Centennial (1978–1979): Season 1, Episode 3 - The Wagon and the Elephant - full transcript
While Alexander McKeag and Clay Basket decide to make a life for themselves, following the death of Pasquinel, with McKeag taking the young daughter as his own, across the country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1845, a young Mennonite man named Levi Zendt dreams of going west also. He and his new bride, Elly, get as far as St. Louis where they meet Oliver Seccombe from London and Lisette, now married to Captain Mercy. A mountain man, Samuel Purchas, is offering to protect them on their journey and warns them of the Pasquinel brothers. They meet McKeag, Clay Basket, and their daughter Lucinda at the store they run. When Captain Mercy hears the name McKeag, he introduces himself as the husband of the daughter of his old partner, Pasquinel. The McKeags and the Zendts decide to become partner sin a new store, near where they used to do their trapping. But nature interferes and Levi goes off to McKeag's old cabin, in sorrow.
Centennial, when it was
founded, would stand at a spot
where a man could look eastward
and catch the full
power of the prairie,
or westward to see the Rockies.
The history of the
town born in this area
would be a record of the way men
made the demands of the mountains
meet the needs of the prairie.
Many would destroy
themselves in that conflict,
but those who survived would
attain a largeness of soul
that other men who chose easier
paths would never discover.
In 1795, a young
fugitive from Scotland
had come west to trap beaver.
His name was Alexander McKeag,
and he was to become a
legend in his own time.
A man who lived
among the Indians,
who learned their
language and their ways.
He had come seeking solitude,
but he found friendship
and love.
He had lived a life of
unparalleled freedom
as he explored an
uncharted continent.
He had witnessed the
passing of great men
from a golden age that
would never come again,
and shared these
plains and mountains
with men whose passion for life
he did not expect to find again.
Other men were coming west now,
men from different backgrounds,
different beliefs.
Like the old
mountain man McKeag,
they were strong
men, stubborn men.
They, too, were men of
destiny and vision.
But they saw little in the windy,
water-shy stretch of plains to stop for
on their trek to a new
place called Oregon.
For them, this was only
a land to be crossed.
And the crossing was hard.
Some couldn't make it.
Some didn't.
But they kept coming.
If hell lay to the west, it was said
Americans would cross heaven to get there.
Alexander McKeag was certain
these proud, determined pioneers
were doing just that.
For him, the land
just south of where
the wagon wheels carved a trail
to the Pacific was paradise.
In the year 1845, however,
it was another part of this
country that men valued most.
At the eastern foothills
of the Appalachians,
the small city of Lancaster
in southeastern Pennsylvania
claimed some of the most
fertile farmland in the world,
and some of the most
fortunate farmers.
And one of these men
who gave thanks daily
for his home and the
life it afforded
was a young Mennonite
named Levi Zendt.
And although he could not
know it at the time,
Levi Zendt was destined to
leave this rich land he loved
and share the dream
of Alexander McKeag.
A dream that would give birth
to the town of Centennial.
Look! Amos Boemer
lost his bells.
Whoa, whoa there.
How'd you lose your bells, Amos?
Damned left wheel worked loose.
Hit a ditch east of Coatesville.
You getting another set, Amos?
That I ain't.
You quitting?
That I am.
Anybody who wants this
accursed Jew's
car can have it.
I don't want to see the
bulldong thing ever again.
Excuse me.
What did you mean about
losing his bells?
You don't know about
a man's bells?
No.
Well, maybe you should come inside
and let me tell you all about them.
Off with you.
It's a code of honor, son.
Any teamster that needs help from
another gives him his set of bells.
Oh.
It's not an easy thing to do.
When a man drives down Hell
Street without his bells,
he's telling the world he
couldn't make it alone.
And making it alone, well, that's
what life on the road is all about.
I know how old Amos feels today,
but he shouldn't give up too easy
on that Conestoga like he said.
The man that built it
knew a saw from an ax.
Oh, no. The Reverend.
Mother.
Reverend. Mrs. Fenstermacher.
I'm sorry I'm late.
You haven't started?
No.
Oh.
You knew the Reverend and his
wife were joining us today.
Of course. It's Sunday.
They come every...
I mean, I hoped that you'd be
joining us again, Reverend,
and I'm truly sorry
that I was late.
But you see, Amos
Boemer lost his bells.
Levi.
No, that's what happens
when a teamster breaks down
and he has to accept help
from another teamster.
He has to give up the brass
bells from his own wagon.
And it must be a
humiliating thing,
because old Amos Boemer sure
cursed something awful.
I have never heard cursing
like that before.
Perhaps you could ask
the blessing, Levi.
Yes, Mother.
Lord, we thank Thee
for Thy bounty
and we pray that we are
worthy of it. Amen.
And, dear Lord, hear our prayer
for young brother Levi Zendt
who has spent too
many afternoons
on an avenue of sin most
aptly named Hell Street,
consorting in taverns and
making acquaintances with men
who speak with the tongue
of the devil himself.
Guide him to halt this
infamous behavior
and direct him to attend
to his proper obligations.
Amen.
Amen.
Levi. Amos Boemer is
a blasphemous man.
It's little wonder
he was struck down.
It was God's will.
It was the left rear wheel.
Levi.
Collect the scraps.
I already have.
Then get them to the orphanage.
With no lingering.
I'll not have you hanging about
Hell Street disgracing us anymore.
Whatever makes you
happy, Mahlon.
Levi!
Papa sent some bread.
Oh, thank you.
I'll ride with you if you want.
Sure.
He's coming.
Who is?
Don't you play dumb
with me, Elly Zahm.
You know who comes every Friday.
And I know who
you're in love with.
Laura Lou Booker, you
mind your tongue.
You'd better mind how you look
if you want him to notice you.
Elly Zahm!
I'm coming!
Oh, Laura Lou, help me.
This is silly. He'll
never see me.
Men only notice pretty women
with kissable cheeks like you.
Pretty isn't everything.
Elly! Come when I call.
A rich man like Levi Zendt can't be
kept waiting by the likes of you.
Yes, Miss Kruger.
And you, finish up that wash. It
will be time for supper soon.
Yes, Miss Kruger.
Hello, Levi.
Elly.
I'll take that.
Oh, it's pretty heavy this time.
Let her take it, Mr. Zendt.
Thank you anyway.
You're strong.
Levi.
Oh.
Thank you, Miss Stoltzfus.
Just put it on top, Mr. Zendt.
It's all right. Really.
See you next week.
Thank you, Mr. Zendt. The Lord
will bless you and your brothers.
You're welcome, Miss Kruger.
What?
Nothing. I'll get you home.
Well, there's no hurry.
What do you think Mahlon thinks
about us being together?
Mahlon?
I mean, do you ever
talk to him about me?
About liking me? Talk about you?
No.
Well, you do like me, don't you?
Like you?
Oh, Rebecca, I think...
I mean, I... I just...
I mean... Kiss me.
What? Kiss me.
Rebecca...
Oh, Elly.
It's all right.
Elly, he will notice you someday.
He will. And then...
He noticed me just now.
He did? What did he say?
He said I was strong.
Oh!
Levi. Oh, Rebecca, I've
wanted to tell you
I've thought about you so much
that whenever it's market day, I
can't sleep for thinking about you.
I get this feeling
inside and I just...
What is it? Let go of me.
What? Let go!
Rebecca...
Let her be!
Tearing the clothes right
off the child, you beast!
Keep him away from me.
Keep him away.
He tried to...
Levi, you son of Satan.
You pig!
Child of the devil!
I did nothing evil.
Everyone in Lancaster
is talking about it.
You haven't been to
Lancaster, any of you.
I saw you working and I saw Reverend
Fenstermacher come to tell you.
He's gone mad. I haven't, and I
haven't done anything wrong!
Didn't you know?
Know what?
Mahlon was going to speak to
the Stoltzfus girl himself.
The Stoltzfus acres
will be left to her,
and our farm can
be twice as large.
Mahlon, I didn't know.
But she did.
And that's why she went
with me to the orphanage.
To make you jealous.
Of course. She even asked me how
you felt about her being with me.
And that's why she
did what she did.
What she did?
Yes, she tempted me.
I'll not have you lay the blame on
her for something you tried to do.
Not for rape. What?
The reverend told me
you tried to rape her.
Mahlon, I... Before Miss Kruger,
the blessed woman who gives
her life to that home.
Before the children. Before
the eyes of God himself!
Mahlon, you can't believe that.
You can't...
You've disgraced
this family, Levi.
You can never work at the market again.
Is that clear?
You'll stay home and
tend to your duties
and come to market
only to clean up.
Then I won't come back at all!
You'll do as you're told,
and make a public apology.
No.
It's the only way this
family can redeem itself.
You'll apologize to Peter Stoltzfus
and to the Stoltzfus girl
and to the whole market!
And you will be shunned.
No, I won't be shunned! No!
Amos Boemer.
You still want to
sell that Conestoga?
Sell that fly bait?
I'll give it away.
How much?
You know, that once was
a very proud wagon.
How much?
It was built by Samuel Mummert.
That was Paradise, 1818.
Cost $200.
I'll give you 10.
$10 for a great wagon like that?
It's all that I have.
It hasn't got a single
broken board, you know.
Tool box, wheel axle's good.
Lazyboard rides good.
$20, and you can take the bulldong
thing all the way to Philadelphia.
I'll give you 10 now and
10 when I pick it up.
Something you should know.
What's that?
It ain't got no bells.
Where I'm going, I
don't need any bells.
Elly Zahm!
I suppose you're safe
enough with him.
Leave that one for me.
No, I've got it.
Miss Kruger says
they're shunning you.
That they are.
I'm not a Mennonite. What
does this mean, shunning?
That I may not buy or
sell, or give or take.
I can converse with
no man nor woman.
I cannot attend church nor
speak with anyone who does.
Is that all?
If that's shunning, they've
been shunning me all my life.
Why?
Because I'm a bastard.
That's not your fault.
What happened here last Friday
wasn't your fault, either.
How do you know that?
How do you know?
I just do. You
wouldn't be that way.
No one knows for sure what another
person will do or won't do.
I know about you.
And my friend Laura Lou Booker saw
everything through that window.
She tried to tell Miss
Kruger about it, but...
Miss Kruger saw it, too. The
way she wanted to see it.
That's the way with most
people around here.
You ever think of leaving?
Only every day.
Me, too.
You aren't, are you?
Did you ever hear of a
place called Oregon?
Oregon? That's in the west.
All the way to the
Pacific Ocean.
