you are, Tate." "That settles us." " I'm much obliged to you." " Thanks." "Say, Mr. Kemp, now you've got two of them to handle, maybe you still have a mind to hire up help." "This is my job, I'll do it." "Make you feel any better, Sheriff, you can make me deputy, official-like." "You ain't letting on like you was a sheriff or something, are you Howie?" "Why sure he is." "Ain't he?" "He told me he was a peace officer." "I don't know why you should do that." "No matter who gets me, the reward still holds." "How's that?" "Ain't you showed him my picture, Howie?" "I seen a paper saying he was wanted, nothing about no reward." "Maybe he ain't got a good copy like I have." " Is that what he showed you?" " How much?" "Says $5,000." "Why, you talk like you knowed it all along." "Why else would a man tear off the bottom of a poster?" "I'm taking him back and I'm gonna do it alone." "You didn't catch him alone." "You was goin' round and round until you run into me." "You were hired to do a job and you were paid for it." "You ain't gonna buy my claim on this for no $20." "What about him?" "He done the climbing, didn't he?" "Could have gotten killed, too." "Tell you what, I'll settle for a third." "How about you, Jesse?" "Share and share alike?" "That's the way it is." "Unless you're of a mind to kill us all." "Looks like you got yourself a couple of partners, Howie." "Quit acting like we was friends!" "You..." "Maybe we sat down at the same card game once or twice but that don't mean dirt to me now." "You shot a man in the back and I'm taking you in to hang for it." "It wasn't Ben that killed that man." "It's him they're paying the reward on." "Now, where are your horses?" "Back in the rocks." "Lina's horse has got a bellyful of disease." "He can't travel." "He can't, huh?" "All right, come on, let's go." "Come on." "Easy, boy, easy." "Easy there, boy." "All right, watch him." "Easy, boy, easy." "He's really sick, mister, that's why we held up here." "Must have took bad water some place." "I rode him two days like this when he should have rested and throwed it off." "Easy, boy." "Easy." "What are you gonna do, mister?" "That horse is suffering, he can't hardly breathe." "You've seen sicker horses than this, ain't you, mister?" "He's pretty bad, girlie." "No sense in shooting a good horse, just to hang me a day sooner." "You keep out of this." "Besides, if we ain't to the big river before the rains, it's another week downstream to find a crossing." "Nobody's gonna touch my horse." "Nobody is." " Nobody is gonna touch..." " Come on, girlie, you don't want to leave him for some cat or bear to rip open." " No, I'm not gonna go, no..." " Come on, honey, that won't do no good." "Let me." "There's no reward for killing my horse!" "Ben, don't let them kill my horse." "Don't let them kill my horse!" " Ben, don't let them..." " Listen to me!" "Listen to me!" "That horse wouldn't have lasted the night, anyway." "Forget about him." "Start worrying about me swinging from a rope." "You want that?" "I need time." "You understand, Lina?" "Time." "And you've gotta help me." "I've already scratched open a sore spot over that reward." "The longer we ride, the more things that can happen." "That's the fight." "Are you listening?" "Listen to me." "I heard you, Ben." "I heard you." "All right, come on." "Move, you lop-eared cactus-eater!" "Quit dragging your feet." "Pokey don't like it no more than you do." "Honey, first thing I'm gonna get you out of that reward money is the biggest steak in Kansas, for that cheek." "You're not gonna be mad at me all the way, are you?" "Come on, I'll make it up to you." "What're you doing tonight?" "You're having quite a time, aren't you?" "Come on, loosen up." "Spring is here." "It's gonna be a long, lonely ride to Abilene." "And being as Jesse's too old, I'll toss you for her." "Right now, she's probably telling Ben how to cut your throat." "You don't think that pretty little thing would..." "Hey, you two, break it up there!" "Here, try it with this." "Come on, don't be stubborn." "Press it against your face." " Get away from me." " Like it better this way?" "Let me go, let me alone!" "If she bothers you so much, why don't you tie her up and be done with her?" "No bother." "I like to wrestle with her." "You're a big man for beating up women, ain't you?" "And you're no better." "Lina." "That jackass