Original subtitles

Hyah!

I got four stragglers down there. Why don't you take a ride down there and...

I thought you were one of the crew. Who are you?

Could you use another hand on this drive? We could use a dozen.

I'm only offering one. Where's the head man?

Right down there. He's the... Come on!

Says your riding short-handed this trip.

Well, I am until my top hand gets back with the dozen men I sent for.

Well, till then, can you use me?

- You ever ride herd before? - I can do what I'm told.

Well, that's something anyway.

All right, I'll take you on, see how you work out. What's your name?

- John. - That's it, huh? Just John.

Woods.

Well, I'm hirin' men, not names.

All right. Get those six stragglers back in the herd.

Ride on back to the drag...

and get Harper to go around the other flank and help out Jim Horn.

Right!

Hyah! Hyah!

Bring 'em along!

Yah!

Yah! Yah! Come on!

Yah! Move along!

You there, cowboy.

I said, you there, cowboy.

Are you talking to me, mister?

Well, I ain't talking to the livestock.

This the herd out of Shiloh? Who are you?

That ain't puttin' no money in your pocket.

Just point out where your boss is and never mind who I am!

I'm beginnin' to mind a whole lot who you are,

mainly because you're in my way and you're wasting my time.

I'm the foreman of Shiloh Ranch, so I guess I'm the boss you're lookin' for.

Now, who are you? Name is Ned Cochran.

I'm procurement agent for the quartermaster general at Fort Dawkins!

Now, what can I do for you, Mr. Cochran?

Mainly, you can tell me why you're running 20 miles behind!

I promised the army this beef by the 15th.

If you don't pick up a little speed, you're gonna make me break my promise!

You and your herd oughta be crossing Turkey Creek by now!

Look, you wire a rush order to Shiloh,

and it's branding time, so we're a little short-handed.

And you're gettin' paid army prices. And that's premium pay, and you know it.

I want them cows brought in on time!

You'll get 'em there on time.

All right! Stop 'em here! We'll take our afternoon rest right here!

What do you mean stop 'em? Didn't you hear what I just said?

Your quartermaster general want beef or bones, mister?

These cows have got to stop and graze and get a little bit of their fat back on 'em!

I've got a man down in Twin Rivers right now...

rounding up every hand he can sign on.

You'll get your beef on time.

Oh, how many head you lose this morning?

Oh, half of 'em at least once. Some of 'em twice.

We keep getting 'em back though.

How's that new hand working out?

Well, he doesn't have much experience, but he's a quick learner,

and he's a good rider too.

I found a stream back there.

If you got business, I'll water your horse.

I've got no business but watering my horse and me.

Comin'? Thought I would.

Wait a minute, cowboy! You, the kid.

- Here. - What?

You can take my nag along with you. He could use a little water too.

Uh, this is Mr. Cochran... sutler at Fort Dawkins.

Civilian procurement agent to the quartermaster general!

And I don't take kindly to being called "sutler" like that.

Some of us don't take kindly to being called "cowboy" like that, Mr. Cochran.

Now you can water your own horse.

But you're welcome to a meal.

Well, now, that's a mighty fancy critter for a saddle tramp.

Probably got more to say for himself than his owner... if you are his owner.

What are you doing? Get your hands off me!

If I let go, you'll be on the ground. Cowboy, if you don't let go of me...

Man wants to get let go of, cowboy, might as well do what the man wants.

That man tried to make a fool out of me!

Didn't look to me like it took much trying, Mr. Cochran.

Harper, you plannin' on feedin' us?

Start linin' up! Grab yourself a plate, Mr. Cochran.

How about some chow? No, thanks, I'll eat later.

Where are the hands? Here's one. Here's the other.

You mean to say you couldn't get anyone? No, it's brandin' time.

Nobody's fixing to ride their fool head off...

and make just as much money standing still and pushing a cow through a gate.

No hands, huh? That means you won't be picking up your time.

You won't be gettin' this beef to Fort Dawkins when it's promised.

That's breach of contract. That's what that is.

I got a perfect right to cancel the order right here in the middle of the run.

Mr. Cochran, you're gonna finish up what's on your plate there,

and you're gonna get on your horse and ride outta here.

