"There's a lot of Indians down there, Captain Scull." "Don't be tempted by 'em, Mr. Call." "They're the wrong Indians." "I've never been thwarted in the pursuit of a felonious foe, and I don't intend to be this time." "That's Buffalo Hump and his band, gentlemen, and the felonious foe I want is that horse-stealing Kicking wolf." "I wouldn't be foolish enough to take on Buffalo Hump's whole camp with just ten men, Captain." "Captain's never been run off from, and Kicking wolf's never been caught." "Who would you bet against if you had to wager..." "Captain Scull or Kicking wolf?" "I wouldn't bet against the captain even if I thought he was wrong, Gus." "He's the captain." "I'd bet against him in a minute." "It's heading toward night." "Ain't we gonna brew up some coffee?" "Do you see a campfire?" "You see any coffee, sir?" "No, and don't you be "sirring" me, you durn yapper." "You two can argue some other time." "Let's go." "I consider you a lucky man, Woodrow." "You'd probably be long married before I am." "You'll never be married unless you give up on Clara." "She don't mean to marry you, and that's that." "Well, if you knew anything about women, you'd know they change their minds every day." "You would've made a good Indian, Woodrow." "You got no use for the settled life." "I've got no use for idle palaver, if that's what you mean." "I'd rather listen to hoot owls hoot than listen to you think up insults." "Call is with Big Horse Scull." "And the other one is there, McCrae." "They are chasing Kicking wolf." "He stole many of their horses." "Call killed your brother." "You kill him." "I give him to you." "Why are you standing there?" "Augustus!" "Cut him off!" "I'll ride him down, the scamp." "Bible and sword!" "That's him, gentlemen!" "That's Buffalo Hump." "Bible and sword." "It's not every day you get to see Buffalo Hump at breakfast." "Not every day you'd want to." "That young cub we were chasing is talking to him." "I expect it's his son, Blue Duck." "He has a Mexican look about him." "Probably the child of a captive." "He just looked right at me." "Let me look." "He almost got me once, the devil." "He's older, but he ain't dead, Woodrow." "Those torturing fiends down there are the best, most capable opponents I've ever faced, and I mean to kill them to the last man." "But when it's done... my God, I'll miss them." "You'll miss 'em, sir?" "I'm a fighting man, Mr. McCrae, and fighting men need other fighting men to fight." "Well, we're a tempting morsel, sitting up here on top of this hole." "We'd better make ourselves morsels in motion, then." "Why, Miss Tilton." "So good to see you." "And you too, Miss Forsythe." "Mother?" "This is Miss Maggie Tilton." "Maggie, this is my mother." "Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Forsythe." "Why, and you, Miss Tilton." "We just got these cups and plates in from Pennsylvania." "I think they're the very thing, but Pa thinks they're too fancy." "What do you think?" "They're so elegant." "But I have to try not to look at things I can't afford." "I wish we were sisters." "Oh, Miss Forsythe!" "Thank you." "I doubt I've ever received a finer compliment." "Well, I mean it!" "If we were sisters, you could help me reason with Pa when he decides I'm trying to ruin him just by ordering' pretty crockery." "Why, Staffordshire plates!" "I'll have them all, and the cups too, though they are rather plain." "Mrs. Scull, I haven't yet finished inventory on the shipment." "There's more than 100 pieces." "Are you sure you want them all?" "You must recall I run a mansion, Miss Forsythe." "So box them back up and I'll send a servant for them." "What the Negroes don't break, I can throw at Inish next time he drips tobacco juice on my fine tablecloth." "Haven't seen you riding lately, Madame Scull." "The crops aren't for my horses." "They're for my Negroes." "Good day, Miss Forsythe." "I can't seem to keep track of my thimbles for some reason." "Now, thimbles I can supply." "There's news of those wild Ranger boys you were hoping for." "They're bound to disappoint you." "Suppose they're still up on the plains chasing Comanche horse thieves, freezing their ears off." "Yes, it's been sharp weather." "I expect they're cold." "Miss Tilton..." "I'd be pleased if you'd call me Clara." "I wish Captain Scull would just give up on Kicking wolf." "I'd like to high-tail it back to Austin and see Clara." "I'd like to sneak into Buffalo Hump's camp and kill him." "That's my thinking." "We'll have to fight him sooner or later anyway." "See, now, that's the difference between me and you, Woodrow." "I mostly think about love;" "you mostly think about war." "Yeah." "If you don't stop soon, I'm gonna dismount right here and die." "I'm so cold and tired I can't tell up from down." "I'm gonna quit if I have to spend too much time in a place where I can't tell up from down." "Quit and do what?" "All you know how to do is ride horses and shoot guns." "If you quit rangerin', you'd starve." "Now, that's a rash statement, Woodrow." "There he is, the rascal." "He ain't a rascal." "He's our scout." "What good's a scout that goes off and doesn't report but every three days?" "Hey, what's got him so riled?" "'Sides that, he beat me at cards." "You must've swallowed a badger, Gus." "I swear, you're surly today." "Shut up." "Where's Captain off to in such a hurry?" "The place Kicking Wolf and his warriors butchered most of the stolen horses." "Kicking Wolf only wanted the three stallions." " Any meat left?" " Yes." "Maybe the captain'll let Deets cook us up a bunch." "Come on, men." "Ain't you comin'?" "No." "I'm going to see my grandmother." "She's old." "She may want to tell me a few more stories before she dies." "How will we catch Kicking wolf without you to track?" "Kicking wolf is much too quick for Big Horse Scull to catch." "Scull might as well go home." "And let a horse thief get clean away?" "That's not the captain's habit." "Kicking wolf is the best horse thief in the world." "Is Big Horse Scull the best captain in the world?" "Drag him back, Corporal Pea." "He'll scorch his shoe leather." "Come on, Bill." "Come on." "Are you... yeah, yeah, yeah!" "You know, I was raised 'midst trees and brush." "Never expected I'd be in no place that was this empty." "It ain't empty." "There's plenty of Comanche down there in that big canyon we just left." "Did our illustrious tracker Famous Shoes allow as to when he might come back?" "He went to visit his grandmother." "Well, he is a man of genius." "I could barely track a mastodon, myself." "Not a big talker, but no point in crowding genius too close." "Captain!" "It's Jimmy." "He ain't drawing his breath no more." "He was acting poorly yesterday, but then Jimmy always liked to complain." "Well, there's no remedy for mortality." "It'll take a good, strong pick to hack out a grave in ground this frozen." "If only we were in Brazil, we could do with James what we did with my cousin willy, who succumbed to the bite of the fer-de-lance, deadliest snake in the world." "Cousin willy was a biologist..." "Here we go." "Captain's about to have a word-fit." "...and it happens that they had what's called an undertaker beetle down there in Brazil." "Willy wanted to go back into the food chain the fastest way possible, so we laid him out naked, and immediately, the beetles went to work." "The next day, Cousin willy was part of the food chain again," " just as he wished." " Buried by bugs?" "Not me, Captain." "I doubt if I'd ever get to heaven without someone to say the Scriptures over me with just a durn bunch of beetles for undertakers." "Well, to each his very own, Mr. Coleman." "Cousin willy was of an agnostical bent." "He didn't believe in heaven, but he did believe in bugs." "Mr. Pea?" "Here, I'll make you a better fire." "Here, sit close." "It ain't much, but it'll warm you better than the big fire." "Much obliged." "You're welcome, sir." "You don't need to be "sirring" me, Deets." "I'm just plain me." "Maybe I'll just call you Mr. Pea." "How's that sound?" "How come you did not go with the captain, Jake?" "Captain wanted me to stay here in Austin." "Gotta take care of the place till he gets back." "But he said I can go next time." "Felice, what happened to you?" "The missus." "The missus?" "What, did you drop a plate?" "Did you sass Madame Scull?" "I didn't sass her." "I didn't drop no plate." "If you don't hurry with that buttermilk, Felice... you'll get the quirting of your life." "Don't interfere with our slaves, Spoon." "Madame would like to see you upstairs, and you're late as it is." "What am I late for?" "If the madame says you're late, you are late." "She wants help with the drapes." "Now go!" "Scat, you old possum!" "Butler said you needed help with your drapes?" "I suppose he meant..." "I wanted you to undrape me." "What, ma'am?" ""'Come into my parlor,' said the spider to the fly."" "Well..." "What, uh, ma'am, uh..." "Don't stutter, Jakey." "Such lovely hair." "Ought to win you many female hearts." "Come a little closer so I can see your dimples better." "I was just, uh, supposed to trim the mule's feet this afternoon." "I can't allow it." "Not today." "I should really..." "Mrs. Scull..." "I'd better..." "What are you doing here?" "Your white friends are gone." "Your son made me come." "He said you might want to torture me for a while." "If you came into my camp, I would hang you upside down and put a scorpion in your nose." "I don't like Kickapoos." "This man has my protection." "Why did you interfere with him?" "Because he's a stinking Kickapoo, and he led the Rangers to us." "You should have brought me Call's scalp." "Instead you defy me." "My horse." "I'm tired of ordinary horses." "Most horses are ordinary, Kicking wolf." "The Buffalo Horse is not ordinary." "He is the most famous horse in the world." "Ah, there's our fine tracker." "He may be a fine tracker, but I fail to see that he's ours." "Mostly seems to track for himself." "Well, that's just research, Mr. McCrae." "The man is said to know every creek in between the Rio Grande and the Columbia River Gorge." "Takes a lot of private tracking to build that much knowledge." "I was in Buffalo Hump's camp." "His son Blue Duck took me prisoner for a while, but Buffalo Hump won't let anyone kill me." "Well, that's new." "Why not?" "I helped his grandmother with her dying." "Kicking Wolf is following you." "Three Birds is with him." "Well, that's original." "First we follow him, then he follows us." "If it's just two of 'em, let's go kill 'em." "At least they'll stop this horse stealing for a while." "You can't catch them." "They have better horses than you." "If you try to chase them, they'll lead you so far away, you'll starve before you can find your way back." "I've been out there before, and I didn't starve." "Here, now, men, I won't send you out chasing a phantom in country this spare." "We'll post a double guard tonight." "Let's move." "That horse might be a witch." "Some say it can fly." "It is too cold for the whites." "They're weak and careless with their horses." "You should make a song about me." "I have just stolen the greatest horse in the world." "If Scull catches up with us, we should be singing our death songs." "No Comanche has ever stolen such a horse." "Yes, but now let's go a long way." "The Texans will be chasing us when it gets light." "Don't forget to make the song." "Sheer, absolute genius." "Stealing horses is one thing, but stealing Hector..." "that's absolute genius!" "It's still just a horse thief stealing a horse." "We ought to be chasing 'em instead of standing around." "We've been chasing him for ten years and ain't caught him yet." "I'd like to see you go into Buffalo Hump's camp" " and steal one of his horses." " I don't claim to be a horse thief, and we can't catch 'em 'cause we stop to sleep at night and he don't." "What is "genius," anyway?" "I guess the captain's a genius." "You ought to ask him." "A genius is somebody with six toes on one foot." "Well, I mean, that's what I heard, anyway." "A genius ain't got no warts." "Well, in that case, Ikey, I'm a genius." "I'm rarely troubled with warts." "I hear a genius is desperate smart." "He's right." "I met one once up in St. Louis, and he could spell words backwards, and even say numbers backwards, too." "If you spell backwards, you wouldn't have much of a word." "Pig." "I wish we had us a good ol' fat pig." "All right, now, Lee, no one was discussing swine." "No one was discussing much of anything, and Lee's got as much right to talk as you have." "Captain's coming." "We'll soon have our orders." "Firearms." "Slicker." "Slicker?" "Need to be traveling light." " Sir?" " Thank you." "A man should be able to go from Cape Cod to California with no more gear than this, and if he can't, he deserves to die where he drops, I say." "Sir, the Comanches know where we are." " You'll get scalped for sure." " Or freeze to death." "With all respect, Captain, why would you strike out on foot?" "The tragedy of man, gentlemen, is not death or epidemic or lust or rage or even scalping, Mr. Call." "No, sir, the tragedy of man is boredom." "Boredom!" "A man can only do a thing so many times with spirit, and then no matter how lively, the sport becomes a bore." "I love cards and whoring, but even cards and whoring after a while become boresome." "You can tup your wife a thousand times, and that becomes tedious, too." "Sir, I don't see what this has to do with you leaving us." "Well, opportunity, Mr. Call." "Opportunity and adversity are kissing cousins." "So we'll be leaving you, now, gentlemen." "Famous Shoes is going to teach me how to track while he follows my horse." "But Captain, what about us?" "What could be simpler?" "Go home." "Mr. McCrae, Mr. Call, I'm making you co-commanders." "See these fine gentlemen get home to Austin, and see that they get paid right away." "So we're just to go home, then?" "Yes, home." "If you encounter any rank bandits along the way, hang them." "Otherwise, report to the governor and get drunk till I show up." "What do we tell Mrs. Scull?" "Oh, Inez is my problem, not yours." "If I were you, I'd just try to avoid her." "Sir, I'd be worried if I was her and you disappeared." "Well, that shows how little you know of marital affairs, Captain McCrae." "Inez won't be worried, she'll just be mad." "We're captains now, Woodrow." "Yeah, I reckon." "If I