Come on! Hyah! Hyah!
Hyah! Hade!
Just drift 'em along easy. Quit playing around.
Man's gotta keep moving. Get the blood goin', stir things up.
Go on down there and stir that old mossy horn up.
Keep it from going to sleep. I'll move him.
Crazy kid.
Hade, will you stop that fooling?
Looks like that old steer taught you a lesson.
Come on. Get back on your horse, and let's get to work.
Look out, hade. Rattler!
Shut up, bless. Don't spook the kid.
Don't move, hade.
Don't worry, will. I won't stir a finger.
- You see him? - Can you see him, bless?
Yes.
I can't.
If you got a clear shot, bless, take it.
Oh, I can't, will. I'm shaking.
I'm sorry, will. It's all right.
It's just that I remembered about before, and I...
Hey, loving, we got us a viper in the tall grass!
Like to have struck at me, it did.
Lucky thing for the snake. He might've died of poisonin'.
Hey, will, that Morgan stud's just been delivered.
And he's big and black. Got a look in his eye like he wants to kill.
Well, let's go take a look at him. Yeah, let's go!
I want to see that stallion!
Hey, bless! Come on! I'll race you back to the corral!
I'll bet I can beat you!
That hade. He's afraid of nothin'.
That snake shook bless up.
Yeah. It's the shame of bein' scared that hurts him.
I don't know. It's hard bein' a father sometimes, will.
And that's what you are to them two brothers of yours.
Well, I try to do what pa told me,
but I can't see much what to do about bless.
Whatever he is keeps slippin' from me.
I don't understand him like I should.
Well, your papa never understood him either.
Do you think ma does? She thinks she does.
That's supposed to be a hot blood?
He's standin' like a baby!
Just thinkin' of ways to kill somebody is all.
Well, he looks a good one, loving. Yeah.
Hey, you slowpoke, will!
Let me ride the black! I can sit him! I know I can!
Horse ain't like a calf, Sonny. He knows where he's kickin' and just how hard.
I can stay with him!
You wait till you're ready.
- I think I'm ready, will, - Ha, ha.
Bring him over here, durkee!
Bless'll mount him from the top rail.
Will, that horse ain't even half broke.
Let the kid have his chance.
Can't you see that boy is scared?
He's just trying to show you he ain't.
It's all right, loving. I'm watching out for him.
Hold him close to the fence, durkee.
Whoa, boy.
- Hold him, durkee! - Take him, bless!
Ride him into the dirt! Give him a keough ride!
Stay with him, bless!
That's ridin' him, bless!
Go on, bless. Stay with him! Stay on him, boy!
Bless.
Tuck your knees in close! Give him his head!
Look at him go!
Ride him hard, boy!
What are you gonna do, ma?
Why don't you quit worryin' about him? He won't get hurt.
If that was me up there, you wouldn't even care.
Will! Will, stop him!
Bless!
Are you all right? Is it all right, bless?
Whoa. Whoa, boy. Whoa.
Do you want him dead?
Take him, loving.
Do you want your brother dead and maimed?
He rode good, ma. Don't spoil it for him.
Spoil it? You let your brother ride a killer, and you're proud of it.
I'm proud for him. Oh, ma, don't hang on to me.
Come into the house.
Loving, bring the black up!
Hold him for me, loving.
All right. Turn him loose.
That old will could ride a dust devil...
If he could get a saddle on it!
What's the matter, ma?
Why don't you talk to me?
You told me twice to leave you alone.
I didn't mean it that way. It's just that...
Well, in front of all the hands. Why'd you have to baby me so?
I'll keep you from hurt with my own body if I have to.
Now, ma, don't say things like that.
I'm grown. I can take care of myself.
Not in this terrible land. It's vicious and cruel.
A letter from your aunt Helen.
She's moved to a big house in St. Louis, and there'll be room enough for us.
St. Louis? It's a big city, bless.
Paved streets, shops, big houses painted white.
Well, will's gonna need an awful lot of help fencin' in that new corral, ma.
There's a cow hunt comin' up, all that brandin' to do.
That's a lot of work. There's hired hands to do that.
I want more for you than workin' a ranch and being a saddle hand...
Or gettin' killed.
No, there's not near enough help.
As it is, some of the men are workin' for shares,
and with me around, why, we could save a foreman's wage.
There's loving to be top hand. And will has Harry to help him manage.
Oh, Harry's wild. Will can't depend on him. You know that.
Besides, he's just a kid.
You're not much older, bless.
I've got my growth, ma, and that's a man. A young one.
Young enough to make a life for yourself.
One that'll have some meaning.
A doctor maybe or... Or you could take up the law.
But leavin' will and hade now, ma...
Don't call Harry that! It's a terrible word.
Oh, that doesn't mean anything. That's just what the cowhands call him.
But he is a devil sometimes.
But you're not a cowhand, bless! You're my son.
Have you turned from your name and the refined ways I taught you?
Is that why you risk yourself on wild horses and wear guns against my wish?
No.
Now, I-i-i don't want to force you to go to St. Louis.
