"[gun cocks]" "[Paladin] Ginger wasn't on her way to church when you met her, Buddy." "She was taking a shortcut to the saloon." "She wants your money, and she's ready to kill for it." "[Man] Help, mister, help!" "Please help me." "What's the trouble?" "Give me a hand, would you, mister?" "This what all the shouting was about?" "Try and heft that and you'll see what the shouting was about." "Excuse me." "I been out of sight and smell of folks so long, I kinda forgot my manners." "Name's Buddy Webster." "Paladin." "Mighty glad to meet you, Mr. Paladin." "I been alone most part of five years, ain't heard nothing but the sound of my own voice." "Gotta get this on them horses out front" "[grunting]" "All right, what's in it?" "Gold dust." "That's right." "Ain't that about the prettiest sight you ever seen?" "Came out here to make my strike and by golly, if I didn't go and do it." "Aim to lug this into Jackson City so I can turn it into money." "Boy, I sure am doing all the talking, ain't I, though?" "Yes, sir, you are." "Boy, oh boy." "Wait'll I get to town with all that money in my pocket." "You keep talking about money, and you might not get to town at all." "I never thought about that." "Maybe you'd be good enough to give me a hand, would you?" "Every instinct I have is telling me to go on to San Francisco alone." "I'd sure hate to lose what I got now after all I went through to get it." "Well..." "All right, Buddy." "Let's divide the gold up." "Put some of it in each of those sacks." "We'll load it on the horses, and then I suggest we go into Sacramento instead of Jackson City." "It's closer." "It's gotta be Jackson City." "In Sacramento, you can convert the dust into money, put it safely in the bank, then go anywhere you want." "It's gotta be my way, Mr. Paladin." "I'll tell you why if you'd like." "I have a feeling I'll be happier not knowing." "Here." "Get yourself a room in that hotel." "I'll find the assay office and convert this dust into money," " with a minimum of fanfare." " l'll just mosey around." "You wait in the hotel room." "Okay, you sure are taking the fun out of it." "[men clamoring]" "[Buddy] Just as long as I get the best, that's all." "As long as it's the best." "I don't care." "No, no, no." "Hey, listen, listen." "I'll leave it up to you guys." "I'll leave it up to you, only talk one at a time." "I only got two ears." "Listen, hey, listen." "You gotta talk one at a time." " Please, please!" " l've only got two ears." "I only got two ears!" "Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait." "There's the man with my money." "Pay these gents for me, will you, Mr. Paladin?" "Yes, do so, would you, please?" "Well, I'm delighted we had that little talk about discretion, Buddy." "All right, gentlemen." "Who's first?" " ls this your saddle?" " Yes, sir." "How much?" "He's offered me $300 for it." "Thank you, sir." "$5,000, if you please, sir." "A ring?" "Which ring did he select?" "That's the one the boy picked." "The one he wanted." "He wanted the biggest and the best." "Of course I have another one here, little smaller, but a better cut." "No, siree." "I want the big one." "All right, Buddy." "There you go." "Look at that." "Pretty?" "That one's real." "Scratch it." "Scratch it." "Go on, scratch it on the window." "Two rings?" "What do I need two rings for?" "Buddy, I don't even know what you need one ring for, but that gentleman at the door, that smiling gentleman he made you a present of one of those rings." "Look at that." "[sighs] Well, Buddy, here's your money." "Got a saddle, two rings and heaven help you, you're on your own." "Mr. Paladin, I wonder if you'd do me one last favor?" "Name it." "This ring, it's for a girl." "That's why I had to come here instead of Sacramento." "I see." "I thought you told me you were in that mine for five years." "That's right, five years." "Five years since I seen her." "I met her one time." "Just one night." "Just one time and we both knew it was the real thing." "Right then and there, I knew I'd come back and marry her." "You've written, kept in touch?" "No, I'm not much at writing." "But when I left, I told her I'd gone to make my fortune and I'd be back for her." "What's the matter now?" "You don't look right." "Well, I guess it's just the look of a cynic when he's confronted with too much youth and hope and faith and what do you want me to do, Buddy?" "Find her?" "Would you, Mr. Paladin?" "First time I see her, I don't want to be in front of a lot of folks." "I want to be alone with her." "You understand me?" "You make