Original subtitles

Get your mail, folks.

Any mail for me, Duke?

I don't want to ride an old goat like you, Charlie.

Well, now, just offhand, I can think of six lovely ladies

who are enamored of my charm on the last trip alone.

Crockett?

Murphy?

Ellsworth?

Here.

Proctor?

I'm sorry, sir.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Looks like five of those gals have been joshing you, Charlie.

You mean there's really one for me?

Mm-hmm.

Who's it from?

Lydia Curtis.

Here.

Curtis.

Lydia Curtis.

Well, you can't expect a fellow to remember all their names,

can you?

TAXI.

Now, Jones and Spencer.

Postmaster said he wrote this himself for a fellow who told him what to say and asked him to keep it for you in the county seat.

Seemed to know you'd be coming this way.

The purity and beauty of a natural complexion is certain to those using Lydia Curtis milkweed cream.

Looks like all six of them were joshing him.

That's the fellow you were telling me about?

Yeah. I could be in Wells' corners before tomorrow afternoon.

Not if you don't leave right now.

From the looks of that, you'd better go.

I'll tell Chris.

Thanks, Duke. I won't be going any longer than I have to.

I'll be back.

Anybody here?

Well, I was beginning to think there was nobody around here.

I'm here. I live here.

What, alone?

The others are out working.

I'm here. I'm here.

I'm here. I'm here.

I'm here. I'm here.

I'm here. I'm here.

I'm here. I'm here.

What, alone?

The others are out working. Did you want something?

No, not right now.

Always this quiet?

Not always.

Come on.

Hold it, Jake.

Stay here.

Stay here.

May I help you?

Yeah. Been riding my horse for so long, we're both getting tired of one another.

Have to rest some place.

I saw you drilling that well. I thought I'd just wait here and watch for a while.

I can't see why that'd hurt you, none.

Thank you.

Just a saddle trap passing through.

I think we ought to invite him to keep going.

Yeah, I don't like him watching us.

Now leave him alone. He'll move on when he's through resting up.

Let's get that drill out. It's about full. I want to see how far down in the shale we got.

I think we ought to invite him to keep going.

Yeah, I don't like him watching us.

Now leave him alone. He'll move on when he's through resting up.

Let's get that drill out. It's about full. I want to see how far down in the shale we got.

That's it.

I thought you just wanted to rest up and watch.

Well, I was looking for the fellow that lives in that shack.

There's nobody living there.

You know, mister, this is private property.

You mean who owns it? I do.

And I got a lot of work to do around here.

If you just can't go and sit somewhere and watch, maybe you'd better move on.

Say, how long have you fellas been drilling this well?

Did you ever see that sign down there, Chester?

Well, you know I have, Lester. You and me made it.

No, what I mean is, do you remember what it says on it?

Of course I do. It says, uh...

It says, no trespassing private property.

All right, mister, watching us work is one thing,

but asking a lot of questions that's none of your business is another.

Suppose you just take your horse and go rest someplace else.

You understand?

Yeah, I understand.

Hey, how long have you been drilling?

That's none of your business.

And that shack up there, was that on the property before you bought it?

Now look. All this mud.

You get out of here.

Looks like seepage.

Was it here before?

Well, was it?

Hey!

That wasn't very nice of you fellas.

Well, I guess I better go.

What did he want, Burke?

Well, maybe nothing, Alice.

In dry country like this, a fella so full of questions.

I'd say he was interested in water.

We could have treated him a little nicer.

Why, Martin?

Why encourage a stranger to hang around for him to try and figure out some way to get his hands on our water rights?

Alice, you don't suppose he ran into Karen in town, do you?

Wouldn't matter, Dad. She wouldn't have told him anything.

She doesn't even talk to us very often.

I don't think we got anything to worry about.

He got the idea that he wasn't welcome around here.

He won't be back.

All right, let's get back to work.

I don't think we have far to go through that shell before we get to the water bearing strata.

If I'd known you were going out there, well, I could have told you they wouldn't take kindly to a visit.

You know, they'd have been mighty friendly of you.

Of course, you could still be real friendly if you could tell me where I might wash this mud off.

Well, there's a public bath inside, but water's pretty scarce around here.

So I've noticed.

I don't think they'd like it if I gave you any.

So you better hurry.

How come you're a lot nicer than those other people?

I'm not as interested in digging water wells as they are.

Well, I'm not either.

You aren't? How come you went out there?

To see the old man, the Indian.

You mean Bill Hawks?

