Original subtitles

People did not give it credence that a young girl could leave home and go off

in the wintertime to avenge her father's blood, but it did happen.

I was just 14 years of age when a coward by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father

down and robbed him of his life and his horse and two California gold pieces

that he carried in his trouser band.

Chaney was a hired man, and Papa had taken him up to Fort Smith to help lead

back a string of Mustang ponies he had bought.

In town, Chaney had fallen to drink and cards and lost all his money.

He got it into his head he was being cheated and went back to the boarding

house for his Henry rifle.

When Papa tried to intervene, Chaney shot him.

Chaney fled.

He could have walked his horse, for not a soul in that city could be bothered to

give chase.

No doubt Chaney fancied himself scot-free.

But he was wrong.

You must pay for everything in this world, one way or another.

There is nothing free except the grace of God.

Is that the man?

That is my father.

If you would like to kiss him, it would be all right.

He's gone home.

Praise the Lord.

Why is it so much?

The quality of the casket and of the embalming.

The lifelike appearance requires time and art, and the chemicals come dear.

The particulars are in your bill.

If you'd like to kiss him, it would be all right. Thank you. The spirit has

flown. Your wire said $50.

You did not specify that he was to be shipped.

Well, $60 is every cent we have. It leaves nothing for our board.

Yarnell, you can see to the body's transport to the train station and the

company at home. I will have to sleep here tonight.

I still have to collect for other things and see to some other business.

Your mama didn't say nothing about you seeing to no business here.

Well, there's business mama doesn't know about. It's all right, Yarnell. I

dismiss you.

I'm not sure. Tell mama not to sign anything until I return home and see

that Papa is buried in his mason's apron.

Your terms are agreeable if I may pass the night here. Here?

Among these people?

These people?

I'm expecting three more souls.

Sullivan, Smith, and his tongue in the rain.

Ladies and gentlemen, beware.

And train up your children in the way that they should go.

You see what has become of me because of drink.

I killed a man.

In a trifling quarrel over a pocket knife.

If I had received good instruction as a child... Can you point out the sheriff?

Him with the mustachions. I will be with my wife and children today.

I do not know what is to become of them, but I hope and pray that you will not

slight them and compel them to go into low company.

Well, I killed the wrong man as to which of why I'm here.

Had I killed the man I meant to, I don't believe I'd have been convicted.

The seaman out there in that crowd is worse than me.

Okay.

Before I am hanged, I would like to say, although...

No, we ain't arrested him. Ain't caught up to him. He lit out for the territory.

I would think that he's thrown in with Lucky Ned Pepper, whose gang robbed a

mail hack yesterday on the Poteau River.

Well, why are you not looking for him?

I have no authority in the Indian Nation.

Tom Chaney is the business of the U.S. Marshals now.

When will they arrest him?

Not soon, I'm afraid. The marshals are not well staffed, and I'll tell you

frankly, Cheney's at the end of a long list of fugitives and malefactors.

Could I hire a marshal to pursue Tom Cheney?

You have a lot of experience with bounty hunters, do you? That is a silly

question. I am here to settle my father's affairs.

All alone?

Well, I'm the person for it.

Mama was never any good at sums, and she could hardly spell cat.

I intend to see Papa's killer hanged.

Well... Nothing prevents you from offering a reward and so informing the

marshals. It'd have to be real money, though, to be persuasive.

Cheney's across the river and Choctaw Nation. I will see to the money.

Who's the best marshal?

I have to weigh that.

William Waters is the best tracker. He's half Comanche, and it is something to

see him cut the sign.

Meanest is Rooster Cogburn. He is a pitiless man, double tough, and fear

don't enter into his thinking.

He loves to pull a cork.

The best is probably L.T. Quinn.

He brings his prisoners in alive.

Now, he may let one slip by now and again, but he believes that even the

worst of men is entitled to a fair shake.

Where can I find this rooster?

Well, Jake's been occupied.

I know it is occupied, Mr. Cogburn. As I said, I have business with you.

I have prior business.

You have been at it for quite some time, Mr. Cogburn. There is no clock on my

business!

The hell with you. How did you stalk me here?

The sheriff told me to look in the saloon. In the saloon, they referred me

here. We must talk.

Women ain't allowed in the saloon.

I was not there as a customer. I am 14 years old.

Well, Jake, she's occupied.

We'll be for some time.

Good evening.

If you would like to sleep in a coffin, it would be all right.

How much are you paying for cotton?

Nine and a half for low middling and ten for ordinary.

We got most of ours out early.

Sold to the Woodson brothers in Little Rock for eleven cents.

Then I suggest you take the balance of it to the Woodson brothers.

We took the balance to Woodson.

We got ten and a half.

Why'd you come here to tell me this?

I thought we might shop around up here next year, but I guess we're doing all

right in Little Rock.

I'm Maddie Ross.

Daughter of Frank Ross.

Oh.

Tragic thing.

May I say your father impressed me with his manly qualities. He was a close

trader, but he acted the gentleman.

Well, I propose to sell those ponies back to you that my father bought.

Oh, that I fear is out of the question. I will see that they're shipped to you

at my earliest convenience.

Well, we don't want the ponies now. We don't need them. Well, that hardly

concerns me. Your father bought the ponies and paid for them, and there's an

end to it. I have the bill of sale.

And I want $300 for Papa's saddle horse that was stolen from your stable.

You have to take that up with a man who stole a horse.

Tom Chaney stole the horse while it was in your care. You are responsible.

Yeah, I admire your sand.

But I believe you will find I'm not liable for such claims.

You were the custodian. If you were a bank ever robbed, you could not simply

tell the depositors to go hang.

I do not entertain hypotheticals. The world as it is is vexing enough.

Secondly, your valuation of the horse is high by about $200.

How old are you? If anything, my price is low.

Price Judy is a fine, racy mare. I've seen her jump an eight-row fence with

the heavy rider, and I'm 14.

Oh, well, it's all very interesting.

The ponies are yours. Take them.

Your father's horse was stolen by a murderous criminal. I had provided

reasonable protection for the creature as per our implicit agreement.

My watchman had his teeth knocked out and can take on this soup.

Well, I will take it to law.

You have no case. Lawyer J. Noble Daggett of Darden, Al Larkin, some may

think otherwise, is might a jury.

Petitioned by a widow and three small children.

