All language subtitles for Rawhide T7EP15

Let's keep moving there.

Yeah!

- It'll snow?
- Oh, why not?

Everything else has
happened on this drive.

Hey, Quince, keep
them closed in.

Hey, Yo Yo, don't let that
shorthorn twist back on you there.

Josh, wake up, man. Come
on, keep them moving there.

Aah. Yaah! Uhn.

Oh, boy, you got a crick again.

Thanks, boy.

Towns. Squaw ways, store-bought.

Hog in a sty's got
more room to breathe.

Ain't like being
out, out on a move.

You always been on
the move, huh, Josh?

Near ways, and I've done it all.

Set traps, hauled pelt,
run buffalo, then steer.

I'll live to see the
end of that too.

And when the last drive comes
I'm gonna be there to ride in it.

You wait and see.

Oh, boy. Oh, boy.

You tear every rib,
you bust every gut

to get them in somehow
with a paste-and-patch crew,

one of them old enough to
be Andy Jackson's granddaddy,

another as green and
dumb as spring grass,

washout at Bent's Crossing,

dry holds from Harlan's
Point to Coyote Ford,

and somehow you'll finally
get them here, and what?

No train.

You get the feeling we've
been jinxed on this trip?

You nearly let that little old longhorn
get away from you, didn't you? Huh?

Well, now, what'd you figure I was
gonna do, just fall off and dog him?

That's what he'd have
done. Ain't that so, Pap?

Never saw a
steer I couldn't dog.

Look, I got me 5 hard dollars
to see you do it right now.

- How much you got?
- I got the same.

All right, get out your money.

- They're trying to rile you, Josh.
- You just stay out of it, Mushy.

I'm sorry, Favor, but till I
know when the train's due,

I can't set any kind
of price with you.

Why, that herd of yours could
eat half the profit out of it in a week.

Not at 36, 37 dollars a head.

And they're worth that or
more at the slaughter yards.

But I gotta ship them to
the slaughter yards first.

No, you can take
them to another broker

or you can pay to keep them
here. That's up to you, I'm sorry.

He's sorry?

A hundred miles of
drought, a hundred of mud...

Hey, Josh, don't let
him stick his horn in.

Well, of course, that's $10.

He did it.

I got a little one, Josh.

That tears it.

- Well, you done it, Josh.
- Collect the money.

I'm gonna get washed.

Hey, Josh?

Come on, get those
kids back from here.

If they break loose
we're really in trouble.

Rowdy, take over. Get
everybody out of here.

- Get them quieted down.
- Where you going?

I'm going to get rid of that
jinx you was mentioning.

Dry holds, floods, no train.
That ain't enough for you, huh?

You're gonna horse around
until we really lose the herd,

just because you're
a stubborn old man

what ought to be snoring
at flies in a poor farm.

Well, no more, old man.

You can pack off,
and I mean right now.

You firing me? You can't.

I quit on better men before you
were bite-weaned, 40 years back.

Forty years back. I know,
I know. What was it? The...

- You broke trail through...
- The Apache land. Yes, I did.

- Took a herd across the Rockies.
- Rode them to Pike's Creek.

I've heard them all 20 times.

Save them to swap
at the old folks' home.

Wait a minute, listen.
You gotta listen to me...

Josh.

Josh, you all right?

Leave off me.

- Hey, somebody, give a hand here.
- Leave me be.

All right, all right, look, I
had to blow up at something.

You can stay on. I'll put you on
the tote wagon on the ride back.

We're gonna clear out of here.

- Get up.
- Look, I said I was sorry.

I don't want your
sorries or anybody else's.

Maybe I don't have a
home or a family or a trade,

but I still got one thing:
I got a belly full of pride.

Clean pans and pick rags.

I'd rather root for
stinkweed first.

I don't want nothing from you.

And if you ever hunker
down on me ever again,

I'll settle if it takes
the last breath I've got.

Come on, Mush.

You smell that? Mountains.

There ain't no mountains around
here, Josh. This is plains land.

They're out there, all right,
humping up against the clouds.

Land out there a man can breathe
in. Ain't run over with no Gil Favors yet.

And that's where we
gonna hire ourselves, boy.

Now you stop in again, Mrs.
Pitman. Come next town's day, huh?

Goodbye. Thank you.

No, young man, you don't
have to tell me your name again.

Morning meal.

Oatmeal, gruel, mush, mushy...