wasn't awake, I'd think I was asleep." "I'd think I was in a dream." "It ain't a dream, you fool." "Now, don't you be bossing me too hard today, Gus." "I need a day or two to adjust to the notion that you're a captain." "I order you to shut up about it." "Woodrow's captain, too." "He's gonna be a lot harder boss once he gets the hang of the job." "Get the hang of it?" "Survivin's the hang of it, Augustus." " Bill, no more. ...to wrestle with an Indian than to reason with you!" "Which way you think we oughta go?" "Well, aren't you gonna say somethin'?" "You been yapping ever since I known you." "Why dry up?" "Where do you think we oughta go if you know so much?" "I've been taking orders the whole time I've been a ranger." "Why would I know any more than you do?" "Because you're a studier, Woodrow." "You been reading in that book about Napoleon for years now." "Me, I'm mainly just a whorer." "What made the captain decide to make them two in charge!" "They'd both argue with a stump if the stump could talk." "Sure don't seem like the sensible thing to do, Bill." "One of 'em says yes, the other says no." "Well, captains oughta stay with their troops." "If Gus and Call decided to leave us, we'd be lost for sure." "All right." "I favor trying for the Red River." "If we go west, we end up eating the horses." "Got those extra mules..." "I say we eat the mules if we have to and make for the Red." "There's settlements along the Red and plentiful game, too." "Red was my thinkin', too." "Oh, is it, now." "Boys are depending on us." "Gotta keep our heads and do it right." "I just hope we don't run into a big band of Comanches." "They'd finish us for sure." "Yeah." "So, the Red River it is, Captain McCrae." "Let's get going, Captain Call." "No, not today, you don't." "Mind your words, Ben." "Let me pass." "No!" "Not today and not tomorrow and not the next day and not the next week and not the next month." "Not ever." "I've been coming here every day for three weeks." "What's wrong with today?" "There's nothing wrong with today, just be gone." "I'll be calling the sheriff on you if you don't, and he'll know what to do with a common lout like you." "Yeah, all right, then." "There ain't no need to call the sheriff." "Why, thanks, Felice." "You're the only one who don't hate me around here, looks like." "I thought I instructed my butler to run you off." "How come you're not gone?" "Ben." "I was resting a minute." "Get off my step." "I don't want you 'round here any more." "Ben!" "And you stay away from that yellow wench." "I don't want any little irregularities with my help." "I thought you liked me." "Like you?" "I've stooped to many follies in my life, but I doubt I'd allow myself to like a common farm boy such as yourself." "It was your hair, Jakey, your thick, lovely hair." "I suppose I found it briefly appealing, but now it's gone, and that is that." "Mr. Spoon." "You call Woodrow Call "Woodrow."" "Why won't you call me Jake?" "Look, I got money." "All right, I ain't a cheat." "What are you standing over there for?" "I'm ready." "Hey, I'm a ranger, too." "Just like Call." "You're still a whore, ain't you?" "Then get over here." "Can I ask you to take off your boots, Jake?" "They've been in some mud." "Could you... could you just help me?" "'Fraid we won't have enough coffee left to make the rest of the trip home." "Sure don't hope so." "I love coffee." "Somethin's burning." "Captain, over here!" "Oh, Lord." "He's just a young'un." "Be watchful, boys." "They may still be close." "They are close." "There." "See that dust?" "That's our villains." "Killed the granddad and the boy 'cause they couldn't keep up." "They took the women." "We have to take the captives to Buffalo Hump." "If he says you can have the woman... you can do what you want with her." "I want to do it here and now." "Take the horses and go." "I'm going to kill the woman." "You're, uh... you're... you're..." "you're safe now, ma'am." "We need to go." "There could be 40 more not far away." "Or 400 more." "My John." "He won't have me no more." "I'll run and catch her, see if I can talk her back." "She's right, you know." "What do you mean, Bill?" "Comanches have had her." "Her husband won't want her no more." "It's worse than that, Pete." "Nobody will want her." "Missus!" "Missus." "Listen, missus." "No, I can't go back." "I can't." "You gotta go back, miss." "The little girls need you." "It's all right, missus." "It's all right." "Come on, let's go back now." "Let's go back now." "I don't know what Ahumado will do when he sees that I have brought him the Buffalo Horse." "You think he will give you some young women as a reward?" "Of course he should give me a woman or two." "Ahumado doesn't do what he should do." "What if he has Goyeto skin you?" "Then I'll be skinned." "We are going to the Yellow Cliffs, and I don't plan to die." "Hector leaves a damn large track." "Kicking wolf and Three Birds are walking towards Mexico." "If he has taken the Buffalo Horse to Ahumado, he hopes to go home with some new wives." "I'd say he's taking a big risk if he thinks he can work a simple trade with that crafty Mayan." "Back in Boston, a saddle of antelope is considered to be a great delicacy." "Of course, it's a rare delicacy, too, there being very few pronghorns in the region of Boston Town." "You walk fast for a white man." "I can walk off and leave most white men." "Do you know this Ahumado, also called the Black Vaquero?" "No one knows Ahumado." "When he was born, the poison leaf was put under his tongue." "Because of that, he can do nothing but evil." "Evil is correct." "He attacked them in that slaver's den of his." "In the Yellow Cliffs once, he shot Hector and got away." "It rankles me still." "You remember that slick Comanche, the expert horse thief, the one who traded you horses for women..." "Why is that boy yelling' so?" "He let the cougar get one of my foals." "I don't raise horses for cougars to eat." "Goyeto's working on him." "The Comanche?" "He has stolen the Buffalo Horse from Scull." "I think he's bringing him here, and that ain't the best of it." "The best of it is that Scull's following him on foot." "He's got that Kickapoo tracker with him." "He wants his horse back, I reckon." "Is anyone alive in the cages now?" "I ain't checked today, but, uh, I doubt it." "Scull tried to kill me once and failed." "I tried to kill him... and failed." "Didn't expect him to come back." " It's the Rangers." " Yeah, comin' in." " Looky there." " Look, they're ridin' in now." "Look, children." "A blonde woman..." " Land sakes." " Children?" "Billy?" "Billy!" "Bill!" "What a sight!" "Jake, come get this horse for me, buddy." "Oh, Pearlie, Pearlie, Pearlie." "Oh, Billy, thank God you're safe." "Oh, my darling." "Oh, I could squeeze you in two." "Where's Captain Scull?" "was he killed?" "Not that we know of." "He's chasing a horse thief." "Don't be tagging us, now, Jake." "I've urgent business to attend to." "Urgent business?" "Hello, Mr. Forsythe." "Twenty-four..." "You haven't seen Clara anywhere?" "Twenty-five..." "She ain't sick, is she?" "I'm trying to count these gloves." "It takes concentration." " Sorry, sir." " Twenty-seven." "Traveled nearly to the North Pole and back." "Twenty-eight." "Anxious to see Clara." "Twenty-nine." "Thirty." "She ain't sick, is she?" "My daughter's never been sick a day in her life." "She's as healthy as a horse." "She's out." " Out?" " Out!" "That's the opposite of in, Mr. McCrae." "She's gone." "She ain't here." "Thirty-one." "Thirty-two." "Running errands, I reckon." "Well, I gotta report to the governor, sir." "Thirty-six." "Hope you tell her I called." "Darn!" "Don't you go getting drunk on me." "Governor'll be wanting us to report." "You go, Woodrow." "I got other things on my mind." "We're both captains." "we should both go." "So that's where." "Here now, Jake, stable..." "stable this horse." "You tell Captain Call he can find me in the saloon if he needs me." "And if he wants me to visit that governor, he'd better come quick." "What, you leaving again?" "That's right, leaving." "I be departing from my right mind." "Kicking wolf has taken your horse into the Sierra." "Three Birds' is still with them but does not want to go into the Sierra." "How can you tell all that from a track?" "I can't." "I know Three Birds." "Three Birds is not crazy." "Only a crazy man would ride into the country of Ahumado." "Well, this qualifies me for the asylum, then." "Ahumado is always behind you." "If we go into his country, he'll be behind us." "Maybe I should start walking backwards." "If you couldn't kill Ahumado when you had your Rangers with you, why do you think you can kill him now?" "Lots of things could go wrong with a military unit." "Sometimes a man alone can do better." "I'm a born fighter." "I need opponents to match me." "Perhaps the Black Vaquero will match me, but I doubt it." "I don't want the salt to lose its savor." "Do you understand?" "No." "I guess this means you don't choose to accompany me." " No." " What'll you be doing while I have my little contest with the Black Vaquero?" "There's a hole in the Earth somewhere to the west." "Turtle brought the Kickapoo people out of that hole into the sunlight." "I want to find it." "My task is simpler." "I just want my Hector back." "Thank you for your help." "It ain't polite to drink from the bottle, Captain." "Even if you are a captain." "Proper table manners is to drink from a glass." "Or from a saucer." "No, no, not a durn saucer." "Saucer might do for sipping coffee, if it's too hot to imbibe from the cup." "Does that suit you?" "And don't call me captain!" "Plain Gus McCrae." "Hello, Bingham." "Hello, Captain." "Got the buggy ready." "Governor wants to see you." "You're as broad as this buggy, Bingham." "The man who sits behind you don't have much of a view." "No, sir." "Get a view of me, mostly." "Git up." "I'm surprised you'd drink like that before you say hello to Clara." "Why would I say hello to her?" "I seen her in a buggy with that horse trader Bob Allen." "If he's trying to steal her from me, I guess he succeeded." "That wasn't Bob Allen, you fool." "That was her uncle from Galveston." "He's come for a visit." "Her uncle?" "Gus?" "Bye." "What?" "What is your hurry?" "You just got here." "You've been gone over a month." "It's the governor." "I gotta report." "OI' Scull left us in the lurch." "At least Woodrow and me got made captains." "It's the governor, Clara." "If it wasn't the governor, it would be somebody else... a Comanche to fight, or a bandit you gotta catch..." "Gus." "My ranger." "You mean Inish has lost himself... and over a damn horse?" "It was his warhorse, Governor." "He held that horse in high regard." "Yes, and what about his duty to the State of Texas?" "Did he hold that in high regard?" "I guess he thought we could get the boys home safe." "We done it." "We recovered those captives, too." "Yes, though I doubt the woman will recover." "They rarely do." "Inish Scull used good judgment in making you captains, and I'll second it." "You both got a bright future, if you can keep your hair." "Meanwhile, we got thousands of hostile Comanches to contend with, and a whole nation to the south of us who don't like us one bit." "And the worst is he's left us with Inez." "I believe we can hold our own with the Comanche, and I expect we can whip back the Mexicans, but the heavens is gonna rain when Inez Scull finds out why her husband didn't care to come home." "Ed!" "From my reports, they did a fine job, Inez... only lost one man, and that from natural causes." "Two, if you count Inish." "I decline to be impressed." "They both need barbering, and this one slouches." "What kind of soldier slouches?" "Excuse me, ma'am, but we ain't soldiers." "We're Texas Rangers." "In rangerin', posture ain't the important thing." "Oh, and what is the important thing?" "Guts, plain guts." "All right, McCrae, Mrs. Scull is just upset because the captain didn't..." "Oh, shut up, Ed, I'm not so ill-bred as to be upset." "I'm angry and I detest unbarbered louts." "I imagine these two green ears of corn both put whoring before barbering." "Most men would, Inez." "It's only normal." "Well, Ed, you got more spunk than I thought." "Captain went looking for his horse." "No, he left to spite me." "Hector was just an excuse." "He'd just as soon eat a horse as ride one." "Have them go fetch him, Ed." "Why, Inez, they just got back." "They need to rest, and so do their horses." "All right, but they mustn't wait long, or Inish will vanish for good if given the chance." "All right, all right." "You will send them?" "Thank you, Ed." "Slouchy as you are," "I might like you to come to tea at my house." "What about Captain Call?" "Too stiff." "I do apologize..." "I brought you in here to compliment you on your captaincies, but Inez barged in and spoiled it." "Why come home just to be et alive by your wife?" "Inish Scull is a Yankee son of a bitch, and his wife is a..." "Southern slut." "Inez Scull would try the patience of a saint... even the patience of Job." "Well, I don't know Job, sir, but she sure tried mine." "Lord." "Kicking wolf, I assume." "You're the genius that stole my horse... which I see, incidentally, you don't have." "Tit for tat." "Bible and sword." "There is a pit down there." "I could put you in it." "But your name is Three Birds." "You should enjoy one of our cages." "That way you can watch your friends, the birds." "These cages are filthy." "I don't want to be in one." "If he doesn't like our cages, take him down." "Let Goyeto work on him." "You are stupid men." "A child could fool you." "Scull is coming." "He is not a child." "Why does he stand there night after night?" "I want runners to go out to all the bands, to the Antelope Comanche, to the Three Bears." "We will fight as one band." "We will raid all the way to the ocean." "Why do we need the others?" "We can kill the Texans without any help." "Did you kill Call when you went to kill him?" "Or did he shoot you?" "He was lucky." "He was better than you." "They will get stronger until they fight better than we fight." "You don't like to hear this, but it's true." "We must fight the Texans and defeat them now." "Otherwise, they will break us and the way of the Comanche will disappear." "To do this, we need all the bands." "Go." "In seven days, we go to the Great water." "We will kill