Original subtitles

DRIVER: Hyah! Hyah!

Howdy. Hi.

Glad you happened along.

Some varmint knocked the sign down.

Oh, yeah.

Where are you headin'?

Rode over from Tonopah.

Been trying to figure the road to Goldfield.

That's the road to Goldfield.

That's where I'm going.

Mind if I ride along?

Name's Parker.

I'm Ed Garrett.

Figure on staking a claim in Goldfield?

No. Wells Fargo hired me to ride shotgun.

I'm gonna guard the silver out of Goldfield.

Let's go, I'm in a hurry.

Well, it worked out just like you said.

Yeah.

It pays to get the right information.

Now I'm Ed Garrett.

Ride shotgun for Wells Fargo.

I'll look after their silver real careful.

JIM: When news of a big mining strike gets out,

a town springs up from nowhere.

And it happened that way at Tonopah

just a couple of years before.

Now I was seeing it happen again.

Like most things that are done too quickly,

the town of Goldfield was a little raw from the start,

even the name.

It was silver they were hauling out of the mines,

but it was up to Wells Fargo

to get that silver safely out of Goldfield to the banks.

We'd opened a new office,

and I was here to help set it up.

I'm Jim Hardie,

Special Investigator for the company.

And I'll tell you again, Phil,

I got nothing for you.

Get out of here.

At least let me talk to Jim Hardie.

He's not here yet. Now go on, git.

Hello, Les. Hello, Jim.

Good to see you.

Look, who's here.

Phil, how are you?

Hello, Jim.

I wanna put it to you straight.

I need a job.

With Wells Fargo.

Somebody's gotta believe me.

None of it's true, why the company fired me.

It's just not true.

What do you mean, it isn't true?

You were in with a bunch of crooks in Tonopah

to hold up the stage you were guarding.

Only something misfired, and they put a bullet in your leg.

I heard about your trouble, Phil.

I tried to get a hold of you,

but nobody knew where you'd gone.

Les knew.

He knows a shack I got at the edge of town.

How's your wife?

How could she be, Jim?

We've been grubbing for a living.

All I'm asking you to do is to give me a chance.

I can still ride shotgun.

You had your chance, Phil.

I don't know what to say.

Les does all the hiring.

I understand he's already got a shotgun messenger hired.

LES: That's right. He's due in today.

Well...

I guess it was too much to expect even from you, Jim.

But I had to try.

Known Phil for a long time.

We used to make Leadville run together.

Yeah, I know.

It's hard for me to believe

that he'd ever do anything wrong.

LES: There was plenty of proof, Jim.

Howdy. Which one of you is Les Goslin.

I am. Do something for you?

I'm Ed Garrett.

Rode up about that job as shotgun messenger.

LES: Well, you made good time.

We can sure use you.

That's Jim Hardie.

Glad to know you, Mr. Hardie.

Pleased to meet you.

LES: Let me see your papers.

They're right here.

You can see, I've driven and ridden shotgun both

for Prairie Lines

outside of Carson City,

Pioneer Stages around St. Louis.

Can't ask much more experience than that.

You sound like just the man we need, Garrett.

What did you do on your last job, Mr. Garrett?

Driver.

Worked for them about two years.

Driver.

Could I see your hand again, please?

My hands?

A driver?

I'm afraid we can't use you after all, Mr. Garrett.

What kind of a deal is this?

Any driver I ever knew had hands like tanned horsehide.

Yours are as soft as a baby's.

You haven't handled a set of lines

in two, three, four, five years,

if ever.

I don't know what you're after,

but we can't use you.

You won't get the chance, mister.

I wouldn't work for this outfit for twice the pay.

You think he was a fake, Jim, huh?

You know what a driver's hands are like.

What do you think he was after?

I don't know,

but it doesn't make sense to wait and find out.

Well, uh...

I better cancel that run for tomorrow.

Maybe we can round up a guard for the day after.

No. No, we got a a contract, and we'll fill it.

Where are we gonna get a guard tonight?

What about Phil Coughlin?

Oh, Jim. You do a fool thing like that,

I can't take the responsibility.

I'll have to report to the home office.

