"Morning." "Last time a stranger come by was a long time back but he was welcome and so are you." "Thank you." "My name's Marcus Taylor." "I am Caine." "I bet you could use a drink of cold spring water." "Thank you." "I would like to buy some beans, if you have some." "I ain't quite run out of beans yet." "But I don't sell food to a hungry man." "I reckon I can give you enough to get you someplace." "As a matter of fact, it's just about feeding time now." "This is Kiona my wife." "She's Indian." "I am Chinese." "Well, what are we standing around for?" "Kiona, you got two hungry men to feed." "I gotta say, for a man that's been traveling around as much as you say you have, you sure don't pack much along with you." "There you are." "Good." "Thank you, Kiona." "We thank you, Lord, for what you've given us." "It ain't much, but it's more than plenty when we got the pleasure of company." "Amen." "I never did get out of the habit of saying prayers." "I don't know why. I never got nothing I ever prayed for." "Well, that ain't exactly right." "Ain't as hard to take things going wrong when you're not alone." "You got a family?" "My parents are dead." "Yeah." "Well, I was like that till a year ago." "Sodbuster all my life." "Missouri clean out to here." "Thank you." "I never had a farm that gave two fair crops running." "Just luck, I guess." "Why is it some fellas can just throw out a seed and it jumps back at them in bushels, and others, they need a little rain and you can be sure they'll get a flood?" "I always did like talking." "Kiona, you stop me when I go on like that." "He has only me." "It is not the same as talking to a man." "She wants the baby to be a boy." "I'm hoping for a girl." "It's got to be like one of us, and a lot better if it was...." "That don't sound right." "Hey!" "That's my horse!" "You can't take my horse." "He was gonna kill you." "I couldn't let him do that, could I?" "Could I?" "You saved my life." "I had to save yours." "Do you know him?" "Never seen him." "Just somebody coming to steal the only thing I got." "I wish he'd have took it and gone without ever seeing him or heard him." "He must be taken into town." "Someone will know him." "No, we'll bury him and move on again." "is it not your farm?" "Why must you go?" "l told you, I ain't lucky." "They'll see that bullet hole in his back, and they'll never believe why or how." "Marcus we'll not get far." "Nothing ever works out like it should." "That ain't what I meant." "That ain't what I meant." "That's our baby girl you're carrying." "Your son." "Don't ask me to tell them folks that ain't even said good morning to us that I shot a stranger in the back." "I will tell them what happened." "You wanna try?" "Perhaps you will find new friends to talk with." "I'll go find the horse and hitch up the wagon." "Well, there it is." "Nearest thing to a town we got in these parts." "I seen them come in about a month ago." "Maybe they're nice folks." "You all right?" "You don't seem to be worrying too much about what will happen." "If I worry, will the future change?" "Well, maybe it don't matter so much what's in front of you if you've got some good things behind you to remember." "What is this place?" "It is a temple." "A temple?" "But how did I get here?" "l saw you struggling in the river." "You pulled me out?" "But why?" "You were drowning." "Painlessly." "You would have died." "As I wanted to." "I never before had the courage." "Cannot courage give you joy to live?" "Tell me the joy of an empty stomach." "Soup." "No one forced it on you." "Hunger twists this belly like a bully twists an arm." "l want meat." "We do not eat meat." "No meat." "Twice in my life have I tasted meat." "Twice." "The first time, I could not believe the taste." "The second time, I hated how good it was." "You saved my life." "Do you expect thanks?" "Give me meat. I'll thank you." "I cannot." "All right." "Hold it." "Abel, come on out here." "What do you want around here, mister?" "l'm looking for the marshal or sheriff." "Sent for one." "Hasn't come." "Whoever's the law." "My name's Abel Donaldson." "l've been elected mayor here." "Howdy, I'm Marcus Taylor." "Haven't seen you before, have we?" "Well, you fellas been pretty busy and I figured you didn't have time for idle gossip." "I don't know much that ain't that." "Dead man." "Now, just a minute, everybody." "That ain't what it looks like." "It's what I've been trying to tell you." "This here stranger come around my place" "Do you know him?" "l never seen him around here before." "He tried to steal my husband's horse." "Climb down, mister." "You too, China." "Told you." "I didn't mean to kill him." "He was robbing my place." "What you got anybody'd wanna steal?" "My horse." "He can tell you." "He seen it." "lt is as he says." "Abel, he's shot in the back." "Just like Josh Davies and poor Tom Fenton." "They was out hunting game when Blake and his gang bushwhacked them." "You know Sam Blake?" "No." "They been killing and stealing throughout this territory." "Ain't a man here who hasn't lost a friend." "You gotta believe me." "He was trying to shoot me and