every Texan we find." "That was mighty tasty." "You're a fine cook, Maggie." "Thank you, but I grew up in Virginia, where there's no vegetables to choose from." "I can live without too much greenery myself." "Woodrow." "I got some news." "I'm gonna have a baby." "What?" "I said I'm gonna have a baby." "It's your baby, Woodrow." "My baby?" "Well, it's ours, I mean." "Well, Maggie, uh... that is news." "I'm just hoping the governor doesn't send you after Captain Scull." "Well, probably will." "Mrs. Scull's after him hot and heavy." "You're certain there's a baby?" "I'm sure, Woodrow." "Well, you know, at least we got some time to think about it." "I suppose that fella, Bob Allen, gave up and went back to Nebraska." "What makes you think so?" "If he ain't and I catch him making up to you, he's likely to get a whipping." "Gus, I don't know that you could whip Bob, and I'd much rather you didn't try." "And why would you doubt that I could whip him?" "I'm a Texas Ranger." "Well, I reckon you could shoot him, but if it's fisticuffs you're talking about," "I doubt you stand much chance." "Bob is stout." "That's one thing I like about him." "Like about him?" "You like about him?" "Don't tell me you two have been spoonin' while I've been off doing my duty." "Got your goat, didn't I?" "Besides which, we ain't married." "What I do while you're off rangerin' is my business, Gussy." "Durn if you're not about as independent as they come." "Gussy!" "You didn't say good night." "I might have wanted a kiss." "Clara, I have had..." "Durn you, Clara!" "I get on my horse backwards, which I'll never live down." "Now I put my hat on backwards, too!" "I won't tell." "What was that clatter?" "That was only Gus, Mama." "I was teasing him a little." "About what, may I ask?" "I just happened to mention Bob Allen," " and it put him in a dither." " Well, it should have." "Bob Allen's a decent man in a solid trade." "He'd make any woman a fine husband." "I know, Ma." "But Gus McCrae is my one true love." "There are two kinds of men in this world, honey... the marrying kind, and men like Gus." "You may have his heart, Clara, but you'll never have the man." "He will wander God's green earth until the day he dies." "If you think you can settle Gus McCrae down, Clara, then you need to think again... because you won't." "More rope." "There goes your rival." "Mind your own business." "Clara thinks he can whip me." "Well, I imagine he can whip you." "He's at least a foot taller and maybe 50 pounds heavier." "Shut up." "You don't know nothing about it." "Maybe not... but if I was looking for a fistfight, I wouldn't challenge Bob Allen." "Be common sense to look for someone smaller." "Common sense be damned!" "I'll whip him before breakfast, then I'll probably whip you, and maybe Long Bill Coleman, too." "Why Long Bill?" "Because he's always criticizing, the damn schoolmarm, that's why." "That Buffalo Horse was, uh... that was some horse." "Took more than four days to cook him." "Bible and sword." "Well, that is a sight I never expected to see." "Mind cutting me off a slice?" "I've had nothing but varmints these last few days." "Carne por el gringo ahora mismo." "I'd say this one's about your size." "And I'd say you're dead." "If you can't catch enough birds to eat," "I will put you in my pit." "Well, the pigeons seem plentiful." "Squab is always welcome at the Scull table, and it's best eaten rare, of course." "No, I could hardly ask for more." "The Texans may try to ransom you." "They might." "I'm popular." "Why did you come here?" "To kill you." "Why else?" "Do you still believe you will kill me?" "I do... and I'm rarely mistaken." "Put him over." "That's wasteful, if you ask me." "I didn't ask you!" "You're burning ammunition we might need." "The governor wants to see us, pronto." "That durn governor's becoming a pest." "Yeah." "Well, he's the governor, and we work for him." "Are you throwing a three-day drunk just 'cause Clara told you she thought her other beau could whip you?" "I threw a three-day drunk for pleasure, mostly." "I like three-day drunks." "Go along, Captain Call." "Need a word with Captain McCrae." "I'll be but a minute." "Aren't you even gonna speak to me?" "Hello." "Oh, stop it, Gussy." "How long do I have to be punished for not doing anything wrong?" "Who says you didn't do anything wrong?" "I say it, and you better listen!" "Don't yell now." "This horse is apt to throw me." "Is this the horse you got on backwards?" "Yup." "Why'd you do that, Gus?" "Because..." "I'm so in love with you," "I couldn't tell backwards from forwards." "Well, that's better." "Will I see you tonight?" "You bet." "Look at these, all from generals and senators and the like, all telling me I got to find Scull." "You would think the sun might refuse to shine if Inish Scull is out of pocket." "He's rich, he's famous, and he is the best military man this part of the country, and he ain't here!" "With the plains, from what I hear, starting to boil..." "Well, Ben..." "Well, what do you want?" "We're busy." "My mistress is wanting an answer, sir." "Request declined." "I did you a favor, Captain." "At least, it's a favor if you value your virtue." "I'd as soon take tea with a grizzly bear, sir." "Well, I doubt we've heard the end of it." "Inez is nothing if not persistent." "But, to the business at hand." "Now, I want the two of you to take some men and find out what you can about Inish Scull." "I want you to ride fast and hurry back." "If Inish is captive, we need to know it." "Maybe he can be ransomed." " Our horses are worn out, Governor." " I know." "Now, there is a horse trader hereabouts named Allen." "He brought in some fresh horses just yesterday." "Maybe we can acquire a few from him." "I'll go see the man, then." "Choose your mounts, gentlemen." "The state will compensate Mr. Allen." "I'd like you to leave as soon as possible." " Be gone by daybreak, sir." " Thank you." "Drat that man!" "Ever since he's been made governor, he's as pig-headed as Inish." "He is good at catching pigeons." "But he will need to catch some water when it rains." "I want you to climb up there and give him a bowl." "I am not a good climber." "Then this is your chance to learn." "Scull is a famous man." "The Texans will pay a big ransom for him." "Then we will kill him." "Gracias, hombre." "I'll put this vessel to good use." "I thought your jefe was just a killer, but I'm beginning to think he might be a kidnapper." "Oh, Woodrow." "I wish you didn't have to go." "Now what's the matter?" "It's what's always the matter." "You're my only sweetheart, Clara." "What could be the matter?" "You're my sweetheart, too, and now you're leaving again." "I'm a ranger, honey." "Even though I'm a captain, I ain't my own boss much of the time." "The governor says look for Inish Scull, that's what I do." "I don't want to hear your excuses anymore." "But it's the truth." "It's just the truth you choose to hide behind every time you leave me." "It is not written in the heavens that you have to be a Texas Ranger." "There are plenty of things you could do that would be more settled." " Like what?" " You could be a barber." "Or maybe even a judge." "Me a durn barber." "Fine, maybe a judge would suit you better." "If I was a judge, I'd hang half the scoundrels in this town and that'd be that." "All right, then I don't know what you could be... but you're my dearest and my deepest, Gussy." "I just can't stand all this leaving." "I just..." "I simply can't." "We'll only be gone a week." "A week ain't long." "It is if you're lonely." "A week can be mighty long." "I'm not a woman who does well alone." "Clara." "I want us to marry." "I want us to marry when I come back." "If you come back." "Damn it, Clara, I come back." "I always come back." "I'll be with Woodrow Call." "No one's more cautious on the trail than Woodrow Call." "I wish he would marry Maggie." "We all wish that." "He ought to, and maybe someday he will, but right now, it's you I'm worried about." "Well, you don't need to worry about me too much." "Even if I was to marry somebody else," "I still want you to be my friend." "I still want you to know my children." "Marry someone else?" "what kind of talk is that?" "!" "Why can't they be our children?" "Don't talk anymore, Gus." "Hold me." "Hold me tight." "I doubt there'll be trouble." "I'll only be gone a week." "But if there is, you remember that hideout I showed you." "I remember." "Come back safe, Woodrow." "Remember what I said." "If there's trouble, be quick." "We'll need Long Bill, Stove Jones, and Ikey, I suppose." "Let's leave Ikey." "He's old, and we'll be traveling night and day." "I think we should take Jake." "That worthless pup?" "He's gotta get a bit of experience sometime." "He'll need to keep up and shut up." "Jake's a blabber." "I've heard you blab a bit yourself." "We'll take Deets, Pea Eye, and be off." "What, is there something the matter with you, other than a hangover?" "Hurry back to me, Billy." "Don't get killed." "I won't, unless you don't let go of me and they shoot me for desertion." "I have to go." "Honey, don't run after me." "You'll jostle the baby." "Be careful now, Clara." "Hard to leave my Clara." "She's the finest gal alive." "You don't think she'd go off and do something silly, do you?" "Like what?" "Like marry that damn horse trader from Nebraska." "Well, if she did, I don't know that I'd call it silly." "Maybe he's a better catch than you." "Well, he ain't, and how would you know anyway, Woodrow?" "Where's he going, Captain?" "I don't know, and he don't either." "Take it." "Well, now, I roped the filly that I really care about." ""Care about," Bob?" "Well, yeah." "Well, I guess I was roped, but nobody tied the loop." "And now I'm not." "I tell you, he is a witch." "I wish you would let me cut out his tongue." "If he still thinks he can kill me, he needs to keep his spirits up." "So he sings." "You complain again, I will puncture your eardrums with a thorn... and you won't be bothered when Scull sings." "The settlers and farmers are all along the Brazos, the River of Many Forks." "We will go down these forks and kill them." "Slow Tree can take the Prairie Dog Fork." "I will take the Clear Fork." "Slipping weasel can take the Double Mountain Fork." "We will meet near the town where Scull and Call live." "We will burn it down." "It was in my youth that the Texans practiced their treachery under the lure of the white flag." "My father, my grandfather, and the grandfathers of many People trusted the Texans." "Many went in to parley without their weapons." "Only a few were wise and hid their knives." "They talked peace..." "Great Chieftains of the mighty Comanche nation while the Texans surrounded the tent." "...there is enough room for all peoples to live in harmony." "Get over there." "Beat it." "Now, while we are strong... is the time of our revenge." "Are the signs good?" "Yes, many Texans will die." "Subripped by:" "Tantico (Croatia)" "Up, boys, up!" "Comanche, they're nearly on us." "Let's git!" "Pearl!" "Don't!" "Don't!" "Pearl!" "Oh, my God." "Oh, Mrs. Forsythe." "The dead... them's the lucky ones." " Don't say that, Pearl." " No, Maggie." "I'm ruint." "Bill won't have me now, and it's my fault." "He give me a gun to kill myself with, but they was on me too quick." "Five of 'em was at me, Maggie." " All right." " Oh, I'm shamed forever." "It gets lonely not having no woman to hold onto when you bunk down at night." "That's why I tend to patrol at night." "Don't bunk too much." "I don't know that little Maggie Tilton well, but I do know she wasn't meant to be no whore." "She's meant to be a wife." "That's my view too, Woodrow, so the sooner you give up and marry her," " the happier me and Billy will be." " Amen." "I didn't know I was put on this earth to make the two of you happy." "I do miss my Pearl, though." "Take cover, men." "It's Comanches for sure." "Hey, hey, hey, hold on." "Hold on." "I know this ol' pup." "Hey, this is Howler." "This is that ol' bear hunter's dog." "Ben Lily." "Bet that old scamp has killed a bruin." "There you are, Famous Shoes." " Any word on Scull?" " I remember Scull." "Took him on a hunt once in a canebrake." "He wounded a big ol' boar bear and went in right after him." "Not every man will run into a canebrake like Scull did." "we need more recent news." "Ahumado has Scull in a pit." "He wants a ransom for him." "Ben Lily and I have mostly been burying people." "There's no shortage of burial work between here and Austin." "Not since the raid." "What raid?" "What raid?" "Buffalo Hump came raiding with 600 warriors, maybe more." "Buried ten dead yesterday." "People trying to farm where they oughtn't farm." "They killed most of the settlers along the Brazos and the Trinity, then they hit Austin." "Killed lots of people, burned lots of buildings, stole thousands of horses." "Oh, God. what if they killed my Pearl?" "Would you lead us back to Austin by the quickest way?" "I ain't waiting', Captain." "I'm goin' right now." "Whoa, Bill, hold your horses." "Listen to me." "We'll get you back as quick as we can," " but our horses are poorly now." " He's right, Billy." "If we push these nags too hard, most of us'll be walkin' back to Austin." "Do you like my pit?" "I preferred my cage, frankly." "Fewer vermin, better view." "You made too much noise up there." "You might have made Parrot angry." "I might anyway if I get the chance to have a word with Parrot." "I speak Parrot, you know." "I've asked the Texans for a ransom... but my snakes might get you before it arrives." "No, these snakes are pets." "It's the flea population that I'd rather be rid of." "If the Texans don't bring the ransom..." "I might have at you myself." "I just gotta tell you straight, Clara." "There's no way to sugarcoat it." "Buffalo Hump hit Austin." "The store's burnt down." "Your ma and pa are dead." "I'm sorry." "What about the Rangers?" "Did any of them get killed?" "Three of the town Rangers, I believe." "Your friend Captain McCrae was gone." "He was hunting Captain Scull." "I'm so sorry, Clara." "You got no reason to stay in Austin now, Clara." "The store's gone." "Stores can be rebuilt." "The store wasn't the only thing I had in Austin." "I wish you'd let me take you to Nebraska, keep you safe." "Safe?" "There's Indians and sickness and bad luck everywhere." "How can anybody feel safe?" "I wish you'd