Original subtitles

Well, look at you, Drake.

Dug in a hole like a frightened rabbit.

For seven years now, I've been wanting to kick you in the face

for making a fool out of me in front of the prisoners.

Why don't you do it now?

Who'd see you?

I would.

And the good Lord would know that I was kicking

you because you're a smarter man than me.

Yeah.

That's been a good enough reason since Cain and Abel.

Don't start giving me any of your educated talk because I'll start beating you up.

Come on now, get up!

Now, what's the matter with you? Why don't you grab the rifle?

Because you've got a pistol.

Makes us even.

You know what's eating you, Kester?

I'm everything you say I am.

I'm filthy, I'm a coward, I'm your prisoner.

But I'm still a better man than you are.

William Jackson.

Mr. and Mrs. Abner Crane.

That's cabins six and seven.

Is mine anymore on the list, too? Lucy, mind your manners.

Yes, ma'am, right here, Lucy Crane.

What's your name? Lucy, you're busy now.

Ben Fraser, ma'am. It's a pleasure to have you on board.

Bye, Ben.

Bye.

Yeah, that sure is a pretty little girl.

Catherine Norris of the Indian Missionary Society.

Uh, yes, ma'am, here in cabin number nine.

I had a large box of books.

They're already in your cabin, ma'am.

Oh, thank you.

Gester and Drake.

Hey, look what they're bringing aboard.

All right, if I chain them to that flagpole, it's as good a place as any.

Let me have your marking chalk. Thank you.

Wouldn't want anybody to be getting too near him.

What about feeding him?

Oh, you can give him anything that's left over. Some grits or bacon rinds,

some black eyes, no matter what.

He's gonna be eating better here than he will when he gets back.

I hope he doesn't give us any trouble.

Don't worry yourself, Nunn.

I ain't had an accident in ten years.

This is for you. I bought it with my own money.

Lucy! Lucy, come here.

You stay away from him, you hear?

Come on.

I'll show you.

If there's any whipping to be done around here, Mr. Burleigh,

you won't be the one that does it.

He took that apple right out of that little child's hand.

You get out of here. Mind your own business.

All right, it's all over, folks. Move along.

How like you have to do that?

You know you're gonna be eaten in three, four hours?

There's no harm done. He didn't hurt the little girl.

You can't let them get away with a single finger. You're in trouble, Captain.

That's a fact. Well, I guess you know how to handle them better than I do.

You're right. I do.

Hey!

This is so you and me... Don't touch that man!

Ma'am?

He didn't take that apple. The little girl gave it to him.

I saw it with my own eyes.

Nah, everybody else said he took it.

That man.

I know he didn't see it.

Well, now, I'm not going to be calling a lady a liar,

but sometimes nice folks like yourself let their good

feelings get all mixed up with their good sense.

This man's an escaped criminal.

Neither of us saw what really happened.

Maybe the young lady is right.

Captain, it's your passengers and your boat.

Thank you, Mr. Custer.

I'll show you a cabin.

Lucy, aren't you gonna eat your dinner?

I'm not hungry, Mommy.

She'll be all right, Sarah. She's excited.

Are you gonna sing us your little song?

Mm-hmm.

Faith of our fathers living still in spite of dungeon fire and sword. Oh, well,

our hearts beat high with joy.

When we hear that glorious word, faith of our fathers, holy faith.

I brought you something to eat. You can talk, can't you?

Sure, I can talk.

What do you want?

Why didn't you tell them the little girl gave you that apple?

Thank you very much for the food.

Now please get out of here.

I would like to talk to you.

What could you and I possibly have to talk about?

You?

Curiosity?

No, concern.

Well, perhaps I should start by telling you about the family

of six-legged creatures that share these clothes with me.

Or maybe you'd like me to tell you about my seven years in Mecklenridge prison.

I didn't mean that.

Well, perhaps I should start by telling you how I got this way in the beginning.

I was just trying to be nice.

