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Hi, Little Joe.

Hi, Miss Shannon. Hi, Hallie.

Howdy, Miss Shannon.

Well, I'm glad the boys found you.

They told me you had another raid last night.

Yeah. I heard them.

Almost caught them but they got away in the dark.

Trailed them, though. I think I know where they holed up.

They're not rustling many head but it's beginning to add up.

Let's get going.

You haven't been around for a week, Little Joe, what's wrong?

Been pretty busy at the ranch.

You know, I gotta do all my brother's work for him.

Well, you quit neglecting us, you hear?

I sure will. I can't stay away from your cooking that long.

If, uh, we stand around talking here all day,

them rustlers are gonna get plumb away. Let's go.

So long, Hallie.

So long.

They could be holed up in this draw down here.

Cletus, you and Floyd, circle on around and wait for them at the mouth.

Little Joe and I will try to flush them out from here.

Sure thing, Mr. Shannon.

Little Joe, you take this side of the draw, I'll take the other side.

But be careful, I spooked them pretty good last night,

they're liable to be a little gun shy. Right.

Burk!

Burk! He's around back of me.

Double back around him.

Burk, he's in back of me!

Burk. Burk.

What happened?

Somebody fired at me,

I fired back and it was Burk.

Burk was firing at you?

Why'd he do a thing like that?

Must have thought I was a rustler, the same as I thought he was.

We'll never know now, Little Joe. He's dead.

You about ready? Yeah.

I'll call Joe. No.

No, I'll get him.

Pa's sure worried about the way Little Joe's taking this, ain't he?

Aren't we all?

Joe.

Time to leave.

Yeah, I know.

Joseph, nobody, including Hallie,

is blaming you for what happened.

You really think they'd tell you if they were?

Do you?

Joe,

what happened, happened.

Nothing that anybody can say is going to be of much help to you.

Why didn't he hear me when I called to him?

Why didn't he hear you when you called?

Why wasn't he on the right side of the draw?

Why did he shoot at you?

What's the point of talking, Joe?

Come on.

We ask this, 0 Lord, in the name of the Father,

and the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Will you drive me home?

Please.

Little Joe sure is lucky.

Yeah? What do you mean?

Well, Hallie has forgiven him.

About the accident. Oh.

Yeah.

I guess he is lucky, at that.

By granny, it don't seem like no more than yesterday

I'd see Little Joe carrying Hallie's books home from school.

Ben, you know,

was there was any hard feeling at all between Burk and Little Joe?

You know how ornery Burk could be at times.

You trying to infer that what happened was not an accident?

I'm only asking you the same question that I'm gonna have to answer.

Who's gonna ask it?

Burk's brother.

Booth? That's right.

I sent him a telegraph about Burk and I got one back last night.

He's gonna be in town tomorrow.

He's been the town marshal up at Flat River last couple three months.

He still taming hell towns with a fast gun and a shed rope?

Well, he's still Booth Shannon, if that's what you mean.

What do you mean? He's gonna make trouble?

You know Booth just as well as I do, and you know that

him and Burk meant a lot more to one another than just brothers.

They was identical twins.

Yeah, I know.

Well, then you know the answer to your question

just as well as I do, don't you?

You put the buggy away and I'll fix us some coffee.

I think I'd better be getting home. Please, Joe.

I don't wanna be alone, not yet.

All right.

Thanks.

Ooh!

It's boiling. I know.

You know what I've decided?

I'm going to sell the ranch and move into town.

I could rent the old Shafer cottage.

It's a little small and rundown but it'll do just fine for a little while.

How long do you think we should wait?

Wait for what?

To be married, of course.

You think six months?

A year? Oh, I hope not that long.

But we do have to be careful, I know.

I guess I'll have to go on wearing those awful black dresses

and a long sad face

telling everybody how much I miss poor dear Burk.

Hallie, whatever gave you the idea--?

If you don't wanna talk about it yet, I understand.

I don't see why we shouldn't.

Just between the two of us, of course.

Well, after all, no one else is ever going to know.

Know what?

