All language subtitles for The Macahans s01e22 The Forgotten

In almost every war that has ever been
fought, there have been men who continue

to fight long after their leaders had
surrendered or their cause been lost.

Some fought on out of stubborn pride.

Some out of the bitterness of the wasted
years and the graves of those who had

fallen for a principle that had still
not been won.

And some, the fewest of all, for reasons
far, far more tragic.

Billy, get the tripod and put it over on
that embankment down over that log at

the end of the creek.

Sure thing, sir.

Luke, will you get off that horse for a
minute?

Just cause you're a guide for this
survey party.

That don't mean we have to get over that
mountain ahead of the wind.

Steep enough to make a man look like a
fool trying to climb up it.

What are you looking at?

Nothing, I guess.

Where's those birds?

It's like someone flushed them out up
there.

He is getting jumpy, Luke.

Okay, bring that leg down there a little
bit.

All right, sir.

What the...

Billy!

He's been shot!

Whoever it is knows how to shoot.

It's got to be Indians.

They'd be on us by now.

Sergeant!

He's still alive!

Billy's still alive!

I'm going after him. Now you know we're
going together.

Jonas! Just keep shooting at the top of
that ridge up there.

Come on.

Take it easy, son.

Take it easy, Dave. You'll be all right.

Oh, my God.

Who are you?

Why? Jonas, cover yourself.

Keep some shots firing up at that
ridgeline.

Jonas. What did he look like?

I don't know.

Just a shadow.

Now, look.

You ride into Teton. Tell Doc Gunnarsson
to get to the McCain Ranch as fast as

he can.

Then telegraph the fort and tell him
what's happened.

Now, go on.

Sure.

Well, it aren't good, Josh. It's liable
to come off in the next storm.

Yeah?

I'm liable to come off in the next storm
if Laura and Jesse don't stop shaking

this ladder.

It's just the wind, Josh.

What's the matter? You're afraid you're
going to fall off?

Luke's coming.

Looks like he's got somebody hurt with
him.

What happened?

The survey team I was leading got
bushwhacked and Molly up on the

Sergeant Worth is still there.

He's dead.

I sent a soldier into town to get Doc
Gunnarsson. Oh, dear God.

What reason would anyone have for doing
that?

No reason from what I can tell.

But he's just a boy.

Old enough to know a pretty girl when I
see one.

Oh, with that attitude, you'll recover
quickly enough.

Take him inside and into bed, boys.
Sorry to be such a bother, ma 'am. It's

bother. Now consider the matter closed.

Breathing stopped.

Internal bleeding.

I tried.

No one could have done more, Doctor.

I can't believe what happened up on that
mountain.

Oh, no.

Molly, he's not.

Yes, I'm afraid Billy's dead.

There were complications.

I'm sorry, son.

He was so young.

Give him months' pay to get my hands on
that bushwhacker.

It's almost first light. I'm going after
him.

After who, Luke?

The one who did this.

Luke, I know how you must feel, but
truly this is a military job.

She's right.

It's strictly army business.

I'm making it mine.

Luke, I just can't see you riding up
there alone.

If not it, Molly, I'm going with him.

Fair enough.

I'm not taking no for an answer, Luke.

What did you say?

I said I'm glad for the company.

I'll go saddle the horses.

I wish your Uncle Zeb were here to ride
along with you.

It would be a comfort.

Now, there's a killer on that mountain,
Luke, and Josh is... Josh has grown up,

Aunt Molly.

He did real fine out in that street with
Uncle Zeb facing down Henry Cole.

You see who it was did the shooting?

No, I just caught a glimpse of someone
slipping off into the trees. I think it

was just one man, though.

And he was firing a musket.

A musket?

Yeah. I thought I recognized the sound
of powder and ball at the time.

See, during the war, we used both
muskets and breech loaders. It wasn't

before we knew which was which by the
sound.

Come on.

This is it.

Where were you when the shooting
started?

Over there across that stream bed there.

Sergeant Worth's body. I don't see it.

Josh, up your horse!

That's a musket, all right.

All I know is you have to muzzleload
them.

That's right.

Takes an expert to fire off a round in
less than eight to ten seconds.

He's an expert.

Cover me.

One.

Four.

Five.

Six. Seven.

Eight.

So much as move.

Let go of the musket.

Come back for another try, did you?

I ought to blow your head off, mister.

Well, if you're going to shoot, shoot. I
ain't afraid.

You'll kill people.

Good people. Friends of mine.

Yankee Bluebellies.

Had the chance, I'd do it again.

Well, you just run out of chances.

You're going back with me.

You make one wrong move, it'll be tied
over a saddle.

You gotta take me first.

Well, come on, Yankee. I'm waiting.

Come on.

Spantrix, watch yourself.

Hello?

Josh?

Josh, you all right? Yeah.

I just got the wind locked down.

Luke!

Not just who are you, mister.

And what are you doing wearing that
uniform?

I'm a Confederate soldier doing my duty.

That's who I am.

A soldier?

