Original subtitles

You

Ah

Not you

You

It was dead Kathy

Music

Music

Music

Music

Then

What happened?

Ben

Will is your friend what happened? Tell me

Killed a major

I'm a murderer

Silence silence my brethren. It's not further the work of the devil

I'm sorry preacher. I'm sorry to my brother

Then there'll have to be a trial here on the train or a way outside the jurisdiction of any court I

Can't see the need for a trial major. Oh, he doesn't know what he's saying major. There must be a trial

There will be sir

Come on, then

Get him out of there boys

You remember I told you Kathy Eckhart has been leading Ben on

You you'll help us at the trial

sister harness

We can't fight evil with evil

We must seek guidance and abide

Music

A little girl like you needs a man around, especially now with your paw gone.

Major Adams thinks so too.

He assigned me to drive for you.

There ought to be something said for Ben, Sarah.

Not your words, preacher.

They put him here.

Who's wagon master here?

I am, Seth Adams, Major, U.S. Army, retired.

Major Adams, you're 100 miles out of the area the cavalry tries to protect.

We're aware of that.

We found signs of a Kiowa gathering one day north of here, and we're hightailing it.

If you have any sense, you'll do the same.

We're taking this mountain pass out of necessity.

We just can't take our livestock through that dry country.

Well, suit yourself.

I take it you've heard that several wagon trains this past year have disappeared in

that pass?

I have.

That pass is tricky.

I take it you've picked up a guide somewhere.

Yeah, we got a guide, Jeff Miller here.

Picked him up in Mingo.

Saloon drunk?

Your uniform's showing, Lieutenant.

We didn't bother to go into Mr. Miller's morals, Lieutenant.

He's got letters of recommendation from other wagon trains.

From what we found out, he knows this country pretty good.

Maybe a little too good, Major?

What's you getting at, Lieutenant?

There are two theories in these missing trains.

One is the vibrations of the wagons create rock slides, and those wagons are buried at

the bottom of some gorge.

What's the other theory?

A business agreement some renegade has with a Kiowa.

They take the scalps, he takes the gold.

That's the theory my money's on, Major.

You want to go on, Major?

Lead out.

Here you go, Major. Good and hot.

Let's just say it's hot, Charlie.

Said it was good this morning.

Anyway, Flint like he drank a whole pot yesterday before he left on that trip.

Major, how much do we know about Miller?

Not enough to gamble with the lives of all these people, just don't you say so.

I'm going to make sure, don't worry, before we head into that pass tomorrow.

Bill, did you ever play follow the leader when you was a kid?

Yeah, I think so. Why?

Hope you were good at it, but you're going to be playing it tomorrow morning about the

time Miller heads out to scout that pass.

I don't want you to lose sight of it.

Take care of yourself, because I don't want to lose you either.

Well, at least he's got his mind on his business.

I hope I don't have to find one.

It's about time for me to go to bed.

We'll be waiting to hear from you tomorrow morning, Miller.

Good luck.

Don't want to be here.

I've seen the way you walk, the way you look. I've seen lots of things.

It's like you're crying for company.

I'll make my own choice if you don't mind.

What's wrong with me? I'm not so bad, am I now?

Why do you stop it?

Now, peace now, brother. We may have to be fighting together tomorrow.

What you up to, boy?

Well, I was just passing by. I thought she might be looking for you.

I'm not looking for you.

Well, I was just passing by. I thought she might be lonely.

Well, I guess you found out she isn't.

Good night.

I'm Kathy Eckhart.

Thank you, Mr. Miller.

You're welcome, Kathy.

Say, how'd you know my name?

You're the guide. You joined us at Mingo.

Why don't you just call me Jeff?

I think I'd like that.

Evening, Kathy.

Mr. Miller.

Preacher.

It's a hot night.

Getting some air?

That's right. How about you, Preacher?

Child, I thought you'd be mourning your pa.

Good night.

Good night, Mr. Miller.

Sure is, Preacher.

Sure is.

