"Your last chance, Choya." "You come on out!" "Come out with your hands up, Choya!" "Makes no difference if you're guilty or not, they'll hang you sure, Choya." "They don't care that you drew in self-defense." "Funny." "He was plumb good for nothing... but there ain't nobody so no-account but what somebody loves them." "You got any friends?" "My guns." " Kinfolk?" " My horse." "You don't make good sense, son." "Gunfighters never stop to think how grief and hate pile up against them." "Throw out your guns, Choya!" "There goes our million-dollar deal." "You shouldn't have picked him for this, Leff." "If he don't look for trouble, trouble finds him." "Get up." "Come on." "Raise your hands." "Hold it!" "He's got Dad Travis." "Let go of Dad!" "Give us shooting room." " Watch out for Dad!" " Watch it, Choya." " Let him have it!" " No, watch out for Dad Travis." "Easy." "Watch it." " We're gonna lose him!" " Get out of the way, Dad!" " Don't let him get away." " Come on, let's go after him." "On your horse!" "Get him!" "Looks like our deal's still on." "Let's swim the river and we'll find his hideout." "Choya." "We're friends, Choya." "Reach." "We're friends, Choya." "We even left our guns below with the horses." "That's a natural precaution, but as I say, we're friends." "I got asthma." "We've been riding your trail from Montana to Arizona." "Why?" "The first time I seen you was in Dodge City a couple of years back." "I asked you a question." "We got a business proposition, a million-dollar deal." " Get out." " $1 million, maybe more." "Give me a minute, just a minute." "The scheme's foolproof." "You can take it easy for the rest of your life." "We'll own the biggest ranch in the Southwest." "Is it all right for me to give you the rest of the deal?" "Turn around." "Slow." "Sit down." "It's the softest touch a man could find." "Only problem we ever had was getting you to tie in with us." "First time I laid eyes on you in Dodge City, I knew you was the man for the job." "You had the eyes, the right age, and the nerve." "I seen you when you made your play in the saloon that night." "Took you a long time to find someone." "The law kind of delayed Leff up Kansas way." "Our drunken partner is a great one for mouth." "Quit fidgeting." "Another titch or two is all." "You know, even plain tattooing, battleships, wiggling gals and the like... is a kind of select art, you know, like painting a picture." "But this is like one of them master pictures, high art." "Get it done." "We got to get to town for supplies." "How about the old man in this set-up?" "What kind of an hombre is he?" "Hard and sharp as a razor." "Rich as a bank." "People have been telling me I ought to settle down." "There you are!" "Perfect." "Like it was born on your skin." "High art." "That's a real birthmark if I ever seen one." " How long before this thing heals?" " A couple of days if she don't fester." "I hardly ever get a bad case of blood poisoning anymore." "Hey, we didn't say anything yet about the split." " Three ways, all even." " Oh, no." "Down the middle, half for me." " Nothing doing." " Shut up." "You mean as much for you as me and Tattoo together?" "That's right." "I reckon that figures." "Making us junior partners." "A quarter of a million will buy a whole riverful of whiskey." "Come on, Tattoo, let's go down and get them supplies." " Be sure you sing out when you come back." " Like a choir." "I only got one life." "I ain't no cat." "We got enough money left for a couple of bottles?" "You got nothing to worry about." "You know what I been dreaming lately, Leff?" "Owning my own saloon." "Dancing girls and everything." "The biggest place in the West... and not one single customer except myself." "Soon it's gonna be the real thing." "A quarter of a million..." "How long you figure a quarter of a million lasts a man, Leff?" "Half as long as half a million." "That's the finest..." "No, Leff!" "No!" "Coming up, Choya." "It's me, Leff." "It's okay, Choya." "It's me." " Stop hog-calling my name." " Just don't want there to be no mistakes." "We can ride whenever you're ready." " Where's Tattoo?" " I bought him out." "His horse, too?" "I figured what you don't see don't bother you none." "You figured everything, didn't you?" " When do you figure my turn?" " Set-up's no good without you." "We don't need Tattoo." "No sense dragging a lot of dead weight, especially when it's all drunken mouth." " It's going to be a real trusting partnership." " I trust you, Choya." "Right down the line." "Come on." "Let's go, partner." "Well, there's your Rio Grande." "Old Mexico, great place for dodging." "I'm only trying to be sociable." "You ain't spoke ten words in the past three days." ""Bar O.M. Ranch." "Richard Lavery, owner." "Keep out." "This means you."" "You read it right, partner." "It means you." "You lay over in town until you hear from me." "No reason we can't ride in together." "Just walk up to the door and knock and take my shirt off?" "Look, from here out, I'm doing the figuring." " I just thought..." " I'm not asking you." "Sure." "Maybe it's better that way." "Don't forget the details I told you." "Let me hear from you real soon." "Don't use that rocking horse story lessen you have to." " All right?" " Yup." "Fetch it." "Harder." "Come on." "Hey, company." "Low-cut holsters." "Who's the foreman?" " You overlooked the sign back there, mister." " Maybe he don't read." "I'm the foreman." "What do you want?" " I want a job." " So?" " What can you do?" " Anything you can." "I didn't come looking for trouble." "I want a job." "Call that