me feel very ancient." "When you find her, just you ask her if she'll meet me where we met before." "She'll know what I'm talking about." "Her name's Ginger." "Ginger Adams." "Well, Buddy, I think you might brace yourself for the possibility that she hasn't waited." "Five years is a long time." "Mr. Paladin, you don't know what this means to us." "She told me she'd wait, and she will." "[laughing]" "Innkeeper, I'll have a whiskey on him." "It's fair enough, but that wasn't no bad saddle I sold him." "You'd have sold it cheaper." "Well, maybe, but enjoy your drink." "Thank you." "I'd like a favor if I haven't run my credit out." "Well, that depends." "I'm looking for a girl named Ginger Adams." "She was here in Jackson City five years ago." "And this drink's on me." "What's going on, Mr. Paladin?" "I waited and waited for you." "Sit down, Buddy." "I thought you was lost or something." "Then I saw your horse outside." "Where is she?" "Can you manage to be a little less cavalier with your money?" "She's in here, Buddy." "Mm-hmm." "Buddy." "Ginger." "Ginger." "It's really you." "Oh, Ginger." "I dreamed of you night and day, Ginger." "I lived it over and over and over again." "Did you, honey?" "Ginger, didn't you?" "Sure, sure, baby." "Night and day over and over." "My Pa had just passed on and I'd gone to church to pray, you know?" "When I came out, I was walking down the dirt road in back of the church down where my horse was tied." "That's where l met her." "On her way to church." "Remember?" "[Ginger] How could I forget?" "Let's have some drinks, honey." "I don't need no drink, Ginger." "All I want to do is just look at you." "Just hold you." "Ginger, I did it." "I made my fortune." "Just like I said I would." "Look, hundreds of thousand of dollars, Ginger." "And I got something for you." "You say the little one's the best?" "Give her the big one." "That's what I thought." "Ginger, it's a wedding ring." "We'll be married, but I want you to wear it now, just like we were already married." "That ain't real, is it?" "If it cuts glass, it's real." "Drinks are on me, young fella." "My name is Joe Becker." "Thanks." "We're not drinking." "Well, I can't tell you how happy I am that we're gonna be married at last." "What's my name, honey?" "My married name." "Go on, say it, so I can hear how wonderful it sounds." "Mrs. Wilbur Webster." "You call him Wilbur, do you, Miss Adams?" "[Buddy] Gosh no." "Nobody calls me Wilbur." "Go on, honey." "Tell him what I call you." "Calls me Buddy of course." "Among other things." "Let's get out of here." "I wanna be alone with you." "I gotta be alone with you." "Well, I don't want people staring at us." "I want it to be just us." "You go on." "Tell me where you're gonna be and I'll come to you." " No" " Oh, please, honey." "That's the way I saw it in my dreams." "Are you staying at the hotel?" "Yeah, but hurry." "Will you hurry, please hurry?" " Okay." " Wait a minute." "What happened to our romantic?" "I thought this reunion was supposed to take place on the hallowed grounds of your first meeting." "That's right, Ginger." "That's the way it oughta be." "Buddy, Buddy, she knows where you first met." "You don't have to remind a woman of the place where she fell in love." "You do remember, don't you, Miss Adams?" "Of course she remembers." "Sure." "Sure I remember it." "It was" "Virginia... you couldn't have forgotten." "Virginia." "Yeah." "I remember you calling me Virginia." "And I remember telling you how it was my mother's name, and how my pa could never bring himself 'round to calling me that because he hated her so for leaving him." "Buddy Webster." "There was a new moon." "Yeah." "Yeah, there was a moon shining on the water and..." "And there were willow trees." "Look, you go on ahead." "I want to change. I'll meet you at the willow trees." "Say, you forgot your saddlebag." "If there's anything of value in it, you don't wanna leave it here." "I'll take care of these till he's ready to leave town." "All right." "Mr. Paladin, I just came to get my things and to thank you for all the help you've been to me." "Where are you meeting her, Buddy?" "How'd you know that?" "She told me not to tell nobody and here you went and guessed it." "Let me tell you the rest of it since you know that much." "We're gonna be married." "Buddy." "Ginger was not on her way to church when you first met her." "She was taking a short cut down the back road to the saloon." "Aw, cut it out." "Buddy, she works in that saloon." "She's what is politely known as a saloon girl." "You're trying