How'd you know that?
I read about it.
I guess I know I'll never go anywhere,
so I read about everywhere,
everything I can.
But Oregon? There are hardly
even any people there yet.
Just savages. Which is what
people seem to think I am.
So I figured maybe that's a
good place for me to be.
But...
What?
Nothing.
It must be a wondrous
place to see.
I hope maybe someday I can
go somewhere like it, too.
Elly, are they hard on you here?
I'm strong, remember?
Elly, see to what this sinner's
good family brought us.
I want no waste around here.
Yes, Miss Kruger.
There's milk on the table.
Where's Mahlon?
Asleep. Like I
told him you were.
Mother... Sit.
You won't forget to eat well
when you get there, will you?
Get where?
Wherever it is you're
going with that weapon.
Mother, I...
I don't want to know.
I don't want a lie.
I loved it here.
I loved it so much.
I know.
Is it wrong for me to leave?
Even as a little boy, you
were the restless one.
You...
You always wanted to know why.
And you weren't satisfied
till you found out.
This shunning,
you know, deep down, it isn't
because of the Stoltzfus girl.
It's because you're
too independent
and too deep-feeling to
suit the people here.
They see it in you,
and it's a reminder of something
they'd rather forget.
You're a fine man, Levi Zendt,
and I'm proud of you.
When will you go?
Soon.
Do it now. Tonight.
I need horses.
Take the six grays.
They're the best.
But they're Mahlon's.
They're yours.
And wherever you go, Levi,
whatever you do,
you always take the best.
Only the best.
Elly!
Elly Zahm!
Whoa!
Get your things.
Hurry up.
What's going on down there?
It's the day of
judgment, Miss Kruger.
And you're looking at
the devil himself.
Elly Zahm, the sun is rising!
Elly Zahm! You come back here.
Do you hear me? You
come back here.
I'm never coming back.
Elly Zahm, I forbid you!
You hold it right
there, Miss Kruger!
This is a Lancaster rifle.
It shoots straighter
than the road to hell
and makes a hole twice as broad.
Levi, you wouldn't shoot her?
Oh, not without reloading first.
And that still takes the fastest
man almost a full minute.
Giddyup!
Elly, Elly.
Laura Lou Booker, you come back here.
You're as bad as she is!
Levi, stop. Whoa!
Here, take this.
Laura Lou, no.
No, take it. A wife has to have a
little money of her own. Take it.
You're escaping for
all of us, Elly.
Laura Lou.
For all of us.
Get up.
Will you be wanting a preacher?
Yes.
I want no bastards.
Dear Laura Lou, I'm writing to you
from our camp on the Ohio River.
We are just outside Pittsburgh.
Can you imagine me
ever going so far?
And yet, how far we have to go.
When we crossed the Alleghenies,
we thought we had climbed
halfway to heaven,
and they are only 3,000 feet.
The Rockies before
us are 14,000.
Levi and I can't believe it's
possible to get over them,
but if anyone can do it, he can.
He's a fine man, Laura Lou.
And a good husband.
Yes, we're married.
And, so you'll know, Miss Kruger
didn't tell us everything.
Probably because she
didn't know herself.
But we were right when we spent
all those hours wondering.
Men really aren't that much
different from horses.
And how Levi loves his horses.
I hope he never has to
choose between them and me.
But then, they can't give
him everything I can.
No, not yet. But I'm hoping.
And hoping it's a girl so she
can know through her father
how tender a strong man can be.
I don't know how to thank
you for your gift.
But I will share this adventure
with you every step of the way,
and pray that someday we may read this
record to our grandchildren together.
My love forever. Elly Zendt.
Why didn't Amos Boemer
get it fixed like this?
I didn't say she'd be fixed.
Said the rim would bond.
What's the difference?
Well, you got a lot of
parts in that wheel,
and all of them's figuring out
how to wreck on you later on.
It's funny, them other ones
are as good as a man sees,
but this one's
just a poor wheel.
Will it make 3,000 miles?
I can't say. It's a creeper.
You watch it good.
Wet the wood every
chance you get.
Whenever you get to a smithy,
you have him take a look at it.
Whoa. Get up.
Get up there.
Whoa.
What do you think?
We take the wagon
down into that?
You got a better
idea, I'll listen.
The horses can make it.
No, stay in the wagon.
I can't help from here.
I'll guide the lead team
while you work the lines.
It's pretty slippery. The
horses might get scared.
You trying to scare me, too?
It won't work.
All right. Let's go!
Whoa!
Elly!
You all right?
Quit hollering and keep driving!
What are you grinning at?
Just thinking how glad I am
that you're here with me.
There'll be plenty more rivers.
We'll learn to do it better.
Hey. Giddyup.
Dear Laura Lou, rivers have begun to
play an important part in our life,
from the one I fell into to the
one our flatboat drifts down now.
It is the Ohio, and we will
be on it for 1, 100 miles
until we arrive at a
place called Cairo.
Then we'll board a steamer for St.
Louis on the mighty Mississippi.
I can't believe
it's almost summer.
But then, I never believed I'd
be doing anything like this.
I feel important somehow,
as if God Intended me for
some significant duty.
I have no idea what it might be,
but the future is
full of promise,
and I know there is
so much to come.
See the elephant. Don't
delay, come today.
Next month we ship this powerful
pachyderm back to Europe.
Don't be one of those who must shamefacedly
confess to their grandchildren...
Whoa. Whoa.
Which way to the Robert Q. Fell?
See it here. See the elephant!
Whoa!
That?
It appears to be.
Disgraceful old tub, isn't she?
You going to the forts? Oregon.
Well met! I'm for Oregon, too.
Seccombe, Oliver Seccombe.
Boston, London, Oxford.
Levi Zendt, Pennsylvania.
Delighted, old boy. Delighted.
And this is...
My wife.
How do you do, Mrs. Zendt?
Oh, it's Elly, Mr. Seccombe.
Elly. Enchanted.
I'll go find the captain.
His name is Frake, but
you'll not find him aboard.
He'll be in the
tavern down the way.
Heavy drinkers, these
riverboat men,
but they can navigate narrows
you and I couldn't even swim.
Oh, Elly, let me
give you a hand.
When Levi's got
the wagon aboard,
we can all go and see the sights
of the town together. Hmm?
Yes, ladies and gentlemen,
this massive mastodon ate a ton
of hay each and every day.
Each mighty tusk
was 22-feet long.
The mother carried the
baby in her womb...
His tusk was that big.
For four years, seven months and 19 days.
It gave me the shivers.
I've never seen
anything that big.
See the elephant! Don't
delay, come today.
It's a big city.
Gateway to the west,
they call it.
The last culture before
you get to California.
Apart from the Red
Indian, that is.
And nobody knows very
much about them.
That's part of the reason
I'm here, you know.
I'm writing a book
on the subject.
You're writing a book?
Mmm. Travels in the
Great American West.
Have you ever read
Rousseau, by any chance?
Rousseau? Mmm-hmm.
What is it? Well,
he's a Frenchman.
A philosopher. Hmm.
A what?
Oh, a thinker.
Mostly about nature.
Precisely. Now, he had a theory
that there is still a pure, unspoiled,
primitive man that's still in existence.
Well, I intend to find him and
describe him before he vanishes.
The noble savage. Oh, excuse me.
I say, Captain! Captain Mercy, sir.
Good day.
Seccombe, isn't it? Yes, sir.
Oliver Seccombe.
These are my friends, Levi and
Elly Zendt from Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Mercy?
Yes, my wife, Lisette.
How do you do? I'm very
pleased to meet you.
The Captain will be
sailing with us.
And you, too, Mrs. Mercy?
No.
Mr. Zendt, was that your wagon with
the six upper handsome grays I saw?
Yes.
You'll forgive me, sir, but I...
I urge you to sell that team.
Why?
They'll die where we're going.
What?
Horses can't make that trip.
Well, they've come this far.
You had grain for them. You'll
have none on the plains.
I heard the plains were grassy.
You're getting a late start.
Most of the grass will be gone.
You have to rest your animals,
and you can't do that and
get there in time to graze.
I love those horses.
I can understand that,
they're fine animals.
But you can't afford
to wait on them.
And if you don't, they'll drop
dead of sheer exhaustion.
On the other hand, this is good
country for prime horseflesh.
You could expect four,
maybe $500 apiece.
I won't sell them.
Well, then I wish you luck.
You will need it. Good day.
Excuse me, sir, I believe you've just
been awarded a prize commission.
You overrate me, Mr. Seccombe.
I'm going west to select
a site for a new fort
with a grand detachment of two.
Myself, Sergeant Lykes
and eight mules.
Nine mules. I've tried to
talk him out of going.
You know, I think it'd be easier
trying to talk to a mule.
Then you can understand why
Levi won't sell his horses.
Yes, I think I can.
Look, I wonder, might
it be possible
that we could join you and
the sergeant when we land?
Well, I'm only going as far as St.
John on the Laramie.
It would help to get us started.
Then we can see
what kind of outfit
we could put together up there.
Well, I'd be glad for the company if you
don't mind traveling with nine mules.
Ten. And six horses.
Shall we?
Morning. Good morning.
Hannibal, I'm gonna give you a count
of three. You hear me? Three.
Trouble, Sergeant?
He's just being a mule,
mister, that's all.
Come on up there. Right there.
Good morning.
This is Mr. Sam Purchas. He calls
himself "King of the Mountain Men."
I've hired him to
lead us to Oregon.
Mr. Purchas, Maxwell Mercy.
Captain.
You ever been to Oregon?
Sonny, I been across them
prairies with all the great ones.
Kit Carson, Sublette, Fitzpatrick,
the Bents, I knowed 'em all.
My question was, have
you been to Oregon?
Well, one thing they taught me,
never try to reach Oregon with no horses
dragging your wagon. Are you Zendt?
I am.
Sonny, this here mountain man
don't travel with no horses.
You sell 'em and get oxen.
Like I told Major Mercy...
Now, I reckon the Captain here would like
to hear just what it is you're buying.
Pretty lady, would you be good
enough to read this out loud,
so as we can all
hear it together?
It's from The Dispatch.
"Strong as a lion,
fearless as a tiger..."
Would you mind
speaking up, miss?
It's kinda hard to hear
over that mule and all.
"Keen-eyed as an
eagle and quick..."
"as a panther, Samuel Purchas,
"greatest of the mountain men
and frontiersman extraordinary,
"departed our city on
Thursday last week,
"leading a party of
merchants on an exploratory
trip to the forts of
the Upper Missouri."
