"Hey, here's some fresh tracks." "They're heading that way." "Come on!" "Hey, hold up, boys." "You find him, Jess?" "Where?" "Well, I found something." "Some kind of scalp." "That ain't him." "He ain't Apache." "I don't even think he's an Injun." "Well, he's a breed, that's for sure." "Chinee." "In back of town." "You know, breed, you can get scalped in these mountains?" "Now, where's that Apache hid?" "Apache?" "Partner of the one we shot." "His trail ran out down there by the rocks, so he gotta be in here." "And you gotta know where." "I ain't gonna ask you again." "Your tread must be light and sure as though your path were upon rice paper." "It is said a Shaolin priest can walk through walls." "Looked for, he cannot be seen." "Listened for, he cannot be heard." "Touched, he cannot be felt." "This rice paper is the test." "Fragile as the wings of the dragonfly, clinging as the cocoon of the silkworm." "When you can walk its length and leave no trace you will have learned." "This is your last chance, breed." "I see no Apache." "Boys, come on." "We're standing around here, that Apache's gaining ground." "Let's move." "Your skin is not like theirs." "I am from China." "I have seen others from that land." "You are different." "My father was from here." "He was a white man?" "Yes." "No." "Yes, it is so." "He would not have stood before a gun for me." "You do not know that." "l know white men." "There is no white in you." "It is not there." "Hoskay greets you as a brother." "I ask you as a brother." "Stand with me." "Take up the cause of justice." "We will triumph over the mandarins, and the people shall be free!" "Your words are vain, Teh-Soong." "Listen to me." "Hear me, my brothers." "All my brothers, hear me!" "This is a holy cause!" "Victory awaits us if we stand together." "Victory!" "Triumph!" "Master?" "You do not intrude." "Come." "Speak." "We can prevail." "We will prevail!" "Fight with me!" "Take up this holy cause!" "I have long admired our brother Teh-Soong." "There is much in him to be admired." "I fear he grows apart from us, from our way." "He is fired by a deep conviction." "Would you have him deny this truth he feels so deeply?" "But if we are brothers, should not our beliefs be one?" "That is what Teh-Soong desires most fervently." "He would have us deny our truth and accept his." "Who is right?" "There can be no way but the way of the Tao." "So we believe." "What, then?" "Do we renounce Teh-Soong as our brother?" "Master, wherein does brotherhood lie?" "Your question is most worth asking." "Most worth considering." "Before my 1 2th summer, I went on a high hill." "I fasted for days and nights." "A vision came to me." "I sat on a gray horse." "I rode over the clouds, and my brother rode behind me." "White men fell from the clouds into the darkness." "And their bullets did not strike us." "It was to be that way." "But my brother rides no more." "His scalp hangs in the white man's camp." "Scalp hunters." "They hunt Apache scalps." "There is one called Rafe?" "Their leader." "I must kill him first." "You will answer death with death?" "It is the mission for which the spirits chose me." "My brother all his fallen brothers, I must avenge them." "Master?" "Teh-Soong is ready to leave." "Let him enter." "You will not be dissuaded?" "Never." "I will not waste another day within these walls." "Waste?" "The people are like slaves." "They starve, and still the mandarins demand tribute for the emperor?" "We pray, we meditate, we" "We do nothing!" "How can you go on being blind to the misery around you?" "l see it." "And do nothing." "What will you do?" "Everything." "I will take up the cause of the people." "I will lead them, speak for them, fight for them!" "An awesome task." "You will be in our thoughts." "All has been said." "We wish you life." "He was taught to be one with the Tao, to flow." "Now he stands against the current." "He believes it is the will of destiny." "Could it be so?" "Can any man be asked to be more than a man?" "Well, will you look what's falling in on us." "Easy, boys, easy." "Maybe he just caught wind of that Apache." "is that what you're here to tell us?" "I came to tell you nothing." "I am looking for Rafe." "Rafe who?" "Ain't no one around here by the name of Rafe." "You're all mixed up, boy." "What you call yourself, Chinaman?" "I am Caine." "Yeah, I thought you was." "How come your neck ain't broke?" "I was not hanged." "Well, they was