I'll give you one hour.

If you're still around this campsite at that time,

I'm gonna have you tied to your saddle,

and you'll have to eat cattle dust all the way to Fort Dawkins.

Now get movin'.

Now that's fishing!

Can I try that?

The main thing is to keep absolutely still.

Have you worked long for the, uh... the, uh... these men?

The Shiloh folk? Mm-hmm.

Well, I guess it's gettin' to be on about a year now. You like it?

Oh, I like it about as much as anybody likes working.

Oh, I don't mean the working. I mean, uh, the, uh... the living.

The living? Yeah, you know. The-The...

The bunkhouses, chuck wagon, the... the people.

People in back of you, in front of you,

surrounding you and ordering you around.

You like to get off by yourself, don't you?

Yeah, I like that, too, sometimes,

but, uh, I guess maybe I'm a little bit more sociable than you.

Anyway, I don't give it much thought. It's a job. I get paid for it.

Every time I get paid, I tuck it away in my mattress, and...

One of these days, I'm gonna take that mattress down to the bank...

and exchange it for a ranch... My own ranch.

And your own fences and your own bunkhouses...

and your own chuck wagons and... and people.

What do you want out of life?

I wanna ride free, and I wanna...

live on what I can shoot and spear and pick.

Ain't too many places you can do that anymore.

Well, not here.

Where? Well, they say Canada.

Is that where you're heading? Yeah.

Yeah.

They say there are miles and miles of trees and... and not a stump.

And the rivers and streams are cool.

Nothing to stop 'em.

Not a dam, nothin'... All the way to the sea.

They say that up in Canada, it's...

like it was here when I was a boy.

- Now, how old are you? - I was never told.

Well, I was. Now, as near as I can figure, I'm 20.

And you couldn't be much older.

Here you sit like an old grandaddy talking about how it was when you was a kid.

In this country and in these days,

there's no longer any time for childhood.

You're a baby, and... And then you're a man,

or you're dead.

Hey!

Yah!

Jim! John!

Gather up those strays! Bring 'em back to the herd!

Well, then, uh, let's get 'em. Hyah! Hyah!

Nice riding. Thanks.

Who's got the wings... You or the horse?

I was taught very young. So was I.

But never on an animal like that. That's a horse in a hundred.

In a hundred of hundreds.

Well, who won? He did.

- Congratulations. - Thank you.

Either of you try it again, and you'll be given your pay.

What?

This is a cattle drive, not a Fourth of July picnic.

It's men's work. That's why we pay men's wages.

We don't hire boys... At least not on purpose.

Find out we've made a mistake, we correct it fast.

We headed off the runaways. And endangered the whole herd.

We're short-handed and running behind.

We need every man and every horse we've got,

and that means without broken bones.

What if one of them had stepped in a pothole?

What if one of you had taken a tumble?

You think we've got time for that?

Now the two of you, grow up or get out!

He's right. To call us children?

I guess that's how we were acting. Yes, to his kind.

To show a little freedom of spirit is to act like a child.

Well, let's keep these cows movin'.

I guess that was my fault, what happened.

I'm the one who's supposed to know what you do on a cattle drive. John doesn't.

Well, I guess he does now. I don't see him around. Where is he?

Well, there's his horse. I think I might know where he is.

Uh, do you want him? Nah. Just wondering where he was.

Whoa. Whoa.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

I'm sorry.

No, wait. You needn't go.

This is a private ceremony, but not a secret one.

What... What's it for?

In the final battle, the hide was lost...

The buffalo hide in which are inscribed the great deeds of our chiefs and warriors.

And when we lose our hide, we lose our history.

And then who will know about us...

and about what we've done, the great battles we fought?

So, I sing the song of the lost hide...

before a drawing of it,

hoping that the gods will hear my song and lead me to our destiny.

Yes, I'm Indian.

I know I don't look like it, and I know I don't talk like it.

That's my father's doing. He was a trapper, a white man.

But my mother was Kiowa, the daughter of a war chief.

And when the war came... the war between the Indian and the white man...

My father fled to his own people.

And my mother, my grandfather,

my cousins, brothers...

All died in the war.

