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Here, chick, chick, chick.

Here, chick, chick, chick.

Heh-heh. Chick, chick, chick. Here, chick--

Hey! Whoa!

Adam!

Hey!

Hey, come on. Get out of here.

Hey, come on.

Get out of here.

Come on. Hey! Come on. Get out of here.

Whoa! Whoa, there! Whoa!

Leave off that, consarn it. You're scaring my critters.

Whoa, there. Come on. Whoa, there.

What's that?

I said, stop running around like them there chickens.

You're scaring my mares.

Oh, well, we and our chickens apologize.

Just who are you? Lafe Jessup.

Well, Mr. Jessup, what can we do for you and your friends?

I'm looking for a man named Cartwright.

Hoss, they told me his name in town.

Is he around here? He's in the house. I'll get him.

Tell him to shake a leg if he wants to do business.

I ain't got time to stand around jawing all day.

What business are you in?

The wild ones.

The what?

The wild ones. I catch and break wild horses.

Oh, yeah, yeah, now I get it.

My brother Hoss has been talking up some crazy idea

about crossing wild horses with our Spanish.

That ain't so crazy at all.

A rancher in Oregon crossed his Clydesdales with wild horses

and came up with a breed called the Oregon Lummox.

Real hardy.

Montana, they got a breed called the Percheron Puddin' Fonts.

Down in Texas they got a top cow pony

and a racer called Copper-Bottoms.

All crossbred with wild horses. What's crazy about it?

Uh, well, nothing, just my brother never explained it to me that way.

Probably figured there was no cause to bother.

Howdy.

I'm Hoss Cartwright. You must be Lafe Jessup.

Yeah, all my life. Heh.

Fella in town told me you wanted some wild horses,

so I fetched me up some mares for you.

Mares.

Well, I ain't interested in mares.

I was wanting a stallion. You ain't got none?

Yeah, and if I ain't, I, uh, can get you one at a price.

Why don't you come in and meet my pa?

I been trying to talk him into this crossbreeding idea for a long time.

Maybe we can make a deal. Come on.

And don't you go spooking my mares again.

Just leave them be, understand?

Puddin' Foot.

Copper-Bottom?

Look at that son of a gun.

Look at him.

That's the one, Lafe. That's my stallion.

That's the one I want.

That's the one I want.

Ain't much chance of that, little fella.

I've been trying to catch that ornery critter all season.

Tried running him, roping him.

Even tried to snare him once. He's too smart and too fast.

Yeah.

Well, just for the fun of it, let's see how fast he really is.

Well, you was right, Lafe. He's fast.

We ain't gonna run him down, that's for sure.

He can chew up a lot of ground, that's a fact.

Yeah. You sure you've tried everything?

There ought to be some way you could catch him.

Maybe I can crease him. Huh?

Shoot him in the withers.

Slow him down. That way you can get a rope around him.

You could miscalculate your aim and kill him too.

Ah, wouldn't be the first time.

Well, you ain't gonna chance shooting him, not while I'm here.

I ain't gonna put up with that.

How you fixing to stop me?

This is my country there, little fella.

Any horse I catch is mine.

That black there will fetch me a pretty fair price at the market.

If not from you and your pa, then from some other rancher. Hm.

Sounds a mite like you're trying to tell me how to run my business.

I'm just telling you you ain't gonna chance

shooting that black stallion, that's all.

We'll see if the time comes.

Don't you worry, you big rascal. I'm gonna be seeing more of you.

Good locker, all right,

but he can't hold a candle to that black.

Never said he could, but that's the critter

I figured for you and your pa.

Difference between this one and the black is this one's caught and broke.

He is?

You just take it easy. I'll show you.

Easy now. Ain't no use fussing.

Hey you, simmer down! Hyah!

Simmer down.

Dang you, I'm gonna whip the daylights out of you.

Lafe!

Stop that. You've got him half scared to death now.