Oh, you're funny.

But if you wanna pretend the shooting was an accident--

What do you mean pretend?

Well, Joe, darling. Hallie, it was an accident.

Well, of course it was.

If this is some kind of joke, I don't understand--

Joke? Yes, a joke.

Do you think I'd joke about something like this?

Joe, darling, I know how hard it must have been

for you to do what you did, and it was all my fault.

Hallie. But it was.

Hallie, listen to me.

If I hadn't loved you so, and if I hadn't been so impatient

and tried to force you into marrying me before you were ready,

none of this would have ever happened.

Hallie, I-- I never loved Burk. You knew that.

I only married him because I was mm and angry.

I wanted to spite you.

It was a silly, childish thing to do.

Oh, but, darling, I'm free again. I'm free.

And now I can be yours like I always dreamed I'd be.

Hallie, do you really believe that I murdered Burk?

That I killed him just so that you and I could--?

If it upsets you, we won't talk about it.

Hallie, there's nothing to talk about.

You're wrong. I didn't murder Burk.

I don't love you, Hallie.

I don't wanna marry you.

Oh.

Darling, you don't have to playact with me.

Hallie, please, I'm not playacting. Will you listen to me?

Well, you're talking as if I'm accusing you of murdering Burk

and I'm going to tell Sheriff Coffee what really happened.

I'm sorry about Burk, I really am.

I wish there could have been some other way.

But you knew he'd never give me up.

And you did the only thing you could do.

I know you're upset, dear.

Now, let's just sit down and have some coffee.

Now, two sugars, a little bit of cream.

I know this is just the way you like it.

Well, howdy, Booth.

I'm sorry that you couldn't get here in time for your brother's funeral.

If I had, would that have made my brother any less dead?

Town hasn't changed much. No, not much.

Except I can remember the time that you wouldn't run a town

where a man can get away with murder.

I still don't.

I don't see young Joe Cartwright in jail.

Little Joe didn't mean to kill your brother.

He thought he was shooting a rustler.

I know. That's what you said in your telegram.

Roy, do you really believe that?

I do. Why? Because a Cartwright said so?

No, because I got no reason to believe different.

And Little Joe had no reason to kill your brother.

This is a letter I got from my brother two weeks ago. Read it.

Read it and then tell me if you think my brother's killing was an accident.

Well, hello, Hallie.

Nice to see you. How are you feeling?

Fine, Mr. Cartwright. Is Little Joe here?

No. No, he went up to Scobie Flats to take the boys some supplies.

He'll be back later tonight.

Oh.

When he gets back, I'll tell him you were looking for him.

Maybe tomorrow he'll come over to your place to see you.

Has Little Joe said anything about us?

Us? Little Joe and me.

No.

I guess I shouldn't have said anything.

It's up to Little Joe to tell you, in his own time.

Come on. Back up, back up.

Now remember, Mr. Cartwright, don't you ask him.

Wait for him to tell you.

I'll remember. Bye, Mr. Cartwright.

Whoa.

Booth.

Hallie, you look frightened,

as if I were Burk's ghost come back to haunt you.

Uh--

Didn't Roy Coffee--? Didn't he tell you I was coming?

Hallie, ever since I heard, I've been wondering

why didn't you telegraph me about Burk?

Well, I was going to, but I...

But you were too upset?

Too shocked?

Too grief-stricken?

I should have realized that at the start.

Where shall I put them?

With Burk gone, someone's gonna have to help you run the ranch.

Well, I-- I'm sure that Burk would've wanted

me to be that someone.

I'll put them in the spare room.

Not a word, not a single word.

Burk Shannon had a mind like a snake pit, everybody knows that.

You believe Little Joe and Hallie were--?

Ben, that is not the point.

The point is that Booth believes it, and as sheriff, I have--

You're not answering my question, Roy.

Of course I don't believe it.

But there's a-- But what?

Well, I happen to know Little Joe is spending an awful lot of time

around the Shannon place. Oh, for goodness sakes, Roy.

Little Joe and Hallie grew up together.

They spent time with each other when they were children.

