Sacred Ground (1983) - full transcript
This movie tells the fact-based story of a mountain man and his Native American wife who happen upon a partially built cabin and finish it for their own home, not realizing that they occupy a sacred burial ground. A Paiute burial party clashes with the couple and in the ensuing skirmish, the wife is fatally wounded while in the middle of childbirth. Bitter over her loss and needing a wetnurse for his baby, he steals one of the Paiute women who had just lost a baby. In this modern version of Helen of Troy, the battle is on, as he takes on the whole band in a desperate attempt to survive.
[LEAVES RUSTLING]
[GUNSHOT]
[GROWLING]
[GROWLING]
[SCREAMING]
[HORSES NEIGHING]
[SCREAMING]
[SCREAMING]
You all right?
Huh?
He backtracked on me.
Nice and fat.
That's going
to taste good.
Let's skin him out.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
♪ Amazing grace
♪ How sweet the sound... ♪
Colter, Paiute!
[WOMAN] Here on Goose Creek,
I first saw him with woman.
End of fall.
Winter was coming.
Trees and leaves
gave me answer.
Gold and red
was on forest.
First snow came and went.
He frightened me. Only seen
one white man before.
When I was ten,
my father traded with one
for cloth at Williamson river.
I was gathering
firewood for cooking.
We were here two days,
all women and children,
our warriors on attack
with Modocs
on a river named
after white man.
Call it "Rogue."
We call it "swift one."
[BELLS JINGLE]
Hello.
Hey, good morning.
This your place?
Oh, yeah.
Kinda something, ain't it?
Uh, you mind if this
Indian woman sit down
over there in the corner
and warm up?
Oh, I'd be real hurt
if she didn't. You hear me?
You come on in here.
Go on, now.
Got her all
settled down there.
My name's Matt.
Uh, what?
Matt.
Matt. I'm Tolbert.
Hello, Tolbert.
Glad you could stop by.
What can I do for you?
Well...
I need a few things.
That's what I'm here for.
Where you headed?
I'm going up the road.
Trapping?
Yeah.
And I need...
Oh, I don't know
what I need.
Well, I'll tell you one thing
you're gonna need for sure.
A piece of rawhide to tie
that hair you're on with.
[COUGHING]
My friend...
I've come across
the Great Divide
and all
the Rocky Mountains,
and I still have it
on my head, as you
can plainly see.
My friend, you ain't
crossed Paiute country
yet, neither,
as I can plainly see.
Pi...
what...what's that?
Paiute.
[MATT] Payoot?
[TOLBERT] Paiute.
That's funny,
'cause she sa--
Oh, could I have
something warm
for her to drink?
Mm-hmm.
Uh... kind of stout?
Mmm...why not?
Hot coffee and rum.
Rum?
Mm-hmm.
Uh... you ain't got
any whiskey, do you?
Lookee here.
[CHUCKLING]
You know, you're not a bad man
to run onto, are you?
You betcha.
I would like one
of those.
You're gonna get one.
Coffee's right over there.
[CLEARS THROAT]
That'll be 15 cents.
Well, you can pay me when you
get back over here.
[CHUCKLES] I forgot about that.
Yep.
And there's coffee.
You know, she said
something about that
when we passed
a camp yesterday.
Indian camp, you know?
She said that. "Paiute."
One of them squaws saw us.
They didn't do nothing.
I mean, what's so special
about them?
It ain't squaws
you got to worry about.
It's the men
you got to hide from.
You don't believe it.
Look right here.
Let me show you something.
Look at that. Look right there.
About six years ago,
them damn Paiutes jumped me
one morning when
I was setting some traps.
How far does that go?
Way down there.
Healed up good though.
It just pinched
right together.
It's a long way
from your heart.
What did the other fellow
look like?
Well, I kept one of them's
head on a stick out back
for the rest
of that winter.
[LAUGHS HEARTILY]
Come summer, though,
he started to thaw out on me.
He did. Just thawed.
Began to stink so,
I finally had to
throw him away.
[LAUGHS]
Yeah.
Uh...how's the...
trapping been up there
in them lines
for the fellas
for beaver and mink?
Trapping's been real good.
I mean, more mink and
more beaver this year
than ever I seen.
I suppose
that means that...
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
there's going to be
a lower price
for the hide, huh?
Oh, lots of hides does
bring down the prices.
What is that?
That, uh, that real pretty
new rifle over there?
What the hell is it?
That's a Henry...
Repeater.
Huh?
A re...repeater.
What do you mean?
I mean
it'll fire 15 times
before you
have to reload it.
[LAUGHS]
All right,
you're a trading man.
Now listen,
I'm going to need about
six number four traps.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
Look at that.
Look here, now.
That's .44 caliber.
It'll fire 15 times.
You don't got to do nothing
but pull this here down.
I... I need things, now.
Come on.
Don't make jokes and...
Yeah... plug your ears!
Just plug your ears!
Plug your ears!
[GUNSHOT]
[GUNSHOT]
Yeah.
.44 caliber, it'll fire
15 times, my friend.
Could...
may I hold that
for a minute?
Yeah.
Careful.
Brand-new.
How in the hell
does this work?
Push. Push that thing.
Push it down.
See the shell--
What--
[GASPS]
You!
Fire, right over that way.
Yeah, yeah,
right over there.
[GUNSHOT]
[TOLBERT] Do it again.
Push that thing down.
My God.
Go get 'em.
[GUNSHOT]
[LAUGHS]
I better hold that.
I better-- yeah.
Now-- now, wait.
W--wait a minute.
What do they
get for those?
It'll take
a $20 gold piece
to get that rifle.
Well, I haven't got
a $20 gold piece.
Now...
I've got a fine
Hawken here.
It shoots straight
as an--
you... you look
like a trading man,
aren't you?
Got a whole rack
full of Hawkens.
I want it, trader.
Well, why don't you
come on back and look at it
from time to time?
It'll be right over here.
$20 is all it takes.
You keep that here,
'cause I'm gonna be
back for it.
[MATT] Fifteen times
without reloading it.
You wouldn't have been scared
and hurt and everything.
You wouldn't have
lost your friend.
God!
Fifteen times...
A Henry Repeating rifle.
There'd have been
a dead bear and...
a live horse.
[woman] A brave reached camp.
told of battle between
our warriors and Modoc people
and river of swift water.
Many hurt, some killed.
We were to meet
and bury warriors
before second sun.
It's hard for me
this time.
Two days before,
I lost my new son
of only one moon
to Great Fever.
Come on!
Whoa!
[Matt] Now, that's funny.
I don't know.
Old Patrick Shay,
gave me that map to rendezvous.
He didn't say anything about
the cabin
being torn down.
I'll build a fire up here.
You know, I've never
asked you before.
