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Something wrong, gentlemen?

Mr. Cartwright? Yes.

What's going on here?

Do as we tell you and there won't be any trouble.

Len, get his gun.

The belt too.

Let's get moving.

All right, Mr. Cartwright, you can dismount now.

Mr. Cartwright.

You don't mind if I tie your hands? I do mind, if it makes any difference.

It does make a difference, if you make the mistake of fighting me over it.

I won't fight you.

Haven't seen any of you around here before, have I?

No, not likely.

Someone hire you to do this? No, we're working for ourselves.

We plan to hold you until your family pays us to let you go.

You must be drunk, or out of your mind, or both.

I'd hate to kill a good man like you.

Tip, take Mr. Cartwright's horse.

Come on.

Come on.

Mr. Cartwright.

Everything went off all right?

Does anything look wrong? Where's Tip? I don't see him.

I sent him back with Cartwright's horse to make sure it got home.

Well, do we stand here all afternoon talking?

Careful, Mr. Cartwright, we don't want you to break your leg.

Oh, Len, climb up on the rocks and keep a sharp lookout.

I don't want any surprise company dropping in.

Sit down, Mr. Cartwright.

Sit down over there.

We'll get you organized.

Make yourself comfortable.

My wife will be down with some food shortly.

Tip, you made good time.

Yeah, I didn't want anybody setting up worrying about where I might be.

You left the horse?

Heh, tied him to Cartwright's front door.

Never mind the jokes.

All I wanna know is you're sure they'll find the horse.

Yeah, I'm sure. Besides that, I'm hungry.

See what I can do for you.

You heard him.

Your boys will find your horse with a message tied to him.

You won't be needing that.

Take good care of him.

Howdy, fellas. How'd everything go?

Fine, except for one paper Pa forgot to sign.

It wasn't important. I'll run it in tomorrow.

How'd you let him forget? You was with him.

Well, he came on ahead. Said he had some desk work to do.

You just come out of the house, you must have seen him.

Been in there reading for an hour, he ain't here.

Well, his horse is here.

Whew. That animal's been running, running hard.

Pa wouldn't leave him lathered up like that.

What's that?

It says, "Come to Eagle Notch by 12 noon for further orders.

Do not go to the sheriff or your father will be killed.

Come unarmed."

Kidnapped.

Which one of us is going to Eagle Notch?

"We want $100,000 for your father.

Get it together and wait for the next edition of the Territorial Enterprise

for further orders."

Well, how'd it go? No problems.

Where's the boss? He's getting some sleep. Why?

Canwrights left a note. Chad will wanna see it.

Wait a minute. Let me have it.

I'll handle this.

Don't you think we ought to check it outwith the boss first?

Len? Yeah, Chad.

Anything happen? Yeah, Canwrights left a note.

Well, what are you waiting for? Let's have it.

I gave it to Tip. He said he'd handle it.

I guess he figured you needed your rest.

Where is he? Down in the mine.

Must be taking it up with Cartwright.

You have about one second to change your mind, mister.

Now, I say, you're gonna write what I tell you...

What--? What are you--? Cartwright had it coming, Chad.

He did? Who decided that? Tip, and I don't blame him.

This note... Let me have it, Willa.

Would've helped a lot if you would've killed him, now wouldn't it?

I only asked him to write a note to his sons

so they'd have proof he's still alive.

He was just trying to scare him.

Why didn't you wake me up when Len came back?

I'm still running this outfit.

Any of you forget it, like Tip just did, and I'll start proving it.

Willa, I'll talk to you about this later.

What's, uh...?

What's going on between her and Chad?

Chad's slowed down a little bit lately.

He used to be different, I hear.

Shot and killed himself four men before he was my age.

How many men you killed, Billy?

Only two.

Maybe you'll try to work that ringbolt loose from the timber.

Take your chances on running.

That'd liven up things around here, and I'd have me three men.

Well, sure sorry to disappoint you, Billy.

Number three's bound to come along. Ain't you, be somebody else.

Maybe even Chad.

That'd be a dagged number three, wouldn't it?

Willa, come out here. I'm busy.

I said come out here.

I'm cleaning up the supper mess. That'll keep.

Want to have that talk I've been promising you.

Where you sending Tip? Just as far as I can trust him.

Is that what you wanna talk about? Don't you think it's about time?

Do you think I'm blind, Willa?

You side with him against me just once more like you did this afternoon,

and I'll get rid of the whole gang.

What would you do without them?

They're young, they're fast with a gun, they're not afraid.

They're not afraid because they're stupid and we've been lucky.

I always worked alone before and I can do it again.

Yeah, and we'd starve,

like we did the year before we joined up with them.

There are other guns besides theirs.

It's my brains that make this outfit work.

They get out of line, they go back to rolling drunks for a living.