What do you take us for?

Nobody's worn that uniform for more than
four years.

I think he's mad.

What are you looking at me like that
for?

Come on.

The horses are over that way.

I got a lot of reasons to bury you right
here.

So just give me an excuse.

Aunt Molly, Luke and Josh are back.

Is that him? Yeah, that's him all right,
M. Molly.

Admitted to the killings.

He's the one that bushwhacked Billy and
the sergeant. That murderer. Easy, easy,

Jonas.

He's wounded bad.

What happened to him?

He hit his head on something.

Forced Luke to shoot him.

Pretty.

My wife.

Call Ville, never ask her.

Tell her I'm alive.

Been to prison.

His wife?

He's out of his head, Aunt Molly.

Come on, let's take him in the bar and
wait for the army to come and get him.

No, Luke.

We'll put him in the house.

Now, I don't care who he is or what he's
done. That man is hurt very badly.

Can't leave him out here in the damp and
cold.

Jonas, I assume you'll be riding into
Teton to telegraph the fort about this.

Would you be so kind as to ask Dr.

Gunnarsson to get out here as quickly as
he can?

Yes, ma 'am.

Then I'll be getting on back to the
fort.

And, Molly, you sure you want to do
this? Yes, Luke, I'm sure. I'm sure.

Tell you something, Doctor.

I think all those years on that mountain
must have affected that man's mind.

Do you know, he wouldn't even let me put
on a clean shirt over the bandage. He

insisted on putting back on that dirty
uniform.

Well, Molly, this wouldn't be the first
time I've seen loneliness drive a man a

little mad.

Trappers snowbound from month on end
come back sometimes mad as hatters.

Is that a fact?

Well, usually it's just a temporary
condition.

Well, will he be all right?

He won't die, will he?

Oh, I don't think so.

The bullet came out easy enough.

He did lose a lot of blood, and it'll be
a good week before he can be moved.

Aye.

Well, thank you, Doctor.

I hope it's a while before we have to
bring you out here again.

So do I, Molly.

So do I.

Duty of every Confederate soldier when
he's taken prisoner to try to escape

Confederate soldier Maybe

you could look the other way while I
write off You don't look

like you're in any condition to ride
anywhere and why would I let a killer go

off, huh?

Maybe because

I'll let you go off after you've done a
bit of killing.

What?

You think on it, Yankee.

If you were smart, you'd stick close to
that bed.

Let that wound do some healing for a
while.

Smart or not, mister, remember one
thing. You're in a house full of people

love. You try anything, I'll kill you.

I'm a soldier.

I wouldn't hurt women or kids.

I wouldn't hurt nobody that was
helpless.

You ought to know that.

You keep saying you're a soldier.

Don't make no more sense than that talk
you did back at the barn.

You mean about you owing me?

Heck, you're only alive now because I
didn't kill you.

It wasn't for lack of trying.

I don't mean up on that mountain.

You still don't remember, do you?

That we met before?

Well, I was looking close at you at
times.

Thought I recognized you.

Wasn't sure.

Am now.

You were at Shiloh in 62.

In a Yankee uniform.

How do you know that?

Shiloh.

Second day.

Close to sundown.

Hiding in bushes near a creek.

Heard some shooting and someone
screaming.

It's beginning to come back to you now,
ain't it?

You're wounded in the side.

Left side, just below the ribs.

Bet you're still carrying a scar.

I couldn't see what was going on.

I kept hearing shooting.

Done my way to see what was going on
when I come nose to nose with you.

Limping through the woods.

Bleeding looking like you'd just seen
the gates of hell.

You were hurting.

Maybe hurting too much to remember,
but... I saw you.

And you saw me.

You could have killed me.

That's why I said maybe you could look
the other way while I rode off.

But those people up in the mountain that
you killed, why?

I'm a Confederate regular, in uniform
and under orders.

Yankees got to expect to be shot at,
don't they?

Are you trying to tell me you actually
think the war is still being fought?

Don't you think for a minute I can't see
what you're trying to do?

You tricked me into believing the war's
over.

So I'll tell you everything I know.

Didn't anybody tell you that Lee
surrendered at Appomattox in 65?

General Lee?

Surrender?

Never.

He not only surrendered.

Well, Abe Lincoln's been shot. Ulysses
S. Grant is president now.

That's some story.

Ulysses Grant is the biggest drunk in
the Yankee army.

Who'd make him president?

The war has been over for more than four
years.

Look.

What's that?

It's a newspaper.

Maybe a month old, but it's proof that
you've been living in the past.

Here, look.

There's an article at the bottom of the
page.

Statue's being erected at General Lee in
honor of his heroism during the war.

Well, go on, read it.

You won't find a single casualty list in
that paper.

But one thing about battles being won or
lost, what you will find is that for

the past four years, mister, you've been
killing innocent people.

I didn't know.

Them soldiers I killed.

I didn't know.

They helped me God. I didn't know.

I thought I was doing my duty.

I was ordered to stay up there.

