1923 (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Ghost of Zebrina - full transcript
- Morning, Mrs. Dutton.
- Morning, Mabel.
Hmm. Can't get
here soon enough.
No cable?
- Not today.
If one comes, I'll
send Steven with it.
At least spare you
the carriage ride.
- Then I'll be waiting for a man
who never comes
instead of a cable.
The carriage allows me
to remove hope early,
so I can get on with my day.
Okay.
- Come on.
Life had become a
series of melancholy routines.
Like a defeated stag
that had retreated deep
into the forest to
tend its wounds...
Our family had lost itself
in the tedium of healing.
The hobby of watching young
love had been robbed from her,
Jack choosing to
spend his evenings
patrolling headquarters,
choosing revenge over passion.
- I've sent for the doctor.
- What for?
- For you.
I'll not spoon feed
and bathe two, Emma...
You have a child, he needs you.
- He is a man.
Who has a woman.
He has no need for me.
- Sons outgrow their
mothers, now, do they?
- Become a mother
before you lecture me
about sons and what they do.
A billion years of life
led to my family standing
in the mountains of Montana.
And only four Duttons
remained on this earth
to survive another generation.
We were going extinct.
- When we get to
port, stay close.
- I came through
Mombasa, it was fine.
- You came with a group
and your drivers waiting.
We have neither.
Stay close.
Our family is
condemned to journey.
Journey from Ireland
to escape poverty.
Journey from Tennessee
to escape war.
Journey from Kentucky
to offer salvation.
Journey from Africa
to seek vengeance.
Montana is the magnet now.
It is the next journey.
And for my young brother,
it will be his last.
- Thank you.
- When you come back, Spencer?
- I don't come back.
This is goodbye.
- Last ride for
a friend is free.
- Thank you.
You said stay close. Ow.
- Let's go.
- I need to book
passage to America.
- America? And how do
you expect to do that?
- You tell me.
- We have no liners
to the States.
I can book you to London.
You can arrange
transport from there.
- Book me to London.
- Which class of travel?
- The cheapest.
- First class is forty
pounds per passenger.
It's thirty for tourist class,
but the lady will
melt beneath the bow,
while you will war
with the rats, sir.
- And I do not refer to rodents.
- First class, then.
How long is the journey?
- Depends on
traffic at the Suez.
A month, give or take...
Your vessel is
the RMS Franconia.
You will embark on...
November 11th.
- That's three weeks.
I can't wait three weeks.
- What's another option?
- I don't know. We're
gonna have to find out.
- There are no
other options, sir.
- Summon the girls.
- Where did she go?
- I don't... I don't know.
- If you don't know,
why are you crying?
What have the innocent to fear?
Fear is the stench
of guilt, child.
And you reek of it.
Where did she go?
- I don't know.
- I don't know!
- When you do not tell the
truth, you aid a sinner.
To aid a sinner is
a sin itself, child.
To aid a murderer is to bathe
in the blood of her victims.
- I told you... truth.
She went home.
- Walking...
Four hundred miles...
Through badlands and
desert and canyons...
With no assistance.
No supplies...
You expect me to
accept that as fact?
- You have strayed
from the light.
Forsaken it.
The devil runs you now.
You are his marionette.
He works your filthy mouth
with his little strings.
You will tell me the truth
or I will deliver you to him.
Father.
- Bring her back to me.
- It's just you?
- My bride.
- Bride... A woman.
Mister, this... this
ship is a trawler.
The quarters, they are...
They deck hands, they
are... they are deck hands.
A woman on board? No.
Is she pretty?
- She'll take your breath away.
- Are you crazy?
No.
They will throw you overboard
and keep the woman
for themselves. No.
I have idea for you.
That old man.
He is transporting
a tug to the Suez.
Once you get to the Suez you
can get passage to anywhere.
He is looking for deck hands.
Ever worked a deck?
- No.
- Better you lie. Say yes.
Come.
- Lucca!
Lucca, you found
any sailors yet?
- No, nobody wants
to transport a tug.
All the money is on the
merchant ships and whalers.
- Well, I have one for you here.
- Looks like a hunter.
- I need transport to a port
that gets me to Britain.
I can pay.
And I'm willing to work.
- How much you want to pay?
- Cruise liners charge
30. I'll pay you that.
- Thirty pounds to swab
deck and stow gear?
All right. You got a deal.
We leave first light.
Harbor nine, slip 52.
- Mustard gas.
- How do you know that?
- Used to captain a liner
made into a hospital.
Bring the boys on hit
with that mustard.
- Once you seen them boys...
There's no unseeing it.
You just know it
when you look at it.
Mr. Hunter...
Tomorrow we're gonna
make a sailor out of you.
- Your father is Runs his Horse.
Hank.
- Hank. Why Hank?
