Original subtitles

All right, Curly, come on out!

You've had your fun!

How you know it was me?

Not the first hat of mine you've ruined with this fool stunt of yours.

I trail you since sunup.

You think I didn't know?

I think you didn't know.

How could I miss you? I was downwind.

Dead?

I wonder why the Cheyenne have turned against me.

You white man. Trouble coming. Big trouble.

♪

Almost five years since I saw it last.

She's still there.

What are you talking about?

Who you talk about. Major Barham's daughter.

You think you're smart, don't ya?

Smarter than white man who build fort enemies can fire down into.

Return this to the duty officer.

Yes, sir.

Uh-uh.

No more.

I'm a lucky man.

Now, what in the world makes you say a thing like that?

Well, most fathers lose their daughters when they marry.

But you're a tactician, aren't you?

Couldn't find a better man than Wade.

Oh, I know, and for you, that's perfect,

since you're his superior officer.

Exactly. If you don't bring me

a nice cup of hot tea every afternoon, I'm gonna have a...

I know exactly what you're going to do.

You'll rip off his bars and drum him out of the regiment.

Ha ha ha.

All I want is what's best for you, my pet.

Oh, now, you're a fraud.

You want what's best for you, and you know it.

Papa.

Yeah?

Come here a minute.

Well, by golly, it's Flint McCullough.

What's he coming here for?

You'll have to ask him that.

I have no intention of asking him anything.

Oh? I thought you used to like him.

Who's that with him?

Seems to be that Sioux, Curly Horse.

Then it's true.

Do you know that Indian claims that Flint's his friend?

Well, that's nothin' to get so excited about.

It isn't?

You mean you're going to see him?

Of course I'm going to see him.

Papa, how in the world can you sit down

and talk civilly to a renegade white man?

Now, Martha...

Oh.

Then I can tell my three wagons of emigrants

that the train will arrive in four or five days.

Well, that depends.

Curly, tell the major what you were telling me.

About the trouble.

Between the Sioux and the Cheyenne?

Not exactly, Major.

There's always been trouble between the Sioux and the Cheyenne.

Well, this is more than just trouble.

Go ahead, tell him, Curly.

I Sioux.

Yeah, and I'm a white man from the Utah territory,

but we grew up together.

You taught me your language, and I taught you mine.

And I think this is a good time for you to use it.

Now tell him.

I not be traitor to my people.

You're not being a traitor if you stop bloodshed.

For many years, my uncle, Chief White Cloud,

not drive with Cheyenne

who say only good white man, dead white man.

But he old. His son Black Panther firebrand.

Blank Panther, yeah...

I know about him.

Wants to impress himself on the tribe,

hopes to be chief one day.

He have many good arguments.

Always at this season, buffalo return,

but now when they come back, white man slaughter them,

strip hide for robe and let meat rot in sun.

You're talking about the professional hunters, not the settlers.

Cheyenne and Sioux who hear their children cry with hunger

only know white man to blame.

My intelligence has been that the Sioux and the Cheyenne

hate each other even more than they hate the white man.

Major, there's an old saying that a common grievance can bring enemies together.

I know, I know. I'm merely a military man,

stationed in this forsaken outpost to try and help out people.

If the Sioux and the Cheyenne band together,

you won't have...

Stop worrying, Flint.

We're always prepared for emergencies.

Very well, Major.

Oh, uh, by the way, Major, where's Martha?

I'm afraid she doesn't want to see you, Flint.

Oh, why not?

Well, there's another man in Martha's life now.

Only one?

Last time I was here, seems to me, there were about four.

Curly.

I have nothing to say to you, Flint.

Well, at least you remember my name.

If you expect me to berate you

for having stayed away so long...

You wouldn't do that. It's too obvious.

Nothing's changed.

You've changed.

Same old fort, same old trees,

and you and I picking wildflowers...

Just like the last time.

I want to forget about that.

Why? Because of the new man in your life?

The only man in my life.

Do I know him?

No.

Well, what's his name?

Captain Wade Forrest, and I'm going to marry him.

I'd like to meet him... and offer my condolences.

What do you mean by that?

Well, I'd feel sorry for any man

that marries a woman that doesn't love him.

Don't you touch me.

Martha, I'm sorry.

I do love him, and when he's away, I worry about him,

the way I never used to worry about you.

Oh, you mean that he's not here.

