"The Maricopas are probably watching us right now." "I can do this or I can kill you." "Either one, the Indians will understand." "Yavapai Apaches, sir." "Never saw them riding with a white man before." "You can bring your Indian friends on in, mister." "I'd like to see Major Wilson." "And I want to see them trouble-making Yavapais." "Oh?" "Hyah!" "Get 'em!" "That's an order!" "Get a patrol after them!" "Stay where you are, Sergeant." "Why you dirty..." "Put that gun down." "You're telling me to put this..." "I'm telling you to act like a cavalry officer." "You from the Inspector General?" "Lieutenant, unless the Army has changed considerably," "War Department Order 7-104 is still on the books." "And I've asked to see your commanding officer." "I usually take care of his business for him, mister." "Well, Lieutenant, you just met the exception." "Give Major Wilson that card." "Sergeant, where's the stable area?" "Right in here, sir." "Now do my people have to shoot their way onto this post to see me?" "He was riding with a stinking pair of Yavapais." "That's his way." "I understand he can get an escort from any tribe." "Yavapais, Curacaos, any of them." "He's even ridden with Cochise himself." "They like him." "All right." "He's a cholla bean eater." "Now it's just that attitude that's created trouble." "It's no wonder our formations are being attacked." "Maybe you'd like to start taking the patrols out again?" "I've got to do something." "I'm getting complaints from headquarters." "They can't afford another Indian war." "This man's from West Point, too." "By Godfrey, he's not going to think" "I'm one of those officers who has forgotten what he learned there." "I suppose you want me to talk to the men again." "You'll do more then talk, Harvey." "You'll straighten them out." "And that goes for you, too." "That uniform of yours smells like a horse blanket." "And do it quick." "I don't want this man kept waiting." "Hi, I'm Wilson." "Class of '54." "Glad you got my letter." "I had to pass this way anyway." "You're a West Pointer, too." "Good." "We'll get along." "Lieutenant Harvey, my second in command." "We've met." "Yes, of course." "I'm sorry about that little mix-up at the gate." "Paladin." "Funny, I can't seem to place that name." "Major, shall we get down to business?" "Yes." "That is funny." "I usually remember all the officers from around my time." "I've got to make up a duty roster." "Well, Major, what's the problem?" "Sit down." "Thank you." "I heard of you through Scott in the Seventh Cavalry." "You entertained him in San Francisco." "Yeah." "You should have heard him talk about that." "Champagne, good food, beautiful women." "You can imagine what that sounded like to me out here." "Scott says you sometimes get as much as $1,000 a job." "Major, let me set the record straight." "I did not come here for old school gossip, to sing class songs, or to discuss personal affairs, past or present." "If you have a problem, please detail it and I'll name a price." "You must be joking." "In the letter I said this concerned innocent lives." "You tell me the details, Major." "I'll decide the rest for myself." "$1,000, huh." "You know what I risk my life for?" "$62 a month." "Does that make you better than I am?" "Does that make your life worth more?" "Do you know that I've spent seven years in this hole eating dust?" "Seven years." "Look here." "This is what seven years represents to me." "A stinking $200." "That's not enough for you, is it?" "It might be." "There are some things about the Maricopa country that interest me." "You know the Maricopa tribe?" "No, but I've lived with the Yumas." "They're related." "This post was set up to keep an eye on them." "I've tried to be friendly." "They just won't have it." "Last month, two of my troopers disappeared while hunting meat." "Since then my patrols have been hit every time they enter Maricopa country." "That doesn't leave me much choice." "Well, I'll tell you this about them, Major, if you retaliate, you'll provoke open warfare." "And if I don't, they'll think I'm weak." "Either way it'll involve innocent settlers, women and children." "There's a third way." "You could parley with Gerada their chief, find out what's troubling them." "Yes, but I can't go in there with troops." "Now, from what I understand, you could take me there, just the two of us." "Major, have you ever heard of the Maricopa treasure?" "The tribal gold mine?" "This country is thick with stories like that." "This is a huge vein of white quartz so heavily loaded with free gold you can dig it out with a knife." "Well, I happen to be interested in other things- human lives." "And?" "All right." "And my own career." "I'll be honest with you, Paladin." "I'm in trouble." "I've had bad luck on my last assignments." "If I fail on this one..." "This is my last chance." "All right, Major." "We'll leave first thing in the morning." "Thank you." "Oh, um, there's a full dress retreat this afternoon." "Major, I've had a look at this post." "A half-hour ceremony won't impress me." "Whoa." "Whoa." "Whoa." "Hold it." "There's no mistaking that." "I do not have a split tongue and I talk straight." "I will talk straight." "Our brother suffers from the sun." "He has spoken to us." "I did not have a third hand for a weapon." "You know our ways, but so do many enemies." "It has been given into the hearts of the Yumas to believe the words of one called Paladin." "And the Pimas and the Opatas." "The whites do not want your land." "Gerada said he would speak straight." "The chief soldier here has had his men killed." "Before you led your men here yourself." "There was no trouble then." "But now