People are only nice because that way it's easier to get what they want.

And what do you think I want from you?

The thrill of feeding the wild animal.

I want to be your friend.

Why?

I think people should help others less fortunate.

Give and ye shall receive.

Oh, a do-gooder.

My life is helping others, if that's what you mean.

Well, I don't believe.

So stop wasting your time.

A man must have faith in something. Faith.

Sure, I've got faith.

I've got faith that in the morning these will still be here.

I've got faith that I'm going back to Mecklenridge.

I've got faith that I'll die there.

That's not the kind I meant.

You said you like to help people.

I'm an Indian missionary. I'm going into the Sioux country.

You speak their language?

No.

And how do you expect to help them?

I'll find a way.

Faith?

Yes.

That gives me a lot more faith.

Faith that you'll make some Indian a pretty good squaw.

You sound like an educated man.

Now, you're not a common criminal and you're not in prison for some petty crime.

No, no, of course not.

My sins are of the more mortal variety.

Intent to do wrong.

Purposeful violence.

Rape of the soul.

Murder of a man.

Do I frighten you?

No.

No?

I would if I didn't have these.

This is the closest I've been to a woman in seven years.

All right, now get out of here.

Go figure out what you're gonna do to the next poor beggar you catch in chains.

Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee.

Reprove a wise man, and he will love thee.

Oh, how your throat must burn with the taste of your own brilliance.

I pity you.

Looks like we're going to have a little storm.

Yeah, well, I know that. My bad knee's been telling me.

Of course, you can't see it in the air, I suppose.

You want anything before I pack in? Oh, well,

you might tell Silas to bring me some hot coffee for a change.

Right. I'll see you in the morning. All right, sir.

You always walk into your passengers' quarters without knocking?

What?

Beg your pardon.

You want anything?

Why?

You're a paying passenger too, you know.

In that case, you might check on room service. My bunk wasn't made up this morning.

Maybe I can get Kester to move you down the hole.

Looks like it's gonna rain tonight.

Seems like somebody's always trying to coop me up in four walls. Don't bother.

Oh, uh, you might see what you can do about that fellow snoring, though.

It disturbs my thoughts.

Mr. Crane, I saw your light on.

What are you doing up so late?

Lucy awakened.

Poor little thing was frightened.

A rag doll fell over her face and she couldn't breathe, I guess.

Well, here she comes.

That was wrong about Travis' knee. What? Oh, nothing. Good night.

Good night.

Oh, good evening, Mr. Fraser.

Looks like everybody likes to stay up late tonight.

Well, maybe it's the rain.

I love it, don't you?

I don't like any kind of bad weather on the river.

I like to walk in the rain and marvel at God's way of cleaning the earth.

After the rain, everything's so quiet and fresh and new.

Now people start walking around, dirtying it up again.

What a pity the rain can clean only the outside of a man. Yeah.

You better get inside. You're hardly wearing enough. Angel,

catch your death of cold.

Thanks for the shelter, but it wasn't really

necessary. You are a do-gooder, aren't you?

Do you have to reduce every action to a base motive?

Is there any other kind?

Believe it or not, everyone does not do things for personal gain.

Some people like to help because they have compassion

or just train love for their fellow human beings.

Love?

Yes.

Or don't you remember that word?

It stirs a vague memory or so.

They're so bitter.

You're so cynical.

Well, in that case, allow me to help keep you alive. What a soft hand.

Not a callous, not a scar, not a sign of honest labor.

Why don't we talk about you?

No, no, I've got my curiosity aroused about you.

Where does a smooth hand like this come from?

Is this the hand that smooths a child's brow, that wipes away the fever?

This hand was used to money, too.

It's not my fault that my father was wealthy.

And loveless.

That's not true at all.

Then where did all this love come from in you?

I've always been this way.

Why?

Why just when other girls of your means and your beauty are getting husbands,

beginning homes, What impels you to go off among

the Sioux and be an Indian missionary?