I will pay $200.

to your father's estate when I have in my hand a letter from your lawyer

absolving me of all liability from the beginning of the world to date. I will

take $200 for Judy plus $100 for the ponies and $25 for the gray horse that

Tom Chaney left. He was easily worth $40.

That is $325 total. The ponies have no part in it. I will not buy them. And the

price for Judy is $325.

I would not pay $325 for a winged pegasus.

As for the gray horse, it does not belong to you. The gray horse was lent

to Tom Chaney by my father.

Chaney only had the use of him.

I will pay $225 and keep the gray horse.

I don't want the bonus. I cannot accept that.

There will be no settlement after I leave this office. It will go to law.

All right. My last offer.

$250. For that, I get the release previously discussed, and I keep your

father's saddle.

The gray horse is not yours to sell.

The saddle is not for sale. I will keep it.

Lawyer Daggett will prove ownership of the gray horse. He will come after you

with a writ of reblevin. A what? A writ of reblevin. All right, now listen very

carefully, as I will not bargain further.

I will take the ponies back and the gray horse, which is mine, and saddle for

$300. Now, you must take that or leave it, and I do not much care which it is.

Well, Lawyer Decker would not wish me to consider anything under $325, but I will

settle for $320 if I am given the $20 in advance. Now, here's what I have to say

about that settle.

Frank Ross's daughter?

Oh, my poor child.

Oh, my poor child.

Are you going to be staying with us, or are you hurrying back home to your mama?

I'll stay here if you can have me.

I just been last night at the Undertaker's in the company of three

corpses.

I felt like Ezekiel in the Valley of the Dry Bones.

Well, God bless you.

Now, you'll be rooming with Grandma Turner.

We've had to double up, but with all the people in town, come to see the hanging.

This was in your poor father's room.

Now, that is everything.

There are no light fingers in this house.

Now, if you need something for to tote the gun around, I can give you an empty

flower sack for a nickel.

and Potter and me thought we'd better ride over ourselves and investigate.

And what did you see when you arrived?

An old woman was out in the yard, dead, with blowflies on her face.

An old man was inside with his breast blown open by a scattergun, and his feet

burned.

He was still alive, but just was. Said it was them two Wharton boys done it,

and rode up drunk.

Objection. Hearsay.

By and declaration, Your Honor.

Objection's overruled.

Proceed, Mr. Codman.

All them two warping boys, that'd be Otis and Cece, throw down on him.

Asked him where his money was. When I wouldn't tell him, they lit pine knots,

held him to his feet.

He told them the money was in a fruit jar under a gray rock at the corner of a

smokehouse. And then?

Oh, he died on us and passed away in considerable pain.

What'd you do then?

Me and Marshal Potter went out to the smokehouse.

And that rock had been moved in a jar with the money, and it was gone.

Objection. Speculative.

Sustained. You found a flat gray rock in the corner of the smokehouse with a

hollowed-out space beneath it. If the prosecutor's going to give evidence, I

suggest he be sworn.

Mr. Cockburn, what did you find, if anything, in the corner of that

smokehouse? Found a flat gray rock with a hollowed-out space under it. Nothing

there. And then what did you... In a jar, nothing.

Yeah, what did you do then?

Well... Rolled up to the Whartons there, and there were the North Forks tracks of

Canadian. What did you find? I had my glass.

Spotted them two boys and their old daddy Aaron down in the creek bank with

some hogs.

They'd killed a show.

Had a fire built under a wash pot for scaldin' water.

What'd you do?

Now, as we was U.S. Marshals, I hollered out to Aaron.

We needed to talk to those two boys.

He raised an axe.

Commenced to cussing us and blaggering this court.

What did you do then?

Backed away from the axe, trying to talk some sense into him.

While this was going on, CeCe, he edges over to the wash pot there behind the

steam and picks up a shotgun.

Potter seen him, but it was too late.

CeCe Wharton pulled down on Potter with one barrel and turned to do the same for

me, and I shot him.

Old man raised the axe.

I shot him.

Otis lit out, and I shot him.

C.C. Wharton and Aaron Wharton were dead when they hit the ground.

Otis was just winged.

Did you find the jar with the $120 in it? Leading. Sustained.

What happened then?

Found the jar with the $120 in it.

What became of Otis Wharton?

There it sits.

You may ask, Mr. Gaudy.

Thank you, Mr. Barlow.

Mr. Cogburn, in your four years as U.S. Marshal, how many men have you shot?

Never shot nobody I didn't have. Well, that was not the question.

How many?

Shot or killed.

Let us restrict it to killed so that we may have a manageable figure.

About 12, 15, stopping men in flight, defending myself, et cetera.

Around 12, he says, or 15.

So many, you cannot keep a precise count. I have examined the records and

can supply the accurate figure.

Oh, I believe them two Wharton boys.

Makes it 23.

And how many members of this one family, the Wharton family, have you killed?

Me did, or... Did you also shoot Dub Wharton, brother, and Cleet Wharton,

half-brother?

Oh, Cleet was selling ardent spirits to the Cherokee. Come at me with a king

bolt. A king bolt?

You were armed, and he advanced upon you with nothing more than a king bolt?

From a wagon turn?

I've seen men bat a torch but nothing bigger than a king bolt. I defended

myself. Returning to the other encounter with Aaron Wharton and his two remaining

sons.

You sprang from cover with your revolver in hand.

I did.

Loaded and cocked. Oh, if it ain't loaded and cocked, it don't shoot.

And like his son, Aaron Wharton advanced against an armed man.

Well, he was armed. He had an x-ray.

I believe you testified you backed away from Aaron Wharton.

That's right. Which direction were you going?

I always go backwards when I'm backing up.

Very amusing.

Now, he advanced upon you much in the manner of Cleet Wharton, menacing you

with that little old king bolt or roll-up newspaper or whatever it was.

Yes, sir. He commenced a cussing and laying about with threats.

And you were backing away.

How many steps before the shooting started?

Seven, eight steps.

Aaron Wharton, keeping pace, advancing away from his campfire.

Seven, eight steps.

What would that be?

Fifteen, twenty feet?

I suppose.

Will you explain to this jury, Mr. Codburn, why Mr. Wharton was found...

Immediately by his wash pot, one arm in the fire, his sleeve and hand

smoldering. Did you move the body after you shot him? Why would I do that?

You did not drag the body over to the fire, fling his arm in. No, sir.