fixing the gallow when I was riding out." "What made them change their minds?" "l did not choose to stay." "Yeah?" "This heathen's wanted back in Temescal." "What for?" "Putting a knife through Sheriff Ames." "All the way through?" "Far enough." "That's the best news I heard in a long time." "You were there, you saw." "You know it was another man who killed the sheriff." "Yep." "And I know who it was." "Bailey Seward." "Then you will go back with me and tell this to the judge?" "No, half-breed, that's not what you call a practical idea." "You see, this Bailey Seward we've been talking about he's the man we work for." "It just don't make sense to chop off the hand that pays you, you know what I mean?" "If you do not come back and tell the truth justice will not be served." "Well, now, that's gonna cause me a frightful lack of sleep." "You got your answer, breed." "What you waiting on?" "I will not leave without you." "You know something, Chinaman?" "You're a real caution." "I don't think he knows what we do for a living." "You kill men." "We collect scalps for a bounty." "And men die." "Apaches die." "You kill innocent men for profit." "There is no greater evil." "Hey, you know something, breed?" "I think you just bit it off." "You know, Kirby here had a notion that his scalp wouldn't go much noticed in with all them others." "That sounds about right." "It'd make up for the one that got past us." "What--?" "What do you smoke in this thing?" "I do not smoke it." "Well, it sure is a funny-looking banjo." "Give us "Texas Lullaby."" "What is that?" "That's music." "It's the only kind worth listening to." "Hey, Ansel, come on, tickle something out of that." "Yeah, come on, Ansel, blow." "Come on, Ansel." "Come on, Ansel, play it!" "The other end, Ansel." "Come on, Ansel!" "Come on, give us a tune." "All right, hold it, boys." "Something's gonna happen." "Man, that's it!" "Thattaboy, Ansel!" "He plays that beautiful." "Come on." "Blow, baby!" "Come on, Ansel!" "Blow that thing." "Come on." "Come on, boy." "Blow that thing." "Come on, boy." "Give her a little more, Ansel." "Master, wherein does brotherhood lie?" "Your question is most worth asking." "Most worth considering." "Hey, heathen." "I want you to meet someone." "Name's Mutala." "I don't know what we would've done without him." "If you got something you wanna say to him, just speak right up." "Let me take those from you, Chinee." "I'll take real good care of them." "He knows what you're thinking, Chinaman." "He don't like it." "Well, look at it this way, Chinaman." "You were quits anyway." "Come on, move!" "Come on, boy!" "Get the leg!" "Cut his ears off!" "Come on, get him, Mutala!" "Cut him!" "Come on, get him!" "Come on!" "Watch it, boy." "Pretty good, Chinee." "Stick it in his ear!" "You got him!" "Hit him a blow upside the head!" "Cut his face!" "Get him!" "Go get him, baby." "Come on." "Come on!" "Come on, Mutala." "Come on, baby." "Get up, man." "Get up off the ground." "Rafe, watch out!" "Don't shoot, you're liable to hit Rafe." "Rafe!" "Get out of the way!" "Come on, let's get down there!" "The soldiers we could not stop them all." "There were so many of them." "Bathe him." "Tend to his wounds." "Call Master Li Nu." "He was beset by soldiers." "Yes, the word came while we were eating." "He led a revolt in a village to the north." "Now the village is destroyed, and Teh-Soong is marked for death." "Will he be safe here?" "Yes." "But will he be content to stay?" "is your brother avenged?" "If you die of your wound, who will avenge you?" "Others will follow." "To leave their scalps on his line?" "Where will it all end?" "When he and all like him are dead." "It is you who will die if the others return." "Where is your lodge?" "A day's ride from where the canyon begins." "I've never seen you so intent." "The way he looked at me...." "Well, you get us another shot at him, okay?" "The river will bring him out above the canyon." "He must go down into the canyon to cross." "Three days' journey on foot." "Yeah, and we can count on Rafe to slow him down a bit." "Any other way out of that canyon?" "There is no other way." "Then we got him." "Let him lay, Chinaman." "One way or the other, he's dead." "You try to take him out of here, you're dead too." "He'll slow you down." "Why should you care?" "I'm thinking about my own neck." "You got me lying helpless." "The minute you turn around, he sticks a knife in me." "You'll never