There wasn't even anyone left to make the burial platforms.

What happened to you?

What happened to all of us who were left...

The reservation.

And that's where they taught me your language.

And other things. Yeah, I know.

I've heard about the reservations.

How much? Enough to make me sick.

Then you only heard half.

The women and the children were not treated cruelly.

They were just ignored.

But those of us who were to be warriors...

Those of us who had passed our tests and learned our songs...

and were ready to go out and fight the white man...

and would have gone out and fought them if the war had not ended...

We were the ones who were to be punished...

for what our fathers and our brothers had done.

We were the ones who were to atone for the crimes of our ancestors.

And so I spent four years on the reservation.

Four years...

being punished, atoning...

And learning to respect the white man.

How'd you stand it?

I didn't. I escaped.

Eighteen of us escaped.

They sent 80 troopers to bring us back.

They shaved our heads, and they put us in the reservation jail.

They thought I was the leader of the 18.

I was the leader. So they left me in the jail for two years.

When they let me out, I...

I did nothing. I said nothing.

I tried to make myself invisible.

I waited only for the chance to escape again.

Then two days ago, the chance came, and I took it.

You mean to tell me they're looking for you right now?

I didn't think they'd look for me in the middle of a cattle drive.

Yeah, but listen. Where do you think we're driving these cattle?

Right into the middle of Fort Dawkins.

I won't be with you when you get to Fort Dawkins.

I'll find the right time to say good-bye to you and turn north again.

- Canada. - Yes, Canada.

Yeah, being you, I'd do the same thing.

You could, even being you.

What do you mean?

Come to Canada with me, Jim.

Learn the true freedom. Discover the real meaning of manhood.

Look, John, I appreciate that.

I don't really have the words to tell you how much.

But, well, look, every man has his own idea of freedom.

Mine... Well, it's what I told you.

But I'll say one thing. You never told me any of this.

Or if you did, I wasn't listening. Just in case anybody asks.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

Major. I didn't hear you knock, Mr. Cochran.

Oh, didn't you?

Well, sir, I finally turned up that shipment of Shiloh beef.

I found 'em straggling along, days behind schedule, strung out, dried-up,

wanderin' over the plains like lost sheep looking for their mama.

I practically had to turn cowboy myself...

to get a little order and authority into the mob that was driving 'em.

But after the tongue-lashing I gave 'em, they started shaping around.

The United States Army is once more in your debt, Mr. Cochran.

Well, they won't be...

just as soon as you authorize the paymaster to hand me over the usual fee.

Yes, of course.

Thank you, Major.

- There you are. - Much obliged.

What is this now?

- Major! - What is it?

This wanted circular, when did it come in?

With yesterday's dispatch rider. Why?

Why? Because of this horse, Major.

The horse.

Hyah! Hyah!

Hyah! Hyah!

Dogies!

Ho! Hyah!

Well, that's the last one.

You get a count? Maybe we lost a half a dozen or so.

That's not bad with a day still to go.

Might even get a few of them back in the morning. Yeah.

All right, boys. We're just outside of a place called Three Corners.

It's about a half a day's ride from Fort Dawkins. We're a little bit behind,

but we'll have the cattle where they're supposed to be by tomorrow mid-afternoon.

In the meantime, we might as well take it easy for a while.

I'll need a couple of men to stay with the herd.

But, uh, the rest of you can ride into town if you want to.

Hey, yeah! Sounds good to me.

I'll stay with the herd. You'll stay with the herd?

Yeah. Any particular reason?

I've been to Three Corners.

Huh. Have a good time.

Who wants to keep Trampas company?

How about you, Cecil? You don't even drink whiskey.

Sheriff Gray speakin'.

Representin' the law in these parts.

Who are you men and what are you wantin' in Three Corners?

Why, we're from Shiloh Ranch. We've got a herd of beef just outside of town.

What are you doin' in town?

Thought we'd come in and have a little drink, Sheriff. Is that allowed?

It's allowed. But remember... this town's got laws, and they're strictly enforced.

You can have your drink, but if any of you were thinkin' of whooping it up,

just turn around and go back to where your cows are.

Whoopin' it up? Here?

I guess Trampas knew what he was talking about.