him too." "He shot, thinking to save my life." "Thought you said he was trying to steal a horse." "He was." "That right?" "He brought the body here, hoping to discover who it was." "Abel." "Abel." "Abel, do you remember what Tom Fenton told me before he died?" "That Sam Blake was looking to send a man in to find out how many guns we had and how much cash?" "Yes, I remember, Jim." "Blake sent them in." "They killed some man to give them a story." "How many killings do we stand for?" "He don't even deny what he's done." "Bring them in." "Marcus." "Marcus." "Marcus, make them understand." "Go on home, Kiona." "Marcus." "Marcus." "You heard me, go on home!" "Marcus." "Not you." "We'd never be able to get the stink out of the place." "Only time I seen a town this empty, the smallpox hit." "Maybe you could tell me if a man could buy himself a drink in there." "How can you fire in self-defense and shoot a man in the back?" "All right!" "All right!" "May I not speak?" "We already heard you outside." "Lying for his friend." "Abel, the law calls for a hanging." "Who shot him?" "Answer me!" "My husband, Marcus Taylor." "I can't see how a man who would marry a red woman would object to being strung up alongside a yellow man." "You can't hang us!" "That fellow out there was stealing, and he tried to shoot me." "He tried to shoot him too." "Look at his gun." "You'll see it's been shot." "Abel, we've been targets for Sam Blake and never have been able to do nothing about it." "Now we got two of his men right here." "What are we waiting on?" "Hold it." "Hold it!" "Now, I'm gonna take a look at that dead man and see if his gun has been fired." "That don't excuse that hole in his back but we're gonna do things right." "Go ahead, take your time." "Look if you want." "It don't change the facts none." "This is no place for you, son." "Aaron, Jake, Jonas, come on out!" "Come on out, all of you!" "Aaron, you bring them "wanted" posters." "Aaron, bring them posters." "Look at him." "Look at him close." "Think of what he'd look like with a full beard." "If you're saying that's Sam Blake, he's 20 years too young." "His son Cob Blake." "Poster description:" ""Age, 24." "Weight, 1 80 pounds." "Height, 6-foot-2." "Blue eyes, sandy hair." That's him." "Are you certain?" "Certain as the name on this watch I took off him." "The name on it." "Cob." "Same nose as Blake." "lt's Cob Blake." "Marcus!" "You killed yourself a for-real outlaw." "You gunned down Sam Blake's son." "Well, I shot him in the back." "One of the worst outlaws in the territory." "You're a rich man, Marcus." "Untie these gentlemen." "There's over a $250 bounty on each one of Blake's men." "And you got it coming, anyone who'd take on Sam Blake's son in a gunfight...." "We were hasty in thinking you took up with Sam Blake, all of us, me included." "And me also." "Very wrong." "There's gonna be a couple weeks before we get the reward but in the meanwhile, if you need a loan...." "You don't need no money here." "Your credit's good here." "Thank you." "Marcus, I wanna drink to you." "Hey, you two, take that body out and give it a decent grave." "You were right, Kiona." "Those fellas want to be my friends." "Come on." "Not her." "She's my wife." "Her name's Kiona." "She can't come in." "How come?" "Against the rules." "You mean a woman can't go in there?" "My place. I make the rules." "Don't even break them myself." "Whiskey would not be good for your son." "Come on, Marcus." "Everybody here wants to buy you a drink." "You're a hero." "Come on, Marcus." "I will feed the horse and rest." "Do not keep them waiting." "You don't mind?" "They just wanna be friends." "Go on." "Just one drink." "Just one." "I will wait." "I will feed the horse." "You should rest in the shade." "It tastes good." "They have not been taught to know kindness." "They fear those who are not of their own kind." "Marcus does not see all that happens but he sees you." "He is a man warmer than the sun." "Where we came from, Marcus had a small farm." "He cleared every rock and tree, enough to build a mountain." "On Sunday, he would go to the town." "He was not first choice to talk with, but the men were polite." "They would speak to him of crops and rain and sun if they were not busy." "Then he found me." "I was hungry and alone and sick." "Marcus made me happy and well." "They had no cause to burn his small farm." "They did not see the beauty between you." "The earth here holds tight to itself." "It gives nothing." "Water and a man's work will change it." "Marcus gives it much work." "Yet the earth on our farm gives little in return." "It is his nature to try." "He loves you." "He loves me." "But he likes talking to men." "Hey, Sam, how about giving me some of that chicken?" "Hey, Dad, look!" "It's Canby." "Sam, I saw the smoke." "I rode like you told me." "How much cash they got?" "l saw something in town." "I saw something in a wagon." "Well, get it out, Canby." "What'd you see?" "Cob, Mr. Blake." "He's dead." "Dead?" "!" "Who did it?" "!" "Who did it?" "!" "If this don't get Blake, nothing will." "It sure is a beauty, I'll tell you." "You