Two witnesses who arrived on the scene will testify to the location of the

body. You do not remember moving the body.

So it was a cold-blooded bushwhack while poor Mr. Wharton was tending to his

campfire. Objection!

If that's where the body was, I might have moved him. I do not remember.

Why would you move the body, Mr. Cogburn?

Them hogs rooting around, they might have moved him.

I do not remember.

Special neck, son of a bitch.

Mr. Cogburn?

What is it? I'd like to talk to you a minute.

What is it?

They tell me you're a man with true grit.

What do you want, girl? Speak up at supper time.

Let me do this.

Your makings are too dry.

I'm looking for the man who shot and killed my father, Frank Ross, in front

of the Monarch boarding house.

The man's name is Tom Chaney.

They say he's over in Indian Territory, and I need somebody to go after him.

What's your name, girl?

My name is Maddie Ross.

We're located in Yale County.

My mother's at home looking after my sister, Victoria, and my brother, little

Frank. Best go home to them.

Maybe we need help with the journey. There is a fugitive warrant out for

Chaney. Government will pay you $2 for bringing him in, plus 10 cents a mile

for each of you.

On top of that, I will pay you a $50 reward.

What are you?

What you got there in your poke?

My God, a holster of guns.

They're no bigger than a corn nubbin'. What are you doing with a pistol like

that? I intend to kill Tom Chaney with it. Kill Tom Chaney?

Well, if the law fails to do so.

That piece will do the job for you if you find a house dumped or rested on

them and a wall to put behind you.

Nobody here knew my father, and I'm afraid nothing is going to be done about

Chaney except I do it.

My brother is a child, and my mother is indecisive and hobbled by grief.

I don't believe you have $50.

I have a contract with Colonel Stonehill, which he will make payment on

tomorrow or the next day, once a lawyer countersigns.

Don't believe in fairy tales or sermons or stories about money, baby sister, but

thanks for the cigarette.

Isn't your mama expecting you home, dear?

My business is not yet finished.

Mrs. Floyd, have any rooms opened up?

Grandma Turner, the bed is quite narrow.

The second floor back did open up, but that gentleman on the porch has just

taken it.

Oh, but don't worry yourself, dear.

You're not disturbing Grandma Turner.

My name is Labeef.

I've just come from Yale County.

We have no rodeo clowns in Yale County.

A saucy line will not get you far with me.

I saw your mother yesterday morning. She said for you to come right on home.

What was your business there?

This is a man I think you know.

You called him Tom Chaney, I believe.

Though in the months I've been tracking him, he has used the name Theron

Chelmsford, John Todd Anderson, and others.

He dallied in Monroe, Louisiana, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, before turning up

at your father's place.

Well, why did you not catch him in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, or Monroe, Louisiana?

He is a crafty one.

I thought him slow-witted myself.

That was his act.

That was a good one.

Are you some kind of law?

That's right.

I'm a Texas Ranger.

That may make you a big noise in that state.

In Arkansas, you should mind that your Texas trappings and title do not make

you an object of fun.

Why have you been ineffectually pursuing Chaney?

He shot and killed a state senator named Bibbs in Waco, Texas.

Bibbs' family put out a reward.

Well, how came Chaney issued a state senator?

My understanding is there was an argument about a dog.

You know anything about the whereabouts of Chaney?

Well, he's in the territory, and I hold out little hope for you earning your

bounty. Why is that?

My men will beat you to it.

I've hired a deputy marshal, the toughest one they have.

And he's familiar with the lucky-net pepper gang they say Chaney's tied up

with.

Well, I will throw in with you and your marshal. No.

Marshal Cogburn and I are fine.

It'll be to our mutual advantage.

Your marshal, I presume, knows the territory.

I know Chaney. It is at least a two-man job taking him alive.

When Chaney is taken, he's coming back to Fort Smith to hang.

I'm not having him go to Texas to hang for shooting some senator.

It is not important where he hangs, is it? It is to me.

Is it to you?

It means a great deal of money to me.

It's been many months' work.

Oh, I'm sorry that you were paid pace work and not on wages, and that you have

been eluded the winter long by a half-witch.

You give out very little sugar with your pronouncements.

While I sat there watching you, I gave some thought to stealing a kiss.

Though you are very young and sick and unattractive to boot. But now I have a

mind to give you five or six good licks with my belt.

One would be as unpleasant as the other.

If you wet your comb, I might tame that cowlick.

Maddie, I wish you would leave these matters entirely to me, or at the very

least... Do me the courtesy of consulting me before entering such

agreements.

I am not scolding you, but I am saying your headstrong ways will lead you into

a tight corner one day.

I trust the enclosed document will let you conclude your business and return to

Yale County.

Yours, J. Noble Daggett.

I was as bad yesterday as you look today.

I was forced to share a bed with Grandma Turner.

I'm not acquainted with Grandma Turner.

She's a resident of this city. It does not surprise me that she carries

disease.

This malarial place has ruined my health, as it has my finances.

How are your money?

You have not traded poorly.

Oh, certainly not.

I'm paying you for a horse I do not possess and have bought back a string of

useless ponies, which I cannot sell again.

You're forgetting the gray horse.

You were looking at the thing in the wrong light. I am looking at it in the

light of God's eternal truth.

Your illness is putting you down in the dumps. You will soon find a good buyer

for the ponies. Oh, I have a tentative offer of $10 per head from the fitzer

soapworks of Little Rock.

It would be a shame to destroy such bearded horse flesh.

So it would. I'm confident the deal will fall through.

Look here. I need a pony, and I will pay $10 for one of them. No, that's a lot,

Trash. No, no.

Wait a minute.

Are we trading again?

This one's beautiful.

He don't know he got a rider he too like.

He think he got a horsefly on him.

He's very spirited.

Call him Little Blackie.

That's a good name.

What is he like for a treat?

Well, ma'am, he's a horse, so he likes apples.

Like Mr. Stonehill for me?

I just found out we're waking.

It is I, Maddy Ross, your employer.

How long do you are ready to go?

Go where?

Into the Indian territory in pursuit of Tom Chaney.

Oh, you're the brave girl with stories of El Dorado.

How much money you got there?

I saved $50 for Chief Chaney. You did not believe me?

Well, I did not know.

You're a hard one to figure.

How long for you to make ready to depart?