No, but if you think that gives you any privileges...

Is he gonna be gone long?

If you think I'd tell you that...

And, pray, why wouldn't ya?

Because if you knew, it just might happen

he'd be ambushed by some of your Indian friends.

All right, give your horses a drink.

Smith! Carpenter!

Did you hear me give an order for you to drink?

No, sir. No, sir.

All right, at ease.

Water these horses.

I'll be dogged, Captain, if I didn't figure...

you was plum serious.

Yeah, that's what I figured you'd figure.

Well, boys, after five days of field maneuvers,

how do you think you're going to like the United States Cavalry?

I guess I can take it. My horse can.

Say, Captain, if you want that buffalo hide tanned,

my pa's a tanner down in Kentucky.

Well, I'm afraid we couldn't send the green hide back that far, Carp.

No, I mean, I watched him. I know how.

Oh, fine, thanks.

Some country, ain't it?

Where else could a man kill a wedding present for his bride?

Ha ha.

Well, two hours more to the fort.

We'll move out in five minutes!

Get down!

They're dead, sir. They're all dead!

The Sioux will be back for scalps as soon as they catch the horses.

Ohh!

What can we do?

You make it back to the fort.

Just leave you here to be scalped?

No, sir, I ain't gonna do it.

You see the mouth of that little cave up there?

Yes, sir.

I'll hide there.

I'll help you, sir.

No! Now, you got your orders. Now move out!

Go on!

WOMAN: It's a wonderful night.

You may be engaged and all that,

but you certainly remember how we danced.

Why wouldn't I?

Oh, I thought you might forget,

the way you've forgotten me.

I remembered you for a long time, Flint.

But, you know, I'm happy to discover

I can dance with you as if we'd just met tonight.

But we didn't just meet tonight.

I don't like the way you live, I don't like the way you think,

and I have no words for your friends.

Pardon me, Mr. McCullough,

the major wants to see you in the office.

Now? Right off.

You keep thinking about what you don't like about me.

I'll be right back.

Corporal, what does my father want to see him for?

Excuse me, I... I mean, I'm not to say, Miss Barham.

It isn't about Captain Forrest, is it?

I told you I'm not to say.

I want Mr. Caine to ride at once to Fort Paxton

with this dispatch.

Detail an escort of two men.

Advise caution and make all possible haste.

You return here at once.

Yes, sir.

I'm sorry to keep you waiting.

McCullough. Yes, Major?

Five days ago, I sent out a small patrol

under Captain Forrest in this area.

They were raw recruits needed toughening up.

Seems they were ambushed by a band of Indians some ten miles east of here

at Buffalo Hills Spring.

That's where I had the trouble

I was telling you about this afternoon, Major.

Oh?

All of the men were killed...

except this man and Captain Forrest.

Father.

Where's Wade?

My dear, I didn't want you to know.

Where is he?

What's happened to him?

He made me leave him, ma'am.

He was shot through the leg.

How bad is it?

We won't know until we get him here.

What are you doing about it?

Martha, I understand your concern,

but you'd help Wade by letting us handle this.

Have you any idea what tribe it was that attacked you?

That's why I asked you and Curly Horse here.

He thinks they were Sioux.

Sioux?

Is he sure?

Captain Wade, he said...

that them Sioux was coming back for scalps.

I mean, I don't hardly know one Indian from another,

but all I can remember is that...

It was you!

Carpenter!

Get ahold of yourself, Carpenter!

Easy, soldier. He's a friend.

Not our friend, your friend! Martha!

Mr. McCullough's a friend of all the savages.

He understands them.

If they don't like you, they scalp you.

Was that what you mean by their point of view?

Leave the room!

Martha!

I'm sorry about all this.

Forget it.

Curly is there any reason that the Sioux should have any odds

against the army in this territory?

Our people not attack without cause.

He said they never even saw an Indian.

Not until after the boys were killed, sir.

Did you disturb anything?

Did you pick anything up that might have belonged to the Sioux?

We just had our gear with us and that old buffalo hide

on the back of Captain's horse, that's all.

What buffalo hide?

Well, we saw a stray buffalo,

and the captain shot him,

and we pitched in and skinned him.

Well, there's your answer, Major.

Sioux find carcass left to rot.

Major, I know where the captain's hiding, sir.

There's a cave up there. I could go with you...

Thanks, Private.