If you want to stay, we'll stay. Oh, it's not that, ma.
It's just that leavin' right now just isn't right.
There's time to think of it.
I won't write aunt Helen for another week or so.
Hey, bless, look. Will's got the black quiet.
Walk him around. He's gonna make a good one.
You all right? Yeah, it's ma.
She, uh... she wants me to go back to Missouri with her.
St. Louis. Oh?
Big town, I hear. Must be 10,000, 15,000 people there.
You want me to go, will?
Do you want to go?
Well, no, but how am I gonna tell ma? She keeps pushin' at me so.
You wait here with hade.
You busy, ma? I'd like to talk to you.
You shouldn't have let him ride that horse.
I won't stop a man from doin' what his spirit tells him.
A man? He's only a boy.
You're makin' him so, ma.
Wrappin' him in your skirts, smotherin' him with... shouldn't I love him?
My own blood.
I'm your blood too, ma.
And that kid out there, hade.
He's your lastborn, and you treat him like he was whelped by a coyote.
Did you see the look in his eyes? No.
The look in the eyes of your father.
And your father stole you from me.
Made you over to be him.
Bless is mine.
The only thing to love in all these years.
Ma, why do you try to make out there's any fight between you and me?
We both want what's best for the boy.
I know what's best for him. A man's got to learn to live in this land.
You're nursin" bless so he's between the mountain and the river.
He'll get lost for sure. Then I'll take the boy's hand, and he won't get lost.
Then you'll lose the man.
Ma, let him grow up to take his rightful place in the keough family.
He's all I have. His place is with me.
I love you too, ma.
You don't have to believe me.
Then you know the only voice she'll listen to is yours.
Oh, I'm sorry, will. I shouldn't have let you speak for me.
Things are bad enough between you and ma as it is.
Yeah. We been in battle over stayin' here on the ranch ever since pa died.
Things can't get any worse.
Hello. Hah.
Step down, Andy. Tell your young cowhand here to do the same.
Thanks, will. Howdy, bless.
Hello, Mr. niven. Hello, aud. What happened, bless?
Oh, we got a new stallion, and he dumped me.
He gave him a good ride though. How's the mare?
Just about time.
Well, you plannin' on visitin' the expectin' mother on horseback?
You plannin' on marryin' up with a girl without any courtin' at all?
I thought that was all settled. Maybe for you, Mr. keough, but not for me.
Second Saturday in a row you missed.
Your place is a half day's ride from here, and we had fence that needed fixin'.
Now, come on. Well, you just go sit on that fence.
Andy, when are you goin' to get this daughter of yours into a dress?
Seems she's about made up her mind that except for church meetin',
the first dress she wears, it'll be a weddin' dress.
So?
So, let's go in the house and have some coffee and a talk, huh?
That's what I come for. I came to see the mare.
Come on, bless.
Seems like all the keough men are girl-shy.
Go on, bless. See the mare.
Trouble, Andy? No.
You don't take work days away from your ranch just to visit. No.
It's just that troubles may be comin'. Oh?
In the old days, we ranchers used to come to your pa to get the word.
Now, I guess we sort of look to you, will.
Be glad to help any way I can. What's happened?
The boys and me been workin' the valley grazin',
settin' the cattle on it before the rains come.
Will, there's nesters movin' in.
Many? Six or eight near as we can figure.
And they're squattin' on stringer's land.
What's he doin' about it? Don't seem to be there to do nothin'.
And his workin' hands? Gone too.
How many days? Not days, hours.
You love horses, don't you? I guess.
Horses are helpless, sort of.
They don't have much pick of what they do.
Some get ridden hard and bad, and some get worked cruel.
Remember that catamount cub you had? Yeah, I do.
I remember the night you cried when it went back into the hills.
Oh, kids fuss over things like mountain cats,
but it had to go back.
It just didn't fit in.
What does it take to fit in, bless?
I mean, life is hard here.
Makes you go its way.
Like flood that bogs the land and heat that burns it brown.
Women scarce and men always workin'.
Well, some things fit into what they are, and some do what they been taught.
Which am I? Do I fit in?
Do you?
I felt to love that pet cat of mine.
But when he turned wild and came down from the hills to slaughter a steer,
I helped hunt him and kill him.
Aud, honey.
Don't you worry, aud. You fit in.
How's the mare coming along? Doin' fine, will.
Well, your dad's about ready to start back home. Wish you weren't.
My home doesn't have to be a half day's ride from here, will.
It'll be soon, aud.
Soon means tomorrow to me.
I'm past child age.
Time goes slow without you, will. And for me.
Slow and hard with the waitin' and the things to be done,
but I'll stand to 'em and finish 'em, and then we can...
I have to finish becomin' a woman.
I can't do it alone.
I need you. And I need you.
Now and for a long time past.
I'll get things over and done fast as I can.
We won't have long to wait.
No need to wait at all.
Hey, will!
Sorry to break up the sparkin', will. Bless said you'd be here.
We got four steers stuck in a bog out about four miles.