made some good friends today." "Well, thank you." "You're a mighty brave man." "Look at that, Marcus." "Marcus, you're a true hero." "Thank you." "Good luck to you." "Thank you very much, and thanks a lot for the drink." "I enjoyed it, all of you." "Thank you very much." "You'll get him." "You think he can do it?" "Well, at least we got somebody going after Blake." "Hopefully that'll keep him occupied until we get a marshal." "They're really nice fellas." "They were buying me drinks, shaking my hand." "Will we go home now, Marcus?" "The little fella in there gave me this gun on credit." "Best gun he's got." "Why do you need that gun?" "You take the wagon and head on back, Kiona. I'll be along pretty soon." "You will not come with me?" "Well, you ain't heard all of it." "There's $250 bounty money on that fella I shot and on Sam Blake and every one of his men." "You just looky here." "Right there." "Now that's more money than I ever had my hands on even after I give you your half." "I regret the death." "I would not profit from it." "You got to understand, Kiona." "This is my chance to be somebody." "Not just sodbusting Marcus, fighting skinny dirt to scratch up a crop that won't even pay coffee money." "Besides, I'd be helping save the lives of all these people from Sam Blake and his killers." "Now, that's a thing a man ought to do when he gets a chance!" "We could go away, anyplace you want." "We can't do that." "It is what you want?" "Kiona, I made some friends here, and they've asked me to help them." "I was sort of counting on you maybe being my partner." "I didn't ask to get mixed up in this." "It wasn't for you, I'd still be Marcus Nobody." "Say it." "You want your blanket back." "It is not mine. I do not deserve it." "You may keep the blanket." "It is little enough." "Too little." "Where will I go?" "How will I eat?" "You are welcome to stay." "No, I cannot fill my belly on your thin soup and your thinner pieties." "We can give only what we have." "I want what was in my hand before you took it from me." "You gave him an unwelcome life." "He will do again what he tried to do tomorrow, next week, next month." "If you found the flame of a candle struggling to survive what would you do?" "Free it from its own wax." "How much?" "As much as needed to save the flame." "Does a man's life deserve less?" "I already killed once to save your life." "Of course, you saved mine, so I guess that makes us quits." "is that right?" "Does it?" "Well, whatever you say it won't change me being your friend." "You can ask me for anything, anytime but I got to go after Sam Blake before he comes after me and Kiona." "Were I Blake, you would be dead." "I didn't hear a thing." "A man cannot be everything." "You are not a hunter." "Can you teach me?" "Did not what just happened teach you?" "Well, I don't need you to show me what a fool I am to be out here." "Just help me save my wife." "Go back to her." "I can't. I ain't very good at explaining this." "That Marcus that was ready to run when he shot that fella stealing his horse, that ain't me." "You are a killer now?" "l'm different." "People depend on me." "If I don't get Blake, he's gonna kill one of them, maybe even Kiona." "And I need your help." "Ain't you my friend?" "My soup-eating friend." "You are well, old man?" "Yes, yes, and have meat." "A whole pig." "Meat." "You are fortunate." "Could you not share with others who are hungry?" "Did anyone ever give me anything when l--?" "Anything that I wanted, that is." "Well, there may be more than I can eat." "l'm a fool to be so generous." "No, thank you. I did not mean for me." "I meant for the others in the village where you bought the pig." "I stole the pig." "I'm forced to be alive. I would live." "A man must have certain things if he is to be alive." "Can the monk understand that?" "A monk can understand hunger." "That is not what I mean!" "He stole my pig." "Will his death return it?" "He should not have stolen it." "Your father?" "My friend." "Well, you're Chinese, and you don't understand people in these parts." "They don't like Indians." "Of course, they don't know Kiona." "Will you go back to her if I find Sam Blake and tell him to leave you alone?" "He'd blast you before you got one word out of your mouth." "Wait here." "Well, you ain't going alone." "Wait." ""Fifty, 200 pounds 6-feet-2, gray beard."" "Sam Blake." "Golly, that's Sam Blake." "Blake, don't move!" "Don't try anything, Blake." "I'll blow you wide open." "Undo your gun belt, and drop it down." "Don't move, Blake." "Just stay right there." "Just hold it right there, Blake." "Don't move." "I killed Sam Blake!" "I killed Sam Blake!" "He tried to shoot me, but I was too good for him." "I shot Sam Blake." "l killed Sam Blake." "He is not dead." "He needs care, rest help." "He needs help." "Where?" "My place ain't far from here." "I'll go get the wagon." "Caine?" "I'm glad I didn't kill him." "Marcus, what's happened?" "Man, every time I look at you I feel like there's a bird singing in my ribs." "Marcus, you're all right." "Better than that, Kiona." "Kiona, I shot Sam Blake, the outlaw." "By