Where did you...
get that name,
Little Doe?
Mother gave.
"Mother gave."
No, uh...
Now say.
My mother...
My mother...
gave it...
gave it...
to me.
to... me.
My mother
gave it to me.
My mother
gave it to me.
Good girl.
You see how--
like these...
things are notched already
and hewn and stuff?
That's 'cause there was
a cabin before.
The thing just
fell down here.
It's not gonna take any time
at all to put it right back up.
It's going to be
a lot of work, but...
we're going to
pull them up,
put it right up there,
where it used to be.
[LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING]
Make a house.
Fine house.
Like some of the ones
I showed you in
St. Louis, huh?
Hyah!
[NEIGHING]
Get up!
Now...
come here.
[ AMAZING GRACE PLAYING]
Come on
with the mud!
Come on,
strong, strong, strong.
Stop it!
Stop that!
Stop that!
[LAUGHING]
Stop that!
Colter, stop!
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]
[PLAYING
AMAZING GRACE]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
Uh, why don't you
get my coat?
I'm going to run
that trap line up
on that upper creek.
And when I get back--
[HORN BLARING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
The Paiute.
That's Paiute.
What the hell do they want
around here?
Boston man!
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Uh-uh.
What do you want?
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[WOMAN] It was him
and pretty woman again.
I did not expect
to see them.
Parley!
[woman] I say nothing
of seeing them in forest.
Now maybe I should have.
It was like the spirit
trying to say something to me
about my own son
through him and pretty woman
with child.
I felt coldness
through my body
as I watched them.
[CHANTING IN PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[CHANTING]
[WHOOPING]
[CHANTING]
Well,
they're leaving.
They will return.
I feel I know why
they are here,
yet I cannot say.
Well, how do you know?
You mean, uh...
You understand it?
Paiute?
Paiute? You speak--
You understand it?
No Paiute.
How do you know
what's going on?
It's that hill.
Spirits in the wind
each day
blow around me
and my child.
Spirits?
What do you mean?
What kind of spirits?
Now, listen here.
You're acting
like you know
what's going on here.
You've got
to tell me.
You know I don't
understand everything
about your people.
You got to make me
understand it.
Spit it out, woman!
Hill.
Sacred ground.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
Sac...
sacred, you mean
like, uh...
graveyard?
Like...
burial ground?
[SIGHS]
Well, I'm a damn fool.
Well, that's got
to be it, then.
All of them women
with them travois
tied behind
the horses, they...
there ain't no tribe
bringing a bunch of women
on a raiding party.
they're coming here
to bury their dead, huh?
No one...
will stand between
our dead warriors
and great spirit.
No one!
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[CHANTING]
[CHANTING]
Oh, Lord.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[WHOOPING]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[WHOOPING]
All right.
I'll tell you
what we're going to do.
We're going to just
pack up a few things
and get the hell
off this mound.
Right now.
[GROANING]
What's the matter with you?
Baby pain.
Baby pain?
Oh, honey.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
You wouldn't go
have that now,
would you?
Please don't
have that right now.
[WHOOPING]
Please don't have
that right now, please.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SIGHS]
When they come back,
I'm going to have to
go down there
and meet with them
to somehow figure out
a way to make them understand
that you just
cannot be moved yet.
[KISSES]
You say
your prayer now
for the child to be...
strong.
Sun coming up.
[SINGING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[WHOOPING]
[SCREAMING]
Huh? Huh?
Huh?
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[CHANTING]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
I'll get you to water.
Get out of my way!
[SHOUTING IN PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
You hear me?
Get out of my way!
Huh? Huh?
[MOANING]
Huh?
[CRYING]
[CHANTING]
[GROANING]
[LITTLE DOVE GRUNTING]
Uh-uh, uh-uh.
Push! Push!
[CHANTING]
[MATT] Push!
[GASPING]
Now...
Now!
Push!
[GRUNTING]
Push!
[LITTLE DOVE GROANING]
Come on. Push!
[LITTLE DOVE GROANING]
Again!
[BABY CRIES]
That is a good sign,
for he has
given new life
back to this
sacred place.
[BABY CRIES]
My child!
She's dead!
You've killed one
of your own kind!
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
[AMAZING GRACE PLAYING]
The Lord is my shepherd...
I shall not want.
[BABY COOS]
I will fear no evil,
for Thou art with me.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Hey, Prairie Fox,
it's me, Lum Witcher!
I'm coming in!
I bet you didn't expect
a surprise from me, eh?
I've got some fish
for you, Prairie Fox!
Are you ready?
[CHUCKLING]
Coming in,
Prairie Fox.
Howdy, Prairie Fox?
I'm coming in.
Warm up one of them
squaws for me. [LAUGHS]
Howdy there,
Prairie Fox?
Ain't seen you
since last summer.
I got some bear claws
here for you.
And I got you
a Cheyenne scalp.
I know
you'd like that.
Uh...
What the hell's
going on?
I gave you a fair deal
when I traded with you
last year over on the Rogue.
I was gonna give you
a better deal this year.
Hell, I got some
fancy claws here
from a trading post
up on the Hudson Bay
for you and your women.
You're out
of your damn mind.
Hyah!
[HORSE NEIGHING]
[LAUGHTER]
Hey, hold up there!
Lum Witcher.
Colter.
Where you headed?
Back there where
you come from.
Man, don't go down there.
There's a Paiute
war party out there.
Somebody I've
been trading with.
I've traded with them
Paiutes for eight years.
Now I ain't never been
treated so unhospitable.
You don't talk much,
do you?
I'll be damned
if you ain't as touchy
as them Paiutes.
Whole world's
going to hell.
North America
fighting South America.
The Paiutes stop
trading with me.
Now in the middle
of nowhere,
I meet a stranger
with a chip on his shoulder.
Which side you on,
the North or the South?
I don't understand that.
Where'd you come from
when you come out here?
Three hundred miles
south of St. Louis,
about the 1st of June.
Damn, you're an enemy!
You're from the South!
Get them hands up!
Cock that and I'll
blow your throat out.
Oh.
[CLEARS THROAT]
[BABY CRIES]
What the hell
you got there?
A human child.
What did you think it was,
a little baby buffalo
or something?
Hell, man, I stump broke
many a buffalo in my day.
I once kept a buffalo cow
tied up behind my cabin
for three years.
Fed her the first year.
Fell in love with her
the second year.
The third year,
I shot her and ate her.
[LAUGHS]
[BABY CRYING]
Unwrap that thing.
Let me take a look at it.
I'll be damned.
It's a--
It's a real baby.
What you
been feeding it?
A little berry juice.
Berry juice? Hell, man!
You can't feed a baby
like that, just berry juice.
Kid like that's got to
be breast-fed to survive.
