Original subtitles

Hyah! Hyah!

HARDIE: My name is Jim Hardie.

I work for Wells Fargo, and sometimes I'm called on to hunt men.

This one was a murderer called Joe Black.

The local Wells Fargo man,

Clay Arvin of the Chickasaw office, was there to help me.

That's his pony right there.

What do we do, rush him?

No, we're gonna bird-dog him out of there.

You wait for me to get around behind and signal you.

Then you start to fire, keep him busy out here in front.

All right, boys, let him know we're here.

That's far enough, Blackie. You follow me?

All the way from Tucson. Then finish it.

No. You were born to hang.

Maybe I'm born to dance on your grave.

Three years out in the wide world ain't done you a bit of good.

He used to be one of our star borders.

Wish you'd never let him out.

You didn't say exactly why he was wanted this time.

Murder.

He killed one of out drivers.

He got $13 for it.

By the way, there's a reward.

If you write down the name of those two deputies, I'll see that they get it.

I'll be glad to.

Yeah, drop it off at the Wells Fargo office, Luke.

I'm not there, just leave it on my desk, huh?

After dinner be all right?

Oh, fine.

By the way, Jim, you're expected for dinner.

Clara mentioned somethin' about pie.

Then I'm gonna be there.

I'll pick him up in the morning.

About what time?

What time is our first stage outta here?

Well, there's one for Prescott at 6:10.

I'll pick him up at six o'clock.

BLACK: Hardie,

maybe I not be here in the morning.

Maybe nothin' will be here tomorrow.

Good night, Luke. Good night.

Clara? We're back.

CLARA: Good! Be right out.

Make yourself at home, Jim. Thank you.

Go ahead, sit down.

Boy, you got a nice place here, Clay.

Got a good wife.

Oh, that helps.

Boy, this feels so good I may never get up.

I know what you mean.

Apache, huh? Apache design.

You know, Jenny's awful good at that sort of thing.

Jenny?

She do this? Yeah.

Well, I should say she is good. That's beautiful!

Had any trouble with the Indians lately?

Apaches? Nah.

They're as tame as tabby cats. Why?

No reason.

Oh, hello, dear.

Hello, honey.

And Jim, I'm so glad to see you.

Good to see you too, Clara.

Dinner will be ready in just a minute.

Well, we're awful hungry.

Good.

You know, Jim, I'm not one to brag,

but until you've tasted Clara's cookin',

there's an awful lot about pie you just don't know.

Well, if you set yourself for pie, you have to unset yourself.

Oh, now, don't you tell me you went and burned it.

I didn't have a chance to.

That daughter of yours never came back with the berries.

You noticed how she's my daughter all of a sudden?

Well, she didn't get that dreamy streak from my side of the family.

I'll get it.

Oh, hello, Abel. What can I do for you?

I'd, uh, I'd like to speak to Jenny, please, ma'am.

Oh, well, didn't you two go berry-pickin' together?

She started home an hour ago.

We, uh, sort of had words

and she said she wanted to be alone.

Oh. Well, come on in.

Hi, young fella. Hi, sir.

Abel, this is Mr. Jim Hardie.

How do you do, sir? Nice to know ya.

Where'd you see her last, Abel?

Just this side of the lake.

You don't think she got herself lost, do you?

No, she's able to take care of herself.

She probably just wandered off someplace.

I'll go take a look for her. Come with me, Jim?

Be glad to. Well, I'll come along too.

Oh, there's no need to, Abel. We'll be right back.

Keep dinner warm, huh? Yes.

Do you have any idea where you think she'd be?

She should be down here by the lake.

Jenny!

Jenny!

Jenny!

Wait.

Is this hers? Yeah.

What do you think?

I don't know I think we better...

Any of you seen a young girl about eighteen?

I asked you a question.

If you're the chief, we'd like to speak with you.

I am the chief.

Jenny!

I see you found my friend's daughter.

We appreciate you bringing her back to us.

Not bring.

Girl belong to Akana, now.