started a misery in my back." "Can you do me?" "Don't get them fired up all the time." "Best thing on our side is your pretty face." "They're men, honey, and you ain't." "Remember that." " I'm not gonna..." " I ain't asking you to marry them." "The more they look at you, the less they'll be seeing of me." "You sure got her trained, Ben." "Tell you, if I was to have a daughter," "I wouldn't want her no different than Lina here." "Except she shouldn't have such sharp nails." " Maybe not so much temper." " Hold still!" "Honey, you remember those cigars I got put away?" "I could do with one now." "Get two." "I don't smoke." "Any more at home like her?" "She got no home, that's the trouble." "Ma died in Paso a couple of months ago and she come up north hunting her pa." "He was dead and planted when he got here." "So, of course, you felt obliged to look out for her." "Son, her pa was my best friend." "Hey, Jesse!" "Why don't you get a pan and do it right?" " What do you know about gold?" " Just what I heard." "Come on, let's get riding." "What's the crazy hurry?" "We can camp here." "That's right, Howie." "A day more or less won't change the price on me." "Of course, it might give one of you boys time to think." "Plain arithmetic." "Money splits better two ways instead of three." "Come on." "How can you breathe that stinking rope?" "Kills the taste of your cooking, Jesse." "Nothing like a good woman to stir a pot." "Nothing like a good woman." "I guess you've got the years to know better than any of us, Jesse." "Did you ever marry one of them?" "Never had to, with my good looks." "No sense in asking Roy here about women." "He'd keep us up all night." "Well, right now, I'm sort of in between." "Well, looks like we're a herd of bachelors." "Even Kemp." "Never should have marched off to war, Howie." "Should have stayed home and married the girl." "Of course, it's none of my business." "That's right, it's none of your business." "Come on, let's get this stuff cleaned up." "All right, girlie, grab a handful." "I'll do mine and Ben's." "You'll do what I tell you, that's what you'll do." "Women." "I think I'll go along, to protect her." "Sure works on me." "The way his eyes hang on her." "Fancy-talking Eastern boy." "Trouble is, talk's just the beginning with wild kids like that." "You watch." "When he's ready, he'll reach out and take." "And who's to stop him?" "Did you think I was gonna jump you?" " That's right." " No." "No, I was just uncramping." "You look almost sorry I didn't." "Yeah, killing me in self-defense is a lot better than killing me for money." "Well, it's your choice, Ben." "A bullet right here on the trail or a rope in Abilene." "Choosing the way to die, what's the difference?" "Choosing the way to live, that's the hard part." "That's what's eating you, ain't it, Howie?" "There's nothing eating me!" "Somebody was bound to collect on you!" "Maybe." "I calculated some horse-thieving scum would want the price on my hide," " but not you, Howie..." " Now, why don't you shut up?" "...not a man of your leanings." "Not a ranching man." "I don't deny you got a dirty deal, but..." "The things a gal can do to a man." "Shut up!" "Hold it up here!" "Might save a day if we went over instead of around." "A day might make the difference." "Better take a look first and find some kind of trail." "Wait, I got some glasses." "I knew you had your nuggets hid somewhere under me." "I wouldn't be putting up with you if I had nuggets to take back." "Let me get in there." "Funny you ain't had no luck in this country." "A fellow I know struck gold just north of here." "Half a mountain of it, almost." " What fellow was that?" " A fellow I know." "Only thing, he had more trouble getting it out of the ground than he had finding it, that's what I hear." "He don't know much." "Got them from an officer fellow." "Swapped him even for a Paiute tomahawk." "It weren't really Paiute, I made it myself." "I had you figured for a horse trader." "Jesse!" "Keep your eye on 'em, Roy." "Mind if I get off and stand a while?" "Go ahead." "You can, too." "They gone up higher to look ahead?" "Well, if a man could do that with his own life." "Maybe if I'd seen what was ahead when I was younger," "I wouldn't be in this fix." "Of course I would." "Some of the things..." "Nope." "Nope, I wouldn't have done nothing no different." "Except for you, honey." "I