Original subtitles

♪♪ [trumpet]

[ rifle clicks ]

[ clicks ]

[ gunshot ]

Let's go. Hyah!

He's got a thousand miles of desert to hide in out there.

We'll never find him.

We'll find him.

[ horse sputtering ]

Now, one of your bucks killed a white man.

I reckon you know what that means.

You've got two days. Savvy? Two days.

Burgess? Yeah?

You ask them to go after that killer themselves?

Well, that's the way we do it around here.

We call it the "home rule."

The law says a legally appointed posse oughta go after him.

Yeah. Where are you from, Lundy?

Up north.

Well, let me give you a fast education.

You've been out in the desert.

And if we go after that boy,

all we'll get is a heatstroke, a bad case of the dries,

or maybe a bullet in the back like that mail rider.

I doubt if we'd get the boy.

I'll lead a posse after him.

No, you won't, Lundy.

We got a system. It's plain and simple and works every time.

They go after the boy themselves.

That saves us the cost of a posse,

a trial and a rope.

I'm gonna help you out, chief.

I know that boy.

He worked for me. His name is Joe Waluki.

You're giving him two days to find him.

They can do it.

And if they don't?

Then we got us a village to burn.

Every stick, every piece of string.

And so much the worse for anything that gets caught in the flame.

Day after tomorrow, sunset.

Savvy?

We'll be back.

[ horse sputters ]

[ horse whinnies ]

Now, you had yourself quite a time, Lundy.

Looked real good in front of the Paiute.

Now, I reckon as how you feel that's your business,

but if you ever question me in front of an Indian again,

I'll take it very personal.

Clear?

Clear enough.

Nick?

Well?

I heard what happened.

You must not go.

You think I want to?

Then don't.

The white men would like nothing better.

An excuse to burn down the village.

It would be a small loss.

Nick, the law says

that a man should be tried for his crime.

If our mother's brother killed a man,

let them take him up for trial in the court.

The law is for white men, not Paiute!

Then let somebody else go, not you.

You think me a coward?

No, Nick.

In the days of our father and our father's father,

when there were no white men in the land,

it was in the way it was done.

When a life must be taken, it must be taken without stain, without anger,

with regret, by a blood relative.

It falls on me.

Nick, it's the old ways that are slowly killing us off.

We hunt in the old way, we kill in the old way,

and we die in the old way.

We must change if we are to live.

Ask the chief to send somebody else.

I'm a Paiute,

and I will live or die in the Paiute way.

Nick...

You think I want to kill my mother's brother

for killing a white man?

I know how he felt when he saw the white man in his sights.

We are like the-- the dirt they ride on.

Lower than the pigs they fill their bellies with.

For me, I say that the death of a white man

should not make a Paiute mourn.

But the life of this village is at stake,

and I will do what I must do.

Well, it won't be long now.

You know this will be a massacre.

There ain't none of them tied here.

[ horse sputters ]

Nick?

Nick?

You couldn't help it.

You had to do it.

It comes to this.

I'm a white man's butcher.

[ crying ]

[ sighs ]

What's wrong with you, Lundy?

[ chuckles ]

I know. You need a cup of cheer.

Hey, give him a drink, barkeep.

Hey, what's the matter, Lundy? Ain't my money any good?

What do you want, Burgess?

I'm just trying to buy you a drink, friend.

You know what I think?

I think you're kind of disappointed

that you didn't start that bonfire today.

[ laughs ] It don't make no difference.

I'm gonna get around to it sooner or later.

Why, Burgess?

What'd they ever do to you?

I don't like animals that look like people.

They make me feel I come cheap.

You do.

Go ahead, Burgess.

You do that.

[ chattering ]

What are you doing here?

You can talk. What do you want?

Get on back to your village.

I am in search of my brother.

Here?

You won't find him here. Your brother--

he's the one who brought in Joe Waluki.

Well, what do you want here?

This Joe Waluki--

he was some sort of relative of yours, wasn't he?

Take some advice, son.

Get on that pony and get out of here.

You'll find your brother at home.

Well, you won't find him here.

Look, son,

this is no place for you to be.

If he is here, he'll be heading back soon.

How old are you, son?

Nineteen.

Your brother? Twenty-four.

Is it because of what happened today that he ran off?

Would you believe me if I told you

I'd try to help you find him if I could?

You've had some schooling.

This thing that happened today,

it's happened before, hasn't it?

I'm sorry.

I know you don't believe that,

but it would be good for you to know that all white men are not that way.

And I'm gonna do my best to see that it doesn't happen again.

Liar. You were there today.

In the village with the others.

What did you do when the torches were lit?

What would you have done if they had--

they had burned the village?

Because you did not hold a torch,

you think you do not share the guilt

for what my brother was made to do?

You are as guilty as the rest.

[ barrel clatters ]

Well, at least I'm gonna get me one buck. [ glass shatters ]

[ gunshot ]

[ horse sputters ]

You know why we're here.

Your brother's wanted for murder.

I understand there's a custom among the Paiute

that a relative brings him in.

There is no word, no man,

no God can make me do it.

Would you rather we went after him?

You'd never catch him.

Are you so sure of that? Try.

Your brother killed a man.

The law says a man should be tried in court for his crime.

Suppose I guarantee him a trial.

Why should I trust you?

What choice do you have?

You mean you'd-- you'd burn down the village?

I mean, what choice do you have for your brother?

Either he stands trial, or he spends the rest of his life

in hiding out in the desert.

Whatever you decide,

the village will stand.

If you bring in your brother, I'll do everything I can

to see that he gets a fair trial.

[ gunshot ]

Nick!

Nick, I'm not gonna stop.

[ gunshot ]

Steve, I swear to you by our father,

if you come any closer, I will kill you.

I have no gun, Nick.

You expect to take me in without one?

I want you to come in by yourself.

Why? Will the white man destroy the village if I do not?

Let the village fight them.

They promised you a trial, Nick.

They will have to take me first.

You killed a man, Nick.

Some account must be taken of this.

He deserved to die! Tell them that in court.

What chance would an Indian have in a white man's court?

Well, come in with me and see.

Nick, I'm gonna try to take you in.

If you're gonna kill me,

shoot.

[ rifle clatters ]

When we were young,

you got to feeling big once.

You thought you could take me.

I beat you then,

and I will beat you now!

[ thud ]

[ screams ]

[ dog barking ]

LUNDY: Steve.

I...

I didn't mean for this to happen.

Someday soon, I will kill you.

Yes, I suppose you will.

The death cycle.

Each death begets another one.

You can end it.

Why? Because you want to live?

My brother wanted to live,

but he was just an Indian.

And that's what he was.

A man gets what he asks for.

That's all he wanted to be. You can be something more.

Yes.

There are places to go.

You want justice in this world, then you go out and claim it.

Make the world give it to you. How?

By proving that you're the equal to any man.

Tell me how.

The Indian academy.

For people like you who have the guts to live instead of die.

Ah, but it's easier to be like your brother, isn't it?

To go out there in the desert and hate.

You've got a choice.

You can lie in wait for me,

maybe put a bullet through my head,

or you can kick and fight

and claw your way through the academy.

Make them respect you.

You've got a choice.

You decide.

I will go to the white man's school.

I hoped you would.

Good-bye. Good luck.

And so, two men from two different worlds

found a common understanding and brought an end

to a barbaric custom.

It'd be many years before a full understanding would come to be,

but it was a step in the right direction.

Next week, another true story of the Old West.