Preacher Adams, we demand an explanation

of why we're herded in here like cattle and where we're going.

Just take it easy, Preacher. We'll be there in a minute.

Go sit down.

When we stop, I want all of you to sit right where you are

until I call you out one by one.

We'll find out why in just a minute.

Whoa!

Whoa!

Who are you, Kathy?

You got anything to say, Preacher?

Me? You think that I...

I said nothing about you.

It just happens that you four people

are the only ones that have had any connection with this girl.

You mean one of us did this?

You got anything to say before I call the others out?

All right, then step over there.

Bill.

Miller.

You gonna just let her lay like that, Major?

Miller.

That's better than where we found her.

Who did it?

We thought maybe you could help us answer that.

You got anything to say, Miller?

No, Major.

Then you get over there with the Preacher.

Whitey.

I had nothing to do with this.

Well, you can't suspicion me.

Well, I couldn't do it.

Especially to a girl like Kathy.

Get over there.

Come on out, sir.

Let me help you, man.

I'm gonna need the help of each one of you.

And for your own good,

by golly, I better get it.

Because until I find out who did this,

the life of every man, woman and child on my train is in danger.

How do you figure that, Major?

Mr. Miller,

since that trip you made through the pass this morning,

since that trip you made through the pass this morning,

I think you're better able to answer that than me.

Preacher, come over here and sit down.

The way we figured this out,

Kathy was killed sometime late last night.

She was hanged.

That's not the way the Kiowa kills,

so we know no Indian did it.

But her hair.

Maybe that was done just to throw us off,

so we think an Indian did it.

I'm no judge of who did this sinful thing.

So?

Major,

something happened to Kathy Eckhart

that wasn't said at the trial.

I had hoped that it would never be said,

but now I guess it has to.

The first day of Ben's trial, I was down by the creek,

looking up at heaven, praying for the right thing to happen,

asking what I could do to help.

And just as if my prayer had been heard,

Kathy Eckhart come up and put her hope and trust in me.

Preacher!

Preacher!

Preacher!

Preacher!

I've been looking everywhere for you.

I gotta talk to you, Preacher.

It's about...

Ben Harness and me.

Ben and you?

You're the only one I can come to.

You know what's right and wrong and what ought to do.

Well, I try to know, Kathy.

Well, I'm not a regular preacher with schooling and all,

but I study just one book

and pray and try to tell folks to do the same.

It's no mind. You're a preacher to us.

I'm... I'm in trouble.

Go on, child.

I ain't a child no more.

That's changed.

People are looking at me different now.

I'd like to say with their eyes,

that Kathy Eckhart, she sure growed to a woman all of a sudden.

They used to treat me like I was a boy,

funnin' and teasein' and playin' with me.

Now I'm a woman.

I'm a woman.

They used to treat me like I was a boy,

funnin' and teasein', mostly kid stuff.

Till I got to play mad, I could spit.

Now, Ben, look at me.

Powerful, longin' like.

Makes me feel like someone new.

I've seen it.

But Ben?

He used to fun like the rest.

But then it changed.

The way he looked at me and began to talk,

it was something I liked to see and to hear.

And there was something else.

I saw I could make him laugh or talk soft

or get grumpy, though he tried to hide it.

It's a... a kind of power.

I'd never had it before.

I used it.

Kathy, you should have come to me then.

I didn't think I was doing wrong, preacher, not really wrong.

I figured I could handle Ben.

I didn't know it was me I'd have to watch.

Child.

One time he kissed me.

Then I stayed away for a while.

But something pulled me back and...

What can I do, Kathy? What is there to do?

The trial.

They'll ask Ben why he killed Pa.

And he'll tell, preacher. He'll tell.

What'll happen to me?

What'll Ben's wife Sarah do?

I'm scared, preacher.

They'll say I'm a bad girl.

I ain't, preacher. I really ain't.

But that'll make no mind the way they'll think and act when they know.

What'll Kathy Eckhart be then?

They might drive me from the train.