get me to Temescal." "There will be no killing." "I must have your word." "lt is my mission." "lt is your burden." "You called me brother." "I ask you as a brother." "No, I cannot." "Your word." "No!" "No killing for now." "I promise no more." "You are bound." "We cannot delay." "l am ready." "You are in pain?" "My pain is for my brothers." "What's your plan, heathen?" "It has not changed." "We return to Temescal." "Whatever you say." "You figure you can find your way out of here, huh?" "We have no choice." "The way out is the way in." "Now, that's a fact." "Get up." "Now, how am I gonna do that?" "You got me lashed here like I was fixed for branding." "You are untied." "When you regained your strength, you freed yourself." "Hey." "Ain't that something?" "If I tie you to this horse, you will be most uncomfortable." "If you swear not to try to run away, I will cast this rope aside." "What do I swear on?" "Only give me your honor as a man." "Sure, I'll give you my word." "My word ain't worth nothing, Chinaman." "What you think of that?" "You are without honor?" "How does Teh-Soong progress?" "His wounds cool, his anger does not." "He speaks against you, master." "l know." "He has done so to my face." "I have lost all respect for him." "The sage says:" ""A sound man's heart is not shut within itself but it is open to other people's hearts."" "Teh-Soong accepts your kindness, and at the same time, defies you." "Would you have him hide his defiance?" "is there honor in such deception?" "l understand your thoughts, master." "But what?" "This particular virtue you find in Teh-Soong, is it most limiting?" "Still, it is there." "And it is for us to acknowledge it." "Heathen, I don't know what honor is." "l cannot believe that." "Come. I will help you up." "What are you gonna ride?" "l will walk." "Well, suits me." "Thank you very much." "I tell you that's pretty good, Chinaman." "You wanna take my word again?" "Hey, wait a minute, heathen." "I want that Apache where l can see him." "He has given his word." "You believe that?" "His word's no better than mine." "He'll jump me the first chance he gets." "Only if you break your word." "Chinaman, he's an Apache!" "You don't understand them!" "I know men. I trust this one." "And with him, I trust you." "Horses." "Now, how can you be sure they're not ours?" "We just rode through here a couple of days ago." "No, tracks are fresh." "I never figured that Chinaman to have horses hid." "Fight here." "Blood." "That's that Chinaman's blood." "Yeah, well, I wouldn't be too sure." "Well, I ain't never seen nobody get the best of Rafe yet." "If he had won, why wouldn't he be sitting here waiting for us?" "Three men fight here." "Apache." "That's the one that got away." "Yeah." "Well, it all won't be for nothing." "We're gonna get that scalp yet." "How long ago they leave?" "Not long." "We'll catch them." "Whoa, whoa, wait, whoa." "We're liable to lose them because of the dark." "But they gotta climb out of that canyon." "And when they do we're gonna be waiting for them right there." "It will be dark soon." "Dark or light don't make no difference to Mutala." "He could find a trail blindfolded." "Count the minutes, heathen." "Hey, why don't you save some of that." "l will get more." "Yeah, where?" "I will find some." "You mean you're gonna walk out of here and leave us?" "Yes." "Just what makes you think I'll be here when you get back?" "I have your promise." "I told you, Chinaman, my promise don't mean nothing." "Then you force me to tie you." "Okay." "You can sure come ahead and try." "Let me tell you something, Chinaman, I ain't half-drowned now." "You might wanna keep that in mind." "Go ahead." "I'll let you take the first swing." "Any chance they got here before us?" "No." "You really want that Chinaman, don't you?" "He passed judgment on me." "Oh, no denying that. I seen it in his eyes." "He does not know what the Apache did to my people." "I reckon you better teach him a lesson, huh?" "He will remember." "Hey, lnjun." "You know my men are gonna come riding in any minute." "The Chinaman knows it too." "That's how come he took off." "And he ain't coming back, so why don't you and me make a deal, huh?" "You cut me loose, you go your way, I go mine." "I keep my men from chasing you, huh?" "You know what's gonna happen if they find us like this." "Your hands are red with Apache blood." "It's a living." "You thirst not for water, but for blood." "l'd