In that case, perhaps you'd be interested in a trade.

Say, five pounds of tobacco for the girl.

Not want tobacco.

We'll throw in two Indian ponies and five blankets.

Apaches have ponies and blankets.

What do you want?

My brother, Black Feather.

You set him free. Black Feather?

We don't know a Black Feather.

You call Joe Black.

Joe Black has committed a crime.

He must stand before the white man's council. It's our law.

Don't care for law.

When my brother back with his people,

then I set girl free.

You come to my camp.

I give you until the sun sets tomorrow.

Do you think he means to keep his word?

I don't know. We'll see.

Wait a minute. Just a minute!

Let Clay finish.

Well, that's about all there is to tell.

He wants to trade Jenny for Joe Black.

Well, what are we waiting for?

The quicker we let that half-breed loose,

the better I'll feel about it.

Now Todd, we all agreed to wait until we hear from the army.

What if Akana decides to come in and take his brother

while the army is making up its mind, huh?

Well, he said we had till sunset tomorrow.

What an Indian says and what an Indian does are two different things.

As far as I'm concerned, we got a keg of dynamite in that jail.

Now, some of you men might like the idea

of getting this town massacred, but I... Hey. Wait, wait.

I'm-I'm the one that stands to lose the most.

I've been in this country long enough to know something about the Apaches.

Then you know enough not to start a general war.

I've been through a couple, and if weren't for my wife and...

my daughter...

We've got an answer from Fort McKay. What do they say?

"B Troop is south on maneuvers."

They're sending what help they can from the garrison.

They'll be here tomorrow.

Leftovers from the garrison.

You know what they'll be? They'll be cooks and bakers and drummer boys!

Well, they can help us stall until the main body gets here.

Yeah, but when'll that be?

Two days at best.

I suggest we try to get Akana in for a parlay.

There's a typical lame-brain army trick.

This Akana will smell it from here to the Arkansas,

and then see what happens to your daughter.

I am afraid Todd's right.

That Apache's a lot of things, but he's not a fool.

Men, we're in a tight spot.

I say let his brother go, and good riddance to the both of them.

If anybody's got anything to say, now is the time.

I'd like to say something.

What makes this your business?

Well, for one thing, Joe Black's my prisoner,

I guess that makes it my business.

But I'd like to get one thing clear.

To get Jenny back here safely is...

far more important than Joe Black or anyone like him.

But the point is to bring her back to a town

that's gonna be safe for her and everyone in it.

All I'm suggesting is that we wait

until the garrison troops get here.

What good will they do?

They can make Akana live up to his word...

If we stand behind 'em with every gun in this town.

This fella is looking to start an Indian war!

No, I'm looking to stop an Indian war.

But if you let Akana and his bunch get away with it now,

before long you're gonna have every Apache in their nation

right down the throat of this town.

Hardie's right. If we don't show this Apache

we're willing to stand up to him,

we'll really have a fight on our hands!

All in favor? Aye!

ALL: Aye.

MAYOR: Clay? Clara?

Anybody opposed?

Yes, I'm opposed.

Jo Black is still my prisoner.

I'm sorry, but we're gonna wait till the garrison troops get here.

What about you, Marshal?

I'm with Hardie.

I'm gonna help him.

Do you think you can keep that prisoner against a whole town?

I think we can try.

Want a cup? Sounds pretty good.

You still figure they'll try something?

If your friend Hoover's got anything to say about it, they will.

Oh, he's all right.

Just a little mouthy when he's nervous.

The Indians left him for dead once.

Kinda turned him against Indians.

All I'm saying is that your friend Hardie is dead wrong.

If we go out there with guns and cavalry,

there's no telling what Akana will do.

Why, will be begging for trouble, am I right?

I just don't know.

Well, I do.

It'll be the Fetterman massacre all over again.

What's the matter with you, Clay?

You voted to go along with us.

Look, maybe Hardie is right.

Maybe we should wait for the troops.

If we all had guns... Guns mean fight.