Oh, well, hold on, sis.

I remember your offer. I do not remember agreeing to it.

If I'm to go up against Ned Pepper, I'll need $100. That much I can tell you.

$100.

Retrieve your man.

$100.

We'll take that $50 in advance. It'll be for expenses.

You were trying to take advantage of me.

I'm giving you the children's rate.

I'm not a sharper. I'm an old man sleeping in a rope bed in a room behind

a Chinese grocery.

I have nothing.

You want to be kept in whiskey.

I don't need to buy that.

I confiscated it. I'm an officer of the court.

Oh, thank you.

$100, that's the rate.

I shall not, niggle.

Can we depart this afternoon?

We?

You are not going. That is no part of it.

You have misjudged me if you think I'm silly enough to give you $50 and watch

you simply write off. I'm a bonded U.S. Marshal. That weighs but little with me.

I will see the thing done.

I can't go after Ned Pepper and a band of hard men and look after a baby at the

same time. I am not a baby. I won't be stopping at boarding houses where

there's warm beds and hot grub on the table.

I'll be traveling fast, eating light, a little sleep in the sun to take place on

the ground.

Well, I have slept out at night before.

Papa took me and little Frank Coon hunting last summer on the petty jean.

We were in the woods all night.

We used to head around a big fire and y'all and I'll tell ghost stories.

We had a good time.

Coon hunting?

This ain't no coon hunt.

It is the same idea as a coon hunt. Don't come with them 40 miles. You were

just trying to make your work sound harder than it is.

Here's the money.

Now, I am to get Tom Chaney, and if you are not game, I will find somebody who

is game. All I've heard out of you so far is talk.

I know you can drink whiskey and snore and spit and wallow in filth and bemoan

your station. The rest has been braggadocio.

They told me you had grit, and that is why I came to you.

I'm not paying for talk. I can get all the talk I need and more at the Monarch

Boarding House.

Leave your money.

Meet me here at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning. We'll begin our coon hunt.

Dearest mother, I'm about to embark on a great adventure.

I have learned that Tom Chaney has fled into the wild and I shall assist the

authorities in pursuit.

You know that Papa would want me to be firm in the right.

As he always was.

So do not fear on my account.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.

The author of all things watches over me, and I have a fine horse.

Kiss little Frankie for me and pinch Violet's cheek.

Their papa's death will soon be avenged.

I'm off for the Choctaw Nation.

Where is Marshal Cogburn? Went away.

Left this side.

Here inside is a train ticket for your return home.

Use it. By the time you read this, I will be across the river in the Indian

nation.

Pursuit would be futile.

I will return with your man, Chaney.

Leave me to my work, Reuben Cogburn.

Is that Marshal Codburn?

That is the man.

Who's he with?

I do not know.

Well, take me across.

So, you're the runaway.

Marshal told me you'd show up. I'm to present you to the sheriff.

That is a story. Let go of my horse. I have business across the river.

If you don't turn around and take me across, you may find yourself in court

where you don't want to be.

I have a good lawyer.

Come on little Blackie, come on.

That is quite a horse.

I will give you $10 for him. From the money you stole from me?

I was not stolen. I'm not their man.

I was to accompany you.

If I do not, there is no agreement, and my money was stolen.

Marshal, put this child back on the ferry.

It's a long road, and time is a waste. If I go back, it is to the U.S.

Marshal's office to report the theft of my money.

I'm futile, Marshal Cogburn. Pursuit would be futile.

It's not spelled F-U-D-E-L.

It is time for your spanking.

Now you will do as the grown-ups say.

Or I will give myself a first switch and slap your leg.

Are you going to let him do this, Marshal?

No, I don't believe a will.

Put your switch away, the beef.

I aim to finish what I started.

It would be the biggest mistake you ever made, you Texas brush pop.

Hoover on it by a little girl.

I am not accustomed to so large a fire.

In Texas, we'll make do with the fire a little more than twigs,

buffalo chips, heat the night's ration of beans.

And it is Ranger policy never to make your camp in the same place as your cook

fire.

Very imprudent to make your presence known in unsettled country.

How do you know Bagby will have intelligence?

He has a store.

That makes him an authority on movements in the territory?

We have entered a wild place.

And anyone coming in wasn't any kind of supply.

You're not picking shoes, it's portal.

That is a piece of foolishness.

All the snakes are asleep this time of year. I've been known to wake up. Well,

let me have a rope, too.

The snake will not bother you.

You were too little and bony.

You should fetch water for the morning, put it by the fire.

The creek's going to ice over tonight. I'm not going down there again.

If you want any more water, you can fetch it yourself.

You're lucky to be traveling in a place where a spring is so handy.

In my country, you can ride for days and see no groundwater.

I have lapped filthy water from a hoof print.

I was glad to have it.

If I ever meet one of you Texas waddies who says he has never drank water out of

a horse track, I think I'll shake his hand and give him a Daniel Webster

cigar. You do not believe it?

Well, I believed it the first 25 times I heard it.

Maybe, maybe it is true.

Maybe lapping water off the ground is a range of policy.

You're getting ready to show your ignorance now, Cogburn.

I don't mind a little personal chaffing.

But I won't hear anything against a ranger troop from a man like you.

How long you boys been mounted on sheep down there?

My white Appaloosa will still be galloping when that big American stud of

yours is winded and collapsed.

Now make another joke about it.

You're only trying to put on a show for this girl, Maddie, with what you must

think is a keen tongue.

This is like women talking.

Yes, that is the way.

Make me out foolish in this girl's eyes.

I think she is. You pretty well figured.

Would you two like to hear the story of the midnight caller?

One of you is going to have to be the caller. And I will tell you what to say.

And I will do all the other parts myself.

Good morning, Marshal.

Morning.

Where is Mr. the Beef?

Down by the creek, performing as necessary.

Well, Marshal Cogburn, I welcome the chance for a private parley.

I gather that you and Mr. the Beef have come to some... some sort of agreement.

And as your employer, I believe I have the right to know the particulars. The

particulars is that we're bringing Chaney down to the magistrate in San

Saba, Texas, where they have a considerable reward on offer, which we

split.

I did not want him brought to Texas to have a Texas punishment administered for

a Texas crime.

That was not our agreement.

What you want is to have him caught and punished.

I want him to know that he's being punished for killing my father.

Well, you can let him know that. You can tell him to his face.