the little chief leads them here with his eyes looking to other things." "Lieutenant Harvey." "Harvey's been taking the burden of patrols off my shoulders." "Perfectly within regulations." "The soldier you call Harvey saw our gold in the trading store." "It was a mistake for us to bring it there, but it was a mistake for the soldier called Harvey to send two others to trail us to our white blanket." "White blanket?" "The white quartz- the Maricopa treasure." "The two soldiers you say followed your men were hunting meat." "Do meat hunters kill Maricopas?" "Do they load gold in leather sacks and mark trails?" "Is this the way soldiers hunt meat?" "I'm for arresting Lieutenant Harvey and apologizing to Gerada." "But I can't go to headquarters with some story about a lost mine." "They won't believe it." "If the chief of the soldiers here sees it, will they believe?" "Of course they'd believe me." "Then you will come only to count our fires as in the past?" "I am only interested in doing my job." "My friend can tell you that." "Two of my braves will lead you." "You will wear a cloth on your eyes so you cannot return to the spot." "Is this the wisdom of Gerada speaking?" "You have said the soldier is to be trusted." "Did you speak straight?" "I spoke straight." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on." "Easy, now." "Easy." "Come on." "Come on." "Easy." "Easy." "Come on." "Whoa, now." "Now back." "Back!" "Back!" "Back!" "Back!" "Back." "Whoa, now!" "Whoa!" "Easy." "Paladin, is that you?" "I thought you were an Apache." "Come on out." "It's all right." "This is Major Wilson." "Paladin, it was a mistake!" "I put my gun away." "I'd call that a lie." "I'll take the carbine." "Sure." "I certainly don't need it against a friend." "You left me there to die, Wilson." "I didn't want to." "It was a trap." "I was attacked by those two Indians." "I was riding to Gila Bend for help." "You don't think I'd desert you, do you?" "You've got a couple of pretty heavy buckskin bags on that horse." "Look, Paladin." "We rode for three hours, mostly upgrade." "I could tell they were circling, doubling back on their trail." "All total, we probably didn't go more than five miles." "Then they took the bandages off." "We were in a box canyon, up high, almost to the timberline." "Have you ever seen gold?" "Not an ore, but natural, as pure and as yellow as in a coin- bits of it, flakes, nuggets, all sizes and shapes." "Those bags were filled by the two troopers just before they were killed." "I got the Maricopas to show me just what happened." "And, when they turned their backs, I..." "You told me the Maricopas attacked you." "Paladin, can't you understand what I'm saying?" "We're rich!" "You're my partner." "This isn't West Point, Paladin." "Did you have this in mind from the start?" "Well, what are we arguing about?" "There's a fortune in those bags, and I know the way back for more." "Gold, Paladin." "Isn't that word enough for you?" "If the Maricopas find us," "I hope they'll believe it was your idea to kill those guides." "But the sight of it, just lying there, a year's salary in every handful." "Paladin..." "You can't afford to kill me." "I know the location to the treasure." "You're right in the Maricopa's backyard, Wilson." "They're probably watching us right now." "Look, Paladin, what good is gold to a dead man?" "Paladin, will you...?" "Look, just let me ride out of here." "What are you doing, man?" "This is an advance payment to get us out of here." "Wilson, gold is only worth one thing to me, and that's to buy what I need most- in this case, it's my life." "Paladin, listen..." "Wilson, I can kill you or I can do this." "Either one, the Maricopas will understand." "Look, Paladin, you don't under..." "I risked my life for that stuff!" "You risked my life for it!" "No." "That's mine!" "Paladin, that's mine!" "That's mine!" "That's..." "Wilson..." "Wilson, listen." "It's mine!" "Let the gold go, Wilson!" "It's mine!" "No!" "It's mine!" "It's heavy!" "I can't hold you!" "Let it go!" "It's my gold!" "No, I won't let it go." "It's my gold!" "I can't hold you, Wilson!" "It's my gold!" "It's my gold!" "Let it go!" "The one who is called Paladin has no use for the yellow metal?" "All white men have great need for gold, Gerada, but I have returned this to the mountain." "I was not mine to take." "You speak straight when you say this?" "I speak straight." "The dead soldier- he did not tell you where to find the white blanket of the Maricopas?" "He told me it was in a box canyon above the timberline." "No more." "I have no wish to kill a friend of the Yumas, the Pimas and the Opatas, but the brother of my wife is dead already from one lie." "The others with me fear that gold will split even the tongue of the man called Paladin." "I have spoken true." "My report to the inspector general will state that Wilson was accidentally killed while negotiating with the Maricopas." "That, in my opinion, no action is warranted against this tribe." "Well, that about covers the situation, Colonel." "Lieutenant Harvey has some story about a gold mine being at the bottom of all the trouble around here." "Well, these territories are full of stories about lost gold mines, Colonel." "Do you think any of them are true?" "It'll be at least 20 years before Harvey has a chance to find out." "We have a dozen complaints against him, including theft of post funds." "Thank heavens Major Wilson was at least honest, if nothing else." "We'll hope to see you in our territory again." "I may get back here again one day." "If the Indians are ever relocated," "I'd like very much to do some hunting in these mountains." "Sergeant." "Colonel."