We'll get right to it, loving.
Will.
I'm sorry, aud. We...
We can't afford to lose four steers.
Come on. You better say good-bye to ma and bless.
Well, Hannah, I thank you for the coffee.
I hope our talk of squatters didn't scare you.
Oh, I've heard it before. And seen range war.
Bless and me won't be around to see any more.
We're goin' back to St. Louis. Bless, you're not.
Away from nesters and cattle and heat and flood.
Ma, we haven't decided definite.
Away from things that kill, like guns... and snakes.
Will, thanks for the talk.
Then, Andy, we'll let stringer clear his own land.
And if he don't? Well, then we'll see.
For now, each man takes care of his own. All right, will.
Rain's comin' up.
Yeah. It's gettin' a little black over there. We best be goin'.
If we don't get back, we could be rained in for a week.
Aud maybe could stay.
And save you a sparkin' trip come Saturday? Uh-uh.
Nice to see you again, Mrs. keough.
Bye, bless. Hope your Colt's a good one.
Pleased to see you, aud.
Nice girl, Audrey.
She'll make a fine wife for will.
We can come back to visit time to time and...
What's the matter, bless?
Ma...
Saturday, will.
Oh, bless.
Come in, bless, old boy.
This old horse is about to birth a Colt of the steel dust strain.
Come out to see your foal, huh? Uh-huh.
Won't be long. It was a quarter horse shipped in here many years ago...
That was the greatest stud horse that ever lived.
Will?
Ma's all set for us to leave in about a week.
Oughta be all right back east.
Nice, easy livin'.
I guess so.
She's startin'.
With all your talkin', I guess she figures she ought to get it over with.
Ah! Horses is like women.
They like the sound of a gentle voice like mine.
My old grandma said...
I was about the best there was with sick folks.
Said my voice had the slick of molasses.
How's she doin'? Fine.
Will, my heart just ain't in it. I don't want to go.
You do what you think is right, bless.
You're a man.
I remember when old man Campbell got shot in the spleen.
He was the meanest man in three counties.
Granny sent me over to talk the hours away for him.
He said "howdy," and he like to scared me out the front door.
But I started in to talkin',
and that old man slipped away as peaceful as you please,
with a great big smile wreathin' his face, just like he was happy to go.
Hey, bless, will.
Gentle down, old girl.
It's gonna be all right.
Easy.
Ain't this a cute little feller?
Whoa, baby. Whoa, now, now.
Gentle down. Now, I wanna tell you somethin'.
Look a-herel you little scamp!
Bless, you got yourself a horse. Ain't it a cute little devil?
Yeah, looks like we got ourselves a great little quarter horse.
If it's anything like its ma, there'd better not no cow get outta line.
Ah, talk to me!
Ain't it a pretty thing! Lookie there! Huh?
He's promised to you, bless. Do you want him?
You're soaked.
The mare's foaled, ma. He's mine.
Will you be needin' a horse in St. Louis?
Well, ma, couldn't we wait a little while?
We have to go when we're welcome and asked.
But I just don't want to go right now.
Is that how it is, bless?
Yes.
All right, if you want to make your life here, I guess I should end mine here.
Oh, now, ma. Don't talk like that.
You can go to St. Louis if you want to. I'll come later.
I bore three sons... Two on this ranch.
I'll not leave alone.
Why is it so hard living a life?
Why does somebody always have to get hurt?
Well, bless, I...
I guess we all just have to pay for living and bein'...
One way or another.
Thanks, will.
Aud?
Where's will? Inside the house?
No, he's in here.
Will
We caught nesters slaughterin' a steer.
Pa run 'em off, but his horse got hit, and he's pinned under.
Where'd it happen? Near stringer's place.
Loving, hitch up the buckboard.
Bless, you saddle a couple of horses. You come on in the house, honey.
Ma'll get you dried off and into a warm bed. I'm going with you.
You've gotta get out of them wet clothes!
I've no duty to you yet, will. Like you say.
Mornin'.
Nice cozy little bed you got yourself there, cousin.
Couple of nesters made it for me, lovin...
Loving, we'll ease the horse off of him.
Bless, when I tell you to pull, slide Andy out easy.
All right. All right, now, loving.
Wait. Now!
Looks like it's broke. You're gonna have to set and splint it, loving.
It just so happens I got somethin' to ease the job.
My old dad got me in the habit when I was holster high. Honey, give your papa a snort of that.
After you get it splinted, bundle him up and take him home easy.
Yes, sir. Will, where you goin'?
My word was to let the nesters be. Andy got hurt for it.
Stringer don't keep his acres free of weasels, somebody's gonna have to do it for him.
Bless?
Will, wait. I'll go with you.
This is no fight, bless. I'll talk to 'em alone.
- I'll keep you company. - Bless.
We need you here. Yeah, come on, boy.
Grab a hold.
Here, bless, boy. Grab a hold.
Andy, this is gonna hurt slow and easy.
You all right, aud? Don't worry about me.
I do.
All right, Andy.