myself, me!" "What?" "l was scared." "You know I ain't a lucky man, nor brave but I was thinking of you and the babe, and I just up and done it." "You are brave and good and you came back to me." "Well, it's all over, Kiona." "Sam Blake ain't never gonna hurt nobody again." "Not you, not me, and not them fellas in town." "And they gonna be our friends for sure now." "And they gonna let you in the saloon." "They gonna let us talk to all of them." "And they gonna give us $250, and you can buy anything you ever want." "Oh, I didn't hurt you?" "I got to get the wagon." "Sam Blake's hurt pretty bad. I gotta go get him." "Okay, I'm getting down." "I'll give you a hand." "Help me." "You stay here." "Keep the horse quiet." "You shouldn't have left them guns laying next to him." "We must be gentle." "Look." "Look at that." "It ain't Blake!" "I shot him, and it ain't even Blake!" "Just my luck." "The one man coming to help us, could have saved us." "The wound is clean." "With care, he will recover." "Well, when?" "How soon?" "A few days." "A week." "A week?" "We'll all be dead in a week." "Marcus, you do not know that Blake will come." "Everybody knows I shot Cob Blake." "You even told that stranger in town." "I'm sorry." "It's my fault. I'm the one that shot him. I shot the marshal too." "You did as you believed." "l never seem to do it right." "If we are careful, we can bring him to town." "I'm not leaving." "Marcus..." "...what are you doing?" "l'm gonna do one thing right." "This time, I am." "lt's not safe to stay here." "Don't ask me to go back there with my tail between my legs." "They said I was brave, a hero." "Kiona, I want them to be my friends." "Marcus will those friends help you when Sam Blake comes?" "You couldn't." "I will help you safely to town not to stay here and die foolishly." "My friend." "l am." "It was you Cob Blake was trying to kill." "If it hadn't been for you, none of this would have happened." "I cannot change what has already been." "Well, I could say that too, but I ain't a coward." "That's right, you heard me." "Coward." "Turning your back on a friend." "I don't need you." "I don't even want you." "Go save your own neck in town." "Get out of here!" "Get out!" "lf that is what you wish." "That's what I said." "He had no one to mourn him." "You and I." "No one who loves him." "You knew him." "l did not love him." "The lack is in you." "I wanted to help him." "You gave him life." "I gave him a few days." "What do they matter?" "To him or to yourself?" "Do you not see him and his life through your own eyes?" "I see his pain, even through his eyes." "And his needs, grasshopper do you also see them through his eyes?" "Marcus?" "Why do you want to die?" "l don't." "I can't explain." "For those men in town, who you wish to be your friends?" "Well, that's part of it." "They mean more to you than me..." "...or your son?" "No." "You don't understand." "I hear your words." "Make me understand." "Kiona, I'm doing the very best I know how to save you and the baby." "Maybe they won't even come." "Then why stay?" "l gotta!" "Marcus?" "Without you, I am dead." "I love you." "The dead do not touch each other." "That it?" "Marcus Taylor's." "l ain't guaranteeing he's there." "Well, we'll finish off whoever is." "If he ain't amongst them, we'll find him." "Marcus!" "A man's got to get lucky more than once in his life." "Come on." "Out of the way." "Get down." "Well, we got him trapped now." "Canby, work your way around the far side." "Get over by that tree." "Go on." "We'll cover you." "l can make my way around to the back." "All right, son." "I can't stop them, Kiona." "I'll give myself up." "Maybe they won't hurt you." "No." "You're the only good thing" "No, Marcus!" "No!" "I give up." "Don't shoot!" "I give up!" "Can you hear me?" "!" "Stop!" "Put it down, or you're dead." "Please don't make me kill you." "Now get up." "There are others." "You could have been killed but you never went away." "Why?" "To help." "After what I said to you about not needing you and about you being a coward?" "Fear brings anger to a man's tongue." "A friend speaks to the heart." "Hey, look." "Look what's coming." "Look at that." "Look at that." "Abel, Jim!" "Come on, you gotta see this." "If I didn't see it with my own eyes...." "l thought sure Blake would kill him." "Ain't possible, but he done it." "The new marshal's in the wagon there." "I'm sorry. I shot him accidental but he'll be all right." "Bring him in easy, boys." "Nell, you care for him." "We ain't unmindful of what you done, Marcus." "You got friends here." "We gotta have a celebration." "Thank you, but I don't wanna celebrate all that shooting." "You gotta celebrate, Marcus." "Look out here." "Easy now." "Take him on in to my back room there." "Why, you're a rich man." "The bounty on them four is $ 1 000." "Give it to the marshal for what I done to him." "Take that and bring it to the store." "Keep that gun on him." "l'll open a bale of rope." "That's it." "All right." "Will you stay with us longer?" "I cannot." "You've been a good friend." "I wish my daughter could know you." "Your son." "Your son."