Not let any Yankees come by me.

Ordered to stay up on that mountain.

To do what?

Makes no difference now.

Well, mister, by your own admission, men
died because you were up there.

Seems to me the why makes one whale of a
difference.

He spared your life?

That man up there in your room?

And he really thought the war was still
going on?

That seems awfully hard to believe.

About as hard as it was for him to
believe the war's been over for more

four years.

Then he's not what we thought at all.

A murderer.

He's a victim.

Oh, my God, how terrible.

What is it, Luke?

Soldiers out in our field.

You're in charge.

In case you weren't aware, this is our
land.

Colonel Roland Craig.

Attached to General Headquarters staff.

I think what my aunt wondered was those
soldiers on our land.

Your name, sir?

Luke McCann.

Oh, yes.

The man that caught that gorilla.

To answer your unspoken question, madam,
I am bivouacking my men on this meadow

with the permission of the McCanns, of
course.

Well, yes, I suppose.

And as to why we're here, I've come to
establish the extent of gorilla activity

in this area and to execute the gorilla
that Mr. McCann had the good fortune to

apprehend. Colonel, we learned a few
things about this man. His name is

Willow.

Instead of being a Confederate
guerrilla, he was a soldier, thinking he

doing his duty.

Doing his duty?

Killing military personnel assigned to
survey work?

I know this is going to sound strange,
Colonel, but he didn't know the war was

over.

Well, actually, Mr. McCann, that doesn't
sound strange to me. Not strange at

all.

There are very few rational lies left to
those caught in the act of killing

other human beings under the guise of
never having heard of Appomattox.

Although I must confess, with more than
four years having passed, Mr.

Willow's story would strain the
credulity of a moron.

Is the prisoner still being held in the
house?

Yes, indeed he is, Colonel, but he's in
no condition to be moved.

Oh? Why not, may I ask?

He's laid up with a bad wound. Still in
some considerable pain.

Is he indeed?

Well, the hangman's noose will shortly
relieve him of that inconvenience.

Perhaps you'll be good enough to show me
to the prisoners so I can have him

moved to the bivouac?

Colonel, I just told you that he's in no
condition to be moved.

And I have no intention of letting you
come into our house to abuse that man.

Madam, I have no intention of abusing
him.

But I hope you will allow me an
immediate interrogation of the prisoner.

He's still asleep.

Then we'll just have to wake him, won't
we?

You may leave, Mr. McCain.

Colonel, it'd be in my room.

I think I'll stay.

As you wish.

All good things must come to an end,
must they not, Mr. Willow?

What are you talking about?

Come now, Mr. Willow.

Were you the only one up on that
mountain?

Or are there others like you still up
there?

What do you mean, others like me?

You don't know.

I told you, Colonel. He's just somebody
who thought the war was still on, that's

all. Well, it's the truth, Colonel.

I thought the North and South were still
fighting each other.

Well, I was ordered to stay up on that
mountain, not let any Yankees come by

I see.

Then tell me, Mr. Willow, if you really
thought the war hadn't ended, I mean,

knowing now that it's over, why were
you, as you put it, ordered to stay on

mountain all those years?

Tell him, Andrew.

Nothing else to say?

I believe you.

I don't think there is anything else to
say.

No, for once the man's telling the
truth.

And as soon as you're able to stand, Mr.
Willow, it'll be in front of a military

hearing. Colonel, the war is over.

That would make Willow here a civilian.
Seems to me you lack the authority to

bring him to a military hearing. Mr.
McCann, I have since the end of the war

been invested with power and authority
by General Thomas Gates of the United

States Army to deal with guerrilla
matters as I see fit.

And I declare this to be strictly a
military matter.

It's real nasty to help me clean up a
little bit, Miss Laura.

Quite a chore taking off all that hair.

I lopped it off now and again as much as
I could, but you can only do so much

with a bayonet.

Prudy, you shaved me for a whole month
once when I...

Hurt my hand plowing.

Prudy, it's your wife, isn't it?

Yes, ma 'am.

That's why I wanted to get a shave and
cut my hair.

When she gets here, I want her to see me
the way she used to remember me.

She's coming here?

Yeah. I had Josh send a telegraph.

She should be arriving on the noon
stage.

Got me a little one, too.

I don't know if it's wearing boots or
lice.

Prudy was still carrying when I went off
to war.

They were the only things that kept me
going all those years on the mountain.

Andrew, about all those years... I don't
know what you're going to ask, Luke.

Don't.

I've got nothing else to say.

You wouldn't by any chance be Prudence
Willow, would you?

Yes. Oh.

I'm Luke McCann, ma 'am.

Oh.

And this... This must be that little one
her daddy keeps talking about.

Her name is Stacy, Mr. McCann.

Nice to meet you, Stacy.

They told me my husband was missing in
action in 64.

Later, they sent word that he was
presumed dead.

Yeah, ma 'am.

Let me get your bags down, all right?

Hey, bud, want to throw down your bags
for me?

Okay.