settle for water right now." "Scalp hunter." "We learned from experts." "Apaches never kill for money." "Well, you take the glory, lnjun, I'll settle for the cash." "I gave him my word." "And you kept it." "I will kill him yet." "Parasites!" "Leeches!" "Have you no feeling?" "No passion?" "Leave here!" "Come with me!" "We can bring justice to the people." "How?" "Lead them against the mandarins and soldiers." "We will kill them all!" "Violence gives rise to violence, not to justice." "You have just seen that for yourself, Teh-Soong." "My belief has only been strengthened, my anger sharpened!" "Will you come?" "Master, wherein does brotherhood lie?" "Your question is most worth asking." "Most worth considering." "We must go through the pass." "We will wait until dark." "I didn't hear nothing." "Rafe!" "You get that Chinee." "Straw!" "They're gone!" "We ain't never gonna pick up their trail before daylight." "Yeah, but they're on foot now." "And we still got a shot at them!" "Let's go!" "You are not keeping pace." "l'm doing the best I can." "I do not think so." "There is Hoskay." "He does not lag behind, and he is suffering from a wound." "Listen, why don't you and him go on without me." "I wouldn't wanna hold you up." "How far is your village from here?" "There is a mountain beyond the one that you see." "My people live above the valley." "Oh, that's a long stretch of daylight." "Better look forward to meeting my boys somewhere along the way." "Do you wish to rest?" "No." "Come." "Can you reach your people without help?" "Yes." "Will you stand?" "Then goodbye my brother." "Do you release me from the promise I gave you?" "No." "Hey, Chinaman!" "You're not gonna leave me here, are you?" "It does not profit me to stay." "Then come cut me loose." "Why?" "He has given his word." "I'm dead the minute you go over that rise." "You do not like the idea of dying?" "I don't like the idea of being helpless." "is that you, Teh-Soong?" "It is I, master." "You return once more to us." "Alive, unharmed." "You wear the rags of a beggar?" "A lowlier garment I could not find." "You have turned from your cause?" "It was false." "You sought to relieve the burdens of the people." "My concern only visited greater suffering upon them." "I failed." "For in their name, loudly proclaiming I sought my own glory." "It has been said:" ""Be utterly humble and you shall hold to the foundation of peace." "Be at one with all these living things which, having arisen and flourished return to the quiet whence they came."" "Will you abide with us?" "You will allow me?" "Our hearts are open." "I beg your forgiveness, master." "Your have my love." "Forgiveness?" "If you will find that it must come from the one who has condemned you, Teh-Soong." "I would hope he would be generous." "Surely there has been enough destruction." "What you do not like is that your life depends on the promise of an Apache and the scruples of a Chinaman, which you do not understand." "But it is not hard to understand." "This is not an Indian, not an Apache, but a man whose name is Hoskay." "I am not a Chinaman or a breed." "I am a man." "My name is Kwai Chang Caine." "Come on, let's go!" "Come on, guys." "Good luck, Rafe." "Come on!" "My vision was true." "I sat a gray horse." "My brother rode behind me." "And now white man will fall into darkness." "Even now you hold me to my promise?" "This man is a butcher to all my people." "Your vision of vengeance will destroy you and all your people." "He tried to kill you." "How come you bother with him?" "Tell me something, Chinaman." "Why'd you stop Hoskay?" "Word of an Apache and the scruples of a Chinaman, huh?" "How am I supposed to hold on to that?" "Hey, Chinaman, wait a minute." "Now where are you going?" "Temescal." "Temescal?" "Well, maybe I'll come with you." "Hey!" "Hey!" "Kwai Chang Caine!" "Will you wait a minute?" "Let us renew the words of the sage:" ""Man at his best...."" ""Like water...." -"Serves as he goes along."" ""Like water...." -"He seeks his own level...."" ""The common level of life."" ""What he must do, he does...." -"But not for glory."" ""What he must do, he does...." -"But not for show."" ""What he must do, he does...."" ""But not for self."" ""A sound man, not advancing himself...."" ""He endlessly becomes himself."" "Yes." "He is one with us again." "And with himself." "Every man has his yes and his no." "From moment to moment, always." "His yes and his no."