I still do! [LAUGHS]
You say you run onto
a Paiute war party
up there somewhere?
Yeah, about a mile
down that creek there.
You know, I've been trading
with that sub-chieff Prairie Fox
for a long time now.
But I come across him
by midday today,
and he ran me off.
You better take
that kid of yours and get
through that pass there.
You can make Fort Klamath
in about five days.
The child won't
survive five days.
Come on.
You know,
when we hooked up,
you said something
about the North
fighting the South.
What is that?
There's a war
going on down there
out of these mountains
People killing
their own kind.
Ain't you
heard about it?
No.
Just as well.
People gone crazy.
You know, they call it
a civil war.
You tell me,
what's civil about a man
killing his own kind?
[BABY CRYING]
Come on.
Uh...
Ever think about
asking Prairie Fox
to have his women help you
with feeding the young 'un?
Huh?
Prairie Fox always
travels with his women.
One of them had a kid
a few months back.
I've seen her
when I ran onto them
this morning.
She's a looker.
How old is the child?
Old enough to be
off her breast,
that's for sure,
if it's alive.
Paiutes lost a whole
bunch of kids to yellow fever
a while back.
If I was to go
in there and talk
to Prairie Fox
about his woman
feeding my child,
how would I
recognize the woman
from all the others?
Now, why are you
asking that?
'Cause he's going to starve
to death, and I'm in a hurry.
For whatever reason
you're asking,
she'd be in
the only lodge
they got set up.
The Paiutes only
set up one lodge
when they're having
a burial party.
And she'd be the only
looker in the lodge.
The rest of them
would all be my kind.
[LAUGHS]
Now, if I was
to go in there
and ask old Prairie Fox
about him letting
his woman
feeding my child,
how would I
go about that?
Go in the morning.
You go in real polite,
real slow,
and real easy.
Yeah.
I'll go real polite,
real slow, real easy.
[HUMMING]
Busha,
we give you thanks...
for you have
given us everything.
They did not listen
to the voices of nature.
They destroyed the trees,
wounded the earth,
scattered the game.
The white man's law
is the thunder sticks
that kill us.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[WOMAN SCREAMING]
[WOMAN SCREAMING]
[GRUNTS]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Hyah!
Hyah!
[GUNSHOT]
[BABY CRYING]
[MATT] If you don't stop
your damn squalling,
you ain't gonna die
of natural causes.
You're going to die
of mountain man-choking.
How I ever get myself in
these messes, I'll never know.
Why your Pa wanted
me to wait out here
in the damn cold,
I can't figure out.
In the meantime,
shut up.
Here comes your dinner,
and about time.
[WHOOPING]
Get down!
Come over here
behind these horses.
[YELLS]
Get down.
Tell her to feed the child.
Feed it!
Feed the child!
Take my advice, Injun,
you'll give that baby
some of your breast.
I wouldn't waste
a lot of time, either!
[LAUGHS]
Tell her in Paiute.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SCREAMING]
Feed it!
[BABY CRYING]
[WHOOPING]
You got a pack
of trouble coming.
If you talk Paiute,
you should tell him
if he comes any closer,
I'm gonna blow his head off.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
What's he saying?
You got trouble,
all right.
I don't figure
he's gonna leave here
without his woman.
I'm gonna send him his woman
on the back of a travois,
dead behind your horse
the minute he
comes any closer.
Now you tell him.
My horse?
Tell him!
You realize if they
decide to rush us,
we only got two shots
between us.
Yeah, one's gonna be for her
and the other's for you
if you don't
straighten this out
right now.
Why don't I just tell him
as soon as she finishes
feeding the baby,
she'll go back to him?
I'm taking the baby
to Fort Klamath, and when
I make sure that it's safe,
I'm gonna release her.
So you just tell him that.
Yeah.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Now what's he saying?
He says he ain't leaving
until he gets his woman
and the baby.
He figures the baby
belongs to them.
No!
Take it and ride.
Take it!
Don't see why
I get stuck
with the damn baby.
Them Paiutes
they're never gonna
trade with me again!
I don't know what you did
to make them think
the baby's theirs.
[BABY CRYING]
You leave me alone!
Come on!
[WOMAN SCREAMS]
Come on!
Come on!
You do not
follow me!
I'll blow her head off!
Come on!
Come on!
Come on!
Come on!
Come on!
I guess this is about
as good a place as any
for me to be leaving you.
I don't know what
you've done to Prairie Fox,
but I'm going to get
out of here while I can.
What's the big hurry?
What's the big hurry?
I've been hung up
with you and your problems
for two days now.
That's longer than
I ever stayed with a squaw.
It's your decision.
It seems like you'd
have a better chance
if you stuck with me.
Besides, you know
old Prairie Fox
won't be thinking too highly
of you, either, you know.
Let me tell you something.
He ain't going to stop
till he gets his woman.
And for some reason,
he wants the kid too.
You know,
I thought when
you got the baby fed,
you'd just go on to the fort.
Why don't you
let the woman go?
Maybe he'll
forget about the kid.
Uh-uh.
No. I'm gonna keep her
with me all the way
to the fort...
for security.
I might not even
let her go when
I get there, either.
[LUM LAUGHS]
Well, suit yourself.
Your chances are a lot
better without me, though.
Well, you can make up
your own mind.
You see, the Paiutes
only send one warrior
after a lone enemy.
It's sort of like a...
a code of honor
or something.
Is that true?
I've heard that
from somebody.
You mean, like,
just she and I...
she being a woman,
they'd only send one?
But if it's you and me,
they'd send a war party?
I'll be damned.
I don't think it matters
none anyway.
I wouldn't be surprised
if the only ones that
gets out of here alive
is the squaw and the baby.
Who's gonna take care of you?
I've been surviving out here
for over 40 years.
I still got my hair,
and that's without
you around!
[LAUGHS]
Yeah.
One thing
I don't understand.
Never seen a squaw
take up with
a white baby before.
Well,
maybe that's 'cause
she knows what
would happen to her
if she didn't.
[CHOPPING]
What the hell
is that?
A piece of bark
off of a tree.
If it's supposed
to be a shield,
it's kind of heavy,
ain't it?
Well, I'm trimming it down.
I reckon I'll run into you
again this winter.
You're gonna be trapping
up the Rogue, are you?
That's none of your business.
None of my business.
I guess it ain't.
You hang on
to your hair,
and you look after
that young 'un.
Uh...
there's about...
3-400,000 beaver
and a whole herd
of mink up there
around that Paiute
burial ground.
You go ahead
and get them.
'Cause of the kid,
I'm gonna get a little
late start this year.
Well, I'll be damned.
What?
You mean to tell me you've
been hunting and trapping
around that mound?
I went and rebuilt
Williamson's cabin
right on top of it.