All right, this way, ma 'am.

You've all been decent to me, and I want
to

thank you for it.

Staying in a room like this is a lot
different than being on a mountain.

You know, I was wondering, Mr. Willow,
just where did you stay on that

Where does someone stay on a mountain?

Wherever he can get to keep the rain off
his head and the wind off his back.

I just sort of staked me out a piece of
land.

Just lived on it.

Does that make it legally mine?

That piece of land?

I don't know.

Reckon you'd have to file a claim for
it.

But why would you want it?

Nothing up there except brush and
rabbits.

A man can get attached to wherever it is
he's at. Is there long enough?

You have company, Mr. Willow?

It's been a long time.

Yes, Andrew.

It has a very long time.

You look pretty as ever.

Josh.

You two soldier, you're not needed here
at this moment.

Mrs. Culhane, I have my orders.

Oh, he's not going anywhere. He's
manacled.

Besides, you already got someone
guarding the yard.

But I take full responsibility.

Prudy?

Stacy, your daughter.

Stacy.

Hello, Pop.

Come here.

So, looks like I got me a little bit
late.

I'll bet you got a smile that could
light a whole world.

Let's see.

Hope you're not too disappointed in
seeing what your bar looks like for the

first time.

Oh, no.

I like you.

Are you hurt, Pa?

Was hurting real bad.

Till you and your Ma came.

You and Stacy must be tired after the
trip.

Trip was wearing, Andrew.

And maybe you could use the rest, too.

We'll have a lot to talk about.

A lot of things to catch up on.

Nice night.

It all seems so strange, seeing Andrew
again.

After thinking all these years, he
was... Yes, I understand.

Mrs. Culhane.

Mrs. Culhane, I... What is it?

There's something I need to tell
someone.

I can't hold it in any longer.

Well, if it's any help, I'm very good at
keeping confidences.

I've remarried, Mrs. Culhane.

When Andrew didn't come home from the
war, I still didn't give up hope that

maybe somehow, even when they presumed
him dead in 65, finally I

got tired of trying to fool myself.

I met a man, Lehi Killip.

Married him.

Stacy needed a father.

She didn't think she had one.

At least not live in.

You shouldn't torment yourself.

You did what was right. You couldn't
know.

When the telegram came saying that
Andrew was still alive, I told Daisy

that these things happen sometimes.

And that she has two fathers now.

I told him not to say a word about her
new pod, Andrew.

What with all he has gone against him.

If no one were remarried, it would break
his heart.

Yes, I think it probably would.

Morning, Mrs. Willow.

Luke.

You're up so early.

Just came down to watch the sun break
across the hill.

Andrew and I used to get up every
morning and watch that yellow sun come

together.

It was just something we did.

He'd known yellow was my favorite color.

He'd been planted a whole bed of bright
yellow flowers outside of the house on

my birthday.

There's a chance that you can have some
more of those special times.

If someone could convince Andrew to tell
us why he was up on that mountain for

all those years.

Those special times are gone, Luke.

Forever.

Andrew can never come home with us.

He can never go home with you?

I don't understand.

I'd rather not go into it with you.

Or explain, please, Luke.

Mr. McCann, good morning.

Mrs. Willow, Mr. Cohen, I've decided to
begin your husband's hearing

tomorrow.

Tomorrow?

But, Colonel, the doctor had said that
Andrew Willow should not be moved for at

least a week. My time is limited, Mrs.
Cohen.

So is Willow's.

Yes.

I would expect the hearing to take
several days. It could, of course...

be held out in the bivouac area, but I'd
rather not move the accused back and

forth like a sack of grain.

So I wonder if we might have your
permission to hold the hearing here in

house?

Of course, if the hearing must be held,
then yes.

It would be preferable to moving that
man in there back and forth like a sack

grain, as you say.

Your father's done some bad things,
child. He's hurt people.

And when somebody hurts someone, they
must be punished.

He never hurt Mama, and he never hurt
me.

If he hurt anybody, it's because of the
war.

Didn't you hurt anybody in the war,
mister?

There's something you forgot to say, Mr.
Culhane.

You like Appaloosa, Colonel?

Oh, well, I... I hadn't noticed.

How much do you notice?

I'm afraid the significance of that
question eludes me, madam.

Well, what I mean is that...

Sometimes a person can, well, harden
themselves to something so much that

fail to see the beauty or the goodness
in anything else.

Oh.

Well, I had two sons that I used to see
a world of good and beauty in.

One of them was killed during the war.

The war?

Almost without exception spared few of
us some personal tragedy, did it not?

Personal tragedy, madam?

No, as a soldier, I accept warfare as
being impersonal.

I mean, sorrows come our way, don't
they?

Impartially proffered by the hand of
fate?

It's the after -war tragedies that
become very personal indeed.

When we've all supposedly put aside the
horror to live in common peace.

It's the day of the vulture, if you
will.

I'm not sure I understand you, Colonel.

Gorillas, Mrs. Culhane.

A handful of them broke into my son's
house just after the war.