marry me, Clara." "Well, Bob..." "I thank you for your offer... and I take it seriously, I do." "But I need time." "Time to get over Ma and Pa." "Of course." "I won't make you wait forever." "If I promise that you'll have my answer within a year..." "Will that seem worth the wait?" "Well, of course it would, Clara." "You know I'd wait for you." "It'd give me time to get a house built... just in case you say yes." ""Down to a sunless sea." ""Amid this tumult," "Kubla heard from afar ancestral voices prophesying..."" "The ransom better come quick." "El jefe, he's not patient." "He may let me skin you yet." "Bible and sword!" "My skinner died of that snake bite." "Well, he was something of a fool, wasn't he?" "Yes." "He was a fool." "But he was my fool." "Pearl must be a mighty good cook for him to take on this bad." "For all we know, she's safe." "I've et Pearl's cooking." "It was only fair." "I suspect it was the pokin' that Billy's most interested in." "What?" "The poking'." "Yeah, Well, you would think that." "Well, the big ladies, they're..." "they're a pleasure to poke." " What is it, Deets?" " Mr. Coleman." "He gone." "Oh, dear Lord." "Oh, dear Lord." "Oh, please, God, not my Pearlie." "Not my Pearlie." "Pearlie." "Pearlie, Pearlie!" "Thank God you're alive." "Oh, thank God!" "You might be wastin' your thanks, Bill." "Honey, don't say that." "I rode all night and all day to get here." "They done me." "And you wasn't here to protect me." "I had arrows in me, but not deep enough to kill me... and I lost our baby." "I was so scared." "Did... did they..." "Pearlie, did they..." "I couldn't get to that gun you left me in time." "So I'm ruint now, Billy." "I can't be a wife to you no more." "Better blow out your lamp and get to sleep, Pearlie." "Billy." "It's come to me." "If you quit the Rangers, you never have to be gone ever again." "I know just what you could do for a living." "I don't have the faintest notion of how to do anything but rangerin'." "All right, tell me what you're thinkin', and then let's get on to bed." "Our preacher got killed in the raid, and his wife, too." "I know for a fact you'd be a fine preacher once you got the hang of it." "Pearlie, I can't read, and the only verse I know is that one about the green pastures, and even that one's..." "cloudy in my mind." "Well, I can read." "I can read you the text in the morning before church, and then you can preach on it." "I swear, honey, I don't know where you got such a notion." "'Sides, them boys would laugh me out of town if I was to put myself up to be a preacher." "Would you help me off with my boots, Pearlie?" "I swear, I am tired to the bone." "Oh, my God." "It's Clara." "I went away, and now she's dead." "That ain't Clara, Gus." "There's two graves." "It's her ma and pa." "They got the preacher and his wife." "Blacksmith, too." "Oh, Lord." "There's Neely, and Finch and Teddy." "I hope this means Ikey's still alive." "Oh, no, Bill." "Stove!" "Get her out of here." "Why would he do that, Deets?" "Probably something to do with the missus, Mr. Pea." "And the Comanches." "I was so scared." "Did they... trouble you?" "No, no, I hid under the smokehouse like you told me." "There was a snake under there, but he didn't bother me at all." "There's no need to worry about Miss Forsythe, Captain McCrae." "She's safe in Galveston with her aunt and uncle, and her friend, Mr. Allen." "Oh, I expect Miss Forsythe and Mr. Allen are more than friends now." "They had a matrimonial look about them when they left." "Now, I know you men just got back from a pointless trip, and you've had a bad shock, but there is the urgent matter of Captain Scull that needs attending." "That scoundrel Ahumado has Captain Scull." "He's offered to trade him for a thousand cattle, delivered in 30 days." "Now, the legislature... when it gets its wits together, will vote up the money to pay for the cattle... but somebody's got to convince the South Texas ranchers to yield 'em up on credit." "It may not be an easy task, captains." "Easy?" "Why, Richard King's the biggest rancher in Texas." "I'd like to hear what Richard King has to say when these two Rangers ride in and ask him to spare a thousand head of cattle to rescue my husband, whom he cordially detests." "We'll go if we're sent, sir... but right now we've got the sad task of burying Ranger Long Bill Coleman." "Well, of course, Captain." "I merely wanted to make you aware of the situation." "Captain McCrae, can you spare a moment?" "Ma'am?" "I have a bureau that's too heavy to move." "Bingham's wounded, and my yellow gal got taken by Comanches, so I'm short of hands, and..." "I would like to move my bureau." "It'll just take a moment." "Right against the wall." "Lovely." "That will be all, Ben." "Mrs. Scull." "Did Miss Forsythe actually say that she aimed to marry Bob Allen?" "Well, women don't actually need to make speeches when they've decided to... have a fella." "I'll show you how it works." "Ma'am?" "Now, now." "Don't be contrary, Captain McCrae." "Clara Forsythe... is gone... but I... am here." " Ma'am." " Captain." "We'll need to caulk this coffin, or else the worms and maggots'll be at Billy in no time." "The hardware store burnt down." "I doubt you'll find anything to caulk it with." "Billy Coleman was a fine fellow, and he deserves better than to be all bloated up with screw worms and ain't been two days." "Will you stop talking about worms and maggots and screw worms eating' Bill Coleman!" "Maybe Bill's up in heaven." "Yep, maybe Bill's up in heaven by now, playin' the harp, Ikey." "I don't know about heaven, but I do know about worms and varmints." "Shut up!" "You just shut up 'fore I strangle you." "It was too fine and sunny a day to be dyin'... but our ol' pard Long Bill Coleman died despite the sunshine." "That's the harsh fact." "I recall he liked the scripture about the green pastures." "Well, it's spring now, and lots of sweet, green grass will be growin' over him." "It's good-bye today to a damn good Ranger." "It's our baby." "He's kickin'." "I bet you kicked aplenty when you were in the place he's in." "How do you know it's a he?" "I doubt a girl baby could kick that hard." "I wonder what Long Bill was thinkin' there at the end." "You can wonder all you want, but we'll never know." "That's one puzzle." "Another one is..." "Why would Clara marry Bob Allen and not me?" "What the hell is wrong with you?" "Maggie thinks that baby she's carryin' is mine." "Well, I have no doubt that she's right." "I admire Maggie, I really do." "She's been good to me." "But she's a whore." "How can a whore know which man gave her a baby?" "Maggie has been good to you, Woodrow, and if you were a generous man, you'd give her the benefit of the doubt." "But how can she know?" "That's my question..." "how can she know?" "Do somethin' normal for once in your life, Woodrow." "Marry Maggie." "Hell, if I didn't have such a love for Clara Forsythe, I'd marry Maggie." "I'd turn her head and I'd take her right away from you, and I wouldn't give a thought to who fathered the baby." "You're one of the luckiest men in Austin, or probably in all of Texas, and you don't even realize it." "I suppose you would just." "What do you think, Deets?" "I think bluebonnets are mighty pretty flowers." "You should cut that man's tongue out." "He may be calling the Great Snake who lives in the mountain." "There is no Great Snake in that mountain." "Scull sings to keep up his spirits." "He could be calling Parrot." "He could even be calling Jaguar." "What if Jaguar comes?" "Yesterday you killed a horse that didn't belong to you." "You tried to jump a gully." "The horse broke both its front legs." "The horse was lazy and stupid." "And you beat the new captive when I told you to leave her alone." "She's a disobedient slave." "Why shouldn't I beat her?" "Because that's the women's job." "You cause too much trouble here." "I want you to leave the band." "Leave the band?" "You've been rude and disobedient your whole life." "If you stay here... one day, I will lose patience and kill you." "You can take five horses, but go." "And go now!" "We'll see who kills whom, old man." "I would not want a son who hates me as much as he hates you." "You believe I'm in danger from that whelp?" "That boy is reckless." "I doubt he'll last long enough to be a threat to me." "Honey, you're droppin' more stitches than you're catchin'." "I know." "Aunt Jessie, it's this business with Bob Allen." "I can't make up my mind to marry him, but I don't want to lose him, either." "You ain't the first woman caught in that bind." "I took my time marrying' your Uncle Dan." "Six years, I took." "I wish Gus McCrae would come." "I'd just like one more visit with Gus." "Then I might be ready to settle down with Bob." "Maybe so, honey, but then again... maybe not." "If this damn shrubbery gets any thicker, we'll have to turn into armadillos just to get through it." "Well, Famous Shoes is lookin' for a clear route." "I expect he'll report pretty soon." "She don't look too friendly." "She gored my horse!" "what'll I ride?" "Take one of the pack mules." "They make decent mounts." "Does anything feel wrong to you, Woodrow?" "Ain't these the very cattle we're supposed to drive to Mexico and trade for Scull?" "I'd say we have as much chance of driving' a thousand jackrabbits." "Never thought I'd have to ranger against anything meaner than a Comanche, but them damn cows are meaner by far." "Lord Almighty!" "Deets, if you don't mind, would you please grab one of those pack mules and put Spoon's saddle on it?" " Are you Mr. Fogg?" " Yes, sir." "This is a piece of worthless foolery, Captain." "The Mexicans steal half our cattle, anyway." "Ed Pease does nothin' about it." "Now he wants us to give him a thousand more?" "State of Texas means to pay you for 'em, sir." "We got legal IOUs." "Not good enough." "But cash money'd be good enough." "You come back with cash money, I'll deliver the thousand head myself." "We ain't got cash." "Would you know of a man named Richard King?" "Governor Pease seemed to feel he might be willin' to help us." "I expect Dick's around here somewhere, branding' every calf his vaqueros can get a rope on, just as I am." "But Dick didn't get where he is givin' away cattle." "He wouldn't be givin' them away." "We told you, the State of Texas will pay." "If the State of Texas survives." "Hell, Dick King's ranch may be the State of Texas someday." "'Course, it's a free country so far." "You wanna try Dick?" "Go and try him." "There's a kind of a half town by the Rio Grande, south a ways, owned by a French couple." "Dick stays there some." "Likes the whiskey... or the women." "Does this town have a name?" "It's called Lonesome Dove." "Who told that fella he could have those cattle he's branding'?" "They're wild cattle." "Anyone who wants to brand one can do it if he can catch the calf." "If that's all it takes to be a rancher, then me and you could be ranchers." "Where'd we put 'em if we caught 'em?" "We don't even own these horses, much less the land for a ranch." "We've been rangerin' for the State of Texas most our lives, Woodrow." "All we own's our saddles and our guns." "I might want to be rich someday." "Might want to own a mansion or keep a fancy mistress." "Well, I ain't sayin' we gotta ranger forever, but right now, we've got a job to do." "What's that critter there, Lee?" "It's big, whatever it is." "What's wrong with you fellas?" "Ain't you ever seen a land shark before?" "That one's monster-big, and he's headed right for us!" "I'm Dick King." "You must be the Ranger boys who are hoping' to get some fool to loan you a thousand cattle to take to some ol' slaver who has no interest in cattle and who will kill Inish Scull whenever it pleases him to do so." "That's us, sir." "What's got you lookin' so jumpy?" "It's that land shark wallowin' in the river down the way." "Now, I works on the prairie." "We're rarely required to deal with aquatic monsters." "You must be McCrae!" "I heard you were a jester." "Yonder land shark is one of Madame Therese wanz's blue pigs." "If you were to harm one, you'd have to flee the country, which you could do from here just by trotting' across that river." "Hey, that's my bull." "Solomon." "You won't find his equal in America." "I have a letter from the governor." "Thank you." "Oh!" "My, my." "Oh, no." "Pardon me." "I wish you'd read it before you let it get wet." "I apologize." "I don't normally throw letters into the river... particularly not if they're from high potentates like Ed Pease." "But I have no intention of wasting any cattle on this scheme to rescue Inish Scull, who's a competent man, oughta be able to rescue himself." "I heard there's a town somewhere near here, Mr. King." "I'm mighty dry." "Yes, sir, Lonesome Dove." "There's an excellent saloon." "All it lacks is a roof." "I recommend the brandy." "Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one..." "Do you know what day it is, Captain?" "I know what day it is." "Hell, this ain't a town." "No, but it's a nice-sized clearing." "You could put a town in it." "I expect those French folks are hoping' the cattle business'll pick up." "I only see one Frenchman so far... and he's dead drunk." "Xavier!" "Xavier, vite." "Vite, the customers arrive!" "The tablecloths, the brandies!" "Hell, the fella's puttin' tablecloths on all them tables." "Why would he bother with a tablecloth when he ain't even got a roof?" "You'd have to ask him that, Lee." "I suppose they order things different in France." "Monsieur, la serape, s'il vous plaît." "I think she wants your slicker, Captain McCrae." "Darn." "Merci." "First the brandies, then the hairs off." "Hairs off?" "You think she means to scalp us?" "Voila." "I think she just wants to give us haircuts, and if they ain't too expensive, I plan to invest in one." "Myself, I'll invest in a brandy or two." "Hey, hey, watch that, watch that." "Your brandy's good, huh?" "want more?" " I already had..." " Just a little." "Deets, you in or out?" "Bonjour, ma petite!" "How you doin', darlin'?" "Xavier." "Now, why would they call this place Lonesome Dove?" "Hell, there's a dove everywhere you look." "Well, I can tell you the origin of that misnomer." "There was a traveling preacher, Herman windthorst, who used to wander through this border country." "I knew him well." "Well, Herman stopped in this clearing, and