Northern Exposure (1990–1995): Season 3, Episode 16 - The Three Amigos - full transcript

My, my.

That new dishwashing detergent certainly

brings out the shine
in these beer glasses.

Check out this salad bar station.

Comes complete with five tubs,
refrigerated bottom,

and no-wipe Plexiglas sneeze guard.

Sounds like a beaut, Shelly, but lettuce

prices being so dear,
there'd go our profit.

Well, I was thinking
more like other stuff.

- You know, fruit cup, ambrosia salad.
- Something to consider.

Or we could try these pie-case mirrors
on the bedroom ceiling.



- Hi, Maurice.
- Shelly.

Holling, I just got the word.

Bill Planey's dead.

- Who?
- Lord.

- Yeah.
- Bill who?

Well, that's it then.

- Who?
- Fraid so.

We leave at first light.

I'll get the horses ready.

Bill who?

Ruth-Anne, throw in a couple
of boxes of those square eggs...

and a pound of coffee and put in a
few slabs of that reindeer jerky too.

Okay. And you'll want
some of these waterproof matches.

Oh, that's a good suggestion, yeah.



You know, it's hard to believe
old Bill Planey's gone.

He was such a tough piece of gristle.

Yeah, seemed like only yesterday
Holling and Bill and me...

were out shooting caribou
all up and down the Kodiak Preserve.

Well, I'm sure he was
fine in his own element,

but keep him out of my
store if you please.

Why? What'd he ever do to you?

Remember the time he threw that
miner through the barbershop window?

That man insulted his lead dog.

Even now, dead as a doornail, he's
leading you and Holling into trouble.

Making you cart his body
clear out to No Name Point.

Why can't he be buried at his cabin?

Can't get much further away
from civilization than that.

It's what the man wanted, Ruth-Anne.
We said we'd do it.

Forty-five miles over switchback trails,

through bogs and mire,
over boulders and slate,

thousand-foot drops on either side.

If that isn't trouble,
I don't know what is.

It's a privilege. That's what it is.

It's your funeral.

Here. Take this along.

Oh, no, thanks.
I'd rather have a breath mint.

This is not for you, Maurice.
It's for Bill.

Black Jack was his favorite.
Bury it with him, will ya?

Yeah.

Say good-bye to the old coot
for me, would you, please?

Well, see ya when we get back.
All right.

Take it easy.

Almost loaded, Shel.

I've got sugar thingies
for the horses, babe.

You know, to kinda make them
sweet on the trail.

Plus, here's a pillow for your butt
in case it gets sore.

I won't be on it long enough
to complain.

Three, four days at the most,
once I pick up the body.

Got your muffs? I got my muffler, honey.

Don't want Jack Frost
nibblin' at your ears.

Well, don't worry. I won't be cold.

As Bill used to say,
"You don't get cold in the bush.

Either you're warm or you're dead."

Hmm, guess now
he's kinda both, huh, babe?

- What's that, Shel?
- You know, cold and dead.

- Yeah. All right.
- Hi, Holling. Hi, Shelly.

Well, here's the coffin.

Skinny and long, just like Bill.

- Nice job, Ed.
- Thanks, Holling.

All right, here we go.

- I don't know.
- One, two, three.

What's that, Shelly?

Why does your friend
want to get eternally

rested way out in the middle of nowhere?

No Name Point? It's a special place.

- I never heard of it.
- It was special to us.

We used to trap out that way,
me and Bill.

- And later, me, Maurice and Bill.
- Heads up!

Ha! Yep, people used to call
them Porthos, Athos and Aramis.

Who, what and what?

The Three Musketeers.

Yep, then, one fateful day,
it was the winter of '66.

'64, Ed. Before you were born, Shelly.

It was bitter. A bad cold.

Storm came up, you couldn't see
your hand in front of your face.

Bill's mule floundered and went over
the side of a bottomless crevasse.

Oh, we had to kill one of the horses.

Spent the rest of the night taking
turns sleeping inside the carcass.

- Wow.
- Yeah.

The winds howled like
Joshua's trumpet all night long.

An avalanche broke but 300 feet east.

When morning came,
Maurice got a fire lit.

- We ate the horse's liver.
- Oh.

I was dressing Bill's wounds,
and he looked at me,

and he looked at Maurice,

and then he said, "Boys,

it just doesn't
get any better than this."

- Wow.
- Yeah, wow.

Right then and there, he decided
that's where he wanted to be buried.

A place where few men had ever been
and few would ever be.