There's a whole lot more, but that
tells you who I am, don't it?
Mr. Purchas, exactly what
will be your service to us?
Keeping you alive,
sonny, that's what.
Timing. That's the trick.
I know it, you don't.
You move out of here too soon,
your oxen starve in Kansas.
Too late, and you'll freeze
to death in the Oregon snow.
I want every man to
carry two rifles,
two pistols, an ax, two
knives, a penknife,
a hatchet and 20 pounds of lead.
That's enough to fight
your way inch by inch.
Soldier boy, that's exactly
what we may have to do.
No, the officers at Fort
Leavenworth assured me
the Cheyenne and the Arapaho
were peaceful this year.
Did they tell you about the Oglala
Sioux, the Crow, the Blackfoot
and the Gros Ventres?
Them's the people we're
going to be dealing with.
The Pasquinel brothers are
riding with the Sioux this year.
Pasquinels? Who are they?
Half-breeds.
French trapper name of Pasquinel
took himself a squaw.
Now we got his redskinned sons along
the trail to keep us company.
You ever seen them?
Came down the river in 1839 with
three bales of buffalo robes.
They led a party of Cheyenne
that cleaned me out.
I'm surprised they
didn't kill you.
Sometimes they do and
sometimes they don't.
If I ever see 'em again,
they won't have the option.
All the same, the
armament seems too heavy.
Sonny, I been with 'em all.
And one thing they taught
me, carry plenty of guns.
Me, I travel with four rifles, two
pistols and this little beauty.
Without reloading, I can kill
six of anything that moves.
And if it was me, I'd start
with that critter over there.
I wonder what it'll
really be like.
What?
Oregon.
Oliver says everything
grows there.
Oliver says a lot.
Levi Zendt, you jealous?
Just thinking.
Meeting new people makes
you look at yourself.
Elly, are you sorry that you
married such a plain man?
What's funny?
Laura Lou Booker, she used to look over
every man that came to the orphanage.
Make lists of their
good and bad qualities.
"Is clean, listens well.
"Eats with good manners.
Knows how to laugh."
Or, "Too thin, too nervous.
"Wants to peek at the
girls, but is afraid to."
What'd she say about me?
Well I'm not sure I remember...
Elly!
She said... She said,
"He's very well-built,
dependable and strong."
Sounds like a horse.
"He's shy, but not crooked."
I'm not as shy as I was.
I know.
That's right, get
'em out of here.
Levi, get up. Levi, they're
taking your horses.
Deal's all set, sonny.
You got $500 apiece.
You got eight of the
best oxen, $15 each.
That gives you the best,
about $2,900 profit,
and my commission is only $50.
No. You can't do that!
It's done.
You...
Cool out, sonny. I'm
doing you a service.
Get 'em out of here.
You want to tangle,
sonny boy, I'm game.
But I'm telling you,
it's the only way.
You take this money now or
you'll have six dead horses
by the time you get
to the Platte.
He's right. They'll
never make it, Levi.
Trust me.
You're both taking horses.
So is Seccombe.
We ain't pulling wagons.
Take it. It'll build a fine home
for you and Elly in Oregon.
They've served you well, Levi.
Now they'll buy you
a better start
than most men on the
trail can even hope for.
Levi!
Go! Go!
Now we really are alone.
Now we can never go back.
I heared what you was
thinking, sonny boy.
But I'm telling you,
when we hit the Rockies,
we're gonna pass them horse-people
like they was staked to the ground.
Look.
Pawnee.
What do they want?
Purchas!
What the hell do you
think you're doing?
Good gun. A Fordney, ain't it?
Damn it, man, I asked
you a question.
I'm doing my job.
Well, they hadn't done anything.
They was Injuns.
How could you do that, Sam?
I been fighting
Injuns all my life.
They gave me this, and
one on my stomach,
and this.
I tell you, they ain't real people
like you and me, soldier boy.
They're no good.
Yes, sir. That's
a real good gun.
Now you know what it's for.
I think we have finally realized
what moving west means.
The strange rivers
flowing swift with mud,
the lurking Indians,
the burden of rifles,
the long, long trails with no
homes and no lights at dusk,
and the awful loneliness.
We have each other, of course,
and thank God for that.
We've seen what can happen
to men who have no one.
But what a story
we'll have to tell
when we reach Oregon, Laura Lou.
This is no ordinary trip, for we
move within a great dimension.
But Levi says the
desert we cross
is untillable, unprofitable,
and unneeded.
We are deep in
Indian country now,
and have joined up with
two other families,
because Mr. Purchas says we need
at least three wagons for defense
and to stand the night watches.
Morning.
Windy.
That's just the elephant
flicking his tail.
The elephant?
You don't know about
the elephant?
The one in St. Louis?
St. Louis?
You mean the circus?
No, that was just a bunch of
bones standing in a room.
Take a look out there.
Ain't that a home for a real
giant of an elephant, huh?
Yes, sir. Why, he's
taller than most trees.
He's got tusks that curve back
just like Turkish swords.
His trunk blows just
like a hurricane,
and his tail will flick a wagon bigger
than yours right off the trail.
A man can't believe everything
he hears, Sergeant.
Oliver says there hasn't been an elephant
on this continent for 10,000 years.
Oliver said that, huh?
Old fancy pants.
Well, that's for sure that
Oliver has never seen
the kind of elephant
that I'm talking about.
'Cause if he had, he'd have
hightailed it back to London so fast
his feet never would
have touched the ground.
You trying to tell
me you've seen it?
Seen it?
I'm trying to tell
you that any man
that's been alone out there
on that prairie has seen it.
Now, don't let 'em tell
you any different, Levi,
'cause you're gonna see it
one of these days, too.
And when you do see it,
you're gonna run as far as
you can as fast as you can,
because you know you...
You can't fight it.
Because you know if you
don't get out of its way,
it's gonna crush you flat,
and grind you down so deep
in this Godforsaken land
that no amount of prayers in heaven
will ever resurrect your soul.
Gonna turn in now, gonna
be daylight soon.
Thank you for the story.
See you in the morning.
Indians!
Pasquinels.
How do you know?
They're riding the Oglala Sioux.
He's bringing a whole
bunch of 'em in here.
Hello! Bacon?
Jake Pasquinel.
You're welcome,
we do have bacon.
Mike Pasquinel, you, too. Come.
Jake Pasquinel, I've
heard a lot about you.
How you know my name?
This finger, you lost
in the Kiowa fight.
That scar on your
cheek, at Fort Osage.
How are you, Jake?
What your name?
Maxwell Mercy, Captain,
United States Army.
You come to fight, huh?
No, to establish a fort.
Where?
Come, we smoke.
No, where the fort going to be?
That's why I'm here,
to pick the spot.
You and Mike be my guides, we'll
make the decision together.
No.
Why not?
Our father was white.
If we were to help guide you,
our Sioux brothers, they say,
"Pasquinel is traitor."
Then come to Fort John. Bring the Sioux
chiefs, the Cheyenne, and the Arapaho.
We can't say they will come.
Well, Jake, you're an Arapaho.
How you know I'm Arapaho?
In St. Louis,
everyone knows you.
They believe you're the man to
bring peace to the prairie.
You talk of peace,
you take our land.
No. One road, one road west.
This land will be yours as long as
the grass grows and the eagle flies.
Hmm.
We come to Fort John.
The day must come when
the killing stops, eh?
I wouldn't trust you to
stop killing rabbits.
We get you yet, squaw killer.
I'll wait at Fort John.
I say, you wanted bacon?
And some tobacco, perhaps?
Another time, huh? Another time.
Then tell me, if our
watchman hadn't heard you,
would you have slain us all?
You got good guards.
We'll keep 'em posted.
He did not have to stop
you, squaw killer.
Shooting at a man,
you'd have missed.
Nobody spits at... Purchas!
Forget it, or by God, your last
scar won't come from an Indian.
Mr. Seccombe,
when we get to the fort, I'd pick
another pilot if I were you.
That man will get
you all killed.
I will.
Be with you in a moment.
Afternoon. Hello.
I'm Levi Zendt from Lancaster.
Alexander McKeag, Scotland.
I'll be needing a
lot of your stuff.
Well, it's here waiting for you.
Well, this is my wife, Elly.
Let her have whatever she needs.
This is my wife, Clay Basket.
My daughter, Lucinda.
Arapaho.
Daughter and granddaughter
of the greatest warrior
in the history of their nation.
McKeag.
But I still maintain they
are a race of savages.
But that is the myth that
I'm going to explode.
You see, I believe that the
original Indians were Welshmen.
The very cream, the
best of Welsh society
that migrated here early on in history
to find a more natural way of life.
They ain't Welshmen, sonny boy!
They're Egyptian.
Egyptians?
Who do you think
that old pharaoh had
roughing up Moses
and the Israelites?
Injuns, that's who!
God sent 'em out here
as a punishment,
and it's our bounding
duty to punish 'em.
I never heard anything
like that before, did you?
That's because you don't
talk to nothing but mules.
Never mind about my mules...
Lykes.
Yes, sir?
Find the Zendts, tell them that
the proprietor, Mr. Kellen,
wants them to join him for dinner.
He's from Pennsylvania, too.
Yes, sir.
That was McKeag.
McKeag?
He runs the store.
Never mind, Sergeant.
Yes, sir.
Now, Sergeant, you
was about to say?
I think I'd rather do my
talking to the mules.
Trapping, huh?
Till they stop
making beaver hats.
And that was just south of here?
Aye, a place called
Beaver Creek.
Superb country.
Good water, trees.
All a man could ask for.
The Army captain we came with said there
was nothing to the south but desert.
You encourage him to keep saying that.
It'll keep the bad ones out.
Why didn't you stay down there?
Well, I had a partner. He died.
I couldn't find anyone to
go it with me after that.
And, well, a man
must get his living.
Captain.
Clay Basket?
Yes?
Lucinda. And you're McKeag.
Aye.
It's an honor, sir.
Should I know you, Captain?
No, sir, but you...
You do know my wife,
Lisette Pasquinel.
Your partner's St.
Louis daughter.
Well, pilgrims, you'll
see some country now.
And you'll see why you had
to sell them grays of yours.
Did you get that
wagon wheel reset?
I did. That's good.
Them big-busted ladies up
ahead will give it a workout.
Sam!
Oh, sorry, missy.
Hey, is that a new
bonnet you're wearing?
Yes.
I thought so. It frames
that pretty face real nice.
Sorry, old boy, I really am.
