Original subtitles

Right, go on to your mother.

Pa, Pa.

Where are you, Pa?

Stop your yelling, boy!

Now, what you all fretting about, sonny?

I didn't mean to scare you like that.

What is it, Mark?

There's a dead man's body lying in a gully near the cut

off to Willow Springs. You mean you found him?

Yes, sir.

There was a calf caught in some bushes.

And after I let it loose, I stumbled into the grave.

All right now, boy.

Take it easy.

Is that why you're late?

No, sir.

I'd stayed at school to help Miss Adams.

Oh.

You'll stay with the boy, Artemis?

You bet I will.

Yessiree Bob, you bet I will!

Thanks.

Where are you going, Pa?

Well, I'm gonna see what's gotta be done.

You better stay here with Mr. Quarles.

Who is he?

Well, he's our cousin by marriage to Uncle

Alder down in Springfield.

We haven't seen him since you were a baby.

Howdy, Mark.

Artemis is patching our roof, son.

And you can stop fretting about that man you found.

It'll be taken care of.

I'll try.

Artemis J Quarles at your service.

Jack of all trades, master of none!

Well, come on, you two. Help me hitch up the team.

You'll tend to supper if I'm not back in time?

You can count on it.

Yep. Yessiree.

We'll work the galley together, won't we, matey?

Tell him how you fought off the pirates, Artemis.

Pirates?

An old Navy man.

Golly, did you really fight off pirates?

Yup.

Yah!

Now, let's you and me go get something to eat.

What do you say? All right.

Fine.

Now there's the ship we sail on now.

The China Queen, name of the last ship I berthed on.

Went down off the coast of Chile in the roaring '40s.

All hands lost.

It was two months after I signed off.

You've really sailed the seas?

Yes, sir, all seven of 'em.

I fought pirates at Trinidad and Madagascar.

You're not afraid now, are you, Mark?

No, sir.

What are these things?

Oh, my tattoos?

Well, I'll tell you.

It was in Queensland, five days after we sank a Spanish ship

and took 30 prisoners.

They wanted to make us walk the board.

Why'd you bring him back here?

I want the marshal to see him.

Now, before I take him to town, I

wanna ask you a question, Mark.

Well, sirree, I guess the boy wasn't fooling, eh?

How long did you say he'd been out there, Lucas?

Well, I'd say he was killed this morning.

This morning?

Who is he? I don't know.

He doesn't have any papers on him.

What did you wanna ask me?

Well, Mark, I wanna find out if you picked anything

up out there that you might have forgotten about,

something to give us a clue.

No, sir, I didn't pick up anything.

Bullet don't leave a clue, Lucas.

He was killed with a knife, Artemis.

Well, who could have done it?

Nobody around here carries a knife.

Well, I guess the marshal will wanna know who I am,

huh, me being a stranger in the neighborhood and everything.

I can vouch for you.

I'd rather you didn't, Lucas.

I could stand a little suspicion,

as long as I didn't do it. Great for business.

Gets your name around.

Then when everything's cleared up, people give you work.

Scot free advertising!

Well, I don't think Marshall Torrence is in that

kind of a business, Artemis.

Yeah maybe he ain't.

But on the other hand, I could have done it.

I killed a lot of men in my time.

You fought pirates, didn't you?

Oh, hundreds of 'em!

Well, just in case the marshal does ask,

where were you this morning?

Well, I guess I was picking daisies to make

a crown from my horse's head!

That's what I was doing, picking daisies!

Well, I'd better get going.

I won't be late.

Well, might good vittles we cooked up, boy.

You'd make a good man in a galley.

Think I'd be old enough?

Oh, sure.

We had 'em younger than you on the China Queen.

Artemis!

He had a name, all right.

He's got his initials burned into his belt. RM.

Well, at least that's something to go on, ain't it?

Well, I don't know.

Who do you think he is?

I'll get the boy tucked in.

You go ahead.

I won't be long. Now,

Now, you get your face washed, get under the covers,

and then call me.

What are you gonna tell me about?

Oh, about finding pearls off Madagascar,

where a man dives into eight fathoms of shark

infested water.

Golly!

Now, you go ahead and get ready for bed.

I gotta tend to my stock.

Then I'll come back and finish telling

you about the pearl divers.

Killed with a knife, huh?

You say Mark found him? Yeah.

Where is Mark?

Well, he doesn't know anything more, Micah.

I left him at the ranch with Artemis Quarles.

Who's he?

He's fixing up our roof.

Cousin by marriage.

Well, let's Take a look here.

You ever see him before?

Never.