- Cool.
- All set, supply side.

Hey, Maurice. This oughta hold it.

Morning.

Good job there, Ed.

Nice tight grain.
That'll keep the worms out.

Let's roll.

- Bye-bye, Shelly.
- Bye, hon. Love you.

- Come on, Holling, let's go.
- Take care, Ed.

- Okay.
- Bye, Maurice.

See ya.

Watch out for black ice and avalanches.

- Bye, honey.
- Drive safely.

See you, guys.

There they go into the last great gasp
of wilderness we call Alaska.

We all have our own relationship
with the wild...

out there or in here
in our hearts, in our souls.

Wheeling, West Virginia, 1983.

I'm in the joint, prison library,

workin' my way back from "Z" -
Stendhal, Proust.

I'm in the L's and eureka, baby-
Jack London.

My main man.

If Whitman gave me poetry, then Mr.
London

took me to a place inside myself...

that I didn't even know existed,
but instantly recognized.

Like I'd been heading there
my whole lost life.

There was Buck, big great
civilized mutt from the Southland,

slapped down in the frigid north,

to redefine himself
for what he truly was.

I was Buck. Buck was I. Buck is us.

See, folks, it's time to rekindle that
mysterious and terrifying intimacy...

when that old psychic
link between us and

it is established again
for the first time.

Commencing tomorrow,
part one, The Call of the Wild.

She's blown all right.

Yep, sure is. Well, you get
the other tire. I'll unload the horses.

Oh, Mary! My Lord!

What is it? What's the matter?

My back's spasming. Oh, I'll be okay.

- No, here, let me help you.
- No, I'm fine.

Here, I'll get this.

It just - It just went out on me. That's
the first time that's happened in years.

Well, go over there and sit
on that log and give it a rest.

- You gonna be all right here?
- Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be fine.

- I'll just
- Can you make it all right over there?

Just gimme a minute or two.
Dad-blang back.

I love this quiet.

You smell that?

Pine. So sweet.

When was it, '68, '69?
That Swede cold cocked Bill?

The man rolled out of the sack
the next morning, what'd he see?

Bill, sitting up there on that big Cat.

He bulldozed every tent
in that mining camp.

He'd have started on the main street if

we hadn't gone there
and dragged him off.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

Sad about Bill's passing.

Yeah, it is.

Where do you wanna be buried, Maurice?

Buried?

Hell, I don't know.

I haven't given it much thought myself.

It's so far off, I mean, what
with my longevity genes and all.

Yeah, you'll probably live forever.

But as for me, well,

there's a Minnifield family crypt
outside of Knoxville.

But, uh, I never saw myself
being put in there.

My father wanted his remains
shipped back to Quebec.

I believe they went by train.

He wanted to rest beside my mother.

Well, there's five generations
of Minnifields in that crypt.

There's one brigadier general,
Civil War.

I suppose I'll want what my papa did,

to lie beside Shelly when my time comes.

Yeah. I laid my mother
to rest in that crypt.

And my father.

My brother Malcolm, of course,
wanted his ashes scattered.

Wanted to be one with
nature, ridin' the wind.

Ashes.

I never saw much point in that.

Well, back to work. Daylight's wastin'.

Just spare yourself, Holling.
I'll have us on the road directly.

You horses, settle down in there.

You know that Jack London story
you're always telling us about?

Well, Chris,
what kind of pooch was Buck?

Well, a mutt. Half Saint
Bernard, half Scotch shepherd.

- Why?
- I was just thinking.

I mean, there he was leading this
cushy lifestyle in San Francisco.

He never had to lift a finger. And then
he gets kidnapped and mailed to Alaska.

And the next thing he knows, he's
pulling a sled and getting whipped,

and his feet
get all cracked in the snow.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, then he gets
rescued by this kindly

trapper, but the Indians
kill the trapper.

And then he joins the wolves. Right?

Right. Yeah, I'm sensing
a question here, right, Shel?

I was just kinda hoping
that he'd walk to

San Francisco. You
know, like Old Yeller.

Yeah, well, he could have done that.
Uh, take White Fang, for instance.

- Fang who?
- Another pooch in the London oeuvre.

Oh. White Fang was a
- was a wolf...

who lived out in the
wild, and then became

a house pet in Santa Clara, California.

Oh, too bad. A house wolf.

Yep, wild to tame.
Tame to wild, either or.

Point is, Shel, both
those old dogs got to

go out in the world and see both sides.