I mean, there just wasn't
another pilot at the fort,
and unfortunately, we
are what he calls us.
We're pilgrims.
I wish Captain
Mercy was with us.
He has his job,
and we have ours.
Indians! Indians!
Pasquinels bringing in a party
of Arapaho and Cheyenne!
Well, they're no Sioux. You'll still
have your hands full anyway, Mercy.
They brought Broken Thumb.
Broken Thumb?
Yeah, Cheyenne, just to the
right of Jake Pasquinel.
He got his hand mangled in a
mountain man's beaver trap.
He's a bad one, and a real disruptive
influence on all the tribes.
It is a bitter burden he carries, Mr.
Kellen.
You see, he understands
all too well
what's happening to his people
in this time of change.
Just whose side you on, McKeag?
I thought the idea was to keep
everybody on the same side.
Well, you'll want to
meet 'em down there.
They won't think much of you
spying on 'em with that thing
from up here behind a wall.
Oh, and don't forget to
smoke before you parley.
Hello, McKeag. Jake.
Mike.
We come in peace,
but we are a little confused
about what the Army wants.
The captain's brought
many fine presents
from our Great White
Father in Washington.
I am the son of a
trader, Kellen.
I know what the white
man's presents means, eh?
Mercy, you will explain to us
why you need another fort.
I'll tell you, Jake.
But first we smoke.
No smoke.
Broken Thumb, this
is important talk.
It's important the Great Spirit
bless us before we begin.
Lost Eagle.
The Arapaho wouldn't
come all this way
and then insult their
hosts, would they?
Hello, McKeag.
The Arapaho will smoke.
Whoa.
Whoa. What is it?
Turn around.
What happened to them?
Same thing that would've
happened to you
it you hadn't sold your horses.
What you're looking at
is a miserable sight,
but I don't want none of
you bleeding for them!
They guessed wrong and
they'll pay for it.
They won't even make the fort.
They should've listened
to the men that know.
They'll perish.
So, they'll perish! They have no
right coming on this trail that way.
I'm giving them my
two spare oxen.
You'll do no such thing!
You'll need them oxen,
maybe for food.
I'm giving them two oxen.
The rest of you, get
them wagons rolling!
We make camp in the
Rockies tonight,
or we'll be caught in snow
in three weeks' time!
Elly, Purchas was right
about the horses.
And Levi's right about the oxen.
This is a picture of our Great
White Father in Washington.
He's asked me to tell you
of our need for a fort.
You have a fort.
No, this place is Mr. Kellen's.
The Army needs a
fort of its own.
Why the Army?
To protect our people who
move to the great water
across the mountains, to
the place called Oregon.
Long time ago,
when the white men came across
this land, they were good.
McKeag, the father
of the Pasquinels.
Some wanted to stay
and live with us.
There was fighting,
but never much,
and there was always respect.
Now there are men
with no respect,
mean men with no women
and no children.
That squaw killer who you
brought with you, Mercy,
ugly men that char our
people for no reason,
who have only war
in their hearts.
And we shall give them war.
Mercy?
Just thinking how to
argue with the truth.
You're doing fine, son.
But you're talking to the wrong man.
You want Lost Eagle.
You want to show
him who you are.
Broken Thumb, your
words are true,
but if there is a fort,
then there will be soldiers to
punish these evil men you speak of.
Now they live outside our law
because we cannot reach them.
Lost Eagle,
I tell you the Great
Father wants peace.
We can have peace.
Do you want it?
Yes, Mercy. We want peace,
and we want to
protect our people.
We do not want our women killed by
men like the cut-nose you rode with.
And we do not want
our men, like Jake,
shot in the back.
I saved Jake's life.
He told us.
Did he tell you why?
Because you are like McKeag,
like the men who used to come.
I try to be,
but there is another reason.
Jake is my brother.
We are all your brothers.
But the Pasquinels are
my real brothers.
My wife is Lisette Pasquinel,
their white sister in St. Louis.
McKeag?
'Tis true, Jake. That's Lisette.
I saw her even before
your father did.
I know we've had
our differences,
but I'd like to think there's some of
that respect Broken Thumb mentioned
between us, too.
And I'll tell you
about Captain Mercy,
I trust him.
And I say y'all can
trust him, too,
even the mighty Cheyenne
chief who speaks of war.
There will be no war.
We will help you to find a
place for your fort, Mercy.
And I believe what
McKeag says about you.
But I pray to the
medicine arrows,
and I know this to become truth,
that I shall kill you,
and you shall kill me.
Levi,
I'm proud of what you did today.
I only did what was right.
Right to you.
I wonder what your Reverend
Fenstermacher would have done.
I haven't thought about
him for six months.
I wanna do something for you,
but I don't know what I can.
Oh, Elly.
I guess I'll just have to
share my secret with you.
About the baby?
You know?
I married a willow stem. The last few
weeks you've been blooming like a rose.
How do you feel about it?
Like the Lord of Creation.
I've been thinking. How do
you like the name "Maxwell"?
Not for a girl.
A girl? We need sons.
I want a girl.
I want to see her grow up knowing
your kindness and your gentleness.
I'll be through here in a bit.
And you better think of some
other names besides Laura Lou.
Sometimes there's more
than one, you know.
Missy?
What? Out here.
Please, would you gimme a hand with
your friend, Mr. Seccombe, here?
Mr. Purchas?
I hate to bother you, I don't
know what happened to him.
I'm afraid... I'm afraid
he's hurt real bad.
Just another step, all right?
He's a... He's just
right in here.
I don't see anything.
Let me help you.
What happened?
I don't know, ma'am.
I sure don't.
But I know what I
want to happen now.
Elly!
Levi!
Levi!
Levi!
Levi, don't! She's all right!
Elly's all right!
Stop, don't kill him!
You kill him, we'll all die!
Levi,
I'm sorry.
It's all right, Oliver.
Well, good luck to you both.
You, too.
Get up. Come on. Get up!
Whoa!
My Fordney.
So long, turnarounds! Be sure
to tell 'em back in St Louis
that when you lost your nerve, old
Sam Purchas was still heading west.
Levi! Let him go.
He's a pitiful old man and something
we know we don't want any part of.
What about you, pilgrim?
Have you still got the stomach
to follow this mountain man?
Oliver's going with him?
They can both go all the way
to hell for all I care.
Get up, come on! Keep going.
September 2nd, Sunday.
We have devised many names for
what we are doing in turning back,
but the real name is
one we have not used.
The word is "defeat," the
defeat of all we had hoped for.
The horses we loved are lost.
The wonderful oxen who were
so good to us are dying,
and those that live break my
heart with their loyal plodding.
They cannot last long.
Levi. Levi, the wheel, Levi.
Whoa.
Well, that's one problem
we don't have anymore.
What'll we do?
Hand me the saw.
The saw?
September 9.
We arrive at Fort John again,
this time from the west.
We have thrown away most of the
things we were going to use
in Oregon for our new life,
and even our wagon is a
poor thing, cut in half,
with only two wheels that cannot
continue turning much longer.
We have nothing,
and now we have lost hope.
Levi.
A wheel give up?
After we did.
What?
We turned around.
Why?
I saw the elephant.
Oh, I don't believe that.
Why not?
Well, a man doesn't
spin a tale that tall
unless he's hiding a
mountain of fear.
I don't see that in you.
Well, it doesn't matter.
The fact is, we quit.
Because of the baby?
How'd you know about that?
Not me, Clay Basket. She's
had three herself, you know.
I was wondering if...
No, I don't suppose
you'd consider it.
What?
Oh, just an old man's
foolish dream.
It wouldn't be fair to a young
one, with the makings you have.
What?
Well,
I told you I wanted to start another
store, for trading with the Indians
on that land down south of
here, near Beaver Creek.
The place you trapped
with your partner?
Pasquinel.
I just had a funny feeling
maybe you'd take to it
the same way he and I did.
I don't even have to see it
to know that for a fact.
September 15.
To be pregnant takes away
the sting of defeat,
for just as we shall be starting a
new community where the rivers meet,
so Levi and I shall be
starting a new family.
Also, the land we are
traveling through
is the kind that
makes you proud,
for it is beautiful in a manner
that those of us who lived
always in Lancaster
could never have dreamed
or appreciated.
There it is!
It looks like the
walls of Jericho.
It looks like a castle.
Well, to me, it looks
like we're almost home.
To Clay Basket, too.
We camped here many summers
when I was a girl,
following buffalo.
Beaver Creek's
over to the south.
That's where Pasquinel and
Lame Beaver first met,
and where we'll build our store.
To the west is Fox Canyon.
I spent the winter there one
year, under a 15-foot snowdrift.
Three weeks without
ever seeing the sky.
My lodge is still there, if someone
hasn't chopped it up for firewood.
I won't go on boring
you with reminiscing.
Boring?
Coming from Lancaster,
it's like a fairy tale.
I'm absolutely sure
it's a castle.
Levi. This land. We're home.
I feel it, too.
We never did decide
about the names.
Oh, I did.
You said it has to be a girl, and I'm
saying we can only have one girl.
So, it has to be Elly.
No.
Yes.
Remember what you said about
my blooming like a rose?
I feel that way tonight.
Do you still feel
that way about me?
After... After what happened?
Oh,
I love you, Elly.
I love you.
You know, after what
my brothers told me,
I never saw how men and
women could be friends.
But, Elly,
you're the greatest
friend I've ever had,
and the only woman I've
ever really wanted.
What about Rebecca Stoltzfus?
Oh, I forgot.
I guess I love her, too.
What?
For what she did to me.
If it hadn't been for that,
we wouldn't have each other
and we wouldn't know how
beautiful it is out here.
Morning, Elly.
Morning.
Dear Father,
thank you for...
Dear God,
thank you for this life
and this place.
What is it?
Snake bite!
Elly?
Look. The neck.
She was down low.
Elly? Elly!
Elly!
That's God's mercy, son.
I've seen 'em die slow. Believe
me, it's better this way.
And aye.
Oh, Elly!
Elly!
Oh, Elly.
Elly.
McKEAG: Levi.
Levi?
Clay Basket says dinner's ready.
Being a butcher, you'll appreciate what
an Indian can do with buffalo tongue.
That place you
stayed, Fox Canyon,
where is it?
Someone should go to him.
I needed to be alone then.
Almost the same way
he needs it now.
You'd seen the winters before.
You knew how to survive them.
Well, if the cabin's still
standing he'll be...
lf?
Well, if you won't
go, then I will.
No.