Oh, come now, Ben.

You know that everybody felt that Little Joe and Hallie

was a little more than just friends.

Everybody thought that they was gonna get married for sure.

I don't care what everybody thought.

Well, it's about time you start caring, for Little Joe's sake.

There's gonna be lots of folks thinking the same thing that Booth's thinking.

Did you come here to arrest Little Joe?

No, I come to talk to Little Joe,

but I've got to ask him about this, you know that.

Yeah.

I'm sorry, Roy. It's just that I get so dang mad when...

I understand, Ben.

And you know how I feel about Little Joe.

What time you reckon he'll be back from Scobie Flats?

Tonight.

Late, probably.

If you went after him now,

you'd probably catch up with him around Piaute Falls.

Ben, there's no need for that.

Just ask him to come in and see me in the morning, if you will.

We can get this thing ironed out.

And there's one thing that we can be thankful for.

That Booth come to me with it instead of taking the thing into his own hands.

Because as handy as Little Joe is with a gun,

he just wouldn't stand a chance up against Booth Shannon.

"The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places;

Yea, I have a goodly heritage."

That was one of Burk's favorites.

Please don't read any more.

What is it Hallie? You seem troubled.

I'm just tired.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to my room.

Is it me? I mean, my just being here

looking so much like Burk, reminding you of him.

No.

Because if it is, you'll get over that very soon, believe me.

Right now all you can see is what the others saw,

how much Burk and I were alike.

But in time you'll find out that Burk and I were as different

in as many ways as we were alike.

Do you know that he was afraid of you?

And do you know why?

Because he was afraid of beauty.

He was afraid he'd lose it.

That's only one of the ways in which Burk and I were different.

Even though he was my own brother, I knew he wasn't the man for you.

He was weak and fearful.

He didn't know how to love.

I'm going to my room.

In a moment.

First, there is something we must do.

We must kneel down and pray.

We must pray for Burk.

Please--

Pray that he be forgiven his weaknesses.

And then we must forget Burk and start fresh,

you and I.

No, leave me alone.

I hated Burk and I hate you.

You're just like he was.

No, that's not true.

Look at yourself. Listen to yourself.

Burk was an animal and so are you.

Stop it.

You look like him, you talk like him, and you think like him.

You even smell like him.

Don't you think I know what you are?

Don't you think I know about you and that young Cartwright?

Don't you think I know he wants you?

Well, he's never gonna get you.

He's going to go to the gallows

and you're going to send him there.

No.

You're going to get up in a noun of law,

you're gonna stand up before God and man and admit your sin

and confess your shame and tell the truth.

That your husband's death was no accident,

that Joe Cartwright murdered him.

No.

And then...

...you're coming back here to this house

and you're going to be the wife to me

that my brother wanted you to be to him.

Now, for the good of your immortal soul,

I wanna hear you to speak the truth.

Say, "My husband was killed by Joe Cartwright."

I won't. Say it.

Say it. Aah!

Joe Cartwright...

"Murdered my husband."

Say it.

Murdered my husband.

In the morning,

we'll go into town

and talk to the sheriff.

Hallie.

Hallie.

Joe, Joe.

Hallie.

Go on, you know where your stall is.

Hey, Pa, what are you doing up so late?

Waiting for you. Oh, yeah? What for?

Well, Hallie came by today

and, uh, well, she intimated that

there was something going on between you two.

Is there?

No.

No, just in Hallie's mind.

I meant to tell you about it.

When I took Hallie home from the funeral yesterday,

I went into the house.

Hallie started talking crazy saying she knew

that I had murdered Burk so that she'd be free to marry me.

She's upset about her husband's death.

I just can't think of any other reason why.

There was nothing ever between us. A little puppy love when we were kids.

Maybe I did go over to the Shannon place too much.

I think Hallie's reaching for something, she's scared and lonely.

I think she'll be all right.

Well, I don't think it's quite as simple as all that.

What do you mean?

Burk had some pretty crazy notions running around in his head too.

He wrote a letter to Booth

saying that he suspected that there was something going on between

you and Hallie.