Well, there's not much identification on him, Micah.

I just found this belt with the initials RM.

RM?

By Harry, I saw these initials today,

on a man's saddle in town.

You sure? Of course I'm sure.

I got the man in jail right now for being

liquored up in the Last Chance.

Name's Carson, Joe Carson.

Let's get this body over to the parlour, Lucas,

and have a talk with him.

I... I didn't kill anybody.

Didn't you ever buy anything from a fellow

that had his initials on it?

If I did, I'd take 'em off.

Look, Marshal, now, if a fellow puts

his initials on his saddle, then he put 'em on his holster too.

Lookie here.

Mine is clean.

What are you trying to prove?

When you found that fella, he had his holster on him,

didn't he?

No.

What about it?

Well, he was wearing a fancy fun, Marshal.

Now, you saw what I was carrying.

If I killed a man, why didn't I take his gun off him?

You're not squeezing out of this that easy, Mister.

McCain here says the man wasn't carrying a gun or a holster.

Now, this 38 of yours could have belonged to him.

Maybe he just didn't initial everything.

Look, it... it's the truth.

I'm telling you it is.

You got a bill of sale for the horse?

No, I tell you we madee the deal

outside of Willow Springs.

Where you come from?

Nowhere in particular.

Just a... a drifter, more or less.

A bronco rider, wrangler, you name it.

I'm flush one day and broke the next.

Marshal, I'm telling you now, I made a killing playing poker.

I liked that fellas horse and saddle,

so I made a deal with him for it.

If you had that much money, how come you're broke now?

Well, it was only $65 to begin with.

I paid the fella 50 for the horse and saddle,

and then I spent the rest of it right here in town.

And you don't know who the man was?

No, I don't.

The fella said he was a drifter, the same as me, only broke.

When I offered to buy his goods off of him, he sold 'em to me.

I was gonna buy that gun of his too,

but he said that wasn't part of the deal.

It's a... what is it?

It's a pearl-handled Russian 44.

And nobody saw you make the transaction?

No, you're just gonna have to take my word for it.

Nobody has to take anybody's word for anything.

You'll get a trial.

Marshal, I didn't do it!

Well, don't you believe me?

Don't either one of you men believe

one word I've been telling you?

Marshal, I didn't kill anybody.

You hear me?

Look, I didn't do it!

You hear?

I didn't kill anybody!

What do you think, Lucas?

I don't know.

I'll see you in the morning.

Just about does it.

One more shingle'll do it.

There.

Aren't you ever scared of falling?

Falling?

Artemis J Quarle's never fell off anything.

I learned how to hang on reefing sails in typhoons.

Someone tell sometimes, didn't they?

Where?

Well, from bringing in sails.

Oh, indeed they did!

I saw a fella let go once.

He had a hook for an arm.

Used to hang from the braces, swing

back and forth like a monkey.

And one day, it just broke, hook and all.

I guess he let it get rusty and it just gave way.

Well, don't you ever let anything get rusty, boy!

Well, guess I'm about done, Lucas.

Just some cleaning up to do now.

All right.

Pa?

Hm?

You figure they'll hang that man in town?

Well, I'd say it's a good bet, son.

Don't you believe he did it?

Well, I don't know what to believe.

I wanna thank you again for watching the boy last night.

Oh, it was a pleasure.

Sorry it had to be done under such trying circumstances.

You think that fella did it, huh?

Well, that's the way it looks.

Never could abide killing none, excepting

when a man come at me first.

Well, you killed 'em then, didn't you?

I sure did that, all right!

What did you kill 'em with?

Never mind, Mark.

Don't make no difference how you get rid of a pirate

or a cutthroat, boy.

Excepting I never used a gun.

Always used swords.

Swords?

Well, don't you like guns? Yeah, sure.

I like guns fine.

Guns are beautiful things, turned out with love and care,

all shiny and bright.

Gun's like a beautiful woman.

To me, using a gun is like a woman

putting rouge on her face.

Never should be marred, never!

That's a beauty, that rifle you got there, Lucas.

Don't suppose you wanna sell it, do you?

No.

Pay you a good price for it.

Pa'd never sell his rifle.

I can't say I ever saw one quite like it.

A man would be proud to own that,

even if it was only to hang it over his fireplace,

or up in his wagon so he could fall

asleep at night, looking at it.

Well, if you won't sell it, I guess that's that.

What kind of shells do you use, Lucas?

44/40s.

I got a whole boxful in my wagon.

Traded them in with a fella for some work last month.

Sell 'em to you cheap.

Oh no. No thanks.

I don't need any shells.