My only remaining son.

And they... They

bayoneted him to death.

Killed his wife.

Gorillas, Mrs. Culhane.

Just like your Mr.

Willow in there.

Good day, madam.

Why, Andrew, why? Why won't you tell?

Luke's been after you to talk to me.

But all of it's one and the same for
you, for you to go free.

Prudence, I've done nothing wrong.

They're not going to hang me. They've
got to set me free.

But suppose they don't.

Suppose they say, Andrew Willow, you're
hiding something.

And if you don't tell us what it is,
well, that proves you're the gorilla we

you are.

Forrest Costas, hasn't it pretty?

We're like two friends talking.

Not like it was.

You always laughing, wanting to be
kissed, be squeezed tight in my arms.

Don't want to slip these around you.

Wouldn't seem right.

Only one thing is important, Dad.

And that's having you free again.

Just me being free?

More than that now, Prudy.

You, Stacy, and me, we've all had
something taken away from us.

Why, I want you.

I made up my mind to do what I have to
do.

And, Prudy, there is something you can
do for me.

Maybe I can do it myself if they let me
go, but... There's this piece of

land I sort of lived off on the
mountain.

It's in the high gorges.

Spent so much time on it, I kind of come
to see it as being ours.

When you happen to get into town, maybe
you could look into the particulars of

getting it filed for.

Filing for mountain land.

But what could the land gonna be if
you... Hang?

Said you want to see me, Pa.

Forever and ever.

But if I can't, I want to at least make
sure you and your Ma are happy for the

rest of your lives.

What do you mean, Pa?

Well, I got something I can't show to
your Ma.

Afraid she might show it to Luke or to
that army man, Colonel Craig, and that'd

spoil everything.

I want you to keep it safe for me,
Stacey.

A map?

It's showing the way to the mountain
land where I was living.

I want you to hide it from me.

What's your doll's name?

Charity.

Can Charity keep a secret?

Uh -huh.

Good. Can you?

As good as Charity.

Well, then it's to be our secret.

Now, if they let me go...

I'll take you and Prudy up there and
show you the secret.

Maybe we could even stay there, up in
the mountains.

You'd like it, Stacy.

It's right up in the sky.

You could chase the butterflies through
the wildflowers on the slopes and

rabbits scampering around thick as
grass.

Now, what's on that land will keep you
and Dolls and your ma in fine clothes

the rest of your lives.

The blazy yellow that lit the north wall
will crown what's to be yours.

Wrote that on the map.

What's it mean, Pa?

Well, your ma'll understand.

I had to write it that way so that if
somebody else gets a hold of the map,

won't know where to find what's hidden.

What is hidden?

Our secret's big enough already, don't
you think?

Add any more to it, it'll be too hard.

Too big for a little girl to keep all
inside.

I don't want you to go away, Pa.

I want you with Ma and me.

I'll be happy wherever I go.

As long as I know you and your Ma are
taken care of.

You'll be happy so I can.

Isn't that a fair bargain?

Now remember, what I told you is our
secret.

I will, Pa.

You promise?

Uh -huh.

You've got to say it.

I promise.

My girl.

Andrew Willow, you are charged with
murder in connection with the wanton

slayings of Private William Twiggs and
Sergeant Chester Worth on the fifth day

of March, 1869.

How do you plead, Mr. Willow, innocent
or guilty?

Well, I shot him, all right.

But I didn't kill nobody without cause,
Colonel.

I thought the war was still on. You'll
not have every opportunity to defend

yourself, Mr. Willow.

But properly?

Indeed, we would all love to hear you
break that silence, Mr. Willow.

Now, you have stated that you did not
know the war was over.

And if I'm correct, you have also stated
previously that you were placed in the

mountain. Under order.

Well?

Yes, sir.

Am I also correct in assuming that you
are now very much aware that the war is

over?

Yes, sir.

If, Mr. Willow, you were acting under
orders, as you claim you were, would you

be so good as to tell us what kind of
orders would keep a man on a mountain

half a decade?

And who it was that so ordered you?

You wanted your chance, Mr. Willow. Here
it is. Speak up.

Or were you perhaps a deserter from your
own ranks who took to the hill? I'm no

deserter, Colonel.

I believe you, Mr. Willow.

How could I for a moment have suggested
otherwise?

On the contrary, the passion that you
just exhibited would seem to confirm...

The one and only motive for so long a
sojourn on that mountain.

One that would most certainly explain
your keeping silent. I mean, especially

here in the presence of soldiers in blue
uniforms.

A mountain's a good place to hide, isn't
it?

A good place to ambush people.

Especially Union soldiers.

Something that a guerrilla...

with an intense passion and hatred for
northerners who'd relish more in life

itself.

Mr. Willow.

I seem to have proved a point.

You pushed him into it.

One does not push a man like this into
violence, Mr. McCann. It is inherent in

his nature. All one needs to do is give
him the opportunity to display it.

Andrew's not what you say he is. He is a
good man, and he was a good soldier.