You get out of line, you can go back to the saloon where I found you.

What got into Willa? Married life.

If it needs a longer explanation, you'd never understand.

Len, go on and have your supper.

I want you to ride into Virginia City tonight

with something I want you to place in the newspaper.

It's on page three. Sounds like a religious message.

"Remember that even the mightiest ponderosa can be struck down

by a belt of his lightning and can be reduced to ashes and hellfire.

Ye who would be saved present thyself at the bridge

to eternal life before the sun sets again.

There ye shall see the true father.

Remember our commandments."

Ponderosa, that's the key word. Yeah, you're right.

"The mightiest ponderosa can be struck down

by a belt of his lightning and can be reduced to ashes and hellfire."

Hey, Hellfire's that old abandoned mining shaft.

There is a bridge there, with that old dry creek bed. I've been there.

"Ye who would be saved present thyself at the bridge

to eternal life before the sun sets again.

There ye shall see the true father."

Yeah, our pa's gonna be at that bridge at sundown.

Yeah. Remember what the first note said,

you have to be alone and unarmed.

I think I ought to be the one to go this time.

You're the youngest. They might let their guard down more with you.

Careful. If I leave now I can be to that bridge by sundown.

Come on. Come on.

Little Joe.

Don't come any closer, son.

They got men all around covering you with rifles.

You all right, Pa? I'm fine, just fine.

About the money, Joe...

Their note said they wanted 100,000.

Have it here by tomorrow noon.

Hide it under the north end of the bridge.

That's all I can say to you, son. Goodbye now.

Hold it. You can dismount now.

I knew I was right about you.

Another man would have done something foolish back there.

Oh, Chad, you figure you're gonna be right all the way, don't you?

Why not?

Well, I have a lot of respect for your intelligence, Chad.

Thank you.

But you're gonna have to be the luckiest man in the world

once you get that money.

Because if you aren't, you're gonna be dead.

What makes you think so?

Been, uh,

watching your boys.

You know, it seems to me that they think you've lost your touch, gone soft.

You heard the boys talk against me. No, I didn't.

Sometimes the way a man looks talks a heap louder than words.

You're not telling me anything I don't know, Mr. Cartwright.

I'm not very worried about it. Good, glad you're not.

You know how boys are. You've got some of your own.

They get big ideas, and you gotta knock them back into line, right?

There's a big difference between your boys and my boys.

See, I never have to worry

if one of my boys is gonna shoot me in the back.

Young Cartwright's on his way back to town.

Tomorrow he makes us rich.

You think that money's gonna make you rich? Heh.

With five of you clawing at it and fighting over it? Heh.

As a matter of fact, we don't need you anymore.

Put that away!

Never throw away your bait until you got your hands on the game.

Go on back to camp.

Hey, Willa. Come here a minute.

Come here.

What do you want?

What you got in the pot?

Cartwright's dinner.

Let me see it.

That's good enough for him. Come on, let me see it.

It's better if I take this than Cartwright.

Besides, I like you better without a gun.

Go ahead, give him his dinner.

Stew again?

You know, I'm gonna miss your cooking.

Give me my gun.

You're not sore at me now for taking your gun, are you, Willa?

Don't get smart with me, Tip. Well, that was smart back there.

I'm getting kind of tired of men pointing out how smart they are.

Oh, really new?

Oh, you're crazy.

Chad sees us, he'd kill you.

I doubt that.

Chad's getting slow and old.

Now, you remember that the next time you look at that...

That has-been husband of yours.

That Mrs. Cord, she, uh...

She's really the one person that listens to you.

Yeah, well, I know how to handle women.

What about them men?

What's that mean?

I think maybe...

Maybe you're downgrading Chad too fast.

I mean, he isn't blind.

Can't help but see that his wife

is son of treating you like something special.

Well, that's his problem.

If you're right about Chad,

if he has slowed down, then he realizes it himself.

If he's worried about you,

you look out for a bullet in your back, son.

You know who should be sweating, Mr. Cartwright?

You.

I haven't stopped sweating.

Yeah, well, for a man who's about to die,

you sure don't seem to be too worried about it.

Well, maybe that's because

no man ever really believes

that another man would deliberately kill him.

Like I said,

keeping you alive any longer is a waste of everybody's time.

Tip?

Don't worry.

Your friend here has every hair in place.

Good. I'll relieve you while you get some sleep.

I want you to ride into Virginia City tomorrow early,

keep an eye on the Cartwright boys, see if they get the money.

Thanks. For what?

My life.

Might be that your thanks are a little premature.

This stew tastes better every time you warm it up.

Go ahead, complain about my cooking.

Mrs. Cord.

I guess your share of the $100,000 is gonna make

quite a change in your life, isn't it?

I mean, you're gonna be able to live like a lady.

Heh. Might even be able to hire yourself a cook.