Who?

Bill Hawks.

I thought you said you came here to see him.

Well, I did.

Then how come you don't know his name?

I don't know anybody's name around here.

Don't even know yours.

I'm Karen Wells.

Wells? This place named after you?

My father.

He put up this building and runs the store.

Karen, I went out to see this old man, the Bill Hawks.

Thought I'd find that shack of his.

Ran into a fella, didn't catch his name.

Said that he owned the property.

Bill Hawks used to own the farm.

But he doesn't anymore.

Hey, wait a minute!

I'm gonna get this mud off!

You sure like to ask for trouble, don't you?

You promised me a bath, didn't you?

Well, not there.

Well, this is the only place in town that was open.

Well, you're gonna be sorry.

Here they come.

Chester and me will take care of them.

Wait a minute, we'll all go together.

Alice, you and the women go inside.

If I told you that I accidentally fell in here,

I don't suppose you'd believe me, would you?

You know, I was thinking maybe I could hang up my clothes

and kind of let them dry a little bit,

but I don't think you'd take to that, would you?

We don't take to you, mister.

What do you think we're gonna have to do to get that across to you?

Well, I think you've already convinced me.

There's nothing funny about it.

There's nothing one bit funny about wasting water in this part of the country.

Most every well around here is bone dry,

and this one's going dry any day now.

Seems to me that you've got a big well that's about to come in.

In fact, it's trying so hard to get out of the ground all by itself,

you might even have an artesian gusher on your hand.

I told you before, that's none of your business.

Yeah, seems to me you did.

Well, nothing's changed anything since then.

You get out of this water trough and get on your horse and ride out of here.

If he can't get it through his thick head, what you mean, Burkle?

Well, me and Lester'd be glad to show him.

You know, I get the point, boys.

You know, I have an idea that none of you are ready to tell me where the Indian went.

Are you?

That's what I figured.

You know, I have an idea that none of you are ready to tell me where the Indian went.

Are you?

That's what I figured.

I don't know, Burke.

Seems to me we could have handled that fellow a little better.

Don't be so nervous, Chick.

First thing you know, your hand will start to shake.

You won't be able to shave your customers or yourself.

I don't have enough customers now to make any difference anyhow.

You will have as soon as that water starts to flow.

When there's enough water there underneath that glare of shale to make the whole valley green again.

And just imagine, Harve, how many sets of harnesses you're going to have to start making when we irrigate that farmland in there.

Why, none of us will have to work at all once that money starts to roll in.

Well, maybe so, Burke, maybe so.

But I agree with Chick.

We've all changed.

We're not friendly anymore like we used to be.

We're still the same, Harvey.

The same people.

You don't really believe that, Martin?

Why, compare the way we treated that man when he rode out there today with the way we treated Burke when he rode into town.

Only two weeks ago, we shook his hand and we drank with him and we talked.

We were friendly then.

Sure you were.

And you know why?

Because I didn't sneak around prying into your affairs, that's why.

I stated my business out in the open and above board.

You were willing to listen to me because I showed you how you could drill down through that dried up surface water table.

Right through the thick layer of rock and hit that artesian well.

That's why we can't take any chances with outsiders.

Is he going to come riding in here and give you an inexhaustible water supply?

Save your valley from going dry and blowing away?

No, no he's not.

He's looking for a chance to try and cut in on our water rights.

The water rights that can make us all rich men.

Are you sure that that's the reason we gave that fellow such a hard time today?

Well, what other reason?

Because we're scared.

We're just plain scared he'll find out what we've done.

We're not afraid of that.

We're even afraid to talk about it among ourselves.

We did only what had to be done, you know that.

It's nothing to be ashamed of.

And what's more important is our business and nobody else's.

We've got to keep it that way.

Oh, come on, let's stop talking like this and start figuring out how much we're going to charge them to want to buy their water from us.

Yeah, we've got plenty of time to be friendly.

After we're rich.

I say we drink to our will.

All right, cheers.

To the will.

That beer is really going to taste good today.

You go on in, Burke.

I'll be just a minute.

Don't you get lonesome staying here by yourself all day, every day?

It's really getting exciting out there, Karen.

Burke says we should be through the impervious layer any time now.

That's a word Burke taught me.

Impervious.

It means a layer of shale and clay, the water that's underneath it can't get through.

He makes geology sound so fascinating.

I do wish you'd come out there with us.

I know Burke would explain everything about it to you, too.

About how the ground water level is actually higher than where we're drilling and about how that's going to make the water spurt up into that well so we won't even have to pump it.