Well, no wonder
they're after you.
You just don't go
fooling around
their sacred mounds!
I found that out
in a very difficult way.
It really is time
for me to go.
You know what you've done?
You made 'em mad.
You made
their spirits mad.
The way they look at it,
when their dead's restless,
they just roam around
up there in heaven,
and they never get to
their happy hunting grounds.
I know that.
I hope to see you
again, friend,
and I hope you're alive.
Thank you.
I hope you're alive!
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
They crossed yesterday.
Two ponies say
they are camped
across river.
We attack?
No.
He will kill her.
We might hurt the child.
Clouds are gathering.
[GEESE HONKING]
Wounded Leg is ready.
Bring Wannetta
and the sacred white child
back to me.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[GUNSHOT]
Wounded Leg...
is dead.
We must take the child
and kill the tall one.
We will stop
the tall white one.
We will get... the woman...
and the sacred child back.
Place this in their path.
And place the branch
of the white snowberry...
in its jaws.
She will know
what she has to do.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
You know what that is.
Hello!
I've great...
respect for your medicine!
I know that's
the shallowest
part of the creek
and that you know
that I was going
to come here
and cross the creek here
and all that.
But I'll tell you
one thing.
That little one...
that child...
this, you know,
baby? Child?
That's my child!
And I'm not afraid
of that at all.
This is no disrespect here.
Just leave me alone.
[GUNSHOT]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Good hunting.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
That's a hell of a shot.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Yeah?
Peace.
I'll have to
save that one.
[WINGS FLAPPING]
[BABY CRIES]
[YELLING]
[SCREAMING]
[SHOUTING]
She has disobeyed us.
You have also dishonored me
and your people.
I do not want to look
upon your face again!
Such pain.
You must go!
[SHOUTING]
[WANNETTA] No way for me
to say how I felt
that cold morning.
I not speak out against
the medicine men
of my council.
I say,
"I, too, been shown
way of spirits."
No one listened.
Prairie Fox made decision.
I will remain strong.
My spirit will never break.
[AMAZING GRACE PLAYS]
I got to find a nail.
[BELLS JINGLE]
Hello.
[COUGHING]
Where's your woman?
Mmm...
she been dead...
oh, better than
a week now.
I guess when you get
to feeling better, you'll
be heading back south?
No.
No, I'm going back up north
to get my boy.
The woman had the child?
Yes.
The Paiutes got him.
They'll raise him
like one of them.
No.
I'm going to have to
buy a horse off you.
I ain't got one to sell.
I have to have one.
I got one you can use.
I would sincerely
appreciate that.
It's gone!
Damn it, it's gone!
I told you!
I tell you,
you help a stranger,
he pays me back
by stealing my only
Henry Repeater
and my only damn horse!
[WANNETTA] I prayed
to great spirit that day.
I ask him to give me
more strength
than I ever received.
I was in deep thought,
not for me,
but for child.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
I'll be damned.
Witcher!
Witcher.
I'll be damned.
I'll be damned.
Matt!
I'll be damned, Matt!
Son of a gun!
By God!
Son of a gun!
What the hell
are you doing here, Matt?
I didn't think
I'd ever see you again.
It's good seeing you.
You damn near didn't.
Where's the kid?
Oh...
the woman
run off with him.
Figures. How'd she do it?
Well...it's kind of
a long story.
We were going along
and come some
Paiute medicine--
a skull stuck on
a pole in the middle
of the creek.
There was
a bush in his mouth.
I blew it all to hell
and went on.
Was that a horse's skull
you come across?
I believe it was, yeah.
Some kind of a bush
in his mouth.
Yeah, that's what it is.
That's what it is.
She's in big trouble.
Them was orders for her
to kill your horses.
See, them Paiute,
when a horse goes lame,
they take a thorn
off a snowberry bush
and shove it
in one of his veins.
Dies quicker
than a crow can fly
across this river.
Well, I'll be damned.
So they wanted us
afoot, you mean.
That's right.
She didn't follow orders.
I tell you, she's in
some kind of trouble.
What's gonna
happen to her?
Most likely she's outcast.
Well, do you suppose
they're going to
take care of my child?
Not the woman,
I'll tell you that.
Probably one of
his other women
or something.
Don't worry.
They'll take care of it.
For whatever reason it was,
they really wanted that kid.
Well, we'll find out.
It's your doing,
if you think it'll work.
I think I'll just
sit over here and watch.
That's the last one.
It's going to get
real interesting
before the day's over.
It sure ought to.
[GROANS]
Dang fool.
[FIRE CRACKLING]
Won't be long now.
Well, then what the hell
we gonna do
when all them Paiutes
come riding in on us
and there's
just you and me?
Kind of uneven,
ain't it?
Fifteen times.
They don't understand that.
What you talking about?
[BREATHES DEEPLY]
Well, lookee what we got here.
It worked, all right.
There he goes.
Probably won't be back
till tomorrow morning,
and he ain't
gonna be alone.
No.
He will not be alone.
[CHANTING]
[PANTING]
Tall one and crazy one
at sacred mound.
Make warriors ready.
Maybe you ought to
take that torch
and head up the mound.
You know damn well
they're watching us.
Uh-oh.
Told you, you should have been
on that mound with that torch!
You better wait till they
get down that river.
Hell with that.
Watch this.
Six for me,
and one for you.
Missed him.
Six for you
and two for me.
[CHEWING]
[COUGHING]
Good morning.
Snow.
You're eating
your breakfast.
How can you
think about eating
at a time like this?
It's easy whenever you think
it may be your last meal.
Hey, didn't I tell you
we're gonna have some snow?
Didn't know it'd be
so damn much.
How many he said they
gonna send this morning?
Well, I don't know.
Probably the whole
damn Paiute nation.
Hey.
[BABY CRIES]
There's only one of them.
Looks like the woman
brung back the boy.
I'll be damned.
They're going to
give him back to me.
Probably some kind of a trick.
You want me
to drop him?
No! You might
hit the child.
Hell, I'm better than that.
Just keep a bead on her.
I'm going to
go get the boy.
Careful.
That ain't no woman.
Anything goes wrong,
you take that torch
and you go burn them dead,
you understand?
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Come on across
and out of that water.
I told you
you can't trust him.
Watch out, Matt.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
What the hell is he
talking about?
He's telling you
to throw your rifle
in the river.
You tell him he harms
that child, he'd be dead
and drowned himself.
Better do what he says.
He'll kill that kid
sure as hell.
[CRYING]
[GUNSHOT]
Damn it, would you
hold your fire?
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Come on out of there.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[CHANTING]
Hey, hey, hey...
[IMITATING CHANTING]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[GUNSHOT]
[BABY CRYING]
[GRUNTS]
Damn.
Damn Paiutes.
