Original subtitles

The klondike in October.

Two things are going south right now...

...The weather and people smart enough

To get out before winter comes.

Some, like my friend,

Never got the chance.

Death has come to the klondike, seeking like the rest of us,

While we search out gold and abstractions like justice,

Death only seeks more.

His instruments are many.

The land.

The animals.

And that most vile and irrepressible of forces

To which man

Specially in the klondike

Has no defense.

Disease.

Yes, dollars!

Fifty dollars... That's bogus!

50 bucks!

Any man who wants to give up

On his horrible toil, get his claim off his back

I'm offering 50 dollars.

Wouldn't pay for the equipment, soap,

You low grade son of a bitch.

God's own truth, but it's better than being dead now,

Ain't it?

Well, take a look yonder. What do you see?

Nothing. Same as any other day.

What you don't see is what's slowly creeping up the creeks.

Nervous fever.

Kill you like a hundred men they already put

In the ground in dawson.

I'll take my chances.

I did mention the tlingit, too, didn't I?

I guess, you just got to ask yourself which is greater.

Chance of you hitting the pay streak in one of these

Prospect holes, or the chance the nervous fever get you.

Or the tlingit gets you.

You filthy son of a bitch.

You.

Yep, me.

Well, I know that look.

Shameless opportunist, right?

That my look or your conscience?

I see it a whole different way.

I'm saving lives.

What do you say?

50 bucks.

Wouldn't get me 100 miles.

Which out here is just another part of nowhere.

Gets you out of the radius of the fever and the tlingit.

I'm offering you nothing short than a ticket to life.

How about you step back?

Put a few paces between us, friend.

Why don't you step back?

So I don't get any of you on me.

No way to talk to a man trying to liberate you.

Fine by me.

It's going to be cheaper for me when you all die.

You do have a fine day, though.

Don't pay him any mind, meek.

It's not so much him I'm worried about.

You've got to get that looked at.

It's just my lungs ain't agreeing with me.

They got to get to it fast before it gets into your head.

As soon as your brain stops agreeing with you,

You're done.

I'll hitch a ride into town with gorna's team tomorrow.

St. Blase invoked against diseases of the throat,

St. Achatius invoked against headache,

Saint christopher, invoked against storm and plague...

Enough.

What are you doing?

Moving them out.

Where?

Street.

They'll all die out there.

Well, they're going to die anyway, right?

And until they're dead, I can't have them on my land.

Your land?

The cheapest plot in town, believe it or not.

What in god's name are you going to do with a mortuary?

There's no hospital here.

These people have nowhere to go.

Well, god will protect them.

Right?

Why are you so callous?

Prudent.

I'm being prudent.

I can't have infectious disease on my property.

Well, then I'll take them

To my church.

You really think your lord's going to protect you.

You think he's going to save you from this nasty disease?

I'm already saved.

You're the dead man.

And not just in this life.

Well, I do wonder about that, father.

This foundation is going.

The soil's wet, but not that wet.

It shouldn't be giving like this.

Tell that to the hillside.

I'm going to do some reckoning.

And by my reckoning, we need more wood in a bad way.

World feeds off of itself up there, doesn't it?

Man dies, birds get his flesh, vultures get his boots,

Someone gets his claim and I get a story.

Got that thinking look on your face.

I was thinking about whoever it was that turned tents

Into a city on a chunk of what's a

Effectively a typhus-ridden swamp.

Miss mulrooney, we got to talk.

Inside.

Without more wood, that bench is going to give.

And that's eight weeks of digging gone south.

I'm up against a vein. I know it.

Miners are always up against a vein.

If a tenth of them were right,

We'd be paving a road back to the states in gold dust.

This claim is different.

That superstructure falls in on itself... I don't know if I got

The ability to wait out until spring to start building again.

By ability you mean money.

If you stake me two cords for fuel,

30 pulls to shore up the build...

He wants credit.

I ain't in the business of charity.

You got a stake in that claim, too.

That bothers you, doesn't it?

It makes you wonder whether I had something

To do with epstein's death.

In terms of my stake in that claim,

I have no interest in mining, as I've always maintained,

What I have is an investment in joe meeker.

And why is that?

He's a cousin.

He's a walking, talking, two-legged labrador.

Don't need much more than a bone to keep him happy.

If that bone is a half a stake in a claim,

Ain't averse to keeping joe meeker happy.