He may need you sometime,
but not right now.
Clay Basket,
it's like the time the
Pawnee and the pirates
stripped Pasquinel of
everything he had.
He went back to St.
Louis with nothing.
But maybe that gave him more than
he'd ever have had otherwise.
Same way with Levi Zendt.
With Elly, it seemed like he had
everything he could ever want.
Now he's come to
a place where...
Where he has nothing.
Well,
maybe that's the place
in every man's life
when he finally learns
the value of all things.
founded, would stand at a spot
where a man could look eastward
and catch the full
power of the prairie,
or westward to see the Rockies.
The history of the
town born in this area
would be a record of the way men
made the demands of the mountains
meet the needs of the prairie.
Many would destroy
themselves in that conflict,
but those who survived would
attain a largeness of soul
that other men who chose easier
paths would never discover.
In 1795, a young
fugitive from Scotland
had come west to trap beaver.
His name was Alexander McKeag,
and he was to become a
legend in his own time.
A man who lived
among the Indians,
who learned their
language and their ways.
He had come seeking solitude,
but he found friendship
and love.
He had lived a life of
unparalleled freedom
as he explored an
uncharted continent.
He had witnessed the
passing of great men
from a golden age that
would never come again,
and shared these
plains and mountains
with men whose passion for life
he did not expect to find again.
Other men were coming west now,
men from different backgrounds,
different beliefs.
Like the old
mountain man McKeag,
they were strong
men, stubborn men.
They, too, were men of
destiny and vision.
But they saw little in the windy,
water-shy stretch of plains to stop for
on their trek to a new
place called Oregon.
For them, this was only
a land to be crossed.
And the crossing was hard.
Some couldn't make it.
Some didn't.
But they kept coming.
If hell lay to the west, it was said
Americans would cross heaven to get there.
Alexander McKeag was certain
these proud, determined pioneers
were doing just that.
For him, the land
just south of where
the wagon wheels carved a trail
to the Pacific was paradise.
In the year 1845, however,
it was another part of this
country that men valued most.
At the eastern foothills
of the Appalachians,
the small city of Lancaster
in southeastern Pennsylvania
claimed some of the most
fertile farmland in the world,
and some of the most
fortunate farmers.
And one of these men
who gave thanks daily
for his home and the
life it afforded
was a young Mennonite
named Levi Zendt.
And although he could not
know it at the time,
Levi Zendt was destined to
leave this rich land he loved
and share the dream
of Alexander McKeag.
A dream that would give birth
to the town of Centennial.
Look! Amos Boemer
lost his bells.
Whoa, whoa there.
How'd you lose your bells, Amos?
Damned left wheel worked loose.
Hit a ditch east of Coatesville.
You getting another set, Amos?
That I ain't.
You quitting?
That I am.
Anybody who wants this
accursed Jew's
car can have it.
I don't want to see the
bulldong thing ever again.
Excuse me.
What did you mean about
losing his bells?
You don't know about
a man's bells?
No.
Well, maybe you should come inside
and let me tell you all about them.
Off with you.
It's a code of honor, son.
Any teamster that needs help from
another gives him his set of bells.
Oh.
It's not an easy thing to do.
When a man drives down Hell
Street without his bells,
he's telling the world he
couldn't make it alone.
And making it alone, well, that's
what life on the road is all about.
I know how old Amos feels today,
but he shouldn't give up too easy
on that Conestoga like he said.
The man that built it
knew a saw from an ax.
Oh, no. The Reverend.
Mother.
Reverend. Mrs. Fenstermacher.
I'm sorry I'm late.
You haven't started?
No.
Oh.
You knew the Reverend and his
wife were joining us today.
Of course. It's Sunday.
They come every...
I mean, I hoped that you'd be
joining us again, Reverend,
and I'm truly sorry
that I was late.
But you see, Amos
Boemer lost his bells.
Levi.
No, that's what happens
when a teamster breaks down
and he has to accept help
from another teamster.
He has to give up the brass
bells from his own wagon.
And it must be a
humiliating thing,
because old Amos Boemer sure
cursed something awful.
I have never heard cursing
like that before.
Perhaps you could ask
the blessing, Levi.
Yes, Mother.
Lord, we thank Thee
for Thy bounty
and we pray that we are
worthy of it. Amen.
And, dear Lord, hear our prayer
for young brother Levi Zendt
who has spent too
many afternoons
on an avenue of sin most
aptly named Hell Street,
consorting in taverns and
making acquaintances with men
who speak with the tongue
of the devil himself.
Guide him to halt this
infamous behavior
and direct him to attend
to his proper obligations.
Amen.
Amen.
Levi. Amos Boemer is
a blasphemous man.
It's little wonder
he was struck down.
It was God's will.
It was the left rear wheel.
Levi.
Collect the scraps.
I already have.
Then get them to the orphanage.
With no lingering.
I'll not have you hanging about
Hell Street disgracing us anymore.
Whatever makes you
happy, Mahlon.
Levi!
Papa sent some bread.
Oh, thank you.
I'll ride with you if you want.
Sure.
He's coming.
Who is?
Don't you play dumb
with me, Elly Zahm.
You know who comes every Friday.
And I know who
you're in love with.
Laura Lou Booker, you
mind your tongue.
You'd better mind how you look
if you want him to notice you.
Elly Zahm!
I'm coming!
Oh, Laura Lou, help me.
This is silly. He'll
never see me.
Men only notice pretty women
with kissable cheeks like you.
Pretty isn't everything.
Elly! Come when I call.
A rich man like Levi Zendt can't be
kept waiting by the likes of you.
Yes, Miss Kruger.
And you, finish up that wash. It
will be time for supper soon.
Yes, Miss Kruger.
Hello, Levi.
Elly.
I'll take that.
Oh, it's pretty heavy this time.
Let her take it, Mr. Zendt.
Thank you anyway.
You're strong.
Levi.
Oh.
Thank you, Miss Stoltzfus.
Just put it on top, Mr. Zendt.
It's all right. Really.
See you next week.
Thank you, Mr. Zendt. The Lord
will bless you and your brothers.
You're welcome, Miss Kruger.
What?
Nothing. I'll get you home.
Well, there's no hurry.
What do you think Mahlon thinks
about us being together?
Mahlon?
I mean, do you ever
talk to him about me?
About liking me? Talk about you?
No.
Well, you do like me, don't you?
Like you?
Oh, Rebecca, I think...
I mean, I... I just...
I mean... Kiss me.
What? Kiss me.
Rebecca...
Oh, Elly.
It's all right.
Elly, he will notice you someday.
He will. And then...
He noticed me just now.
He did? What did he say?
He said I was strong.
Oh!
Levi. Oh, Rebecca, I've
wanted to tell you
I've thought about you so much
that whenever it's market day, I
can't sleep for thinking about you.
I get this feeling
inside and I just...
What is it? Let go of me.
What? Let go!
Rebecca...
Let her be!
Tearing the clothes right
off the child, you beast!
Keep him away from me.
Keep him away.
He tried to...
Levi, you son of Satan.
You pig!
Child of the devil!
I did nothing evil.
Everyone in Lancaster
is talking about it.
You haven't been to
Lancaster, any of you.
I saw you working and I saw Reverend
Fenstermacher come to tell you.
He's gone mad. I haven't, and I
haven't done anything wrong!
Didn't you know?
Know what?
Mahlon was going to speak to
the Stoltzfus girl himself.
The Stoltzfus acres
will be left to her,
and our farm can
be twice as large.
Mahlon, I didn't know.
But she did.
And that's why she went
with me to the orphanage.
To make you jealous.
Of course. She even asked me how
you felt about her being with me.
And that's why she
did what she did.
What she did?
Yes, she tempted me.
I'll not have you lay the blame on
her for something you tried to do.
Not for rape. What?
The reverend told me
you tried to rape her.
Mahlon, I... Before Miss Kruger,
the blessed woman who gives
her life to that home.
Before the children. Before
the eyes of God himself!
Mahlon, you can't believe that.
You can't...
You've disgraced
this family, Levi.
You can never work at the market again.
Is that clear?
You'll stay home and
tend to your duties
and come to market
only to clean up.
Then I won't come back at all!
You'll do as you're told,
and make a public apology.
No.
It's the only way this
family can redeem itself.
You'll apologize to Peter Stoltzfus
and to the Stoltzfus girl
and to the whole market!
And you will be shunned.
No, I won't be shunned! No!
Amos Boemer.
You still want to
sell that Conestoga?
Sell that fly bait?
I'll give it away.
How much?
You know, that once was
a very proud wagon.
How much?
It was built by Samuel Mummert.
That was Paradise, 1818.
Cost $200.
I'll give you 10.
$10 for a great wagon like that?
It's all that I have.
It hasn't got a single
broken board, you know.
Tool box, wheel axle's good.
Lazyboard rides good.
$20, and you can take the bulldong
thing all the way to Philadelphia.
I'll give you 10 now and
10 when I pick it up.
Something you should know.
What's that?
It ain't got no bells.
Where I'm going, I
don't need any bells.
Elly Zahm!
I suppose you're safe
enough with him.
Leave that one for me.
No, I've got it.
Miss Kruger says
they're shunning you.
That they are.
I'm not a Mennonite. What
does this mean, shunning?
That I may not buy or
sell, or give or take.
I can converse with
no man nor woman.
I cannot attend church nor
speak with anyone who does.
Is that all?
If that's shunning, they've
been shunning me all my life.
Why?
Because I'm a bastard.
That's not your fault.
What happened here last Friday
wasn't your fault, either.
How do you know that?
How do you know?
I just do. You
wouldn't be that way.
No one knows for sure what another
person will do or won't do.
I know about you.
And my friend Laura Lou Booker saw
everything through that window.
She tried to tell Miss
Kruger about it, but...
Miss Kruger saw it, too. The
way she wanted to see it.
That's the way with most
people around here.
You ever think of leaving?
Only every day.
Me, too.
You aren't, are you?
Did you ever hear of a
place called Oregon?
Oregon? That's in the west.
All the way to the
Pacific Ocean.
How'd you know that?
I read about it.
I guess I know I'll never go anywhere,
so I read about everywhere,
everything I can.
But Oregon? There are hardly
even any people there yet.
Just savages. Which is what
people seem to think I am.
So I figured maybe that's a
good place for me to be.
But...
What?
Nothing.
It must be a wondrous
place to see.
I hope maybe someday I can
go somewhere like it, too.
Elly, are they hard on you here?
I'm strong, remember?