coffee?" " Morning, Bob." " Howdy, boys." "Well, fence is coming along fine." "Just fine." "Hey, Spig." "Rode all this way just to get a cup of your coffee." " New hand?" " Not by a long sight." "We had a little misunderstanding." "I'm looking for a job." "Ransome does the hiring." "Mr. Ransome, you were saying you needed some more hands." "I don't want no gunfighters." "Fist fighters, you mean." "Why don't you take him on and then show him who's the foreman of the Bar O.M.?" "He looks pretty uppity to me." " That new colt ready?" " Ready as he'll ever be." "He's bone wicked." "Needs strong riding and quirt handling." "Well, I'm his man." " I'll take him on tomorrow before supper." " All right." "Here you go, Spig." "Come on, Ruth." " Bye." " Bye." " What's your name?" " They call me Choya." " Where you from?" " I wouldn't know." "You want that job or no?" "I said I did, didn't I?" "Come on." " What are you doing here?" " Against the rules?" "There aren't any rules of that kind on this ranch." "No?" "I'm glad to hear it." " Thanks for getting me the job today." " I had nothing to do with it." " Mr. Ransome does the hiring." " I know." "Thanks anyway." "You kind of like yourself, don't you?" "It's the only affection I can depend on." "You can't expect folks to like someone... who tries to behave like a one-man stampede." "We aren't used to gunfighters." "Besides, I imagine a posse drove you into these parts." "Posses I can dodge." "Young ladies spitting insults I can't handle." "Wait a minute." "I didn't mean all those things." "I'm sorry." "I guess I started the shooting." " What's your name?" " Choya." "Spanish for "cactus." Why do they call you that?" "Did you ever try to pick one?" "What's your real name, the one you were born with?" "I wouldn't know." "I guess this meeting's over for the evening." "Dad doesn't mind." "He and Mother are just talking in there." " Is that all the family?" " Well, that's all now." " Now?" " I had a brother, but I never knew him." "What happened to him?" "He was kidnapped when he was about 5." "We never heard anything more." "But Dad still renews the reward every year." "Reward?" "Yes, $100,000, but it hasn't meant anything." "Dad and I realize he must be dead... but not Mother." "Her whole world centers on the hope Richard's alive." "Well, listen to me run on and on." " That you, Ruth?" " Yes, Dad." " Mother will be going up pretty soon." " All right, Dad." " You're far from home, mister." " I didn't know there was a dividing line." " Then keep it in mind." " Sure." "I'm a cowhand." "And the Laverys don't mix with dirty cowhands outside their corrals." "Dad didn't mean it that way." "Plain as those signs out there:" ""Keep out." "This means you."" "Dad, you were wrong." "You think so, chick?" "Then I'll square it with him tomorrow." "Sure is an ornery young fellow." "You could both do with some breaking." "Hey, Ransome." "I thought you said the boss was coming right soon." "How about somebody else taking a turn holding this colt?" "The old man's liable to get hurt at his age." "The meanness ought to be rid out of that horse before a Lavery tries it." "Why doesn't Ransome talk him out of it?" "You don't know the old man." "He don't like for no one to ride the mean ones except himself." "He doesn't?" "Hey, get away from that horse!" "Get that colt, Sam." " Get off my ranch." " When I get ready." " Ransome, pay him off." " It'll be a pleasure." "Not till I pay you off." "Wait a minute." " Wait a minute." " Let me go!" "Hold it." " Where are you from?" " None of your business!" " Talk civil!" " Where are you from?" "Places." " Where are your folks?" " "Where you from, where are your folks?"" "You want to fight, let's fight!" "You was asked a question." " Where are your folks?" " I got none." "Nobody owns me." " How old are you?" " Crowding 30, if it's any of your business." "Why don't you pay me off and let me get out of here?" " This mark..." " It's not your brand, is it?" "Ransome." " What's the matter, you crazy?" " Craig, take a look." "That's the same birthmark." "It's Mr. Richard." "The sooner I get out of here, the better." " Listen to me." " Let go of me!" "Boy, you don't understand." "I've got to know something about you." "You might be my son." "And you might be loco." "Let go!" "All right, boys." "Let me explain." "My son was taken from this ranch when he was that high." "We've never stopped looking." "We only had one thing to go on:" "A mark." "His birthmark." "Like yours." "I don't know what this adds up to, mister... but as far as I know, I've never been into Texas before in my life." "But the birthmark." "Look, you clean up." "I'll have Ransome bring you up to the house." "I want Mrs. Lavery to see you." "Look, boy, she's inside with Ruth." "I want you to try and understand what she's been through." "I've told her this might be a mistake, but she's excited, naturally." "And you won't mind her asking you questions, will you?" " No, but I still think you're wrong, mister." " We'll see." "Thanks, Ransome." "You just have a chair." "I'll bring her in." "Richard?" "Would you mind showing that birthmark to my wife?" "Later." "Look ma'am, I've been telling your husband he's made a mistake." "Do you..." "Do you remember me at all?" "Forgive me, but it's been so very long." "No, ma'am." " Is there anything familiar about us?" " How could there be?" "Richard was so little." "Just a baby." "Do you remember anything about the house, the ranch?" "Richard was barely 5." "He couldn't remember." "I can remember before that." "When I was 3..." "You heard your baby stories from us so often you think it's