Stop it! Stop it!

You know better than to fight me.

Stop it! Stop it!

What are you trying to do? You trying to break that horse or maim him?

Little fella, appears there's a difference between you and me here.

A whip never hurt no dumb critter. You give me that whip.

Stop thy foolish brawling this instant.

Have thee both taken leave of thy senses?

Prudence.

Have thee no fitter welcome for thy wife, thou unrepentant sinner?

And must thee stand there

with thy mouth gaping like a bee trap in springtime?

It resembles a silly goose. Now, come. Help me unload the wagon.

This seat has become uncommonly discomfonable.

You just set right where you are, and you turn that mule around

and go back where you came from.

Did thee not hear me? Come help me unload the wagon. Hyah!

You hear that? She talks to me like I was a hired hand.

Sounds to me like she meant business. You better do like she says.

All right, just long enough to let her get the kinks out, but that's all.

How in tarnation did you ever find me?

Seek and ye shall find.

Though I must say, it took a deal of searching.

How-some-ever, we are reunited at long last,

as the good Lord intended.

Reunited nothing. No such thing.

You're gonna water your stock down at the well and turn around

and go back where you came from lickety-split.

Such foolish talk from a grown, overgrown man. Shame on thee.

Now, thee have not told me thy name.

My name is Cartwright, ma'am. Hoss Cartwright.

Well, I judge by the girth, the name is most fitting.

Well, then, Hoss, have thee not wit enough

to see there is work to be done? Will thee kindly unburden the wagon?

Hold on. I said you could take the kinks out and water the stock, that's all.

Thee is trying my patience sorely, most sorely.

I have been six months finding thee, Who asked you to?

And it has been a most trying journey all the way from the Dakotas.

More-some-over, I have not taken nourishment since sunup.

Now, thee, Hoss, thee will find a smoked ham,

from Father's own smokehouse, in the largest sack,

along with some potatoes, dried apples,

pickled string beans, sugar and flour.

Thee will also find some preserved peaches in jars from the orchard,

which by the grace of God,

yielded an uncommonly bounteous yield this summer.

Well, thee may now show me the cook stove

and I'll cook our dinner.

Husband?

All right. All right,

but you gotta understand one thing. I ain't giving in one little mite.

Not one mite. After you eat, back you go.

Shh. Do thee wish Mr. Cartwright to think thee are not happy to see me?

Oh...

Were thee never told cleanliness is next to godliness?

Nobody's asking you-- I would sooner inhabit

one of my father's pigsties.

It is plain to see thee have been in sore need of thy wife, Lafe.

Sorely. I've been getting alone fine.

And thee, thee smell as bad as this house.

Now, you had best bathe while I am preparing dinner.

And if thee scrub good behind thy ears,

there will be peach cobbler for dessert

Here, thee will have need of this soap.

Though I have no doubt lye would be more fitting.

Well, hey, Lafe, you heard her. Come on, man, peach cobbler.

I had me a bath last summer.

I'm telling you man to man, if we don't stick together, heh, we're done for.

We gotta have a plan.

If we don't, that scheming little she-female

will have us squeezing through knotholes

every time she opens her mouth, and that's a fact.

Oh. If you felt that way about her, Lafe, how come you married her?

Out of my mind, that's why.

Man finds himself flat on his back,

first thing you know some scheming little she-female

takes advantage of him.

All that take place back in the Dakotas?

Yeah, last winter.

Worst luck.

Got caught in a blizzard and my horse got lost.

Next thing, I find myself in bed

with a hot water bottle at my feet

and my mind blazing with a fever.

Sitting alongside of me, reading from the Good Book,

begging the Lord to spare me, guess who it was.

Scheming little she-female.

That's when I done it.

Done what? Asked her to marry me.

She was prettier than a picture.

Looked like a little pinto filly out in the pasture kicking up her heels. Heh.

But it didn't take me long to come to my senses.