Once they knew that, who they were,
they could live here, there, anywhere.

Gimme another couple
of days, I'll get it

right. Here, have a little more coffee.

Ah, biscuits are fine, Maurice.

You couldn't hope to find anything
better than that in the city.

How's that vertebra doing?

You know what you oughta do?
Roll up a blanket and put it back there.

- Give it a little support.
- Oh, it should be better tomorrow.

Mm, boy, that's good.

You know, things do taste
different out here.

Kinda, well, better in a way.

So quiet you can hear the smoke rise.

Yeah.

Stars so close,
feels like you can taste 'em.

Holling?

Why haven't we seen Bill
in the past few years?

You went to Houston that one time.

Yeah. I had a speaking engagement.

Couldn't cancel.

Yeah, you know how it is. Things happen.

Dave came down
with a case of the chicken pox.

- Or was it the mumps?
- It was the mumps.

I could have closed up a few weeks.
It wouldn't have broke me.

But you think there'll always be time.

How you doing over there?

I'm fine. I'm fine.

You know, years ago,
before you even came to Cicely,

I told Bill I was gonna buy The Brick.

Well, I thought-
I thought he was gonna cry.

Boy, he got so passionate
on that subject.

Is that a fact?

You done with this? Mm-hmm.

He told me straight out,
"It's gonna be the ruin of you.

You're gonna be bathing once a week
and cooking for a woman."

Well, he- he wasn't too far wrong.

You ever, uh, regret it, Holling?

- What, coming in from the cold?
- Yeah.

Oh, I don't know. Sometimes.

Well, I-I like the town.

I like the people. I like the bar.

My life with Shelly's a good life.

But part of me is out here.

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't.

Yeah. Me too.

Sometimes I think about
exploding into the...

vast darkness of outer space.

Boy, I did blaze some trails.

Yeah.

- Bill would like this.
- He sure would.

The three of us sitting around the fire.

Too bad he can't be here.

Well, he will be.
Well, you know, this time tomorrow.

Yeah, I guess he will.

Well, I guess we'd better turn in.

"They pitched camp after dark,
eating their bit of fish...

"and crawling to sleep in the snow.

"A chill wind was blowing,
but Buck slept soundly and comfortably,

though he growled and barked
and wrestled with bad dreams."

"Buck was glad to be gone
on the hard day's run up the canyon,

"through Sheep Camp,
past the Scales to the timberline,

"across glaciers and snowdrifts
hundreds of feet deep...

"and over the great
Chilcoot Divide, which

guards forbiddingly the
sad and lonely North.

"The dominant primordial beast
was strong in Buck,

"and under the fierce conditions
of trail life, it grew and grew.

"Suddenly jerked from
the heart of civilization...

and flung into the heart
of things primordial,

"instincts long dead became alive again.

"His muscles became hard as iron.

"Sight and scent became remarkably keen.

"He learned to bite the ice out with his

teeth when it collected
between his toes,

"to scent the wind and forecast it,
a night in advance.

"The domesticated
generations fell from him,

and Buck's restlessness
came back on him...

"as he was haunted
by recollections of the wild brother...

"and of the smiling
land and the run side

by side through the
wide forest stretches.

"They came upon a path blazed
through the forest, an ancient path,

and the lost cabin seemed very near."

It kinda feels unnatural, doesn't it?

Coming up here and not finding Bill,
hanging hides or kicking his dogs.

- Yeah.
- Hey.

About time you two showed up.
Where have you been?

Well, we had a flat, and the trail
was slower than we anticipated.

Excuse me, ma'am, I'm Holling Vincoeur.

Maurice Minnifield.

Oh, I'd have known you
by those dog teeth of yours.

- Solvang Planey. I'm glad to meet you.
- Planey?

Yeah, I'm Bill's wife. Or was.
The S.O.B. Finally gave in.

Had to hold a rifle to his head.

Shut your mouth. The flies will fly in.

I'm sorry, ma'am, it's just...
we didn't know Bill had a wife.

Well, I've been his wife
for the last three winters.

Now, I know you'll wanna see Bill
and pay your respects,

so let's get on with it.

Got him out back on a slab.

How'd he go anyway?

'Tween the sheets, God bless.

Had him ready for 24 hours.
Packed him in rock salt.

You'll be wanting to get him
in the ground before he spoils.

- That-
- Here he is.

That's Bill?

Yeah. Took three potato
sacks to wrap him.

Bill Planey?

The man I knew was thin
as a lodgepole pine.