What if I put up my half?

Two halves of nothing.

That's just what I need.

A lot of speculation about this claim.

And even if you don't believe in it,

It'll sell for something on the open market.

For more than the price of the wood I'm asking.

You're either stupid or you got way too much faith.

Hold it for a week.

That's all it's going to take for me to get to that vein.

But after a week, if you don't pay back the loan,

Capital does me no good tied up there in the claims.

It has to be down here in dawson.

These properties are all too nice.

See, I don't want nice.

What I'm looking for is shit.

Shit that you can polish up and then make nice.

That's real estate, understand?

Word with you.

I heard you threatened the priest.

There will not be any murder in this town,

Well, you and I both know there's going to be a murder.

Lots that slips through the cracks for us as a

We've got ten men to police 200 square miles of claims.

We've got to pick our priorities.

That starts with the church.

That's another institution that can help civilize this town.

Faster than you know what hit you,

I'll put a cage around you.

I might not have to kill him myself,

Superintendent.

God might do it for me.

You shoot my friend?

Why?

You're not going to get an answer out of him.

But you can take solace in the fact that one way

Or another he'll see justice.

A problematic word.

Justice for us is hanging a killer.

Justice for them is maybe fighting off people

All we get's a couple of dead men. Who's the wiser?

That's a pretty even-keeled response.

I'd think you'd be seeing red.

I'm seeing plenty.

Just not sure if it's here.

He wants to know if you want some.

Says he prefers it to the white man's water.

Must have been a hell of a shot

With a dead trigger finger like that.

Ain't exactly made for marksmanship, is it?

One way or another we'll find out the truth.

Just a little higher.

A little higher. A little over to the left.

The guy buys a mortuary and now he's looking to add to it?

Up there?

Who buys a cemetery?

I don't think he bought a cemetery.

I think he bought dirt.

I don't like people buying dirt next to my dirt.

He's making offers.

Talking about putting up saloons,

A hotel.

Let him.

Location's location.

And that up there, that ain't location.

But it is dry.

Look around, people are tired of living in the mud.

He's figuring a city.

A city built to last.

Front street isn't exactly a model of sanitation now, is it?

That's why he's buying up there.

Do you think he's planning on making a new downtown?

That's exactly what I'd do.

Find out who he's talking to.

I want to talk to them first.

Tell them I'll pay more than the count.

Count pays cash 100 percent.

You've taken too many notes from miners,

Wood's ready to go up to 152, bill haskell claim.

Should we set him up or wait on the roads?

We'll send him up.

You want to compete with the count?

You got to sell that claim.

Which means whatever you do, I would not bring him that wood.

Two more for me and two more for my friend here.

Hey, this tastes like horse piss!

To hell with them glasses, just give me a bottle.

Give us a feel.

I know. It's kind of the point, don't you think?

I prefer it be a bit more classy than that.

So you have an opinion, do you? Hey?

I just bought it off of you.

And the next one.

And the next one in your head.

Perhaps I can request that we take this upstairs?

You see, now, to make requests that requires you

To have an opinion.

And I just bought your opinions, didn't I?

And the next one in your head.

And the next one in your head.

What do you want me to do?

You're a whore.

Take clothes off.

More.

More.

This is the klondike, love!

I don't see you digging!

That enough whore for you, count?

No, not quite.

But I think we're getting there.

I'm just kind of curious.

How much is enough whore for you in a woman?

A little bit ain't enough is it?

You, you want more.

All of you!

You want more of the whore?

Who will do whatever you want...

...Let you do whatever you want to her.

Enough.

The lady's done for the night.

Yeah, I think you'd know not to interrupt a man

Who's spent money on a hooker.

You've been outbid, asshole.

Showed him.

You didn't show him a goddamn thing.

Standing out there buck naked in the rain

With money in your hand.

He's right, you're a goddamn whore.

Now you give me that.

Don't you look a gift horse in the mouth.

I just saved you.

Who said I needed any saving?

You shitting me, woman?

We all do what we do.

Now I need that money.

Please.

I'll do whatever you want.

Inside my coat there's a pocket.

You reach in there, you pull out that compact,

You open it up...

...Look.

See what you are.

You go to hell, bitch.

You righteous, rich, bitch.

Money, that's what men have over you.

Once they don't, they ain't got no sway.

And you get to keep your integrity.

And that is worth a whole lot more than all

The gold in this goddamn, frozen shit box.