Elly, see to what this sinner's
good family brought us.
I want no waste around here.
Yes, Miss Kruger.
There's milk on the table.
Where's Mahlon?
Asleep. Like I
told him you were.
Mother... Sit.
You won't forget to eat well
when you get there, will you?
Get where?
Wherever it is you're
going with that weapon.
Mother, I...
I don't want to know.
I don't want a lie.
I loved it here.
I loved it so much.
I know.
Is it wrong for me to leave?
Even as a little boy, you
were the restless one.
You...
You always wanted to know why.
And you weren't satisfied
till you found out.
This shunning,
you know, deep down, it isn't
because of the Stoltzfus girl.
It's because you're
too independent
and too deep-feeling to
suit the people here.
They see it in you,
and it's a reminder of something
they'd rather forget.
You're a fine man, Levi Zendt,
and I'm proud of you.
When will you go?
Soon.
Do it now. Tonight.
I need horses.
Take the six grays.
They're the best.
But they're Mahlon's.
They're yours.
And wherever you go, Levi,
whatever you do,
you always take the best.
Only the best.
Elly!
Elly Zahm!
Whoa!
Get your things.
Hurry up.
What's going on down there?
It's the day of
judgment, Miss Kruger.
And you're looking at
the devil himself.
Elly Zahm, the sun is rising!
Elly Zahm! You come back here.
Do you hear me? You
come back here.
I'm never coming back.
Elly Zahm, I forbid you!
You hold it right
there, Miss Kruger!
This is a Lancaster rifle.
It shoots straighter
than the road to hell
and makes a hole twice as broad.
Levi, you wouldn't shoot her?
Oh, not without reloading first.
And that still takes the fastest
man almost a full minute.
Giddyup!
Elly, Elly.
Laura Lou Booker, you come back here.
You're as bad as she is!
Levi, stop. Whoa!
Here, take this.
Laura Lou, no.
No, take it. A wife has to have a
little money of her own. Take it.
You're escaping for
all of us, Elly.
Laura Lou.
For all of us.
Get up.
Will you be wanting a preacher?
Yes.
I want no bastards.
Dear Laura Lou, I'm writing to you
from our camp on the Ohio River.
We are just outside Pittsburgh.
Can you imagine me
ever going so far?
And yet, how far we have to go.
When we crossed the Alleghenies,
we thought we had climbed
halfway to heaven,
and they are only 3,000 feet.
The Rockies before
us are 14,000.
Levi and I can't believe it's
possible to get over them,
but if anyone can do it, he can.
He's a fine man, Laura Lou.
And a good husband.
Yes, we're married.
And, so you'll know, Miss Kruger
didn't tell us everything.
Probably because she
didn't know herself.
But we were right when we spent
all those hours wondering.
Men really aren't that much
different from horses.
And how Levi loves his horses.
I hope he never has to
choose between them and me.
But then, they can't give
him everything I can.
No, not yet. But I'm hoping.
And hoping it's a girl so she
can know through her father
how tender a strong man can be.
I don't know how to thank
you for your gift.
But I will share this adventure
with you every step of the way,
and pray that someday we may read this
record to our grandchildren together.
My love forever. Elly Zendt.
Why didn't Amos Boemer
get it fixed like this?
I didn't say she'd be fixed.
Said the rim would bond.
What's the difference?
Well, you got a lot of
parts in that wheel,
and all of them's figuring out
how to wreck on you later on.
It's funny, them other ones
are as good as a man sees,
but this one's
just a poor wheel.
Will it make 3,000 miles?
I can't say. It's a creeper.
You watch it good.
Wet the wood every
chance you get.
Whenever you get to a smithy,
you have him take a look at it.
Whoa. Get up.
Get up there.
Whoa.
What do you think?
We take the wagon
down into that?
You got a better
idea, I'll listen.
The horses can make it.
No, stay in the wagon.
I can't help from here.
I'll guide the lead team
while you work the lines.
It's pretty slippery. The
horses might get scared.
You trying to scare me, too?
It won't work.
All right. Let's go!
Whoa!
Elly!
You all right?
Quit hollering and keep driving!
What are you grinning at?
Just thinking how glad I am
that you're here with me.
There'll be plenty more rivers.
We'll learn to do it better.
Hey. Giddyup.
Dear Laura Lou, rivers have begun to
play an important part in our life,
from the one I fell into to the
one our flatboat drifts down now.
It is the Ohio, and we will
be on it for 1, 100 miles
until we arrive at a
place called Cairo.
Then we'll board a steamer for St.
Louis on the mighty Mississippi.
I can't believe
it's almost summer.
But then, I never believed I'd
be doing anything like this.
I feel important somehow,
as if God Intended me for
some significant duty.
I have no idea what it might be,
but the future is
full of promise,
and I know there is
so much to come.
See the elephant. Don't
delay, come today.
Next month we ship this powerful
pachyderm back to Europe.
Don't be one of those who must shamefacedly
confess to their grandchildren...
Whoa. Whoa.
Which way to the Robert Q. Fell?
See it here. See the elephant!
Whoa!
That?
It appears to be.
Disgraceful old tub, isn't she?
You going to the forts? Oregon.
Well met! I'm for Oregon, too.
Seccombe, Oliver Seccombe.
Boston, London, Oxford.
Levi Zendt, Pennsylvania.
Delighted, old boy. Delighted.
And this is...
My wife.
How do you do, Mrs. Zendt?
Oh, it's Elly, Mr. Seccombe.
Elly. Enchanted.
I'll go find the captain.
His name is Frake, but
you'll not find him aboard.
He'll be in the
tavern down the way.
Heavy drinkers, these
riverboat men,
but they can navigate narrows
you and I couldn't even swim.
Oh, Elly, let me
give you a hand.
When Levi's got
the wagon aboard,
we can all go and see the sights
of the town together. Hmm?
Yes, ladies and gentlemen,
this massive mastodon ate a ton
of hay each and every day.
Each mighty tusk
was 22-feet long.
The mother carried the
baby in her womb...
His tusk was that big.
For four years, seven months and 19 days.
It gave me the shivers.
I've never seen
anything that big.
See the elephant! Don't
delay, come today.
It's a big city.
Gateway to the west,
they call it.
The last culture before
you get to California.
Apart from the Red
Indian, that is.
And nobody knows very
much about them.
That's part of the reason
I'm here, you know.
I'm writing a book
on the subject.
You're writing a book?
Mmm. Travels in the
Great American West.
Have you ever read
Rousseau, by any chance?
Rousseau? Mmm-hmm.
What is it? Well,
he's a Frenchman.
A philosopher. Hmm.
A what?
Oh, a thinker.
Mostly about nature.
Precisely. Now, he had a theory
that there is still a pure, unspoiled,
primitive man that's still in existence.
Well, I intend to find him and
describe him before he vanishes.
The noble savage. Oh, excuse me.
I say, Captain! Captain Mercy, sir.
Good day.
Seccombe, isn't it? Yes, sir.
Oliver Seccombe.
These are my friends, Levi and
Elly Zendt from Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Mercy?
Yes, my wife, Lisette.
How do you do? I'm very
pleased to meet you.
The Captain will be
sailing with us.
And you, too, Mrs. Mercy?
No.
Mr. Zendt, was that your wagon with
the six upper handsome grays I saw?
Yes.
You'll forgive me, sir, but I...
I urge you to sell that team.
Why?
They'll die where we're going.
What?
Horses can't make that trip.
Well, they've come this far.
You had grain for them. You'll
have none on the plains.
I heard the plains were grassy.
You're getting a late start.
Most of the grass will be gone.
You have to rest your animals,
and you can't do that and
get there in time to graze.
I love those horses.
I can understand that,
they're fine animals.
But you can't afford
to wait on them.
And if you don't, they'll drop
dead of sheer exhaustion.
On the other hand, this is good
country for prime horseflesh.
You could expect four,
maybe $500 apiece.
I won't sell them.
Well, then I wish you luck.
You will need it. Good day.
Excuse me, sir, I believe you've just
been awarded a prize commission.
You overrate me, Mr. Seccombe.
I'm going west to select
a site for a new fort
with a grand detachment of two.
Myself, Sergeant Lykes
and eight mules.
Nine mules. I've tried to
talk him out of going.
You know, I think it'd be easier
trying to talk to a mule.
Then you can understand why
Levi won't sell his horses.
Yes, I think I can.
Look, I wonder, might
it be possible
that we could join you and
the sergeant when we land?
Well, I'm only going as far as St.
John on the Laramie.
It would help to get us started.
Then we can see
what kind of outfit
we could put together up there.
Well, I'd be glad for the company if you
don't mind traveling with nine mules.
Ten. And six horses.
Shall we?
Morning. Good morning.
Hannibal, I'm gonna give you a count
of three. You hear me? Three.
Trouble, Sergeant?
He's just being a mule,
mister, that's all.
Come on up there. Right there.
Good morning.
This is Mr. Sam Purchas. He calls
himself "King of the Mountain Men."
I've hired him to
lead us to Oregon.
Mr. Purchas, Maxwell Mercy.
Captain.
You ever been to Oregon?
Sonny, I been across them
prairies with all the great ones.
Kit Carson, Sublette, Fitzpatrick,
the Bents, I knowed 'em all.
My question was, have
you been to Oregon?
Well, one thing they taught me,
never try to reach Oregon with no horses
dragging your wagon. Are you Zendt?
I am.
Sonny, this here mountain man
don't travel with no horses.
You sell 'em and get oxen.
Like I told Major Mercy...
Now, I reckon the Captain here would like
to hear just what it is you're buying.
Pretty lady, would you be good
enough to read this out loud,
so as we can all
hear it together?
It's from The Dispatch.
"Strong as a lion,
fearless as a tiger..."
Would you mind
speaking up, miss?
It's kinda hard to hear
over that mule and all.
"Keen-eyed as an
eagle and quick..."
"as a panther, Samuel Purchas,
"greatest of the mountain men
and frontiersman extraordinary,
"departed our city on
Thursday last week,
"leading a party of
merchants on an exploratory
trip to the forts of
the Upper Missouri."
There's a whole lot more, but that
tells you who I am, don't it?
Mr. Purchas, exactly what
will be your service to us?
Keeping you alive,
sonny, that's what.
Timing. That's the trick.
I know it, you don't.
You move out of here too soon,
your oxen starve in Kansas.
Too late, and you'll freeze
to death in the Oregon snow.
I want every man to
carry two rifles,
two pistols, an ax, two
knives, a penknife,
a hatchet and 20 pounds of lead.