your own memory, dear." "There wasn't anyone to tell stories to Richard." "But, Mother, any child can remember when he's 5." "Surely you must remember something." "The only thing I can remember are kid dreams." " But they never made much sense." " What were they?" "Please." "Nothing about here or Texas." "Just crazy things... like a rocking horse." "What about the rocking horse?" "It had three legs." "One in front was always missing." "It was your darling." "Your favorite toy." "I still have it." "This is part of the south section." " Fine stock." " Yeah." "They should weigh in pretty heavy by roundup time." "Our line runs about over to the foot of those mountains there." "I sound like one of those tourist guides." ""This is part of the south section." ""To the right we have the stock, and to the left we have the mountain."" "What I really want to say is that I'm very happy." " Are you?" " Yes." "As soon as we spoke that first night, I felt something about you." "It's kind of hard to explain... but afterwards I kept thinking about you." "Of course, I couldn't really have known... but I don't know, I just felt close to you." "Took you a long time to buy me as a Lavery." "Oh, I had to be sure, Dick." "Another shock in Mother's life might have been more than she could take." "I should have known Mother's instinct about her own son... couldn't have been wrong." "Could be she's been wanting this to happen so bad..." " that she bought me on sight." " Yeah, that could be." "But there're no "ifs" about you." "You're Richard Lavery, my brother." "And I'm your kid sister." "If we're gonna get back for supper, we'd better ride." "The next time I get sentimental, you tell me to shut up." "It's just that I need practice at having a brother." "You're all right." "Come on." " What was it like, Dick?" " What was what like?" "All those years, what you did, where you went?" "I want to hear about everything that you ever thought or did." " You wouldn't like it." "I don't myself." " Sounds exciting." "Like maybe you had to use those guns." "I have." " You don't have to wear them around here." " I wouldn't feel dressed without them." "Don't worry about what's past, Dick." "We're gonna love you so much that you'll forget anything else..." " but the ranch and your family." " Shut up!" "I'm sorry, but you asked me to say that if you ever got sentimental." " Of course." " Come on." "Mother has all my baby pictures in the other album." "That's the first time you were ever on horseback." "Your mother wouldn't let me start you any younger." "You got bucked off just after that was taken." "And I boosted you right back up again." "Here you are with old Lobo, how you'd hug him." "Mother, you skipped the one on the mountain lion skin." " I was going to spare Richard that one." " No, let's have it." "He was loping off just after killing a calf." "I winged him at 150 yards." "Here you are on your fifth birthday." "You spent all that day learning to say "Mexico" with a "th."" "Weren't you cute? "Methico."" "Mother, you really shouldn't stay up any longer." "No, I suppose not." " But what about all of you?" " I'm ready to turn in." "Good night." "I'll see you to your room, Richard." " Good night, son." " Good night." "I'll see you later, Mother." " Good night." " Good night, dear." "All right, Hank, when you're through with 'em... round up the bunch in the south section." "Well, I guess the Bar O.M. Won't be going out of business for a while." "You'll be driving $185,000 worth of prime beef to Paso this year." "Let's get back to the ranch." "A man's viewpoint sure changes." "I used to want success right enough, but nothing like the way I do now." "Great feeling to know your own flesh-and-blood son is around... to take over what you sweat to build." "Greatest feeling in the world." "Look, there's something I want to tell you." "No!" "How many times do I have to tell you?" "We don't need no more hands." "Don't I even get invited to a cup of coffee?" "Get!" "What..." "Choya!" "Where did you blow in from?" " How come you get hired here?" " Hired?" "An old partner shows up and you let them horselaugh him?" "Reckon you've changed some." "Son, any old-time friend of yours..." "Hold on there." " You kind of took Dick unexpected." " Dick?" "Dick who?" " Richard Lavery, Jr., my son." " Choya?" "Have your little joke, mister." "I ain't much on laughing on an empty stomach." "Go on, Dick, tell him." " He's right." " Why, you old..." "You mean all those years you said you had no folks... you had this place to come to?" "Dick will tell you all about it." "First, we'll have to fill up that stomach." "No, sir." "First, let me introduce myself proper." "T. Jefferson Leffingwell." "And I'm right proud to make the acquaintance of Choya's..." "I beg your pardon, sir, Richard's folks." "Dick, take Mr. Leffingwell up to the house and have Jose spread things." "I'll join you later." "Come on, Ransome." " I thought we was going to the dining room." " You were told to wait in town." "Sure, wait." "I got calluses from waiting." "I thought you'd want me handy by now." "As soon as you're in the saddle, we'll dump the ranch on the open market." "We'll be up to our ears in gold." "Why don't you stop dreaming?" "You saw Lavery, he'll outlive both of us." "Are you getting soft in the head?" "He ain't gonna outlive no.45 slug, is he?" "Get this straight:" "Nobody's gunning him." "Choya, as long as he lives... you've got nothing here but room and board." "I ain't young enough just to sit around and wait for him to have a natural..." "You don't have to wait." "We're getting out