- When they made
us choose names,
everybody was choosing
George or Jim.
Nobody was choosing
Hank so I chose it.
- This isn't part of the Rez.
- Ain't part of nothing.
That's why I'm here.
- That doesn't make sense.
- The sheep belong
to the people.
If the government
finds out we got 'em,
the government's gonna take 'em.
- Why would they take 'em?
- Why would they take you?
- I'm in big trouble.
I killed the nun who beat me,
and I killed the
nun who raped me.
Now they're gonna
come and kill me.
I beat 'em...
choked one and
stabbed the other.
- They did this?
I'd say they had it coming.
You come home with me.
I'll send word to your father.
- Maybe we should go to Canada.
- No Canada.
Canada's worse.
First we find your father,
then we find a place.
What about our tracks?
What tracks?
- It's incredible.
This yours?
- It belongs to the bank.
- Strafford widow
packed up. Headed east.
That ranch borders
the Yellowstone.
- Goes into the mountains?
- More mountain land
than the Yellowstone.
I don't know know
much about mines,
but if I was building one...
I'd build it there.
Spring creeks
through both canyons.
See here?
Headwaters, here.
Another one here...
Feed down into the Yellowstone.
- And to the south is the Park.
- Aye.
- And she abandoned it.
- Walked away.
It's the bank's
now, too, I'm sure.
All these ranchers
leveraged their land
to build up their herds.
Only way to make money
off cows now is steal 'em.
- Get me more of these.
Anyone you can run off.
We'll choke this Dutton out.
- How much land do you want?
- I want it all.
I want the whole valley.
- Where do you feed the wood?
- It runs on gas.
- Gas from where?
- It's piped into the house.
Where do you live, Banner?
- I've a homestead up
north in the mountains.
- Log and sod?
- Aye.
- Never lived in a city.
- Never.
- In the country, you
survive your surroundings,
or try to, anyway.
It's the most a man can muster
when he abandons civilization.
Cities are the mastery
one's surroundings.
Necessities become comforts.
In the wild, the
availability of water
dictates whether you
survived the day.
In the city...
That most precious
of resources...
becomes an afterthought.
No more log and sod for you.
It's yours.
Now you're a master, too.
- Hard to build a herd when
you sell all the heifers.
- We ain't building
it. We're shrinking it.
- Everybody's getting out.
Never thought I'd see the day.
Heard some of your hands
went off to Hollywood
with them Strafford boys to play
cowboy in the silent pictures.
That your plan, too?
- They can play
cowboy all they want.
I'll stick to doing it for real.
- You keep selling off your herd
you ain't gonna have
nuthin' to cowboy with.
Take that to the cashier,
she'll pay you out.
- What happened?
- Doctor says he needs sunlight.
- Look how angry you are.
- Brewsters sold out.
Straffords are gone.
My parents gone...
You're goddamn right I'm angry.
- We can't win...
No leader.
Can't win without a leader.
- I can lead 'em.
- They won't follow you.
Not yet.
This must be done right.
Or we lose everything.
- You got old.
- I've been old, son.
Guess I'm gonna have to learn
how to shoot left-handed.
Fuckers got me pretty good, huh?
- We're gonna get them back.
- He's taking it pretty hard.
- It's cost him
more than anyone.
- Keep him close.
Don't let him go
to town anymore.
Did you start hiring
livestock agents?
- Sheriff has
started interviewing.
- No. You gotta do it.
You gotta look 'em in the eye.
Don't trust the charming ones.
Charming ones work for him.
If he's smart, he's got
somebody to back him.
Someone with money.
- Why do you think that?
- 'Cause that's what I'd do,
if I was in his spot.
- I find it hard to
believe that anyone
would support that monster.
- It'd take another
monster, that's for sure.
Who's the one man in this state
benefits if the
ranchers move out?
What's the one business that
doesn't have recessions?
- Gold.
- You can start on
solid foods tomorrow.
Oatmeal. Rice.
Bland.
Have some of your
cowboys help you walk.
You need to start moving.
I'll check on you next week.
- Cowboys don't get
to see me like this.
- I'll help you.
- You're gonna have to
'cause they're leaving.
- You've lost enough weight,
I bet I can carry you myself.
- Guess we'll find out.
- This isn't what you promised.
You haven't lost anything
that I haven't lost.
I'm an orphan too, now.
And all we have is each other
and I don't even have that.
Our wedding day came and
went with no mention of it.
We don't... We don't speak.
You don't even touch me.
I've got just as much right
to hate the man as you do,
but I don't.
Because hate takes
your whole heart,
every bit of it.
It leaves no room for love.
I choose not to hate him,
so there's room in
my heart for you.
If you won't do the same for
me, then take me to town.
Send me home, Jack.
Look at the size of this prison.