That's enough to fight
your way inch by inch.
Soldier boy, that's exactly
what we may have to do.
No, the officers at Fort
Leavenworth assured me
the Cheyenne and the Arapaho
were peaceful this year.
Did they tell you about the Oglala
Sioux, the Crow, the Blackfoot
and the Gros Ventres?
Them's the people we're
going to be dealing with.
The Pasquinel brothers are
riding with the Sioux this year.
Pasquinels? Who are they?
Half-breeds.
French trapper name of Pasquinel
took himself a squaw.
Now we got his redskinned sons along
the trail to keep us company.
You ever seen them?
Came down the river in 1839 with
three bales of buffalo robes.
They led a party of Cheyenne
that cleaned me out.
I'm surprised they
didn't kill you.
Sometimes they do and
sometimes they don't.
If I ever see 'em again,
they won't have the option.
All the same, the
armament seems too heavy.
Sonny, I been with 'em all.
And one thing they taught
me, carry plenty of guns.
Me, I travel with four rifles, two
pistols and this little beauty.
Without reloading, I can kill
six of anything that moves.
And if it was me, I'd start
with that critter over there.
I wonder what it'll
really be like.
What?
Oregon.
Oliver says everything
grows there.
Oliver says a lot.
Levi Zendt, you jealous?
Just thinking.
Meeting new people makes
you look at yourself.
Elly, are you sorry that you
married such a plain man?
What's funny?
Laura Lou Booker, she used to look over
every man that came to the orphanage.
Make lists of their
good and bad qualities.
"Is clean, listens well.
"Eats with good manners.
Knows how to laugh."
Or, "Too thin, too nervous.
"Wants to peek at the
girls, but is afraid to."
What'd she say about me?
Well I'm not sure I remember...
Elly!
She said... She said,
"He's very well-built,
dependable and strong."
Sounds like a horse.
"He's shy, but not crooked."
I'm not as shy as I was.
I know.
That's right, get
'em out of here.
Levi, get up. Levi, they're
taking your horses.
Deal's all set, sonny.
You got $500 apiece.
You got eight of the
best oxen, $15 each.
That gives you the best,
about $2,900 profit,
and my commission is only $50.
No. You can't do that!
It's done.
You...
Cool out, sonny. I'm
doing you a service.
Get 'em out of here.
You want to tangle,
sonny boy, I'm game.
But I'm telling you,
it's the only way.
You take this money now or
you'll have six dead horses
by the time you get
to the Platte.
He's right. They'll
never make it, Levi.
Trust me.
You're both taking horses.
So is Seccombe.
We ain't pulling wagons.
Take it. It'll build a fine home
for you and Elly in Oregon.
They've served you well, Levi.
Now they'll buy you
a better start
than most men on the
trail can even hope for.
Levi!
Go! Go!
Now we really are alone.
Now we can never go back.
I heared what you was
thinking, sonny boy.
But I'm telling you,
when we hit the Rockies,
we're gonna pass them horse-people
like they was staked to the ground.
Look.
Pawnee.
What do they want?
Purchas!
What the hell do you
think you're doing?
Good gun. A Fordney, ain't it?
Damn it, man, I asked
you a question.
I'm doing my job.
Well, they hadn't done anything.
They was Injuns.
How could you do that, Sam?
I been fighting
Injuns all my life.
They gave me this, and
one on my stomach,
and this.
I tell you, they ain't real people
like you and me, soldier boy.
They're no good.
Yes, sir. That's
a real good gun.
Now you know what it's for.
I think we have finally realized
what moving west means.
The strange rivers
flowing swift with mud,
the lurking Indians,
the burden of rifles,
the long, long trails with no
homes and no lights at dusk,
and the awful loneliness.
We have each other, of course,
and thank God for that.
We've seen what can happen
to men who have no one.
But what a story
we'll have to tell
when we reach Oregon, Laura Lou.
This is no ordinary trip, for we
move within a great dimension.
But Levi says the
desert we cross
is untillable, unprofitable,
and unneeded.
We are deep in
Indian country now,
and have joined up with
two other families,
because Mr. Purchas says we need
at least three wagons for defense
and to stand the night watches.
Morning.
Windy.
That's just the elephant
flicking his tail.
The elephant?
You don't know about
the elephant?
The one in St. Louis?
St. Louis?
You mean the circus?
No, that was just a bunch of
bones standing in a room.
Take a look out there.
Ain't that a home for a real
giant of an elephant, huh?
Yes, sir. Why, he's
taller than most trees.
He's got tusks that curve back
just like Turkish swords.
His trunk blows just
like a hurricane,
and his tail will flick a wagon bigger
than yours right off the trail.
A man can't believe everything
he hears, Sergeant.
Oliver says there hasn't been an elephant
on this continent for 10,000 years.
Oliver said that, huh?
Old fancy pants.
Well, that's for sure that
Oliver has never seen
the kind of elephant
that I'm talking about.
'Cause if he had, he'd have
hightailed it back to London so fast
his feet never would
have touched the ground.
You trying to tell
me you've seen it?
Seen it?
I'm trying to tell
you that any man
that's been alone out there
on that prairie has seen it.
Now, don't let 'em tell
you any different, Levi,
'cause you're gonna see it
one of these days, too.
And when you do see it,
you're gonna run as far as
you can as fast as you can,
because you know you...
You can't fight it.
Because you know if you
don't get out of its way,
it's gonna crush you flat,
and grind you down so deep
in this Godforsaken land
that no amount of prayers in heaven
will ever resurrect your soul.
Gonna turn in now, gonna
be daylight soon.
Thank you for the story.
See you in the morning.
Indians!
Pasquinels.
How do you know?
They're riding the Oglala Sioux.
He's bringing a whole
bunch of 'em in here.
Hello! Bacon?
Jake Pasquinel.
You're welcome,
we do have bacon.
Mike Pasquinel, you, too. Come.
Jake Pasquinel, I've
heard a lot about you.
How you know my name?
This finger, you lost
in the Kiowa fight.
That scar on your
cheek, at Fort Osage.
How are you, Jake?
What your name?
Maxwell Mercy, Captain,
United States Army.
You come to fight, huh?
No, to establish a fort.
Where?
Come, we smoke.
No, where the fort going to be?
That's why I'm here,
to pick the spot.
You and Mike be my guides, we'll
make the decision together.
No.
Why not?
Our father was white.
If we were to help guide you,
our Sioux brothers, they say,
"Pasquinel is traitor."
Then come to Fort John. Bring the Sioux
chiefs, the Cheyenne, and the Arapaho.
We can't say they will come.
Well, Jake, you're an Arapaho.
How you know I'm Arapaho?
In St. Louis,
everyone knows you.
They believe you're the man to
bring peace to the prairie.
You talk of peace,
you take our land.
No. One road, one road west.
This land will be yours as long as
the grass grows and the eagle flies.
Hmm.
We come to Fort John.
The day must come when
the killing stops, eh?
I wouldn't trust you to
stop killing rabbits.
We get you yet, squaw killer.
I'll wait at Fort John.
I say, you wanted bacon?
And some tobacco, perhaps?
Another time, huh? Another time.
Then tell me, if our
watchman hadn't heard you,
would you have slain us all?
You got good guards.
We'll keep 'em posted.
He did not have to stop
you, squaw killer.
Shooting at a man,
you'd have missed.
Nobody spits at... Purchas!
Forget it, or by God, your last
scar won't come from an Indian.
Mr. Seccombe,
when we get to the fort, I'd pick
another pilot if I were you.
That man will get
you all killed.
I will.
Be with you in a moment.
Afternoon. Hello.
I'm Levi Zendt from Lancaster.
Alexander McKeag, Scotland.
I'll be needing a
lot of your stuff.
Well, it's here waiting for you.
Well, this is my wife, Elly.
Let her have whatever she needs.
This is my wife, Clay Basket.
My daughter, Lucinda.
Arapaho.
Daughter and granddaughter
of the greatest warrior
in the history of their nation.
McKeag.
But I still maintain they
are a race of savages.
But that is the myth that
I'm going to explode.
You see, I believe that the
original Indians were Welshmen.
The very cream, the
best of Welsh society
that migrated here early on in history
to find a more natural way of life.
They ain't Welshmen, sonny boy!
They're Egyptian.
Egyptians?
Who do you think
that old pharaoh had
roughing up Moses
and the Israelites?
Injuns, that's who!
God sent 'em out here
as a punishment,
and it's our bounding
duty to punish 'em.
I never heard anything
like that before, did you?
That's because you don't
talk to nothing but mules.
Never mind about my mules...
Lykes.
Yes, sir?
Find the Zendts, tell them that
the proprietor, Mr. Kellen,
wants them to join him for dinner.
He's from Pennsylvania, too.
Yes, sir.
That was McKeag.
McKeag?
He runs the store.
Never mind, Sergeant.
Yes, sir.
Now, Sergeant, you
was about to say?
I think I'd rather do my
talking to the mules.
Trapping, huh?
Till they stop
making beaver hats.
And that was just south of here?
Aye, a place called
Beaver Creek.
Superb country.
Good water, trees.
All a man could ask for.
The Army captain we came with said there
was nothing to the south but desert.
You encourage him to keep saying that.
It'll keep the bad ones out.
Why didn't you stay down there?
Well, I had a partner. He died.
I couldn't find anyone to
go it with me after that.
And, well, a man
must get his living.
Captain.
Clay Basket?
Yes?
Lucinda. And you're McKeag.
Aye.
It's an honor, sir.
Should I know you, Captain?
No, sir, but you...
You do know my wife,
Lisette Pasquinel.
Your partner's St.
Louis daughter.
Well, pilgrims, you'll
see some country now.
And you'll see why you had
to sell them grays of yours.
Did you get that
wagon wheel reset?
I did. That's good.
Them big-busted ladies up
ahead will give it a workout.
Sam!
Oh, sorry, missy.
Hey, is that a new
bonnet you're wearing?
Yes.
I thought so. It frames
that pretty face real nice.
Sorry, old boy, I really am.
I mean, there just wasn't
another pilot at the fort,
and unfortunately, we
are what he calls us.
We're pilgrims.
I wish Captain
Mercy was with us.
He has his job,
and we have ours.
Indians! Indians!
Pasquinels bringing in a party
of Arapaho and Cheyenne!
Well, they're no Sioux. You'll still
have your hands full anyway, Mercy.
They brought Broken Thumb.
Broken Thumb?
Yeah, Cheyenne, just to the
right of Jake Pasquinel.