Boys, we've just been given the keys to Three Corners.

All right, Heap Big Slowpoke, get them dirty glasses out of here.

All right. Let's go.

Come on now. Move out. John?

All right, what'll it be? What have you got?

Beer or whiskey. Or beer and whiskey.

Or whiskey and beer. Now, what'll it be?

Makes it hard to make your mind up.

Whiskey. Make it three.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, what have you got besides whiskey and beer? To drink?

To do. To do?

This here is Three Corners, mister. Where do you think you are... Cheyenne?

What Mr. Cully means to convey, gentlemen,

is that the recreational facilities in this fair community...

are somewhat limited.

You have your choice of either playing cards or going to see the ruins.

The ruins? What ruins?

Oh, about six miles due north of here.

What was at one time an Indian village.

How'd it get ruined? The good folk of Three Corners wiped it out.

Why'd they do a thing like that? Had Indians in it. That's why.

All right. What'll it be? Well, I'll have a beer.

You? Nothing.

Mmm. Well, do you mind not takin' a space for a paying customer then?

You're the only one out here?

What do you want to know for?

The one with the sorrel too?

Rest gone to town, huh?

Who's askin', mister?

That's no money in your pocket.

Uh, barkeep!

Mr. Cully!

Yes, sir, Mr. Webb.

You are neglecting me in favor of the newcomers, Mr. Cully.

Observe. I have set an empty glass on the bar and find none to take its place.

Coming right up, Mr. Webb.

I'm getting to be an old man, gentlemen,

and there is so much to be drunk and so little time left in which to drink it.

I hope you won't begrudge me a little impatience.

We'll wait our turn, sir.

You're very kind.

Hey, squaw! Squaw!

We done run out of Mr. Webb's special stuff.

Get on your flat feet into that storeroom, bring me another bottle, hear?

Now hurry up!

John.

Now, look. You wanna ride free, or do you wanna end up lynched?

Now, where you goin'? To breathe air.

Excuse me. Do you want me to go with you?

No. Excuse me.

Hah! Come on. Come on.

Well, here comes Mr. Cochran, gentlemen.

Count your nickels, dimes and fingers.

Some day that big mouth of yours is gonna get you in a lot trouble, you old drunk!

Good evening, Mr. Cochran! Cully.

You haven't been in town in a long while. How about a drink on the house?

Later, Cully, later. I got business to attend to.

I'm looking for that hand of yours, the one that rides the sorrel.

What do you want with him?

That's no money in your pocket. Just say where he is.

- I don't know where he is. - You're the trail boss, ain't you?

Don't that mean you're responsible for your men?

- On the trail. - He ride in here with you?

I'm still waiting to find out what you want with him.

You'll find out.

When I find him, you'll find out plenty.

And I got a pretty good idea where to find him too.

Where'd John go? Do you know? No.

He just got mad and left.

Look, there's, uh, something I'd like to tell you about John,

something nobody else knows. He's an Indian.

Well, how did you know?

That sorrel horse of his got a split ear.

Some of the tribes like the Kiowas used to do that to their best horses...

so they could find 'em in a hurry in the dark.

That still doesn't tell us why Cochran wants him so bad.

Anything else he's told you about himself? Anything at all?

No. Only that he...

Only that he what?

Well, only that he'd like to go to Canada someday...

where the fields don't have any fences, the rivers don't have any dams...

and there aren't four tree stumps to every five trees.

That's all.

I see.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Sheriff Gray! Open up your jail!

I got a dirty redskin killer here, and I need a place to keep him tonight!

You need something to wake you up, huh?

All right! Hold it! Hold it! What's goin' on here?

Where's that Indian?

Where is he?

He's gone! That Indian's wanted for murdering four troopers!

All right. Spread out, everyone!

Now, I want every alley covered and every house searched!

Move out! Now!

You better pray we find him soon,

or your cowboy days are over, cowboy.

I bet he never killed those four troopers.

Whether he did or not, he deserves a chance to tell his side of the story.

You better find him before anybody in this town does,

or he'll tell his side of it to his ancestors and nobody else.

All right. Let's go. Spread out.

Harper.

Not in there.

John?

