"Jean De La Fontaine has said that man is so made that when anything touches his soul, impossibilities disappear." "Now, do you or do you not wish to join the San Francisco Opera Ballet Company?" "Yes." "Very well, then." "Encore." "There, now, you see?" "Anything is possible." "Anything." "Then you will arrange the audition for me?" "I will, indeed." "Come in, Hey Girl." "I'm sorry." "I would not interrupt, except for important business." "This just came in by messenger." ""Hero Refuses to Track Outlaws." ""Big Oak, Arizona." ""Tim Decker, the man who became famous eight years ago" ""for the successful one-man roundup and killing" ""of the Stoner gang of outlaws" ""again refused to go after the Bradley gang, presently hiding out in the hills outside Big Oak."" ""Citizens Committee... $1,000..."" "And, um..." "Hmm." "Here, my love." "Give this to a Gronski at the opera house." "And I hope I'm back in time for your... debut." "¶" "Gee, thanks." "Mrs. Decker around?" "Hey, Ma, a customer." "Can I help you, mister?" "No, thanks." "You Tim Decker's son?" "Yes, sir." "You must be Mr. Paladin." "You look exactly as I expected you to." "This is my husband, Tim Decker." "Mr. Decker." "You sent for him?" "Why?" "Because it's his job to go after outlaws, Tim, and I want him to do just that." "I'm sorry she wasted your time, Mr. Paladin." "I'll be glad to pay for your trouble." "It's quite all right." "But that doesn't solve the town's problem with the Bradleys, does it?" "They fairly blew that bank to pieces." "Well, he got the Stoners." "Hmm." "And everybody says he's the only man who can get the Bradleys." "Child, hush..." "The town wants to hear its hero sound the trumpet again, that it?" "Well, that's the way it's been." "That's the way it's been for 11 years." "Everyone pressures him." "Even his son." "Voltaire once said," ""It is a heavy burden to bear a name that is too famous."" "You know, all I want on this earth is to love my wife and... raise my boy and be a simple storekeeper." "Jeannie, I guess you know what folks would say if I let somebody else do it." "Are you going, Pa?" "Are you going?" "I'm going." "Yippee!" "Yippee!" "Good luck, Decker." "Mrs. Decker." "Mr. Paladin?" "Hmm?" "I'd like you to go with me." "Decker?" "What's the trouble?" "When we left that trail back there," "I thought you knew some shortcut, but I confess I don't see how we're gonna get through that mountain from here." "You saying I don't know what I'm doing?" "Now, wait a minute, Decker." "You brought the Stoners in single-handed, and I have every confidence that you'll round up the Bradleys." "I'd just like to know the reasons for what I'm doing, all right?" "You want to take over, go ahead." "Maybe it's just as well we don't take the shortcut, after all." "Go ahead, Paladin." "I'll grab a snooze in the saddle." "All right." "If that's the way you want it." "Coffee, Paladin?" "Well, how long do you think?" "I mean, till we catch up with 'em?" "Not too long." "Tomorrow night, probably, unless they've grown wings." "We gonna sleep here, or push on after 'em?" "Well, let's stay on their trail until daylight, rest, and make a move tomorrow night." "You know, I..." "I got to hand it to you, Paladin." "You're a mighty fine tracker." "I'm sorry I wasn't as sharp as I should have been." "11 years is a long time." "And, uh, this terrain has changed a lot since I was here last." "Still, that shouldn't get in the way of a man following a trail, should it?" "Sure cold." "Are you trying to warn them?" "That it, Decker?" "You don't want to find the Bradleys?" "That's why you lost the trail?" "That's why you're trying to light up the sky?" "Paladin..." "Paladin, I want the Bradleys." "Whatever else you believe, believe that." "If I believe that, then I have to look someplace else for the reason you're doing everything wrong, don't I?" "Decker!" "Why don't you go on back?" "Whatever else I am, I'm not a coward." "There's no dishonor in fear." "It doesn't make you a coward." "You don't know anything about fear, do you, Paladin?" "Well, I don't have a wife and a child." "This isn't your job, Decker." "You're a storekeeper, you're a man with a family." "They expect me to do it for 'em." "They're counting on their hero of 11 years ago, and he's not the same man." "He's changed." "Think your wife knew that when she sent for me?" "She knew it when she begged you not to go!" "Paladin..." "I'm gonna get the Bradleys, if it's the last thing I do." "Well, there's always that gamble." "Whew!" "Three horses on the far side, a lookout on the roof, two men inside." "Now, I've got to get as close to that shack as I can before any shots are fired." "We'll have to get the lookout before you make your run." "We've got to play for split-second timing." "I start my run, the lookout takes aim at me, and you get him then and not before." "And a favor, friend?" "Don't miss, because I'll purely be a sweet target all the way." "Paladin... you're counting on me." "I can't let you do it." "I'm not that good a shot." "I'm not that good at anything." "That what's been the trouble all along?" "You never hunted anything or tracked anything or shot anything in your life, and you didn't get the Stoners, either, did you?" "Did you?" "Uh-uh." "They were all dead when I found 'em." "I guess they fought over the money and killed each other." "I just happened along by accident." "I mean, sure, I..." "I took the bodies and-and the money, but..." "I didn't lie." "I didn't say I got them." "I just rode in with them." "It was kind of like I was struck dumb when they handed me the reward money and folks I never even knew rushed up to shake my hand." "Well, thanks for telling me, Decker." "I'll try, Paladin." "I'll do my best." