"You call yourself charlie blackburn's friend, sheriff?" "Well, if his friends won't give him a decent burial," "I'd better try his enemies." "That will do very nicely." "Monsieur, pardon." "Drove to pick zucchini blossoms" "As they opened with the first rays of the sun." "We shan't keep them waiting." "Regardez." "C'est bon, n'est pas?" "Oui." "Pardon." "Hey boy!" "Oh, sorry." "Mr. Paladin, a mr." "Blackburn," "He sleep on your davenport." "Asleep on my davenport?" "Yes." "With shoes on." "Oh." "Well, charlie blackburn, get up." "Get up or sober up." "Charlie, you're pushing a good friendship a little bit too far." "You're on my settee with your dirty boots." "Now, come on." "Get up, charlie." "Get up!" "He's dead." "Hey boy, get the police up here." "Monsieur paladin," "My great masterpiece now will be garbage." "Console yourself, andre." "The sun will rise again tomorrow morning." "There'll be more zucchini blossoms." "But charlie blackburn won't see them." "Hey!" "Who is it?" "His name was charlie blackburn." "Whoa." "Slow down." "Whoa." "Sheriff, I brought charlie blackburn home." "He ain't got any home around here." "Fact is, he ain't no more welcome dead" "Than he was alive." "I understand, sheriff." "That's one of mankind's finer instincts." "Respect for the dead." "Uh, where you taking him?" "Well, if charlie blackburn's friends won't give him a decent burial," "I'd better talk to his enemies." "Giddyup now." "Whoa." "I beg your pardon?" "My father's in san francisco," "So I wouldn't know about it." "But is this something he ordered?" "I believe it is." "That's charles blackburn's body." "Bury it." "Bury it?" "I wasn't aware that mr." "Blackburn was one of our immediate family." "He is now." "I'll be back for the wagon." "Well, back, huh?" "Get rid of the body?" "The lorings are taking care of it." "Wynn loring wouldn't give blackburn the time of day." "Sheriff, this may come as a great surprise to you." "It costs as much as ten, even $15" "To get a man shot in san francisco." "You, uh, going back to san francisco?" "Where did blackburn do business?" "Brecker saloon." "I understand you haven't finished your business here." "Well, news travels fast in alimo." "You know how it is in a small community." "An outsider can't make a move that isn't watched." "So I've noticed." "My name's keith loring, in case I forgot to mention it" "While you were at the house the other day." "This is mr." "Sims." "Hal sims." "I've been led to understand he's somewhat famous for being fast with a gun." "I've been admiring your gun." "Beautiful craftsmanship." "What I can see of it." "The balance must be excellent." "May I hold it?" "Don't touch it." "Sims, put the gun away." "You don't have to protect him from me." "That's not the idea." "I'm here to protect you." "And me." "From him?" "I've observed that he has excellent teeth." "Am I in mortal danger of being bitten?" "Never mind that." "Just do what I tell you." "And don't let him get his hands on your gun." "Sims takes his job very seriously." "And the job?" "I work for his old man." "Someone had to take steps." "Brecker was willing to hang out for timber pirates." "Like charlie blackburn?" "He was the worst." "Ask my father." "He cost us thousands of dollars." "Now, this is probably just a vicious rumor," "But I've heard it said in san francisco" "That if a man wants to be a logger in this county," "He works for the lorings or he pirates." "That's logging, like any other business." "We offered blackburn a fair price for his redwood." "Wouldn't deal." "What could we do, let him cut a logging road through our timber?" "I told him he couldn't shoot his way across another man's land." "I told him to get a lawyer," "File suit to set aside the deeds that had him landlocked." "You may have told him he couldn't shoot his way across another man's land," "But he was going to try." "This is where he planned the whole thing." "Got his gang." "And did it happen?" "Fortunately, I found out what blackburn was up to in plenty of time." "And from what I can see," "Justice triumphed." "I'm glad you see it that way." "Now, mr., uh..." "Paladin." "Paladin." "Have a good trip back to the city." "Got a jug open in the office." "Buy you a drink?" "One for the road?" "You're just like everybody else I meet in this town." "You keep trying to get me on that road." "You don't haul bodies as a regular thing?" "No, hardly ever." "But you hauled this one over 40 miles." "Seems to me you got something else in mind," "Besides having charlie blackburn buried in alimo." "And what would you think that'd be, sheriff?" "I was hoping you'd tell me." "No, the game's more exciting if you tell me." "You're after wynn loring 'cause you think he had blackburn killed in the city." "There now." "You see?" "You knew." "Now, just a minute." "Wynn loring's had a lot of trouble raising that boy." "But he stood up to it like a man." "He could have thrown keith out long ago." "He could've disowned him." "A lot of fathers would have." "You got to hand it to wynn loring." "He ain't a man to shun his responsibility." "Well, that's good news, sheriff." "'cause I got some to throw his way." "I know why you gentlemen are here." "You think I'm lost." "You're not only lost." "You're headed in the wrong direction." "San francisco's that way." "I have no quarrel with your geography." "But I know where I'm going." "The loring house is that way." "I repeat, mister, san francisco's that way." "Father?" "What's this?" "Charlie blackburn." "It would seem he beat you back from san francisco." "How'd it get here?" "A man named paladin." "Said it was up to us to bury charlie." "See to it, sims." "Won't that look as though you had something to do with blackburn's death?" "I did." "Mr. Loring, wait.." "I said, bury him!" "You heard my father." "See to it, sims." "I can't do it by myself." "I'll get some men." "Don't bother." "I'll help you." "Who are you?" "What are you doing