Give me the rifle, bless, and we'll make a splint.
Get off my land.
Come out here. I want a look at you.
I want a look at all of you.
This is deeded land. You're trespassin'.
That was branded beef you killed yesterday.
That cow was a stray. There's no one here.
We been settled here five, six days.
That doesn't give you squatter's rights.
Get out and go back where you belong.
Government land is scrubby and bad. You got the choice acres.
We made 'em choice. Now get out.
Right now.
On your way out, stop by the keough place.
We'll fix the boy.
I made some fresh coffee, bless. Come on. Have a cup.
I couldn't set still. I just...
Is the doctor still with her?
It's been nice, you stayin' here...
And takin' care of ma's duty while she's been ailin'.
I'm happy to.
Well, when she's well again, I'll go to St. Louis with her.
She wants bad to go home.
I know.
I'll miss you, bless, so much.
He's grown strong and beautiful.
Remember the night he was born? I remember.
The night your pa got hurt.
The night you said you worried after me.
Bless.
Bless. Come quick. It's ma.
Will, you'd best speak with your ma.
Ma?
Where's bless?
Harry's run to get him.
I'll go hurry him up. No, will. Stay with me.
My firstborn.
Workin' the land with your father...
Never gave you much chance to be a boy.
It's been a hard life for you too.
Ma, the herd will soon be big enough to trail.
Then things will be easy.
Life will be good. I promise you.
I know you'll make it so...
For some other woman, for some other keough.
Why, you'll still be around to see the...
Ma...
Ma, let me tell you. I love you.
Tell bless...
I... couldn't wait for him.
She didn't get to go home.
Bless.
People are startin' to gather.
The party's about ready to start. I missed you.
I was... aren't you comin' down to celebrate the trail drive?
I'll be along.
That's not all to celebrate.
Will told pa he's gonna ask me formal to marry him.
Well, that's fine, aud.
Is that all? Well, what else is there?
It's what we've all known would come.
Bless, I can't say it all while you stand quiet.
Will's a good man. He'll make you a good husband.
Not that, bless. Not that.
Please go away, aud.
- Go join your man. - Not mine.
It's not my lovin' will keeps us apart, bless. It's your lovin' him.
Aud, what are you tryin' to make me do?
Tell me what your heart says.
Aud, you're my brother's promised!
I know that. But I can't promise what I can't feel.
It's not my mind says to love you.
Oh, aud!
Aud, I always imagined it.
I watched you move, and I watched you smile.
Holding you, loving you. Gentle. So gentle.
So much, so much. My whole life for you.
As long as I can remember.
But it's will's life, will's dream.
I'll tell him. No.
No, that's for me to do.
First and third, balance and swing.
Meet right up and fly to the ring.
Round the couple and swing at the wall.
Through the couple and swing in the hall.
Circle four, halfway round.
Make that big foot jar the ground.
Pass right through and balance form,
and everybody swing.
You didn't have to ride all the way in here, you know. How's the herd?
All ready to start the drive come dawn, will.
How's the beef?
Oh, there you are. Been lookin' for you.
Well, I better go over and get some of that meat before hade eats it all up.
My own brother, but most times I don't understand him too well.
Bless likes the space and the night and quiet.
I'd like a little quiet right now.
Aud, I got somethin' I want to say to you.
The ranch is goin' well, aud.
You push too hard, will.
You've built the biggest and best spread around.
Oh, it hasn't all just been to grow big, aud.
I wanted it so there was enough for all of us.
For hade, now that he's plannin' on takin' a wife,
for bless when he gets a notion into his head and for us.
Soon as the drive's over, all payin' for, it'll be done with.
It'll be owned free and clear by the keough brothers.
And by you. Not for me, will.
It's been four years since I been thinkin' to set the date for us to get married.
Will, please don't talk about the waiting and what was.
Things change. I know.
And now we're gonna drive your pa's herd to abilene with ours...
And I'll meet you there, and we'll get married.
Maybe we can have a double wedding with hade and Claire. Will...
I promise you, there'll be an end to the waitin' when we meet in abilene.
Let's get back to the party.
Round the couple and swing at the wall.
Through the couple and swing in the hall.
Circle four, halfway round.
Make that big foot jar the ground.
Pass right through and balance form,
and everybody swing.
Allemande left with the old left hand.
It's back to your honey, go right and left grand.
Hand over hand till you come round. Hand over hand...
Bless, this comanche arrow went clean through my windpipe,
but I pulled her out and went right on with winning that battle.
How'd you fill up on whiskey after that, loving?
Well, I had to drink three times as much...
And wear two tin cups underneath here to catch the overflow.
See this scar right here?
Bless.
I got words with you, bless.
Hey, stringer, glad you came! Have a pull from the keg here and a slice of beef.
I didn't come social, just yet. Later maybe.
What did you come for?
You been to town lately? Some.
You been talkin' to the banker.
Some.
Checkin' on the mortgage on my place? It was mentioned.
You mentioned you'd like to buy the bank out,
foreclose and take my land to add to yours.