They might as well kill me.

And maybe Ben's wife will.

What are you asking me to do, Kathy?

Talk to Ben. Make him see what'll happen.

Stop him from talking, preacher. You've got to.

You're wanting me to let a man hang himself?

He'll hang anyway.

You know how they've been talking, how mad they are.

He'll hang no matter what.

Preacher?

I don't know, Kathy.

But it does seem that Ben would be adding hurt and sin where there's been too much already.

Then you will?

Let me think, Kathy. And pray.

And search the book.

It ain't mine to decide.

But I'll do it.

Search the book.

It ain't mine to decide.

It's no man's.

I want to see the prisoner, Woody.

Well, I guess he still has his rights.

There'll be no saving him, preacher, from the hanged noose or the devil.

Come on.

They'll be coming for you to start the trial before long, Ben.

No one knows better than me what sins I've committed.

You rightly said you murdered Will.

They'll ask you why. Are you going to answer?

I'll not face judgment with sins on my mind.

I'll be damned for greater sins.

Preacher, what are you telling me?

I'm asking you not to let anybody know the truth of why Will Eckhart come after you.

You know about...

Kathy?

Yes, she come to me.

Hardly more than a child, Ben.

Yet your words will make her into something else.

She'll be scorned and shamed for the rest of her life.

And that ain't all. What about Sarah, your wife?

Your talk will tear down everything she's lived for.

What can she believe in after she finds out...

Preacher!

She'll have hate. Hate the rest of her life for you, for Kathy.

And it might be big enough that she'd kill.

And that would be your sin, too, Ben.

What can I say?

Not the truth.

Men kill for lots of reasons.

Hate, anger, stealing.

Take your choice.

What'll they believe out there, you'll know.

They're coming, Ben.

You can atone and save...

or you can destroy and be damned.

Blasphemy!

Blasphemy!

And from a preacher! A preacher!

Ain't it enough you've blackened Ben's soul?

I won't let you destroy his name.

That girl lied about Ben. Ben did nothing.

She tried to get him to go after her. She lied.

And she got what she deserves.

I know who done it.

You do?

Well, get over there.

Well, well, we all know who done it.

And I'm gonna say it.

She done it on account of what happened to Ben.

You lie!

Now, just hold on, Sarah.

You'll get your chance to talk like everybody else,

but you'll talk in turn on when I tell you.

Then why don't you ask him what he was doing

hanging around that girl very chance he got?

I only done my job, Major, what you ordered me to do.

And I heard things.

And I heard things.

All right, Whitey.

Sit down and speak your peace.

Like after the trial,

when I was guarding Ben at that jail wagon?

Is it awful bad?

I mean, the way people look at you,

like you was a dog or something needed killing?

You got no understanding of what we done, child.

Preacher made me realize that.

I know that your keeping quiet about us at the trial

makes you a good man, Ben.

When they take you up on that hill this afternoon,

remember, you're doing right.

I'll never forget you, Ben.

What are you doing here?

Go, you're hurting.

No matter what Ben said at the trial,

it was you leading him on that killed your pa.

You're just full of meanness and spite.

I don't know why he protected you,

but I do know that Ben is my man alone,

and he always has been.

Ben was something come with the land to you,

a convenience to you,

and I don't know why he protected you.

Ben was something come with the land to you,

a convenience that worked and sweated

and calloused his hands for you,

something owed you because you're a virtuous married woman,

legal and proper,

but you never thought of Ben as a man.

And that's when you broke in, Major.

Sarah, it's your turn if there's any more to say.

There's more, Major.

A lot more.

Ben's trial was over.

There was nothing now but to wait for the hanging.

Nearly time, ain't it, Preacher?

I'm sorry I can't sit with you.

I'd better get this ready.

Ben's?

It's his son.

I'm sure he'll be all right.

I'm sure he'll be all right.

I'm sure he'll be all right.

I'm sure he'll be all right.

It's his son to go to meet in suit.

Most farmers don't take much to dress,

and neither did Ben, except on Sundays.