He got his hand mangled in a
mountain man's beaver trap.
He's a bad one, and a real disruptive
influence on all the tribes.
It is a bitter burden he carries, Mr.
Kellen.
You see, he understands
all too well
what's happening to his people
in this time of change.
Just whose side you on, McKeag?
I thought the idea was to keep
everybody on the same side.
Well, you'll want to
meet 'em down there.
They won't think much of you
spying on 'em with that thing
from up here behind a wall.
Oh, and don't forget to
smoke before you parley.
Hello, McKeag. Jake.
Mike.
We come in peace,
but we are a little confused
about what the Army wants.
The captain's brought
many fine presents
from our Great White
Father in Washington.
I am the son of a
trader, Kellen.
I know what the white
man's presents means, eh?
Mercy, you will explain to us
why you need another fort.
I'll tell you, Jake.
But first we smoke.
No smoke.
Broken Thumb, this
is important talk.
It's important the Great Spirit
bless us before we begin.
Lost Eagle.
The Arapaho wouldn't
come all this way
and then insult their
hosts, would they?
Hello, McKeag.
The Arapaho will smoke.
Whoa.
Whoa. What is it?
Turn around.
What happened to them?
Same thing that would've
happened to you
it you hadn't sold your horses.
What you're looking at
is a miserable sight,
but I don't want none of
you bleeding for them!
They guessed wrong and
they'll pay for it.
They won't even make the fort.
They should've listened
to the men that know.
They'll perish.
So, they'll perish! They have no
right coming on this trail that way.
I'm giving them my
two spare oxen.
You'll do no such thing!
You'll need them oxen,
maybe for food.
I'm giving them two oxen.
The rest of you, get
them wagons rolling!
We make camp in the
Rockies tonight,
or we'll be caught in snow
in three weeks' time!
Elly, Purchas was right
about the horses.
And Levi's right about the oxen.
This is a picture of our Great
White Father in Washington.
He's asked me to tell you
of our need for a fort.
You have a fort.
No, this place is Mr. Kellen's.
The Army needs a
fort of its own.
Why the Army?
To protect our people who
move to the great water
across the mountains, to
the place called Oregon.
Long time ago,
when the white men came across
this land, they were good.
McKeag, the father
of the Pasquinels.
Some wanted to stay
and live with us.
There was fighting,
but never much,
and there was always respect.
Now there are men
with no respect,
mean men with no women
and no children.
That squaw killer who you
brought with you, Mercy,
ugly men that char our
people for no reason,
who have only war
in their hearts.
And we shall give them war.
Mercy?
Just thinking how to
argue with the truth.
You're doing fine, son.
But you're talking to the wrong man.
You want Lost Eagle.
You want to show
him who you are.
Broken Thumb, your
words are true,
but if there is a fort,
then there will be soldiers to
punish these evil men you speak of.
Now they live outside our law
because we cannot reach them.
Lost Eagle,
I tell you the Great
Father wants peace.
We can have peace.
Do you want it?
Yes, Mercy. We want peace,
and we want to
protect our people.
We do not want our women killed by
men like the cut-nose you rode with.
And we do not want
our men, like Jake,
shot in the back.
I saved Jake's life.
He told us.
Did he tell you why?
Because you are like McKeag,
like the men who used to come.
I try to be,
but there is another reason.
Jake is my brother.
We are all your brothers.
But the Pasquinels are
my real brothers.
My wife is Lisette Pasquinel,
their white sister in St. Louis.
McKeag?
'Tis true, Jake. That's Lisette.
I saw her even before
your father did.
I know we've had
our differences,
but I'd like to think there's some of
that respect Broken Thumb mentioned
between us, too.
And I'll tell you
about Captain Mercy,
I trust him.
And I say y'all can
trust him, too,
even the mighty Cheyenne
chief who speaks of war.
There will be no war.
We will help you to find a
place for your fort, Mercy.
And I believe what
McKeag says about you.
But I pray to the
medicine arrows,
and I know this to become truth,
that I shall kill you,
and you shall kill me.
Levi,
I'm proud of what you did today.
I only did what was right.
Right to you.
I wonder what your Reverend
Fenstermacher would have done.
I haven't thought about
him for six months.
I wanna do something for you,
but I don't know what I can.
Oh, Elly.
I guess I'll just have to
share my secret with you.
About the baby?
You know?
I married a willow stem. The last few
weeks you've been blooming like a rose.
How do you feel about it?
Like the Lord of Creation.
I've been thinking. How do
you like the name "Maxwell"?
Not for a girl.
A girl? We need sons.
I want a girl.
I want to see her grow up knowing
your kindness and your gentleness.
I'll be through here in a bit.
And you better think of some
other names besides Laura Lou.
Sometimes there's more
than one, you know.
Missy?
What? Out here.
Please, would you gimme a hand with
your friend, Mr. Seccombe, here?
Mr. Purchas?
I hate to bother you, I don't
know what happened to him.
I'm afraid... I'm afraid
he's hurt real bad.
Just another step, all right?
He's a... He's just
right in here.
I don't see anything.
Let me help you.
What happened?
I don't know, ma'am.
I sure don't.
But I know what I
want to happen now.
Elly!
Levi!
Levi!
Levi!
Levi, don't! She's all right!
Elly's all right!
Stop, don't kill him!
You kill him, we'll all die!
Levi,
I'm sorry.
It's all right, Oliver.
Well, good luck to you both.
You, too.
Get up. Come on. Get up!
Whoa!
My Fordney.
So long, turnarounds! Be sure
to tell 'em back in St Louis
that when you lost your nerve, old
Sam Purchas was still heading west.
Levi! Let him go.
He's a pitiful old man and something
we know we don't want any part of.
What about you, pilgrim?
Have you still got the stomach
to follow this mountain man?
Oliver's going with him?
They can both go all the way
to hell for all I care.
Get up, come on! Keep going.
September 2nd, Sunday.
We have devised many names for
what we are doing in turning back,
but the real name is
one we have not used.
The word is "defeat," the
defeat of all we had hoped for.
The horses we loved are lost.
The wonderful oxen who were
so good to us are dying,
and those that live break my
heart with their loyal plodding.
They cannot last long.
Levi. Levi, the wheel, Levi.
Whoa.
Well, that's one problem
we don't have anymore.
What'll we do?
Hand me the saw.
The saw?
September 9.
We arrive at Fort John again,
this time from the west.
We have thrown away most of the
things we were going to use
in Oregon for our new life,
and even our wagon is a
poor thing, cut in half,
with only two wheels that cannot
continue turning much longer.
We have nothing,
and now we have lost hope.
Levi.
A wheel give up?
After we did.
What?
We turned around.
Why?
I saw the elephant.
Oh, I don't believe that.
Why not?
Well, a man doesn't
spin a tale that tall
unless he's hiding a
mountain of fear.
I don't see that in you.
Well, it doesn't matter.
The fact is, we quit.
Because of the baby?
How'd you know about that?
Not me, Clay Basket. She's
had three herself, you know.
I was wondering if...
No, I don't suppose
you'd consider it.
What?
Oh, just an old man's
foolish dream.
It wouldn't be fair to a young
one, with the makings you have.
What?
Well,
I told you I wanted to start another
store, for trading with the Indians
on that land down south of
here, near Beaver Creek.
The place you trapped
with your partner?
Pasquinel.
I just had a funny feeling
maybe you'd take to it
the same way he and I did.
I don't even have to see it
to know that for a fact.
September 15.
To be pregnant takes away
the sting of defeat,
for just as we shall be starting a
new community where the rivers meet,
so Levi and I shall be
starting a new family.
Also, the land we are
traveling through
is the kind that
makes you proud,
for it is beautiful in a manner
that those of us who lived
always in Lancaster
could never have dreamed
or appreciated.
There it is!
It looks like the
walls of Jericho.
It looks like a castle.
Well, to me, it looks
like we're almost home.
To Clay Basket, too.
We camped here many summers
when I was a girl,
following buffalo.
Beaver Creek's
over to the south.
That's where Pasquinel and
Lame Beaver first met,
and where we'll build our store.
To the west is Fox Canyon.
I spent the winter there one
year, under a 15-foot snowdrift.
Three weeks without
ever seeing the sky.
My lodge is still there, if someone
hasn't chopped it up for firewood.
I won't go on boring
you with reminiscing.
Boring?
Coming from Lancaster,
it's like a fairy tale.
I'm absolutely sure
it's a castle.
Levi. This land. We're home.
I feel it, too.
We never did decide
about the names.
Oh, I did.
You said it has to be a girl, and I'm
saying we can only have one girl.
So, it has to be Elly.
No.
Yes.
Remember what you said about
my blooming like a rose?
I feel that way tonight.
Do you still feel
that way about me?
After... After what happened?
Oh,
I love you, Elly.
I love you.
You know, after what
my brothers told me,
I never saw how men and
women could be friends.
But, Elly,
you're the greatest
friend I've ever had,
and the only woman I've
ever really wanted.
What about Rebecca Stoltzfus?
Oh, I forgot.
I guess I love her, too.
What?
For what she did to me.
If it hadn't been for that,
we wouldn't have each other
and we wouldn't know how
beautiful it is out here.
Morning, Elly.
Morning.
Dear Father,
thank you for...
Dear God,
thank you for this life
and this place.
What is it?
Snake bite!
Elly?
Look. The neck.
She was down low.
Elly? Elly!
Elly!
That's God's mercy, son.
I've seen 'em die slow. Believe
me, it's better this way.
And aye.
Oh, Elly!
Elly!
Oh, Elly.
Elly.
McKEAG: Levi.
Levi?
Clay Basket says dinner's ready.
Being a butcher, you'll appreciate what
an Indian can do with buffalo tongue.
That place you
stayed, Fox Canyon,
where is it?
Someone should go to him.
I needed to be alone then.
Almost the same way
he needs it now.
You'd seen the winters before.
You knew how to survive them.
Well, if the cabin's still
standing he'll be...
lf?
Well, if you won't
go, then I will.
No.
He may need you sometime,
but not right now.
Clay Basket,
it's like the time the
Pawnee and the pirates
stripped Pasquinel of
everything he had.
He went back to St.
Louis with nothing.
But maybe that gave him more than
he'd ever have had otherwise.
Same way with Levi Zendt.
With Elly, it seemed like he had
everything he could ever want.
Now he's come to
a place where...
Where he has nothing.
Well,
maybe that's the place
in every man's life
when he finally learns
the value of all things.