I'm sorry.

You don't say sorry to me.

You say sorry to yourself.

God may be a fairytale, but the fear of god ain't.

You put that in her.

You understand?

It's a long way for the deputy minister of the interior

To come, that's all.

We do tend to hibernate in ottawa

At the first sign of winter.

The dawson problem is apparently too pressing

To let wait until spring.

At least according to my superiors.

Dawson problem?

As you know, the government is encouraging companies

To come up here, develop the yukon.

But said companies are a little uneasy.

Word's gotten back, justified or not,

That the natives are restless.

You want to scare a white man in a corporate boardroom?

Tell him he's investing in a land full of angry brown people.

So, obviously, they need to be reassured

That there is the rule of law in the yukon.

If they're killers, they need to die.

But I'm not yet 100 percent certain that they're the ones.

Then get 100 percent certain.

Good news. The tailor said he'd talk to you about the property.

I know you don't want the count to get it,

But don't offer the man cash for that land. You don't have it.

Mcdonald, it's belinda mulrooney.

Come in.

I appreciate you seeing me, sir.

Mr. Mcdonald and I were just finishing up.

It's not signed yet.

What if I offered you more?

The count's paying me a nice number.

200.

300.

400?

Five.

You know, you should really walk away.

You've pressed me twice already.

I'm liable to become unhinged.

Six.

2,000.

Hah. You spend money like that,

I wouldn't have to worry about you.

You'd be broke.

Mr. Mcdonald, if you please.

Nobody pays 2,000.

Only an idiot does.

And you're right.

Nothing is a far better price.

Now, I need to know that I'm done with you.

Tell me that I'm done with you.

Yeah, I'm done with you.

Good girl.

Agh.

We're going for a walk.

Hit the bottle, please.

Again!

Again!

Playing lame, aren't you?

Let's put some real stakes into it?

Now make the shot.

Make the shot like you did that night,

Or he dies!

Make the shot!

It's all right.

Ain't enough to share.

I never killed no man, but you don't give way to that wood,

I may have to start.

Don't make it about that.

You're going to have to kill me, too, to stop me.

Pwah!

Haskell's asking for the wood.

In this weather?

Haskell's got way too much faith in fellow man thinking

I'm just going to saddle up and ride out into that.

Deliver him wood that he wants on credit.

I ain't doing it.

I've got too much else on my mind.

There's plenty of men have died in the yukon

On account of the wrong kind of courage.

It would be a shame, though.

He's a good one.

Don't you put that on me.

I don't put nothing on nobody.

I just talk.

How much firewood does he have?

Not enough.

Ed?

That's my husband.

What happened? What happened?

He's still with us. Don't worry.

You all right?

Get in the house.

Light, you son of a bitch.

If I were more of a religious man,

I'd say you were an angel.

I've been called a lot of things,

But never that.

What are you doing?

Giving somebody something they need.

This ought to burn right.

The man tried to take an axe to you and you still gave him wood?

It wasn't him swinging it.

Something inside of him.

Something the weather put there he'd rather not have seen.

No.

Humph.

Goddamn.

Idiot, idiot, idiot!

Stupid woman!

Thinking I'd get back before it went 100 percent to shit.

Wish I could offer you something.

A hot bath would be nice. A dry bed.

Like I said, I wish I could offer you something.

Remind me never do anyone a favor.

Dig someone out of a hole...

...You just end up putting the dirt in your own grave.

We drink it when we want to knock the

Sharp edges off the world.

It's going to be one of those kind of nights,

Full of sharp edges.

Too damn smart to be digging around in the dirt.

You know, you keep talking to someone like a neophyte,

You're liable to alienate them.

All the better.

Then they don't get the wrong idea about things.

And you've got, what, one more season than I do up here.

One season is all it takes to undo...

...5,000 years of civilization.

Goddam has the species regressed.

No...

...We've come a ways.

What do I do, father?

I'm stuck up here and I swear sometimes it's hell on earth.

Well, between you and me, hell's bullshit.

No fiery brimstone cave under our feet.

No devil.

I mean, if hell's real, it's right here.

It's when we start believing that fear

Is something different than what it is.

It's just a feeling, that's all it is.

Bones buzzing, blood pumping.

And when you see that, you're through the looking glass.

Can't steer you no more.

So, if there are only two things in this world,

Love and fear, what are you going to choose?