Well, this is Bill now.

You got a problem with that
skinny little coffin of yours.

We're gonna have to
make some modifications.

Up and out.

Come on, eat up, fellas.

Mm. These are the best biscuits
I ever tasted.

The gravy too. Smooth as silk.

Yeah, it's not any wonder
old Bill gained a few pounds.

Why, I sure do love to watch
a man eat. More squirrel?

Well, I don't mind if I do.

No, stay right there.
I'll get it for you.

Appreciate that.

Yeah, that old Bill
could eat, all right.

Now, my third husband,
worked up on the pipeline in Barrow.

He was finicky.
Only liked fish and fried potatoes.

Nothing wrong with that.
What happened to him?

Who's that, Maurice?
Uh, your-your husband.

Oh, hypothermia. Arctic Ocean.

Storm blew him right off the platform.
He didn't even have a chance.

I'm sorry to hear about that, ma'am.

Yeah. Tsk. Anyway, what about you two?

- Either of you fellas been married?
- No, I haven't.

- How about you, Maurice?
- No.

How come?

Well, I almost did once,
a couple of years ago.

But, uh, Holling stole her away from me.

You two must be pretty tight to
go through some trouble like that.

We've known each other for 30 years.

Right, Maurice?

Yep. Holling's little girl,
she's adorable.

But talk about eating. When she gets
the munchies, you better watch out.

I've seen her go through
a whole gallon of ice cream...

and a half a cup of syrup, chocolate
syrup, and that sort of stuff.

You know, especially right after we've-

I mean-Well, uh-

"Skeet was a frisky little Irish setter
who early made friends with Buck.

"She moved toward him playfully.

"He tried to sniff noses with her,
but she retreated coyly.

"There was nothing
threatening about her.

She looked merely with
a great wistfulness.

"But Buck knew it to be
the wistfulness of an

equally great hunger,
and he was the food.

She licked her chops
with the pleasure of anticipation."

- How's your back feeling?
- Well. No, no, it's, uh-

It's fine. Yeah.

Here, let me do that.

You go ahead and eat your grits. Go on.

Whoo. Yeah.

Maurice has gone out
to take a look at the horses.

I saw him go.

One of them may have a stone bruise.

Yep.

You know, I've wanted
to have a minute with you.

- Yeah?
- The fact is...

that I owed Bill quite a bit of money.

And I figure that it rightly
belongs to his widow.

- Fifty dollars.
- Well, thank you.

Now, there's no need to, uh,
say anything to Maurice about this.

My lips are sealed.

This grits and gravy
really hits the spot.

You know, Holling Vincoeur,
you got a fine behind on you.

Well, uh, now-

About that woman that you're with,

how come you never tied the knot?

Well, um-

It just seems to me that a man would
marry a woman if he's happy with her.

Well, I'm- I'm plenty happy, Solvang.

Are you sure? A seasoned sled
slides swifter than a green one.

Solvang, I love Shelly.

One born every minute.

Morning, Solvang. Coffee perked yet?

Yeah. Go on and help yourself.

How you doing with the coffin?

Oh, we're just, uh,
finishing up with the lid now.

Say, hand me that can of bacon grease
by the gun rack, would you?

There you go. Thank you.

Where do you keep your sugar, Solvang?

We haven't seen sugar since last spring.

The last couple of years,
Bill slowed down some.

Trapped us some lynx,
made our groceries,

but had to sell all the dogs
and most of the guns.

Woods are over-trapped anyway.

You know,

there's, uh, a little business
I'd like to clear up.

What's that?

Back in, uh, 1964, I borrowed
some money from Bill.

It was 50- No, no, it was $ 100.

I never paid it back,
and I think now that

Bill's, uh, gone, that
you oughta have it.

Since it's rightfully yours.
Yeah, with interest, of course.

- A hundred dollars?
- Let's see, that's, uh-

Say 10% compounded daily.
That would be, uh-

365 days times 28 years.

That would be...

$ 1,643.81.

- There you are.
- Thank you, Maurice.

Uh, if it's all the same to you,

I think we can not
mention this to Holling.

Lips are sealed.

- Well, better get a move on.
- You do that.

Pack Bill up and go.

Lord, he's heavy. I bet she's
got 50 pounds of salt in there.

He oughta ride pretty steady now.

Careful, Holling.
You'll strain your back again.

I'm fine. Just a little stiff, is all.

Well, there you go, Bill,

into the breach.

Locked and loaded.

- Hey, fellas.
- Solvang.