Is something wrong?

There's something I've gotta find out right now.

I'm going into town, son.

Can I come along?

No, you stay here and finish cleaning the yard.

I'll be back before you're through, Artemis.

Don't you hurry, Lucas.

Got the whole day.

Never crossed my mind, Lucas.

Well, I didn't think anything about it

either, till I was putting some shells in my saddlebag.

Then I remember Carson didn't have a saddlebag with his gear.

Sweeney, let's take a look at that drifter's

saddlebag you told me you took for credit yesterday.

44s, Micah.

These wouldn't fit Carson's gun.

He wasn't lying.

Where's the dead man's gun?

Sweeney, did you take anything out of this?

I didn't touch a thing, sir.

Help me Hannah.

You're thinking Carson didn't do it, huh?

Why would he have told us about the gun?

He could have sold the gun last night

after he got caught, made up that whole story of his.

Well, I don't think he was lying, Micah.

He was scared.

They're all scared.

Let me ask you this, Lucas.

Who else do you suppose could have

killed anybody on that road from Willow Springs?

There hasn't been a stranger in town in five days.

Except Artemis Quarles.

Your distant cousin?

Yeah.

Micah, if Carson's story is true that he bought that horse

and saddle and left the stranger on foot,

maybe the stranger was picked up on his way to North Fork.

Well, let's go out and see Quarles,

just to ease your mind.

It sure has been swell, listening

to your stories, Mr. Quarles.

You liked them, huh?

Did you get the place cleaned up, like your pa asked you to?

Yes, sir. Good.

I gotta get the horses hitched up.

Gotta go look for some more work.

Wow.

What are you doing, boy?

Why are you going through my things?

I didn't mean no harm, Mr. Quarles.

I was just putting your tools away.

I didn't know you had anything like this.

Anybody with guns like this, I'd think they'd show 'em around.

Ain't for you to bother with!

Well, don't get mad, Mr. Quarles.

Wait till I show Pa your guns.

Pa loves fancy firearms.

He does, does he?

What do you know?

So your pa likes fancy guns, eh?

Yes, sir.

You aren't mad at me anymore, are you?

No, of course I ain't mad.

It's just that I treasure my things,

and I don't like folks poking around in 'em.

Yes, sir.

I don't blame you.

And I'd be mighty glad to show your pa all the things

I own when he returns.

Except I gotta ride over the valley

to see a man about another roof job your pa told me about.

Maybe you'd like to ride with me, eh?

We'll be back in an hour.

Will you tell me about where you got the guns?

Indeed I will!

Now, let's you and me get hitched up, huh?

You bet!

What's holding you up, son?

I was hungry.

Got a piece of bread for you too.

Well, ain't that nice?

We'll be back before supper.

Get.

Well, even if we're not home before supper,

it'll be all right.

I left Pa a note so he'll know I'm with you.

Whoa!

What's wrong?

You wait here.

I just remembered some tools I forgot in the barn.

Mr. Quarles.

Why'd you come back, boy?

Well, I was still hungry.

I thought you were going to the barn.

My note, you tore it up.

Why'd you do that, Mr. Quarles?

'Cause you'd tell your pa about that gun,

about that pearl-handled gun.

What about it?

What about the gun?

If only you'd stayed out of my wagon, boy.

Pa!

What's the matter?

Why'd he wanna hurt me?

Because I'd tell you about that gun of his?

What gun?

His pearl-handled gun in the wagon.

Quarles.

Artemis!

Throw it down, Artemis.

Come on out, Artemis.

All right, drop that gun. I don't wanna hurt you.

Oh, you're not gonna pull that trigger, Artemis.

I know how you feel about guns.

You're right.

I can't fire it.

It never should be marred.

Might Never.

Well, Marshal, you can tell those fellas over

at the saloon I'll be back for my saddlebag,

soon as I can raise $10.

Just be careful how you raise it, Mister.

Well, I always have.

I certainly wanna thank you for having

some trust in your fellow man.

Well, I could have been wrong.

That's why we have the law.

Mistakes can happen.

Yup.

I guess we can all make mistakes, eh, Lucas?

Especially about shirttail relatives.

Well, let's say just those who tell us they fought pirates.

Yeah.

Pa?

What, son?

He did fight pirates, didn't he?

Maybe, maybe not.

He told me such wonderful stories

about sailing ships and finding pearls.

You liked 'em, didn't you?

Yeah.

Well, you just remember the good things he told you, huh?

Let me tell you about the time he was

sailing off the coast of Chile.

Tell me on the way home.

He sighted this huge whale, almost twice the size of a...