wouldn't have dragged you with me." "You didn't drag me, Ben." "I wish there was some way to protect you from Howie." "He's gonna start on you pretty soon." "Kemp?" "I've seen him with women." "He'll look and think, and then he'll reach out and take." "And the way things are, who's gonna stop him?" " Me." " You better." "I'm the jealous type." "It's not much of a trail." "I think we can make it right through that pass." "At least the pay is good." "Give me those glasses." "What do you make of it?" "Indians." "Two, four, six, seven, eight..." " About 12 of them." " Are they wearing paint?" "It's hard to tell." "Right up there." "Yeah, they're just Blackfeet." "Nothing to worry about." "Been no trouble with them for years." "A little far south for Blackfeet, aren't we?" "Hunting party, I guess." "Hunting what?" "All right, mount up." "We're going over." "Oh yeah, and don't get nervous if we see a couple of Indians coming up behind." " Indians?" " Don't worry." "Don't worry, now." "They're just Blackfeet." "Take it easy on the trail up there." "Wait a minute." "What do you think you're doing?" "You want to get us all scalped?" "We got nothing they want." "Isn't that right, Jesse?" " Yup." " Indians are Indians." "We can cover this trail and finish them off when they come through." "Why look for trouble?" "What's the matter, Lieutenant?" "All right, if you want to know, they're after me." "They've been hunting me ever since I left the fort." "Now that's something else again." "This chief's daughter you was holding hands with, was she willing?" "Never mind the sermon." "We've got a fight on our hands." "This is your fight, not ours." "You expect me to take them alone?" "They don't just kill a man." "He's right." "If them Indians are out to revenge a squaw, they'll make him holler first." "Do the same thing to us if we're with him." "Maybe worse." "All right, you better start riding the skin off that horse of yours if you want to stay out ahead of them." "The reward cuts bigger two ways, huh?" "You're losing time." "All right, now keep close together." "You ride next to Ben." "Come on." "Oh, happy home" "Where art tho now?" "Now just sit easy." " Get behind that stump." " Right." "Anybody got a match?" "You could have got us all killed." "It worked, didn't it?" "Did you think I was gonna let those Indians ride me into the ground?" "Let them peel my hide over a slow-burning fire?" "Oh, no." "Not me, partners." "Come on, mount up." "You can't sit a horse with a slug in your leg, Howie." "You get on that burro." "Come on." "He's done a day's work." "Fix a fire." "Where are they?" "Where are they?" "Where'd they take her?" "Where'd they take her?" "Let go now." "Get your hands off." "Get your hands off me." "I've got to find her." "I got to." "I got to..." "I got to find her." " I've got to..." " He been like this long?" "Not as bad." "What are you trying to do, drown him?" "Here, give me that handkerchief." "Mary..." "Mary, Mary..." "Mary." "Don't worry." "The war won't last a year." "I'll be home before you know it." "No sense getting married, and then having to say goodbye." "You understand that." "Sure, I understand." "Now, get some sleep." "You can manage, Mary." "The boys will take care of the stock." "When I get back, it'll be just like we talked about last night." "You understand, Mary?" "You remember what you said?" "I remember." "I said, "I'll wait for you."" "He got what was coming to him." "Half of Abilene knows about it." "I've heard of some big suckers in my time but..." "This ain't our affair." "You know what he done?" "When he marched off to preserve the Union, he signed over his ranch to this gal, so she could work it legal." "Guess what?" "Come back to find out she'd sold it." "Used the money to run off with another fellow." "It's nothing to laugh at." "No?" "Well, laugh at this then." "What am I supposed to do?" "Cry?" "Feel sorry for him?" "I got nothing against these fellows." "They just happened along." "But him..." "I never hurt him nowise, and he starts out to hunt me, days, weeks, like an animal." "That's enough." "This ain't none of our business." "He wants his land back." "And I'll tell you something." "His end of the reward ain't enough to buy it." "That's your business." "I think I'll make some coffee." "Then why did he make a deal with us, to begin with?" "Howie's a practical