Hyah!
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Hyah!
[SHOUTING IN
PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[WANNETTA SHOUTING]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[WANNETTA SHOUTING]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
There will be
no more killing.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[BABY CRYING]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SOFT MUSIC PLAYING]
Hyah!
[GUNSHOT]
[GROWLING]
[GROWLING]
[SCREAMING]
[HORSES NEIGHING]
[SCREAMING]
[SCREAMING]
You all right?
Huh?
He backtracked on me.
Nice and fat.
That's going
to taste good.
Let's skin him out.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
♪ Amazing grace
♪ How sweet the sound... ♪
Colter, Paiute!
[WOMAN] Here on Goose Creek,
I first saw him with woman.
End of fall.
Winter was coming.
Trees and leaves
gave me answer.
Gold and red
was on forest.
First snow came and went.
He frightened me. Only seen
one white man before.
When I was ten,
my father traded with one
for cloth at Williamson river.
I was gathering
firewood for cooking.
We were here two days,
all women and children,
our warriors on attack
with Modocs
on a river named
after white man.
Call it "Rogue."
We call it "swift one."
[BELLS JINGLE]
Hello.
Hey, good morning.
This your place?
Oh, yeah.
Kinda something, ain't it?
Uh, you mind if this
Indian woman sit down
over there in the corner
and warm up?
Oh, I'd be real hurt
if she didn't. You hear me?
You come on in here.
Go on, now.
Got her all
settled down there.
My name's Matt.
Uh, what?
Matt.
Matt. I'm Tolbert.
Hello, Tolbert.
Glad you could stop by.
What can I do for you?
Well...
I need a few things.
That's what I'm here for.
Where you headed?
I'm going up the road.
Trapping?
Yeah.
And I need...
Oh, I don't know
what I need.
Well, I'll tell you one thing
you're gonna need for sure.
A piece of rawhide to tie
that hair you're on with.
[COUGHING]
My friend...
I've come across
the Great Divide
and all
the Rocky Mountains,
and I still have it
on my head, as you
can plainly see.
My friend, you ain't
crossed Paiute country
yet, neither,
as I can plainly see.
Pi...
what...what's that?
Paiute.
[MATT] Payoot?
[TOLBERT] Paiute.
That's funny,
'cause she sa--
Oh, could I have
something warm
for her to drink?
Mm-hmm.
Uh... kind of stout?
Mmm...why not?
Hot coffee and rum.
Rum?
Mm-hmm.
Uh... you ain't got
any whiskey, do you?
Lookee here.
[CHUCKLING]
You know, you're not a bad man
to run onto, are you?
You betcha.
I would like one
of those.
You're gonna get one.
Coffee's right over there.
[CLEARS THROAT]
That'll be 15 cents.
Well, you can pay me when you
get back over here.
[CHUCKLES] I forgot about that.
Yep.
And there's coffee.
You know, she said
something about that
when we passed
a camp yesterday.
Indian camp, you know?
She said that. "Paiute."
One of them squaws saw us.
They didn't do nothing.
I mean, what's so special
about them?
It ain't squaws
you got to worry about.
It's the men
you got to hide from.
You don't believe it.
Look right here.
Let me show you something.
Look at that. Look right there.
About six years ago,
them damn Paiutes jumped me
one morning when
I was setting some traps.
How far does that go?
Way down there.
Healed up good though.
It just pinched
right together.
It's a long way
from your heart.
What did the other fellow
look like?
Well, I kept one of them's
head on a stick out back
for the rest
of that winter.
[LAUGHS HEARTILY]
Come summer, though,
he started to thaw out on me.
He did. Just thawed.
Began to stink so,
I finally had to
throw him away.
[LAUGHS]
Yeah.
Uh...how's the...
trapping been up there
in them lines
for the fellas
for beaver and mink?
Trapping's been real good.
I mean, more mink and
more beaver this year
than ever I seen.
I suppose
that means that...
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
there's going to be
a lower price
for the hide, huh?
Oh, lots of hides does
bring down the prices.
What is that?
That, uh, that real pretty
new rifle over there?
What the hell is it?
That's a Henry...
Repeater.
Huh?
A re...repeater.
What do you mean?
I mean
it'll fire 15 times
before you
have to reload it.
[LAUGHS]
All right,
you're a trading man.
Now listen,
I'm going to need about
six number four traps.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
Look at that.
Look here, now.
That's .44 caliber.
It'll fire 15 times.
You don't got to do nothing
but pull this here down.
I... I need things, now.
Come on.
Don't make jokes and...
Yeah... plug your ears!
Just plug your ears!
Plug your ears!
[GUNSHOT]
[GUNSHOT]
Yeah.
.44 caliber, it'll fire
15 times, my friend.
Could...
may I hold that
for a minute?
Yeah.
Careful.
Brand-new.
How in the hell
does this work?
Push. Push that thing.
Push it down.
See the shell--
What--
[GASPS]
You!
Fire, right over that way.
Yeah, yeah,
right over there.
[GUNSHOT]
[TOLBERT] Do it again.
Push that thing down.
My God.
Go get 'em.
[GUNSHOT]
[LAUGHS]
I better hold that.
I better-- yeah.
Now-- now, wait.
W--wait a minute.
What do they
get for those?
It'll take
a $20 gold piece
to get that rifle.
Well, I haven't got
a $20 gold piece.
Now...
I've got a fine
Hawken here.
It shoots straight
as an--
you... you look
like a trading man,
aren't you?
Got a whole rack
full of Hawkens.
I want it, trader.
Well, why don't you
come on back and look at it
from time to time?
It'll be right over here.
$20 is all it takes.
You keep that here,
'cause I'm gonna be
back for it.
[MATT] Fifteen times
without reloading it.
You wouldn't have been scared
and hurt and everything.
You wouldn't have
lost your friend.
God!
Fifteen times...
A Henry Repeating rifle.
There'd have been
a dead bear and...
a live horse.
[woman] A brave reached camp.
told of battle between
our warriors and Modoc people
and river of swift water.
Many hurt, some killed.
We were to meet
and bury warriors
before second sun.
It's hard for me
this time.
Two days before,
I lost my new son
of only one moon
to Great Fever.
Come on!
Whoa!
[Matt] Now, that's funny.
I don't know.
Old Patrick Shay,
gave me that map to rendezvous.
He didn't say anything about
the cabin
being torn down.
I'll build a fire up here.
You know, I've never
asked you before.
Where did you...
get that name,
Little Doe?
Mother gave.
"Mother gave."
No, uh...
Now say.
My mother...
My mother...
gave it...
gave it...
to me.
to... me.
My mother
gave it to me.
My mother
gave it to me.
Good girl.
You see how--
like these...
things are notched already
and hewn and stuff?