That's why I asked McCullough and Curly Horse to come here.

If the Sioux are on the war path against the military,

a civilian and another Sioux would have a much better chance

to get through to Captain Forrest.

Will you go?

Yeah, I'll go.

And you?

As a favor to me, Curly.

Big favor.

We go.

Better get back to your barracks.

Post a double guard immediately. Yes, sir.

The settlers, they better remain in the fort tonight.

They'll probably dance till sunup anyhow, I reckon, sir.

That's right, but if any one of them should want to leave,

you tell them to stay.

Yes, sir.

Father.

I'm sorry.

Thinking about Wade out there...

Just try not to think about it, Martha.

Not think about it?

I'm doing everything I can.

I know.

Father.

What are you doing to rescue Wade?

McCullough and Curly Horse...

are on their way to fetch him in.

Flint and his Indian friend?

I figure they have the best chance of reaching him.

But an Indian and a renegade?

Oh, they'll reach him, all right, but what then?

Martha, I know what you think of them,

but the fort is undermanned,

especially after what happened today.

Besides, I happen to think that you're wrong.

Martha...

if anything should happen,

you'll remember what you have to do.

I know.

Flint.

They take him alive.

Yeah, those are army boot heels, all right.

You ride back to fort?

Somebody's gotta tell 'em.

I will ride to my people, talk to them,

to Chief White Cloud.

I will tell them that if they follow

the Cheyenne and Black Panther,

the white man will destroy them.

What are the captain's chances?

That depends on whether my voice is heard.

Even if you release him, I can't guarantee

that the army won't move against the Sioux.

This I will tell my chief.

Did you come to kill me, too?

They're dead! They're all dead!

Martha, listen to me!

Aren't you satisfied? Don't touch me!

Martha, it's me Flint. Now, listen to me.

Where's my father?

Did you kill him, too?!

We'll find him, Martha.

I wouldn't let you.

I wouldn't let your bloody hands touch him.

Come on.

Let me go!

Come on.

Let me go. Shh!

Shh.

What's the matter?

They're your friends, aren't they?

They're Cheyenne.

Would it be different if they were Sioux?

Be quiet.

They better not touch my father!

I wouldn't let any Injun... Shh!

You get this through your head,

if they find us here, we're both dead.

Now shut up.

Martha. Martha, it's all right, Martha.

It's all right.

You think you'll be able to ride?

Yeah.

We've got to get out of here.

Where are you taking me?

I've got to take us to the wagon train.

I've got to get the major to turn south.

Is Wade dead?

I don't know.

I'll help you on, Martha.

No!

I've gotta go back and bury my father.

That's impossible.

Martha, I know how you feel,

but your father would understand.

Come on.

We seem to have lost the Cheyenne.

We can rest here for a while.

I don't even think you tried to find Wade.

I can't help what you think, Martha.

I looked for him, he was gone.

Why didn't your friends kill him?

I don't know. He's an officer.

Maybe they want him as a... as a prisoner.

I know. To torture.

Well, maybe Curly Horse can prevent that.

Curly Horse? More likely he's gone to join in the fun.

But why did it have to be Wade?

I could tell you, Martha, but I don't think you'd believe me.

That's right.

Couldn't you light a fire?

I've tried to explain, Martha.

The Sioux would spot a fire in a minute.

I thought you were a friend of the Sioux.

I'm a friend of Curly Horse's.

So you keep saying. What are you, blood brothers?

Practically.

I met him at Fort Bridger when I was 14.

He was as cautious as a young deer when it came to the fort.

But after a while, he learned that he could...

trust a white kid, too.

After that, we were together all the time.

Hunting, fishing.

Wrestling.

We exchanged tokens. He made me this belt.

And I made him a...

I made him a necklace with a copper penny on it.

Just a couple of cubs together.

When one of the cubs grew up,

he became a savage beast.

Martha, you don't know what you're talking about.

All right, I'm willing to be convinced.

And what's that supposed to mean?

If you're such a good friend of the Sioux,

why don't you go to the village in the morning

and arrange for Wade's release?

They wouldn't do anything to you,

since you're one of them.

I have to warn the wagon train.

Besides, there's nothing that I can do at that village

that Curly can't do better alone.

It's all very convenient, isn't it, Flint?

And what do you mean by that?

You leave Wade to their tender mercies and me to yours.

I'm gonna get some sleep.