Karen, please don't shut everybody out like this.

You have no reason not to talk to me.

I didn't do anything to you.

I knew he'd come back.

How did you know it?

Did you talk to him?

I talked to him.

But he didn't tell me that.

I just knew it.

Well, he'll be sorry he came back here.

I'd like a beer.

Martin, it isn't likely that your customer is going to be around long enough to drink that.

You might just be right.

All you have to do is give me a couple simple straight answers and I might write off for good.

Answers to what questions?

The same ones I asked before.

Where's the Indian?

The man known to you as Bill Hawks.

He doesn't live here anymore.

He leave his farm?

Left his farm.

When?

A couple of weeks ago, give or take a day.

Do you know where I might find him?

I wouldn't know.

Any of the rest of you know?

Well, I guess I can't quite leave yet.

There's nothing here for you in Wells Corners.

Well, this is a friendly little town.

Nice people.

So I think I'll set up the beer.

You're right, mister.

We are friendly people.

We were just talking about that last night.

I'd say you had the right to know just how friendly we really were.

Lester, how would you and Chester feel about letting a new friend here into your lodge?

Yeah, that's a fine idea.

You know, that's funny.

We didn't think of that all together.

We often get a chance to get a new member in the lodge.

It's too exclusive for most folks, but you're just the kind of new member we're looking for.

How many members you got in this lodge?

Just two.

Me and Lester.

What do you do at these lodge meetings?

Play games.

Drink beer.

That's the reason we play the games, to see who pays for the beers.

Well, I already offered to buy the beer.

But you can't do that.

It's against the rules.

Oh, I figured it would be rules, all right.

Yeah, now if you'll just sit right over here, we'll show you how it works.

First of all, I try to knock Chester off of his stool, see?

But I only get one punch, and that's a rule.

And I can't hold on with my hands.

Now that's a rule.

Now if I knock Chester off his stool, he has to pay for the beer.

But he didn't, see?

So now it's my turn.

Yeah, but neither one of you fell off.

Well, that's a tie.

We just keep trying until somebody wins.

Well, I can see why you don't have too many members.

It's a small town.

And it ain't often new folks decide to settle here.

Wouldn't it be a lot simpler if I just bought the beer and let it go with that?

That's against the rules.

You'd have to join the lodge first.

Well, it seems like a friendly game.

Besides, I haven't joined a lodge in a long time.

Mister, take my advice.

Just leave.

What do I do now?

Oh, the initiation comes first.

Now you sit right over here.

Now you face me.

Oh, yeah.

He's a lot younger than me, you know.

He ain't got his growed-up strength yet.

Does pretty good for a grown boy, doesn't he?

If I remember the rules, now it's my turn?

Right.

Looks like it.

You ready?

We're ready.

Well, uh, who's first?

I guess I am.

Looks like you boys buy the beer.

Thank you.

This doesn't change anything, mister.

There's still nothing for you here in Wells Corners.

I wouldn't say that.

Own some property around here.

Think I'll spend the night there.

Just a minute.

Why don't you stop bluffing?

We know all about every piece of land in this area.

And who owns it?

So which piece do you claim ownership to?

You're drilling on it.

It's not very funny.

Who do you think you are, anyway?

Surprised you haven't asked that before.

My name's Bill Hawks.

And I got proof of that if you want to see it.

Just got back from the county seat.

Got some more proof you'd be interested in.

That piece of land out there is registered in my name.

So seeing as I haven't sold it, I still own it.

You're a liar, mister.

That farm belongs to me.

I bought it from the Indian.

I've got the paper here to prove it.

It's worthless.

Why, because I didn't have time to go and record it?

No, no, that doesn't mean anything.

This paper's just as legal here as if it were at the county seat.

The Indian didn't make the mark on it.

He did make it.

I don't think he's even seen it.

He made the mark.

Well, the easy way to settle it is to get the Indian and ask him.

I already told you he's gone.

We don't even know where he went.

We'll wait until you find out where he went.

Maybe some of the rest of them can remember.

One more thing.

I wouldn't do any more drilling out there if I were you.

It's your land, Burke.

Why do you have to go to the county seat?

Because of something I never thought of till now.

Suppose that Indian didn't own the farm he sold me.

I'm afraid, Burke.

Honey.

I'm scared something's going to happen to all our plans.

I don't think I can stand that.

I want to be able to go someplace where the streets aren't dirt.

Where the people aren't always the same.