Now, I hate to say this, Clay,

but if it does come to a fight, you know who'll be the first to suffer.

It'll be your girl. Akana... That's enough!

I'm sorry I had to say this,

but it's time we faced the facts.

Clay, we've got to let that half-breed go!

Well, what do you want us to do? Kill Hardie and the Marshal?

We don't have to do anything that drastic.

They seem pretty determined.

Then we'll just have to be a little bit more determined.

Good. Now, lets get down to that jail.

Luke, Jim...

Evening, Clara. Evening, Clara.

What can I do for ya?

Could I speak to you a minute, Jim?

It's about Clay.

What about him?

Well, uh, I'm afraid...

Uh, would you mind stepping outside with me?

Its... it's sort of private.

Well, Clara, what is it?

Well, I... Easy!

I'm sorry, Jim.

HOOVER: All right, come on inside.

What is this?

HOOVER: Come on!

Don't go for it, Luke.

Where's the key?

All right, in there, the two of you.

Don't do it, men.

Clay, stop them!

I've got no choice, Luke. Inside, Luke.

All right.

All right, you're free to go.

I had gun before.

All right, give him a gun.

Your horse is outside.

Now you tell your brother we kept our part of the bargain.

I'll tell him... myself!

Come on, lets go.

I think I not go with you.

CLAY: I think you've got another think coming.

You kill me? Huh!

What then?

He's got all the cards, Clay. We just have to play it his way.

Now you listen,

you tell your bother that the white man wants to live in peace

with his red friends. Peace!

Give him a half-hour start and then let them out.

Don't you worry, Clara, its gonna work out fine.

Well, I just hope we did the right thing.

You can come out now.

No hard feelings.

You're goin' after him?

Got no choice. He's a renegade.

He'll kill that girl just for spite.

HARDIE: One thing, he was pretty certain in his own mind

that no one was gonna follow him.

After I'd trailed him for an hour or so,

a couple of things started to get plain.

First, he wasn't heading back to him brother Akana's camp.

He was heading north to the main Apache camp.

I guess he figured he'd be safer there.

The fire was still warm.

I had to stop him before he got any further north.

Akana would only wait for the next sunset.

By first light I was within minutes of him.

I was sure Black must've spotted me...

He was moving faster now.

I could see him cut away from the trail and head into a ravine.

Maybe he was just hoping I'd go up that ravine...

It was a real nice place for an ambush.

The nicest thing about an ambush is

that sometimes can it work both ways.

He'd have made a fair shot from where I was,

but if I wanted the girl back alive, I couldn't take a chance on killing him.

Throw down your gun, Joe.

You're gonna live.

I hope.

HARDIE: I got him on his horse.

About the only chance I had left was to hope

that his wound wasn't too serious.

I had to get him to Akana... Hope he'd keep his word.

Where is the white girl?

She is here. I've kept my word.

I've brought your brother back to you.

He...

I hated to shoot him, but he tried...

My brother is dead.

So this is how you keep word.

Now I keep word.

Apaches fair people.

I give you girl like you give me my brother.

Dead!

That'll make a good fight.

What fight? An Apache chief against a young girl.

I just kill, not fight.

Then why don't you? It's safer that way.

Maybe I kill you too.

I hope not.

I'd hate to die at the hands of an Apache woman killer who is afraid of men.

I've heard of you Coyote People.

You pick out the most cowardly one among you

and make him your chief.

You lie. Then fight me.

I kill you anyhow. Why fight?

Then kill me.

Then you can change your name from Akana to Yellow Dog.

What about the girl? If I win, she goes with me.

Ah, but you not win.

The chief gave his word.

Daddy!

I'd like to thank you, Marshal.

Thank Clay. He's the one

that finally decided we better come on out here.

Then I'll thank both of you.

HARDIE: The history of our country is dotted with too many Indian wars,

too many Indian massacres.

Most of them could have been avoided.

I was glad that this affair was stopped

before another general Indian war broke out.