of here." "Choya, you can't." "This thing's mine." "Nearly my whole life's in it." "You ain't got no right to go and get religion on them Laverys now." "If I ain't got this deal, I ain't got nothing." "We'll get ours." "We're not pulling out of here broke." "I'm heading that cattle drive to Paso... me, Richard Lavery, Jr." "There's around $180,000 in it." " You know what that means?" " Cut our profit?" "Take nothing more than a gambling stake?" "I don't want the whole state of Texas on a dish." "Just a little while and we'll be able to cut up more than $1 million... plus the cattle money." "I can't stand their staring at me every minute." "I'm nobody's son or brother." "I can't take it." "Choya, just a little while longer." "That's the way it is." "And don't you figure any other angle." "Reckon I ain't young enough or fast enough to argue the point." "And I'm smart enough to know when I'm beat." "You can sign me on for the cattle drive." "Yeah." "I've starved and went to prison, and, yes, and killed." "All the while, I was counting on the money I was gonna make out of this." "I figured I'd go back to New Orleans in style." "$90,000." "What can a man do with that?" "You'll have to hold over in Paso longer than you think." "Your sister always takes mighty long with the shopping... and she's got a list longer than your arm." "Stuff for Mother, for me, and, I suspect, for you." "But she ain't never on time." "Keep a man waiting, a whole herd of cattle doesn't make any difference." "Ruth!" "That herd will be in Paso before you start." " You married a very bad-tempered man." " And a very impatient one." "Don't worry about Ruth on the trail." "She can take care of herself." "She's been riding herd with me since she was so high." "And if any problems come up, talk them over with Ransome." "He's about as reliable as they come." "Well, this will be the first drive I've missed in more than 20 years." "I guess that kind of tickles you, Mother." "I used to gripe that there was nobody to handle things for the family but myself." "It sure is different now." "Makes me feel mighty fine inside to be able to say that, son." "This time I wouldn't have minded if you took the drive." "Here you're hardly home and going off again." "Hurry back, won't you?" " We'd better get started." " I'll take good care of him." "Ruth, pick out one of your pretty girlfriends in Paso for Dick." "I'll bet Dick had a girl picked out long ago." " Let's go." " Goodbye, Dad." " Goodbye, Mother." " Goodbye, darling." " You didn't say, Dick." "Is there a girl?" " I didn't say." "Well, Richard, we made good time today." "Not good enough." "I got to do better tomorrow." "No sense running their weight off before they're sold." "The less they weigh, the less they pay." " That's poetry, folks." " You keep out of it." " I didn't mean anything aggravating." " I know." "What's wrong, Dick?" "You've been jumpy and irritable ever since the drive first started." "You've even been avoiding me, your own sister." "Nothing." "Nothing's wrong." "You and father are sure two of a kind." "Impatient, ready to rear and buck at the flick of a whip." " Ransome?" " He means well." "There isn't anything he wouldn't do for us." " I'm sorry." "I'll see him later." " Thank you." "Wait." "Let's talk a bit." "We might not get much chance in Paso." "There'll be dozens of family friends waiting to meet you." " Nothing doing." " But you have to." "There's Judge Carter and the Martinsons..." "Let's see." "The Medberrys and Aunt Haddie." "Oh, you'll like Judy Medberry." "She's the prettiest girl in Paso." "Blonde, blue eyes..." "Say, you're not even listening to me." "Of course, if you've already picked someone before you came home..." "There wasn't anyone." "Then maybe you and Judy will hit it off." "Goodnight, Dick." "Good idea to see Ransome." "Good politics." "You know, I've been figuring way ahead." "That $90,000 ain't going to last forever." "Someday, we'll come back." "Family'll always forgive a little thieving in an only son..." " and take you back in the fold." " We're never coming back." "A body can't be sure of that." "All depends on finances." " Too bad she's your sister." " Find yourself a rat hole." "I was only joking." "But maybe you called me right, Choya." "Maybe "rat" fits me proper, so don't push me too far." " Don't back me up against no wall." " You're the one that's pushing too hard." "You won't hit an older man." "You ain't the kind that will draw first... or shoot a man in the back." "You ain't." "That's the best we've ever done." "Bet you next year we'll drive nigh on to 10,000 head to the market." " Take the boys and head back to the hotel." " Sure." " See that Miss Ruth's made comfortable." " I'll do that." "You won't have to wait for me." "I can handle the bank business okay." "All right." "What are you doing, riding herd on me?" " I don't need anybody to hold my hand." " Well, I don't reckon you do." "All I aim to do is pick up my horse." "Just double-checking the tally, Mr. Lavery." "You Lavery?" "Yeah." "By golly, you must be young Richard." "Shake, son." "Luke Dawson's who I am." "We heard how you was back from the grave." "How are the two nicest people in the whole state of Texas?" " Your ma and pa." " Fine, thanks." "That's good." "They sure must feel like new folks with you back home." "This here's my partner, Ranger Tully." " Howdy." " Hello." "I'm with him." "You know, you sure caused us plenty of trouble when you was took." "We chased one lead all the way across to New Orleans." " New Orleans?" " Yeah, but nothing come of it." "Good to see you." "Anything