That's what I'm in, Jack.
- No, you're not.
- It's a prison.
You have made this
place a prison.
- It's not a prison. It's not.
It's home. It's your home.
I am your husband.
- Not yet, you aren't.
- We don't need a
wedding to get married.
We don't need a church.
We're standing in
front of God right now.
I, Jack Dutton, take you,
Liz Strafford, to be my
lawfully wedded wife.
To have and to hold,
in sickness and in health,
for richer and for poorer...
For better or worse,
so long as we both shall live...
We're only half done.
You gotta say it back.
Sun feels good.
- How does some rice sound?
- Sounds like shit.
- Don't we have a
steak in the ice box?
- Mm, mm, mm. Doctor said...
- If nine bullets don't kill
me I doubt a steak will.
- I'll boil a chicken.
With rice...
He said rice,
you're having rice.
- Chicken and rice.
That's nobody's last meal.
- Exactly.
- Did you plan on
leaving a note?
- It's on the dresser.
- What does it say?
- Says that this trip
is too dangerous.
Envelope has money so you can
book passage back to London.
Says I'll send for
you when it's safe.
- Says a lot.
There is no sending
for me, Spencer.
We have a life together or
we live our lives apart.
Can you do that?
Can you live your
life without me?
You only get to choose me once.
The choice will not
be offered again.
- Get your things.
- Did you send a wire?
Telling them you're coming home.
Can't send a wire to
the States from here.
- Ships can.
They have radios
that can send signals
a thousand miles or more.
I toured the helm
on our passage.
The Captain showed me
how they send messages
from ship to ship until
they reach London.
From London, they can wire
anywhere in the States.
- You need permission
to board this ship, sir.
- Apologies.
- Passage may be booked at the
Union Castle office on Hudson...
- I don't need passage.
I need a favor.
My family in the United
States has suffered a tragedy.
I must return
home. With haste.
I'm leaving today and
I need to send word.
Could you use the radio
and send a message for me?
- I can send that message.
We'll need the recipient's name
and where to send the cable.
- Write it here, sir.
And the message.
- Thank you.
- My pleasure, sir.
- Why are you smiling?
- I'm extraordinarily
pleased with myself.
You should be smiling too.
I'm proving quite
resourceful on this journey
and we haven't even left yet.
No telling how I'll
save the day next.
- Yeah. No telling.
- Oh, I'm sorry.
Is my jovial nature infringing
upon your sullenness?
- You're not going to do this
the entire trip, are you?
- Do what?
- Talk.
- I talk when I'm nervous.
If you'd speak as well you
could cut my talking by half,
but no, you're too busy sulking,
which makes me doubt everything,
which makes me more nervous,
which means I must double
my talking to compensate.
Frankly, I'm shocked
it bothers you.
Most men find it
quite endearing.
I've blabbered my way into many
a courtship, let me assure you.
- I have no doubt.
This is it.
This is what?
Our ship.
What is it?
Tugboat.
- Spencer, I don't
think those are supposed
to leave the harbor.
- This one's leaving the harbor.
- I'm supposed to
ask permission?
- Girl with you?
- Girl's with me.
- Quarters are small, and the
seas can be rough on a tug.
- I'm tougher than I look.
- I used to say that.
Now, I'm an old man and I'm
looking tougher than I am.
All right.
So, come aboard.
- You can stow your gear below.
Free the lines
from the bollards.
Untie the ropes from those
hooks, then roll it up
and store it on deck.
And we're off.
No safety brief, no...
Typically, a toast to
the Gods of the sea...
- This is the easiest it'll be.
Okay?
Just be careful, I don't need
you bouncing off into the bay.
- How far does
this boat take us?
- Suez Canal.
From there we find a
ship going anywhere.
Venice, Messina, Barcelona.
- Then what?
- Whatever takes us west.
Your vacation's
over, I'm afraid.
- But the adventure
is just beginning.
- Shit.
It's hot.
- Thank you.
I'll
be right back.
What the
hell is it doing?
- It's a ghost.
A ghost ship. Boilers
blew in the spring,
and crew abandoned ship,
but she didn't sink. No, no.
And she won't run aground.
The current in this
channel holds her.
Now, she lists back and
forth hunting captains
who don't pay attention.
- Are they mad?
- It's abandoned.
No one's
piloting the ship.
- It's just floating?
- Just floating.
There was this ghost
ship called the Zebrina.
British cargo ship hauling coal.
She ran aground in France
after floating past
all of you fellas
coming to join the war.
My hospital ship ran
from her for weeks.
I swear that empty bitch,
she was chasing us.
But the strangest
thing I ever saw
was off the coast of Indonesia.
Little dinghies,
two-man fishing skiffs,
Just floating, three
hundred miles off shore.