About month later after the wedding,

when I had my strength back, well, I decided to skedaddle

and I started running.

I kept running until I found myself in these here hills here.

Yeah. Appears like you didn't run quite far enough, don't it, Lafe?

Hey.

Wouldn't even have recognized this as the same place, ma'am.

Too dagblamed Ia-di-DA-di. Don't even smell the same.

Tsk, oh.

Oh, here, let me see behind thy ears.

Hold on. Oh, thee are as stubborn as a child.

Well, there's some improvement.

Though it would take more than one soaping to make thee presentable.

I've just had about enough of your sassing tongue.

We smelled the food out the window,

but it'll take a heap more than that--

Wait a minute. Lafe!

Wait a minute. I ain't eaten since breakfast and I'm hungry.

You just gather your things and--

Have thee--?

Have thee finished?

If so, come to table before the biscuits burn.

I ain't moving a step and neither is Hoss.

All right, thee have taxed my temper beyond endurance.

Now you've done it.

What you need is a good spanking.

Thee just try it.

Yeah. Ha-ha.

Yeah, why don't--? Why don't you just try it, Lafe? Ha!

Bow thy head that we may give thanks to the Lord.

For these most bounteous gifts, 0 Lord, we are most grateful.

Amen.

Thee may commence thy dinner, Hoss.

Thank you, ma'am.

No scheming, screaming she-female's gonna keep me

from sitting at my own table. Here, give me that.

You better be sure this mess is seasoned proper.

Well, I don't know, Lafe.

I still think I can do better.

Still hankering for that black, huh?

Yeah.

How come first thing in the morning me and you don't take off

and try to figure out some way to catch him?

I told you, ain't no use unless we crease him.

Well, I'm telling you flat out,

you crease that animal and the whole deal's off.

You telling me how to run my business?

Have two grown men nothing better to do than argue?

This is man talk. You stay out of this.

I-- I notice there is only one bed in the house.

Thee had best come and help me prepare something

so that we may sleep comfortably tonight.

Oh, you sleep where you want.

You can have the whole dang hut to yourself.

Me, I'm gonna bedroll outside.

Now skedaddle. I'm sick of looking at you.

Go on.

Lafe, you had no call to talk to her like that.

She's my wife. I'll talk to her any way I please.

Please,

show me what it is that I do wrong.

I know that I have a viperous tongue and a most evil temper.

But thou knowest in thy infinite wisdom that my heart is othenNise.

Thou knowest also

that my dearly beloved is not as he seems.

He needs me.

...sorely.

And I need him.

Please, please, show me the way to his head.

Not for my sake alone,

but for the sake of his child within me soon to be born.

Thee heard?

Promise thee will not tell Lafe?

But why not, ma'am? He's your husband.

It is unbecoming

for a woman to hold the burden of a child over a man.

I still think you ought to tell him.

No.

The child will soon be here,

and if my husband does not wish me to stay before it is born,

I shall leave without telling him.

Please keep thy silence.

If that's the way you want it, ma'am.

That be them, over at the water hole where we jumped them the other time.

Yeah.

Why don't you go around here and get behind them

and drive them down this canyon here?

That way we can stop them.

How you figuring on doing that? With this.

Lafe, like I told you,

you ain't gonna crease that stallion. Who said anything about creasing?

I just wanna use it to drive him back up to you.

Giddyup.

Attaboy, little fella! Hold onto him!

Whoa.

Get out of there.

Whoa, boy.

Watch out for that other horse.

Look out! Look out!

Is he dead?

No, ma'am. He got a pretty nasty nick

on the head though. Oh...

Open thy mouth. I don't want any.

All this fussing and feeling, I'm sick of it.

Thee must get thy strength back. Thee were unconscious for three days.

Yeah, just long enough for you to figure out

how to get your hooks into me again.

Only I ain't falling for it again this time.

Lafe, thee are indeed a thorn in the flesh at times.