What?

Yeah. Booth showed the letter to Roy, Roy showed it to me this afternoon,

and Roy wants to question you about it.

Pa, I swear to you, I'm telling the truth.

I believe you, Joe.

But Booth believes his brother's letter.

Hi, Roy. Hi, Joe.

We were just talking about you.

I'd have come in town tomorrow about that letter.

You didn't have to come out here. I didn't come about that.

Booth Shannon just rode into town a little while ago

and said that him and Hallie had had an argument.

She run away and he thought that she might be here.

Well, she didn't come here.

Was the argument over that letter he got from Burk?

No, it's more serious than that.

According to Booth, Hallie says that the shooting was not an accident.

I'm beginning to think she's right.

Look, I could never figure out why Burk fired at me that second time.

After the first shot, I called to him.

He wasn't that far away, I know he heard me,

and yet, he still fired at me again.

Now, that letter is proof of why. He thought there was something

going on between Hallie and me and he was trying to kill me.

Of course. Roy, don't you see?

It's possible, Ben, I admit that. But we have no proof.

And with Hallie accusing Little Joe-- Hallie doesn't know what she's saying.

All we have to do is talk to her.

Well, we gotta find her first.

Booth is out leading a search party now looking for her.

In the meantime, I'm gonna have to take you in with me.

Roy, you don't have 10-- I have no choice, Ben.

Booth demands it.

I'm sorry.

They find Hallie? Posse's still looking.

Get your hat, you're leaving.

Your pa's in the office.

It's all right. Little Joe's been released by an order from the circuit court.

Yeah, I went over to Gold Hill to the circuit court.

If you want him in jail, you're gonna have to file a formal complaint.

What about Hallie, did you find her? Yeah, we found her

at the bottom of Piaute Falls.

She's dead.

You killed her! Shannon, you stop that!

You know better than that, you're a lawman. Now, look at him.

All right.

Joe.

I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lost my head.

What happened to Hallie?

It's hard to say exactly.

Could be she tried to get up the footpath alongside the falls,

missed her step and fell.

Or she was pushed.

You got no reason to say that, Booth.

No, leave him alone, Roy. Let him have his say.

I don't think this is the time

or the place-- Roy.

Let's have this settled right now if we can.

We can't,

not now,

not ever, with Hallie gone.

And that's why she's dead, so she could never tell anyone

that your son killed my brother.

Hallie knew that

he'd be riding past Piaute Falls last night on the way home.

She waited for him by the side of the road.

And when he found out that I'd gotten the truth out of her,

he made sure she'd never stand up in a noun of law

and repeat what she told me.

He arranged another accident. Ah!

Save your breath.

You don't have to tell me I can't prove any of this.

I've been a lawman long enough to know that.

The only one that could prove it is dead.

That's the whole point.

Hallie Shannon is dead

and Joe Cartwright is free.

I'm riding over to Gold Hill in the morning

to talk to Judge Holloway and the county prosecutor.

I'll stop by your place on my way back.

Little Joe, I don't think you've got much to worry about.

There's nothing that the law can do to you now.

And if things work out the way I expect them to

over at Gold Hill tomorrow, you won't even have to stand trial.

I already have.

I already have.

Shannon.

This is the end of it.

That's where you're wrong, Cartwright.

He's gonna pay for this.

I'm gonna haunt him.

No matter where he goes, no matter what he does,

when he looks back, he'll see me following him.

And I'm gonna dog him until someday he's gonna go screaming to the sheriff

and confess what he did and beg to be hanged.

I wanna talk to you.

It won't do any good, but go ahead.

What have you come for, to plead for your son?

Yeah,

if that's the way you want it, to plead for my son.

You're a very fortunate man, Mr. Cartwright.

I didn't have the opportunity for my brother or Hallie.

My son is innocent.

Why, because he's your son?

No, but because he says so and I believe him.

Well, I believed my brother when he wrote about your son and Hallie.

It's not quite the same thing, is it? No.

Shannon,

I'm beginning to understand how you really feel about your brother.