You can spit on him, make him eat sand out of the road. I will hold him down.

Or if you want, I'll flay the flesh off the soles of his feet. Find you an

Indian pepper you can rub into the wound.

Isn't that $100 value?

No, it is not.

When I have bought and paid for something, I will have my way.

Why do you think I'm paying you if not to have my way?

It's time for you to learn.

You cannot have your way in every little particular.

If you find I fail to satisfy your terms, I'll return your money at the end

of this expedition.

Little Blackie and I are riding back to the U.S. Marshal's office. This is

fraud.

What's going on?

This is a business conversation. Is that what you call it? Sounds to me like

you're stealing me in a hoo-rah by a little girl.

You say who roared? That was the word. There is no who-rawing in it. My

agreement with the Marshal, Auntie, dates yours. It has the force of law.

The force of law?

This man is a notorious thumper. He rode by the light of the moon with Quantrill

and bloody Bill Anderson.

Them men was patriots, Texas trash.

They murdered women and children in Lawrence, Kansas. That's a goddamn lie.

What army was you in, mister? I was at Shreveport.

First with Kirby Smith, then... Yeah?

What side was you on? I was in the Army of Northern Virginia, Cogburn, and I

don't have to hang my head when I say it. If you had served with Captain

Quantrill... Captain?

Captain Quantrill.

Indeed. Best let this go, LeBeef. Captain of what?

Good, then.

There's not sufficient dollars in the state of Texas to make it worth my while

to listen to your opinions.

Our agreement's nullified.

That suits me.

Seats man for himself.

Congratulations, Cockburn.

You've graduated from marauder to wet nurse.

Adios.

We don't need him, do we, Marshal?

Well, Mrs. Sharp's carbine.

She'll have to get level out here.

I don't see Bagby.

Has Chaney been here?

No. Colt Cage was two days ago.

Coke runs with Lucky Ned.

He bought supplies with it.

Well, this is Papa's gold piece.

Tom Chaney, here we come.

Not the world's only California gold piece.

They are rare here.

They are rare.

But if it is Chaney's, it could just as easily mean that Lucky Ned and his gang

fell upon him as that he fell in with them.

Chaney could be a corpse.

That would be a bitter disappointment, Marshal. What do we do?

Well, pursue.

Ned's unfinished business for the Marshals anyhow.

When we have him, we'll also have Chaney. We'll learn the whereabouts of

his body.

Bagby didn't know which way to went, but now that we know they come through here,

it couldn't be going but one of two ways.

Heading north towards the Winding Stair Mountains, pushing further west.

I spec north. More to Rob.

I bought an eating place called the Green Frog.

Started calling myself Burroughs. But my drinking picked up, and my wife did not

care for the company of my river friends.

She decided to go back to her first husband. He was a clerk at a hardware

store.

She said, Goodbye, Reuben.

The love of decency does not abide in you.

There's your divorced woman talking about decency.

I told her, Goodbye, Nola.

Hope that little nail-selling bastard keeps you happy this time.

She took my boy with her, too.

He never cared for me anyway.

I guess I did speak awful rough to him.

That did not mean anything by it.

You would not want to see a clumsier child in horrors.

I bet he broke 40 cups.

Is it Chaney?

I would not recognize the soles of his feet.

Well, you'll have to clamber up and look.

I'm too old and too fat.

I was a green frog at one billiard table.

Served ladies and men, both.

Mostly men.

Tried running it myself for a while, but couldn't keep good help. I never did

learn how to buy meat.

Is that him?

I believe not.

Oh, cut him down.

Why?

I might know him.

That's when I went out to the state plains of Texas.

Shootin' buffalo with Vernon Shapto and a flathead Indian named Ollie.

The Mormons.

They run Shapto out of Great Salt Lake City.

Don't ask me what for.

Call it a misunderstanding. Leave it. Go with that.

Big shaggies.

About all gone now. Damn shame.

Give $3 right now for a pickled buffalo tongue.

Why did they hang him so high?

I do not know.

Possibly in the belief to make him more dead.

I do not know this man.

Why is he taking the hanged man?

Did he know him?

He did not.

But it is a dead body.

Possibly worth something in trade.

Well, my second wife, Edna, she got the notion she wanted me to be a lawyer.

Bought this heavy book called Daniels on Negotiable Instruments. Set me to

reading it.

I ever could get a grip on it.

I was happy enough to set it aside and leave Texas.

There ain't six trees between there and Canada. Nothing else grows but has

stickers on it.

That's one of them.

I knew it.

What? It was being followed.

I asked that engine to signal with a shot if someone was on our trail.

Should we be concerned, Marshal?

No. It's Mr. LeBeef.

Using us as bird dogs.

Hopes of cutting in once we flush the prey.

Perhaps we could double back over our tracks and confuse the trail in a clever

way. No, we will wait right here.

Offer our friend a warm aloe.

Ask him where he's going.

You are not LaBeef.

My name is Forrester.

I practice dentistry in the nation, also veterinary arts, and

medicine on those humans that will sit still for it.

They have your work cut out for you there.

Traded for him with an Indian who said he came by him honestly.

I gave up two dental mirrors and a bottle of expectorant.

Do either of you need medical attention?

No.

Hey, fixing to get cold.

Do you know of anywhere to take shelter?

I have my bare skin.

You might want to head over to the original Greaser Bob's.

He notched a dugout into a hollow along the Corillon River.

If you ride the river, you won't fail to see it.

Greaser Bob, the original Greaser Bob, is hunting north of the picket wire

and would not begrudge its use.

Much obliged.

I have...

Takin' his teeth.

I will entertain an offer for the rest of evening.

Take my jacket.

Creep up onto the roof.

If they're unfriendly, I'll give you a sign to damp the chimney.

Who is out there?

We're looking for shelter.

No room for you here.

Right on.

Who's in there?

federal officer.

Who's in there?

A Methodist and a son of a bitch.

This is Rooster Cockburn.

Columbus Potter and five other marshals is out here with me.

We got a bucket of coal oil.

In one minute we will burn you out from both ends.

There's only two of you.

Go ahead and bet your life on it.

How many of you is in there?

Just the two of us. But my partner's hit and he can't walk.

Is that Emmy Quincy?

You said it was a man on the roof. I thought it was Potter.

He has always dumbed Quincy and remained true to form.

Here's an awful lot of soft key.