to rib me, but even as a joke, I wish you wouldn't use her name like that." "She wants your money." "And she is amoral enough to kill you for it." "If I didn't owe you so many favors, I'd be tempted to make you eat them words." "But as it is, I just hope I don't see you no more." "Well, there's a pretty good chance that you won't." "He's coming." "Ginger?" "is that you, Ginger?" "Yeah, honey. I'm here." "My lamp just went out." "That's all." "[gun cocks] I didn't know you was gonna kill him." "Do you know any other way to shut him up?" "He's just a kid. I thought we was just gonna take the money." "That's the only way I know of keeping it, baby." "You stand there and you listen." "Well, sweet princess, hurry." "Your knight impatient waits without." "Here it is." "Five years and a half million dollars." "Now tell me what good it is to me, will you?" "That was for you, saloon girl." "I was gonna buy you the world." "A better one than this, I hope." "I could have given you a new life." "Thanks, Buddy, but you'd had to start me over from a newborn baby to do that." "I gotta go to work." "Not here you won't." "What do you want for this dump, bartender?" "What do you want?" "Speak up, man." "Don't stand there." "Money talks." "Money's God!" "What's your price?" "How much you want?" "That's the answer, ain't it, Paladin?" "Money!" "Money's what makes the world spin." "Money." "And I'm rich!" "Rich, you hear me?" "Now get outta my saloon, everybody." "Get out!" "Go on, don't just stand there." "Get out. i bought it!" "Didn't you see me?" "Go on, get out!" "Everybody." "[crying]" "Go on, get out." "Don't just stand around." "Go on!" "Not you, saloon girl." "You stay here." "You ain't got money enough to buy me, you whining rabbit!" "How's that, Virginia?" "How's that for a new life?" " All over." " No, it ain't." " 'Cause I'm gonna ruin her." " Are you?" "Why?" "Because you're young and inexperienced?" "'Cause you imagined a girl to be something she isn't?" "She was a saloon girl when you met her, Buddy." "And she's still a saloon girl." "She hasn't changed a bit." "You want her to pay for your lack of reality?" "She didn't ask you to pin this dream on her." " She didn't even remember you." " But I loved her." "You loved a picture in your mind." "Look at her." "Go on, look at her." "Now what kind of a life do you suppose she's had?" "Do you think a woman chooses this line of work if she doesn't have to?" "I've got an idea this world's hurt her just about enough." "What do you want?" "You want to deliver the coup de grace?" "The final act of brutality?" "is that what you're looking for?" "I'm sorry, Virginia, about everything." "Yeah, I guess I am too." "But I'm willing to try and forget it and still make an honest woman out of you." "Well, I was thinking a little bit less romantically." "What was you thinking, Mr. Paladin?" "Well, I don't have to be married to be honest." "What, Virginia?" "Well, it's not in much shape now, but..." "Well, then it's yours!" "It's yours!" "Romeo." "[laughing]" "♪ "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 ♪" "♪ ls the man called Paladin ♪" "♪ Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?" "♪" "♪ Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home ♪" "Mutiny's a big word, Hodges, but panic I understand." "But mutiny?" "What gave Colonel Burgess life-and-death autonomy over these people?" "It's my brother Courtney, Mr. Paladin." "He's vanished." "I want you to find him." "I don't care what it costs." "Find him." " Drink?" " No, thank you." "Thank you, no, Hey Boy." "You suspect violence?" "Hmm." "With brother Courtney the victim?" "It's hardly likely." "How can you say that?" "Because I've encountered hundreds like him." "This nation has produced a bumper crop." "The bad check fraternity, brotherhood of the l.O.U." " That's not being fair!" " l'm being honest!" "That's what Mr. Paladin needs, honesty at this end... if not at the other." "The quick smile, the empty promise, the moist handshake, that's what you look for." "And when you feel the sudden thrust of a knife between your shoulders, that's when you know you've found Courtney Burgess." "My husband's merchant mind fails to acknowledge that some men are born special, destined for more than keeping ledgers." "It's what she wants, Mr. Paladin." "Give her what she wants." "Courtney wrote last from Sacramento to tell me he was heading north in search of the future." "This time he said he was determined to make good for himself." "Well, I don't see that you really need me at all, surely the