The seagulls swarmed
'em like hornets,
picking at the men inside.
And there must have been
a thousand of them small
dinghies, maybe more.
I passed 'em for a week.
Must have been a big swell
that pushed 'em all out to sea.
I don't know.
It's a mystery.
The sea's like that.
Cunning...
Like a fox.
Always looking for
ways to trick you.
Now, who wants first watch?
- What do you do on watch?
- Pilot the boat, ma'am.
- Who's piloting the boat now?
- The fox.
- Looks like I've
got first watch.
- I'm coming with you.
- There's not much to
it. This is the wheel.
Tiller rope connect
it to the rudder.
Turn the wheel, you
turn the rudder...
Compass.
Now, our course is fifteen
degrees north-northeast.
The wheel is locked
on that heading.
If you need to adjust,
you do it right here.
- How far off the coast are we?
- Twenty miles.
Just far enough the pirates
can't see us from shore.
Now, here's the throttle.
You gotta go fast to turn
fast, go slow to turn slow.
Right?
But you shouldn't turn unless
there's something in front of you,
and there shouldn't be
anything in front of you.
- Radio work?
- It works when it works.
- What's the distress channel?
- Hundred fifty-eight point six.
Dial is right there.
But if there's any distress
don't use the radio,
come and get me.
- Now that's
three-hour shifts each.
So wake me up in six.
- Don't turn it.
- I'm not.
I'm awaiting the
calamity I must react to.
I'm driving the ship.
- Piloting, I
think they call it.
- I'm piloting the ship.
I need a hat.
One shouldn't pilot without
a hat. I feel naked.
Don't get any ideas.
This is no tree
in the Serengeti.
This is serious
business, piloting.
- Thank you.
- For what?
- Just thank you.
- For talking you out of
abandoning me in Mombasa
and piloting you across the sea,
nothing but my nautical
expertise to guide the way?
You're quite welcome
- You're gonna be hard to
argue with when the time comes.
It will be most unpleasant
for you, I'm afraid.
- Me, too.
- Don't ever doubt
me again, Spencer.
If you never doubt me
I'll never doubt you.
- It wasn't a doubt.
It was a worry.
- Well, don't do it.
- I'll never doubt you.
- It's settled then.
You can be my love slave.
Ah!
Yes.
- Hey.
Let's go down below.
Our watch is up.
- Three o'clock?
- Yeah.
- I'll take the next watch.
- It's my watch.
- Old man, you need to rest.
- This is my fucking ship.
Only one who gives orders here:
me.
- We should probably...
Do you think we could...
I would like to set a
date for the wedding.
- I'm sure you would, dear.
But we should wait
until the spring.
- I'm afraid...
I don't think my dress
will fit in the spring.
- There isn't enough
rum cake in Montana
to put a pound on you, girl.
- Not because of cake.
We said our vows, we just...
Left the law out of
it. And the preacher.
And everyone else.
- That is the first
good news these ears
have heard in months.
Oh!
Yes, we will plan a
small wedding very soon.
With a preacher who knows
how to backdate the license,
if you know what I mean.
- Well, they can do that?
- It's the savior of countless
reputations, my dear.
- Gah!
- Let me up.
- What's wrong?
- Engines aren't running.
Mayday, mayday, mayday.
- This is S.S. Lambridge.
What's your mayday?
- I'm a passenger on
a tug headed to Suez.
The Captain has expired.
- Can you read a compass?
- I can.
- What is your heading?
- Due east but we're drifting.
- Have you nautical maps?
- We do.
- Alright, chap.
I'll talk you through
finding your bearings
with the compass...
Sir?
- You'd be Mrs. Dutton.
- I would.
- Don Whitfield. Seems
we are neighbors.
I've acquired the
Strafford Ranch.
- The Lazy S. Is the name.
- That's the brand.
And I've no use for it.
Perhaps it's useful to you?
- We have a brand.
- If you'd like
another, it's yours.
- One is plenty. Thank you.
- I'd love to meet your husband.
Is there a time I
might pay a visit?
- I'll inform him
of your interest.
- We could choose a time now.
- I don't keep his calendar.
- Isn't that what
rancher's wives do?
Keep the books and the calendar?
- Not this wife.
- Then perhaps I'll just
stop by and see if he's free.
The valley is changing.
Progress is upon us.
There are opportunities
beyond cattle,
which isn't much of a
business these days.
More of a... dream, really.
And not a good one.
- Well, it's our dream.
- Think she'll sell?
- What choice does she have?
Let her spend a winter
here without her husband
to run that ranch.
By spring she'll
beg me to buy it.
- Oh...
Winter can't wait to
have its way with us.
- I expected you earlier.
- It's been an
interesting morning.
- It's about to get
more interesting.
Cable came this morning.
Aunt Cara...