Mr. Mushgrove, you see?

I've never lost track
of a single letter yet.

Sure, ma'am,
Harkness Mushgrove III.

And I'm expecting a letter from
Ms. Teya Vassily from Abilene.

- Or thereabouts somewhere.
- Is that what you dragged us here for?

Get a letter from some skittery
female you got the moon-pines for?

I wouldn't put it like that, Josh.
I mean, I like her and all that.

Matter of fact,
I like her a lot.

And she's the only
real girl I ever had.

And Teya, she's the kind
of girl that likes you back too.

Her and her folks got one
of those traveling shows,

with jugglers and knife
throwers. It's very exciting.

Well, when I get a better job
someday and more responsibility,

I mean, when I can handle a better
job, I'm gonna go back and get her.

I'm sorry, young man.
There's no letter for you.

Why, are you sure, ma'am?

I mean, I put it down so she
could write to general delivery here.

Well, maybe she send it
care of your grandfather there.

- What's his name?
- The name is Josh Breedon, auntie.

And I ain't his or
anybody else's grandpap,

and I got no future
plans to be either.

Breedon. Breedon. Breed.

Spring, summer,
fall, winter. That's it.

You hear me, auntie? Letter.

Last time a letter come for me
was sometime during the war.

Advertisement circular
for some kind of a bile tonic.

- Here it is. Winter, dead file.
- Couldn't be for me.

It most certainly is. Plain on the top
here's written "Mr. Joshua Breedon."

It was mailed here in Union City,
only there was no return address on it,

so it was put in the
dead-letter file a year ago April.

Well, open it and read it, Josh.

My threading
glasses is a little fuzzy.

You letter it out for me, huh?

If you don't mind, would
you please just step aside?

I like to keep the
counter clear for business.

- Sure, ma'am.
- Can't even stand by the counter.

Favor probably,
spreading tales about me.

No, he wouldn't do that, Josh.

- I mean, he's a very nice man.
- You don't know his kind.

I want you to be a
friend of his, Josh.

I mean, sure, he yells at
you. He yells at me too.

Why, a year ago on a drive,

he yelled at a tree stump that
was in the way of his horse.

Well, he yells because he
has to. Because he's the boss.

- You gonna read that letter?
- I'll read it for you.

"Dear Josh, I am
sending this off..."

Whoever wrote this
has got a good hand.

"I am sending this off
to the postal at Santa Fe

on the chance of
reaching you there."

You know, I didn't even go to
school. I got a big book on words.

"I guess you remember
old Lazarus, the Greek.

- Well, just this last Wednesday..."
- I remember him.

He use to run cattle
through Apache country

over the other
side of the border.

- He got him a herd of goats.
- Herd of goats?

Yeah, he used to sour up
the milk from them. Go ahead.

"Well, just this last Wednesday,

sad word came to me
that he has passed beyond.

Since he did not have neither no
family or any people in this country,

he has left and bequeathed
his ranch and land to you and me.

Since because of the
way it is law-worded,

the land and goods are
left to both of us together,

so I'll wait here until you come
or send word ahead to me."

If that don't prove
our fate. Yeah.

Eat dark meat today
and white meat tomorrow.

It turns. Look at that,
see how that glittered up?

Something nipped me
yesterday to shine that up.

You don't believe in that old
Indian charm thing, do you?

Well, them Chiricahua,
they got something.

They know things.

I saw a man once stick
his hand right into a fire

and take it out without
a single mark on it.

Oh, I don't mean I believe it exactly,
but there's that letter for example.

- Who is it from?
- I don't know.

The first name starts with
an A and the last one's Seton.

- I don't know any Seton.
- Well, the signature is kind of scrawly.

It's not written like
the rest of the letter.

Yeah, I do. I do.
Aaron Seton. Bigger.

Why, it's 30 years since
I heard from him last.

We used to ride the range
together. Sam Clintock.

Out in the Dakotas, west
toward Wyoming land.

Whoo. The stories I
could tell you about him.

He had a hide on him that
was tougher than a wild boar.

He was bigger than a longhorn.
That's how he come by the name.

Old Bigger. Hmm.

Oh. Where's it say he's at?

It don't say. In fact, it don't say
where that ranch is or what's on it.

Cattle, of course. Yeah.

And maybe there'll be a
hacienda too, if it's over the border.

You wait a year from now.