That's 'cause there was
a cabin before.
The thing just
fell down here.
It's not gonna take any time
at all to put it right back up.
It's going to be
a lot of work, but...
we're going to
pull them up,
put it right up there,
where it used to be.
[LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING]
Make a house.
Fine house.
Like some of the ones
I showed you in
St. Louis, huh?
Hyah!
[NEIGHING]
Get up!
Now...
come here.
[ AMAZING GRACE PLAYING]
Come on
with the mud!
Come on,
strong, strong, strong.
Stop it!
Stop that!
Stop that!
[LAUGHING]
Stop that!
Colter, stop!
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]
[PLAYING
AMAZING GRACE]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
Uh, why don't you
get my coat?
I'm going to run
that trap line up
on that upper creek.
And when I get back--
[HORN BLARING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
The Paiute.
That's Paiute.
What the hell do they want
around here?
Boston man!
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Uh-uh.
What do you want?
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[WOMAN] It was him
and pretty woman again.
I did not expect
to see them.
Parley!
[woman] I say nothing
of seeing them in forest.
Now maybe I should have.
It was like the spirit
trying to say something to me
about my own son
through him and pretty woman
with child.
I felt coldness
through my body
as I watched them.
[CHANTING IN PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[CHANTING]
[WHOOPING]
[CHANTING]
Well,
they're leaving.
They will return.
I feel I know why
they are here,
yet I cannot say.
Well, how do you know?
You mean, uh...
You understand it?
Paiute?
Paiute? You speak--
You understand it?
No Paiute.
How do you know
what's going on?
It's that hill.
Spirits in the wind
each day
blow around me
and my child.
Spirits?
What do you mean?
What kind of spirits?
Now, listen here.
You're acting
like you know
what's going on here.
You've got
to tell me.
You know I don't
understand everything
about your people.
You got to make me
understand it.
Spit it out, woman!
Hill.
Sacred ground.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
Sac...
sacred, you mean
like, uh...
graveyard?
Like...
burial ground?
[SIGHS]
Well, I'm a damn fool.
Well, that's got
to be it, then.
All of them women
with them travois
tied behind
the horses, they...
there ain't no tribe
bringing a bunch of women
on a raiding party.
they're coming here
to bury their dead, huh?
No one...
will stand between
our dead warriors
and great spirit.
No one!
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[CHANTING]
[CHANTING]
Oh, Lord.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[WHOOPING]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[WHOOPING]
All right.
I'll tell you
what we're going to do.
We're going to just
pack up a few things
and get the hell
off this mound.
Right now.
[GROANING]
What's the matter with you?
Baby pain.
Baby pain?
Oh, honey.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
You wouldn't go
have that now,
would you?
Please don't
have that right now.
[WHOOPING]
Please don't have
that right now, please.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SIGHS]
When they come back,
I'm going to have to
go down there
and meet with them
to somehow figure out
a way to make them understand
that you just
cannot be moved yet.
[KISSES]
You say
your prayer now
for the child to be...
strong.
Sun coming up.
[SINGING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[WHOOPING]
[SCREAMING]
Huh? Huh?
Huh?
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[CHANTING]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
I'll get you to water.
Get out of my way!
[SHOUTING IN PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
You hear me?
Get out of my way!
Huh? Huh?
[MOANING]
Huh?
[CRYING]
[CHANTING]
[GROANING]
[LITTLE DOVE GRUNTING]
Uh-uh, uh-uh.
Push! Push!
[CHANTING]
[MATT] Push!
[GASPING]
Now...
Now!
Push!
[GRUNTING]
Push!
[LITTLE DOVE GROANING]
Come on. Push!
[LITTLE DOVE GROANING]
Again!
[BABY CRIES]
That is a good sign,
for he has
given new life
back to this
sacred place.
[BABY CRIES]
My child!
She's dead!
You've killed one
of your own kind!
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
[AMAZING GRACE PLAYING]
The Lord is my shepherd...
I shall not want.
[BABY COOS]
I will fear no evil,
for Thou art with me.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Hey, Prairie Fox,
it's me, Lum Witcher!
I'm coming in!
I bet you didn't expect
a surprise from me, eh?
I've got some fish
for you, Prairie Fox!
Are you ready?
[CHUCKLING]
Coming in,
Prairie Fox.
Howdy, Prairie Fox?
I'm coming in.
Warm up one of them
squaws for me. [LAUGHS]
Howdy there,
Prairie Fox?
Ain't seen you
since last summer.
I got some bear claws
here for you.
And I got you
a Cheyenne scalp.
I know
you'd like that.
Uh...
What the hell's
going on?
I gave you a fair deal
when I traded with you
last year over on the Rogue.
I was gonna give you
a better deal this year.
Hell, I got some
fancy claws here
from a trading post
up on the Hudson Bay
for you and your women.
You're out
of your damn mind.
Hyah!
[HORSE NEIGHING]
[LAUGHTER]
Hey, hold up there!
Lum Witcher.
Colter.
Where you headed?
Back there where
you come from.
Man, don't go down there.
There's a Paiute
war party out there.
Somebody I've
been trading with.
I've traded with them
Paiutes for eight years.
Now I ain't never been
treated so unhospitable.
You don't talk much,
do you?
I'll be damned
if you ain't as touchy
as them Paiutes.
Whole world's
going to hell.
North America
fighting South America.
The Paiutes stop
trading with me.
Now in the middle
of nowhere,
I meet a stranger
with a chip on his shoulder.
Which side you on,
the North or the South?
I don't understand that.
Where'd you come from
when you come out here?
Three hundred miles
south of St. Louis,
about the 1st of June.
Damn, you're an enemy!
You're from the South!
Get them hands up!
Cock that and I'll
blow your throat out.
Oh.
[CLEARS THROAT]
[BABY CRIES]
What the hell
you got there?
A human child.
What did you think it was,
a little baby buffalo
or something?
Hell, man, I stump broke
many a buffalo in my day.
I once kept a buffalo cow
tied up behind my cabin
for three years.
Fed her the first year.
Fell in love with her
the second year.
The third year,
I shot her and ate her.
[LAUGHS]
[BABY CRYING]
Unwrap that thing.
Let me take a look at it.
I'll be damned.
It's a--
It's a real baby.
What you
been feeding it?
A little berry juice.
Berry juice? Hell, man!
You can't feed a baby
like that, just berry juice.
Kid like that's got to
be breast-fed to survive.
I still do! [LAUGHS]
You say you run onto
a Paiute war party
up there somewhere?
Yeah, about a mile
down that creek there.
You know, I've been trading
with that sub-chieff Prairie Fox
for a long time now.
But I come across him
by midday today,
and he ran me off.
You better take
that kid of yours and get
through that pass there.