I love to cook, Mr. Cartwright.

I'm not complaining about the way I live.

Oh, but you would change things if you could, wouldn't you?

No, I'm not sure I would.

Well, change is a fact of life, Mrs. Cord.

I don't think you'd expect Chad to run around

like a gun-happy kid right through middle age.

Seems to me he's about ready to settle down.

Well, if he is, he'll let me know.

Oh.

What about you, Len?

What are you gonna do with your share of the ransom money?

I don't know.

I reckon I'll have myself a time.

Wine, women and song, huh?

Can't knock it. No, can't knock it.

Just as you're getting used to being a free and easy spender,

you'll wake up in some sheriff's jail

and he'll be asking you all kinds of questions like, uh,

"Where'd you get all the money?"

Hope you got some good answers.

Or are you gonna spill everything you know?

I know enough to keep my mouth shut.

Does Chad know that?

You know how Chad worries.

We're ready to go.

We're gonna have a long wait,

so you better make yourself comfortable over there.

Go on into Virginia City.

No matter what the Cartwright boys are doing,

if you see anything shaping up like a posse, I want you out here fast.

Well, Jim, what are you boys doing out here?

Sheriff sent us.

I thought we had an understanding with Sheriff Coffee last night.

All I know, Adam, is the sheriff's word.

He's afraid you boys are taking on too much by going it alone.

You tell Roy it's our pa's life.

My orders are to give you boys one hour, then follow you in.

All right. But do us this favor, Jim.

Stay out of sight for that hour, will you?

All right.

One hour. That ain't much time. That's all we've got. Let's go.

We got the money.

Now take Cartwright's horse and get moving.

What about him? You want me to take care of him?

I'll handle it, I told you three times. Now get moving.

They expect me to kill you. You know that, don't you?

Yeah. Yeah, Tip made that pretty clear.

I don't think you will, Chad.

Now, don't follow us.

Next time I might prove you wrong.

It was right here. The pouches, they're gone.

Hey, Pa!

Hey, Pa! Pa!

By golly.

Hey, you all right? Yeah.

Hey, Pa.

I'm fine.

They didn't hurt you none? No, no, I'm fine.

But we better get up to those fellows or we won't get our $100,000 back.

Well, how many of them were there?

Four men and a woman.

I figure they went back to the abandoned mine

where they were holding me. We're shed a mount.

You take mine. I'll wait here for the deputy and his men.

All right. Gonna need a gun too, Pa.

Watch yourself.

We got it, $100,000. Heh-heh.

Did you kill Cartwright?

You heard the shot, didn't you?

Yeah, I heard it. That don't prove anything.

Tip, you and I have had it.

When we divide the money, you and your friends here are on your own.

"When we divide the money"?

What's that supposed to mean?

What I'm saying is that we hide the money and bury it.

Six months from now we meet here and divide it.

Any one of us can be stopped on our way out of here.

Last thing we want in our possession if that happens is a lot of money.

You make any deals you want to with the rest of them.

I'm not leaving here without my share of that money.

I feel the same way.

Chad, we're wasting time.

We ought to be in there counting that money.

If any of them are stopped, how do they explain $20,000?

How do we explain ours? We don't.

We bury it at the first good place we can find.

Come on. Chad, um...

I knew you'd pull this thing off all right, but, uh,

even if you hadn't, um,

I want you to know I'm sorry for some of the things that happened.

And I, uh...

You're still the only man I ever cared for.

I'm glad you finally made up your mind.

We got lots of time left, honey.

Don't worry.

Chad, how bad is it?

Honey, I'm glad we talked things over before this happened.

Make them think they killed me.

Chad!

Tip, you finally did it.

You shot him in the back!

Well, Chad always said, "Don't take chances.

Just take what you want."

You're not taking me.

Why not?

Old soft and slow is dead.

I had nothing to do with shooting you. It was Tip's idea.

Somebody's coming, at least three of them.

What happened? Never mind that.

Chad.

Chad.

You and the boys ride out.

Now go on. Go on and take the money.

Just leave me a rifle and I'll buy you all the time I can.

No, Chad, I can't. I'm gonna stay here with you.

Willa, you heard me.

If you have to, threw her on that horse.

Stay put.

Don't fire.

I warned... I warned you not to follow.

You knew I would, Chad.

Throw out your gun.

No.

Willa and the boys need time.

There's possemen all around.

Would you rather have Willa alive or dead?

Chad!

Mr. Cartwright...

...tell Willa...

...I'm sorry.

I'm sorry it couldn't have been different.

Hyah!

Hold your fire. Hey, hold it.

They're wounded, both of them.

Move out.

It's all right, Jim. Little Joe, we got them.

Chad?

I'm sorry.

He asked me to tell you that he loved you till the very end.

I'm not worth it.

No.

He thought you were.

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