Yeah, it'll be Gil Favor who'll
be whimpering to us for a job.

It was my lucky angel that
was whispering in my ear

when I told Favor
off and quit him.

I guess so. Now we gotta find
out where that friend of yours is.

I'll find him quick enough.

You go on, peel off, join
the boys and have some fun.

Maybe I ought to go see
Mr. Favor and get our trail pay first.

Nope.

Well, he won't mind if we're not
lined up formal-like. We earned it.

Forget it and go join the boys.

How we gonna have
any fun without our pay?

- I don't want nothing from Favor.
- But he owes it to you, Josh.

I don't wanna spend the
rest of my life behind bars.

And if I were to meet up
with him now, I'd hurt him.

All right, I'll be seeing you.

Fort Union to Dodge. I'll
be driving out next 15th.

I'll pay a day for a week trail bonus
for any drovers signing up with me now.

Here, put your names or
your marks in the book there

and who you drove for last.

Now, any flat-river man or any
bummers, just keep on moving by.

I don't want you.

No, no one by the name
of Seton here, or ever was.

He's a big man, red hair
thicker than buffalo fur,

and a mustache that
bristled down into his beard.

- Wanna look for yourself?
- Bigger was a high liver.

May just be that this
ain't the best hotel in town.

Maybe not, but
it's the only one.

There's some board-and-keep
houses across the way in Upper Town.

- You might ask around up there.
- Yeah.

Yeah, this will not reach.
Grease down the axels.

- Mr. Favor.
- Mushy, why aren't you with the men?

I seen them up the street.
They're heading somewheres.

I don't mind. I kind of
like being by myself today.

- Yeah, yeah, sure.
- Well, can I give you a hand?

Look, Mush, you got some
time off. Take advantage of it.

First off, get yourself to a barber
shop and then go on down to the saloon,

watch the rest of them
making fools of themselves.

Pick yourself up
a restaurant meal.

Hey, you haven't even
picked up your paycheck yet.

Not yet.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Take Josh
Breedon's down to him too.

He won't be any problem to find.

He'll be standing on some street
corner shouting to everybody

about the good old days
when everybody was 9 feet tall,

Except him, of course.
He was 10 feet tall.

I don't think Josh will be
needing his pay, Mr. Favor.

You better hold on
to it for him for a while.

What happened to him?
He fall into a bucket of gold?

Oh, Mr. Pine, any word yet?

But your credit's still good with me.
You see your herd's still in my pen.

But don't take it too hard.

I think I'll go down
to the saloon.

Sometimes they get
to fighting down here.

Carry on, Mush. I got to take it
hard. Too many people to think about.

The drovers and their families
and all the people counting on them.

Yeah, it's all right to worry about them,
but don't make yourself sick over them.

- Now, you take this fellow Josh...
- Oh, yeah.

I'm afraid he was just the handiest
thing to come down on at the time.

I got to do something about him.

What's an old boy like
that gonna do with no kin,

no money saved up, no job?

Oh, trail driving is a young
man's work, you know that.

Old fellow like him ought
to get himself a stay-put job,

like counting
head, for instance.

You know, I've had three of
them drift off on me just this year.

Say, what about Josh?
Maybe you could use him.

Well, maybe, you know,

if he knows cattle and he can
scribble and count some, yeah.

Anyway, you know it
ought to quiet him down

- when he finds out you got him a job.
- No, no, no.

Let's not mention my name.
His pride is rubbed too raw as it is.

Well, anyway you say, but I still
need a man, any age, any size.

But not one that's
gonna drift off on me.

I'd say Josh is just
about drifted out.

Well, there's one
load off my mind.

I think I'll go in town,
check at the telegraph.

Oh, wait a minute,
telegraph's been out a week.

You know, they only got
it as far as Fort Barker.

Fort Barker. Well, they probably
know about the train there anyways.

Where's the best saloon in town?

Oh, there ain't but two left now
the Short Dollar burned down. Why?

Well, the best saloon
would have the prettiest girls,

and the prettiest girls
would have Mr. Rowdy Yates,

and Mr. Rowdy Yates is
gonna be my personal telegraph.

What was that for now?

I was getting to
know those two girls.

Don't like to see a man ever
have any pleasures in life, do you?

You've had enough
pleasures for right now,

especially since you're
going on a nice little ride.

I don't want on any
drive anywhere. Where?

Well, the telegraph line
is still in to Fort Barker.