man." "He needed you fellas' help to get through this rough country." "But the closer we get to Abilene, the more you've got to worry." "Give me my choice, and I'll take hand-panning in running water, naturally." "Especially when you're working alone like I do." "Of course when you get a strike in high country, like here for instance, your big problem is getting the water to where you're digging." "Yeah, that's the trouble my friend had." "Ground full of gold and no water to work it." "Hey!" "Now maybe you'll shut up." "I've been meaning to ask, you talk like you've seen this fellow's mine with your own eyes." "I just heard." "Never hit it, huh, Jesse?" "Nothing worth the mention." "Seems I've been looking all my life." "All my life." "That's a long time to look for something." "Maybe you've been looking in the wrong places." "Fellow says, "There's gold in the valley," I go to the valley." "Fellow says, "Dig here," I dig." "Fellow says, "There's a rush on to the north," I go north." "In '49, I run to California." "Still remember, spent good money for maps." "Even made my own maps." "I've seen fellows too drunk to walk fall on their face and find gold." "But never me." "Hey, Jesse!" "Where's Roy?" "He rode off before dawn." "Didn't say where." "That's enough shaving." "Give me that." "Drop it there." "Well, you slept yourself out." "Must be halfway to noon almost." "Why didn't somebody wake me?" "What's everybody lying around for?" "That tells you, better than me." "You get him some breakfast." "You can change the wrapping, girlie." " Why me?" " Because I say so." "Don't fuss all the time!" "Hold on, Jesse." "This girl's been up half the night taking care of him." "She's wore out." "Never mind, Ben." " Hey, I'll do it." " Lay still..." " No, you don't have to." " I'll do it." " You sat up with me?" " Yeah." " Why?" " Somebody had to." "You was raving, so no one could sleep." " Why should you care?" " I don't." "I'd have done it for a dog if he was suffering." " Thank you." " You're welcome." "You said I was raving." "What about?" "Nothing that made sense." "You thought I was your girl." "You kept calling me Mary." "You were really out of your head." "We ain't nothing alike, Mary and me." "At least, that's what Ben says." "Well, Ben's just like all the rest of them." "He never even met her." " Well, he knows what she did." " What she did is her business." "She had no business selling your ranch." "All right, you're different." "You would have done it different." "Let's let it go." "How do you mean I'm different?" "I mean you got a man." "At least you stick to him." " He's not my man." " Well, you're with him, ain't you?" " Not like you mean." " All right, forget it." "What are you doing with Ben, anyway?" "Did you expect to run and hide forever?" "Ben was taking me to California." "He was gonna start new." "Start new?" "At what?" "Ranching, maybe." "He knows a lot about cattle." "Yeah, other people's cattle." "Did you ever think for a minute that Ben had the temper to settle on the land?" "To clear it, to build on it?" "To bring in the cattle and nurse them through the winter?" "And round up strays, brand calves..." "Start new?" "The only thing Ben'll start is trouble." "He's wild, sure." "Like my father used to be." "But they didn't do one out of 10 things that people blamed them for." "He's mean." "He was born mean and you know he was born mean." "Ben took me for my father's sake, when there was no cause for him to, and he's treated me decent." "Well, that's more than he's done for most people." "I've never seen him hurt no one, except in a fair fight." " Sure, I know, sure." " And who are you to talk?" "You didn't track him all this way just 'cause he's mean." " I never said I did." " There's a lot of outlaws riding free with no one after them." "Ben could've killed a dozen men and you wouldn't have looked twice if it wasn't for the reward." "Where have you been?" " How's the leg?" " Here you are." "Breakfast in bed." " What's this?" " You better eat it before we tell you." "I made a map of the trail ahead." "Here, take a look." "I know the way." "Hey, look." "Here's this pony-backed ridge marked along this stretch of trees." "You follow these mountains right down to the big river, and we'll meet on the other side." "Meet who?" "Well, what he means, all of you go on ahead, and I use this map to catch up with