And then getting out this suit and shaving clean

was something he looked forward to.

He always had trouble with his tie,

and I helped him.

He looked real nice,

and he knew it made me proud,

and that made him hold his head a little higher

and walk a little straighter.

And he always wore it on special days, too,

like Christmas, Easter.

That's why I want him to have it up on that hill today.

I've come to go with you, Sarah.

I don't know. Ben wants it that way.

I just had my last talk with him,

and he's found the strength he needs.

Did Ben tell you anything more than what he said at the trial?

Why do you keep fighting for something that there ain't?

Because there has to be something more than what Ben let be said.

Why, he wouldn't even argue with Will Eckhart

over a worn set of harness, let alone kill him for it.

When you live with a man, you become of one mind.

I'm going to tell you something that you've got to try to understand

if you ever want to find peace inside yourself.

Ben told me what it is that he's been holding back,

and there's no reason for his telling.

It can only mean more hurt.

It's that girl Kathy, ain't it?

I knew it all along.

Whatever it is won't make no difference in Ben's hanging.

Always after him, she was.

Ben's got to tell. It's her fault.

It won't make no difference now. You've got to believe that.

Kathy Eckhart's just a child.

You keep talking about her like she's something more.

Ben told me she tried to kiss him once,

and he was truly shamed,

because he believes that for a married man

to even kiss another woman is sinful.

Nothing really sinful ever happened between them,

or Ben would have told me.

What if Will found there was something more between Kathy and Ben?

Ben's no less guilty of the murder, is he?

And... well, it might even change him in your eyes.

There was nothing more, preacher!

But whatever else there was,

whether it would save Ben or not,

he must confess it to the Lord before he goes to meet him.

You should know that better than any.

And you'll help me to make Ben see it, too, won't you?

Your thinking's twisted, Sister Harness.

But I can't rightly blame you none at a time like this.

But I got to refuse what you're asking.

Why?

Because what Ben's doing is right.

Before the trial had come to me,

down by the creek like a revelation,

I went to Ben and had a talk.

I made him see the light.

I made him realize that by talking

he would merely be piling his sins higher,

that helping others was more important now,

that by keeping quiet he would atone for Willicart.

And now, through that, Ben knows that he'll be saved.

Now, you have no right to take that away from him, Sister.

And if you try, and Ben does talk,

you will not only be condemning Ben,

but you, too, will have to answer.

Ben Harness?

You got anything to say?

What's there to say, Major?

If it hasn't been said already?

I don't know, Ben.

I'm sorry.

Really?

It's just got to be.

As wagon master, I'm bound to carry out

the decision that was made by the trial.

No! Please wait!

Please wait! Oh, Major!

Please wait! Oh, Major, please!

Let me see him again for pity's sake.

Just a minute. Please! Please!

Help him down.

I came here to do a hanging.

I said help him down!

Sam.

What's there to say between us now?

A lifetime.

And what do you know of a man?

The way he wants his food,

the size of him next to you,

the way he loves you,

the size of him next to you,

the things you laugh at,

and the quickness of him to hurt.

I close my eyes at night, Ben.

I try to remember what you look like.

And I get scared.

Because I can't recall right off what you were exactly.

It takes a special kind of remembering.

Like the time you cried

when I broke my arm

and you had to listen while it was set.

And then you're clear again for a while

until it fades and I can't hold on to it any longer.

Maybe...

if I hadn't had a lacking in me, Ben,

the remembering would be clear and strong.

But there was sharing the work

and taking care of you

and doing for you.

I counted that loving too, Ben.

Sarah.

Sarah, you're a kind of loving goes with a man.

Even in his dying.

Ain't you gonna tell him nothing, Ben?

No.

You look real nice, Ben.

Come on.

Back up, everybody. Make room for the sergeant.

Come on, make way.

Tell them, Ben. Tell them.

Tell them, Ben!

Tell them!

Ben!

Ben!

Ben!