I've already explained that. I want to help people.

Even at the sacrifice of a home and of children?

And of those pleasant evenings in front of a warm

fire with your head on your husband's knee?

I don't mind sacrifice.

Or maybe it isn't a sacrifice.

Maybe you're giving up something you never wanted in the first place.

I think maybe I'd better go now.

Why, running out of faith?

That's got nothing to do with it.

You're so full of words and trite phrases.

Why would a woman like you come down here in the first place dressed as you are?

You've completely misunderstood me.

No, I don't think I've misunderstood you.

You've got to say your little speech to salve your conscience,

but underneath you're smoldering just like I am.

Oh.

No, no, let him go.

All right, Joan of Arc, let's test your faith.

Let's see how you react under fire.

Trace!

Where you been? I went down to see if I could find something to cover the prisoner.

Can we do that, ma'am?

Oh, no, no, I... I caught my rope on a nail, and it ripped.

I didn't see it. It was dark. All right, you get back to your cabin.

You're going to catch yourself a whopper of a cold if you don't. Yes, sir.

Good night. Take off those wet clothes, you hear? Yes, sir, Mr. Fraser.

Connie, slow your engines down to about half speed.

The water's full of debris. All right, sir.

Half speed. You could steal Simon, Mr. Bricer.

No, she's lit up. It's a good thing, too.

Connie, cut your engine!

Something just ran into us!

Can't tell us anything else. It's got us back here in the starboard side.

The boiler room is filling up. Well, plug it up!

Don't stand there watching it hold to the boat!

Oh, it's full! Get out of here! Get him off, Mickey! I want that thing around!

Cowboy, come on, get in here!

Travis, take the wheel. We got a hole in the larvage side of the engine. Is it bad?

I don't know yet. Brad! Get out of the way!

Forget that painting, Mac. Get a couple of men

down the engine room right now. Mr. Fraser.

Can I see you for a moment? Not until see you later, Mr. Crane. It's important.

Lucy's sick. Lucy, what's wrong? She has a horrible fever. She can hardly breathe.

I'm no doctor, Mr. Crane, but I'll sure give her a look.

I reckon I have to be a doctor to know what that is. It's choking fever.

I sure could be wrong, sir,

but you know how much of that was on the river last year? I saw all of it myself.

We'll be in Donnelly's Landing in about an hour. I'll get you a doctor.

You better stay in your cabin.

Mr. Carr didn't give us just enough steam to hold us even with the dock.

Try to keep her about 50 feet out, then we'll anchor.

Come on, Ben, dock that scale. I got a good special on Lord today, $5 a barrel.

Why, that's a good price, but look, Kincaid, I need a doctor.

I got a sick child on board.

We haven't got a doctor here.

Where's the nearest what?

Old Doc Peabody over at Bennett.

What kind of sickness you got aboard?

Well, Kincaid, you better get your sheriff.

Well, I'm the lawyer. What can I do for you?

I want to tie up long enough to put a little

girl in the wagon to take her to Bennett, to the doctor.

Sounds like you've got catching sickness aboard. Is that right?

Nobody has to get near us. All we want is a wagon and wood for the enterprise.

You know the law.

I wouldn't be sitting out here, Kincaid, if I didn't.

None of you will come ashore here.

But at least let us tie up long enough to get wood to go to the next town.

That'd be the same thing, Ben.

The first one of you who tries to come ashore will be shot.

Frazier, I'll dump your wood in the water.

And if you can find a way to pick it up,

put the money in the sack and throw it over. Wait a minute!

Wait a minute!

Look, we got a problem. The only way to solve it is get

that wood on board and get downriver to the next town.

I want every fit and able man in the water to make a wood brigade.

Now!

Where is it?

You've got no right to make decisions for this many people.

We heard what you said about the sickness.

It's on this here boat. Me and the rest of these people are getting off.

Now, wait a minute.

Wait a minute! You heard what Kincaid said!