At least they'll know
if the train is going...

How many drinks did you set
up for those two little things?

Those little things, I only just
kept up with them, that's all.

I can see that now that
we're out in the light.

- How many have I got up?
- How many what?

Yeah, I thought. Well...

- Mrs. Arnold?
- No, Nellie. Oh.

How do? Why didn't you tell
me there was a gentleman here?

Well, go on, go on. Don't
just stand there twiddling.

There's the dining table
to dust and trash to empty.

Come in, come in.

Girls you get these days.
No sense of responsibility.

Well, I guess you've
come to see our vacancy.

It's a nice airy room just
right for a man of your age,

downstairs so you
don't have to climb.

First to climb the Raton, and
I could do it again this year.

That's near Denver, ain't it, Raton?
Had a sister lived there, Denver.

Now, there's a wash stand
down the end of the hall

and fresh linen twice a month.

- Mrs. Arnold, I...
- No, no, no, I'm Mrs. Moyer.

Mrs. Arnold went back to Boston

to live out the last days of
her life with her daughter.

I never could see the reason to
go to the expense of a new sign.

- Mrs. Moyer...
- I usually ask for references,

but I can see
you're a gentleman.

One thing I do make a
rule on though, $25 deposit.

- Ma'am, I...
- It's not for me.

It's to cover undertaking
and embalming fees

in case a sad occurrence
should take place.

Well, now I'll
show you the room.

I didn't come to look at a room.
I'm ain't fixing to stay on in this town.

I come to find my friend Bigger.

I understand he
keeps and boards here.

Aaron Seton is his proper name.

Well, why didn't you
tell me that straight off?

I'll fetch him right in to you.

I don't know his name. You
better ask him for yourself.

What? MOYER:
Ask him for yourself!

What?

You're gonna have to talk into
his good ear. It's the other side.

That ain't Bigger Seton. Not
the Bigger Seton that I mean.

Oh, he's the only
Seton in this town.

Oh. He was big... He was...
He looked different, younger.

Well, we all was once.

Now I'm gonna leave you to visit with
your friend who's come to take you off.

You didn't tell me
nobody was coming.

Now I'm gonna miss my nap.

Now, don't you get into
one of your crotchety moods.

It ain't polite when
people come to call.

And you make yourself
complete to home.

I know you.

I remember...

Someplace.

Bigger, it's me, Josh Breedon.

My eyes water some. I
don't see as good as I did.

Bigger, it's me, Josh Breedon.

I knew I knowed you.

Like a root chuck
come up for air,

takes me a few
minutes to get my sight.

Josh Breedon.

I knowed you'd come.

You ain't changed
one day to 10 years.

It's the same with you, Bigger.

You don't see her
around no place, do you?

I got a little something
for you and me.

Nice young fellow sneaks
it in to me every week.

It ain't much good, but it'll wet
you some and kill off the hunkers.

- Go ahead.
- Hmm.

- Ahh.
- Heh-heh.

It's better than that slew
mix that you used to churn up

when we had those
diggings out on the Placer.

I weren't there. I never
got to go to the goldfields.

No? Well, maybe there
was some another fellow.

Some days I get all
muddled up on my names.

I know.

The last roundup
on Wind River Creek.

That's where we
first met up, wasn't it?

- Uh-huh.
- Ha-ha.

That was a hooter, wasn't it?

You and Jed Coombs. All
one day and half the next.

Best fight I ever saw.

They were good days, Josh.

Good days.

How's it come you
happened to be here?

The letter that you writ.

About the old Greek who
died and left his land to us.

I guess I figured you was
dead and wouldn't show up.

I ain't dead or got any plan to
be. It just took so long to catch up.

Tell me about the spread.
What kind of land is it?

It's all graze land and just as green
as the day the sun first shone on it.

Six days' ride across, ten up and down.
Wells are dug and a trail runs through.

Hey, that sounds even
better than I expected.

Land like that, a man could raise
herd enough to feed St. Louis.

Hey, is there any flowing
water on it? A creek, maybe?

- No.
- Oh.

- A river.
- What about stock?

Purebred. Hereford
and shorthorn reds.

Herefords. Yoo-hoo!

And they're bringing
$18 a head at Abilene.

All we gotta do now is sit
back and count the money.

You suppose there's a little herd of
mangy goat around here somewhere?

That old Greek would never
go no place without them.