you want while you're in town, anything..." " you come over to the jail, pronto." " Thanks." " You, too." " Thanks." "Comes to a total of $183,067." "Don't bother to count it." "Give me a receipt and deposit it to the Lavery account." "All right, sir." "They chased you clear to New Orleans?" "You're throwing our fortune out the window." " You took that kid, didn't you?" " But I didn't get the money." " You'll be sorry for this till your dying day." " Maybe." "All I'm sorry about is I got dirtied up with you." "Here you are, Mr. Lavery." "It's a much safer way to handle big money." "That's the way my friend and I feel." "Thanks." "You're getting good odds, Leffingwell, five to one." "Better odds than you gave the Lavery kid." "What did you do with that boy?" "You wouldn't do that." "You ain't the murdering kind." " Where is that boy?" " He died on me before I could collect." "I swear on my mother's grave, he died on me, across the border." " You're lying." " No, wait." "Please." "He was took from me." "You just let it ride?" "You didn't try to get him back or collect the reward?" "What are you giving me?" "He was took by Mateo Rubriz." " The old bandit?" " Yeah." "You picked that name because you knew Rubriz is dead." "No, he ain't." "He's got a great big territory in the mountains other side of Hermosa." "He found gold." "It's worth a man's life to go near there." "What about that Lavery boy?" "He's been told that he's Tonio Rubriz." "Old man's crazy about him." "He'd kill anybody that tells him any different." "Twenty-five years." "Best hand a man ever held for getting rich... and it all goes up in smoke." "Pick it up!" "Reckon I ain't that good a gambler." "Get out!" "Get out of Paso." "Get 1,000 miles out." "If I ever hear that you're around the Laverys..." "I'll kill you." " Who is it?" " May I see you, Ruth?" "Come in, Dick." "I'll be with you in a minute." "Why, Dick, you haven't changed your clothes yet." "Listen, Judy Medberry expects to meet her Beau Brummel." "Lucky for you, I went shopping." "I hope you'll like these shirts." "I didn't know what size you took..." " Ruth." " Yes, Dick?" " I'm not going with you tonight." " Oh, but you must." "Everybody'll be very anxious to meet you." "Here's the bank receipt." "I'm leaving, and I want to tell you something first." "I know, Dick." "It's something out of your past." "The thing that's been bothering you through the whole drive." "But there isn't anything you could tell me that would ever topple over my faith in you." "I've thought about it a lot." "I'm not a child." "Oh, Dick, I know you've had a strange and lonesome life... but that's what we're going to change." "What's a sister for if she can't help you?" "I wish I had some place to crawl and hide, but I've got to tell you." "I'm not your brother." "I'm a four-flushing thief." " No, Dick that isn't true." "It can't be." " It's not Dick, it's Choya." "This isn't a real birthmark." "It was tattooed on." "That story about the rocking horse..." "I learned that by heart from the man who stole your brother." "Oh, no!" "I was going to hit it big..." "I was going to be Richard Lavery, Jr... take it easy the rest of my life." "But nobody told me..." "I'd meet somebody like you." " Buenas." " Buenas." " Hermosa?" " Hermosa, pa' lla." " How far?" " Si, Hermosa." "Gracias." "You should have heard Dick trying to describe your measurements... to the saleslady." "Luckily I came into the shop." " Dick picked the color out himself." " When will Richard be back, dear?" "He couldn't tell exactly." "Some business of long standing, I guess." "I didn't want to pry." "I may have to take it in the waist a bit." "He'll write if he's delayed, won't he?" "Write?" "Oh, I don't guess Dick's much on writing." "I'd better get some of this trail dirt off before supper." "Excuse me." "It's sure pretty, Mother." "Put this in the safe for me, will you?" "It's the bank receipt Dick sent back." " Richard..." " Now, Mother... don't you go imagining all sorts of things." "Young fellow Dick's age must have had all sorts of loose strings to tie up... these last five or ten years." "I want to talk to Ruth." " What happened in Paso?" " I told you." "I didn't believe that." "Where is he?" "I've got to know, Ruth." "What happened to your brother?" "He's not my brother." "He came here to rob us." "That birthmark was tattooed on his shoulder." "Honey, you're talking crazy." "It's true." "He admitted it in Paso." "He said he was a fake." "A four-flushing thief." "Oh, Dad, what'll we do?" "I should have used a gun that day, outside the bunkhouse." "Ransome!" "Come in." "Killing him is hardly enough now." "But it's all I can do." "No, that won't solve anything." "It won't help Mother, will it?" "That's what we have to think about." "I'll find him." "I'll find him and drag him back." "He'll go through with this four-flushing all the way." "He'll be Richard Lavery, Jr., as long as your mother's alive." "Come!" "Get a couple of horses ready, Ransome." "We're leaving for Paso." "Yes, sir." "Take care of your mother, honey." "Halt!" "You have gone far enough, senor!" " I want to talk to Mateo Rubriz." " Through the head if you move." "Gomez, take his guns!" "Senor Tonio with his father?" "It is for you to answer, not ask questions." "Get off the horse!" "Rubriz?" "Since when do you intrude at my dinner, Gomez?" " Senor, he said he must see you." " I do not like strangers to come here, senor." "If you'd stop feeding your belly, I'd tell you why I'm here." "Next time, I take off your ear." "You're pretty good with a knife." "And a gun, too." "Everybody