It's the bank's land. You're just sort of usin' it.
Not much longer, I don't think.
So long as I can pull a trigger.
Pullin' triggers isn't gonna raise cattle or feed.
Or dig a new well for that one that's glutted and let lie...
Or fix the houses or repair the fences.
You're just gonna sink deeper into debt.
You tryin' to buy him out from the bank, bless?
I figured on talkin' to will.
We could take his debts off the acres and give him something extra.
That's a fair enough offer, stringer.
You've got nothin' now, and you'll have less before long.
I don't hold with land stealers.
Meet right out to the right of the ring.
Round the couple and swing at the wall.
We'll pay you for it. And when that's gone, I've got nothin'.
Well, you can have a job with us.
You want to steal my land and offer me a job to work for you?
Oh, not for me. For the keough brothers.
I'd as soon ride with a jackal than with you, bless.
Well, you pressin" me's not gonna get your land back for you.
You're gonna lose it. You might as well sell it out to us.
I'd rather it dried up and blew to dust.
We'll get it anyway. It'd be cheaper then.
You've got high and mighty ways.
Show me what you can do to back 'em up.
I ain't a snake to run from.
What? Don't run.
I'm askin' you to raise up and show me you're man enough to take what's mine away from me.
You won't start, I will.
I'm... I'm not for beatin' up a kid, hade.
Just let's see who's a kid.
Will I do, stringer?
I-I got no fight with you, will.
You got none with bless either. He made you a fair offer.
Yes or no?
This isn't early range anymore to be cut and claimed and held with a gun.
Is a man to lose it for a bad turn of luck?
You borrowed to the limit the same as the rest of us.
But you didn't work it off. You didn't pay it off.
Take the price and the job and have a drink.
Or say your no and go your way.
- How much? - A fair price.
Get free of your debts and doubts, man.
Trail with us, and I'll show you a place in abilene...
Where your money'll buy you somethin' the land don't give.
You never was much of a man for thinkin', stringer.
Those acres are a saddle on your back, and you know it.
Hear the music and stomp your feet.
Meet the new hired hand!
Come on in the house, stringer. We'll draw the deal and make the deed.
Everybody was sort of expecting me to fight, weren't they?
I suppose so, but you won without fighting.
It was hade that hit him, and will that shut him up.
You won your way. What difference does it make?
It makes a difference to all those folks who would have done it another way.
That's about everybody who was watching, including will and even your own father.
Is it important what they think?
I say to myself it's not.
You've got a right not to be like the rest of them.
I love you, bless.
Will you tell him tonight?
This isn't the time, aud.
Will there ever be a time to tell him?
It's a hard thing, aud.
Do you love me, bless?
That's the only sure thing in all I do.
Audrey?
Time to say good night.
See you in abilene, bless.
Take good care of those cows of mine. Yes, sir. Special care.
Good-bye, bless.
I'll see you at trail's end.
I'm sorry you have to leave, aud.
The trail won't be so lonely knowing you'll be waitin' in abilene.
Bye, will.
Get yourself a nice wedding dress now.
I don't aim to waste any more time.
See you in abilene, will. I'll be there. Good-bye.
Yeah.
Stringer, drag men in the rear.
We eatin' dust for another day?
How come the positions ain't bein' rotated? Yeah, what about that?
We need our best men riding front and side in canyon country.
I ride as good as any man!
Just stay seated, stringer. The herd will be long gone.
I'm ridin' up front. The air's clear there.
Hey, bless.
You and stringer had an argument?
He don't like bein' a hired hand and workin' cows on somebody else's order.
He just don't like to work.
We better get a move on. We got a lot of miles to make.
Besides, I got me a date in abilene.
I ever tell you about that gal in this town?
Mmm! Shoots a gun like a man,
wears leather britches and a stetson hat.
Always carries a chaw of tobacco in her pistol pocket.
But she's as warm as a dove when the nighttime comes.
More woman than you ever did see.
Keep 'em movin' down there, bless.
- Get off of there. - I just wanna get the kinks out.
I'm tired of sittin' this saddle on the level. I won't get hurt.
Your horse trip or kick some rocks loose,
and we'll have this herd spooked and out runnin' off pounds.
Now get down from there!
All the little cows are bedded down for the night.
What about niven's bunch?
Those whitefaces won't go anywhere.
Durkee, would you check niven's boys?
Right.
Old granny bless.
"Never take a chance" keough.
Hey. I had a cousin with a hame like that one time.
"Never take a chance” lovin' they called him.
He got shot though. How was that, lovin'?
Takin" a chance. First one he ever took.
He got his eye on a woman of the town...
A girlfriend of a killer that rid off to escape the law.
Well, one day, this killer come back.
It wasn't exactly day. More like nighttime, it was.
Here was this gal and old lovin'... lovin...
Killer shot him clean through the spine.
Well, he just wasn't used to takin' chances.
I reckon.
That's something you gotta learn.
Right, will?
Sometimes it's good to learn when not to take a chance...
Like me takin' the chance you'd do somethin' I told you.