he preached a sermon to a bunch of vaqueros one day, but while he was preachin', a dove lit on a limb above him." "OI' Herman took that as a holy omen, because he decided to stop wandering and start up a town." "Where is he now?" "Well, in heaven, I expect." "OI' Herman preached his last sermon five years ago." "Thought he had a nice crowd of vaqueros one day, but in fact it was Ahumado and some of his men who stopped to listen." "As soon as Herman said amen, they shot him... dead... and they took everything he had." "They still call it Lonesome Dove." "Yes, sir." "The preacher's gone, but the name stuck." "It's curious, ain't it, what sticks and... what don't." "Where's your carpenters, darlin'?" "They leave." "That way." "They're afraid your bull might get them... or the pigs." "Nonsense." "Now, that bull wouldn't harm a kitten." "Those carpenters were here not more than an hour ago." "I don't see how the wanzes are ever gonna get a roof if the damn carpenters keep runnin' away." "If they're that close, Famous Shoes can round 'em up and bring 'em back." "Not my turn for a haircut yet, anyway." "You must be the carpenters." "we they." "Those French folks are eager to have you back at work, and so's Mr. King." "If you come back with us, we'll try to protect you from the bull." "What do you got?" " Straight." " Come on!" "Lucky Lee." " Change your name." " Cheating nine years already." "If I had money, I'd be..." "Three dollars." "There you go." "Cheater." "I don't trust you." "Damn, that was a shock." "Never had a hair cut out of my nose before." "That damn bull of yours nearly got us all, Mr. King." "The proximity of all them Mexican heifers stir him up." ""How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world."" "Oh, my!" ""...rank and gross in nature possess it merely."" ""How weary, stale, flat, and un..." "How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable."" "Be careful." "It's very hot, please." "If more folks knew they could be fed like this," "Lonesome Dove would be a town in no time." "When we're through rangerin', I might move here myself." "Move here and do what?" "I don't know yet, but I might soon think of somethin'." "Dick King's a rough old cob, but he's right about us." "The governor sent us on a fool's errand." "We go no cattle, we ain't gonna get any, and we couldn't drive them to Mexico if we had 'em." "'Sides, it's fly season." "What?" "Fly season." "A thousand cattle would attract a million flies, which is more than I care to swat." "Why don't we just go get Captain Scull away from Ahumado ourselves?" "We could do it." "I'm game if you are." "It's about time we made somethin' of ourselves." "Buffalo Hump's held the plains ever since we been Rangers, and we never whipped him, and Ahumado's held the border, and we never whipped him either." "That's poor work in my book." "You oughta give up and open a store if you feel that low about it." "There's need now the Forsythes are dead." "You could marry Maggie while you're at it." "I don't want to run a store." "I don't wanna marry, either." "We rarely agree, Woodrow, but we do agree about Mexico." "I'm restless." "Let's go tonight." "It's a fine moon." "Think we should tell 'em we're leavin' 'em to their fate?" "No, it'll just spook 'em." "All they have to do is find their way back to Austin." "I thought you didn't care for Mexico, Famous Shoes." "I have a duty to Three Birds and his family." "He was not like the other Comanche." "He was once my friend." "I need to find his remains and give him a proper burial." "we're plannin' to travel fast." "If you yet ain't noticed, he's mostly in front of us, Woodrow." "He'll keep up." "I know I can't do much, but I'd like to go with my captains." "Now, you got it turned around, Deets." "It's not that you can't do much, it's that you can do too much." "You see what we're leavin' you with, don't you?" "Fine men, but rank incompetents, mostly." "You're the one who can cook or build fires or dress wounds or find bee trees, or all those useful skills." "You're the only man who'll be able to get 'em back without us." "Well, if that's the way it is, captains," "I'll be happy to get the boys home." "They left?" "Left us here?" "Yes, sir." "Gone to get Captain Scull." "Calm down, Stove." "At least they left us someplace." "Yeah, you may consider this someplace, but I don't." "She was the best wife, and yet she produced a bad son." "I hear Blue Duck raids along the Arkansas River with a band of half-breeds." "Now that his mother is gone, if he ever comes back, I'll kill him." "The spider who hides has bit you." "This is bad." "If you tell anyone, I will cut your throat." "Soon your leg will begin to rot." "People will smell it." "Someone might have a grudge." "Someone might want to kill you." "I cannot cure you." "No one can cure me." "Everyone in the camp would like to kill me... including you." "In the south, there's a tree of medicines." "If you can make it there, the tree might save you." "Then keep my secret today." "By tomorrow it won't matter." "When I put men in a cage or in this pit... soon they find they want to die." "But I have put you in my cage... and in my pit... and you still don't want to die." "I don't for a fact, and I don't intend to die anytime soon." "I was once like you." "Nothing could make me want to die." "My Rangers will be along with my ransom any day now." "They are not coming." "The cattle are too wild for the Texans." "No aces." "That damn Lee Hitch stole every one of 'em." "I mean to give him a good lickin' when we get back to town." "what's wrong with you?" "I wish you'd talk more, Woodrow." "You don't talk enough to keep my mind off of gloomy topics." "Like?" "Like Billy Coleman, our OI' Pard." "This is the first time in ten years we've gone rangerin' without Billy." "Now, if he were here," "I'd have someone to help me complain... you'd be more comfortable." "I hate a thing like death." "Well, everybody does, I expect." "Yeah." "Folks don't always get to do what they intend." "Ol' Billy had it in mind to be a carpenter, only he couldn't drive a nail." "He was only a fair shot, too, yet he survived a lot of scrapes." "You're only a fair shot yourself, Woodrow." "Now, me, I'm a fine shot, and yet I might be the next to die, for all we know." "Rangers oughtn't to marry." "Have to leave their womenfolk for too long a spell." "Things like that raid can happen." "Things like that happen, married or not." "Just said what I believe." "Rangerin' ain't a settled life." "I expect Bill'd be alive if he hadn't've married." "Well, then I guess it's bad news for Maggie if that's the way you feel." "Gracias." "Gracias, señora." "Ahumado." "Salido." "Gone away?" "where?" "Del sur." "To the south." "So..." "My rival is gone." "Durn horned toad would have a hard time makin' it in this country, Woodrow." "There are many tracks, all going south." "Everyone is leaving the Yellow Cliffs." "Did Captain Scull make any of the tracks?" "No." "We better get a move on, then." "Gracias, señora." "Cuerda..." "Cuerda." " Cuerda." " Sí, sí." "Gracias." "Like a bird on the wing, onward the sailors cry..." "Deets, the nice man who cooks for the Rangers, he done the flowers." "Then I'm much obliged to him." "When I see a bunch of the boys ride in," "I always think my Billy will be with them." "I don't see Captains McCrae or Call." "They usually lead the pack." "Well, men, where are your captains?" "They snuck off in the night." "Just took the tracker." "I believe they thought to slip in and bring out Captain Scull quiet-like." "If he's alive to bring out." "You men go unsaddle." "Yes, sir." " Mr. Deets?" " Ma'am?" "I wanna thank you for the care you've taken with my parents' graves." "They're lovely." "Bluebonnets were my mother's favorite." "Oh, no trouble, ma'am." "No trouble at all." "Captain McCrae tell me, "Please keep 'em nice."" "How is Captain McCrae?" "Oh, he's fine, ma'am." "Real fine." "Last time I seen him, he was sippin' whiskey." "That's my Ranger." " Thank you, Pearl." " Good-bye." "Governor." "Hello, Miss Forsythe." "I told you once to call me Clara, and I meant it." "Yes, thank you, Clara." "And you must call me Maggie." "With pleasure." "I'm glad to see that you survived, Maggie, you and your precious cargo." "Yes." "I hid under the smokehouse like Woodrow told me to." "It's lonely for you, I know, waitin' for your man." "It'd be bad enough if I was certain he was my man, but with Woodrow Call, it's hard to know." "Well, maybe your precious cargo will help convince him, Maggie." "Ahumado." "They're from Parrot." "Parrot must have driven the Black Vaquero off this cliff." "Why would a bird do that?" "Parrot is more than a bird." "Before men came out of the earth, Parrot ruled." "Now men rule." "Parrot has not forgiven." "Looks like a cougar got her." "No cougar." "It was Jaguar who killed the old woman." "I see it." "Right there!" "Gus, take a shot!" "I never expected to see a jaguar." "He acted like he owned the world." "Damn, I expect he'll be worrying the horses." "Why would it kill something big like a horse when it could kill something puny like us?" "I have found my friend." "I can make a fine burial scaffold for him." "We'll help you bury him if you want us to once we know what's what with the captain." "I'll look up in those caves." "You stand guard with Famous Shoes in case that jaguar shows... up." "That's Captain." "I'd know that Yankee voice anywhere." "Good Lord, Woodrow." "What do you suppose Mrs. Scull's gonna say when we bring him back like this?" "I don't know and I don't care." "As far as I can tell, Woodrow, that's the captain's problem, not ours." "Well, maybe once he's been out of that pit for a few days, his mind'll come back from wherever it's wandered off to." "What I do know is once we get the captain back to Austin," "I plan to stay as far away as I can get from that she-bear wife of his." "There, there, honey." "You're doing fine, just fine." "How much longer you expect it'll be?" "I don't know how much longer I can..." "I don't know how much more I can stand." "You're nearly there." "Just one more push." "One more push." "Here we go." "Here we go." "That's it." "Here we are." "That's it." "Maggie, you have a son." "Here he is, Mag." "As fine-Iooking a boy as there ever was." "Makes me wish I had one of my own." "Oh, maybe you will soon, Clara." "I want to find Three Birds' family, tell them I found him, treated him in the Comanche way." "Well, good luck to you, then, but don't be gone from Austin too long." "Keep 'em comin'." "Don't make me break my count." "I'd be tempted to hang a man who makes me break my count." "Keep 'em comin'." "I see you found your man." "I hear he's mighty jumpy even when he's not in the saddle." "Appears that way, sir." "Well, you're a persistent fella, Captain Call." "You two strike me as able men." "I'm in the process of putting together a million-acre ranch in this part of the country, and I could use able men." "What would we mostly do, sir?" "Fight Mexicans." "They still seem to think they own this part of the country, and the cattle on it, too." "I mean to disabuse 'em of that notion." "You boys could help." "I expect I could offer triple what the State of Texas is paying you." " We appreciate the offer, Mr. King." " Yep." "Comanches ain't beat." "Neither are the Kiowa or the Apache." "Who would fight for the settlers if you hired us away from the State of Texas?" "I'm not a do-gooder, Captain." " When's the last time you had whiskey?" " Too long." "Well, a man needs his grog." "I'm damn surly myself when deprived of my grog." "Make a stop in Lonesome Dove." "Theresa'd be happy to take a pair of scissors to your captain, and you two can have your fill of whiskey and consider my offer." "I sometimes think it's the surprise element in life that keeps us going, gentlemen." "In this last week I was in a filthy pit, being irritated by vermin of every description." "Now here I am, a week later... drinking a finer grade of brandy than I expect to find in South Texas... being barbered by a... beautiful-breasted French woman, which is the best kind of French woman, I can assure you." "Monsieur, stop the wiggles, please!" "I don't want to cut you." "Speed, bonny boat, like a bird on the wing" "Onward, the sailors cry" "Carry the lad that's born to be king" "Over the sea to Skye" "So you're gonna deliver me back to Austin, gentlemen?" "After all, I now know the ways of the flea." "When you're not looking, I may just pop off and disappear." "Well, we'll always be looking, Captain." "What about you, McCrae?" "I suspect you tupped my wife in the boot closet." " Isn't that correct?" " Sir?" "He wears a guilty look about him, doesn't he, Captain Call?" "And this Dick King who thinks he's going to poach you two from the State of Texas... he's got to think again." "There's a civil war brewing." "Half the troops down this way will be fighting brother against brother." "You two are the best this fine old state's got." "You and McCrae aren't going anywhere." "If there is a war, Captain, what will you do?" "Yankees will need experienced men." "I expect I'll join the fray." "But the war ain't started yet." "I've still got time to get home to take a buggy whip to my wife... a pleasure I intend to pursue vigorously." "If OI' King really did offer us three times as much as we're gettin' now... would you be in for takin' his offer?" "Oh, we ain't gettin' any younger, and we both know rangerin' is gonna play out eventually." "If it takes ten years to play out, we'll be that much older but no richer." "What about the settlers then?" "Well, they chose to take the risk." "They ain't all gonna survive." "What about Maggie?" "You may be a pa by now." "Somebody might." "Maybe they'll be home soon, Clara." "Gus McCrae says to me, I have to leave, but I'll be back for sure by Friday." "Well, that's one thing." "I can get by till Friday, I expect." "It's these uncertain absences I just don't seem to be able to handle." "I know, it's hard." "I keep lookin' for them to appear, and then they don't." " Give me this fella." " Yeah?" " All right, there he is." " Give me this little fella." "Hello." "I named him Newton, after my grandfather." "We can call him Newt." "I wish Woodrow had been here to help me decide." "But I asked Jake, and Jake, he seemed to like Newt." "I haven't noticed any meanness yet in Mr. Jake