Sacramento police." "I don't think you understand, Mr. Paladin." "Courtney disappeared seven years ago." "Hot enough for you?" "[chuckles] lt'll do." "Emmett Wilhoit, Grand Rapids." "Paladin, San Francisco." "Who shot you?" "Indians, up trail." "In case your going what way." "It'll be all right." "A little rest is all I need." " Sure." " You best turn on back." "They even burned old Burgess' fort up ahead, so they say." " Burgess?" " Know him?" "I've been looking for him for two months." "Well, he ain't hiding, not Colonel Burgess." "Colonel?" "Burgess never spent a day in the army in his life." "No, not our army, his own army." "His own fort." "This country's his... unless the Indians take it back all from Colonel Burgess." "They shoot good, too." "You look out now." "Yeah." "I'll look out now." "[Indians yelling]" "[gunshots]" "Anybody here?" "Hello?" "[Indians yelling]" "[Indians yelling]" "Uhh!" "You must be fond of that gun." "I've grown attached to it." " Are you going to kill me?" " Should I?" "If you're taking a ballot, I vote no." "It's the Colonel you've come for, I suppose?" "Now how would you know that?" "Well, mister, everybody comes looking for the Colonel." "It's a regional sport, like lacrosse." "He'd tell you so himself, if he weren't presently indisposed." "That's Courtney Burgess?" "What's left of him." "Me, I'm the ever-faithful Sam Hodges, the Colonel's dog-robber." "Can I get up now?" "This man isn't drunk, he's ill." " Typhoid." " Typhoid?" "That would account for the empty water barrels." "But what about those three in the orderly room?" "Now typhoid didn't take them out." "Would you believe it?" "Out of a company of 12, all but those three defected." "You know, once nature turns on man, it' ain't but a hop, skip, and a jump until man turns on himself." "Why were they shot, and where are the others?" "Well, it's a long story." "Have you got a minute?" "[coughs] [groans, coughs]" "Well, I do, but I'm not so sure about your Colonel." "He's not going anyplace." "Chief Tamasun and his war party arrived ten days ago." "They didn't even bother to attack." "They knew they didn't have to." "Thirst was on their side, thirst and fever." "What stirred them up?" "Well, a slight misunderstanding between Tamasun and the Colonel." "You know, when it comes to progress, you can depend on the Chief to be on the conservative side every time." "Well, the Colonel had only 12 men to keep order." "There was near to 80 settles." "They were rubbing each other raw." "Food was running low, then the water turned." "Six cases of typhoid in one day." "Four of them buried out behind the stables." "Yes, sir." "That's what started the mutiny." "You know, it was just as if a mad dog had been set loose in the fort." "The Colonel tried to reason with them." "They wouldn't listen." "They were going." "There wasn't nobody going to stop them." "They'd rather take their chances with the Nez Perce Indians than stick and risk the fever." "Mutiny, Hodges?" "Mutiny's a pretty strong word." "Panic I can understand." "But mutiny?" "Against what?" "What gave the Colonel and his private militia life-or-death autonomy over those settlers?" "When Moses led his people out of Egypt, did anybody challenge his qualifications?" "Well, that's a pretty ambitious analogy." "Mister, when the Colonel came here, this was wilderness." "Everything you see here he made happen." "Because of a dream." "When a man sets up housekeeping in another man's dream, the Colonel figured the landlord had the right to set up a few rules." "That's fair enough, but what rules?" "Colonel Burgess put a roof over their head, clothes on their back, vittles in their belly." "And if he taxed them, if he demanded strict obedience and a share of their crops, it was his rightful due." "And you stuck with him." "Why?" "Typhoid doesn't worry you?" "Of course it worries me." "But abandoning the Colonel to die alone, that worries me more." "You couldn't take him with you?" "Oh, the Indians." "They let the others through." "All they want is the Colonel." "[coughs] [groaning]" "Well, this man's sick." "He needs a doctor." "He needs medicine." "And folks in hell are needing ice water." "Maybe there's something in the stores, I don't know." "We can see." "Don't let them kill me!" "Now, nobody's going to kill you, I promise." "Please, I don't want to stay." "Ask him to take me with him." "When you're better." "You never did say who it was who sent you." "Was it Floyd Miniver, Denver Mine and Ore?" "Nope." " Hope you brought a horse." " Only as far as the