I am not contesting the fact that he was
a good soldier, Mrs. Willow. On the

contrary, he was so dedicated to the
Confederacy that he kept his own war

after more than four years.

Ask Captain Jethro Clay, who Andrew
served under, or any soldier from the

Texas Cavalry.

They'll tell you what kind of man Andrew
is.

That there's no one alive with more
feeling for others than him.

Why don't you telegraph the War
Department?

See if they can get a hold of this
Captain Clay.

request and hope for an immediate
answer.

I declare this hearing to be recessed
until further notice.

Pretty night, huh, Stacy?

to scare you.

That's all right, Luke. I'm not scared.

I guess you know I've been trying to
help your pa.

Uh -huh.

I think a lot of him.

Like I do you and your ma.

But you know something, Stacy?

I think I've just about run out of ways
to help him.

You wouldn't happen to know a way to
help him that I don't, would you?

Papa says he knows what's best.

McCain, I'm beset by a few curiosities.

You might help me with one of them.

Help you in what way?

I believe it's something on that
mountain that holds our answer to

is that Willow's concealing. And I want
to find out what that is.

If for no other reason than to clarify
the evidence.

When I sentence someone like Willow, I
don't want any mysteries left hanging in

the air.

I want the man dead.

Buried and forgotten.

Why tell me all this?

Because at first light, I'd like you to
accompany me to the mountain.

You're familiar with the area?

Those are mighty big mountains, Colonel.

Hard to tell where to start looking
first.

That's another reason I want you with
me.

Because you're as interested as I am in
finding out what the man's keeping

secret. Maybe more.

So you'll be looking very hard.

Hmm?

As if Mr. Willow's life depended on it?

What is it?

Just about right here where we ran into
those man traps.

The way I see it, Colonel, somebody
alone wouldn't just lay traps anywhere.

You put them where they lived or stayed
so nobody would come creeping up on them

while they were asleep.

Your reasoning's faulty, McCann.

Gorillas never stay in any one place. It
makes them too vulnerable to capture.

So they move about constantly.

That might be where Willow lived. A
trapper, perhaps, but not Willow.

Now, what makes you so sure?

I told you before, Mr. McCain, gorillas
don't build cabins.

Their tracks would too easily give away
their positions.

Well, it won't hurt to take a look.

A picture of Andrew Willow's wife.

That's proof enough he's been staying
here.

Andrew said she was the only thing that
kept him going.

It just doesn't make any sense.

It makes perfect sense if Willow is not
a gorilla.

But you're still not prepared to admit
that, are you?

In spite of all of this.

Thank you not to make judgments about
what I think or don't think, McCain.

But if Willow didn't follow the pattern
of every gorilla I've ever known, it's

because...

Because he couldn't. Because he had to
stay here.

Why?

I have no immediate answer. Perhaps to
protect something?

Something that he couldn't easily carry
away?

What's it?

What are you

making of it, Colonel?

Sergeant Worth's cab.

He's inscribed their names and the dates
they died.

Almost all of them after the war had
ended.

Well, it seems we have our answer as to
why Mr. Willow

was so reticent about what he'd been
doing up on this mountain.

Slaughtering unsuspecting Union
soldiers.

Stealing their valuables. I can't
believe it.

You can't believe the evidence of your
own eyes.

A murderer wouldn't bury his victims and
mark their graves with their own

headgear. He'd be signing his own death
warrant.

Which is exactly what our Mr. Willow has
done.

Well, Mr.

Willow, in light of the fact that you
will not tell me why you were ordered to

stay on that mountain, Why you built
that cabin?

Or what it is that you're hiding?
Winters were cold.

Needed a place to keep out of the
weather.

He's telling the truth.

He's not hiding anything about his
cabin. He built it to live in. Is that

strange? For a gorilla, yes.

They'd never live in a place they
thought to be enemy territory.

Andrew wanted that land for the future,
for us.

He wanted to file for it.

Tell him, Andrew.

You wanted to file for the land, Mr.
Willow?

Figured someday it might be worth
something to my wife and daughter.

But did you feel that they'd be
comfortable living on land inhabited by

men?

I told you why I shot those men.

We back to that again, Mr. Willow?

I gave them Christian burials.

And next, I suppose you're going to tell
me that you kept the personal

belongings, the watches, rings, money,
medals, thinking to return them to their

families after the war. That's why I
kept them.

Made sure I marked the graves proper,
too, so Ken could send the bodies home

again if they'd have mind to.

Did you indeed.

I received this telegram this morning
from the War Department in regard to

Captain Clay, who was to speak for Mr.

Andrew Willard.

Jethro Catlin Clay, Captain, Confederate
States of America, and a 15 -man patrol

were killed to the last man in two
separate actions on consecutive days in

No word on what Clay's mission was.

So it seems, Mr. Willow, that there is
only one man who knows what Captain

Clay's mission was.

Have you anything, Mr. Willow, to offer
in your defense?

Tell him everything.

The truth, Andrew.