It means just as much to me.

I don't want to lose you.

Don't let anything happen, Burke.

Please.

Don't worry, Alice.

As soon as I find out the Indian really owned that farm,

we won't have to worry about the trouble with the new Bill Hawks anymore.

What if you find out he didn't own it?

What if you find out this man really does have a claim to the land?

If he does, he's the only one here that knows it.

Karen, please listen to me.

I'm listening.

You mustn't talk to that man again.

I don't see why not.

After what happened to you once before, you should know why not.

Do you have to keep bringing that up?

Karen, I'm only thinking of what's best for you.

Burke thinks that man is dangerous, too.

To Burke, maybe.

Not to me.

Karen, why won't you listen to reason?

I think Burke's afraid of him.

Afraid?

He is not.

He's not afraid of anybody.

Neither am I.

Well, I didn't expect to see you here.

I thought I might have visitors, but I didn't think you'd be one of them.

Not at this time of night.

Well, this is the only chance I had to talk to you,

while the others are still asleep.

Come in.

I'm alone, if that's what's worrying you.

Not worried.

Just being careful.

Don't you think I should be?

I want to know who you are.

Maybe you're more worried about that well than you said.

Is that it?

That's not it.

I could have another reason.

Well, I saw you standing on the stairs today.

I guess you know my name.

Your name is not Bill Hawks.

Isn't it?

You're not related to...

to the Indian.

He didn't have any relatives.

No brother, no son, nobody.

It sounds like you know a lot about him.

I do.

He was my friend.

Did you steal his name just so you could steal his land too?

Let's say that he stole my name,

or borrowed it, it's more like it.

Then why didn't you know his name when I mentioned it to you?

I knew the name all right, but I didn't know he was using it.

Karen, I'm going to tell you why I'm here.

That's what you really want to know, isn't it?

Yes.

Well, he sent for me.

About two weeks ago, he left a letter at the county seat.

I just got it.

He wanted my help.

He asked you to come here?

He's a friend of mine too.

Well, you're too late.

He's dead.

It was beginning to add up that way.

He was killed, wasn't he?

Who did it?

Everybody.

They hanged him.

What kind of a town is it that hang a man just to get the water from his farm?

Well, that's not it.

They hanged him for what he did to me.

What he did to you?

I came out here one night.

He was drunk.

He grabbed me and hit me.

But I got away and ran home.

When the others found out, they came out here and got him and hanged him.

It wasn't in him to do a thing like that.

That's why it's so hard for me to understand it.

It doesn't make sense.

But I'll tell you something that does make sense.

Anybody that knows the first thing about an artesian well knows that you dig where the underground pressure forces are watered through a crack in a rock, causing seepage.

It's like that mud hole out there.

Somebody made that observation.

So now they're digging a well.

The Indian's dead.

And the whole town's hiding behind a worthless piece of paper.

But Burke had that piece of paper two weeks before the hanging.

Everybody in town saw it.

Why was the Indian still here?

Burke said he let him stay because he didn't have any place else to live.

Burke was only interested in the water well anyway.

He said he might even give him a job helping dig the irrigation ditches and tending them.

Karen, who sent you out here with all these answers?

Nobody sent me out here, and what I told you was the truth.

Karen, you go back and tell those people that.

I'll have to come up with a better story than this.

I thought you were different than the rest of them.

Sorry I was wrong.

Do you want to know the real reason I came out here?

Because I hope what they were saying about you wasn't true.

Because I kind of hoped you really did own this land and maybe I could help you.

Stop it, Karen. That won't work either.

Well, it's kind of nice not having to go to that well for a change.

It gives me a chance to catch up on my work.

I wondered where you were at breakfast this morning, Karen.

I didn't feel much like eating.

I sure don't like to see you getting all unhappy like this again.

You seem to be feeling so much better about things.

Did I?

I suppose all the ruckus with this man coming to town has taught you to think and blab it all over again.

Isn't that it?

It didn't help much, but I never have been able to understand it.

There's nothing so hard to understand, honey.

You know what we did and you know why.

Maybe that's what bothers me, the why of it.

Maybe there's more to it than I know.

Dad, did the water on that land have anything to do with it?

What?

Did you hang him so you could get that water?

Karen, what kind of people do you think we are?

I don't know.

I thought I did, but now...

No, I don't know.

Karen, honey, you're just torturing yourself with such thoughts.

Nobody in this town had any idea that mud puddle was a sign that there were millions of gallons of water on earth the night Bill Hawks was hanged.