I received your letter...
and I am coming home.
- Morning, Mabel.
Hmm. Can't get
here soon enough.
No cable?
- Not today.
If one comes, I'll
send Steven with it.
At least spare you
the carriage ride.
- Then I'll be waiting for a man
who never comes
instead of a cable.
The carriage allows me
to remove hope early,
so I can get on with my day.
Okay.
- Come on.
Life had become a
series of melancholy routines.
Like a defeated stag
that had retreated deep
into the forest to
tend its wounds...
Our family had lost itself
in the tedium of healing.
The hobby of watching young
love had been robbed from her,
Jack choosing to
spend his evenings
patrolling headquarters,
choosing revenge over passion.
- I've sent for the doctor.
- What for?
- For you.
I'll not spoon feed
and bathe two, Emma...
You have a child, he needs you.
- He is a man.
Who has a woman.
He has no need for me.
- Sons outgrow their
mothers, now, do they?
- Become a mother
before you lecture me
about sons and what they do.
A billion years of life
led to my family standing
in the mountains of Montana.
And only four Duttons
remained on this earth
to survive another generation.
We were going extinct.
- When we get to
port, stay close.
- I came through
Mombasa, it was fine.
- You came with a group
and your drivers waiting.
We have neither.
Stay close.
Our family is
condemned to journey.
Journey from Ireland
to escape poverty.
Journey from Tennessee
to escape war.
Journey from Kentucky
to offer salvation.
Journey from Africa
to seek vengeance.
Montana is the magnet now.
It is the next journey.
And for my young brother,
it will be his last.
- Thank you.
- When you come back, Spencer?
- I don't come back.
This is goodbye.
- Last ride for
a friend is free.
- Thank you.
You said stay close. Ow.
- Let's go.
- I need to book
passage to America.
- America? And how do
you expect to do that?
- You tell me.
- We have no liners
to the States.
I can book you to London.
You can arrange
transport from there.
- Book me to London.
- Which class of travel?
- The cheapest.
- First class is forty
pounds per passenger.
It's thirty for tourist class,
but the lady will
melt beneath the bow,
while you will war
with the rats, sir.
- And I do not refer to rodents.
- First class, then.
How long is the journey?
- Depends on
traffic at the Suez.
A month, give or take...
Your vessel is
the RMS Franconia.
You will embark on...
November 11th.
- That's three weeks.
I can't wait three weeks.
- What's another option?
- I don't know. We're
gonna have to find out.
- There are no
other options, sir.
- Summon the girls.
- Where did she go?
- I don't... I don't know.
- If you don't know,
why are you crying?
What have the innocent to fear?
Fear is the stench
of guilt, child.
And you reek of it.
Where did she go?
- I don't know.
- I don't know!
- When you do not tell the
truth, you aid a sinner.
To aid a sinner is
a sin itself, child.
To aid a murderer is to bathe
in the blood of her victims.
- I told you... truth.
She went home.
- Walking...
Four hundred miles...
Through badlands and
desert and canyons...
With no assistance.
No supplies...
You expect me to
accept that as fact?
- You have strayed
from the light.
Forsaken it.
The devil runs you now.
You are his marionette.
He works your filthy mouth
with his little strings.
You will tell me the truth
or I will deliver you to him.
Father.
- Bring her back to me.
- It's just you?
- My bride.
- Bride... A woman.
Mister, this... this
ship is a trawler.
The quarters, they are...
They deck hands, they
are... they are deck hands.
A woman on board? No.
Is she pretty?
- She'll take your breath away.
- Are you crazy?
No.
They will throw you overboard
and keep the woman
for themselves. No.
I have idea for you.
That old man.
He is transporting
a tug to the Suez.
Once you get to the Suez you
can get passage to anywhere.
He is looking for deck hands.
Ever worked a deck?
- No.
- Better you lie. Say yes.
Come.
- Lucca!
Lucca, you found
any sailors yet?
- No, nobody wants
to transport a tug.
All the money is on the
merchant ships and whalers.
- Well, I have one for you here.
- Looks like a hunter.
- I need transport to a port
that gets me to Britain.
I can pay.
And I'm willing to work.
- How much you want to pay?
- Cruise liners charge
30. I'll pay you that.
- Thirty pounds to swab
deck and stow gear?
All right. You got a deal.
We leave first light.
Harbor nine, slip 52.
- Mustard gas.
- How do you know that?
- Used to captain a liner
made into a hospital.
Bring the boys on hit
with that mustard.
- Once you seen them boys...
There's no unseeing it.
You just know it
when you look at it.
Mr. Hunter...
Tomorrow we're gonna
make a sailor out of you.
- Your father is Runs his Horse.
Hank.
- Hank. Why Hank?
- When they made
us choose names,
everybody was choosing
George or Jim.