You called yourself a preacher when you joined this train,

and we believed you,

and yet you took away what might have been Ben's only chance of living.

I don't believe you are a preacher or ever were,

or you'd made Ben tell.

Telling would have made no difference.

You let him die without confessing

just for the sake of that girl.

That's not so.

I showed a man the true path to glory.

You knew it was her fault, mister.

And you kept silent.

Don't forget, the Lord knows that,

and I know it, too.

There'll be a reckoning, mister.

I knew she'd done it.

Shut up, Whitey. She had the best reason, didn't she?

Doesn't it seem kind of strange that Kathy was killed the same way Ben was?

Maybe somebody planned it that way

to make us think it was just that.

I'm gonna tell you something. I want you to listen.

I told you once, but I'm gonna tell you again.

Unless we find out here and now who killed this girl,

it can very likely mean the breakup of the whole train

and the lives of everybody on it.

You told us, Major, but you didn't tell us why.

Remember that cavalry detail that stopped us?

They told me something, and you might as well know what they told me.

They said they figured we had a renegade riding with us

who was gonna lead us into an Indian ambush up on that pass.

They had no proof, so we took this route.

But now we know the renegade is with us.

How can you tell that?

Kathy has lived with Indians and knows their ways.

What they did to her afterwards is proof of that.

Yet only one of you is supposed to have ever been around Indians before.

That's you, Mr. Miller.

Now, if he didn't do it, then one of you lied. Why?

Maybe to keep from being suspected.

Only the one we're looking for would be afraid to admit that he'd been here before.

Unless he got real bravo and hired on with us as a guide.

You mean he's a traitor? And he killed Kathy?

Get over here, Miller. Let's hear what you got to say.

I've only got one thing to say, Major. I'm innocent.

I didn't expect you to have much to say, Miller,

after that trip of yours to the pass this morning.

Don't worry for us. Bill Hawks was right behind you.

He'll tell that story.

Miller went up to check the pass this morning.

I gave him a little head start, then I trailed him the way the Major told me to do.

Put it out. Put it out now.

I should give you credit. I didn't hear a thing.

I thought you were one of those cow devils coming after me.

Shut up or I'll kill you.

Come on, let's get out of here.

Now.

Selling out to Indians is bad enough.

But living with people,

sharing their food, pretending to feel as they feel,

and then sell their scalp for gold.

You're the worst kind of a sidewinder I ever saw.

Major, I didn't build that fire.

It was there, all put together when I found it.

You were lighting that fire to send up a smoke signal. Why?

If I got an answer to that signal,

I'd know we couldn't take the train up to the pass.

It was a trick, Major, a trick.

But was it a signal for those Indians to come down for a pow-wow with you,

so you could tell them how strong we were, what time we were going to the pass?

All right! Where to hit us?

All right, maybe I can't prove I'm innocent,

but neither can you prove I'm guilty, Major.

You're forgetting one thing, Mr. Miller.

That fire's sitting there waiting to be lit.

And until it is, those Indians are going to stay right where they are.

So?

Whoever laid that fire is from this train. That blanket proves that.

If Hawks trailed me like he said he did,

he knows I didn't take a blanket!

And whoever read it, it did!

Now, you listen to me, Miller, and you listen good.

Hawks and I are going back up there, and we're going to sit there, and we're going to wait.

And if our man shows up, he'll be in the clear.

If he doesn't, I'm going to hand you over to the people on this train.

And when they get through with you, mister, you're going to be hard to recognize.

The Major and I started up to where the fire was, and on the way we came across Cathy.

Then he killed her.

He's the renegade that's been leading the wagon trains into slaughter.

I knew it. There was something about that feller.

But why? Why?

Now, just hold on, all of you.

Do any of you know for sure that this man's not telling the truth?

Well, can he prove he's telling the truth?

Now, that fire up there ain't been lit yet.

Well, how do you know that, Whitey?

Well, I ain't telling, Major. I'm just asking.

Well, the fire hasn't been lit, and it's not going to be as long as you four are here.