across the Rio Grande knows that." " That's why I hightailed it up here." " That was a big mistake." "Either you or the Texas Rangers." "You see, I ran out of places to hide across the river." "Mateo Rubriz is no innkeeper." "I didn't know you were friends with the Rangers." "Is that how you think I got the reputation people talk about?" "Friends with the Rangers?" "Before the government forced me to retire, senor, I used the Rio Grande..." " like a ferry boat." " That's why I thought you'd hide me out." " So, what do they call you?" " Choya." "Choya." "It is a name I have heard." "Not too often, not with the biggest reputation." "Small things with a gun." "Big enough that the Rangers want to do a little hanging." "Me, they wish to hang 1,000 times." "Gomez!" "I will tell you stories about the old days." "Then you will know why people talk about me... on both sides of the Rio Grande." "Sit down." "The belly is bigger than the brain." "It needs to be comforted." "You young ones have not heard enough bullets to know the sound of them." "When I rode with Juarez, I heard them by the hundreds." "Enough bullets to know their music." "Tonio!" " You work late at the mine." " A busy evening, jefecito." " This is senor Choya, my son." " Welcome." "He has come here because he does not see eye to eye with the Texas Rangers." " Jefe." " Excuse me." "You are from Texas, senor?" " You ever been there?" "Texas?" " Many, many times." "I have used the Rio like a ferry boat." "Senor, I can tell you..." " I've heard that already." " You will please occupy senor Choya." " What is it, jefecito?" " It is nothing." "I will be right back." "How would you wish to be entertained, senor?" "You have heard all my stories from my jefecito." "But you've never heard this one." "I want to show you a brand." "Maybe you know it." "That sign..." "But it is on my body, too." "Yes, but yours is real." "This is tattooed." "Sit down." "I want to tell you something about yourself." "Rubriz!" "What are you doing here?" "I told you never to draw a breath again in these mountains." "After 25 years, you think I'd go loco?" "I got good reason for coming." "I got important information." " It's about Tonio." " Tonio?" "Roberto." "I turned down a chance at $100,000 to do this for you." "What is the information?" "$50,000 is all I'm asking from you, because old friends are best." "The information!" "Gunfighter from Texas coming to tell Tonio and take him back." " Tonio back?" "Back where?" " Family in Texas." "He's their son." "Take him away!" "Wait!" "He says you're not my father!" "I will have you flayed a little at a time and let the dogs eat your hide!" "Are you?" "Are you my father?" "You've got a mother and a father waiting for you, Tonio." "Make him answer." " You know he's not your son." " Take him away!" " Tell him who he is, Rubriz!" " Take him away!" "Tonio, there has been no one in the world... more to me since the day you were abandoned in my village." " Then all these years have been a lie?" " No, Tonio." "Are you not my son?" "What is blood?" "When you were little and you cried in the night..." "I put my hands on you and the love of God flowed into your body." "You went to sleep holding my hand, and when I tried to pull away... you still gripped it while you slept." "It made me very happy when I watched you." "That's how I made you my son!" "I made you a Mexican, a part of this nation of fighters." " I made you my son, Tonio." " You should have told me, jefecito." "Mother of God, make him understand." "All I have stolen, I swear to replace." "For silver, I shall bring gold." "It was by a miracle from Heaven that I gained you as a son." "The doors of my heart were open and I held you inside ever since." " I hold you there now, Tonio." " I, too, jefecito." "Deeds are much greater than blood." "Remember when the soldiers chased me down the Valley of Pines... how you came like an angel, took me on your horse... supported me and saved me." "I think of the night at Saltillo, when they hemmed me into the patio and you came." "And in Chihuahua, when I slept and snored... like a drunken fool when they surround me, but you broke through and carried me away." " No, we fought them together." " Yes, side by side." "I will leave you now, Tonio." "I have words for El Choya." "No, jefecito, he has done nothing." "He brought with him a story." "He's told it." "Now he can go." "Things are as they were." "But he will talk." "There will be trouble." "Since when have we run away from trouble?" "My Tonio!" "We will send the Yankee back?" "You are hungry." "Better eat now." "Then we will talk some more." " You are up late, senor Tonio." " I want to see the Yankee." " But it is against orders." " Let me by." "Untie him." "The order to tie him like a pig came from senor Rubriz himself." " Untie him." "This is my order." " Senor Rubriz himself must give the order." "I regret this." "He was with my father before I was born." "You were born in Texas, Lavery." "Do not use that name to me, senor." "I am a Rubriz." "Suit yourself." "Me, I want some free night air." "Here." "I hope you will not have to use this." "Your horse is outside the door." "You will have to ride very fast through the pass to surprise the sentry." " You're not coming with me?" " No." "Mateo Rubriz spoke the truth." "Whatever came before does not matter." "We are father and son." "You're Richard Lavery, Jr." "You've got a mother and father and you can't change it." "A crazy thing to be born twice in one lifetime." "You had better ride, senor." "We're riding together." "You are a cunning man without honor." " And