What didn't I do?
We're about out of sugar.
Oh! Those extra sacks.
I forgot to put 'em in the wagon.
A man can do without a lot of things.
But a cowboy on a cattle drive... mmm!
Without no sweetenin' for his coffee,
he can get mighty cantankerous at times.
You go get some, hade. It's about an hour's ride off to that arroyo seco town.
Oh, it won't take me that long.
Town's not big enough to afford sugar.
Well, maybe they got some molasses.
You go along with him, bless. See that he doesn't try to turn the molasses into rum.
Seems like all I'm doing is ridin' a Maverick day and night.
Hey, hey! There a store fit to buy in around here?
What do you want?
Sugar.
Ain't got none.
You got any molasses? Yep.
And set up a bottle for my brother and me.
Never mind.
Hey, don't be bashful, girl. Come on.
Give us four glasses, bartender.
Just to wet down the dust a little. The dust.
Hey, solitaire's no game for a pretty girl.
Come on up to the bar and join the party.
Oh, have a little music.
Doesn't it work?
Kick it, cowboy. You gotta kick it some.
Kick it?
Careful. Watch out.
I hope this ain't too strong for your delicate taste, ma'am.
Where's your manners, bless?
Give the little lady a drink there.
Now, what's a pretty thing like you doin' in a town like this?
Well, a girl doesn't like to leave home. Don't waste it.
Do you think I'm pretty?
You're lookin' better and better.
Let's go, hade.
Stop actin' like a mama cow.
If you're lonely for a woman, there's one waitin' for you in abilene.
Leave Claire out of this.
Just give her another kick, bless, and soon as the tune's over, we'll go.
Come on.
Hade.
I was just gonna tell the lady...
About the opportunities waitin' for a pretty girl in abilene.
Now, what would I do in abilene?
Same thing you're doin' here.
Here now!
Give me a bottle of the same.
Strangers?
Don't you see these girls are with us, mister?
Why, me, Marie and Rose are old friends.
You're pushin', and we don't like it. Take it easy, hade.
You don't like what I'm doin'?
Your friend doesn't seem to mind.
How about that, bless?
She's his friend. We'd better get goin'.
Why'd you leave the herd?
Come for somethin' damp.
You know will don't like whiskey on the trail.
Two bottles here. And one for me.
What is it, hade?
This hawker's mighty pushy.
Come on, hade. Let's bring lovin' his sweetenin'.
Bless don't mind gettin' stepped on,
but I want to hear somethin' soothin' before I leave.
We got no quarrel, friend.
Hold it!
That's all.
Come on, hade.
You.
Your molasses.
Worth the whiskey, stringer?
Wouldn't have happened if your brother hadn't backed down.
It was his fight. Hade took it up, and so did we.
You can believe that if you want to.
I liked that kid.
Next time you ride off without orders, don't ride back.
Get your spot, stringer.
You too, hade.
And keep that gun outta your hand unless there's need.
There was.
Drive cows, bless. I got things to do in abilene.
Well, here they come.
You wanna get set to do a little bargaining.
Part of the expenses, loving.
I remember the time when a huntin' knife or a string of beads...
Would sweeten a whole tribe to be your protectors and your guides,
and they might even throw in a squaw to do the cookin' for you.
Yeah, I remember you told me once.
Uh-huh, and then there was the other side of it... them comanches.
Give 'em all you had, and they'd always come back for more.
They always looked at my hair lovingly.
Never seen much red hair, I reckon.
Now that it's turnin' gray, I sure feel safer around 'em. I'll tell you that.
Those Indians lookin' for a free handout again?
They're gonna be wantin' something.
We'll give 'em nothin'.
We'll give 'em what's fair, just like always.
How would half the herd be, bless? Fair enough?
Then maybe they'll run off and leave us alone.
Quiet, hade.
Welcome.
400 braves in hills.
Figure 50 or a hundred.
Many guns.
Three or four broken-down rifles.
Are they threatenin' us? Hade.
Many squaws and children.
Uh-huh. I reckon.
Long winter.
Well, he's told you all of it now.
Twenty head.
Twenty steers? Hade.
Wheel around.
Bigger demands than last time. Cost of livin'.
I don't figure he wants to fight though.
There's too many herds on the trail to get tribute from.
- Bless? - Five, six maybe.
Six steer? Give 'em nothin...
We got 16 hands and more than that many guns.
The Indians haven't had much to eat since most of the buffalo have been killed.
Besides, we're takin' passage through his territory. He's got a right to make demands.
He's got a right to a bullet if he comes sniffin' around.
We ain't in the business of feeding injuns.
If he can't hunt enough food, let him get out.
Loving?
I'm goin' along with bless. Five or six head.
I think that's about right.
Six.
Twenty.
Six is all we're gonna give you.
Six.
And when you take your six beefs,
go on up in the hills and stay there.
If you come nosin' around again, bring your medicine man.
You'll be needin' him to speak the chant of the dead over you.
He speaks with the words of the young.
Please accept our gift with honor and welcome.