You started it right from the beginning when you left that animal get on here.

That's where it came from.

That filthy criminal gave that child a catching stick.

We've been offering that before. The little girl never touched it.

Tell Connie we're going to take some wood on board.

You better rifle out the ready boat on the cargo deck.

He's asking for help. Let's break out the rifles.

Give him a hand.

Are we going to let that stick, animals?

All right, come on, give me a hand. No one's doing anything. All right,

everybody stand back and stay away from that prisoner.

You don't dare shoot us.

We're passengers.

Paying passengers, not cattle.

A prisoner's a paying passenger, too.

As long as he's on the Enterprise, he's got the same rights as you.

Anybody who tries to take him away, they're gonna get hurt.

Listen to me.

We must all work together as one. Be ye not afraid, the Lord is with thee.

Do ye the Lord's work, and he will do unto you.

He will lifteth thy oppression, and heal thy sick.

Do unto him that which breaketh his commandments,

and he will strike thee down with pestilence.

Yeah.

No rifle balls.

All right, all you men in the water.

Are you going in with all your clothes on?

All right, Kincaid, start throwing those logs!

You heard what Fraser said about the little girl?

I heard.

Does that mean nothing to you?

I should imagine it means she has diphtheria.

Everybody on the boat's been breaking their

back to get it to a doctor to save a life.

At the point of a gun. I don't suppose threatening

to whip you is going to do any good, will it?

Any good in what sense, Mr. Kester? Now, hang it. Don't play hide and hoot with me.

You know what I'm talking about.

I haven't the faintest idea.

Now listen to me, Drake.

I know I can't make you help that little girl or anybody else on this boat.

But if you've got anything at all left in you, you're gonna try.

Why?

Because you know how.

Mr. Kester, whether that little girl dies today or

a hundred years from today is purely academic.

Sooner or later, she's going to die.

And so will you and I, Mr. Kester.

And all the sermons and all the good intentions and all

the believing in God won't alter that one simple fact.

So you're wrong, Mr. Kester.

I can't keep her from dying.

Nor do I intend to try. You're just not human.

It's just a little cold. You're gonna be all right.

Later, I'm gonna give you some hot tea with a touch of brandy.

Tomorrow, you'll be playing with David.

Have faith and pray.

I've been on my knees all day. The breath rattles so loud in my ear.

Everyone's got to be her last.

I've searched my mind for the wrong that I must have committed.

Surely that helpless child can't have committed

so horrible a sin as to deserve this punishment.

She will be all right, Mr. Crane.

You've got to believe that.

God works in strange ways. He hasn't forsaken you.

How soon do you think we can get to a town where there's a doctor?

This town big enough is Quartz Creek. I know there's a good doctor there,

but it's at least 10 hours away.

The river's against us on account of the rain. 10 hours?

Well, I guess we better go.

Right now, I have to see if I can get some

steam out of that wet wood we just took on.

I told him to have faith. I had none myself.

You, ma'am?

When I looked at that little girl, I knew in my heart she was slipping away from us.

There is a reason and a justice for all of God's actions.

But they are beyond the understanding of man.

I don't know much about that, ma'am.

I reckon there's not much else to tell a man when he's losing his only child.

Even if you don't believe it, you say it anyway.

Have hope.

Mr. Fraser, I've been looking for you.

What do you want, Mr. Kester?

I don't know if it'll do much good,

but my prisoner was a doctor before he went to jail. Drake?

I don't like him any more than you do.

But I figured you ought to know, seeing as how you have a sick child.

It's kind of hard to believe.

Seven years.

Long time.

He's not much now.

He works in strange ways.

Ma'am?

I was thinking out loud.

I tried to talk him into looking at Lucy Crane, seeing what he could do for her.

But he won't have no part of it.

Mr. Fraser, if I can talk him into seeing a little girl, would you let him?

I don't know, ma'am. It's hard for me to believe that I...

