"Stewart, there are three basic ingredients for a good salad:" "a miser for the vinegar, a spendthrift for the oil and a madman for the tossing." "I assure you, Mr. Paladin, the next time, I will remember." "Mmm." "Well, when you do remember..." "I have the other half." "Mr. Paladin now will go play blackjack?" "Mr. Paladin will now enjoy his brandy, his coffee" " and his cigars." " But very lucky day." "Uh, Hey Boy read Mr. Paladin fortune." "Today everything lucky." "Female woman say to Hey Boy," ""Tell Mr. Paladin he come play blackjack."" ""Lady," Hey Boy." "Not "female woman."" ""Lady"?" "Maybe so." "She deal cards." "Blackjack." "A woman dealer in the Carlton?" "She take employment while you away." "Very nice." " Nice here, nice there, nice..." " Mmm." "Well, as Hey Boy says," "Mr. Paladin will now go play blackjack." "Thank you, sir." "Twenty-one." "Sorry, gentlemen." "From now on, no bets under $100." "I never heard anything like that." "That's too much for me." "Sorry." "Mr. Paladin." "Well, now." "Is that surprise, criticism or pleasure?" "That yours?" "Mine." "My husband sent it to me." "From prison." "Doesn't that make you want to know who I am?" "I have a great feeling you're about to tell me." "I'm Jess Harden's wife." "Jess Harden." "Well, they say he stole $80,000 from the bank in War Lance." "Well, I never heard of War Lance or Jess Harden." "War Lance is dead now." "Ghost town." "Several years ago, it amounted to something." "Jess used to clerk in the general store there." "Then, one night, the bank vault was blown up." "They say Jess did it." "Do you believe he did?" "I don't know." "But I will next week... when he comes home." "Money?" "Never turned up." "Does Harden know what War Lance is now?" "He told me that he'd be back and meet me in the very same spot in the general store, just like nothing happened in between." "Well, now, if Harden did steal that money, there'll be a lot of people who believe it's hidden" " in War Lance or close by." " Mm-hmm." "And they'll be waiting for Jess, too." "I need somebody on my side." "And, uh, this, I take it, is your offer for my services." "Are you accepting?" "Well, if I weren't, I should have protested your method of dealing some moments ago." "Where do I cash these in?" "I'll be waiting for you in War Lance... next Wednesday?" " In a ghost town?" " Mm-hmm." "I'll take the cash." "Mr. Paladin." "Mrs. Harden, thank you." "You reckon it's him?" "Hang tight." "If it is Harden and you plug him, we got nothing." "We got his woman." "She might not know where the money is." "Well, that's fine!" "You just told him there's some real friendly folks in here." "Yeah, well, his jumping that way made me nervous." "There's another one." "You!" "All of you, whoever you are!" "Now, we got squatters' rights on Jess Harden!" "You hear me?" "So clear out of here!" "I get my hands on you, you ornery female, you'll wish a bullet got you first!" "I'll break every bone!" "Easy." "I said, "Easy."" "The door is barricaded." "How did you?" "High ceiling." "High ceilings mean attics, and attics have crawl holes." "And sooner or later, they're gonna figure that out." "Well, all those happy warriors waiting for Jess Harden to lead them to the pot of gold, hmm?" "They're gonna be disappointed." "Buzzards, trying to grab everything they can." "You know that one out there on the street?" "No." "The horse is mine." "Deliberately shot it so I couldn't break away." "Who shot the man?" "You're very interesting." "So are you." "I paid $1,000 for the hire of that gun, but you don't seem ready to use it." "Well, to tell you the truth, I don't really enjoy my work." "And I think I'll see what the boys in the back room will have." "Don't be a fool." "That hotel does have to be cleaned out." "Alone?" "You're gonna go in there?" "Yes, I am." "And you're gonna cover me." "What's the sense in hiring you if you're gonna get yourself killed right off?" "Well, I-I think it'll take me about four seconds to get out of here and into that saloon right next to the hotel." "Surprise will buy me one second." "You start shooting, that'll buy me two more." "That only adds up to three." "I know." "Ready." "That's the fella that rode in." "Yeah, yeah, I know, but where'd that other one come from?" "When did he sneak in the saloon?" "What were you up to over there?" "You gonna put that down?" "Don't let this make you feel too easy." "I still want to know what you were doing over there." "Well, let's say the parting was less than friendly." "Pretty woman... you talk to her?" "I should have talked less and listened more." "Jess Harden's $80,000 is... sure repopulating this town." "I wouldn't want that money to end up in anybody's hands" " who didn't know how to spend it." " Yeah!" "I'm still able." "Why'd you help me out there?" "Curiosity." "Wanted to know how come you were in there with her." "You know, it... it's not the bullet that a man should be afraid of." "It's the hole it leaves." "Let me look at