Both looking for company?

That is always supper and breakfast both.

I like a big breakfast.

Soft key always cooks up bigger than you think.

You could store a whiskey here as well.

What are these boys up to outside of cooking banquets? We was just having our

supper. We don't know who was outside weather like this.

Might have been some crazy man.

Anyone could say he is a morsel.

My leg hurts.

I'll bet it does.

When was the last time you seen your old part, Ned Pepper?

I do not know him.

Who is he?

I'm surprised you don't remember him.

He's a skinny fella, nervous and quick, his lips all messed up.

That don't bring anybody to mind.

There's a new boy.

I might be running with Ned.

He's got a... Powder mark on his face. Black plays.

Calls himself Chaney.

Or Chelmsford sometimes.

Carries a Henry rifle.

That don't bring anybody to mind.

Black mark?

I would remember that.

You don't remember nothing I want to know, dear Quincy.

What do you know, man?

You don't know those boys you're looking for?

I don't know those boys.

I always try to help out the law.

Well, by the time we get to Fort Smith,

That leg will be swelled up tight as Dick's hat band.

It'll be mortified.

And we'll cut it off. And then if you live, I'll get you two or three years in

the federal house up in Detroit there.

You were trying to get at me. I'll teach you how to read and write up there, but

the rest won't be so good.

Them boys are making me hard on them again. You were trying to get at me.

Now, you give me some good information on Ned, I'll take you down to Bagby's

store tomorrow and get that ball taken out of your leg.

They don't give you three days to clear the territory. You don't know those boys

you're looking for.

That ain't his leg.

Put your flap in your mouth, Moe.

It's best you let me do the talking.

We're weary trappers.

Who worked you over with the ugly stick?

The man Chaney with the marked face killed my father.

He was a whiskey drinker like you and it led to killing in the end.

If you answer the Marshal's questions, he will help you.

I have a good lawyer at home and he will help you too.

I'm puzzled by this.

Why is she here?

I don't like you.

I hope you go to jail. My lawyer will not help you. My leg is giving me fits.

Easy now. He's trying to get at you. With the truth. We seen Ned and Hayes

two days ago. Don't you act a fool. If you blow, I will kill you.

I played out. I need a doctor.

We met Ned and Hayes two days ago.

God damn it.

Oh, Lord.

I'm dying.

Do something.

Help me.

I couldn't do nothing for you, son.

Your partner's killed you, and I've done for him.

Don't leave me lying here.

Don't let the wolves rip me up.

I'll see you're buried right.

You tell me about Ned. Where'd you see him?

Two days ago.

Bagby's store.

They are coming here tonight to get remounts in Softkey.

They just robbed the Katie Flyer wagon or switch.

I'm gone.

Sent the news to my brother, George Garrett.

He is a Methodist circuit rider in South Texas.

Shall I tell him he's outlawed up?

It don't matter.

He knows I'm on the scout.

I will meet him later, walking the streets of glory.

Oh, don't be looking for Quincy.

What we want is to get them all in the dugout.

I'll kill the last one that goes in, then we'll have them in the barrel.

Shoot them in the back?

It'll give them to know our intentions this series.

Then I'll call down, see if they'll be taken alive.

If they won't, I'll shoot them as they come out.

I'm hopeful that three of their party being dead will take the starch out of

them.

You display great poise.

Oh, it's just a trick-or-shoot.

There was one time in New Mexico, I was being pursued by seven men.

I turned the boy around and taking them reins in my teeth, rolled right at them

boys, firing them two Navy Sixers that carried my saddle.

Well, I guess these old married men loved their families as they scattered

and run for home.

Well, that is hard to believe.

What is?

One man running at seven.

Oh, it's true.

You go for men hard enough and fast enough, you don't have time to think

about how many are with him. He thinks about himself.

How he might get clear of that wrath that's about to set down on him.

What were they pursuing you?

I robbed a high-interest bank.

You can't rob a thief, can you?

Never robbed a citizen.

Never took a man's watch. It is all stealing.

That's the position they took in New Mexico.

One man did not figure them to send a scout.

Damn.

It is LeBeef.

We have to warn him, Marshall.

Too late.

What do we do, Marshall?

We sit. What does he do?

Well, there's that.

That didn't pan out.

You managed to put a kink in my rope, partner.

I'm severely injured.

Yes, you got drugs on.

Also shot by a rifle.

That's quite possible. The scheme did not develop as I had planned.

You've been shot in the shoulder, but the bullet passed through.

What happened to your mouth?

I believe I bit myself.

A couple of teeth losing.

Oh, yeah.

Tongue bit almost through.

You want to see if it'll nip or shall I just yank it free?

I know a teamster bit his tongue off being thrown from a horse. After a time,

he learned to make himself more or less understood. I'll just yank it free.

What's that now?

What's that now?

It will nip.

Very well.

It's impossible.

I bought a bite of a tongue wound.

Too bad, we just ran across a doctor.

Marshal? I do not know where he was headed.

I saw him, too. I saw how I came to be here.

Neither of these men are Chaney.

I know it. I know them both.

That ugly one's Coke Hayes.

Him uglier still is Plymouth Parmalee.

Parmalee and his brothers have a silver claim in the Winding Stair Mountains,

and I bet that's where Lucky Ned's gang is waiting.

We'll sleep here, follow in the morning.

Well, we promised to bury the poor soul inside.

That's too hard.

Them men wanted a decent burial. They should have gotten themselves killed in

summer.

Sleep well, little Blackie.

I have a notion that tomorrow we will reach our object.

We are hot on the trail.

Seems that we will overtake Tom Chaney in the Winding Stair Mountains.

I would not want to be in his shoes.

I understand that Chaney, or Chelmsford, as he called himself in Texas, shot the

senator's dog when the senator remonstrated.

Chelmsford shot him as well.

Now, you could argue that the shooting of the dog was merely an instance of

malum prohibitum, but the shooting of a senator is indubitably an instance of

malum in se.

Malum in what?

Malum in se.

The distinction is between an act that is wrong in itself...

and an act that is wrong only according to our laws and mores. It is Latin.

I'm struck that the beef has been shot, trampled, and nearly severed his tongue.

Not only does he not cease to talk, but he spills the bangs of English.

I was within 300 yards of Chelmsford once, the closest I had been.

With the short carbine that is within range.