Didn't Burt Clayton know it?

Of course he did. He's a geologist, but he had no part in the hanging.

What ever filled your head with such thoughts anyway?

That man that says his name's Bill Hawks, he said something like that.

You talked to him again?

I went out there last night.

After what happened before?

Haven't you got any sense at all?

I had to go.

You discussed these things with him? You told him about the Indian?

I had to talk to someone about it.

But to a stranger.

What difference does it make if there's nothing wrong?

You owe us some kind of loyalty because of what we had to do.

No one asked you to do it. I didn't want you to kill him.

Nobody wanted to, but who else was there to punish Hawks?

Do you realize the position you've put me in?

What can I say to the others?

They helped me protect you and it turns out that you're not even grateful.

What have I got to be grateful for?

You killed my friend.

You still call that Indian a friend?

He wasn't the kind to act like that. I know he wasn't.

But you never even gave him a chance to explain.

There was nothing to explain.

It was you who told us about him that night.

It was because of what you said that we went out there and got him.

But what if I was wrong?

Wrong? With your blouse all torn and your face bruised?

Karen, you were not wrong.

You must stop punishing yourself like this.

You must believe that what happened was right.

How can I believe anything until I know the answer for sure?

Karen, where are you going?

Karen, come back here!

Karen?

Karen!

Karen!

What does it mean, Dad? What does it mean?

Chick said he saw that man riding through town early this morning.

He must have put it up there.

That doesn't mean he knows anything.

Maybe he's just guessing or trying to find out something.

He wasn't guessing. He knows, all right.

How could he have found out a thing like that?

Yeah, sure ain't none of us would tell him.

Karen. Karen told him.

Karen?

For some strange reason of her own, I don't know.

She just ran out of the store. Didn't anybody see her?

No, but if I do, she'll wish I hadn't.

That little fool.

Forget about her for now.

You and Chester harness the team right away.

We're going out to that farm. All of us.

Well, I don't think we ought to do any more drilling.

At least the way Nadelberg gets back from the county seat.

We're not going out there for that.

He put that noose up there for us to worry.

Well, we're not going to worry in stew anymore.

We'll have it out with him. Right now.

Well, every time I expect somebody else, you show up.

Well, I thought of something else about him.

Who, the Indian?

He was in the army.

He had a friend. His only friend, he used to say.

That's the only man he would have ever asked for help.

Second U.S. Cavalry.

A friend of his was a sergeant.

One time the sergeant saved his life,

and another time the Indian saved the sergeant's life.

But he never said your name.

Maybe because he was using it himself.

What reason would he have had for that?

Well, I figured it was the only name he knew how to write,

so he put it on the deed to the property.

I never knew he could write at all.

Well, he couldn't until one day I taught him how to write my name.

He came to me and asked me if I wouldn't teach him how to write his.

You know what it was?

Swift is a deer that runs from the hunter.

Besides being a whole sentence long,

he thought that people might laugh about it.

So, I guess he liked mine better.

Then that's why you said Burke's deed was worthless.

That's why.

But Burke had nothing to do with the hanging.

Maybe the people did it for him to cover up.

No.

They did it for me.

I still can't believe that.

Do you think I want to believe it?

Don't you think I'd give anything to know that he didn't die because of me?

But he did.

The story I told you was true.

I didn't lie to you.

Maybe I believe you, Karen, but that story you told me, I can't swallow.

That doesn't make sense.

Well, your townspeople believe in Burke's paper, and it's a lie.

Maybe the same thing has happened to you.

What's the meaning of this, Karen?

Have you lost all reason coming here again?

I had to talk to him.

From now on, you'll keep out of this, do you understand?

How do you expect her to keep out of something when you've got her convinced it's her fault?

I don't know what all she told you, mister.

Hawks. Bill Hawks, remember?

I don't care what your name is.

What makes you think you can just come riding into a town and start intimidating the people in it?

And trying to make us feel guilty by hanging a noose up in the street?

Did you feel guilty?

No.

Well, what are you doing here, then?

We're here to put a stop to you and your nonsense.

Like you put a stop to the Indian without a trial?

We did only what had to be done.

If there's not one among us who feels guilty about it...

There's one. Karen.

Well, she's got no reason to.

How do you know? Have you heard her story?

Enough to know what to do about it.

Well, maybe you didn't hear all of it. Have you talked to her since the hanging?

The girl had been through enough without having to relive it all over again.

I know it's unpleasant, Karen, but I think it's important that you tell us about it now.