Well, it won't hurt to go out and have a talk with him, anyway.

Jim.

You'd be making a mistake.

By trusting someone?

I hope not.

Well, how'd it go?

All wrong.

Why?

Fella there named Hardie, he spotted me.

Hardie?

Jim Hardie?

Yeah, you know him?

I know of him.

Now what do we do?

We'll think of something else. Come on.

Oh, hello, Mr. Hardie. Come in.

Well, thank you.

Hello, Phil.

Why, hello, Jim.

Didn't expect to see you.

We don't usually have visitors.

Well, it's not exactly a social call.

Matter of fact, we've decided

we're gonna need a shotgun messenger after all.

You think you could handle the job?

Why, yes, I do, but how about you?

Do you think I could?

If I didn't think so I wouldn't be here.

Can you shoot pretty good?

Oh, can he shoot pretty good?

Since Phil's been out of work,

all we've had to eat was what he could get

with that old scatter-gun there.

We haven't missed a meal yet.

Well, that's fine.

However, out here in the west,

where the spaces are so great,

we've found that a rifle's usually a better weapon than a scatter-gun.

Can you hit anything with a rifle?

I think so.

Well, why don't we get some old tin cans,

if you got any, Mrs. Coughlin.

We'll go outside and find out.

Sure.

That's fine.

Whenever you're ready.

You just take your time now.

We got all day if we need it.

Ready?

Pretty good shootin'.

You got the job.

Thanks, Jim.

You're not risking your job, are you?

No. No, I don't think so.

I could let you have an advance if you needed it, Phil.

No, thanks.

I want to earn my pay.

Pay me after the first run.

That's a deal.

First run will be the first thing in the morning.

8 o'clock sharp.

I'll be driving for you.

Jim...

you didn't ask me about Tonopah hold-up.

Didn't figure I had to.

Good day, Mrs. Coughlin.

Thanks, Jim.

See you in the morning, Phil.

I don't want you to do this, Jim.

You've been with Wells Fargo a long time.

Why risk anything happening?

I didn't send in that report to the home office,

but I'm afraid I'll have to.

Go ahead and send it in, Les.

I've got a hunch it's gonna be all right.

Oh, Phil, we're all ready.

I'll give you a hand up.

Thanks, Jim.

I can manage myself.

Hyah!

You don't need to hold a death grip on that rifle, Phil.

Why don't you lay it down there on the boot.

You can get at it in plenty of time if you need it.

It's like having to learn my job all over again.

That tree will stop 'em right where we want 'em.

Yeah.

Let 'em run it out.

A wreck would make the job real easy.

Here they come.

We got trouble up ahead there.

Hold up! Ho!

Whoa!

Cover me. All right.

That shotgun rider is too handy with that rifle.

Yeah.

I think I know him.

Well, who is he?

An old friend of ours, Luke.

He's gonna help us make a real haul

the next time we try.

PARKER: Come on, let's get out of here.

Are you all right?

It's nothing. Let's get out of here.

Get up. Get up there.

All right now?

Feels fine.

Scratch ain't worth the bandage that Doc put on it.

Thank you a lot, Doc.

Well, Phil, you sure proved a point today.

Well, man either does a job or doesn't.

And you did yours.

Why don't you go on home and take a rest?

Your wife is probably anxious to see you.

It'll be good coming home from work again.

Good night. Good night.

Good night, Phil.

PHIL: Good night.

Well, Les.

All right, don't say it.

Looks like maybe I made a mistake,

unless, of course, he's playing for bigger stakes.

What do mean?

That was a light shipment today.

You'll be carrying 20 times that much.

Smart man would wait his best chance.

No, I think you're betting on the wrong horse.

I hope so.

Are you, uh, taking the run tomorrow?

Right on schedule.

Good night.

Evening, Coughlin.

I don't know you.

Sure, you do.

You look familiar.

Who are you?

There's the hotel.

Let's go into my room.

I wanna talk to you.

We got nothing to talk about.

You're wrong. Let's go.

Up the back stairs.

All right.

Now what do you want with me?

Relax. Sit down.

We're here to do you a favor.

You wanna keep this job of yours?