Whoever laid that fire killed Cathy.

Well, one of you four did it.

Now, listen, Major. Ain't nothing been said about me. I was...

You get your turn, Preacher. You just wait.

From what's been said here,

it appears to me that...

that you, Miller, are in cahoots with the Kiowas somehow.

And Whitey...

you didn't tell all you knew at the trial.

Still, Cathy wouldn't have anything to do with you.

And, Sarah, you blame Cathy for getting your husband hung.

But the Preacher...

Preacher, some way,

you just don't seem to be connected to all this.

Oh, you told a good story. Maybe too good.

I'm just wondering, could it be that...

that you're posing as something that you're not?

Now, look here, Major.

Ain't no coal a blasphemal man of the cloth.

I came up here to help, at your request, of course,

but I could at least get some respect.

Well, there's no disrespect intended, Preacher.

But we're here for something a little bit more important than that.

We're here to decide what direction this wagon train's gonna head.

Well, ain't we going on?

Not unless we find out who's guilty.

I know that the coyote won't go anywheres near that pass

unless they get a signal that some wagon train is coming through.

Well, if we find our man or woman,

then we know the pass is clear.

If we don't,

then this wagon train's gonna turn around.

Back to Mingo?

Back to Mingo.

Major...

there's something I have to admit.

Could we talk private-like?

Here.

He admit to being the traitor, Major?

And to killing Kathy?

Jefferson Miller.

Captain, U.S. Army Intelligence.

Why didn't you tell us sooner, Miller?

Those were his orders, Bill.

I also have orders to bring the renegade in, Major.

I want him as bad as you do.

Well, Captain, then you must know that every minute we waste up here

is just adding more danger to the people on my train.

I know that that Kiowa village is only a few miles away.

But I also know that smoke signal or not,

they often send out parties, war parties,

and they can spot us just as easily as not.

Major, I advise turning this wagon train around.

I think you're right, Captain.

You won't have to turn the train back, Major.

Oh?

I know who did it.

I prayed and I prayed

that she'd show true repentance and speak up.

She?

I'm sorry, Sarah,

but I can't let them turn back and do harm to all these good folks.

No.

I followed her last night.

She brought Kathy up here by gunpoint,

made her kneel down on the ground and pray for her sins,

and then she put a rope around her neck,

that selfsame rope that hangs there.

You lie!

Before I could do anything, it...

it was all over.

It was all over.

I chased Sarah off into the night and...

No.

Major, I brought Kathy up here, yes.

I had Ben's gun.

I don't know what I planned to do at the time.

I... I just felt inside that I had to make her realize that...

And then I run off.

I... I didn't kill her, Major.

She was alive when I left her.

I swear.

I swear.

I swear.

I'm sorry, Sarah.

You're under arrest.

They'll take her to the wagon, tell Tim to keep his eye on her.

Come on, ma'am.

Uh, Major, can I... can I go?

Yeah, Whitey, you can get in the wagon.

Well, Captain, looks like our problem's been solved.

The only question is now

whether we take that sure road through the dry country

or whether we take that, uh, good chance through the past.

Major, it's your wagon train.

Then we'll go ahead.

I'll, uh, pass the news along to the train.

A woman renegade.

Yeah.

Kind of hard to believe, isn't it?

Greetings, my brother.

I bring the Kiowa word of another white man's wagon train

that will ride through his land.

I also bring this

as proof of my continuing brotherhood with the Kiowa.

Take this to your father, the chief.

Hold it!

Looks like we got the job done.

Looks like we got two prisons to take back, Major.

Yeah.

That young buck there's gonna be a real prize for us.

He's our ticket through that pass.

Captain, would you mind taking him and getting our horses?

Move.

Preacher!

She was a Jezebel incarnate.

She was my girl.

Then it was Ben too. Look.

She promised not to do it again if I told Ben not to talk,

and in a few days, she started all over again.

She was bad!

Preacher!

I should have shot you!

Come on.

Come on.

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