What did he pass
on from, finally?

He was at the Chiricahua
massacre at Cedar Wells.

They found three flint hatchets
in his body when they found him.

Cedar Wells Massacre?

Why, that was before
Kearny came through.

- That's more than 40 years ago.
- Oh, no, no. Just happened last year.

Young bucks got all whiskeyed
up, broke the Mex treaty,

and start raiding
anything they seen.

Maybe drifting around like I've
been, I haven't heard about it,

but, say, just exactly where
at is this land of ours, exactly?

Well, some of it is the other
side of Dead Man's Pass.

- You mean, Shoshone country?
- No.

South of the Platte.
Halfway on to Fort Cooper.

Oh, but there ain't any
more open land out there.

Why, that's all fenced in.

Towns everywhere. The
train goes through to Denver.

- You don't mean there.
- It is right where I said.

I been there, I seen it. It's
green as far as you can see.

But you couldn't have. All that land
was grazed to dust 30 years ago.

Don't say that to me. I'm telling you,
it's waiting for us, just you and me.

But I've been through there, with
the trains blackening up the sky.

Towns wherever you can spit.

You're remembering back
that long, long time ago.

Don't say that to me!

It's there.

It's there!

Now, I just want you
to stop that shouting.

I told you about that before. Now
you just go back to your own room.

Go on. Or I'll lock you in again
and you won't get no dinner tonight.

It's there.

It's there.

I know it's there.

Oh, he just gets more
trouble every day.

Putting and fetching for him and trying
to keep him halfway clean and decent.

And writing off
crazy letters for him

every time he gets
a notion in his head.

- You writ the letter?
- Oh...

And even that little dab of
money used to come from his niece

or whatever every
month, quit showing up.

I tell you, I'm frazzled
to an end with him.

And I just can't keep him here
anymore and that's all there is to it.

Well, where else
will he go to live?

Well, I thought you was coming
to take him off with you. Oh.

I might have known that was just
another one of his pipe dreams.

Well, this isn't no charity
home and he's no blood to me.

And I can't keep
him on for free.

Now, there's a poorhouse
over in Cooperstown...

No, Bigger don't belong
in a place like that.

If, uh...?

I was to give you
some money for him...?

Now, you know...

It isn't very much, but it
ought to keep him for a while.

And if you would
tell Bigger for me...

If you would tell him...

I guess there ain't
nothing really to tell him.

Get me out of here.

I'm already cleaner
than the day I was born

and my skin's half boiled off.

Mm-mm. I'd say you're
still at least a good 20 proof.

Look, Rowdy, you got a
hard long ride ahead of you.

Whether we go broke or
not on this herd may depend

on how fast and
how well you ride.

Even the Kiowas got the decency
to scalp a man before they boil him.

Look, I'm not going anywhere
expect back to that saloon.

I couldn't ride over to Fort Barker
and get back in the same day anyway

without riding 12
horses into the ground.

Besides, I'm unreliable.
You know that.

Get yourself an older
man, a man like Josh.

Yeah, and he wouldn't
stop and dawdle on the way.

And you could make
your peace with him

and give him a job
at the same time.

Just leave Josh
out of this, huh?

- What you got against him, anyway?
- Nothing.

It's just that he ain't the
man he thinks he used to be.

Now look, you don't even
gotta ride as far as the Fort,

just as far as
Pico's Suttler Stop.

What they know at the
Fort, they'll know at Pico's.

I don't give a darn what
they know or don't know there.

I ain't going anywhere
except to that saloon.

- Now just keep cool.
- Cool.

Just keep cool.

I'm froze. You've frozen me.

All right, I'll go anywhere,
anywhere. Just get me out of here.

Get me my clothes. Anywhere.

Give me a thumb pour of rye.

Dime a glass,
four bits a bottle.

You could keep tab on
me till I get my trail pay.

He one of your bunch?

Who, Old Pappy there?

Not since Favor cut him
out of the herd, he ain't.

Sorry, old-timer, no mark except
for the ones Gil Favor put his word on.

Favor. You don't need
his word, you got mine.

- No, I got my rules, sorry.
- Sorry?

I don't need nobody
being sorry for me. Nobody.

We all came in
on the same drive.

He earned his keep
just like everybody else.

Only he's been too busy to get
his pay. Give him what he wants.

Rules is rules.

Well, maybe Favor has got you
and them whipped, but not me.