A convict and a man as dirty as he is should be anywhere near a child.

St. John the Baptist was a convict.

A little soap and water will clean the man's hands,

and God will take care of what's inside of him.

It'll take more than the good Lord to do anything with him.

If you want to give it a try, ma'am.

Will you bring him to my cabin?

Well, I don't know about that.

It's all right, Fraser.

I'll have a gun on him.

I want him in my cabin alone, Mr. Kester.

All right, Kester.

He doesn't frighten me.

Come in.

Would you please unlock those chains?

There you are.

Thank you. I won't be needing you anymore.

If you want anything, ma'am, you just holler.

Thank you.

Won't you sit down?

You gonna read this whole Bible to me?

There's truth in there.

And the truth shall make you free.

After a reasonable time in hell.

You've got a lot of guts being here alone with me.

After last night.

I'm not afraid of you.

I don't believe you.

Even if I were, you'd still be here. Why?

Because there are some things that must be done regardless of fear.

The Indians are going to like this.

All right.

Let's get on with it.

Why won't you see Lucy Crane?

Because I'm not a doctor. I'm a convict.

Paul Drake, M.D., is dead.

He died in a courtroom.

The hands of his friends.

Will you tell me about it?

Please.

All right.

It's as simple as this.

The meanest, the evilest, and the richest man in our town fractured his skull.

And all his friends and all my friends, in the name of doing justice,

persuaded me not to open up his skull and relieve the pressure.

I didn't.

He died. There was a trial.

And all his friends and all my friends swore that I'd refuse

their pleas to open up his skull and relieve the pressure.

I got eight years for criminal neglect.

And they got the town, his friends and my friends. They carved it up between them.

Now, save me.

I didn't present myself as your savior.

But I'm sure you must have had a reason for your actions.

I wanted him dead.

That's the sin of intent. It's a very mortal sin.

Very difficult to erase from the book.

Well, a lot of people think wrongly in anger.

I was not angry.

It doesn't mean that you're condemned forever.

Your life's not finished.

You must have had a reason for being a doctor in the first place.

Doesn't that mean anything to you? Is that gone?

Completely.

I don't believe you.

As a doctor, I would say that the doctor has been

completely amputated from the body of Paul Drake.

See?

No doctor.

Not anywhere.

Just sin.

There is one sin you've committed that's worse than all the others,

and you're still committing it.

Surely not worse than mortal.

You've murdered your own honor as a doctor.

Give place to the physician, for the Lord hath created him.

Let him not go from thee, for thou hast need of him.

I doubt if he was referring to anyone like me.

How can you be so callous, so cynical, so... So wicked?

Job said, God has given the earth into the hands of the wicked.

But he also said, when they cast thee down, thou shalt say there is lifting up.

He will deliver even him that is not innocent.

Also he said, I shall say unto God, do not condemn me.

Physician, heal thyself.

Oh no, don't give me the words.

I know them better than you do.

Faith has nothing to do with a few quotes from the Bible.

Do you have faith?

Yes.

You're a liar. You've got the faith of a rabbit.

You're wrong.

Without this Bible, you're helpless. You're wrong.

Without your precious platitudes, you're naked. You're wrong.

Your faith is a kind of pious mask you put on so that people will say, oh, look,

isn't she good? Isn't she noble? Isn't she pure? You're wrong.

You're wrong. You're wrong.

Faith is believing in a man, not in a moral.

Do you have faith? Yes! In all mankind?

Or is it possible that you actually have faith in me?

That first night I knew whether I lived or died would depend on you.

That's why I let them bring me up here. I had to know if your kind of faith,

your kind of strength was really possible.

If it were possible, then it might be possible for

me to have something To have faith in again.

If you can have faith in this filthy thing before you,

faith enough to kiss these lips, then I can have faith enough again to be a doctor.

Faith enough to somehow make up for the life of that Man, I could have saved.

I want a... I want a chance to clean up.

