hello, aaron.
martha.
how should i know?
that old goat still creakin' around?.  whyn't someone bury him?
ben, ain't you?
lucy, you ain't much bigger than when i saw you last.
momento!
oh.  mistook you for a half-breed.
you've done a lot of growin'.
it just happened to be me.  no need to make any more of it.
hold on!
i'll take this.
good.
some.
night.
oh?
'fraid i.  wait.
how about this?
let her keep it.  just something i picked up in mexico.
passed the todd place comin' in.  what happened to 'em?
you askin' me to clear out now?
i expect to pay my own way.
there's sixty double eagles in there.  twelve-hundred dollars.
an' twice that in here.
only these got the late emperor maximilian's picture on 'em.
so?
cut yourself?
you were always hurting about your hands.
captain the reverend samuel johnson clayton!.  mighty impressive.
i don't believe in surrenderin'.  i still got my sabre, reverend.  never turned it into any ploughshare neither!
you ain't goin'.
well, swear him out again!.  i'll go with you.
don't argue!.  and stay close.  maybe they're rustlers.  and maybe this dodderin' old idiot ain't so far wrong.
you can forget that.  wouldn't be legal anyway.
you askin' as a reverend or a captain, sam?
got a warrant?
i figger a man's only good for one oath at a time.  i took mine to the confederate states of america.  so did you, reverend.
stick close, aaron.
stop callin' me 'uncle'.  i ain't your uncle.
don't have to call me 'sir' neither.  nor grampaw neither.  nor methuselah neither.  i can whup you to a frazzle.
name's ethan.  now what's so mighty fishy about this trail?
call that young fool back!
caddo or kiowa, huh?.  ain't but one tribe uses a lance like that!
stealing the cattle was just to pull us out.  this here's a murder raid.  it shapes up to scald out either your place.  or my brother's.
easy! it's forty miles, sonny.  horses can do with some grain and a little rest.
out of my way!
lucy?.  deborah? lucy?
you stay out!
nothing for you to see.
don't let him go in there, mose.
lucy -- lucy!
amen!.  put an 'amen' to it!
i'd be obliged if you'd get to the point, ma'am.
come on, if you're comin'.
you can back out any time, nesby.
why don't you finish the job?
by what you preach.  none!
but by what the comanche believe -- now he can't enter the spirit land, but has got to wander forever between the winds.  because i took his mangy scalp!
get some rest!
it's them all right.
they're camped by the river -- 'bout twenty miles from here. soon's it gets dark we'll circle out so's to jump 'em before daybreak.
it's what we're here for, ain't it?
what do you know about it?.  what's a quarter-breed cherokee know about the comanche trick of sleeping with his best pony tied right beside him.  you got as much chance of stampedin' their herd as.
yes, sir.  but if you're wrong, captain clayton, don't ever give me another!
sure!.  they were here.  now they're out there.  an' waitin' to jump us!.
you got any more orders, captain?
if you were tryin' to surround 'em, you sure succeeded.
steady, daniel boone! you don't want to miss.  it makes them think their medicine's stronger than yours.
real sassy.
that's all right, captain.  i don't need any formal invitation to kill a comanch.
slack your shoulders.  slack 'em.  your hands'll take care of themselves.
i still got one out there.
that tears it, reverend.  from now on, you keep out.  all of you!.  i don't want you with me.  i don't need you.  for what i got to do!
all right.  but i'm givin' the orders.  you take 'em or we split up here and now.
if they're still alive.
naw.  a human man rides a horse till it dies.  then he goes on afoot.  a comanche comes along.  gets that horse up.  and rides it twenty more miles.  then he eats it.
easy on that!
they're with 'em -- if they're still alive.
that'll be the day!.  let's ride.
i'll take a look.  you keep after the others.
no.  nor build bonfires.  nor beat drums neither. i'll meet you on the far side.
oh.  it's you.
i.  uh.  here's where they met up again.
trail leads off there.
huh? no.  no water.
huh? sure i'm all right.
must've.  anyway, i ain't goin' back to look for it.
what you saw wasn't lucy.
what you saw was a buck wearin' lucy's dress.  i found lucy back there in that canyon.  i wrapped her in my blanket an' buried her with m'own hands.  i thought it best to keep it from you -- long as i could.
what've i got to do -- draw you a picture?.  spell it out?.  don't ever ask me!.  long as you live don't ever ask me more!
let's just hope he took some with him.
get some sleep.  tomorrow's another day.
no.  our turnin' back don't change anything.  not in the long run. if she's alive, she's safe.  for a while.  they'll keep her to raise as one of their own, 'til she's of an age to.
an injun will chase a thing til he thinks he's chased it enough.  then he quits.  same when he runs.  seems he never learns there's such a thing as a critter that might just keep comin' on.  so we'll find them in the end, i promise you that.  we'll find them just as sure as the turning of the earth.
you got my letter about your son, brad?
an' then it snowed and we lost the trail.  no need to tell ya all the places we went.  fort richardson, fort wingate an' cobb.  the anadarko agency.  trouble is we don't even know which band that war party belonged to.
i got your boy killed.
mrs. jorgensen.
will you look at this?
you ever see it before.  like mebbe on a dress debbie wore?
no.  not yet.
not yet.
good night.
jorgensen's been runnin' his cattle with my own.
he's agreed to take you on and share the increase from my herd while i'm gone.  i'll be pushin' on tomorrow.
why?
she's your nothin'.  she's no kin to you at all!
that don't make 'em kin.
how? you got any horses, or money to buy 'em.  you ain't even got money to buy cartridges.  jorgensen's offering you a good livin' here.