You around here? It's Jim.

Who's that down there?

- Hold it, Indian! - I'm not the Indian.

Who's...

Ned Cochran. Stabbed.

What happened here?

- Found him here. - Any idea who did it?

Who do you think did it? The Indian did it.

What I'm beginning to wonder now is who helped him do it.

Sheriff, there he goes!

Cowboy, I'm arresting you.

I'm arresting you and charging with aiding an escaped Indian wanted for murder,

and I'm also charging you with being an accomplice in the killing of Ned Cochran.

Now just wait a minute! Look around you, boy.

You wait just one half a minute, and I might not be able to keep these folks...

from stringing you up to the first ceiling beam they come to.

You come with me, and you come fast and shut up about it.

Better go with him. I got a feeling he knows what he's talking about.

All right, boys. Let's get him up.

This was our home.

There I was born.

There lived my grandfather, there my uncle, there my cousin.

We lived at peace among ourselves, our ancestors...

and the people of Three Corners.

And then... what happened?

One day they came.

It was just at sunset, I remember.

They came.

Some of them soldiers from the fort, some of them people from the village.

They said nothing.

They started at one end of the village, killing and burning.

My mother ran with me and hid me in this cave.

Then she ran back after my brother.

She never returned.

When they had all gone, there was nothing left...

but the dead and the burning and me.

What is your name? Kgoy-Ma.

Mine is... Mine is Sait-Kongya.

In the world of the white man, my name is John.

How did you know me?

I only know I felt a strangeness when you looked at me.

Then later when I heard the man shout "Indian!" in the street,

I knew what that strangeness I felt was.

- You are of my people. - Yes, we are both of the same people.

But they're no longer people.

They're ghosts.

Ghosts! We're the son and the daughter of ghosts.

Bound together in the blood of the bloodless.

The flesh on our bones is the last flesh of a nation of skeletons.

You, a dweller where there's no village! And I, a warrior where there's no war!

We should have died with our people. It would have been better.

No.

Yes!

What'll it be, mister?

Uh, whiskey for me and, uh,

glass of Mr. Webb's "special stuff" for Mr. Webb.

Well, in that case, Cully,

you get the gentleman a glass of my special stuff himself.

It costs more.

- That about cover it? - Cover one round of it.

Man can only drink one round at a time.

Morning.

Presumably, you're here gathering some kind of information.

What makes you think that?

Well, over the years, that's usually the case...

when someone starts buying drinks for the town drunk.

Been many years? Uh, quite a few.

I embarked on it as a course of post-graduate studies...

immediately upon receiving my diploma from Yale University...

where it was decided that the climate in this part of the world...

might prolong my life beyond the woefully few years...

my physician had prognosticated.

Turns out the gentleman was entirely correct,

despite my strenuous efforts...

to nullify the beneficial effects of the pure Wyoming air.

Leave it, Cully. Leave it.

At this juncture, we have no way of knowing...

exactly how much information the gentleman wants.

All right, Mr. Webb.

But you remember one thing.

You're part of this here town.

Him? He's just a stranger.

Noted, Cully, noted. Now go about your business and leave us talk.

They don't exactly, uh, take to Indians around here, do they?

Well, that's hardly unusual, sir.

It's an army town largely.

It's only natural that their sympathies lie with their own people.

I doubt if you'd find much love for the white man on an Indian reservation.

The wars have been over for a long time.

Hmm. Has any war ever really been over?

Isn't it always the same war masquerading under a different name...

ever since Cain slew Abel?

Various generations and civilizations calling it by different names.

But isn't it really the same war...

with brief periods of exhaustion thrown in?

Well, that's hard to deny, Mr. Webb.

What I wanna talk about today is Three Corners...

and that Indian village you mentioned last night.

Ah, yes, the Indian village.

For quite a long time, we maintained a grudging neutrality...

with the fine people of that settlement.

They traded in our stores, paid coin of the realm,

took great pains neither to provoke nor be provoked.

Something must have happened then.

Ah, something indeed did happen, my friend.

Into our midst, there crept an unmitigated scoundrel...

who had no thought in his head...

beyond the linings of his pocket,

and he proceeded to sell whiskey to the Indians.