Spoon." "Jake's been a real help to me." "I don't know how good a man he is, but he likes a laugh now and then, which is more than I can say for your Woodrow." "Woodrow don't laugh much." "Or help much either, for that matter." "You still love him." "Yes, ma'am." "And now there's Newt." "I have seen you before." "You saw me when Slow Tree came to Buffalo Hump's camp." "Slow Tree wanted to put scorpions in your nose, but Buffalo Hump let you go." "Blue Duck was very angry." "He has his own band of thieves now." "You are the Kickapoo who tracks." "I found the body of Three Birds and buried him in the Comanche way." "The cholera came to our camp." "There are no People anywhere now." "Is Buffalo Hump alive?" "He has gone north looking for buffalo." "What about Kicking Wolf?" "Kicking Wolf is alive, too." "You ask too many questions." "Leave us alone." "Gussy!" "Gus!" "Gussy!" "Clara, honey, when I heard your voice calling my name," "I was sure it must be a dream." "You ain't asleep, Gussy." "It's me, all right." "Where's Bob Allen, then?" "If he catches me kissing his wife... he'll for sure give me a lickin'." "Even if I was married," "I guess I could still kiss my friends if I want to, but the fact of the matter is I have yet to plight my troth, to be fancy about it." "Gus." "I don't have a husband." "I'm not married." "If that's the truth, honey, it's the best news I've heard in months." "I should have never believed Inez." " She had me thinking..." " Inez?" "Inez Scull?" "Just what did she happen to say, and why were you around to hear it?" "She came into the governor's office while we were gettin' orders." "She gave me to understand that you and Bob Allen had gotten married." "And you believed her?" "I had no reason not to." "Oh, Gus, common sense would have been a reason not to." "I wouldn't do such a thing without telling you first." "Inez Scull was just angling' for a little sport." "I have no doubt she got some, Miss Forsythe." "That's Inez's way." "What she angles for, she usually gets." "Clara, I thought that..." "I'll give you that to think about if you want to think, Gus McCrae." "I booked a seat on the Galveston stage, and I mean to take it." " But Clara..." " No buts about it, Gus." " Clara, I don't care for Inez..." " Don't talk to me, I said!" "I'll keep my love for you where it's always been... in my heart." "If you talk to me right now, I will rip that love right out." "Good-bye." "Why, the fool!" "What's he hopping for?" "Sometimes he thinks he's a... flea, ma'am." "Hard to explain." "You lied to me." "You told me Clara was married, and she ain't." "Why, surely you could see through my little deception." "All's fair in love and war." "Why should I let you waste yourself on that whey-faced shop girl?" "Here now!" "Hello, my dear." "On your back as usual, I see." "Well, I suppose we're free to do as we please now, ain't we, Woodrow?" "Yeah, I guess so." "Me, I'm gonna go find myself a saloon and open it... if it ain't open already." "Subripped by:" "Tantico (Croatia)" "Come in." "I'm sorry about Nellie, Gus." "Nellie had been... needing' to go for a while now." "I know that." "Needin' to go's one thing." "Bein' gone's another." "What's the ruckus?" "Civil war's over." "Lee sat down with Grant somewhere in Virginia." "Sit with me for a minute, Woodrow." "Wasn't hardly married a year." "I wish Nell could have lived on and on." "If I get that sick, I see no point in lingering'." "We're all just lingering', Woodrow." "None of us can avoid dying'." "But ol' Scull did the best job of it of any man I know while that ol' bandit had him." "Captain Scull predicted the war years ago, remember?" "Went off to be a hero... while me and you stayed in Texas, helped the governor keep the Comanches at bay." "That's why I come." "Governor wants to see us." "Maybe I oughta be fully sober if I'm gonna meet with the governor." "Well, I've known you for a good many years, Gus but I've rarely seen you fully sober." "He may not wanna wait that long." "Durned if that boy of Maggie's isn't the spittin' image of Woodrow Call." "You hush up about that, Joe Stewart." "That's none of your business." "Maggie's wonderful help, and if you say a bad word about her," "I'll nail your hide to the back door." "Gosh, Annie, I wasn't gonna say anything bad about Maggie." "She's the best clerk anybody could want." "She's also a woman who's done her best, and you don't be commenting' on things that are none of your business." "Gosh." "If ol' Scull had died in that pit in Mexico, you think the Yankees would've still won the war?" "How would I know?" "They made Scull a general." "He won some battles, but I don't know about the war." "Yeah, Robert E. Lee could've eventually whipped Grant and Sherman, but you throw Scull into it... that's too much for even Robert E. Lee." "Entwhistle, this is a damn shock." "Would... wages persuade you to stay?" "I'm afraid not, sir." "The truth is," "I cannot abide Madame." "She made a rather licentious suggestion this morning, and well, it's more than I can tolerate." "If you'll excuse me, sir." "What's wrong with that fool Entwhistle?" "I just passed him, and he didn't bow." "He just gave notice." "He doesn't work for us anymore." "I assume you offered to copulate with him and he turned you down, didn't he?" "As a matter of fact, he did turn me down, the insolent prude." "Now that the war's over, and you've returned to tend to our affairs, our plantation in Cuba requires a visit." "I booked passage out of Boston Monday next." "It's a free country, Inish, or at least it was until you filthy Yankees won the war." "It was your imbecile cousins that lost the war, my dear, and I should shoot you where you breathe, you impertinent slut." "Since when has propositionin' the butler been grounds for murder?" "You have much to learn about the ways of Boston, my dear." "Copulation can be forgiven... but the loss of a butler... is fatal." "Well, gentlemen, our old Confederacy is lost." "That'll mean changes." "Union military men will start showin' up pretty soon, tryin' to tell us what to do." "It would be foolish to disband the Rangers, Governor." "Somebody's gotta fight the Indians." "True enough, but the military attitude is that regulars are always better than irregulars... like your troop." "So we'll just have to see what develops." "My wife died in a room that was hardly fit for a dog." "If I ever get another wife, I mean to do better by her." "If that means quit rangerin', then so be it." "We may not get a chance to quit." "The Yankees may fire us." "Well, I'm gonna excuse myself and take a little ride." "If I don't, I'll just sit around thinkin' about Nellie." "That's no good." "Be back before dark." "Be watchful." "Those wild Indians are as wild as ever." "I'm wild myself, Woodrow." "Yeah, there you go, yeah!" "Go, Newt!" "Keep it goin'." "The chilies in the stew came straight from Maggie's garden, Captain." "I'll be headin' home now so's you can enjoy your meal together." "Thank you, Pearlie." "Bye, Pearl." "Good day, Miss Coleman." "Bye now." "Those belong to Jake." "He's my friend." "Those are Jake's gardening' boots." "He's been helpin' me put in a better garden." "Store keeps me so busy, I can never seem to get my peas to grow or my turnips, either." "Newt's mighty fond of snap peas, and I need my chilies and peppers." "Jake's been a help." "He's helped me with my penmanship, too." "Now that I do the accounts, take inventory at the store," "I need to improve my old scrawI." "I'm surprised Jake writes such a careful hand." "Jake's never been too careful about much of anything." "He's makin' me a top." "For being such a help to your mother." "I seen you carryin' her groceries home." "What do you say, Newt?" "Thank you, Captain Woodrow." "Thank you for the meal." "Those pork chops were mighty tasty." "Good night, Woodrow." "Good night." "Good night, sir." "where's Captain McCrae this morning?" "Captain McCrae came back yesterday and left again." "Did he say where he was goin'?" " No, sir." " Or when he'd be back?" "Oh, hell." "Morning, sir." "Would you be Captain Woodrow Call?" "I am, and good morning to you, Major." "Is Captain McCrae available as well?" "I was told to contact the two of you about the availability of scouts." "Captain McCrae had to bury his wife yesterday." "He needed to take a ride." "Now that's awkward." "When will the man be back?" "He didn't say, sir." "Damn it." "We're all apt to have to bury wives." "I have buried one myself without feeling it necessary to leave my post." "I can send our tracker out to track him if it's urgent." "Of course it's urgent." "I'm told that during the Civil war, the savages, Comanches in particular, have gotten completely out of hand." "The Comanches have always been completely out of hand, Major." "We're only 20 rangers, doin' the best we could, but it's a big frontier and water's scarce once you get up on the state plains." "I suppose I can find water when I need to, Captain." "Send your tracker and bring Captain McCrae back now." "We'll be having two platoons of cavalry here by the end of the week, and then we'll show those Comanches what for." "All right." "Hello, Famous Shoes." "We've lost Captain McCrae." "His wife died." "He's gone off to grieve then." "I killed this weasel yesterday." "What's so important about a weasel?" "There ain't even that much to eat." "It's a black weasel." "Belongs up by the Platte River, not here." "Could you spare the time to find Captain McCrae?" "Captain McCrae passed by early this morning." "Then you can catch up with him." "Go with him, Corporal Parker." "Tell Gus the military is pressing us and he needs to get back." "Quicker you go, quicker you'll be back." "Dear Gus." "I'm so sorry to hear about Nellie." "She was not very robust even when I knew her." "There is grief in this house, too." "We lost our brave little Jimmy in February." "It is a grief that will never leave my heart." "Thankfully, my girls are healthy sprats." "There is plenty harsh in the pioneer life, but there is enough good mixed with it to make it bearable." "Bob's doing well in the horse business." "Take good care of yourself, Gus." "My girls hope to meet you one day." "Love, Clara." "Gussy." "Gussy!" "You didn't say good night." "I might have wanted a kiss." "Clara, I have had..." "Durn you, Clara!" "Get on my horse backwards, which I'll never live down, now I put my hat on backwards, too!" "I won't tell." "Now that you're awake, could you spare a spot of bacon?" "I left in a hurry and didn't provision." "If it ain't the legendary Charlie Goodnight, the scout who's never been lost." "In the saddle bags, along with the fry pan." "There's a hard biscuit or two if you can find 'em." "Do you fear God, Charlie?" "Nope." "Too busy." "You a God-fearin' man?" "I would have not supposed it." "I ain't... but I suspect I oughta be." "He took my wife." "He could take me next." "He might as well if you lay around sleeping' till the day is done." "I heard you plunged into the cattle trade." "Nope, but I will when I pass this way again." "Market in Colorado's very active now." "Yeah, unless you've got a new breed of cattle that can drink the air, you'll never make it to Colorado." "There's mighty sparse water in that direction." "There's the Pecos." "Fine, wet river." "Yeah." "Well, if you make it to Denver... and you run into Matty Roberts tell her that she's got a friend in Texas." "Matty's a fine woman." "She's in the love business, but love ain't been kind to her." "What do you mean, love ain't been kind?" "Matilda's dyin', that's what I mean." "Matty's dyin'?" "Of what?" "I suppose she's just dyin' of livin'." "That's the one infection that strikes us all down sooner or later." "You look poorly to me, McCrae." "If you were under my orders, I'd order you home." "Well, I ain't under your orders." "And I ain't a child that nobody appointed you to watch over me." "I was concerned you might've lost your snap." "But I guess you ain't." "Good-bye." "Durned if I can understand how you can see tracks, movin' as fast as you do." "I'm not tracking Captain McCrae." "I know where he is going." "You know, Gus is pretty stubborn." "What if he don't want to come back?" "I'm not a jailer." "Well, he sure ain't gonna listen to me, then." "He might not even listen to Captain Call or even the governor, for all I know." "So where's he gone off to, anyway?" "The place where Buffalo Hump almost killed him when he was young." "It's a place with many spirits." "I think he wants to visit some of the spirits he once knew." "Well, ain't this a surprise." "Guess you're both workin' for the Yankees now." "No, we ain't, Captain." "I'm still a ranger just like you." "I sure am glad you ain't dead." "He ain't crazy, is he?" "No..." "I just rode off to think for a few days, and one of the things I was gonna think about was the fact that I ain't dead." "Why you need to think about that?" "Because people die, Pea, they die every day." "You remember when we found you setting' next to that corn crib?" "Bunch of farmers and their families were massacred that day, too." "I once knew a fine gal named Matty Roberts." "The Great western, we used to call her." "We met Matty on my first ranger patrol." "Now, Charlie Goodnight tells me that she's dyin' up in Denver, and I hope it ain't true, but if it is, Matty gave life a good go." "She came up from this river carrying' a big ol' snapping' turtle which she pitched into a bunch of us younger rangers, and Long Bill nearly fell off the bluff... tryin' to get free of that snapper." "Now Billy Coleman's dead... my Nellie's dead... and a bunch more people I've known ain't among us anymore." "Good luck and bad." "Now, that is a matter to ponder." "Right out there's where ol' Buffalo Hump nearly killed me with his lance during a lightning' storm." "I outrun him, and all I got to show for the experience is a scar on my ass." "Luck." "Pure luck." "Buffalo Hump is not the leader anymore." "The cholera weakened him." "Peta Nocona is the leader now." "Well, whoever it is will have to contend with the Yankee army now." "I give 'em five years at most till the Comanches are finished." "Where you goin'?" "See if I can find more of those black weasels." "Just saw Jake comin' out of Maggie's place." "I seen him carrying' her groceries a time or two." "A man ought to help a woman carry her groceries." "I mean, I