you later." "That's right, isn't it?" "It's the only smart way." "Riding alone, he can make up time it would take us days to cover." "And the rain's coming." "Well, Jesse, what do you think?" "I'm thinking if something goes wrong, and you don't meet up with us," "I stand to gain from it as much as Roy here." "That's a dirty idea." "I ain't much proud of it, but it's the truth." "It won't be that way with me, is all I can promise." "As soon as we get across, we wait for you on the other side." "You got Jesse's word on it, and mine." "Here, this is yours." "Come on, let's get the horses ready." "I'm riding with you." "What are you trying to do?" "Kill yourself?" "I ain't going to cheat you." "You know, your trouble is you just think of one thing at a time." "If this is his plan to get rid of me, who's next?" "Just think that over." "You better let Roy ride drag." "You ain't fit." "You know, Howie," "I ain't been tied up like this since I was knee high to spit." "The time Pa sold our place in Missouri and started us out for Texas." "I didn't want to go, so I run off." "He caught me, tied me up and throwed me in the wagon." "That was a hard winter." "Ma caught the fever and died on the way." "Pa didn't amount to much after that." "Got gunned down in a saloon before we ever saw Texas." "After that I met up with some wild, young fellows." "You might say I come to no good." "Look out!" "Come on, you buzzard bait, move." " Is it time yet?" " Pretty near." "I can't sleep anyway." "Might be a cat poking around." "I'll go and see." "I better see what's at the other end." "Now, this ain't bad." "We could all do with some of Jesse's coffee." "Hey, Roy, wet cords are shrinking." "How about it?" "I'm not going out in this weather." "Easy there, girlie, you'll have it all down on us." "It runs back about 30 yards." "Funnels down to another opening, about big enough for a cat to crawl through." "Or him." "Hey, Lina honey, this weather's creeping into my bones." "Can you do me?" "I wonder if you really need this, or if you just like to be rubbed." "Same thing." "A man needs what he likes." "Poor old Howie." "That bad leg's just about got him wore out." "Might not be too sharp on his watch tonight." "Shouldn't have to stand one, the way he is." "Better for us." "This might be our chance." "He's coming around on his feeling for you." "If you was to sit up with him tonight, and tell him the things that a man likes to know, you know..." "It'd only be a minute before I'd be out of that hole in back." " But if Kemp finds out..." " Finds out what?" "I'll be long gone." "You're not gonna let me down, are you, honey?" "No, Ben," " only..." " Only what?" "He's got no feeling for me." " No?" " All he cares about is the reward." "Well, you're right, honey." "You're better off out of it." "I guess my only hope is that he'll drop off, at least long enough for me to pick up a rock and smash his head in." "I don't want to, but time's running out." "I can help you, Ben." "The way you said." "You sure?" "It'll be all right, honey." "It'll be all right." "Now, you get some coffee, huh?" "What's the matter?" "Nothing." "Restless." "The stuff's been out long enough." "It can't hurt." "It's all right." "It's making music." "There's a sour one someplace." "Roy's." "You know, at that, it sounds better than some fiddlers I've heard." "Is dancing hard to learn?" "No, not the way I do it." "Do you like it?" "Yeah, used to." "Sometimes I just like to sit outside by a window and listen to the music." "Like now." "Did you ever see Mexican dancing?" "What are you gonna do when you get back to Abilene?" "Help Ben if I can." "Don't you want anything for yourself?" "Used to think of going to California." "Why California?" "Someplace new, nobody caring who you are, or where you come from." "A place you could belong to." "A house, and maybe even neighbors." "I had neighbors, you know." "Tom Webster and his missus, lived right across the river." "Had four sons, each one of them skinnier than the other." "Always coming over to lend a hand." "Didn't give you much chance to get lonesome." "The house ain't much, but it's just prime cattle country." "And the fella that owns the ranch now, he's willing to sell." "Maybe..." "Maybe you'd like to take a look at it after I buy it back." "With the money you get for Ben?" "Oh, that's something else." "I'm talking to