here?" "I'm enjoying your tobacco and your wine," "And I believe I've earned the privilege." "I said, who are you?" "Paladin." "Blackburn's man." "My own man." "Blackburn's friend." "How'd you get in here?" "Your son told me you were expected momentarily" "From san francisco" "And asked me if I'd mind waiting." "He wasted your time." "I don't believe so." "Keith showed me through your house." "It's beautiful." "I congratulate you on your excellent taste." "Not mine, mr." "Paladin." "My wife's." "This house, everything in it was her idea." "This furniture came all the way from europe," "Around the horn." "Mrs. Loring was a particular woman." "God rest her." "Mr. Loring." "What happened the other night in brecker saloon?" "We have nothing to discuss, mr." "Paladin." "Father, you're being rude." "Keith, I told you to knock before coming into my study." "Mr. Paladin has made a long and tiring journey." "He's a man of obvious culture and refinement." "I think we should cooperate with him." "Will you please get out of here?" "Sorry, father." "I choose to remain and answer mr." "Paladin." "All right, then." "I'll answer him." "Brecker saloon." "A few nights ago." "As I heard it, there was a dispute among the lumberjacks." "Some of theirs, some of mine." "That's all there is to it." "Father isn't really lying to you, mr." "Paladin." "Keith!" "It's simply that he's very busy." "Some of the details escape him." "Get out of here and let me handle it!" "Don't shout at me!" "I'm only trying to help you answer mr." "Paladin." "Father has forgotten." "There were six men killed in brecker saloon." "Only six?" "You're sure there weren't more?" "Positive." "My gun was empty by then." "Where was sims while all this was going on?" "Sims had a predecessor." "Excellent hand with a gun." "With us over a year." "Long enough to grow careless?" "He was one of the men killed in brecker saloon." "The first." "It was his gun." "He was the closest." "And how many fast-gun nursemaids has keith gone through?" "Only two before sims came with us." "The first one was shot defending keith." "He only shot one." ""he only shot one."" "Mr. Paladin, when you're up on top," "Every two-bit tinhorn with no brains and big ideas" "Is trying to shove you off." "I've been lied to, swindled, cheated," "Shot at." "That's how his mother was killed." "With a bullet that was meant for me." "You've got to protect yourself." "You've got to give your boy some help." "Or protect the men who make the mistake" "Of trying to defend themselves against keith." "Protect the public." "Make the town go along because you own them." "Of course, a scheme like that has one great advantage." "It gives the town something else to think about," "Something other than how you own them" "What you've done to men." "Men like charlie blackburn." "They killed my mother." "You didn't know that?" "I knew it." "It's all right if they killed my mother?" "No, it's not all right." "It's not any more all right" "Than what your father is doing about you." "Father's choice is limited, mr." "Paladin." "He isn't going to sign commitment papers on his only son." "I am." "You're not gonna sign a thing." "Whatever else keith may be, he's still my son." "He's my flesh and blood." "You see, mr." "Paladin," "That was your friend blackburn's mistake." "After the brecker saloon shooting," "He talked about how I wasn't normal." "He was going to the city, have the authorities put me away." "It makes a great deal of difference who's doing the talking." "I'm not charlie blackburn." "Sims." "Sims!" "Sorry, father." "I don't think we can count on sims." "You!" "It was almost an accident, father." "The coffin slipped." "Slipped?" "Well, maybe I did push it just a little," "At an unfortunate time for sims." "But I needed his gun." "Leave it where it is, keith." "You'd shoot me." "Only if I have to." "Now, I want the gun." "That makes a problem, doesn't it?" "Because I also want it." "Hardly be keeping faith with sims if I gave it up so easily." "Keith." "Turn around, keith." "Hands on the mantel." "You're gonna have to shoot me, mr." "Paladin." "Shoot to kill, because if I get this gun out," "I'll kill you." "I promise you, you never will." "Paladin!" "Don't move!" "Why?" "You're only able to stay in this house to stay alive" "Because of my will to protect you at all costs." "That's a father's duty." "Maybe so." "But don't count on it." "Don't count on it anymore." "Because if you ever use a gun again for murder," "I'm gonna close my eyes to any pity," "Any fatherly love I may have for you." "And I'll only open them to see you swinging at the end of a rope." "You don't mean that." "Oh, yes, I do." "You're right, son." "There was a time when I didn't, but this time I do." "I mean it more than any promise I ever made to your mother." "May she forgive me." "But if you're gonna use the gun, use it on me." "At least, whatever happens to you afterwards," "I won't know about it." "Now, let me have it." "No." "Keith!" "Keith, you put that gun down on the end of the bar" "And you walk away from it." "Ain't nobody gonna hurt you." "I promised you that before, right here in this saloon." "And I kept that promise." "That was different, sheriff." "The gun I had then was empty." "I have lots of bullets." "Shouldn't waste them." "Listen to me, keith." "Why?" "Haven't I already heard everything you've got to say?" "Keith, I'm your friend." "That makes you special." "Anybody can kill an enemy." "Keith!" "Yes, mr." "Paladin?" "He's dead, mr." "Loring." "Your mistakes, my bullet." "All right, paladin." "Use the gun again." "This time on the right man." "I had charlie blackburn killed." "I admit it." "Use the gun!" "Murder shrieks out in the voice of the murderer." "You'll be heard, mr." "Loring," "If you shriek loud enough." "¶ "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 ¶" "¶ a soldier of fortune is the man called ¶" "¶ paladin ¶" "¶ paladin, paladin where do you roam ¶"