Tonio Rubriz is a fool." " Move through that door quietly." "Now move!" "Who goes?" "Keep walking." "Halt!" "Juan!" "I will cover them, Carlos!" "Halt!" "See, Tonio, how they protect us from ourselves?" "Oh, it is you, senor Tonio." "When you did not speak, I did not know." "El senor Tonio, Juan!" "Senor Rubriz!" "Tonio took the Yankee away." " What are you saying?" " It is true, jefe." "The Yankee has Tonio." "They went through the pass." "Everybody is to ride!" "Move!" " They got a long start." " We'll take the cuts through the mountains." "Tonio will delay him." "The Yankee doesn't know the short way." " Tonio will show him the way." " Tonio will not show him." "Well, he took him out, didn't he?" "Light signal fires on every hilltop." "Tell the valley the Yankee is coming on the Hermosa Trail." "A sackful of pesos for the patrol that takes him, dead or alive." "You can't put all the patrols on the Hermosa Trail, Rubriz." " Suppose he takes the other way?" " I said Tonio will not show him the shortcut!" "You would do better to shoot me." " Is there a nearby place we can stop?" " There is nowhere you can stop." "This'll hold for a while." "When you are taken this time, I will not interfere." " I don't intend to be taken." " No?" "Look, senor... you cannot outride those signals." "Every rifle in these hills will search you out." " Well, let's go." " No... you go while you can." "Is the money you hope to collect for me enough to pay for your life?" " Stop stalling." " You will do nothing to me." " Dead I am not worth one peso." " Do you want to be hog-tied?" "No..." "I will come." "It's a long way to the Rio Grande." "You will never make it." "Which way?" "This." " Where does that trail go to?" " It goes nowhere." "We'll take it." "They took the short way." "It's like I said, Rubriz." "Tonio wasn't pushed into this." "He done the pushing." "I will believe it when I hear it from Tonio himself." "All these years cannot be destroyed by a few words from a stranger." "Stranger?" "Why, they're partners by now." "While we're sitting here, they're making time for the Rio." "Ricardo!" "Manuel!" "Signal all the patrols to cross the canyon." "Cover the shortcut all the way to the Rio!" "Look!" "The other side of the canyon!" "The Yankee has taken the shortcut!" "I told you, you will never make it." "They know we are coming up this trail." " You'd better run for your life!" " That's what I figure on doing." "I'll leave you someplace where you're okay." "We saw them, senor." "Only two minutes ago." "Your friends are getting close." " It will do you no good to ask my help." " I don't ask for something I don't want." "I'll make it easy for them to locate you after I clear out." "Why?" "Why do I concern you?" "How about one of these cigarettes I rolled you?" " Why are you leaving?" " No sense in bringing back a dead man." "They are the best trackers in the world." "If they track too close, I'll have to kill some of them." " You can start the fireworks by yelling out." " I will not call out." "Senor Rubriz!" "They stopped here not too long ago." "They went together." "Search everywhere." "He can't be far." "A sackful of pesos for Choya." "I want Choya, dead or alive!" "They must have found the horses." "They're making camp down below." "I told you they were the best trackers in the world." "I'll be pulling out soon." "Anything you want?" "You will not get through." "Maybe." "I'll wait till they bed down." "I'm gonna leave one shell in this gun." "When I start I'll fire a couple of times." "That'll bring somebody quick." "When you hear them, you let go." "They'll find you." "Since yesterday, I have asked myself if you did this for money." "I do not think it was for money." "What made you do it?" "What made you come into our mountains?" "Maybe it's because I'm tired." "Figured my luck's running out." "I don't mind talking." "I was trying to be you." "They believed me." "I had all of the angles figured." "All except one." "You've got a sister, Lavery." "Her name is Ruth." "The way you say the name makes a picture of her jump into my head." "And her mother?" "Ruth's mother?" "She's every reason to make a man as straight as a string." "Make a man feel that there isn't any bitterness in the world." "Does my..." "Does Ruth's mother..." " have affection for you?" " For me?" "I'm all the worst things you can call a man." "But she's not the name-calling kind." "Neither's the rest of the family." "All my life I've been a snake... lived by my wits, gotten what I wanted any way I wanted it." "Just lately I've been wondering if... just for once, I couldn't do something straight... do something a little decent." "But you took nothing." "And now you will try to go back and see them?" "If I get out of this, I'm going to skip the whole state of Texas." "But you get yourself across the border and meet those people." "Meet them and you'll know what I mean." "This will be only inches away." "When they come, you use it." "Adios." "Choya..." "I will have that smoke now." "You will have to go back to the Laverys, Choya." "Not a chance." "I cannot go by myself." "You will not bring back a dead man." "I will make it." " But you can't, we haven't any horses." " We will get horses." "Help me up." " Tonio, you can't." " Please, Choya, I give you my word." "I will make it." "I wish to see for myself this wonderful family." "Tonio's done everything except draw you a picture." "Still you keep right on believing in him." "They ever get to the Laverys, you and Tonio are through." "I used to think there was nothing I wanted more in life than money." "Stacks