But I already told you.

No, not all of it. I want every little detail from start to finish.

What are you trying to do?

The same thing I've been trying to do ever since I stuck my foot in this stinking town.

Trying to get the truth.

Unless for some reason you're afraid of the truth, you shouldn't object.

Let him talk, Martin.

I have a feeling we owe this to ourselves.

Anything would be better than the way things have been going around here.

I tried to spare you the hurt of talking about it, Karen, but if you're willing, maybe it is best.

And we can have done with this thing once and for all.

It was dark.

It was a dark place.

It was dark.

Very dark that night.

I probably wouldn't have gone out when it was so dark,

except Bill had promised to have a pair of moccasins finished.

They were a present he was making for me, and he was anxious to give them to me.

It was just as I got to the door that it happened.

Did you see who it was?

Not at first.

He had both arms wrapped around me so tightly I couldn't turn my head.

It's now that he's been drinking.

I remembered his whisker scratched my cheek when I fought to get away.

You said you didn't see him at first.

When did you see who it was?

When I came to, he was bending over me, reaching out with his hand.

Screams

It was Bill Hawks, the Indian.

I hope you're satisfied now.

That's all you're going to talk to this girl, mister.

She's told you everything she can.

I don't have to hear any more. I have my answer. Thanks, Karen.

You have?

You have yours, too.

Friend didn't betray you.

When he held out his hand to you, he was trying to help you.

I don't understand.

Well, you don't have to.

I don't understand.

Well, it was too unpleasant to think about, and you were too frightened at the time to realize it.

What are you driving at?

You people were so blinded by your greedy thoughts of what that water would do for you, you didn't want to hear the truth.

You still don't, or you just would have heard it.

I'll tell you what the truth is.

Burke!

We're all right, Alice. The clerk at the recorder's office remembered the Indian.

He did own this place.

My paper's as good as gold.

No, it isn't.

He didn't sign legal documents with an ex.

He knew how to write Bill Hawks.

You found that out at the county seat, didn't you, Burke?

And you people accepted that paper without a question, knowing that you had to believe it or you couldn't have the water.

You don't have to listen to him. He's just trying to confuse you.

You're through here, mister. You're leaving us.

Just how you leave is up to you.

You're not going to shoot me, Burke.

You're not the type that does your own killing.

You get people to do it for you, just like you did with the Indian.

Nobody's going to believe that story.

Why not?

Because you were in town the night Karen came running back from here?

You don't think that people will believe that you were out here before that?

Just long enough to get the old man drunk and then grab Karen as she came up to the door?

I get it.

Now I get it, what she said.

I should have got it before.

Who would know better than a barber that most Indians don't grow whiskers?

And his whiskers scratched my cheek.

Burke. Burke, don't tell him that it isn't.

You don't have to listen to him.

We can still make my deed stick.

Nothing's changed around here except for him.

We can still get the water and the money.

Don't forget, I'm the one that's giving you all this, not him.

We didn't ask you to give us a murder.

Don't be fools. Don't throw all this away.

I agree with Burke.

We can't live without that water.

Yeah, what right has this stranger got to go spoiling everything for us?

Well, what about the rest of you?

Are you with us or not?

Harvey?

Chick?

Alice?

There ain't nobody that can point a gun at our friends to get by with it.

Yeah, and that is a new rule.

I still wish you wouldn't go, Karen.

I can't stay.

Every drop of water from that well, it choked me.

There isn't one of us that wants it now.

We won't finish digging it.

You'll finish it.

Maybe not today, but sometime.

You'll have to, or you can't survive here.

And it wouldn't do you any good to leave.

Every drop of water from that well, it choked me.

It wouldn't do you any good to leave.

Every drop of water you drink, anywhere you drink it, it tastes bitter to you.

Karen.

Will you forgive us?

Please.

I couldn't if I stayed.

That's why I'm leaving.

Maybe somewhere else I can.

Maybe it wasn't greed altogether, Mr. Hawks.

Maybe it was survival.

Or maybe it was that. I'll try to think that way.

I guess you're the only ones who'll ever know.

Take a good look, Karen.

It's just a wagon train, but for you it could be the start of a whole new life.

As it is for most of the people on it.

Or it can be a place where you can hide and brood and hate the people you left behind.

Which is it?

I'm thirsty, Bill.

Think I can get a drink down there?

A long, cool drink of clear, fresh water.

Let's go.

© BF-WATCH TV 2021

© BF-WATCH TV 2021