martin.  i want you to know somethin'.
good night.
how'd you come by this?
that's what i said.
reward'll be paid when i find her -- an' if she's alive.
twenty yankee dollars.
talk!
scar? never heard of any chief scar.
keep talking.
and maybe you lie.
no thanks.
ain't yours yet.
smells a change in the weather.
wouldn't surprise me if we didn't have a frost 'fore mornin'.  here.  whyn't you bed down closer to the fire, boy?
maybe i'm gettin' like mose harper -- my bones is cold tonight.
not so funny.  if you recollect what 'nawyecka' means.
sorta like 'roundabout' -- like a man says he's goin' one place when he means to go just the reverse.
you all settled an' comfortable now?
thanks.  you did just fine.
he just couldn't wait.
even got my twenty dollars back.  we did all right.
never occurred to me.
let's go.  i think i stumbled onto somethin'.
when are you goin' to learn to keep your mouth shut! come on. let's get out of here.
forget it.
what i heard back there was that a band o' hostile nawyeckas came through this way less'n two weeks ago.
what's she followin' for?
you don't understand, ya chunkhead! you didn't buy any blanket! ya bought her!
you got yourself a wife, sonny!
and have her whole family after our scalps for floutin' one o' their women?.  no sir! come on, mrs. pauley.
i got another gal purtier'n you. i got another gal purtier'n you. i got another gal purtier'n you. skip to my lou, my darlin'.
that's the way to train 'em. looks like mrs. pauley's goin' to make you a fine beautiful wife.
says her name's wild goose flying in the night sky.  but she'll answer to look since it pleases ya.
she heard ya-all right.  an' she knows.
unt osupanet cah-nay scar?
you ask her!
nami.
she ain't goin' back to her family, that's certain.  not if she took off where the arrow points.
how should i know.  she's your wife!
yeah, i kinda figgered you'd say that.  bein' a new husband and all.
nine.  ten!
hunger! -- empty bellies! that's the sense in it, you cherokee!.
least, they won't feed any comanches this winter.  killin' buffalo's as good as killin' injuns in this country.
ain't that too bad.  if you feel that sorry for your kinfolk, i'm surprised you didn't take up with that squaw wife of yours.
just hope we ain't too late.
well, you're a widower now.
and maybe they got scar!
we're looking for a girl -- a white girl.
cheyenne! what cheyenne?
that camp you hit was nawyecka comanche.  chief scar's bunch.
my name's edwards.  i'm looking for my niece.  she was in that camp when you attacked.
are you sure they didn't die of carbine shots fired by a bunch o' yank bluebellies so scared they couldn't tell the difference between a cheyenne and a comanche?
that'll be the day.  'as we developed the village'.  next time you develop a village, hit it where the fightin' men are.  you won't get any headlines for killin' squaws.
i ain't sure.  where's that doll?
not far from it.
they're not white any more -- they're comanche!.  let's see the bodies.
i don't need you.
no.
well, we only got the one lead -- scar.  and where we begin to look, i don't know.
comancheros.
time's running out.  but i'm obliged to you.
recognize it?
there couldn't be two like that in all the world.
mose!.  mose harper?
leggo my arm.  you look mangier 'n ever.
you were born old.
tequila.
well, the reward still stands.
you help me find her, you got your rockin' chair.
told ya, didn't i?
who? where is he.  this man?
come on, don juan.  we're on our way.
you breeds are all alike -- two drinks an'.
suit yourself.  while you're enjoyin' your little conversation, i'll be ridin' out with senor fernandez here.  the comanch' medicine country ain't far.  there's one camp with a chief named cicatriz.
cicatriz is mex for scar.  an' he has a white girl in his tepee.  be seein' you.
medicine country, huh?
scar.  it's plain to see where you got your name.
you speak pretty good american for a comanche.  someone teach you?
that's right.  we come to trade.  only not out here.  i don't stand talkin' in the wind.
stay out here.
are those his wives too?
i've seen scalps before.
i came to trade, not to admire his collection.  tell him we're going to pitch camp across the crick.  maybe we can talk trade tomorrow.
don't apologize.  you did your job.
he's got to.  all these years, runnin', dodgin', knowin' we were after him.  now we caught up.  it's him or us.
i don't know.  somethin' tied his hands.  maybe hospitality.
how? she's even forgot her own language!
your people? they murdered your family!
stand aside, boy.
never mind her! move!
go on! get out of here while you can.
they'll be back.
martha.  martha!
wait.
just in case.  read it.
not no more.
she's been with the bucks! she's nothin' now but a.
what's that got to do with us?
hide? why would i?
evenin'.  evenin' reverend.  or do i call you 'captain'?
she's not a little girl any more.
i've seen her.  and she's alive.
comanches don't use their fists, reverend.  let 'em alone.
this an invite to a necktie party, reverend?
that so?
what information?
mose.
mose!
where's scar, mose.  scar?
mose.  try to remember!.  you were in scar's camp.
scar! where's he holed in?
seven fingers?
we can get within 500 yards.  there's a hogback to the south.
enough to go around.  i'd say about a dozen apiece.  mount 'em up!
it's what i'm countin' on.
livin' with comanches ain't bein' alive.
there sure is! i'm going to tell you somethin'.  i wasn't going to speak of it.  but i'll tell you now. did you notice them scalps strung on scar's lance?
you don't remember it, but i remember. that was your mother's scalp!
i didn't want to tell you.  but maybe it's your right to know.
i say no!
it's your funeral.
i'm sorry, girl.  shut your eyes.
you sure favor your mother.