"Now, would you like to do some explaining?" "It's nothing personal." "My name is Roderick Jefferson." "I... gamble, among other things." "I'm not much good to my family, or... the human race." "That's very interesting and not very satisfactory." "Well, I said "gamble."" "Tonight my bad luck became catastrophic." "I signed IOUs for $10,000, which I knew I couldn't make good." "I was desperate." "So you were offered the choice of... jail, disgrace for you and your family, or... performing this... little favor." "I've met you, Mr. Jefferson." "I don't believe so." "About ten years ago... one morning, in a mirror." "At that time, I was receiving a small monthly remittance not to go home." "Oh, I had tried the high life," "I'd tried it often." "But young as I was," "I finally came to enjoy none of it." "Look, why drag this out?" "Call the police, and let's have done with it." "Mr. Jefferson, I am trying to tell you something, and you would do well to listen." "Sit down." "Look at that." "Fused silica, lime treated with mercury, polished... and in it, a man can see what he is." "And what he was." "Ten years ago, Mr. Jefferson, in this hotel, I was playing cards with a man named Norge." "Norge was a man who hated people." "Hated them because they were young, because they had decent features, because they were healthy... or just because they were there." "$15,000." "I'll have it now." "Mr. Norge, I do not have $15,000 and you know it." "You knew it when you encouraged me to write those IOUs." "Payable upon demand." "Well, I demand it now." "I don't have $15,000!" "Now, what do you want?" "I want you to kill a man." "To kill a man?" "There's a place called Delta Valley." "I own it all, animals and people included." "And yet if I even set foot inside that valley, I'd die." "Of what?" "Of whatever whim moves that devil Smoke." "Smoke?" "Smoke." "It's the name of the man you're going to kill." "He's wanted in a dozen states for a dozen crimes." "He rode into Delta about a year ago, badly wounded." "And out of pity, my townspeople nursed him back to health." "And then he killed my guards... and one night I woke up with him standing over my bed with a knife at my throat, and he said to me," ""You get out of this valley." "If you ever return, I'll kill you."" "I've chosen you very carefully." "I know your war record," "I know your dueling record." "Honor, hmm?" "Well, in that regard, you and Smoke think alike." "That's what I'm counting on." "You give me your word you'll challenge Smoke to a duel, and you can burn these notes." "The alternative... is jail." "Or disgrace to your honorable family name." "Don't bother looking." "Well." "Norge sent a gentleman this time, didn't he?" "What do you call yourself?" "Now, that is none of your concern." "I'm here for one purpose only." "I challenge you to a duel." "Well, that's no ordinary cough you've got there." "No, it isn't." "And it will probably be the death of me, since the likes of you will not." "So you challenge me to a duel, do you?" "You accept?" "I do, but as the challenged, it's for me to choose the time and the weapons and the place." "That is your privilege." "In the books, there's a name for a man like you." "Yeah." "A paladin." "Paladin." "That's a gentleman knight in shining armor all armed with a cause and righteousness and a fine, pointed lance and yet, a mercenary." "A man who hires out for gold." "What was your price, my paladin?" "How much gold did Norge give you to slay the dragon?" "Now, you have accepted my challenge." "Let's settle it, here and now!" "This place, my dear Paladin, like life itself, is at once a prison and freedom." "Freedom for me, and for you well, that is a thousand-foot drop behind you." "You'll find this wall somewhat difficult to climb, but you try it if you must." "You try it." "It'd be just like killing a small child." "Draw your gun." "You know my gun is empty!" "It's only that that keeps you alive, my noble Paladin." "Now draw your gun and show me the speed you think'll match mine." "Your life depends on it." "Now draw your gun!" "Paladin... if you want it to be a contest... think on it." "Practice on it." "And don't be so anxious to die." "Smoke, I will kill you." "Here." "Cut away half that holster." "Get as much of that gun out in the open as you can." "Soft leather drags on a gun." "Get that leather wet, let it dry stiff." "Throw me one bullet." "Throw me one bullet and face me now!" "Paladin, your armor is shiny indeed." "Now make your lance and your arm worthy to fight the dragon." "I been watching you all day, boy." "You do have a ken of weapons." "Who knows?" "In time, you might even rank with the best." "How long'll you make me wait, old man?" "Too quick to action, too slow to thought." "That's the sin of youth and penance of old men, my paladin." "Old men who are afraid to die." "Smoke, are you afraid?" "Do you know why you're gonna have to face me sooner or later, eye-to-eye?" "You tell me, Paladin." "Because there's another death that hunts for you in the dark of the moon." "Even I can hear it coughing through the canyon in the night." "Now, have I waited long enough?" "I don't even know if you could hit the sky, presuming you could get that gun out of the holster." "So you're not distracted by a plethora of targets." "Now shoot it out of there, like the fair lad you are." "At daybreak, then... noble Paladin?" "So ends the apprenticeship, Paladin." "Well, it's no wonder you're still alive!" "Sunlight at your back!" "Now all that remains is for you to loose that one bullet of yourn." "Well... now that you think you've slain the dragon you know what you've done?" "You've turned the dragon loose." "The one decent thing I ever did in my life was chain him away from these people." "Who's gonna stop Norge now?" "You?" "Oh, your armor does shine brightly." "And your arm is strong enough." "But where is righteousness?" "Noble Paladin... where is your cause?" "You remember... there's always a dragon loose... somewhere." "What more is there to be said about this man?" "About this man we called "Smoke"?" "He was not a free man." "Yet he protected the freedom of a whole community." "He was a man who took nothing for himself." "And yet he gave unselfishly of what he had." "Who can take his place?" "Now there's only one question I would ask." "What kind of a man kills a man like this?" "What kind of a man kills out of selfishness and for money?" "Smoke is dead." "But our feelings for him will live forever, and so will our memory of the man who killed him." "Where is righteousness, noble Paladin?" "Where is your cause?" "There's always a dragon loose... somewhere." "Norge!" "Stay there!" "To Delta Valley." "Did, uh, Norge ever go back?" "Only once." "Mr. Jefferson... if men have a common factor, it seems to me it's their ability to err." "If a man's mistakes determine what he was, then what he does about those mistakes should determine what he is." "Yes." "I would like to collect the price of that mirror from whoever sent you." "I'll give you his name and where you can find him." "Or maybe I could take you there." "No." "I may do some negotiating on your behalf." "If you'd care to wait." "I'd like that very much." "It'll give me a chance to start polishing on some rusty armor." "Hm." "Mr. Paladin..." "I wouldn't give a gun to man I didn't trust." "Mr. Jefferson, neither would I." ""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" "Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?"