But I was mounted and had the choice of firing offhand or dismounting to shoot

from rest, which would allow Chumster to augment the distance.

I fired mounted.

And fired wide.

You could not hit a man at 300 yards if your gun was resting on his brawler.

The sharp carbine is an instrument of uncanny power and precision.

Oh, I've no doubt that the gun is sound.

My clothes is all ragged and my language is rough.

My breath is corned, dodgers both solid and tough.

And yet I'm happy and live at my ease.

Sorghum, molasses, and bacon and cheese.

You're a county battler.

I do not believe he slept.

Horseman's a hell of a distance to me, but I would encourage the preacher you

ride to head center.

Out here, a one-armed man looks like he's a prey.

And a one-eyed man who can't shoot? Why don't you turn back, Cogburn? I'll do

fine. I know where the Parmalee claim is.

I'm uninjured, well-provisioned, and we agreed to separate.

In context, you cannot sign our agreement. You're the one who shot me.

Mr. LeBeef has a point, Marshal.

It is an unfair leg up in any competition to shoot your opposite

number. Oh, damn it. I do not accept it as a given that I did shoot LeBeef.

There are plenty of guns going off. I heard the rifle, and I felt the ball.

You missed your shot, Cogburn. Missed my shot? You are more handicapped without

the eye than I without the arm.

I can hit a gnat's eye at 90 yards.

That condiment is running them cheap shells on me again. I thought you were

going to say the sun was in your eyes.

That is to say, your eye.

Do it one time!

I will choke from high or far.

There.

Your bullet?

If you hit what you aim at, explain my shoulder. Gentlemen, shooting cornbread

out here on the prairie is getting us no closer to the Ned Pepper gang.

One more.

This will prove it.

Bleed hole fire.

Find our way back.

Love you, Ned.

Very good, Cogburn.

Now what?

Oh, God damn it.

Cogburn does not want me eating out of his store.

That is silly. You have not eaten the whole day, and it was my store not

eating. Let him starve!

He does not track.

He does not shoot.

Except at foodstuffs.

That was your initiative.

He does not contribute.

He's a man.

who walks in front of bullets.

Mr. LeBeaft, you single-handed upon the Lucky Ned Pepper Gang while we fired

safety from cover.

Wait. It is unfair to indict a man when his jaw is swollen and tongue mangled

and who is therefore unable to rise to his own defense.

I can speak for myself.

I am horribly obliged to answer to the ravens of a drunkard who has released

me.

I shall make my own camp elsewhere.

It is you who have nothing to offer, Cogburn.

A sad picture indeed.

This is no longer a manhunt.

It is a debauch.

The Texas Ranger presses on, alone.

Take the girl.

I bow out.

A fine thing to decide once you brought her into the middle of the Choctaw

Nation. I bow out. I wash my hands. Gentlemen, we cannot fall out in this

fashion. Not so close to our goal with Tom Chaney nearly in hand. In hand.

If he is not in a shallow grave somewhere between here and Fort Smith,

he is gone.

Long gone.

Thanks to Mr.

LeBeef, we missed our shot.

We barked and the birds have flown.

Gone, gone, gone.

Lucky Ned and his cohort gone.

Your $50 gone.

Gone the whiskey.

Seized in evidence.

Trail is cold if there ever was one.

Foolish old man has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers

and a nincompoop.

Ah, Mr.

Lebeef. He can wander the Choctaw nation for as long as he likes. Perhaps the

local Indians will take him in and honor his gibbons by making him chief.

You, sister, may go where you like.

Our engagement is terminated.

I'm going with you.

Oh, that is not possible.

Have I held you back?

I have a culture to move over, which I know how to use.

And I will be no more of a burden to you than I was to the Marshal.

That is not my worry.

You've earned your spurs.

That is clear enough.

You've been a regular old hand on the trail.

But Cockburn's right, even if I would not give him the satisfaction of

conceding it.

The trail is cold.

Considerably diminished.

How can you give up now after the many months you've dedicated to finding

Chaney?

You have shown great determination.

I misjudged you.

I picked the wrong man.

I would go on in your company if there were a clear way to go.

But we'd be striking out blindly.

The jumpster's gone.

We'll chase him right off the map.

There's nothing for it.

I'm bound for Texas.

Time for you to go home, too.

The Marshal, when he sobers, is your way back.

I will not go back, not without Chaney, dead or alive.

I'll misjudge you as well.

I extend my hand.

Mr. LeBeef, please.

It is.

I know you.

Your name is Matty, but you're little Matty the bookkeeper.

Ain't that something?

Yes, and I know you, Tom Chaney.

What are you doing out here?

Getting to fetch some water.

Oh, then what are you doing in these mountains here?

Well, I have not been formally deputized, but I'm acting as an agent

for Marshal Reuben Cochran and Judge Parker's court.

I've come to take you back to Fort Smith.

Well, I will not go.

How do you like that?

Well, there's a posse of officers up there who will force you to go.

Well, that is interesting news.

And how many is up there?

Right around 50.

And they're all well armed and they mean business.

What I want you to do now is come on across the creek and walk in front of me

up that hill.

I think I will oblige the officers to come after me.

Well, if you refuse to go, I'll have to shoot you.

Oh. Well, you had better cock your piece.

All the way back.

All locked.

I know how to do it.

You will not go with me?

No, it's just the other way around. You're going with me.

What do you think now?

Oh, one of my short ribs broke. You killed my father when he was trying to

help you.

I have one of the gold pieces you stole from him. Now give me the other. This is

going right for me. Daddy!

I'm down here! Now I'm trapped by a child?

You think the horses have got food?

Al, if you get on up that hill, don't you stop.

Who walks down there?

Marshal Cogburn and 50 more officers.

You tell me neither lie nor stove your head in.

Just the Marshal.

Rooster.

God burn!

You hear me?

You answer me, Rooster!

I will kill this girl!

You know I will do it!

That is all very well.

Do you advise that I kill her?

I already thought it over.

You get married double fast.

If I see you riding over that bald ridge to the northwest, I will spare the girl.

You have five minutes. There will be a party of marshals here soon, Ned.

Let me have the girl and Chaney, and I will mislead them for six hours.

Too thin, rooster.

Too thin.

Your five minutes is running.

No more talk.

Get on up that hill.

Can I have some of that bacon?

You help yourself.

Have some of the coffee.