Oh, look, look.

I don't know that I can do anything for that girl. In cases of dysphoria,

there's usually nothing you can do.

But you will have tried. Yes.

What... What's your name?

Kathy Norris.

Well, I guess it's just about as plain as the nose on your face.

I heard that criminal and the guard talking

about doing something to the little girl.

Talking like he was a doctor.

Next thing you know, they come and get him.

First he goes to the woman's cabin, then the Frazier's.

Then I hear Frazier say he's going to operate on the little girl.

Well, I guess it's pretty obvious.

And I'm telling you, he's going to kill that little girl.

What's he doing up here?

Don't let him go. All right, you're all going back to your cabins.

Right now.

Come on, move!

If she were a little older, a little stronger, I'd recommend waiting,

getting her to a hospital before operating, but her color's changing fast.

The fight to breathe is robbing her of her strength.

Can you do anything?

I can perform a tracheotomy.

That means opening the windpipe just below the swelling in her throat.

Her chances would be, I'd say, 1 in 50.

Go ahead, Paul.

They trust you.

I'll need some white silk thread, some strong needles we can bend, towels.

Four or five lanterns and a good straight razor. Right.

Oh, and Captain, I wonder if you'd bring along some of your strongest whiskey.

Sure.

Evelyn!

I think about it.

Well, Frazier?

Mr. Frazier, we're waiting.

I believe out of respect to the Cranes, we should all go back to our cabins.

Give us the prisoner, Mr. Fraser.

We promised ourselves Drake could pay you if anything happened.

What right have you to sit in judgment?

You were a shepherd.

Some animal killed your sheep.

You'd sit in judgment.

Animal.

Dr. Drake never knew the Cranes before, but he tried to help them.

And you don't know him, but you want to kill him.

You're the animal.

The killer of your own flock.

The most despicable kind of man.

Ready to destroy just to nourish your own sick soul.

Mr. Burleigh, there's only one man here who might condemn Dr. Drake.

His kind of gentleness is rare.

I only wish that he could be the one to always be around when we needed him.

I can't condemn him, no matter how hard I want to blame someone.

You see, I watched him fight death all night.

If I can't say he's wrong, how can you?

Mr. Burleigh, the chains I was wearing have been removed.

I hope yours can be too.

You're speaking about chains, Drake.

I must have misplaced yours. Any way I can't find them may take me some time.

Maybe not till after we stopped at Corrick's Creek.

Just say the word and I'll nose you in the bank right now.

No.

No, Mr. Fraser.

If you can't stay on course, how can I?

You're right, Doctor. I'll try to fix it so

you only have about a couple more months.

Hiya, Gray!

Ben!

Hey, where you been? You're two weeks late. You got any trouble? Well,

we've been in quarantine.

Why?

You look very nice in my new pleated shirt. Well, thanks a lot. What do you mean,

quarantine? Well, I can't talk about it now, Gray.

We've got to go to the wedding. Wedding? Yeah, the

convict and the missionary. What do you mean?

Oh, I can't talk about it now, Gray. I'm the best

man, you know. I can't be late. Wait a minute.

I want to talk to you now. Ray, you've been invited,

too. Don't you want to go? Now, wait a minute.

Now, look, you mean to tell me that I've rushed

all the way back from a wedding in Connecticut,

waited here for you two weeks, just to go to another wedding so I can talk to you?

Something like that, yeah.

Come on.

Yeah, well, now, wait a minute. I better go and change my shirt, then. Welcome back.

Well, I guess I don't have a second shirt to change into.

That's right, sir. There's only one left to choose from.

Ah, well, next time, perhaps I'd better buy a greater variety.

But I'm glad to think that you, uh, that you like my taste.

Oh, yes, sir. Uh, this is a little big in the collar. Oh, oh, oh, yes. Oh,

I see why I'm terribly sorry, Stravis.

Perhaps I'd better lose some weight, too, huh?

Yeah. Yeah.