The very man who, at the hands of an enraged and humiliated youth,

met his end in a dark alley last night.

Ned Cochran?

Ned Cochran, a man who would sell you one leg off his horse...

if the price could be made sufficiently attractive.

You know, they say that...

Indians are not to be trusted with firewater.

Now that is a myth, sir.

Or let me put it another way.

Nobody can be trusted with the stuff...

if they have no more future to look forward to...

than a slow death on a parched square mile of barren earth.

No one in that position can be trusted with firewater.

For drink inflames the passions...

and fills the heart with remorse and indignation.

And the more they drank,

the more they felt the pain of their futile existence.

And the greater the pain, the more they drank...

and the more drink was supplied to them by Cochran.

And then one night, a particularly drunken brave...

broke into Cochran's home looking for more whiskey...

and finding no one there but Cochran's wife and two children,

proceeded to murder them.

Now, Cochran was at the fort when the news was brought to him,

and he wasted no time in organizing a detachment of outraged citizenry.

And he not only received the blessings of the commandant of the fort,

but the loan of an equal number of troopers.

And at dawn, they swooped down on the village...

and burned it to the ground...

after slaughtering all the inhabitants that they could find,

which turned out to be all but one...

A young Indian girl named Kgoy-Ma...

whom I found a day later, insane with grief and terror...

and trembling in a cave.

I brought her to this place. I persuaded Cully to give her employment.

He treats her very badly,

but my presence here prevents him from really venting his malice on her.

That's the only reason that I remain in this place.

Where is Kgoy-Ma now?

That is the question that you came into this bar to ask,

and it is the one which you have waited so patiently...

for the opportunity to ask.

The answer is that, uh, she has not been seen in these parts...

since Cochran's death or the escape of your young employee.

No, that's not the answer, Mr. Webb.

I asked you where she is.

You've only told me where she isn't.

One of my men is accused of murdering Ned Cochran.

Another one of my men is in jail.

The chances are that Kgoy-Ma helped John escape...

and that they're together somewhere.

You told me yourself that if Sheriff Gray...

or anyone else in this town gets their hands on John,

he'll never get to tell his side of the story.

Don't you think he deserves that chance?

But what if the story he tells merely confirms the accusations against him?

Well, that's a risk we'll have to take.

That risk, may I point out, sir, is not yours, but his.

If your Indian employee really killed Cochran and those other troopers,

I'm afraid to say that this volatile and unthinking town...

will fail to discriminate between him and any other Indian.

You think the girl would be endangered?

I know what happened before.

Answer this then.

- Do you know where they might be? - No, sir.

- You don't know? - No, sir, I won't answer.

I see.

I haven't helped you.

That's true.

Howdy. Howdy. Well?

Our herd's at Fort Dawkins. They've taken delivery. Here's your money.

And the men?

I sent 'em back to Shiloh. Put Harper in charge.

Said we'd catch up to 'em soon as we could.

Told 'em to take it a little wide, not to come through town.

Seen Jim? Yeah, he's all right so far.

Find out anything? Well, quite a bit about what's bothering Three Corners,

but nothing about where John might be hiding out.

And one other thing too. What's that?

I had a little talk with Sheriff Gray. The town's hollering for blood, he says.

What they want is an Indian.

If they can't get one, they'll take the next best thing.

Meaning what? Meaning the fellow who helped him escape.

Jim? Right.

That's what he says. He's only one man, he says.

And his neck's worth more to him than Jim's is.

So if John's not back in custody by dawn tomorrow, he's gonna hand Jim over to them.

That's like committing murder. What are we gonna do?

Find John and fast. But they'll lynch him.

You start lookin'. Ride north. He might be headin' for the border.

I'm going into Fort Dawkins and talk to the commandant.

Nobody's gonna lynch anybody around here,

if I have to get the whole territory put under martial law.

Let's go! All right.

Nothing. A rabbit.

How long can it be nothing?

By now, they must know you're gone.

How long before they guess we're together?

And how long before they guess where we might be together?

In all the times they've come here, they've never found this cave.

I can't spend my whole life in a cave.

When darkness comes, a decision must come with it.

Mine has been made. I've got to go.