you now." "Be like stepping on a grave." "You know what I'm asking you?" "I can't say how I feel, the way things are." "All right, get up." "Come on, come on, get up." "Come on." "We're through fooling with you." " Quit that!" " "Dead or alive," it says." "Stop him!" "Ben won't have a chance." "Chance at what?" "To kill us all?" "All right, if that's what you want, I'll give him a chance." "There." "Now, cut him loose." "Don't let him do it." "Cut him loose!" "All right, Ben." "It ain't a fair fight, Howie." "My hands ain't fit." "You're ready now, anytime." "Come on, draw." "I ain't got a prayer against you, and you know it." "It's your first move." "If you're going to murder me, Howie, don't try to make it look like something else." "Come on, draw." "Kill him!" "All right." "Leave it be." "It's getting so I don't know which way to point this no more." "How many chances does he get?" "Is this part of your deal with her?" " I didn't..." " No, no, you didn't keep me busy while he's making his break." "No, it just happened that way." "It just happened that way." "Well, this is no good." "You got any more shortcuts?" "Well, there's no sense stewing about it." "We got here late and that's it." "That's the time you cost us." "If you'd listened to me we could've..." "All right, I'll listen to you now, if you got any ideas about how to get across here." "No, we can't get across that." "You gotta get downstream a ways." " How far?" " Four, five days if we make time." "We can swim it here, so let's start now." "I'll take the point if you're afraid." "At least I got the sense to be afraid." "Besides, what about her?" "She wouldn't last two minutes in that current." "You want to go downstream?" "Take her with you." "What if Ben gets washed away?" "Then we got nothing." "I bow to your superior wisdom." "I promise you, Jesse, he'll get across, one way or the other." " Hey, hey, hey!" " Hey, you can't do that." "...but not like this." " Just like this." "Why not?" "We'll go downstream before we cross." "Now what are you worried about, your girl?" "Don't tell me you're worried about him." "Howie, it's no different from the rope in Abilene." "You knew you were gonna bring him back to die when you started after him." "You know that now." "That hasn't changed." "He's not a man, he's a sack of money." "That's why we're all here, especially you." "Why don't you face up to it?" "I don't suppose either of you object to stopping the night here." "I didn't think so." "I..." "Hey, Lina, honey, it's my back again." "Can you do me?" "Let me do you this time." "Start fixing for a fire, girlie." "How do you like your rubbing?" "Up and down or side to side?" "Hey, you don't have to do that." "You better look after your partners." "Partners, huh?" "If I didn't need a grubstake, I'd have walked out on this deal long ago." "That's too bad." "If you'd been lucky like my friend..." "And I've had about enough of that, too." "You got no friend found gold around here, you're talking about yourself." "I knowed I shouldn't have shot off my mouth in front of you." "Quit playacting." "You wanted me to know it all along." "So, let's get at it." "You tell me where to dig, and I'll see that your gal is provided for." "Don't try to horse-trade me, Jesse." "I ain't gonna tell you where my gold is, but I'll show you." "I knew that's what you been scratching for all along." "Trouble is, I don't trust you no more than I trust them." "Well, you don't have to trust nobody." "Even if you don't fancy my gold mine, you still got me all to yourself." "Now, that's saying I trust you." "Say I tell you where my gold is, you might still turn me in." "If I make a deal, I stick by it." "At least I wouldn't have any partners to worry about." " Except me." " What do you mean, you?" "If I did it, now just if, it'd be an even swap." "You go loose, and I get the gold mine." "Now, that ain't fair, Jesse, I got a right to some of that gold." "Fair or no, its the only deal I'd make." "And it's a poor deal no matter." "Same deal." "I'll trade you even up." "Your neck for that gold, yes or no?" "I ain't fixed for bargaining, Jesse, you know that." "Come on then, I got two horses ready." "I'll get Lina." "No, she ain't part of the deal." "She goes with me." "If I'm gonna be broke, I ain't gonna be lonesome." "Get her up, then." "Remember, I'm watching you." "I'll tell you