No need to talk like that.
No need to make me small in front of Indians.
If you had your way, we'd run out and leave 'em take all.
Sometimes it sticks in my throat to call you brother.
Why do you keep spurrin' me, hade? Me?
Now, why would I do that, bless? That's what I want to know.
A saddle tramp backed you off from that gal in arroyo seco.
You're a kid, and kids will fight anything.
You could've gotten us killed. I've had it all from you, bless.
Being his brother don't change my opinion of him.
I think he's a coward. You feel like a big man now?
I ain't ashamed.
The men in the bunkhouse laugh behind his back.
He won't race his horse. He won't mix it up.
He won't do anything where he might get hurt.
It's none of their business.
You're standin' in front of him again, will.
I stand in front of you too, hade.
But you don't cover me with your shadow!
I ain't afraid of no man.
Bless!
What's goin' on?
Snake.
Bullwhip.
Why, you...
Did you see him jump, will?
Loving! Ming!
The herd all right?
They're still bedded down.
We could've had a stampede on our hands.
Hade shouldn't have done that, bless. Aw, it's...
No matter.
He shouldn't have done it, knowin' that...
Knowin' that I killed pa?
Knowin' your fear of snakes.
And a rattler killed pa. You didn't.
Because I ran.
Pa reached to stop me.
It's hard for a kid not to run with a rattler buzzin' next to him.
But I was taught not to move.
Bless, I've told you, this happened when you were seven years old.
So you were scared. That's nothin' to be ashamed of.
It's been tearin' at you for years.
Why don't you give it up?
I can't help facing it, will.
Well, then face it and fight it through. Kill it and forget it.
Bless, I'll stand with you against anything,
but I can't fight you for yourself.
I'm not even sure what kind of a man I am.
I don't fit, will.
I never have, and it seems that I fit less and less.
There's a lot of ma in your ways, bless.
That's part of your fight.
Yeah.
Yeah, I guess so.
Ma always wanted to leave the ranch.
I've made up my mind to leave too.
Leave the keough range?
Why?
I'll tell you true, will.
It's a girl. A girl?
You mean you've been courtin' a girl, and I didn't even know it?
Well, I figured on takin' my share of the herd and,
well, buyin' a homestead or maybe some sort of business in town.
But why? The ranch is big enough for all of us.
We'll build you a house. No, it won't work, will.
Well, sure it'll work.
The women will be great company for each other.
Why won't it work?
Bless, who is the girl?
Aud.
You want everything, don't you? Oh, no.
Why wasn't I told? Or didn't anybody much care?
Oh! It was that we cared too much maybe!
We didn't want to tell you. We thought it'd grow itself out.
And then I could have her back, huh?
No, it wasn't that way.
We just didn't want to hurt you.
And I knocked hade down.
Hade! Hold up.
I'm gonna ride into town ahead.
I'll arrange for the pens. I'll go with you.
I got big things waitin' for me in abilene. Maybe.
Been about a year since we drove MacDonald's herd up here.
Claire's had time to look around for something better.
Oh, she'll be waitin' like she promised.
She's probably so lonely, her heart's near broke.
Well, you can wait another night. I'll see you tomorrow.
Anything I can do for you, bless?
Nothin', will. Thanks.
No messages?
Herd seems spooky tonight.
Maybe they know this is the end of the trail.
Cows don't think.
More likely a cat somewhere up in the hills.
Come on, hade!
Stampede! Rustlers!
Well, we can't hold 'em here.
All right, everybody mount up. We'll stop 'em at the mouth of the canyon.
Hade, mount up! No!
Come back here!
Stay here and fight! Now take cover.
Bless said to follow him down to the mouth of that canyon.
We'll shoot 'em as they ride by.
Pick your shots and knock 'em out of their saddles.
Get down in back of that rock, boy!
Where's bless? He run out on us.
You boys round up the horses.
Durkee, follow the track of them cattle.
Watch yourself!
Hade. Kid.
Bless.
You ran away again, bless.
No I didn't, hade.
We didn't stand a chance to fight it out here.
We might've stopped 'em at the entrance.
Don't try to say anything.
Remember him?
He's one of them you wouldn't fight back in arroyo seco.
If you had, your brother wouldn't be dead now.
You won't be able to run out on him again.
Rustlers.
He tried to fight it out at the camp.
I told him to follow me on up to the hill, but...
I guess he didn't hear me.
I thought he did though. Bless run out on us.
Stringer's lyin'.
Bless did the right thing.
Hade just wouldn't listen to him.
You should've stayed with hade.
I didn't run out on him, will.
You should've been with your brother.
No matter what.
Bless.
Hade did a fool thing standing there that way!
Come with me. You're worn and tired.
If stringer keeps talking that way,
gossip will spread itself like a wind-whipped fire that bless run out on hade.
Well, didn't he?
You know better than that.
Bless maybe will try to avoid trouble, but he'd never run out on his job.
Yeah, he handles everything real smart... for bless.
The good book speaks a lot of words at a time like this.