Love.

But I ain't seeing it.

But you do see the fear, don't you?

Why people are doing the things they're doing

Is because they're scared.

And when you see a person like that,

When they're afraid, you see the little kid in them.

You see the scared thing inside of them,

And you can't help but...

Love them.

Father?

What am I going to do?

Well, you can learn how to love.

You're different, haskell.

What makes you so different?

I try to bathe at least once a week.

Well, it ain't doing you any favors.

You got some white in your mouth.

The teeth of your civilization.

It's the first thing that goes, hygiene.

Civilization ain't gone up here. Not if you don't want it to go.

It ain't what you want.

It's what nature wants.

And she'll pull the animal right out of you

Even if you don't know it's in there.

Nature can't take what you don't want it to.

Goddamn if civilization ain't a beautiful thing.

If you say a word of this to anyone,

I'll deny it.

One hangover, I'm used to.

Two hangovers, a whole other thing.

A lot of intoxication in there, last night,

In more ways than one.

It'll wear off.

Always does.

I'm too far gone, haskell.

Too many closed up places in me that need

To be open for something like this to work.

A woman needs to be like that up here.

Keep that civilization burning bright,

Won't you?

You do the same.

Well... It's been beat out of me.

I think I made that clear with all that

Pontificating last night.

If it don't show up last night, I'm out here in the mud dead

And I think you knew that.

So don't talk to me about civilization.

Maybe that's the biggest curse of the klondike,

How it saps your ability to trust.

You never know what's in a person's heart,

What they really want from you.

They'd just as soon kill you as love you.

Because you kill someone

And they're never a threat to you again.

You love them, they can take everything from you.

Your gold.

Your land.

Your soul.

Show us your stuff!

Half-wit's supposed to be on the straight and narrow.

Well, she is, believe it or not. She's just celebrating.

Celebrating what?

Well, if I'm not mistaking,

She's in love with the divine holy light.

There you are.

I just need a few signatures.

Liquidation papers for the bill haskell claim.

Who's our buyer?

We talked about this. You want hard cash to

Compete with this man. Then this is the way to do it.

Miss mulrooney.

I trust you're here to consummate the deal?

I'm not consummating that way, but you do get my point.

You shut up, soap.

Don't you make this any dirtier than it already is.

The good news is,

I've got walking pneumonia.

Not a lot of people qualify that as good news.

It is if it means I don't got typhus.

Well, now, congratulations.

And you'll be elated to know I figured out why

The site's been filling in on itself.

There's flow under the surface.

And plaster.

Soft as clouds.

Meaning, if there's science to any of this,

That is an optimum gold-bearing soil.

You might want to hold off on that.

I started with the good news.

Is it true?

You sell out that claim from beneath me?

I told you there ain't no civilization in me.

I sold your note to soapy.

He's not going to give you the week I was to pay back the loan.

He's going to foreclose.

Tomorrow.

I thought we had an understanding.

I'm formally requesting a judge be sent so a proper

Case can proceed.

Because if you want justice

Up here, then you're going to need a justice.

You don't want to do this.

Don't you tell me what I want to do.

I'll tell you what.

What I'm going to do right now is save you.

That's going to the telegraph office.

I'll have them type another.

Now you listen to me, friend.

There's a reason you came here.

I know what it is.

I know exactly who you are.

20-year veteran that's never risen above constable.

A wholly uninspired candidate incapable of original thought.

Year in and year out, you get passed over.

So you come up here, take the job that no one else will.

Your one last shot to be someone.

A superintendent.

And suddenly you get that original thought at exactly

The wrong time.

Were this to get through, I would simply countermand it.

You would be relieved of duty.

And I would have more public relations complications

When I want less.

I'm giving you a chance to reconsider.

What's happening here is going to happen,

Whether you retype this or not.

You're a son of a bitch.

Yes I am.

A son of a bitch who's saving you from yourself.

So, what do you say, superintendent?

Let me save you?

The man puts a shovel in the ground that many times,

God is bound to reward him.

He's just got to.

We'll find another claim.

No. This was it, meek.

Our one shot!

Don't give me that look.

I gave you a chance.

You could have cashed in.

Save it, leech.

I'd rather be a leech than an idiot, friend.

A leech is never hungry.

Idiot, go, go-go find yourself lunch.

Someplace else besides my claim.

Meek! Meek!

We're still in it, meek!

It ain't over yet!