Nobody was choosing
Hank so I chose it.
- This isn't part of the Rez.
- Ain't part of nothing.
That's why I'm here.
- That doesn't make sense.
- The sheep belong
to the people.
If the government
finds out we got 'em,
the government's gonna take 'em.
- Why would they take 'em?
- Why would they take you?
- I'm in big trouble.
I killed the nun who beat me,
and I killed the
nun who raped me.
Now they're gonna
come and kill me.
I beat 'em...
choked one and
stabbed the other.
- They did this?
I'd say they had it coming.
You come home with me.
I'll send word to your father.
- Maybe we should go to Canada.
- No Canada.
Canada's worse.
First we find your father,
then we find a place.
What about our tracks?
What tracks?
- It's incredible.
This yours?
- It belongs to the bank.
- Strafford widow
packed up. Headed east.
That ranch borders
the Yellowstone.
- Goes into the mountains?
- More mountain land
than the Yellowstone.
I don't know know
much about mines,
but if I was building one...
I'd build it there.
Spring creeks
through both canyons.
See here?
Headwaters, here.
Another one here...
Feed down into the Yellowstone.
- And to the south is the Park.
- Aye.
- And she abandoned it.
- Walked away.
It's the bank's
now, too, I'm sure.
All these ranchers
leveraged their land
to build up their herds.
Only way to make money
off cows now is steal 'em.
- Get me more of these.
Anyone you can run off.
We'll choke this Dutton out.
- How much land do you want?
- I want it all.
I want the whole valley.
- Where do you feed the wood?
- It runs on gas.
- Gas from where?
- It's piped into the house.
Where do you live, Banner?
- I've a homestead up
north in the mountains.
- Log and sod?
- Aye.
- Never lived in a city.
- Never.
- In the country, you
survive your surroundings,
or try to, anyway.
It's the most a man can muster
when he abandons civilization.
Cities are the mastery
one's surroundings.
Necessities become comforts.
In the wild, the
availability of water
dictates whether you
survived the day.
In the city...
That most precious
of resources...
becomes an afterthought.
No more log and sod for you.
It's yours.
Now you're a master, too.
- Hard to build a herd when
you sell all the heifers.
- We ain't building
it. We're shrinking it.
- Everybody's getting out.
Never thought I'd see the day.
Heard some of your hands
went off to Hollywood
with them Strafford boys to play
cowboy in the silent pictures.
That your plan, too?
- They can play
cowboy all they want.
I'll stick to doing it for real.
- You keep selling off your herd
you ain't gonna have
nuthin' to cowboy with.
Take that to the cashier,
she'll pay you out.
- What happened?
- Doctor says he needs sunlight.
- Look how angry you are.
- Brewsters sold out.
Straffords are gone.
My parents gone...
You're goddamn right I'm angry.
- We can't win...
No leader.
Can't win without a leader.
- I can lead 'em.
- They won't follow you.
Not yet.
This must be done right.
Or we lose everything.
- You got old.
- I've been old, son.
Guess I'm gonna have to learn
how to shoot left-handed.
Fuckers got me pretty good, huh?
- We're gonna get them back.
- He's taking it pretty hard.
- It's cost him
more than anyone.
- Keep him close.
Don't let him go
to town anymore.
Did you start hiring
livestock agents?
- Sheriff has
started interviewing.
- No. You gotta do it.
You gotta look 'em in the eye.
Don't trust the charming ones.
Charming ones work for him.
If he's smart, he's got
somebody to back him.
Someone with money.
- Why do you think that?
- 'Cause that's what I'd do,
if I was in his spot.
- I find it hard to
believe that anyone
would support that monster.
- It'd take another
monster, that's for sure.
Who's the one man in this state
benefits if the
ranchers move out?
What's the one business that
doesn't have recessions?
- Gold.
- You can start on
solid foods tomorrow.
Oatmeal. Rice.
Bland.
Have some of your
cowboys help you walk.
You need to start moving.
I'll check on you next week.
- Cowboys don't get
to see me like this.
- I'll help you.
- You're gonna have to
'cause they're leaving.
- You've lost enough weight,
I bet I can carry you myself.
- Guess we'll find out.
- This isn't what you promised.
You haven't lost anything
that I haven't lost.
I'm an orphan too, now.
And all we have is each other
and I don't even have that.
Our wedding day came and
went with no mention of it.
We don't... We don't speak.
You don't even touch me.
I've got just as much right
to hate the man as you do,
but I don't.
Because hate takes
your whole heart,
every bit of it.
It leaves no room for love.
I choose not to hate him,
so there's room in
my heart for you.
If you won't do the same for
me, then take me to town.
Send me home, Jack.
Look at the size of this prison.
That's what I'm in, Jack.