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Here." "You earned it." "Well, that can wait till we get back into town." "Well... there's no need for you to go all the way back." "I mean, I can handle it." "Oh, I see." "You ride into town with the bodies draped over horses and let people assume whatever they want to, hmm?" "Well, you ought to just about be over your ears in glory this time." "I can see those blazoning headlines now." ""Heroic Tim Decker Bags Three More Outlaws."" "Be a proud moment for your wife and your son, too, won't it?" "I know what you're thinkin'." "Maybe, deep down, I think the same, but I do what I gotta do." "What you gotta do?" "!" "Decker, what kind of a man has gotta do what you're doing?" "A man like me, Paladin, who had nothing and was nothing!" "I..." "I..." "I don't want to steal your glory, but I have to." "My glory?" "!" "Well, you just take it." "I got nothing to prove." "On second thought..." "I'll ride along with you." "I'll get him to a doctor, if he lives." "I don't need your help." "Nevertheless, I'll ride along until he's handled one way or the other." "Are you saying that I'd kill him to keep him from talking?" "No." "No, I'm not saying it." "You are." "Oop." "Well, Big Oak, right over the next rise, hmm?" "It ain't fair." "It's not?" "It just ain't fair, on account of a killer," "I got to lose everything I got- everything." "Decker, it wasn't yours to lose." "I want to tell you something." "I used to be a drifter;" "nobody to care whether I came or went." "I had no learnin'." "Wasn't much good at anything I tried." "Folks didn't mind me." "They... nobody wanted to do any harm to me." "But they just didn't seem to notice if I was around or not, especially the women." "Then this business with the Stoner gang happened." "You know?" "Well, I can understand." "It made you a very famous man." "Oh, they turned the town over to me." "Nothing they wouldn't do." "Why, I had so many job offers, I didn't know which way to turn." "And the women started eyeing me for their daughters." "Now, you got to understand what I'm saying." "I let them believe a lie, but I didn't just take from them." "I turned myself inside out not to let them down." "I done good things for that town." "And my son- you saw the way he looks at me." "Now, that man's a thief and a killer, and he's going to hang anyhow." "Maybe." "I ain't going to lose it, Paladin." "On account of a killer," "I ain't gonna lose everything I got!" "I started out feeling sorry for you, Decker." "You were an ordinary man who stumbled into a moment of time and place that brought you fame and respect, so you lived your little lie and played hero while the Sword of Damocles hung over your head and exposure and disgrace waited in the shadows." "And the worst thing of all, the woman you love... she loved a fake." "And your son... your son said "father" to a ghost, and you were pitiable." "But now, Decker..." "Now...!" "Oh, God, help me." "I was gonna kill him." "Well, Decker, your problems are over." "He's dead." "Now let's get the body over a horse, and then I'll ride back into town with you and watch the hero's welcome." "He's comin'!" "How about a big hooray for Tim Decker!" "Hip-hip..." "Hooray!" "Hip-hip..." "Hooray!" "Hip-hip..." "Hooray!" "Good boy, Tim." "You're all right!" "This man's had a hard trip." "Chuck, take these horses out of here." "There!" "There!" "How about your daddy?" "Dad, I knew you'd do it." "You must be the fastest gun in the world." "Nice job, Tim." "I don't have to tell you how proud we are of you, Tim." "If this town had any sense, they'd put you in my job as sheriff." "You'll never have to buy a drink again in your life, Tim Decker." "Come in my saloon any hour of the night or day." "Hope we can let you settle down now, Tim." "But it's mighty comforting to know we got a man like you around when we need him." "You're the best man this town ever saw." "Paladin!" "Larry..." "I want you to listen to me." "I didn't kill those men." "He did." "And I didn't catch the Stoners, either." "Hear what I'm saying?" "None of the things you thought about me all of your life are true." "Except I'm your father... and I love you." "Thank you, Decker." "Thank me?" "A man like me tends to forget how many different ways there are to show courage." "I have no idea how I'd stand up to a ten-year-old boy." "I thank you." "¶ "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?" "¶ Paladin, Paladin" "¶ Far, far from home."