We're still in it!

Come on!

Hey, hey, hey!

What the hell are you doing?

This is my claim now!

No it ain't. I got a contract!

Yeah, well in case you can't see,

I'm holding that contract now.

And since you can't pay the balance due this very day,

I am ordering you to vacate.

You do not have the funds!

That's where you're wrong, soapy.

We are fully funded.

Go on, get!

Death is here.

The sky will darken soon.

Like a coffin lid closing and we will be alone with death.

God isn't fooled by our shelters...

...Or by the rags covering our bodies.

He knows.

We're no different than the coyotes.

We are predators, creatures of fortune and circumstance,

That's all.

God knows.

There's no end to him.

He is the storm.

He is the mudslide.

He is the typhus-ridden mosquito.

And he is our greed for gold.

He chooses who to kill, like an infant smashing sticks.

I've come here to tell you that I feel his grace,

I feel him pulling me to him.

I can feel it coming.

A storm.

What storm?

I will kill.

Have you killed before?

Yes.

Whom have you killed?

A wandering jew.

A young man with the sap still rising in him.

And you will kill again?

Whatever burns inside you, man always has a choice.

Always a choice.

Not when it's god's own gravity

Pulling you like the rain out of the sky.

It just happens.

An inevitability.

That's my confession.

Attention!

Attention all you dirty pricks!

This boat leaves in two days and there won't be another

One until next spring.

And only the healthy...

Careful with the piano, please.

If you have a sniffle, a speck of a sniffle,

Cough, rash, scratch in your throat,

If you're dying, planning to die,

Hoping not to die, this ain't your ship!

You will not be coming aboard!

That is life or death drama.

Most of these people don't have supplies

To last through the winter.

They'll die if they stay here.

Which makes this a business-tunity,

Don't it?

I got ten tickets to the highest bidder!

Now we all know how this works.

We'll do it in an orderly way.

Somebody say a number and then somebody says a higher number.

Who'll give me 40?

This is your one and only tunity to get out of here

Before the winter sets in

And you all start to freeze your asses off!

Now you all know about the typhus. This is...

Dog?

40.

It's going to be 40 dollars...

...To get out of here.

Who can give me more?

Think about it.

This is your lives we're talking about.

45 from this gentleman...

We're in a tavern up north and there is this big indian there.

Tlingit, I think.

And he's had a few, but he's not drunk.

We decide we're going to have a little fun with him.

Now the man is standing with his back to a mirror, see?

And we tell him, if you turn head really fast toward

The mirror, you can see the back of your head.

Well, this savage who just stares at us,

Doesn't say anything.

Indian doesn't understand english, we think. Hah.

Then we see him, when he thinks nobody's looking.

And he's whipping his head around like this.

He does it every three seconds or so.

Almost saw it.

Could I have a word with you a moment, sir?

How may I help you, father?

Well the prisoners you're about to hang are innocent.

And you say that, why?

Because I've spoken to the murderer.

He's a white man.

What's his name?

I don't know his name or, or his face.

It was in the darkness of the confessional.

And the bond of the confessional prevents you from saying more,

Yes sir. I mean, if I did know more, I wouldn't say it,

But I don't know more.

Catholic evidence.

Boys, remind me never to confess to a priest.

He'll blab it all over town.

I've known men like you.

Strong with others, weak alone.

I said what I came to say.

Now you do with it what you will.

Hey priest! You know if you turn around really fast you can see

The back of your head?

Wait.

Are you sure it was the killing of byron epstein

He was talking about?

It's amazing to me how you can all have a chuckle

When innocent men are likely to die.

You don't understand how it is.

There's a lot more going on.

I can't think of anything that would trump the

You'd be the last person I would think to get on a soapbox.

Why?

Because I'm a whore?

There's only one whore standing out here, superintendent.

And it isn't me.

I think this gold we're pulling out

Is just the tail of the beast.

The beast itself lies below.

We just got to dig deeper.

The beast.

Well, let's go.

We're burning daylight.

The beast.

Hey!

Hey!

Meek! Meek!

Meek.

Agh.

Meek!

Help! Help!

Where's meeker?

Meeker?

He's over there.

Arm's broke up, but he's over there.

The beast got us.

His arm is busted up. We're taking him to dawson.

Did you get a look at the assailant?

Got to be the same one that killed epstein.

That's the problem with property rights in this territory.