Please.

For Stacy's and my sake, if not your
own.

the truth, Andrew.

I beg you.

Well, Mr. Willough?

Madam, would you kindly return to your
seat?

Seems I have no recourse but to credit
you with guerrilla activity in

with the murders of the hitherto
aforementioned soldiers, and to find you

as charged.

Andrew Willow, I hereby sentence you to
be hanged by the neck until dead,

two days hence, at a place to be
determined.

Soldier.

I'd take it as a favor if Andrew could
stay here at the house till the time of

execution.

For the benefit of his wife and
daughter, they haven't so little time

You may stay.

Stacy and I will be leaving before the

sentence is carried out.

I don't want her to be here when they
come for you.

Neither do I.

I've never loved anyone but you.

What's the matter, Stacy?

I don't want my pot to die, Luke.

I know you don't, honey.

None of us do.

Why, we've been trying so hard to help
him.

But what, Stacy?

Stacy, what did your pa mean when he
said he knows best?

You know, if you told me, you might feel
better.

Paul made me promise not to tell.

Oh.

Well, if it could help him, it'd be
worth telling, don't you think?

He... He knows what's best.

I'm sure he does.

But, Stacy, what's best for him right
now is to get free of the trouble he's

Right?

To the land my pa won.

Blaze of yellow that lit the north wall
will crown what's to be yours.

Stacy, you know anything about this?

I think there's like a treasure there.

Consider it keep me and ma happy for a
long, long time.

Goodbye me dolls and ma pretty dresses.

Stacy, I'm not sure what this is all
about.

One thing I am sure of.

You did the right thing by showing me.

Uncle Zeb.

Luke.

Excuse me, ma 'am.

Uncle Zeb, this is Prudence Willow.

Prudence, this is my Uncle Zeb. Hello.

Ma 'am.

Luke, what's all them soldier boys doing
there?

Uncle Zeb, why don't you ride with us?

We're going up the mountain.

A man's life may depend on what we find
up there.

I'll explain everything on the way.

All right.

That's the saddleback you was talking
about, the one overlooking the ravine?

That's it, Uncle Deb.

It's not far from his cabin.

You figure out what Andrew meant by the
blaze of yellow that lit the north wall

we'll crown what's to be yours?

Andrew knew yellow was my favorite
color, but as for the rest, no.

Now that saddleback runs on a piece.
Let's go over there and take a look.

What is it, Uncle Zip?

Well, Luke, I ain't rightly sure, but
I'm thinking about what her husband said

about yellow being her favorite color.

We just passed us a bunch of yellow
wildflowers growing on the hillside

Now, it strikes me that they was a mite
far up in this meadowland for them to be

growing natural.

You're saying those kind of flowers
don't grow that high up.

That's about it.

Unless someone were to plant them up
there and tend them.

The place of Yellow Bill at the north
wall.

The place Andrew built when we was first
married. He planted a whole bed of

bright yellow buttercups the north side
of the house.

What do you think?

I think we ought to find out.

Uncle Zeb?

Rudy?

Look, there's a Confederate insignia on
the lid. That's it, all right.

Whatever's in it sure weighs a plenty.

It's locked, Uncle Zeb.

All right, stand back.

Looks to me like Mr. Willow was guarding
himself a bunch of Confederate gold

here. I'd say he was a soldier
performing his duty.

Had to drag it back here on a driveway.

Where was this chest hidden? In one of
the ravines near his cabin.

No!

You did this to me?

Did nothing.

Just trying to help you.

You spoiled it, Luke.

You spoiled it.

I did what I had to do, Andy.

Sold your daughter.

I'm sorry, Pa.

Happen to be people who care about you
even if you don't.

Just what is in the box?

Gold bar.

Would you care to explain this, Mr.
Willow?

It was a garden in the chest for the...

Captain Jethro Clay's detachment, just
like my wife said.

We were supposed to get it to Missouri.

Sterling Price needed it to buy guns.

Well, we ran into Yankees.

Got shot up pretty bad.

Had to turn tail.

Captain Clay decided he'd fight his way
back to Fort Hub and bring back help.

Given a lot to gone with him.

But the captain wanted me to stay
because he knew I'd stick.

He told me to guard this with my life.

There's more than a man's lifetime
treasure in this chest.

A dozen men's lifetimes.

Why, Mr. Willow, didn't you divulge this
little truth when you, as you say,

suddenly realized that the war was over?

Tell it all, Andrew.

Please, please, Andrew.

That's why I was thinking of filing for
that mountain land up there.

So is everything on it, including the
gold, would be mine.

So you were planning on keeping the gold
for yourself?

Not till after I found out the war was
over.

Confederacy didn't need it anymore.

I figure I earned it.

Staying up there on that mountain,
watching over it all those years.

Years I could have spent with my wife
and daughter.

I wanted to give it to you, Prudy.

You, waiting for me all that time.

I had nothing else in the world to offer
you.

I figured it'd set you and Stacey up for
a long time to come.