You can make Fort Klamath
in about five days.
The child won't
survive five days.
Come on.
You know,
when we hooked up,
you said something
about the North
fighting the South.
What is that?
There's a war
going on down there
out of these mountains
People killing
their own kind.
Ain't you
heard about it?
No.
Just as well.
People gone crazy.
You know, they call it
a civil war.
You tell me,
what's civil about a man
killing his own kind?
[BABY CRYING]
Come on.
Uh...
Ever think about
asking Prairie Fox
to have his women help you
with feeding the young 'un?
Huh?
Prairie Fox always
travels with his women.
One of them had a kid
a few months back.
I've seen her
when I ran onto them
this morning.
She's a looker.
How old is the child?
Old enough to be
off her breast,
that's for sure,
if it's alive.
Paiutes lost a whole
bunch of kids to yellow fever
a while back.
If I was to go
in there and talk
to Prairie Fox
about his woman
feeding my child,
how would I
recognize the woman
from all the others?
Now, why are you
asking that?
'Cause he's going to starve
to death, and I'm in a hurry.
For whatever reason
you're asking,
she'd be in
the only lodge
they got set up.
The Paiutes only
set up one lodge
when they're having
a burial party.
And she'd be the only
looker in the lodge.
The rest of them
would all be my kind.
[LAUGHS]
Now, if I was
to go in there
and ask old Prairie Fox
about him letting
his woman
feeding my child,
how would I
go about that?
Go in the morning.
You go in real polite,
real slow,
and real easy.
Yeah.
I'll go real polite,
real slow, real easy.
[HUMMING]
Busha,
we give you thanks...
for you have
given us everything.
They did not listen
to the voices of nature.
They destroyed the trees,
wounded the earth,
scattered the game.
The white man's law
is the thunder sticks
that kill us.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[WOMAN SCREAMING]
[WOMAN SCREAMING]
[GRUNTS]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Hyah!
Hyah!
[GUNSHOT]
[BABY CRYING]
[MATT] If you don't stop
your damn squalling,
you ain't gonna die
of natural causes.
You're going to die
of mountain man-choking.
How I ever get myself in
these messes, I'll never know.
Why your Pa wanted
me to wait out here
in the damn cold,
I can't figure out.
In the meantime,
shut up.
Here comes your dinner,
and about time.
[WHOOPING]
Get down!
Come over here
behind these horses.
[YELLS]
Get down.
Tell her to feed the child.
Feed it!
Feed the child!
Take my advice, Injun,
you'll give that baby
some of your breast.
I wouldn't waste
a lot of time, either!
[LAUGHS]
Tell her in Paiute.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SCREAMING]
Feed it!
[BABY CRYING]
[WHOOPING]
You got a pack
of trouble coming.
If you talk Paiute,
you should tell him
if he comes any closer,
I'm gonna blow his head off.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
What's he saying?
You got trouble,
all right.
I don't figure
he's gonna leave here
without his woman.
I'm gonna send him his woman
on the back of a travois,
dead behind your horse
the minute he
comes any closer.
Now you tell him.
My horse?
Tell him!
You realize if they
decide to rush us,
we only got two shots
between us.
Yeah, one's gonna be for her
and the other's for you
if you don't
straighten this out
right now.
Why don't I just tell him
as soon as she finishes
feeding the baby,
she'll go back to him?
I'm taking the baby
to Fort Klamath, and when
I make sure that it's safe,
I'm gonna release her.
So you just tell him that.
Yeah.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Now what's he saying?
He says he ain't leaving
until he gets his woman
and the baby.
He figures the baby
belongs to them.
No!
Take it and ride.
Take it!
Don't see why
I get stuck
with the damn baby.
Them Paiutes
they're never gonna
trade with me again!
I don't know what you did
to make them think
the baby's theirs.
[BABY CRYING]
You leave me alone!
Come on!
[WOMAN SCREAMS]
Come on!
Come on!
You do not
follow me!
I'll blow her head off!
Come on!
Come on!
Come on!
Come on!
Come on!
I guess this is about
as good a place as any
for me to be leaving you.
I don't know what
you've done to Prairie Fox,
but I'm going to get
out of here while I can.
What's the big hurry?
What's the big hurry?
I've been hung up
with you and your problems
for two days now.
That's longer than
I ever stayed with a squaw.
It's your decision.
It seems like you'd
have a better chance
if you stuck with me.
Besides, you know
old Prairie Fox
won't be thinking too highly
of you, either, you know.
Let me tell you something.
He ain't going to stop
till he gets his woman.
And for some reason,
he wants the kid too.
You know,
I thought when
you got the baby fed,
you'd just go on to the fort.
Why don't you
let the woman go?
Maybe he'll
forget about the kid.
Uh-uh.
No. I'm gonna keep her
with me all the way
to the fort...
for security.
I might not even
let her go when
I get there, either.
[LUM LAUGHS]
Well, suit yourself.
Your chances are a lot
better without me, though.
Well, you can make up
your own mind.
You see, the Paiutes
only send one warrior
after a lone enemy.
It's sort of like a...
a code of honor
or something.
Is that true?
I've heard that
from somebody.
You mean, like,
just she and I...
she being a woman,
they'd only send one?
But if it's you and me,
they'd send a war party?
I'll be damned.
I don't think it matters
none anyway.
I wouldn't be surprised
if the only ones that
gets out of here alive
is the squaw and the baby.
Who's gonna take care of you?
I've been surviving out here
for over 40 years.
I still got my hair,
and that's without
you around!
[LAUGHS]
Yeah.
One thing
I don't understand.
Never seen a squaw
take up with
a white baby before.
Well,
maybe that's 'cause
she knows what
would happen to her
if she didn't.
[CHOPPING]
What the hell
is that?
A piece of bark
off of a tree.
If it's supposed
to be a shield,
it's kind of heavy,
ain't it?
Well, I'm trimming it down.
I reckon I'll run into you
again this winter.
You're gonna be trapping
up the Rogue, are you?
That's none of your business.
None of my business.
I guess it ain't.
You hang on
to your hair,
and you look after
that young 'un.
Uh...
there's about...
3-400,000 beaver
and a whole herd
of mink up there
around that Paiute
burial ground.
You go ahead
and get them.
'Cause of the kid,
I'm gonna get a little
late start this year.
Well, I'll be damned.
What?
You mean to tell me you've
been hunting and trapping
around that mound?
I went and rebuilt
Williamson's cabin
right on top of it.
Well, no wonder
they're after you.
You just don't go
fooling around
their sacred mounds!
I found that out
in a very difficult way.
It really is time
for me to go.
You know what you've done?
You made 'em mad.
You made
their spirits mad.
The way they look at it,
when their dead's restless,
they just roam around
up there in heaven,
and they never get to
their happy hunting grounds.