know he's been helpin' her with the garden." "I am ignorant in that field myself." "Not as ignorant as you are in the woman field." "If Maggie was the sun, you'd need to carry around a sundial just to let you know it was a cloudy day." "You can just hold off on the fancy talk." "You think he'd try to... compromise Maggie?" "Jake's been bunking' with Maggie for at least a year now, Woodrow." "How you have managed to miss it this long is a question for the wise men." "I never would have expected her to accept Jake Spoon." "Why not?" "I admit Jake's lazy." "I expect he cheats at cards if he thinks he can get away with it." "But he helps ladies with their groceries." "He'll even paint a lady's house if he thinks the lady's pretty enough." "Maggie's pretty enough." "She is, yes, though I ain't noticed Jake doin' many favors for ugly gals." "Damn it." "That man has taken advantage of her." "No, I don't think so." "Jake's been about as good to Maggie as he's capable of bein', and a damn sight more helpful than you've ever been." "Now, why would you say that?" "I say that because it's true." "I have no doubt you think I'm in the wrong." "You fuss at me about my whoring'?" "I guess I got a right to fuss back a little, especially if the matter under discussion is crystal clear." "It may be crystal clear to you, but it's damn murky to me." "That boy is your son, as sure as sunlight, but you won't claim him or give him your name." "Pea Eye's more of a pa to him than you are." "So am I." "So's Jake, so are most of the boys." "He's right, Captain." "Sure as sunlight." "Maggie Tilton would give anything to be married to you, Woodrow." "She knows Jake ain't half the man that you are, but he ain't the worst fella in the world, and at least he tries." "What I don't understand is why Maggie tolerates you at all." " Deets." " Captain?" "Would you... take Newt over to his mother?" "Ask her to provide him with a cap." "With no cap, the boy might get a sunstroke on a day as hot as this." "Glad to do it, Captain." "Ma, Captain Woodrow says you need to give me a cap." "He says I might get sunstroke if you don't." " Hello, Deets." " Ma'am." "Thanks, Ma." "If I was taller, I bet I could reach up and touch the moon." "If you was taller, maybe you could." "Jake says there's a man that lives in the moonbeams." "How'd he get up there?" "Well, when the moon got close to the Earth... and real big in the sky like it is now... it might be that he had a good, strong horse and they got a running start, and they jumped right up onto that moon." "I'm gonna tell Jake." "When I asked him, he said he didn't know." "Yes, Jake mostly stays here when I can keep him out of the saloon." "You let Jake stay?" "Why?" "I ain't a stone, Woodrow." "I guess I don't know what you're trying to say." "No, you don't." "You're too strong." "You don't understand because you ain't weak, and you got no sympathy for those who are." "I'm tryin' my best, Woodrow." "Not everybody's like you." "I can't live without affection." "I need a friendly smile now and then, a man to put his arm around my shoulder." "If that makes you think less of me, I can't help that." "Jake is kind to me, and he likes Newt." "I swear, if I didn't have someone around who liked my son," "I expect I would have given up the ghost." "I don't want you to give up the ghost." "I wasn't meant to live alone." "I know it suits you, but it don't suit other people." "I know Jake's been a help with the boy and with the garden, but he's young and he's careless and..." "I just hope he hasn't compromised you." "That was wasteful." "Wasteful?" "Not as wasteful as my life has mostly been." "You compromised me, Woodrow, you!" "Not Jake, you!" "I would have been a good wife to you, Woodrow, and Newt is your son, and he's a good, fine little boy, but you won't claim him." "I hope you think about that." "I hope you think about how you betrayed your little son, every day, till the day you die." "You don't deserve Newt." "You don't." "You don't even deserve me." "Oh, I'm sorry." "I'm sorry, Newt." "I'm so, so sorry." "I'm so, so sorry." "Come on, ladies!" "Hurry, come on now!" "Yeah, run!" "Something needs to be done about Blue Duck." "What now?" "He is killing so many travelers that the Blue Coat soldiers are going to be coming." "Have you seen these Blue Coats, Idahi?" "There are hundreds of them." "They are not as good fighters as the Rangers, but they keep coming." "If there are so many, why haven't they attacked me?" "For the same reason they do not attack me." "We are old men." "We do not matter." "They want Peta Nocona." "They want Quanah." "Quanah?" "But he is just a boy." "Young, yes, but he is still the leader of the Quahadi Comanche." "How many red savages do you estimate we're pursuing, Captain McCrae?" "The problem with gettin' an accurate count of these Comanche parties is that by the time you get close enough to do a precise job, they turn around and... give you the kind of haircut that you don't want." "Well." "You mean they might scalp us?" "Yeah." "Dickas here is bald." "He wouldn't have much to offer a scalper." "And glad I am of it, sir." "Don't get too comfortable, Corporal." "They might find something else to cut off you." "How far ahead do you suppose Captain Call and Mr. Goodnight are with the main body of our troops?" "Too far to suit me." "We're the slow wing in this operation." "Slow, sir?" "You consider us slow?" "Seems to me we've come quite a distance since we left the fort." "That would not be Charlie Goodnight's opinion, nor Woodrow Call's either." "We camp at night and sleep." "Call and Goodnight rarely pause just 'cause the sun's set." "Charlie Goodnight probably sleeps in the saddle as much as he sleeps in a bed." "That's quite irregular, Captain." "I seem to have lost my compass." "I must have dropped it when we were crossing that... declivity... what'd you call it?" "Gully." "If you dropped your compass there, Major, it's covered over with sand by now." " I got a spare." " No, sir." "It won't do." "That compass was given me by my father, who was given it by his father." "It was made in Reading, England, and my father will certainly expect me to hand it back when I'm through soldiering." "I will find it." "While I'm gone, Corporal Dickas will give out some prunes." "Regular motions are essential on a mission like this." "It's a waste of time arguin' with men like that, Captain." "Agreed." "Let the plains do the arguing'." "I'm damned if I'm gonna eat one of them wrinkly things, so you can have that back." "What kind of tree grows a prune?" "Don't scorn the prunes, boys." "Humble though they may be, we may find ourselves out on the plains where a few prunes will look mighty good." "Easy, easy!" "Easy." "Find your compass, Major?" "Of course I did." "That's why I'm back." "It was right there in that declivity." "Gully." "Captain, we got company." "Uh-oh, trouble before breakfast... if there is breakfast." "I expected you to keep up, McCrae." "I suppose the military held you back?" "Oh, we're mainly a speedy troop, but the major here lost his compass and had to go back to recover it." "It was made in Reading, England." "As you can see, Mr. Goodnight, we could all use a bath." "Any good springs along this route?" "Well, yes, now that you mention it, there's an excellent spring about 300 miles north." "You could make it there in a week if you don't lose your compass again." "There's a bright side to everything, even though you're slow to see it." "Now, thanks to the major displacing his compass, our horses got a fair night's rest, which they surely needed." "Might make all the difference if we have to chase a Comanche very far." "Your horses are just glue bags with legs." "Charlie, I fear you're mad at me for not keeping up." "I'll get over it." "But I won't come back for you and your men, Major, if you drop your compass again." "That damn skunk ain't hardly never polite." "I don't see Peta Nocona or Quanah, either." "Nope." "Gone hunting'." "There's an abundance of buffalo up by the Canadian River." "There's only a few warriors." "We won't get the leaders, but we might get that horse herd." "Let's move." "Round 'em up, boys!" "Move 'em along!" "Don't shoot, Charlie, she's got blue eyes." "Get in there!" "It's all right." "It's all right." "Easy." "Easy, easy." "It's all right." "It's all right." "This woman could be the long-lost Parker girl." "Who's the Parker girl?" "Cynthia Ann Parker got stolen nearly 25 years ago." "What makes you think it's her, Charlie?" "Been around the Parkers ever since I came to Texas." "This woman looks like a Parker to me." "They say Peta Nocona's her husband." "Quanah's her son." "They're the Comanche leaders now." "She's been with 'em so long she doesn't know English anymore." "She was born a Parker, but she's Comanche now." "If you're certain she's white, we'll have to take her back." "We know that, Major, but what you don't know is the hell her life will be once we do." "Been merciful if you'd shot her." "We can't shoot her and we can't leave her." "Take her back to Austin." "Her folks can claim her there." " Looks like a white woman." " Yeah." "Hey, Newt, what you been up to, huh?" "I've been waiting for you to come home." "Yeah." "It's a real cowboy." "Guess we finally made it back, didn't we?" "See that woman and that baby over there?" "She's been livin' with the Comanche for 25 years." "Pea's the one brought her back." "We raided their camp, and they almost got us." " They did." " They almost got us!" "Arrows and lances." "we had guns, though." "Yeah, we did." "You should have been there with us." "We made it back." "They almost killed me!" "Clara?" "My God!" "It's really you!" "why didn't you write?" "what if I'd missed you?" "I knew you'd be back, Gus." "I did write, but I decided to come see you instead." "How's your... family?" "I lost a son, my Jimmy... but both my girls are hardy as horses." "And Bob enjoys good health." "We got a frame house now." "Finally gettin' out of the sod house." "No more scorpions falling' down into my hair." "They're a great nuisance in sod houses, you know." "So you're well-married, and I'm but a widower." "Gus, I was so sorry to hear of your loss." "So here you stand, and I'm already back in love with you again." "But you're married, and that's that." "Now I have to go through losing' you again." "Tryin' to say you wish I hadn't shown up" " to disturb your bachelorhood?" " No, course not." "With you, I gladly take what I can get." "The reason I'm back is I'm selling the land my parents owned on the south Guadalupe." "I could've hired an agent, but Bob, he don't trust agents." "Oh, he don't trust agents, but he trusts me?" "Of course he don't trust you." "But he trusts me." "Thought we might hire a buggy and go out, take a look at the land one last time." "I'll do it, but I'm dusty." "At least let me take a bath." "Go, get your bath, but don't linger." "It's a fair distance where we're going." "It's a damned nuisance not having a butler, Uncle." "Now, Augereau, what would you need a butler for?" "There's a colonel at the door who wants to see you." "Let him in, please." "But I was reading Vauvenargues!" "Vauvenargues can wait." "Not colonels." "I say." "Will Auntie be back soon?" "It's a good deal more jolly when Auntie Inez is here." "No." "Not soon." "She's down in Cuba, testing the virility of the overseers of our new plantation." "Let the colonel in, please." "Uncle, this is Colonel Tom Soult." "Colonel Soult, Uncle." "Pardon my manners, Colonel Soult." "We lost our butler recently." "Terrible calamity for a Boston family." "State your business and do it succinctly." "As you can see, I'm deep in study." "General Grant sent me, sir." "He asked that you take the west." "Take the west." "Take it and do what with it?" "Why, administer it, of course." "And what does General Sherman think of that plan?" "I don't believe General Sherman has been consulted." "I come from General Grant." "And he also said to mention that if you won't take the whole west, will you at the very least take Texas." "You're a poor sort of messenger, Colonel Soult." "First you offer me the whole west, and then before I even turn down the big offer, you reduce me to Texas... where I've already been." "All I did was ask General Sherman's opinion, which evidently you can't provide." "I beg your pardon, General." "I was not trained in diplomacy." "Well, I was." "Grant and Sherman just want me to go back west to eat dust so they don't have to eat it themselves." "I respectfully decline both offers." "As you can see, I'm a man of the library now." "My war from now on will be an opponent even tougher than Robert E. Lee or Napoleon, either." "The English sentence." "Excuse me, General... the sentence?" "The sentence, Colonel Soult, on the most frightening battlefield in the whole world... the blank page." "No, my future plans include only the writing of a book... a comprehensive study on the flea." "The flea." "Now, you'll have to show yourself out." "As I said... we lost our... our butler." "Where you goin'?" "Goin' on a little buggy ride, Woodrow." "Clara's here, selling' some property that her parents owned." "She wants to take a look at the land one last time." "That horse trader must be a fool if he allows her to go off with you." "Now, some females are trustworthy, Woodrow." "I'm not, of course." "Clara is." "Bob Allen need have no worries on that score." "Thank you for keepin' my arrival a surprise, Maggie." "Oh, Clara, I'm just so glad to see you again after all this time." "And it was worth it to see the look on Gus's face." "It's been real hard for Gus since Nellie died." "I'm sure it has." "I'm sure, too, that Woodrow Call wouldn't know how to be a help under those circumstances." "No, he wouldn't." "Woodrow hasn't changed a bit, I see." "How do you do it, Maggie, work and take care of your little boy, too?" "Must be difficult." "Pearl Coleman's been a great help to us." "She'll watch Newt sometimes after school, and cook for us too, if I have to work late." "Pearl has been a good friend to me, a real good friend." "I'm sure you've been a good friend right back." "Jake Spoon's been kind to us, too." "I try to give Jake back what I can... it ain't much." "But he's young." "He may not know it ain't much." "Howdy, Maggie." "Hello, Gus." "Buggy's right outside." "I haven't the luxury of women friends