But what about you? Can you go back there?

I'm a man accused of murder... five murders now.

And I'm an Indian in a land where Indians are hated.

And you helped me escape, and you're an Indian too.

I know. I've thought of all that.

I'm only alive now because of Mr. Webb.

But this... this could be too much even for him.

The others in the town, they're not afraid of him the way they used to be.

In Canada, we wouldn't need any Mr. Webbs.

We could ride free in the forests.

We could fish in the streams, and we could hunt in the fields.

And we wouldn't need to be afraid...

Afraid of what we are, what we're called, if anybody's after us.

Kgoy-Ma, in Canada, I could be your Mr. Webb.

If you wish that, I will go with you. I can live in the old ways.

Bring me skins, and I can still make moccasins and shirts.

I can still hunt and smoke fish and make meat for the winter.

And I am still a warrior.

But you must have a horse.

Oh, I have a horse. Mr. Webb gave him to me.

Good. Tell me where it is.

Oh, you can't go. They'll be waiting for you.

- I'll take your horse. - You can't ride him.

Were only the boys of your people taught to ride?

It was different with my people. I, too, learned to ride.

A horse of that size?

A horse is no bigger than the will of its rider.

Afternoon. Afternoon.

Listen, mister, I'm not gonna take any of your money no more.

And that doesn't mean you get any free drinks here either.

Now, you are serving him, Cully, because he's a guest of mine.

Mr. Webb, this ain't your fight. You keep out of this.

I want you to give the gentleman a drink out of my private stock, Cully!

Now.

That's better.

Thank you.

Well, it seems our sheriff, like Pontius Pilate of old,

has washed his hands of the whole affair.

Did you manage to muster up any help at Fort Dawkins?

You don't miss much, do you?

Well, for a man who always does an inordinate amount of talking,

I manage to get in a good bit of listening as well.

You were seen riding out to the fort,

conferring with Major Heller, returning.

I surmise that you went out there in order to get the army's aid...

in preventing your young man from being lynched tomorrow morning.

- Were you successful? - No.

The army will send troops only if the sheriff requests them.

And the sheriff's not liable to do that...

because that would spoil tomorrow's hanging...

and make him very unpopular in Three Corners.

If I can get Jim Horn and John, the Indian boy, to Fort Dawkins,

he'll guarantee their safety pending a complete investigation...

of the charges against the Indian.

That's a mighty tall order, isn't it?

It'd be a lot shorter if I knew where John and Kgoy-Ma are.

You seen the people in this town?

What about 'em?

They've had their eyes peeled on you ever since you got here.

When you leave,

they'll assume that I told you where your man is.

They'll follow you.

I will not endanger Kgoy-Ma's life...

by telling you where the two of them are hiding.

It doesn't mean a thing to you that if I don't have John here by dawn tomorrow,

the man over in the jail's gonna get lynched?

It means a good deal to me.

But Kgoy-Ma means a good deal more.

Hold it right there, miss. Where's John?

- I don't know. - You're ridin' his horse.

Look, ma'am, I mean you no harm, or him.

I'm a Shiloh hand. They went into town with the others.

Now I've got to find him. Why?

Because another Shiloh hand... his

friend... is in jail for helping him escape.

And if I don't bring John back by dawn, he'll hang in his place!

- No. - I'm afraid so.

Now, look, I don't know whether John killed Cochran or those troopers.

But I do know one thing. He won't want Jim Horn hangin' in his place.

Or will he? Is that the Indian way?

No, it is not the Indian way.

I will take you to him.

But first you will leave your gun here, or I will not take you to him.

All right, miss.

Your gun will be safe there until you return.

Good. Come now.

And then they'll hang me!

Not if you didn't kill Cochran, they won't. This is his gun!

Was he coming at you? Can you swear it was self-defense?

I can swear it. I saw it happen.

Now, you see? You got an eyewitness. They're not gonna hang you.

Who would believe an Indian woman in a place like this?

We'll make 'em listen!

You only know part of it.

Those four troopers I'm accused of killing...

- I killed them. - For what reason?

For something they did to an old man,

and his woman... and their daughter on the reservation.

Something I cannot talk of here... something unspeakable.