If a claim owner dies, his next of kin have one week

To take possession.

No one can get here in a week.

No relation shows up, the claim's up for grabs.

If both you and mr. Meeker had died,

That mine would be a free-for-all.

You are incentivizing killers, superintendent.

I did not write the law.

You're keeping something back.

The murderer, he's been talking.

He as much as admitted the killing to someone.

Who?

I have nothing further to say that this gentleman

Hasn't already heard.

But you saw him?

Heard him.

Must have seen something.

I am bound by god not to divulge what I've seen

And heard in that space.

Was it a miner?

Well, it wasn't a tlingit.

It's what he wants, you know?

For you to become just like him.

I'm sorry for my behavior this morning.

It was weak of me.

I accept your apology.

You were right, what you said.

I guess maybe you saw it in my face.

It's what we whores do.

We read men.

Don't say that.

Why do you feel you have to prove anything

To me, superintendent?

I don't know.

You in the wood business now?

You look awful.

It's not catching, is it?

It's time we had a conversation.

You've been bad ever since I've known you.

But things have taken a turn for the worse.

Well you can put a stop to it.

I intend to.

You want to be the real estate baron in dawson.

All I care about is the fairview hotel.

I'm willing to let you buy me out,

Give you the pick of any of my properties on front street,

6,000.

So I can keep the fairview construction afloat.

Front street properties are a swamp.

Well, come spring, all the establishments on front street

Are the first thing folks see when they dock in dawson.

I'm your only competition.

I'd advise you to buy me out.

I'll tell you what I'll do.

Right?

I'll give you your 6,000, but I want the lot.

Everything you've got.

That's highway robbery.

6,000 for all of them?

I'll bring the paperwork to the saloon tonight.

You know, when you're not being such a bitch,

You can be really rather fetching.

Has anyone seen dog?

How about you?

Have you seen dog?

Dog have a name?

What's a dog need with a name?

Kid's got a love affair with the critter.

Gate's closing.

What's going on, val?

Count rented the place for the night.

How about I lift that off of you.

Ain't no way to conduct business.

Are we going to have a problem?

That's a good lass.

How about we have a seat over there,

At the special table.

Count pay you by the day or pay you by the killing?

You ain't going to buy me out.

I got no need for your type.

2,000 u.S. Dollars.

The deal was for six.

Yeah, but your properties are rotten.

They're not worth that.

You're not buying properties.

You're buying peace of mind.

3,000?

6,000.

You know, I was the first one to believe in you.

Back when even you didn't believe in you.

Now look at you.

Was I wrong?

You don't have it, do you?

Your men here know you don't have the money.

What my men know is that my new lumberyard has got better

Equipment than yours and on any given business,

I pull in 1,000 dollars, which means

The 6,000 is nothing to me.

Then pay it.

Get me a beer, while you're at it.

Champagne's... Soft.

There's cash in the back. Get it.

That cash is a big chunk of your money.

I know.

So get it.

How do I know you're not going to shoot me

Like you did mcdonald?

Well, because mcdonald and I,

We didn't have the history that we have.

I suggest you sign that.

Because otherwise I might change my mind

And wait you out, watch you drop dead.

You got the typhus, right?

Bring me the cash.

Give me a pen.

It worked. It worked.

Jesus, you're burning up.

Give us a hand here!

Goddamn it, give us a hand!

Give them a hand! Give them a hand!

You're up here by your lonesome?

Where's dog?

He's run off.

Dog knows something.

Smells a blizzard coming, maybe.

You ascribe a lot of intellect to that dog.

Well, he's got what's needed in these environs.

More than we've got.

You ought to know belinda's taken down with the typhus.

She's on a cot in the judge's.

I know you two have feelings.

You show your love by fighting each other.

How bad is it?

Go on down there or I'll shoot you through your head

And make you stupider than you already are.

You should be out mining.

Well you should be out over-charging miners.

I am wicked.

You just want people to think that.

Never fooled me.

Sleepy.

You can't sleep now.

Keep talking.

When I first saw you, I thought of myself,

"that woman is stronger than iron."

You dominated a room just by standing in it.

And the room was better for it.

A little thing like a fever, you'll just kick it aside.

I'm tired of kicking.

My mama used to do this to me when I was sick.

It must be nice having someone you love do that for you.

What else did your mama do?

She talked and told me everything she was doing.

"I'm changing the sheets.