I do not drink coffee. I'm 14.

Well, we do not have buttermilk, and we do not have bread.

We are poorly supplied.

What are you doing here?

I'll wring your scrawny neck. You let that go.

What happened, huh?

I will tell you, and you will see that I am in the right.

Tom Chaney there shot my father to death in Fort Smith and robbed him of two gold

pieces and stole his mare.

I was informed that Mr. Cogburn had grit, and I hired him to find the

murderer. A few minutes ago, I came upon Chaney Water and the horses. He would

not be taken in charge, and I shot him.

If I had killed him, I would not be now in this fix. My revolver misfired.

It will do it.

It will embarrass you every time.

Most girls like to play parties, but you like guns, do you?

I do not care a thing in the world about guns. If I did, I would have one that

worked. How can you sit there and tell such a

big story?

Well, you won't. This man will not let you have your way. He's your boss, and

you have to do as he tells you.

You and Cogburn.

Let us move, Ned.

In good time, Doctor.

What happened to Quincy and the kid?

They're both dead.

I was in the very middle of it. It was a terrible thing to see.

Please, let us move, Ned.

The Marshal's gone.

Do you need a good lawyer?

I need a good judge.

What happened to Coke Hayes? The old fella shot off his horse.

That is well.

His depredations have come to an end.

Your friend Rooster does not collect many prisoners.

He is not my friend.

He's abandoned me to a congress of louts.

You did not varnish your opinion.

Are we off?

Let us cut up the winnings from the Katie flyer. There'll be time for that

at the old place.

I will mount the base. I have other plans for you.

Must I double mount with the doctor?

No. No?

Too chancy with two men up. It comes to a race.

Tom, you wait here with the girl.

When we reach Ma's house, I'll send Carol back with a fresh mount.

You will be out by dark.

We will meet you at the old place.

I do not like that.

Let me ride with you, Ned. Just out of here, anyway.

I was short of horse.

Marshals will come swarming.

Ours, if they come here at all, they'll think that we've all gone.

I am not staying here by myself with Tom Chaney.

That's the way I will have it. He will kill me.

You've heard him say it. He's killed my father, and now you will let him kill

me. He will do no such thing.

Tom?

You know the crossing at Cypress Forks near the log meeting house?

When you're mounted, you take the girl and leave her there.

You understand, Tom?

Any harm comes to that child, you do not get paid.

Harold, let me ride up with you.

Harold, I will pay you $50 out of my winnings. I am not heavy.

Do the camp again, Harold.

Everything is against me.

You have no reason to whine.

If you act as the bandit chief instructed and no harm comes to me, you

will get your winnings at the old place.

Lucky Ned has left me knowing I'm sure to be caught when I leave on foot.

He must think over my position and how I may improve it.

Where's the second California gold piece?

What have you done with Papa's mare? Keep still.

Are you thinking about the old place?

Look here.

If you let me go, I will swear to an affidavit, and once you are brought to

justice, it may go easier on you.

I tell you, I can do better than that.

I need no affidavit.

All I need is your silence.

If I was a busybody like you, in honesty, I do not regret shooting him.

I thought Tom Chaney was small.

And you, you would give me an affidavit. You're all against me every now and

then.

So that is Chelmsford.

Strange to be so close to him at last.

Mr. the Beef, how is it that you are here?

I heard a shot.

Went down to the river.

Cogburn outlined a plan.

Mind your footing, there's a pit there.

His part, I fear, is rash.

He returns for Lucky Ned.

Will you give us the road?

When against Ford, it is ill-advised.

He would not be dissuaded.

Hello, men!

How many men is with the girl?

Just Cheney.

Our agreement is in force.

She was in excellent health when last I saw her.

Farrell, I want you and your brother to stand clear.

You as well, Doctor.

I have no interest in you today.

What is your intention, Rooster?

You think one-armed Paul is a dog, Paul?

I'll mean to kill you in one minute, Ned.

Or see you hanged at Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience.

Which will you have?

I'll call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.

Shoot them, Mr. Labise. Too far.

Moving too fast.

Well, Rooster, I'm shot to pieces.

Seems neither of us is to see Judge Parker.

Bully shot!

That was 400 yards at least.

Well, this shot's carbine. Stand

up,

Tom Chaney!

Does Mr. Levy survive?

He does.

Even a blow to the head could silence him for only a few short minutes.

Where are you, Bitt?

Look away now.

Take her. Whoa.

Snake bit.

We are off.

I'll send help for you as soon as I can.

Don't wander off.

We are not leaving him.

Must get you to a doc. Says he's not going to make it.

I mean, you're dead for that shot part.

Never doubt the Texas Ranger.

Come on.

Ever stalwart.

We have miles yet.

He's getting away.

Who's getting away, Jess?

Janie.

I'm grown old.

A quarter

century is a long time.

By the time we reached Bagby's store, my hand had turned black.

I was not awake when I lost the arm.

The marshal had stayed with me, I was told, till I was out of danger, but he

departed before I came round.

Once home, I wrote him with an invitation to come by the next time he

found himself near Yale County and collect the $50 I still owed him.

I did not hear back from Marshal Cogburn.

and he did not appear.

Then, one day, I received a note from the marshal with a flyer enclosed.

He said he was traveling with the Wild West show, getting older and fatter.

Would I like to come visit him when the show came to Memphis and swap stories

with an old trail mate?

He would understand if the journey were too long.

Brief though his note was,

It was rife with misspellings.

Yes, ma'am.

I am Cole Younger.

This is Mr. James.

It grieves me to tell you that you have missed Rooster.

He passed away three days ago when the show was in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Buried him there in the Confederate Cemetery.

Reuben had a complaint what he referred to as night hauls.

And I believe the warm weather was too much for you.

We had some lively times.

What was the nature of your acquaintance?

I knew the Marshal long ago.

We too had... lively times.

Thank you, Mr. Younger.

Keep your seat, Trash.

I had the body removed to our plot, and I have visited it over the years.

No doubt people talk about that.

They say, well, she hardly knew the man.

Isn't she a cranky old maid?

It is true, I have not married. I never had time to fool with it.

I heard nothing more of the Texas officer, LeBeef.

If he is yet alive, I would be pleased to hear from him.

I judge he would be in his 70s now, and nearer 80 than 70.

I expect some of the starch has gone out of that cowlick.

Time just gets away from us.