later." "Come on." "Snake!" "Snake!" "Snake!" "Snake!" "Where?" "Where?" "Ben, hey." "Fun's over." "Get down off that horse." "I said off, come on, move." "You all right, honey?" "You got the gun." "What do you care?" "You're all right." "Get moving." "I got it coming." "Do business with the devil and you'll get it every time." "Ain't it the truth?" "Get going." "Lina, honey, you take the horse." "Hold it, Jesse." "You better get going, Ben." "The other two will be along any minute." "You mean we better get going, don't you, honey?" "If it suits you, I'll settle for going." "I don't fancy your friend with a gun in his hand." "'Course, I don't suppose Ben would be fool enough to shoot." "It'd be heard 20 mile or more." "Who's talking about shooting?" "Leave him with the burro, Ben, you don't need him." "Please." "I'm just thinking that, from up there, a man could pick off anything that moves in this clearing." "The only trouble is, there's nothing to stop a man." "Make him hold up for a while." "Ben, I got to talk a different way now, I know that." "But that gold mine still ain't gonna do you much good." " I'm thinking..." " Thinking is your weak spot, Jesse." "Here, Lina, hold the horses." "Leave the burro." "Ben, Ben, no!" "You had no reason to kill him." "He couldn't hurt you none." "Leave him lay like that." "They'll come after you sure now." "That shot'll bring them and they'll finish you." "I figure they'll come." "Now get those horses on the other side of that rock." "Come on, do as I say, before I have to knock some sense into you." "Up here." "Get down." "Better not move around too much up here." "Come on, you too." "I swear, he ain't half as worried over it as you are." "Look at him." "Lying there peaceful in the sun." "Ain't never gonna be hungry again." "Never want anything he can't have." "That's more than we can say." "Hold still." "Hold still." "You're gonna be still from now on." "I ain't been harder on you 'cause I know you never seen a man killed close up." "Well, that'll pass." "Day after tomorrow, it'll be just like a story you once heard." "You killed that man in Abilene like Kemp said!" "Just another gun I'll never have to look into, you understand?" "Pretty soon, Roy and your friend Howie are gonna show up." "Then I'll get me some more insurance against dying young." "Ben, we can get away." "California." "We can go there." "You always said you'd take me to California." "Might go to California." "Kemp didn't kill you when he had the chance, remember?" "You got to remember that." "I remember what suits me." "If you forget this, I won't ever do anything you don't want, I promise." "I won't talk, I won't do anything wrong..." "Of course you won't, honey." "I decided how it was gonna be with us when I took you in." "Boys must be having trouble finding their way." "Ain't lost my touch." "Think I'll try for a pair." "Quiet now, here they come." "That's better, Howie." "Stand together, boys." "Howie!" "Lina's hurt bad." "Caught a ricochet." "She's bleeding something awful." "How about a truce so I can fix her up?" "What do you say, Howie?" "Lina!" "Lina, are you all right?" "I didn't know what to do." " Where is..." " Help!" "Roy!" "Roy!" "I got him!" "I got him!" "Come in alone, we'll pull him in after!" "Stop it!" "Ben's dead." "Ain't that enough?" "Look!" "Look out!" "Let go of him!" "Look out!" "Cut him loose, Howie." "I'm taking him back." "This is what I came after and now I got it." "No partners like I started." "He's gonna pay for my land." "Jesse, and Roy, and him..." "They're dead!" "Finished!" "Ben's not dead if you take him back." "He'll never be dead for you." "I don't care anything about that but money." "That's all I care about." "That's all I've ever cared about." "Roy, he called the truth." "He said, "Face up to it."" "All right, that's what I'm doing." "That's what I'm doing." "Maybe I don't fit your ideas of me, but that's the way I am." "All right, if that's the way you want it, I'll ride with you." "I'll ride with you all the way." "I'm taking him back." "I know." "I'll marry you." "I'll go with you, I'll even live on that land with you." "What else do you want from me?" "Why?" "Tell me why?" "I'm taking him back, I swear it." "I'm gonna sell him for money." "You still want to try California?" "If you want." "That's it, then." "I'll fix some of Jesse's coffee for you." "5@y3"