We were just coming to thank you for
your hospitality and to take our leave.

Never mind that,
'cause I'm coming with you.

- What?
- With us?

Yep, I'm going with you to No
Name Point, help you bury Bill.

That's a-That's a very
dangerous trip, Solvang.

Treacherous. A hard trail for a woman.

A piece of cake.
Nothing keeping me here.

What do you think, Maurice?

We best get moving. We've got a
long way to travel before sundown.

Well, okay then. As long
as you don't slow us down.

Maurice, I'm coming with you.

Here you are.

Up you go. Up.

Hop aboard. Got it?

Yeah.

Come on. Let's go.

Move over. Let me in.
It's cold out here.

- Solvang?
- Yeah.

- What are you doing?
- What do you think I think I'm doing?

Don't you like it?

Well, yeah. You just
took me by surprise.

- Feels pretty good, doesn't it?
- Well, yeah, but it's just-

So, oh, come on. I didn't crawl in
here to chat, Maurice. Gimme a kiss.

- Wait a minute.
- Wait a minute?

What? Wait for what? You one
of them fruitcakes or something?

No, I'm not a fruitcake.

- Well?
- You're a very attractive woman.

It's just that-It's him.

Him? He's fast asleep.
He can't hear anything.

I'm not talking about Holling.
I'm talking about Bill.

He's a friend of mine.
He's over there lying dead.

So what? He's my husband.
You let me worry about him.

Anyway, I'm freezing my buns off.
Wait! Wait!

- Oh, come on, give it up.
- Hold it!

Don't - Don't you think it'd be better
to wait until he's in the ground?

Oh, Jesus!

You two are nothing but a couple
of dried up old peas in a pod.

Yeah, I slept like a baby
under a blanket of stars.

Yeah, nothing like sleeping outside
to take the city kinks out.

It looks like it's gonna
be a beautiful day.

It sure does.

- Coffee will be ready in a minute.
- Good.

Yeah, I'm gonna go see Johnny.

Here, let me put another log
on that fire for you, Solvang.

Yeah, it needs it. You boys gonna want
biscuits or flapjacks for breakfast?

Oh, campfire flapjacks. Mm-mmm!

Then flapjacks it is.

- Is that coffee almost ready?
- You bet.

- Maurice!
- What?

Over here! Come over here!

- Maurice, over here!
- What?

What is it? It's what it isn't.
The horses, they're loose.

What do you mean they're loose?
They're gone.

Oh, you mean you boys
didn't hobble those horses?

- Well, I had 'em tied right over there.
- Why didn't you hobble 'em?

Why didn't you?

What, bend down and
put my back out again?

Your back. Your back.

"The breakdown of discipline
affected the dogs...

"in their relations with one another.

"They quarreled and bickered
more than ever among themselves...

"till the time
the camp was howling bedlam.

"Day after day, for days unending,
Buck toiled in the traces.

"Always they broke camp in the dark,

and the first gray dawn
found them hitting the trail.

"No lazy sun-kissed life was this.

Every moment,
life and limb were in peril."

Holling Vincoeur, you
get your broken-down

butt back here and help us unstick Bill.

Holling, where do you
think you're going?

Maurice.

The horses are up ahead.
They stopped at Two Forks.

Two Forks? Well, I'll be damned.
Come on, let's go.

"It was inevitable that the clash
for leadership should come.

"Buck wanted it.
He wanted it, because it was his nature,

"because he had been gripped tight...

by the nameless incomprehensible
pride of the trail and the trace-

"that pride which holds dogs
in the toil until the last gasp,

"which lures them to die joyfully
in the harness...

"and breaks their heart
if they are cut out of the harness.

"This was the pride of Dave,
his wheel dog, and of Sol-leks,

"as he pulled with all
his strength, the pride

that laid hold of them
at the break of camp,

"transforming them
from sorrowing sullen brutes...

into straining, eager,
ambitious creatures."

- Afternoon.
- Hi, folks.

- Howdy.
- Afternoon, ma'am.

Those are your horses outside?

Somebody forgot
to hobble 'em last night.

- Oh, too bad.
- Who might that be?

Care to warm up with
a round of schnapps?

Yeah, we sure do.

- Got a pot of beaver tail stew in back.
- Sounds good to me.

That would be much appreciated.

Say, wasn't this
Fritz Schoelder's place?

- Was. He's dead.
- Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

- I'm his son, Reinhart.
- Holling Vincoeur.

- This is Maurice Minnifield.
- Howdy.