it." "You stay put." "Iron cuffs." "They leave their mark if you wear them long enough." "So I understand." "Shared a cell with Jess Harden once." "That's how I know about this party." "I don't suppose there's any whiskey left in this place." "I've looked." "Jess Harden doesn't show up pretty soon, this place is going to start looking like a boomtown again." "Nobody cuts in." "I had this idea first seven years ago." "Everybody out there is saying that, too." "Even her." "You ready for this?" "Yeah." "My name's Al Long." "Mean anything to you?" "No." "Didn't think it would." "I've had what the poet would call a wasted life." "Even figured out what I..." "what I want on my tombstone." ""Here lies Long." "In too many ways, he was short."" "Should've rushed that female yesterday when we were still the only ones in town." "Harden shows up, he'd be pie." "Just pie to deal with if... we had a gun against her pretty head." "You keep flapping about "when Harden shows up."" "What happens if he don't show up?" "I'll give you two good reasons why Harden is gonna show up." "Number one, his wife's here." "Number two, that means the money's here." "Half the Western Territory is here, too." "You listen to me in the first place, we'd be moseying around down there before Harden comes in, see to it we ain't got no sudden partners hanging on our coattails." "I waited a long time for this gold strike, Corbin." "Seven years." "Ever since I heard he first got sent up." "I reckon I done spent that money, oh, 100 times in my mind." "Ooh, places I'd go." "You know, every time I'd look at a pretty woman," "I'd just pick and choose just like as if I already had that $80,000." "$40,000." "Yeah." "$40,000." "We got to get it first." "Well, that's just about the best I can do for now." "You might have asked me if I... wanted that for a watch fob." "I'm sorry." "Would you like it?" "No, I guess it don't make any difference." "Every man's got to die sooner or later." "And some men die both ways." "Yeah." "Prison taught me that." "You know, it might... might seem kind of silly to you, but..." "I would like that bullet." "All right." "Your gun, mister." "Start backing." "You're one of them that was shooting at my wife, wasn't you?" "That's right, Harden." "Step aside, mister." "There'll be others come along." "You knew all along I was Harden?" "I wasn't sure." "I left this town a two-bit store clerk." "I'm something else now, ain't I?" "Prison can be very educational." "Break a man's heart." "You want me to break your heart?" "Why don't I just get you across the street to your wife?" "You better wait first." "You better listen." "See..." "I didn't steal that $80,000." "It wasn't there." "Edna's the only treasure I left in this town." "Sure, I blew open the bank vault." "We sold black powder in the store." "There wasn't any money in that vault." "I tried to tell that to the court." "They wouldn't believe me." "Not even Edna." "I wanted that money so bad for her." "She said she'd die if we didn't get out of this town." "He's a liar." "No, he's got to be a liar." "He's dying." "Dying?" "He's been dead to me for seven years." "The work I've done to get him out, money I could have spent on myself." "Do you want to know what he's made of me?" "A card dealer." "Well, sir," "I'm gonna make him tell me the truth." "That man's dying, and all he's got left in this world is his memory of you, and you can't give him that?" "Paladin, what if he is lying?" "After he's dead, that money is lost to everybody." "Well, can't you understand that?" "There's enough money for both of us." "We could spend it together." "Well, he'll tell me the truth, and you can trust me." "I trusted you when I crossed the street." "Now, I think, if your shot had been a little better, you could have convinced the others that I was Jess Harden, and with Harden dead, the others would have stopped trying." "No." "Oh, you are a gem." "Edna?" "Edna." "Yeah." "Jess." "Jess, I want to ask you something." "You know the answer." "I love you." "Paladin." "It isn't fair." "He tell you where he hid the money?" "No, not me." "Of course, she'd be the one he'd tell." "Now... now, you heard him." "Well, there isn't any money." "Now, I'm gonna tell you something, Miss Harden." "You're a liar, because you're the only one he would tell the truth to." "And I just want you to know that I am sticking to your heels like a leech until you decide to cut me in." "Now, sir, this lady might hold out for a very long time." "I don't care if it's another seven years." "Now, you tell him the truth." "Mrs. Harden," "I did tell him the truth." "Now, you just better learn to like looking at this face, because every time you turn around," "I'm going to be there." "Well, I do hope you two will be very happy." ""Have gun will travel," reads the card of a man" "A knight without armor in a savage land" "His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind" "Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?"