Very touching, I'm sure.

Can't you see he is telling the truth?

What I see, Mr. McKeon, is someone who
has not only bushwhacked innocent

but who's been hoarding government gold
to boot, and who has been using this

woman and that child to play on my
sympathies and yours. That woman and

child happen to be this man's wife and
daughter, Colonel.

To all intents and purposes.

You better explain that, Colonel.

Yeah, just what are you saying?

I'm talking about a very interesting
little piece of information a native of

mine happened to come up with a short
while ago.

I became suspicious of Mrs. Willow when
I overheard her talking with you one

morning, so I decided I would just
investigate her past a bit. Just what

trying to say, Colonel?

Simply, Mr. Willow, that Mrs.

Willow here is in fact Mrs.

Lehigh Killip. She remarried to a
wheelwright in Nebraska more than four

ago.

Tell him he's lying, Prudy.

Mrs. Killett, did Willow happen to
promise you some of this gold if you'd

and plead for him?

No, that's not true.

Prudence told me on the very first day
she arrived at the ranch about being

remarried. Now, she told me in the
strictest confidence, afraid that if

else knew, they might let it slip to
Andrew.

She couldn't tell Andrew because he was
laboring under enough pain as it was.

Just that I... I thought you were never
coming home.

They told me you were dead and Stacy and
me... I understand.

You've done the proper thing, Trudy.

Well... All said and done, the verdict
still stands.

Return the prisoner to his room,
Private.

Colonel?

What is it now, Mr. McCann?

There's something here.

It's a letter.

I think we ought to read it here.

Mr. McCann, I've played about all the
little games I want to with you.

Colonel, I don't play games with
people's lives.

It's a letter, Colonel. Let's read it.
It might be evidence.

Well, then, read it.

The gilded lead bars.

Lead?

No.

No, it can't be.

Not all those years.

Garden a box of lead.

They look like gold.

Easy way to see for sure.

It can't be.

It can't be!

It's lead, all right.

I knew it, man -garden.

The gilded lead bars in this chest are
the responsibility of Captain Jethro

Catlin Clay.

11th Texas Cavalry, CSA.

If they should fall into the hands of
the enemy, be it known they were

to divert attention from the actual
shipment of Confederate gold ingots to

Quinlan by other means.

The defense of this chest by Captain
Clay and his patrol was an act of

extraordinary heroism since he was fully
aware that he was risking his life for

something he knew to be worthless.

We've beseeched the Union Army to inform
the Secretary of War for the

Confederacy if Captain Clay is killed or
captured so that his dedication and

that of his men may be appropriately
recognized.

General Adrian Forbes, 11th Texas
Cavalry CSA.

All them years.

The lives of those men.

That lid came to here.

Mr. Willow, there's still the small
matter of your plan to keep that gold

yourself.

But, Colonel, it isn't gold. It's lead.

You can't hold a man for hoarding a box
of lead, Colonel.

That's right.

He did not know it was lead, so
felonious intent could still be charged.

However...

Finally, and I think eminently clear,
that Private Willow was indeed ignorant

the cessation of hostilities and was, in
his own mind, carrying on

in the tradition of a good soldier doing
his best for five long years to fulfill

the orders given him by his commanding
officer.

That's a truly extraordinary...

Dedication to duty.

So for these reasons, I find him
innocent of the charges of murder lodged

against him.

And I declare this hearing to be closed.

Release the prisoner.

take good care of your Ma now.

You hear?

I will, Pa.

What do you do now, Andrew?

Prudy and Stacy belong to another man
now, Luke.

All I got left is that mountain.

Guess that's where I'll go.

It's beautiful up there.

Outside of Prudy and my little gal.

It's closest to heaven I've ever been.

Maybe I'll see y 'all sometime.

You can count on that.

I'll be cooking some good meals with an
extra plate in mind. You better drop by

every now and again. We don't want to
let good food go to waste.

I'd cross a mountain barefoot during a
snowfly to see that it didn't.

Bye, Mr. Willow.

Bye. Goodbye, Andrew.

Bye.

Yes, dear.

We never... We never gonna see my pa
again.

You making it, Andy?

Huh?

Been doing a little experiment.

See what the ground will give me up this
way now that I got me some seeds to

plant.

You set making a trip somewheres?

Nope.

Supplies are for you.

Supplies for me?

Well, I appreciate the thinking behind
it, but... Well, looks like you got

enough there to feed a passel mouse over
the winter.

I don't know about a passel mouse, but I
figure...

We'll do about three.

Pa!

Pa!

Pa!

Pa!

We've come to be with you, Pa.

You mean you come for a visit?

No, for forever.

What's she saying, Prudy?

You'll have to add on extra rooms for
us.

You're coming to stay?

Here with me?

If you'll have us.

You married to that other... Was
married.

Yes!

This cabin of mine, ours, is in bad need

of a housewoman.

Would you two like to do the honors?

What's a housewoman, Pop?

It's you and your ma.

Luke, you come inside, too. You hear?