Ohh.

Let me go!

Flint. Flint, I'm sorry.

Why'd you do it, Martha?

I thought I could get to Fort Paxton, and...

and they'd rescue Wade.

I didn't understand, Flint, believe me, I didn't.

Not till I saw you kill that Sioux.

Do you understand?

Forget it.

What are they saying?

Black Panther wants you for his squaw.

No. No!

Hold on.

Curly.

Curly.

I'm Wade Forrest.

I'm McCullough.

Major Barham sent me to try to get you out of here.

Oh? Why'd he send a civilian?

He thought I had a better chance of getting through.

Oh.

McCullough, huh?

Hey, you Flint McCullough?

That's right.

Yeah, Martha told me about you.

You're the renegade white man,

the friend of the Sioux that killed my men,

that put torches to my feet.

Look, Captain, I can just barely stomach that talk out of a woman.

I guess you got to...

forgive her, though, since her father's dead.

Major Barham killed?

The fort was attacked. It was a massacre.

Martha.

She's alive.

Get hold of yourself, Forrest.

She's here.

Black Panther's getting ready to make her his squaw.

Uhh!

Anyway, when we found that you'd been taken alive,

I headed back to the fort and Curly headed for the village.

He was gonna talk to White Cloud and try and get you out,

at least, that's what he said.

And instead he watched them torch me.

Yeah, I guess Martha was right.

Hmm?

When the cub grows up...

You sure this, this Curly Horse is reverted?

That's the way it looks.

Well, Curly, what are your plans?

What did he say?

He said his uncle, Chief White Cloud,

has given him the honor of torturing his old friend.

Wade!

Martha!

Aah!

Listen well, Flint.

Torture to begin at daybreak

on hot coals that are left.

But now when they light fire and flames rise high,

lie flat,

press face to earth so that you not smothered.

If you still alive, make way across embers.

When moon set,

meet me at south end of camp where horses are tied.

Is there a chance for Martha?

If I have luck, I bring Martha there.

I take boots now.

They not thing you try to cross embers barefoot.

There, that'll have to do.

Think you can get on your feet?

Nah. You'll have a better chance alone.

Don't be a fool, Forrest.

Wade.

Wade.

Martha.

Oh, Wade.

Your poor feet.

I'm all right.

But you, Martha...

What have they...

What about you?

I'm all right.

You were... you were wrong about Flint.

I know that now.

And about Curly, too.

It's a fleet horse. We can ride together.

I stay with my people.

Well, what if they find out you helped us escape?

I think of that. I say that you hit guard at fire pit.

I wake in night, hear noise, follow you here,

but you knock me out, steal horse.

You think White Cloud will believe that?

I learn to lie straight-faced, like white man.

I've learned a lot from you.

Come along, Curly, you don't belong here with these...

Savages? I didn't say that.

I guess all men are savages when they fight for survival.

I not belong with white man.

I Sioux. White man not let me forget that.

Not many like you, Flint.

Not many like you.

Good luck, Curly.

You forget something.

What?

Good luck, Curly.

Flint.

Well...

go ahead, Flint.

You can take her away from me if you want to, I know that.

I don't know what you're talking about.

I'll ride ahead.

What is it, Martha?

We may not have another chance to talk alone, Flint.

We shouldn't talk now.

You should have seen Wade's face when you called me.

I know, and that's part of it.

Maybe it would be better if he were unhappy now that...

Martha...

You're all mixed up. These...

These last few days have been...

I think you just feel grateful.

I am, Flint.

That's not enough.

I mean, look at it this way...

You've lost your father and your home.

What you want in a man is security.

A man that comes home to you every night.

You don't want to get mixed up with a rover like me.

It's not easy to say, but... Wade's the man for you.

Flint.

Well, there she is,

all tucked in for the night.

What are your plans, Wade?

Well, we'll ride with you as far as Fort Paxton.

You, uh, think you can fix it so we can join the train?

Yeah, I'll use my influence with Major Adams.

Well, what in tarnation took you so long?

It's a long... story.

Looks to me like you might have had to leave

someplace in a hurry, huh?

Yup.

What happened?

Girl's father take after you with a shotgun?

Set a fire under you?

Yeah. Something like that.

Here, have some coffee.

Thank you.

Now...

let's just start from the beginning.

Well, once upon a time...

Oh, shut up!

Wagon ho!

♪