When you were boys and you lived around here,

I remember you and your brother, Burk, always competing against each other.

And he was always coming out on top, beating you and gloating over it.

That's ridiculous. We were children.

I went away and when I grew up,

I was twice the man Burk ever thought of being.

Of course you did.

Why did you wait until now to come back?

And what's this great concern over your poor brother?

You're a man of the law.

Why are you going outside the law?

This is not outside the law.

Cartwright, your son is going to the gallows.

The Bible says, "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord."

Don't quote the Bible to me. I know the book.

Do you? Which pans?

The ones which suit your convenience?

You really mean this?

Of course I mean it.

Well, um, Floyd and me,

we're the only ones that know anything about it.

I thought Joe Cartwright was a friend of yours.

He was, in a way.

On the other hand, I, uh, never really liked him much.

He's always thought he was something special because he was a Cartwright.

Get to the point.

What if, uh, Floyd and me went to the sheriff

and told him what we saw

the day we was looking for them rustlers?

What did you see?

Could be enough to send Little Joe to the gallows.

You see, uh,

Floyd, he listens to me, and if I told him--

To lie, he would?

You want Little Joe, don't you?

So, what difference is it--?

Joe Cartwright's gonna hang,

but he's gonna hang for the truth, not a lie.

Now get out.

He's getting to you, isn't he?

He's on your back and you can't get him off.

It's just like he said it'd be, right?

And you know what's gonna happen.

He's got the whole town believing you murdered Burk and Hallie.

You saw him.

And he's gonna keep digging at you,

and digging and digging till you believe it too.

He's a devil. He's Satan himself.

And he's gonna get to you, Joe.

He's sitting over at that saloon just waiting.

He's gonna see you hang.

You want something?

You, out on that street.

What? What?

I'm not gonna play any more games with you, Shannon.

You think I murdered Burk and Hallie?

Now's your chance to do something about it.

You're asking me outside?

Right now.

Oh, go home.

Not until you face me on that street.

Cartwright, if I went out on that street with you, there wouldn't be a fight.

It would be murder.

No, no, not if I fired at you first.

That'd be self-defense, just like it was when your brother fired at me.

Oh, go tell your lies to somebody who will believe them.

No, it's the truth, but you don't wanna believe it.

The letter you got from your brother,

the one telling about Hallie and me,

that wasn't the truth, not one bit of it was the truth.

But that's the proof that I needed.

That's all I had to know to reason out why your brother fired at me.

He knew it was me.

But you twisted it around to mean just the opposite.

Shut up and go home.

Not until you meet me in that street.

Cartwright,

you're gonna die,

but you're gonna die in the gallows.

You're not gonna force me to take your life.

I'll be waiting for you out on that street.

Don't be a fool, boy.

Go home, Cartwright.

Don't make me kill you.

Ben, I know how you feel but that's not an illegal poster.

That badge that he wears doesn't give him the power over other--

I'll tell Doc Carver to get ready.

Cartwright, I didn't want this.

You staying at the hotel tonight, Ben?

Get yourself some food now, will you?

How is he?

He'll be all right.

Good.

Shannon.

You could have killed him.

Why didn't you?

Standing out in the street, I...

Well, I knew he'd been telling the truth.

He didn't have to fight me.

But he was standing there, ready to die if he had to.

A killer wouldn't have done that.

You know, you were right about Burk.

Burk was a spoiler, Cartwright.

All his life, he never wanted anything until I wanted it,

and then, somehow, some way, he'd get it away from me.

Even Hallie.

I knew Hallie long before he did. I loved her before he even met her.

And this time I...

When I came back here, I honestly thought

that I could make her love me

if I could just get Little Joe out of the way.

And I guess I--

I guess I talked myself into believing that he'd murdered Burk.

I guess if you want something badly enough,

you can convince yourself of anything.

Yeah.

Well, I, uh-- I'm really sorry about Little Joe.

I wish you'd tell him that for me.

Why don't you tell him?

I'm gonna be riding out of here tonight.

He's awake.

I think he'd like to hear it from you.

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