- No, you're not.
- It's a prison.
You have made this
place a prison.
- It's not a prison. It's not.
It's home. It's your home.
I am your husband.
- Not yet, you aren't.
- We don't need a
wedding to get married.
We don't need a church.
We're standing in
front of God right now.
I, Jack Dutton, take you,
Liz Strafford, to be my
lawfully wedded wife.
To have and to hold,
in sickness and in health,
for richer and for poorer...
For better or worse,
so long as we both shall live...
We're only half done.
You gotta say it back.
Sun feels good.
- How does some rice sound?
- Sounds like shit.
- Don't we have a
steak in the ice box?
- Mm, mm, mm. Doctor said...
- If nine bullets don't kill
me I doubt a steak will.
- I'll boil a chicken.
With rice...
He said rice,
you're having rice.
- Chicken and rice.
That's nobody's last meal.
- Exactly.
- Did you plan on
leaving a note?
- It's on the dresser.
- What does it say?
- Says that this trip
is too dangerous.
Envelope has money so you can
book passage back to London.
Says I'll send for
you when it's safe.
- Says a lot.
There is no sending
for me, Spencer.
We have a life together or
we live our lives apart.
Can you do that?
Can you live your
life without me?
You only get to choose me once.
The choice will not
be offered again.
- Get your things.
- Did you send a wire?
Telling them you're coming home.
Can't send a wire to
the States from here.
- Ships can.
They have radios
that can send signals
a thousand miles or more.
I toured the helm
on our passage.
The Captain showed me
how they send messages
from ship to ship until
they reach London.
From London, they can wire
anywhere in the States.
- You need permission
to board this ship, sir.
- Apologies.
- Passage may be booked at the
Union Castle office on Hudson...
- I don't need passage.
I need a favor.
My family in the United
States has suffered a tragedy.
I must return
home. With haste.
I'm leaving today and
I need to send word.
Could you use the radio
and send a message for me?
- I can send that message.
We'll need the recipient's name
and where to send the cable.
- Write it here, sir.
And the message.
- Thank you.
- My pleasure, sir.
- Why are you smiling?
- I'm extraordinarily
pleased with myself.
You should be smiling too.
I'm proving quite
resourceful on this journey
and we haven't even left yet.
No telling how I'll
save the day next.
- Yeah. No telling.
- Oh, I'm sorry.
Is my jovial nature infringing
upon your sullenness?
- You're not going to do this
the entire trip, are you?
- Do what?
- Talk.
- I talk when I'm nervous.
If you'd speak as well you
could cut my talking by half,
but no, you're too busy sulking,
which makes me doubt everything,
which makes me more nervous,
which means I must double
my talking to compensate.
Frankly, I'm shocked
it bothers you.
Most men find it
quite endearing.
I've blabbered my way into many
a courtship, let me assure you.
- I have no doubt.
This is it.
This is what?
Our ship.
What is it?
Tugboat.
- Spencer, I don't
think those are supposed
to leave the harbor.
- This one's leaving the harbor.
- I'm supposed to
ask permission?
- Girl with you?
- Girl's with me.
- Quarters are small, and the
seas can be rough on a tug.
- I'm tougher than I look.
- I used to say that.
Now, I'm an old man and I'm
looking tougher than I am.
All right.
So, come aboard.
- You can stow your gear below.
Free the lines
from the bollards.
Untie the ropes from those
hooks, then roll it up
and store it on deck.
And we're off.
No safety brief, no...
Typically, a toast to
the Gods of the sea...
- This is the easiest it'll be.
Okay?
Just be careful, I don't need
you bouncing off into the bay.
- How far does
this boat take us?
- Suez Canal.
From there we find a
ship going anywhere.
Venice, Messina, Barcelona.
- Then what?
- Whatever takes us west.
Your vacation's
over, I'm afraid.
- But the adventure
is just beginning.
- Shit.
It's hot.
- Thank you.
I'll
be right back.
What the
hell is it doing?
- It's a ghost.
A ghost ship. Boilers
blew in the spring,
and crew abandoned ship,
but she didn't sink. No, no.
And she won't run aground.
The current in this
channel holds her.
Now, she lists back and
forth hunting captains
who don't pay attention.
- Are they mad?
- It's abandoned.
No one's
piloting the ship.
- It's just floating?
- Just floating.
There was this ghost
ship called the Zebrina.
British cargo ship hauling coal.
She ran aground in France
after floating past
all of you fellas
coming to join the war.
My hospital ship ran
from her for weeks.
I swear that empty bitch,
she was chasing us.
But the strangest
thing I ever saw
was off the coast of Indonesia.
Little dinghies,
two-man fishing skiffs,
Just floating, three
hundred miles off shore.
The seagulls swarmed
'em like hornets,
picking at the men inside.