in the wilds of Nebraska." "I'm so glad we got to visit, Maggie." "I know you buried your wife, just as I buried my son... but I haven't given up on children, and I surely hope you haven't given up on marriage." "You got too much to offer, Gus." "I doubt I'll ever marry again." "Seems I don't have good luck when it comes to matrimonial affairs." "And you oughtn't tease me so, Clara." "You're the only woman who's ever really had my heart." "My whole heart, that is." "You're the only woman who ever will." "It's hard for me too, sometimes." "But you still feel like you made the right choice?" "I made the right choice... without knowin' it was the easy choice." "I'm sorry, Clara." "I shouldn't have done that." "You're forgiven." "You wouldn't be you if you didn't try to kiss me." "I'm expectin' a visit from you, Captain McCrae, sometime within the next ten years, 'fore my girls marry and leave home." "Well, the rangerin' work is about over, I think." "Woodrow's talking about gettin' into the cattle business, so there's no telling where that might take us." "Plenty of room for cattle in Nebraska." "Bye." "That horse won't take you far." "He won't have to." "I'm your wife's brother." "Let me help you on this journey." "No." "The People need you more." "Anyway, you are wrong about the horse." "He is taking me on the longest journey of all... the journey to the Other Place, the spirit place." "You are the greatest Comanche of our time." "The Peoples of the plains will soon know you are gone." "The birds will tell them." "Or the buffalo." "Your enemies will know." "They will come for your people." "I see your manners have not improved, Nephew." "Kill the animal if you want, but do not debase him." "I didn't invite you here." "Even in death he should not be humiliated." "Just as well you killed it." "Skin it, Ermoke." "We have bear meat for our guest, my uncle Idahi." "I have never cared for bear meat, and I am not staying." "I came to tell you your father is at his death place." "I was in the canyon with the People when he left." "Where did his horse take him?" "Only your father knows." "And now I will tell you something else." "You have robbed and killed too many whites, been crazy with their women." "The Texas Rangers, Call and McCrae, will come to this filthy camp and wipe you out." "If they come, it is the Rangers who will be wiped out." "I will feed them to my bear." "You don't have a bear anymore, remember?" "Should've killed him when you had the chance." "Now he will tell the Texans how to find us." "Suppose the Texans don't know where we are?" "Maybe I will kill him another day... or maybe I'll kill all you fools in his place." "He had a fine Sharps rifle." "I've killed men for less booty than that." "You think you could kill Idahi, have at it." "You think we can't handle one old Comanche?" "Is that what you think?" "For young Jake, hands up!" "He's goin', goin'..." "Boom!" "Is he down, is he down?" "No!" "Out cold!" " Get up!" " You all right?" "Will you miss Jake when he goes, Mag?" "Oh, Jake's as helpful as he knows how to be, but havin' him with me is like havin' two boys." "It's Newt that'll miss him the most." "Well, you and young Newt have each other, at least." "You could be married tomorrow if you wanted, Pearl." "Least a fellow a week comes into the store asking' about you." "Not me, honey." "Long Bill was my one true love." "A man would be hard pressed to live up to Long Bill." "So, Woodrow." "Jake's leavin' us to go get rich in the Colorado gold mines... or so he thinks." "He was drunk when he arrived, he'll be drunker when he leaves." "Can't say Jake's learned much from bein' a ranger." "Ain't you even gonna say good-bye?" "Jake's got half the town to shake hands with." "You've been his captain all this time." "You owe him a handshake." "Careful on the roads, Jake." "It's wild country yet, despite our efforts." "Thank you, Captain." "Don't take up with any hoodlums." "We'd hate to have to hang you." "All right." "Take care." " Deets?" " Sir." "Jake Spoon." "Thanks, Stove." "Good-bye, Jake." "Mama says to... to tell you good luck." "Now, Newt, I want you to keep this rope, and I want you to practice hard and learn to use it." "Now, you see that stump?" "Practice on it." "I want you to be the best roper in this camp." "Practice and practice so when I come back, you can make me proud." "Yes, sir." "Bye." "I'll be seein' you." "Jake Spoon." "Well, what's for sure is Jake won't be the only man leaving'." "This rangerin' work is about to peter out." "Yeah, there'll mostly be sheriff's work when that happens." "Hey, Spoon!" "That fellow's deep in his cups." "I doubt if he's ever been that drunk before." "Nope." "The governor's pushin' us to clean out Blue Duck and his murdering' bunch." "They're somewhere between the Arkansas River and the Red." "If either of us had been better cold-weather shots, we'd have killed that devil long ago." "I liked that little half-built town, the one with the pretty French woman." "What was it called?" "Lonesome Dove." "It was called Lonesome Dove." "Still like the notion of a livery stable." "Well, I suppose it might be a way to ease into the cattle business." "Give old Captain Richard King a little competition." "Very little." "He did seem to enjoy our company." "Of course, there wasn't any other company." "Pea?" "I dreamed an angel came and flew me to heaven." "It wasn't an angel, Pea, it was me." "All I did was drag you out the middle of the road so you wouldn't get trampled." "You're gonna have one sure headache when you wake up." "Come on, get up." "I'll see what I can do about some salts." "I was singing well until you walked up." "When I heard Buffalo Hump had left the People to go and die, I understood." "He is old and had been sick." "No Kickapoo needs to understand why a Comanche does anything." "You don't even know that Buffalo Hump and I are of the same heart." "But you're not sick." "I escaped the cholera, but the time of the Comanche is ending." "I want to end with it." "But there is still Quanah." "Yes, there's Quanah." "He is a strong boy, but the whites want the People to live on reservations." "I don't want to live where the white man tells me to live." "Soon all Comanches will have to learn to grow corn or raise cows." "I hate cows." "There are no warriors left to fight the whites with me." "That is why I would rather go." "All my life, I have roamed this place." "This place was ours." "The buffalo were everywhere." "But the life of the free Comanche is over." "Now go away." "Take care of yourself and your mama." " Newt, Ikey." " How do." "Good luck, boys." "It's good Newt has the ranger boys, Pearl." "They're jolly with him." "He deserves better company than I can provide, bein' so sick." "Gus and Pea Eye and Deets... they'll see no harm comes to him when I'm gone." "They'll see no harm comes to him until you get well." "You're my best friend, Mag." "I can't bear the thought of losing' you." "Stop talkin' about bein' gone." "I'll have none of it." "Let's go inside now, Pearlie." "I need to lie down, just for a bit." "Remember that white woman that we rescued on that raid with Charlie Goodnight, the one he said was a Parker?" "I do." "Well, they say that she misses her Comanche family so bad that she grabs up her girl, tries to run off any chance she can get." "Folks gotta lock her up night and day." "Like I said at the time, it would have been merciful if Charlie had just shot her." "We ought to have never brought her back." "She's Comanche now, and that's that." "Durn." "Life on the open prairie with a good breeze to blow away the 'skeeters has unfitted me for this muggy weather." "I doubt there's an acre of country in Texas you can't find some reason to complain about." "You used to complain about the cold, now it's the heat." "If I didn't have the weather to complain about, Woodrow," "I'd still have you." "In all these years of rangerin'," "I can't remember you even payin' me one compliment." "Well, we got a hostile camp to clean out." "Maybe if we both survive," "I'll think of somethin' good to say." "Ermoke, that's not Idahi." "That's Buffalo Hump himself." "I'll stay here, keep him in sight." "You hurry back and get Duck." "There's likely to be a big reward in this." "You trust that Kickapoo?" "How do you know he's not on Blue Duck's side?" "If you local lawmen don't trust our judgment after bringing' us all the way up here," "I'd be happy for you to go back home." "Go home?" "That's right, skedaddle." "You're already in the way." "What about our quarry?" "Blue Duck has gone west." "He was in a hurry." "He took four horses." "Damn rascal." "What now?" "The battle is joined now, Woodrow." "Let's go!" "Don't move!" "Don't move!" "Round 'em up!" "Hands up." "Don't move." "Take these men in for trial." "we need to be after Blue Duck." "We're from a poor county." "If we pull hard-workin' citizens out of the field to try riff-raff like this, we'll soon be voted out of office." "What do you propose to do then?" "We're gonna hang them." "It's our jurisdiction." "I hear your darky cook is good with knots." "Maybe he'd oblige us with eight hang-knots." "He might oblige you with six... but you're not hangin' these boys." "They're here with the outlaws and a passel of stolen horses." "They're old enough to hang, and by God, they will hang." "Make him six hang-knots, Deets." "And as for these boys, we're gonna take 'em and make Texas Rangers out of 'em." "They're 'bout the same age that we started rangerin', correct, Woodrow?" "That would be correct, Augustus." "And I'll tolerate no more rash talk of jurisdiction." "We're Texas Rangers, sent by the governor himself." "Our jurisdiction is wherever we happen to be." "Understood?" "Captain, these limbs 'round here are too skinny to hold six men." "Might get two on that limb, might get four on this one." "Four's too many for that limb." "You don't want your men hanging' too close together while they're swinging." "We'll oblige you and hang six men." "Once it's done, you oblige us and take good care of the women." "We won't leave the women, Captain." "What's the matter with you, Augustus?" "Gloomy work, hangin' men in the mornin'." "Sun's up." "It's a fine day." "Those six men won't get to live it." "Besides, but for luck, could have been me hangin' there." "Oh, now." "Ornery as you are, I don't think you deserve hanging'." "But for luck, I might have." "If I could strike up a deal with ol' Buffalo Hump..." "I'd bring him down, turn him loose in the legislature." "If he scalped half the damn senators," "I have no doubt that they'd vote to let us buy some good horses." "Maybe we'd get better lawmen, too, while they're voting'." "Well, how would they vote if they were dead?" "Ah, there'd soon be more senators." "I'd make the new ones dig the graves for the old ones." "It'd be a lesson to them." "We got company." "It's Quanah and Peta Nocoma." "I see them wild men." "The last Indians left you can say that about." "They don't want to fight." "They're watching who's passing through their country." "It won't be their country too much longer." "Good Lord, Pea!" "Deets!" "Is that a snakebite?" "Oh, it's worse." "He just got a thorn." "Just." "Never seen a worse swelled-up knee before." "Hold on, hold on, hold on." "Gotta try to get it out, or Mr. Pea'll be gone." "That's the green mesquite." "It's more poisonous than a snake." "An owl." "Huntin' packrats, I expect." "No." "It means death." "When the owl flies over, someone dies." "Well, I guess it won't be me that's dyin'... thanks to you, Deets." "Here, Mama." "It's time for you to go to the store and do your chores." "The Stewarts brag about what a good little worker you are to anyone who'll listen." "But I don't wanna leave." "I'm scared." "I'd live forever if I could, Newt, just for the love of you." "I've loved you from the moment you were born." "I'll keep a close eye on your mother, honey." "Don't you worry." "Yeah, go on, now." "All right." "He ought to be with his father, Pearlie." "Mag, it don't have to be one way or the other." "Newt can stay with me when the menfolks are gone, and bunk with the boys when they're home." "Oh, if you wouldn't mind." "There ain't no mind about it." "You're my best friend, Mag." "And besides, everybody in this town likes your boy." "He'll be well-cared for." "You can rest your mind about that." "Howdy, young fella." "Ikey, I need to see Pea Eye and Deets and Gus." "When are they gonna come back home?" "They're Rangers, son." "Hard to say when they'll come back." "The Rangers!" "Are we gonna fight 'em?" "I didn't come here for them." "You've become lazy, old man." "You used to wake up before anyone else." "Hard to be old and slow." "You were a great chief, but look at you." "You can barely lift your own shield." "That's Call and McCrae." "My Lord." "Killed by his own son." "I remember him as bigger." "Even though I'm lookin' at him, it's hard to believe he's dead." "That's probably the same lance he stuck me with all those years ago." "Well, I ain't holdin' no funeral for him." "That's right, Woodrow." "He killed too many of our friends." "We should leave." " I'm for leavin', myself." " Me too, Mr. Pea." "Get the horses into that gully, boys, or we'll be left afoot." "Here!" "Damn, I lost 'em again." "There'll be another day, you can bet on it." " How bad you hurt?" " I can't feel a thing in my leg." "I fear I might lose it." "He didn't hit you in your leg, Captain." "He shot off your boot heel." "Well, I'll be." "I call that lucky." "How many horses we got left?" "Three." "And a mule." " Blue Duck's hopin' to starve us." " We won't starve." "There's a dry lake with a spring two days south." "Two days walkin', or two days riding'?" "Two days walking." "We'll have to eat the horses." "It won't be the first dry walk we ever made." "Yeah." "The bad Indian's dead, Woodrow." "He led two raids all the way to the ocean." "No Comanche's ever done that before." "They'll be singin' songs about him all over the plains." "Well, guess this means the fun's over." "Wasn't fun." "And as long as they're out there, it won't be over." "You can stay at my house, Newt." "There's nobody much at the bunkhouse except for Mr. Ripple." "I better just stay with the boys." "Thank you." "when do you reckon they'll come home, Ikey?" "I don't know, son, but they will come." "Subripped by:" "Tantico (Croatia)"