woods." "I don't hear anybody laying railroad track." "How are you planning to bust out of here?" "That's a good question." "How are you?" "As long as Tamasun doesn't attack, there's hope." "I'm still alive." "Well, he knows this fort is unprotected." "What's holding him back?" "A healthy fear of typhoid." "That's my little ace." "I ain't played the big ace yet." "No horses, no water, 200 miles from nowhere, besieged by hostile Indians and fever." "What are you saving it for?" "You play your hand, I'll play mine." "Was it the Merchant Trust in Abilene?" "Nope." " Luke Frost sent you." " Nope." "Then it was the Colbert brothers." "The way you keep rattling off names, one might get the impression that your Colonel had left a fairly spotty back trail." "A man in a hurry's bound to pick up a few enemies." "You know, you don't just plant a seed and up pops a fort." "It takes planning, sweat." "Indian sweat?" "Like the Colonel always says, it wasn't kindness that built the pyramids." "So a few savages die." "What of it?" "The end result, that's what counts." "Apparently, Chief Tamasun doesn't share your Colonel's opinion." "Here's some choral hydrate." "That ought to ease his pain a little bit." "What did they tell you about him?" " They?" " Whoever sent you." "They told me never to turn my back on him." "On anyone, friend." "Now what is this going to buy you?" "One less complication." "Oh, no, you're gonna need me before long, friend." "Against a hundred Nez Perce?" "Uh-uh." "All I need is the Colonel." "He's my property." "[gunshots]" "Oh, no!" "If he's killed, we're finished!" "[gunshots]" "[groaning] I knew it." "Here he comes, the head man himself:" "Tamasun." "Stay away!" "This is my ace, and here's where l play it!" "Palau!" "Tamasun will talk." "It took you long enough!" "All right, I'm listening!" "But talk fast!" "It's hot out here!" "Speak true, Ametsun." "Plenty hot here." "Tamasun make trade." "Give us Oak Leaf chief, we go." "No more blood." "[Ametsun] That's no bargain." "Like maybe Tamasun burn fort, huh?" "You won't do that." "You want the Oak Leaf chief alive." "The dirty heathens, they want to torture him!" "Maybe Tamasun come get him." "into the camp of the big fever?" "Not likely." "Face it, Chief, your braves are bored and restless." "For ten days they've been cooking in this hot sun." "They want to get back to their squaws." "Two ponies, a fresh supply of water, guaranteed safe passage, those are my terms." "For Oak Leaf chief?" "Signed, sealed and delivered." "You wait." "I'm not going anywhere." "I told you I had the big ace!" "You can't turn this man over to them to be tortured, no matter what he's done." "Look at him." "There's not much left of him." "A few minutes off his life, that's all I want to borrow." "The Colonel's jacket's hanging in his office." "Get it." "Why stand on ceremony?" "Just throw him out like he is." "There's a lot you don't understand about Nez Perce logic." "To them, the uniform is the authority." "The same as a tribal chiefs known by his bonnet." "It's the uniform they want to punish." "If I hung those oak leaves on your shoulder, you'd be the Colonel to them." "Now, you get that jacket before I take it into my head to do just that." "[groaning]" "You ain't going nowhere." "Over here." "All right, fun's over!" "Give me the jacket!" "No sale." "Over your dead body then." "[cocks gun]" "Awful place to shoot a man." "I've been hoping all day you wouldn't force me do that, Mr. Burgess." "You knew." "Was it Sy Ingersoll?" "Did he send you?" "You can't let a fellow check out with a puzzlement on his mind." "It was your sister." "You're supposed to bring me back." "No, she just wondered what was happening." "She was concerned." "I bet I know who it was who told you never to turn your back on me." "That stiff-necked brother-in-law of mine." "He always said I'd come to a bad end." "This fort, this business, it wasn't so bad." "Mr. Burgess, you and I are both near dead." "I got use for you yet." "Give me the jacket." "I got no time to argue!" "Put it on." "Put it on." "When you get back, and you better get back, mister, this is the part I want you to tell them." "Tell my brother-in-law the kind of end I came to." "Do you understand?" "I understand." "[horses approaching]" "He's dead!" "[speaking native language]" "[speaking native language]" "♪ "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 ♪" "♪ ls the man called Paladin ♪" "♪ Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?" "♪" "♪ Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home ♪"