I come 70 years without
bending to nobody yet,

and I won't scrabble dirt
for him or you or nobody.

I can't siphon it
back anyway. Here.

I'll go you a dime
glass, but only one.

I don't want it. Nothing!

Oh!

Josh, you goat, we ought to
dump you in the town well for that.

Hey, he fixed a lame
horse for us once.

Best you just stay
out of here, old-timer.

A man can't get a drink,
hunker where he wants.

Can't even spit
unless Gil Favor says.

Well, I ain't gonna
bend to it no more.

They don't know what
they're doing in there.

Well, they'd been
drinking too much.

Mushy. Psst!

Mr. Favor, you better go
speak to that bartender.

They won't give Josh a drink.

Mushy, I want you to try real
hard to keep a message straight.

Think you can handle it?

- Yes, sir.
- Good.

You tell Josh, Mr. Pine
has a job for him.

That's wonderful,
Mr. Favor. I'll go tell him.

Mushy, but do it after
I'm gone, huh, Mush?

- Yes, sir.
- Good.

- Oh, Mushy?
- Yes, sir.

I'm gone.

Yes, sir, Mr. Favor.

You wait a couple years.
You'll be a foot taller.

You boys wanna split
a dime between you?

- Walk this horse down and water him.
- Sure.

You haven't by any chance
seen Gil Favor around here?

Yeah, he's over at the
shed store with Mr. Pine.

- Across there.
- Thanks.

Is that the best you
can do, Mr. Pine?

Sixteen coils of ten-gauge
and eight of the 15.

No best to it.

Half the price of the herd when
the train gets here, or $5 a head now.

I'd take the 5
dollars if I was you.

The train's not gonna
make it in this run

or next one, as far
as that's concerned.

- You sure about the train?
- Yeah, I'm sure.

See, a flash flood has
wiped out the trestle bridge

up there at Dead Snake Gorge.

They got the track fixed
as far as Cooper Wells.

The train will be in there Thursday,
but no chance of it making it here.

Guess I should have waited till you
took the $5 before I shot my mouth off.

I've never gone back
on my given word yet.

- I made a deal and I'm sticking by it.
- I know that, Mr. Pine, thanks.

So the train should be pulling out
of Cooper Wells about Friday noon?

That's right.

Say, you're not thinking of driving
the herd over to Cooper Wells, are you?

Because if you are, let me
remind you it's a three-day drive

and you haven't
got a guide, supplies,

or drovers, for that matter.
Not sober ones, anyway.

I think you ought to take the 5 dollars.
That's better than no dollars at all.

Fifteen dollars a head
is a lot more than 5, fella.

- Where are you going?
- To sober me up some drovers.

You know, I wouldn't
try that if I was him.

Well, if you was him, you'd
probably have been smart enough

to stay home in the first place.

If I was him, I wouldn't
take advice from you or me.

- Hey, mister.
- Huh?

That's a real Indian silver
neck thing you got on, ain't it?

- Sure, it's real.
- Is it Apache?

Chiricahua. You see the
sharp part there like a claw?

That's to keep
away the evil luck.

And the circle part, that's
to hold in the good luck.

- Where'd you buy it?
- Buy it?

That come off the neck
of a Chiricahua chief.

It was gave to me by
General Phil Kearny

for showing him a trail
through the Mesquite Flats.

I used to run cattle through
there when it was all Mex land

so I could hide out
and not get shot at

by the Federales or
cut open by Chiricahua.

That's how I knowed about the land
and I was able to advise the general...

You kids better get down off that
fence before you get yourselves hurt.

- Here.
- You better watch out there too.

I was the one that
came about the job.

If you could tell me where
he's at, the head man?

- Who, Mr. Pine?
- Uh-huh.

Well, that's him
coming right over there.

Oh, thank you.

You can leave that. I
got posts for you to stack.

- Mr. Pine?
- Yes?

- You got some business with me?
- I wanna see about a job.

- Oh, you're the one that Favor let go?
- I quit on him.

- And if you have to do with Favor...
- No, Favor don't hire for me.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Favor and I
aren't doing any business together now.

Yes, yes, the job's still open.

Now, if you know steers good
enough to tell prime beef from gristle

and you don't mind
waiting here a bit...

Waiting is something,
I've had a lot of practice at.

I was once taking two fighting
bulls from the boat at Mazatlán

up to Santa Fe
for a Spaniard fella.