But I don't think Harry keough knew too many of them.
He wasn't old enough or calmed enough.
It was awful hard to get him into your house, lord,
but he was a good man except for that.
Well, now he's gone to you, lord.
Amen.
You let him die. You killed him!
You wouldn't stand up with him and fight, so he died!
You let him die!
You're a coward, and you killed him!
Pay her no mind, bless.
She loved hade. So did you.
That's where I am.
It's a bad time to take will's woman from him, bless.
He doesn't need anybody.
He's a brave man.
Not like me.
Bless, you don't mean that.
He's right, aud. Listen to the town folks.
Listen to the trail hands.
Bless is afraid of snakes. He's afraid of hurt.
Backed down from a fight with stringer,
the drifter in arroyo seco...
And a hundred others since he was a kid.
Finally, he run off and his young brother got killed for it.
Pa, those are just words, not facts!
You're coming back to town with me, aud.
You go ahead, aud.
I'll be along in a little bit.
If durkee don't show up by tonight,
we can go out and try to pick up the trail of them cows ourselves.
There's no tellin' how long or how far durkee will have to run that track.
But, will, you can round up your outfit...
And see how many stray guns there are around town that want to hire out.
Come on, fella. How about it?
I'll talk to you about it later, loving.
Hello, honey. Hi.
Will, I want to talk to you.
I've been told.
Your voice isn't gonna make it right.
I know I've been promised to you, will, but...
The years slipped by. Weren't the years promise enough?
I loved you for all of them.
Sometimes I'd see you with the sun driftin' all around you.
Or I'd hear you laugh, and I filled up and hurt to grab you close...
And forget the ranch and pa's dreams.
Forget the things I had to do for ma...
And the things I had to do for my brothers.
You never talked to me like this, will.
Does a man have to spill himself open to prove he loves a woman?
I didn't want you burdened and worried with all I had to get done.
I held it to myself to save you.
You shouldn't have, will. But I did.
I spent the days building fence and raising feed...
And the nights praying for rain and no cattle tick!
For times to get good, to get enough for all of us,
to lay it all down and take it easy for a while.
I wanted to give you a husband free of any duties but the ones to you.
And I wanted a man with time to hold me, even for just a moment.
And words to tell me what he was about...
And not leave me shut off and alone...
A man to need me.
I'm telling you now. I'm wearied and done.
I'm through building for anybody but me.
I do need you, aud.
What words did he have that I didn't?
None, will.
Just between bless and me,
there's more than a ranch and land and cattle.
It just has to do with two people.
What kind of life will you find with a coward?
He's not a coward.
You've given him the name because he's not like you, not like your pa was.
Is that a bad thing to be? Bad for him.
You fought your ma over him, and you've tried to make him over to suit you.
You're like she was.
You've got to stand out of his way, let him be his own way.
It's a hard thing to be different, will. You'll never know how hard.
Different. Yeah.
What kind of thing is it that crawls up behind his blood kin and takes from him?
I hoped you could forgive us.
Well, he can't run forever.
He's got to make a place for himself somewhere.
His place is with me.
I love him.
Here comes the rabbit going hoppity, hoppity, hop.
Give him a drink.
If he gets drunk enough, it'll help him forget he run out on his brother.
Leave him alone, stringer.
Don't you see the boy's got grief enough?
Grievin's for women. Fightin's for men.
How many of you ever see bless fight?
- Fight? He can't fight. - He won't fight.
How many ever see him back down from a fight?
Pa, bless maybe needs help.
It's time he helped himself.
You don't understand him because he won't fight for small purpose.
A man fights for his name.
Get outta my way.
Hit him, stringer. Make him fight, stringer.
Turn around.
I'm askin' for guns!
Turn around.
Why did you do it? Why didn't you let me face it?
We buried one keough brother today. That's enough.
But it was my fight, will!
Somebody always has to do your fightin' for you.
Damn you, will!
Aud.
You stay out of it, honey.
Bless is fightin for the right to be his own man.
He doesn't have to prove anything. Bless thinks he does.
I finally found 'em, will... Out there in rock shelves.
But they found me too. By the time I came around, they was gone!
But I can tell you, they're headed for Texas.
I tried everything I knew, will.
Casey, bronc!
Take care of him.
Durkee figures they're drivin' our cattle to the Texas border.
We're going after 'em.
Any man who...
Bless, you can do as good as I can.
You tell 'em.
Every man rides with the keough brothers...
Gets himself a double eagle in gold.
Get outta the way!
We can't stay here all day!
Lead 'em out, bless.
Let's go!
I'm not going with him, aud.
I'm standin' out of his way like you said.
I should've done that a long time ago.
Good-bye, aud.
Good-bye?
Where are you going?
Oh, Wichita, dodge city,
waco.
I plan on doin' quite a bit of travelin'.
Quite a bit.
Oh, will.
I'm sorry.
No need to be sorry, aud.
It's right to live life as it comes.
That's what you and bless are doin'.
You're lost to wait till everything's perfect.
I'm not waitin' anymore.