I know that.
I hope to see you
again, friend,
and I hope you're alive.
Thank you.
I hope you're alive!
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
They crossed yesterday.
Two ponies say
they are camped
across river.
We attack?
No.
He will kill her.
We might hurt the child.
Clouds are gathering.
[GEESE HONKING]
Wounded Leg is ready.
Bring Wannetta
and the sacred white child
back to me.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[GUNSHOT]
Wounded Leg...
is dead.
We must take the child
and kill the tall one.
We will stop
the tall white one.
We will get... the woman...
and the sacred child back.
Place this in their path.
And place the branch
of the white snowberry...
in its jaws.
She will know
what she has to do.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
You know what that is.
Hello!
I've great...
respect for your medicine!
I know that's
the shallowest
part of the creek
and that you know
that I was going
to come here
and cross the creek here
and all that.
But I'll tell you
one thing.
That little one...
that child...
this, you know,
baby? Child?
That's my child!
And I'm not afraid
of that at all.
This is no disrespect here.
Just leave me alone.
[GUNSHOT]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Good hunting.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
That's a hell of a shot.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Yeah?
Peace.
I'll have to
save that one.
[WINGS FLAPPING]
[BABY CRIES]
[YELLING]
[SCREAMING]
[SHOUTING]
She has disobeyed us.
You have also dishonored me
and your people.
I do not want to look
upon your face again!
Such pain.
You must go!
[SHOUTING]
[WANNETTA] No way for me
to say how I felt
that cold morning.
I not speak out against
the medicine men
of my council.
I say,
"I, too, been shown
way of spirits."
No one listened.
Prairie Fox made decision.
I will remain strong.
My spirit will never break.
[AMAZING GRACE PLAYS]
I got to find a nail.
[BELLS JINGLE]
Hello.
[COUGHING]
Where's your woman?
Mmm...
she been dead...
oh, better than
a week now.
I guess when you get
to feeling better, you'll
be heading back south?
No.
No, I'm going back up north
to get my boy.
The woman had the child?
Yes.
The Paiutes got him.
They'll raise him
like one of them.
No.
I'm going to have to
buy a horse off you.
I ain't got one to sell.
I have to have one.
I got one you can use.
I would sincerely
appreciate that.
It's gone!
Damn it, it's gone!
I told you!
I tell you,
you help a stranger,
he pays me back
by stealing my only
Henry Repeater
and my only damn horse!
[WANNETTA] I prayed
to great spirit that day.
I ask him to give me
more strength
than I ever received.
I was in deep thought,
not for me,
but for child.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
I'll be damned.
Witcher!
Witcher.
I'll be damned.
I'll be damned.
Matt!
I'll be damned, Matt!
Son of a gun!
By God!
Son of a gun!
What the hell
are you doing here, Matt?
I didn't think
I'd ever see you again.
It's good seeing you.
You damn near didn't.
Where's the kid?
Oh...
the woman
run off with him.
Figures. How'd she do it?
Well...it's kind of
a long story.
We were going along
and come some
Paiute medicine--
a skull stuck on
a pole in the middle
of the creek.
There was
a bush in his mouth.
I blew it all to hell
and went on.
Was that a horse's skull
you come across?
I believe it was, yeah.
Some kind of a bush
in his mouth.
Yeah, that's what it is.
That's what it is.
She's in big trouble.
Them was orders for her
to kill your horses.
See, them Paiute,
when a horse goes lame,
they take a thorn
off a snowberry bush
and shove it
in one of his veins.
Dies quicker
than a crow can fly
across this river.
Well, I'll be damned.
So they wanted us
afoot, you mean.
That's right.
She didn't follow orders.
I tell you, she's in
some kind of trouble.
What's gonna
happen to her?
Most likely she's outcast.
Well, do you suppose
they're going to
take care of my child?
Not the woman,
I'll tell you that.
Probably one of
his other women
or something.
Don't worry.
They'll take care of it.
For whatever reason it was,
they really wanted that kid.
Well, we'll find out.
It's your doing,
if you think it'll work.
I think I'll just
sit over here and watch.
That's the last one.
It's going to get
real interesting
before the day's over.
It sure ought to.
[GROANS]
Dang fool.
[FIRE CRACKLING]
Won't be long now.
Well, then what the hell
we gonna do
when all them Paiutes
come riding in on us
and there's
just you and me?
Kind of uneven,
ain't it?
Fifteen times.
They don't understand that.
What you talking about?
[BREATHES DEEPLY]
Well, lookee what we got here.
It worked, all right.
There he goes.
Probably won't be back
till tomorrow morning,
and he ain't
gonna be alone.
No.
He will not be alone.
[CHANTING]
[PANTING]
Tall one and crazy one
at sacred mound.
Make warriors ready.
Maybe you ought to
take that torch
and head up the mound.
You know damn well
they're watching us.
Uh-oh.
Told you, you should have been
on that mound with that torch!
You better wait till they
get down that river.
Hell with that.
Watch this.
Six for me,
and one for you.
Missed him.
Six for you
and two for me.
[CHEWING]
[COUGHING]
Good morning.
Snow.
You're eating
your breakfast.
How can you
think about eating
at a time like this?
It's easy whenever you think
it may be your last meal.
Hey, didn't I tell you
we're gonna have some snow?
Didn't know it'd be
so damn much.
How many he said they
gonna send this morning?
Well, I don't know.
Probably the whole
damn Paiute nation.
Hey.
[BABY CRIES]
There's only one of them.
Looks like the woman
brung back the boy.
I'll be damned.
They're going to
give him back to me.
Probably some kind of a trick.
You want me
to drop him?
No! You might
hit the child.
Hell, I'm better than that.
Just keep a bead on her.
I'm going to
go get the boy.
Careful.
That ain't no woman.
Anything goes wrong,
you take that torch
and you go burn them dead,
you understand?
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Come on across
and out of that water.
I told you
you can't trust him.
Watch out, Matt.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
What the hell is he
talking about?
He's telling you
to throw your rifle
in the river.
You tell him he harms
that child, he'd be dead
and drowned himself.
Better do what he says.
He'll kill that kid
sure as hell.
[CRYING]
[GUNSHOT]
Damn it, would you
hold your fire?
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Come on out of there.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[CHANTING]
Hey, hey, hey...
[IMITATING CHANTING]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[GUNSHOT]
[BABY CRYING]
[GRUNTS]
Damn.
Damn Paiutes.
Hyah!
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
Hyah!
[SHOUTING IN
PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[WANNETTA SHOUTING]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[WANNETTA SHOUTING]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
There will be
no more killing.
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[BABY CRYING]
[SPEAKING PAIUTE LANGUAGE]
[SOFT MUSIC PLAYING]
Hyah!