We got across the
brush country all right,

and we got all across
through Colorado

and come to the Piute
Range and it started to snow.

- Fine, you wait here for me, then.
- That's exactly what I'll do, I'll wait.

Hey, mister, what
happened to you then?

What? Oh, you mean
about the fighting bulls?

You hunker down here
and I'll tell you all about it.

They was three times
as big as any longhorn

and a hundred times meaner.

And there wasn't nothing for
them to do except try to chew on me,

nothing left for me to
do but try to eat them.

Well, they didn't swallow
down very easy, but I'm still here.

And don't I suppose I was
more than twice your age.

But that don't in any
way compare to the drive

I took up into the
Oregon territory once.

- We traveled for so many days...
- Sorry to keep you waiting, old-timer.

- Now, what was your name?
- Josh Breedon.

Fine, Mr. Breedon, I can use a
man, but not one with a drifting itch.

Don't worry about that. I've been
most every place that's worthwhile.

Well, good. How well
do you know steers?

He knows everything
about them. Don't you?

Yeah, guess I ought to
after 30 years on the trail.

If I don't know cows, I
don't know what man does.

Well, fine. You come
along with me, then.

All right, tick them off.

Over there, number
two short Red.

Ought to trim out a
nice marble haunch.

Kind of scraggly, though, in the
flank on account of the Mexican strain.

That white one over there, half
bloat. Been eating drought weed.

That one, well, you won't get
any better than 12 pounds a hand.

I'd say 11-odd.

You know, Mr. Breedon,
you got a close eye.

You just show me which
way the bull twists its tail,

and I'll tell you whether to
buy it for breeding or for eating.

That's what I'm here for.

Here, you mark me out a count on
that bunch feeding right over there.

All right.

You mean scribble
on it? I won't need that.

- I carry it in my head.
- Well, maybe,

but when I make a deal
with a slaughter yard agent,

I gotta have black-and-white
figures, not guesses.

- Uh... You can write, can't you?
- Sure, I can write.

Well, sure.

Well, it's just that my
threading spectacles has broke.

Well, make the numbers
big. That's all right.

Um...

- He can't even cipher.
- I can too.

Did Favor put you up to
this to shame me down?

I don't want the job.

I'm a steer man. I don't
wanna be a bank clerk.

I'm sorry, old-timer.

You don't have
to be sorry for me.

You lied. All them stories.
You just made them up.

Never.

Seventy-one years come thaw
time, and I never had to lie yet.

I never killed a man or even a
savage if I knew he did me no harm.

I never took anything
that wasn't mine by rights.

I never asked for
sup, not if I starved.

No man I ever
owed. I never begged.

I never took keep,
except my own.

And I never took a
hiding from no man, ever.

And I won't be shamed
down like I'm nothing but dirt.

I won't.

Mr. Parks, you're taking
on men for a drive, ain't you?

That's why I came straight over
to you. I'd like to hire off to you.

Yeah, well, I got a cook.

Well, I ain't looking for that
kind of a job. I'm a drover.

There ain't a man or
steer I can't stand up to,

and there ain't a
trail I ain't ridden.

Yeah, I'm sure. But you look
a little old to be driving trail.

Well, I wasn't fresh-born
yesterday, I admit.

Gray hairs, but that no reason
for man to crawl off somewhere

like a hurt possum
and just die, is it?

I got a lot of years
left, good years.

And I know that trail
you're going over, Mr. Parks.

I've taken steer over
that trail 30 times or more.

And if when that drive is over,
you ain't satisfied, just pay me half.

Or don't pay me nothing at all.
That's fair enough, ain't it? Hmm?

- You need men, don't you?
- Yeah, that's a fact.

When's the last
time you run a herd?

I just come off a drive.

- You've been working for Gil Favor?
- That's right.

Well, now, that's different.

If Favor says
you're all right. Gil?

Oh, Sam, tell me you
got me some more men.

Well, you've latched
on to enough of mine.

This time I'm gonna
take one of yours.

I told him if you said he was
a good trail man, he's hired.

Oh, Josh? Yeah.

Oh, well, Josh sure knows
that trail you're going on.

Hey, I bet you he could
chart it for you in the dark.

Yeah, well, I know the trail
and I can chart it in the dark.

What I need is some
plain, hard saddle drovers.

The old fellow claims he
rode herd for you. Did he?

Sure did. Just come
off 200 miles of it.