What do you think?

I think you'll play along with us.

What are you after?

Not a lot.

Just a hint now and then

when a good shipment's going out.

Not too much fuss when me and Luke

check the stage for it.

We ain't greedy,

and we don't mean to overdo it

or get Wells Fargo suspicious.

And there'll be a nice little cut in it for you.

That's right, Coughlin.

And if I don't go along?

We'll knock you right off the box.

If we don't get you, you got a wife.

You leave my life alone.

Be smart this time, Coughlin.

This time?

PARKER: You remember Jake Havel?

Jake got himself shot by a Marshal.

But three years ago, on the Tonopah run,

he tried to make the same kind of a deal with you,

but you wouldn't use your head.

So it was you.

You were the pair who were with him.

That's right.

You try and prove it.

You only got a crippled leg the last time.

Know what will happen to you now

if you give us any trouble.

Open the door, Luke.

Go on home.

Think it over.

Carol, I don't like this.

Why should I run away from that pair?

Maybe if I stood up to them.

What'll it get you?

You've given Wells Fargo years of your life.

You beat out my heart carrying those guns on the stage run.

You went through all this before, Phil.

Yes, but I don't believe in running away.

You're right, Phil.

Jim?

If you were planning on quitting,

don't you think you should have told me first?

You weren't at the office.

It's the same as before, Jim.

They're threatening me and Carol.

And what could I prove?

When the home office finds out that you hired me,

they'll get rid of me.

Mr. Hardie, my husband wasn't in

with those stage robbers at Tonopah.

He was seen talking to them

just before the gold was shipped.

But I never tipped them off.

They must have found out some other way.

Even after they hit you, you didn't fight back. Why?

The coach was crowded with passengers.

I wouldn't risk a fight.

To me, people's lives are more important than gold shipments.

Those outlaws, they were trying to get back at me

because I wouldn't throw in with them.

Why, when I held up the stage, they treated me as if I were bribed.

Everybody believed them.

Even after they shot me,

people figured they were just double-crossing one of their own.

You know the rest.

Company kicked me out.

Well, I believe your story, Phil,

or I wouldn't have ever come here in the first place.

I also believe that a company the size of Wells Fargo

has got a license to make a mistake, too.

Now, what are you running from?

Jim, the same two are here from Tonopah,

wanting to make the same deal.

I see.

All right.

Let's just make a deal.

Make a deal? Exactly.

There he is.

How's the arm? A little stiff?

Never felt better.

Okay. Go to it.

There's the signal.

I knew he'd come through. Let's go.

Hello, Les. Everything all right?

Anytime you're ready, you can pull out.

Good.

All right, Phil!

Folks, better got going.

Where are we picking up Boyd?

Up ahead about a quarter of a mile.

JIM: Whoa! Whoa!

Whoa now.

Well, how do I look, Mr. Hardy? You look fine.

I don't think they can tell us apart twenty feet away.

All right, you better get up.

Well, Buck, you wait an hour.

If we're not back yet, then take your wife

and start on back to town.

All right.

Giddup, boy.

Hyah!

They're right on time.

Whoa! Whoa, now!

Whoa!

You, Hardie, drop your gun over the side.

Keep your hands up, both of you.

Where's the gold?

Inside.

Get it.

Throw down your gun.

Now, Parker,

tell Hardie about the Tonopah hold-up.

Tell him!

Phil, we can take him into the marshal.

Not this one, Jim.

There's one bullet left, so it's gotta count.

It'll be right between your eyes.

Phil!

Don't try to stop me, Jim.

I'll squeeze the trigger first.

All right, Hardie. It's true.

He had no part of it.

We were paying him back for turning our offer down.

All right, Boyd. Put him in the coach.

Would you really have shot him?

I don't know.

I didn't give myself a chance to find out.

There was only one bullet left,

and I shot his hat off with it.

It's empty.

JIM: Parker's confession cleared things for Phil Coughlin.

The company promoted him to a permanent desk job,

but Wells Fargo never boasted

a better shotgun messenger than he was.

You have to gamble with human nature once in a while.

And it's always a good feeling

when we see the gamble paying off.