"I'm airing out the room."

Like I couldn't see her.

Sometimes she sang to me.

No, I'm not singing to you.

She went days with the disease skulking through

Her body like a wolf.

Most people wouldn't even be able to walk.

She'll be all right.

She's tougher than rubber.

The arm's feeling better.

Won't get better without help.

Doctor help, you mean?

We got to get you to the mainland.

Ferry leaves day after tomorrow. You're going to be on it.

And what about you?

What about the mine?

The season's up, meek.

It's the last ferry of the year.

You ain't answered my question.

What about you?

You don't go, I don't go.

Don't be stupid.

That arm don't heal right, you're a cripple for life.

You don't go, I don't go.

I'll get us both tickets.

How about that?

You'd do that?

If it gets you out of here.

Yeah.

I lied to him.

I had to.

We'd found gold.

But I hadn't satisfied the real obsession.

The killer of my best friend, hiding out there somewhere

Like a dog, in the mud, in the rain with his great secret.

It was just a matter of time before someone saw his face.

And the real end game would begin.

Safe travels.

Bill.

Her fever's broke.

She might make it.

Must have nodded off.

Looks like you had a little help.

Yeah, well, help at night, hell in the morning.

She all right, belinda?

Maybe yes, maybe no.

That's him.

Who?

I recognize his voice anywhere.

He's gone back to the wild.

He's howling with his brethren.

Well, it's good to know you, bill haskell.

You're not coming back, are you?

You're going to be on that ferry.

I've collected a lot of stories.

Don't have much meaning unless people hear them.

Put me in one of them, will you?

I'll think about it.

But right now... I'm burning daylight.

Confused.

Where exactly all our customers are?

Well, I suppose they're up the street at belinda's mill.

She's suddenly selling her wood on credit.

That helps her how?

For a woman so desperate for hard cash,

Selling on credit helps her exactly how?

Well, it helps her keep the customers away from here.

Smart little rat.

Knew you were strapped.

Took all your cash on hand.

But why?

Well so I can't pay you lot.

Sundown and his boys ain't the type you want to be in hock to.

Well, there's more than one way to raise capital.

Trust me.

Got some color, do you?

A little.

And yet, I get the sense that your mind

Is a whole world away, thinking.

I'm working on something that don't have a solution.

Well, not much point in thinking about it, then.

Thinking about how to ferret out a murderer.

How would you do that?

Is that why you sent your friend away?

Keep him away from whatever nastiness you're planning?

Something like that.

I ain't as innocent as him.

So?

That son of a bitch, he hit my claim last night.

Got two months worth of flakes.

Now that's not what you got, but still it's every penny I had.

You know, you can't be certain it was him.

Well, there's one way to find out.

We find him.

We make him talk.

If it's the mine he wants, we're going to sit right back here

And let him think he can have it.

Got movement.

Son of a bitch was in my camp.

And he's headed for mine.

Move, I'll shoot your right where you stand!

You're the one that's trying to kill me?

You come for my gold now?

Didn't kill no one.

Just looking to steal something to feed my family with.

Well maybe you're here to finish the job

And kill me like you killed my friend?

I told you. I didn't kill no one.

I'm telling you I didn't do nothing.

Superintendent's going to iron all that out.

Whole difference between stealing and killing.

And I didn't even steal.

Bill haskell, what are you doing?

I think I found our man.

No you haven't. This isn't him.

You know something, you talk now.

Who is he?

I'm bound by god to honor the sanctity of the confession.

But I can tell you right now it's not this man.

Told you.

Shut up!

Step away.

Now!

Talk.

You know, I come down here to give myself a little peace.

See if our murderous friend was smart enough to get

Onto the last boat out of here.

Disappear with his sins and leave the rest of us alone.

I didn't get that peace.

So long!

Good bye!

Prison's closing in now.

We're all locked in together.

The die had been cast.

God had sealed us in with our fate.

What we were before we came to this place was no more.

The land had taken over.

Drawn from us the animal instincts we'd rather not know.

It had already killed hundreds, maybe thousands.

But only one of those deaths mattered to me.

The ache of a friend lost forever is a pain

I'd wish on nobody.

You was just trying to get me out of here,

Weren't you?

Only to save that arm.

Who's going to save you?

Jesus.

Sometimes friendships, even new ones,

Are the only solace we have, even if the moment is only

Fleeting and the worst storms are yet to come.