But you're not hiring him
back on now. Why not?

He can't cut it? Is that why?

I'm sorry, Josh, I just ain't got
the right to lie to the man about it.

- Maybe next trip.
- Yeah, next trip.

What good is that
gonna be to me?

It's him, Favor.

He set out to blacken
me, to drive me into the dirt.

Like I told you, Favor won't
hire you on, then I ain't about to.

Josh, Josh, wait a minute.

You could find a place for him
on the drive with us, couldn't you?

Look, I told you, you can
come on the tote wagon.

I really need a man for that job,
man like you that knows the trail lands.

You going on that
drive with him?

Well, I thought you
had a job with Mr. Pine.

You going on that
drive with him?

You wasn't content until you
done me out of it all, was you?

Turned the boy against me.

All right, you go with him. I'm
sick of wet-nosing you, anyway.

And you understand this,
Mr. Favor, and you understand it good:

You ain't rid me
into the ground yet.

- Not yet.
- Josh.

Mr. Favor, he ain't got
nobody to look after him.

No family, no place to go.

He ain't got nothing left.

Except pride, and I think we
ought to let him hang onto that, huh?

Josh, here you are. I been
looking all over for you.

We're about ready to move those
cattle out of those pens and get going,

so I brought all your
gear over for you.

You'd have sure been in a
fix if we'd had all this with us.

Where'd you get that?

You don't have to get it in a
saloon. You buy it on the street.

Some people, respectable people,

they make it and bottle
it and peddle it to folks

who don't care to waste
their time in saloons.

- Well, I'm late, Josh.
- Hey.

Cows heading for a train, and I
never even been on one myself.

Bye, Josh.

Yeah, trains, blind-pens
to waddle hogs into.

You listen to me, I been
up this land and down

more times than you
or Gil Favor got years

and I didn't have to do it
choking up with coal soot.

Well, I sure enjoyed listening
to all your stories, Josh.

Josh, get out of the street
before you get tromped on.

You pushed me far enough. I
ain't leaving here till you face me.

Josh, you can't do it!

You keep out of this. This
is between me and Favor.

All right, hold them
up! Get them down!

Get out of the way, Josh, or I
am gonna move you out of the way.

Oh, no, you don't.

One of us is gonna
walk away, but only one.

- I'm not gonna draw on you, Josh.
- I'm gonna make you draw.

You're gonna kill me like a man.

Not like a sack of innards that's
been thrown out of the slaughterhouse.

I'm gonna count to three. One...

two...

Let me draw.

No, Josh.

- Get out of the way!
- No.

Looks like the old
fellow finally tuckered out.

Never even got his gun out.

When he's 100, he'll be ten times
the man you are, boy. Come on.

Give me a hand with him,
Mushy. We'll take him to the store.

Easy, easy, easy.

- It's not like me, that face.
- Josh, you all right?

More like looking at
Bigger. Yeah, I'm all right.

But it is me. I just hadn't
got a close look at me lately.

But I shouldn't have
done what I did outside.

There's no point in it.

Well, sometimes a man's
gotta do something, anything,

- just to make sure he's still alive.
- But it isn't enough.

Don't go on that drive, Mushy.

I don't want you to
go on that drive, boy.

But, Josh, I got to now.

I mean, you wait here for
me and I'll come straight back.

Don't go. It isn't because
I wanna hang on to you.

It isn't that.

It's that I just don't want you
ending up dozing on charity

in a boarding house somewhere.

Or staring at a face
like this someday.

One day there won't
be any more cattle trails.

They'll go like the
beaver trade did.

The trains will come
where the trails is now.

And then they'll pass away too.

You go back to that girl.

Get yourself
something to hold onto.

A woman, children,
and a piece of land.

Something that don't blow
away like pride and youth.

They don't last, son.

I don't know, Josh. I
don't know if that's right.

Josh is right, Mushy,
partly. Partly he's wrong too.

Because pride is something
a man can hang onto.

Of course, sometimes it's got
to bend with the wind a little bit.

If a man got real pride inside of
him, he can afford to bend a little bit,

because he knows the roots of it go
deep enough that it'll last out his time.

That job on the tote
wagon is still open, Josh.

I guess I'd sure enough have to
bend to hunker into that, wouldn't I?

Well, yeah, some,
I reckon, sure.

But not too much,
least ways not inside.

Head them up! Move them out!