Can it be proven?

It was seen by others. But again, the word of Indians.

They'll get listened to. I promise.

Promise of a white man.

A white man saved your life! And he risked his own doing it.

You can live in the past as much as you want, but the future begins at dawn.

That's when they're gonna hang Jim Horn. You gonna let that happen?

- He's right, Sait-Kongya. - You say that?

All they have left us is our honor.

The man was your friend.

All right. I'll be there at sundown.

- Why not now? - I'm going to jail!

After that, only the gods know.

But one thing is certain. There'll be insults and humiliation.

Do you begrudge me a few more hours in which to be a man?

No, I reckon not. Sundown.

I'll be there.

Soon the sun will set.

And we should start.

We should start, Sait-Kongya. You promised to be there by then.

Who would believe the promise of an Indian?

The man who was here believed it.

He'll be waiting at the turn of the trail...

with his friends, with guns and a rope.

You're not going? To my death?

I'm not going. What fool would do that?

And your friend in jail who'll hang if you don't go?

I have no friend in jail.

Have you no longer a nose for the white man's tricks, Kgoy-Ma?

Why do they put him in jail?

They want to trick me... Trick me to coming to town.

- So they can hang me. - You lied to him.

I gave him back lie for lie, false promise for false promise!

Forgive me.

We have been too long among the white men.

We will be our own people again.

I will sing the song to the sunset,

and then the song to the journey, the song to freedom.

And you will sing yours. And we will listen,

and we will learn each other's songs.

♪♪

I don't know those songs.

I have forgotten the old ways.

You have betrayed your people. No! You are the betrayer.

You sing the song to the sunset, but you break your word to another man.

A white man! A man born to a woman.

You call yourself an Indian,

but you go among white men with white men's clothes with a white man's name.

You say that you are a warrior, but you fail in the first test of a warrior...

That to never abandon a brother nor-nor turn

your back on one who has fought for you.

My brothers are all dead!

One of them will die at sunrise unless you save him.

One who has saved your life.

Yes.

I have forgotten the old songs and the old ways...

and the dead customs of our dead ancestors.

But I have remained an Indian!

Let the gods be thanked your people are all dead,

for they are spared the shame they would now be feeling for you!

Kgoy-Ma! Stop! Kgoy-Ma!

Kgoy-Ma! Kgoy-Ma!

Kgoy-Ma! Stop!

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Yee-haw!

Yee-haw!

No sight of him yet? No. What time is it?

It's gettin' to be about 3:00. What's goin' on in there?

Hanging party's getting their courage up.

If he doesn't show up soon... Hey, what's that?

Webb in the saloon?

Yeah. Well, get him.

Come here.

Tell me what happened. Where is he?

John?

John!

He's gone. Yeah.

We'd better get back, and fast. It can't be more than an hour till sunrise.

Good morning, Sheriff. Morning, Cully.

Redskin shown up yet? Sure didn't.

Other feller still back there in the jail?

I'm not supposed to let anyone take the law in their own hand.

Well, you wasn't supposed to let nobody sell them Indians whiskey neither, Sheriff.

I didn't know nothin' about that.

Go take yourself a walk up the street, and you won't know nothin' about this neither!

You wanna argue with all of us, Sheriff?

Reckon not. Help yourself.

There they are. Yeah.

Well, you said we might have to take on the whole town.

It's been many a year since I fired one of these, gentlemen.

And at this time of the day, my vision is not of the clearest.

If you'll just stand behind me, at least I won't hit either of you.

I have come for my brother!

John!

Do you know how they would have killed him?

At least I spared him that final insult.

John?

In Canada, we could ride free.

We could be brothers together.

Oh, the streams and the rivers are cool,

the land is wide,

and the forests are thick.

There are no dams.

Miles of trees...

and not a tree stump in all of those miles.

Will you come to Canada... with me, Jim?

He called me his brother.

A proper burial for a Kiowa warrior.

Well, he got killed in the war, didn't he?

Even though it was over long before he ever got a chance to fight in it.

The war is never over for a warrior until he's dead.

Until he's dead.

Will the day ever come, my friends,

when it will no longer be necessary...

for a man to be dead... to find peace?