The soup is within reach if thee want it.

Whoa, boy. Whoa.

Easy. Easy now.

The Lord is my rock

and my fortress

and my deliverer.

Oh, please, no.

It is not time.

Easy new. Easy.

Finally quit fighting, didn't you, big fella?

Decided that leg was too heavy to haul around, didn't you?

Yeah.

You big, good-looking rascal, you.

Easy. Easy new, big fella.

I'm gonna let you get a little freedom.

Let you run around a little.

Thee have a way with animals.

There ain't really much to it once they learn they can trust you.

I wish I could handle Lafe so easily.

I don't know how you put up with him.

You been nursing him like a spoiled baby

ever since he got mm, and he don't appreciate it one bit.

He's my husband.

That sounds more like an apology than a reason to me,

if you don't mind me saying so.

Thee do not really understand.

Lafe is...

Lafe is as that wild creature there.

He's accustomed to being free, and he fears being othenNise.

But the good Lord joined us together in holy matrimony,

and that is a covenant that I do not regard lightly.

I admire the fight you're putting up to save your marriage, ma'am,

but he ain't worth your little finger.

Thee should read thy Book more often.

Wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself.

Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

That's about the sum of it, eh?

That is the sum.

And the total.

Yeah, it's gonna take a heap of doing

to overcome that cantankerous ingrate.

Look, ma'am, I've just about get old black trained to lead

and he's trained to halter.

I figure I'll be leaving tomorrow.

It don't set well with me leaving you up here by yourself with him.

Oh, well, I do thank thee.

But what therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.

Oh, dear Lord.

It's not time yet.

Our Father,

who an in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done...

Ma'am, what's the matter?

The Lord must love me very much, Hoss,

because whom the Lord Ioveth, he chasteneth. Unh!

And he chasteneth me much this night.

Ma'am, what's wrong?

The child,

he's being born in God's time, not mine.

I'll go get some whiskey.

No.

No spirits.

It is pain that teaches us the meaning of love.

Oh, God.

A faithful friend...

...is a strong defense...

...and he who hath found such a one...

...hath found a treasure.

Oh, my-- Oh, my God.

My God, give me strength.

Look, ma'am, I'll be right back. I'll go get your husband.

Lafe? Lafe. Wake up, Lafe. Hold on. What--?

Lafe, on your feet. Your wife needs you.

What are you saying?

Lafe,

your wife's having a baby.

She never told me. Well, I'm telling you now.

Now, we ain't got time to stand around out here jawing. Come on.

Come on!

What do you want me for? I ain't never foaled no human critter.

There's a first time for everything.

Now, are you coming or am I gonna have to drag you?

You should have told me, little filly.

I didn't know, you dang fool, you-- Thy came to me.

Aah!

Oh, my God.

Has thou forsaken me?

Can't you do something, little fella?

I can't stand to see her hurting.

Lafe! Lafe!

I---

I don't know if you can hear me.

For that matter,

I don't even know if you're up there.

She puts a lot of stock in you.

So I'm just plain begging for her sake.

Please,

don't make her hurt so bad.

It must have get burned, I heard it cry.

You got a fine son, Lafe.

Is that a fact?

How's the mother? She gonna live?

She had a real rough time. She's gonna make it.

Good. I wouldn't want to be blamed for her dying.

No.

I did an awful lot of thinking last night.

I got something I wanna tell her.

Look at thy son.

Our son.

Puny little critter, ain't he?

No bigger than a sparrow hardly.

He has thy nose

and mouth.

No such thing. He looks just like you.

Your ma and pa ought to be glad to see him.

What?

Your me and pa like children, don't they?

They ought to be glad to welcome a baby grandson.

Mm.

I'm afraid he'll be a mite grown up before that happens.

No, he won't.

Oh, Lafe...

...are thee saying thee do not want thy own son?

Never asked for him no more than I asked for you.

Lafe.