And there must have been
a thousand of them small
dinghies, maybe more.
I passed 'em for a week.
Must have been a big swell
that pushed 'em all out to sea.
I don't know.
It's a mystery.
The sea's like that.
Cunning...
Like a fox.
Always looking for
ways to trick you.
Now, who wants first watch?
- What do you do on watch?
- Pilot the boat, ma'am.
- Who's piloting the boat now?
- The fox.
- Looks like I've
got first watch.
- I'm coming with you.
- There's not much to
it. This is the wheel.
Tiller rope connect
it to the rudder.
Turn the wheel, you
turn the rudder...
Compass.
Now, our course is fifteen
degrees north-northeast.
The wheel is locked
on that heading.
If you need to adjust,
you do it right here.
- How far off the coast are we?
- Twenty miles.
Just far enough the pirates
can't see us from shore.
Now, here's the throttle.
You gotta go fast to turn
fast, go slow to turn slow.
Right?
But you shouldn't turn unless
there's something in front of you,
and there shouldn't be
anything in front of you.
- Radio work?
- It works when it works.
- What's the distress channel?
- Hundred fifty-eight point six.
Dial is right there.
But if there's any distress
don't use the radio,
come and get me.
- Now that's
three-hour shifts each.
So wake me up in six.
- Don't turn it.
- I'm not.
I'm awaiting the
calamity I must react to.
I'm driving the ship.
- Piloting, I
think they call it.
- I'm piloting the ship.
I need a hat.
One shouldn't pilot without
a hat. I feel naked.
Don't get any ideas.
This is no tree
in the Serengeti.
This is serious
business, piloting.
- Thank you.
- For what?
- Just thank you.
- For talking you out of
abandoning me in Mombasa
and piloting you across the sea,
nothing but my nautical
expertise to guide the way?
You're quite welcome
- You're gonna be hard to
argue with when the time comes.
It will be most unpleasant
for you, I'm afraid.
- Me, too.
- Don't ever doubt
me again, Spencer.
If you never doubt me
I'll never doubt you.
- It wasn't a doubt.
It was a worry.
- Well, don't do it.
- I'll never doubt you.
- It's settled then.
You can be my love slave.
Ah!
Yes.
- Hey.
Let's go down below.
Our watch is up.
- Three o'clock?
- Yeah.
- I'll take the next watch.
- It's my watch.
- Old man, you need to rest.
- This is my fucking ship.
Only one who gives orders here:
me.
- We should probably...
Do you think we could...
I would like to set a
date for the wedding.
- I'm sure you would, dear.
But we should wait
until the spring.
- I'm afraid...
I don't think my dress
will fit in the spring.
- There isn't enough
rum cake in Montana
to put a pound on you, girl.
- Not because of cake.
We said our vows, we just...
Left the law out of
it. And the preacher.
And everyone else.
- That is the first
good news these ears
have heard in months.
Oh!
Yes, we will plan a
small wedding very soon.
With a preacher who knows
how to backdate the license,
if you know what I mean.
- Well, they can do that?
- It's the savior of countless
reputations, my dear.
- Gah!
- Let me up.
- What's wrong?
- Engines aren't running.
Mayday, mayday, mayday.
- This is S.S. Lambridge.
What's your mayday?
- I'm a passenger on
a tug headed to Suez.
The Captain has expired.
- Can you read a compass?
- I can.
- What is your heading?
- Due east but we're drifting.
- Have you nautical maps?
- We do.
- Alright, chap.
I'll talk you through
finding your bearings
with the compass...
Sir?
- You'd be Mrs. Dutton.
- I would.
- Don Whitfield. Seems
we are neighbors.
I've acquired the
Strafford Ranch.
- The Lazy S. Is the name.
- That's the brand.
And I've no use for it.
Perhaps it's useful to you?
- We have a brand.
- If you'd like
another, it's yours.
- One is plenty. Thank you.
- I'd love to meet your husband.
Is there a time I
might pay a visit?
- I'll inform him
of your interest.
- We could choose a time now.
- I don't keep his calendar.
- Isn't that what
rancher's wives do?
Keep the books and the calendar?
- Not this wife.
- Then perhaps I'll just
stop by and see if he's free.
The valley is changing.
Progress is upon us.
There are opportunities
beyond cattle,
which isn't much of a
business these days.
More of a... dream, really.
And not a good one.
- Well, it's our dream.
- Think she'll sell?
- What choice does she have?
Let her spend a winter
here without her husband
to run that ranch.
By spring she'll
beg me to buy it.
- Oh...
Winter can't wait to
have its way with us.
- I expected you earlier.
- It's been an
interesting morning.
- It's about to get
more interesting.
Cable came this morning.
Aunt Cara...
I received your letter...
and I am coming home.