and stacks of hard cash." "But now, most of all, I want to watch Choya die." "I want to do the killing." "Hernandez." "Gomez, what is it?" "Come over here, quickly." "Who is there?" "Halt!" "Shoot them!" "When I saw senor Tonio, I didn't know what to do." "How could I know he was helping the Yankee?" " Tonio helping the Yankee?" " Yes." "It is not easy to recognize a traitor among your own." "Do we return home?" "That is not the way Mateo Rubriz punishes traitors." "Tonio is no different than the others." "Catch the horses." "Jorge." "Get the horses." "We ride." "Are we close?" "Close enough to spit in the Rio." "So are Rubriz's men." "Spread out all over the beach." "We will bring them up." "I will tell you how." "First you will light a fire." "Then, fire three quick shots." "Mateo Rubriz will give a sackful of pesos for the Yankee." "Si, and another for Tonio." "If only fortune smiles on us." "Look!" "They have the Yankee trapped!" "Back down!" "Hurry!" "Down!" "It was a trick!" "Look behind every rock and bush!" "Find their trail!" "See if they crossed the river!" "Well, there's the ridge." "Back to the ranch by sundown." "Thought what you're gonna say to Mrs. Lavery?" "I don't know what to say to her, Ransome." "I'm afraid to tell her the truth." "Yet if I don't, every time anybody rides up to the ranch... she'll be waiting for him to come through the door." "And every time she'll have a disappointment." "I don't know what to say." "Maybe you could say he's sticking in Paso on ranch business." "We could do some more looking around Arizona." "There's a stray horse!" "Carrying a Mexican saddle." "Fresh out of the Rio." "Let's have a look." "Tonio?" "Are they still on the beach, companero?" "Everything's fine, Tonio." "You're back home." "Slowly, very slowly." "The two of you came out of Mexico together." " Now it is right that you die together." " He didn't come out with me." "I brought him out at the end of a gun." "No longer is my heart bigger than my head, Choya." "Tonio, get up, you traitor!" "Take it easy, Rubriz." "He's unconscious." " One of your men shot him." " Then he will not be awake to see death." "But you are awake!" "If you kill him, Rubriz, you'll groan the rest of your life." " You're the top of his world." " No more." "That's the truth." "Hello?" "Are you all right?" " It's me, Ruth." "Choya." " Choya?" "Choya, I'm so glad." "I've been searching the whole house for you." "May I come in?" " Not now." " Please, Choya." " Is anything wrong?" " Send her away." "Go back downstairs." "Now." "What is the taste in your mouth, Choya?" " Like salt." " And your neck is stiff?" " I can still nod to a friend." " Choya!" "Choya, please let me in there!" "Dad!" "Hurry!" "All right, get up." "Pick that chair up." "Sit in it." "Sit down!" "This is the reason he went with me." "The end of a gun." "That's the reason you're going to sit there and listen to me." "It's no use." "Nothing will help you." "I have thirty rifles outside." "Choya, what's going on in there?" "Open up." "Hold it, Lavery." " Lavery." " Yes?" "Stay where you are." "Don't let anybody outside, you understand?" "Yes." "If a.45 slug would untwist that mind of yours, I'd let you have it in a second." "But he'd never forgive me for that." " Not the way he feels about you." " Your gun will not help me believe lies." "No, I suppose I'm gonna have to kill you." "Kill you like a loco horse." "Then your men can come in here and finish off the rest." "Kill the best part of your life." "I took him from nothing, made him my son." "And he loves you for it." "Why, he kept stalling and pussyfooting me at every jump." "Even tried to make me take the long way through the hills." "The only reason he came with me yesterday was to help me... square myself with this family." "But all these years I have been his family." "He's been mine." "There was nothing else." "Now you're going to blow him out like a light?" "You never stopped to figure that his mother and his father... have a right to some of what you've had for the past years." "They've had nothing since Leffingwell stole him out of this room." "To me, he was abandoned." "I did not know he was stolen." "Well, you know it now." "Twenty-five good years and you're gonna wipe him out with your own hand." "He has destroyed those years, all the happy days." "He has forgotten." "He despises me, leaves me." "If you don't believe he has nothing but love for you... you don't believe when he's well he'll be running right over to see you... if you don't know him better than that... you or your riflemen, it doesn't matter, go ahead." "Go ahead while he's still asleep." "Shall I leave him here, let him forget Mexico?" " Forget me?" " Forget you or Mexico?" "Why, when he's well, he'll be making the Rio Grande like a ferry boat." "Running between you and the Laverys." "Could it be so?" "Life is not by the blood, but by the bread, eh, Tonio?" "There's the man who raised your boy." "Mateo Rubriz." "Choya." "He is too sick to ride along with me, senora... and in sickness, I think it's best he be with his mother." "Maybe someday I can come to see him and he to see me?" " Anytime." " Thank you, senor." "El Choya, he's more like me than myself." "He invites me to do murder, but first he removes the bullets." "Choya!" " Why did you do that?" " We can ride double." "Come on, give me a hand." "What do you think you're doing?" "Might be fun to be out where things happen." " You're not leaving the ranch." " I am if you are." " Now listen..." " Don't argue with me, Choya." "I'm pretty tough." "Hasta la vista, Choya!" "Adios, amigo!"