You couldn't have meant what you said in there.

About not wanting your own son. I meant every word of it.

What kind of man are you anyway?

I'm the same kind of man I was afore she came here

and afore that little critter was born.

I made it plain enough I didn't want her around.

This is no life for the likes of her

and lessen so for that little critter there.

As soon as she's able to travel, out she goes and the little critter too.

I've seen some pretty miserable, lowdown excuses for a human being,

but, buddy, you take the blue ribbon hands down.

Is that a fact?

I don't know why she married you in the first place. She's worth ten of you.

Ma'am. What are you doing on your feet?

I'll get you back in bed. No.

Not before I say to my husband that which must be said.

Thee, Lafe,

listen to me.

I have overlooked thy foul disposition

and thy insults

because I loved thee.

And I prayed that my love would change thee.

But now I see thee as thee really are.

A man who would deny his own son is something...

Something less than a beast.

And I would not live with thee

if thee begged me to.

The only thing I'd beg of you is to get out and leave me alone.

Thee was kind enough to ask me to leave with thee.

Will thee take me still new that there are two of us to burden thee?

I'd be honored to, ma'am, as soon as you're able to travel.

I will be ready before sundown.

But, ma'am, it's a four-day ride.

Before sundown.

I will not stay in this house

one instant longer than nece--

Whoa.

Pa.

Adam.

Joe.

Ma'am, you just sit still and I'll go in and get some help

to get the baby. I'll be right back. I'm perfectly capable.

Just sit still.

Hop Sing.

Pa. Adam. Joe.

Dadburnit.

Wouldn't you know it, when you need them most, ain't nobody here now.

All right, I'll just have to manage by myself.

We'll both manage, Hoss.

Now, you just help me down.

You just-- You hold the baby.

As soon as I get you upstairs and get you comfortable,

then I'll go on into town and get a doctor.

As soon as my family gets here,

you can just tell them that I'll explain as soon as I get back.

Don't you worry none, ma'am, they'll understand.

Whoa, boy. Whoa. Whoa.

What do you want, Lafe?

You took off with the wrong merchandise, mister.

What you contracted for is out there.

And you want your money, right? That's right.

And my family.

They don't want to have anything to do with you, Lafe.

Don't you tell me what they want. Ain't none of your business.

It is when your wife asked me to help her.

She don't need your help.

I can take care of that she-female myself, and the brat too.

Oh, really?

How?

Like you do your horses, by beating them?

Get out of my way.

I'm gonna take my family out of here.

No, you ain't.

That's the way you settle all your problems, ain't it, Late?

With your fists or a whip.

Why don't you get smart, Lafe?

Why, with a little intelligence and kindness,

I did more with that black stallion in a week

than you could do in six months with your whip.

Shut up. You lead your life, I'll lead mine.

That's fair enough.

But leave that little gal and that baby out of it, all right?

I'll do what I want with them. They're mine!

They were back up there in that cabin,

but you wanted no pan of them.

What caused you to change your mind, Lafe?

I said it was none of your business.

Once they were gone, maybe you realized

you'd made a big mistake, huh, Lafe?

You go to blazes.

Why don't you get that chip off your shoulder

and start being honest with yourself for a change?

Honest about what?

Admit you love that little gal

and that you're proud of that baby, real proud.

You're trying to put words in my mouth.

Then say them yourself, Lafe. I can't.

Even if I could, she wouldn't believe me no more.

Look,

the times she's shown you how she really feels,

how much she really loves you,

is the times you've been hurt, like when that horse threw you.

And when old big black stallion stomped on you.

So?

So...

Aah!

Oh...

Prudence, I-- Ah...

I heard.

Thee need not say anything.

Oh, I've always known what was in thy head.

What's going on here?

Why, nothing, Pa, uh...

Just a love spat, that's all. A little love spat.

Look, Pa, uh, don't you worry about nothing, eh?

Everything is gonna be all right.

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