- Solvang Planey.
- Ma'am.

How you doin'? That's my
husband out there in the box.

We're taking him to No Name Point.

He had this idea that he wanted to
rest his bones in someplace obscure.

I'll get your food.

Good. I am starved.

Hey, what are you fellas
playing over there?

Rummy.

You know the game of bridge?

Two club convention?

Always a nice surprise
to find bridge players in the bush.

Two no trump.

Pass.

I hope you counted your points right.

Just bid the hand.

Three diamonds.

Four clubs.

Four diamonds.

What do you say?

- Pass.
- Pass.

- Pass.
- Diamonds it is.

Here are my cards.

I'm gonna stretch my legs.

You gentlemen don't play much, do you?

We win this one,
that's three rubbers in a row.

You haven't won yet.

No.

But we will.

- That's tasty stew, Reinhart.
- Thank you.

I'm in the bar business. Really?

- The Brick in Cicely.
- That right?

His wife made the stew.

Last thing she did before she ran away
to Nome was leave a vat in the freezer.

Well, that was very thoughtful of her.

Took the money for the pool table
and deep-fat fryers too.

Nothing I could do. Community property.

Goddamn fool if you ask me.
This place has got a lot of potential.

Dang, you skunked me again.

You old fart, I oughta drop
you like a sack of potatoes.

Go ahead. Take your best shot.

- I'd like to see it.
- Hey, there.

"The astonished team dogs
had burst out of their nests,

"only to be set upon
by the fierce invaders.

"Never had Buck seen such dogs.

"It seemed as though their bones
would burst through their skins.

"They were mere skeletons,
draped loosely in draggled hides...

"with blazing eyes and slavering fangs.

Dave and Sol-leks, dripping blood
from a score of wounds,

were fighting bravely side by side."

I was doing okay till that rascal kicked

me in the head with
that fancy foot move.

Yeah, I think I broke my knuckle
on that fella's chin.

Is that travois lead
tight enough, Maurice?

- Yeah, it's fine.
- Let's get outta here.

There you are, Solvang.
Come on, mount up.

Hold on a minute.
I got something to tell you.

- Boys
- Come on, get up. It's time to go.

No, I'm, uh, not going any further.
This is as far as I go.

What are you talking about?

I'm gonna lay my head
on Reinhart's pillow.

- Man's a cocked pistol.
- What about Bill?

What about Bill? He's not
gonna miss me. He's dead.

- Are you sure?
- Uh-huh.

I'm gonna buy into the bar.

Reinhart and I are
gonna set up a tanning

booth and a sauna with the money.

- Money?
- Yeah, your money.

Unlike you two, the man knows
how to treat a woman.

Well, good luck.

Yeah. Good luck to you.

Oughtn't to keep such a tight grip
on those family jewels, Maurice.

And, Holling, you still got a cute rear.

Maybe next time. Yes, ma'am.

Come on. Giddyap.

So long, Bill.

"The general tone of the team
picked up immediately.

"It recovered its old-time solidarity,

"and, once more, the dogs leaped
as one dog in the traces.

"The trail was in excellent condition,
packed and hard,

and there was no new-fallen snow
with which to contend."

- How you doing over there, Maurice?
- I'm doing all right.

- Better than you are anyway.
- That eye's gonna be quite a shiner.

Yeah, it's starting to close up a little
bit, but I can still see out of it.

- How's your back?
- Well, it's been better.

Boy, we taught those guys
a lesson, didn't we?

I suspect they'll ponder a bit before
they resort to fisticuffs again...

...with a couple of seasoned travelers.

They gave us a shellacking.

I'll say they did.

It's funny though.

I didn't mind. A few aches
and pains, but it was worth it.

- It's too bad Bill had to miss it.
- Yeah.

When I saw how big Bill was,
I didn't know as how we'd make it.

Yeah, it was like he was having
the last laugh on us.

Yeah, laughing from the grave.

Like that time we were hunting out
in Whitefish. You remember that?

- Whoa, whoa, easy!
- Watch it, Holling. Watch it.

Whoa, Maurice! Cut 'er loose!

- Grab him.
- I got him.

That's it. Hold him steady.

- Man, he's heavy.
- Well, pull - pull him up here.

Yeah, yeah, put him down right there.

- Salt's leeching out.
- My hands. I can't move my fingers.

Maurice, we gotta get a fire, quick.

My hands, they're turning blue.

"By the time they made Hootalinqua,
Buck was played out.

"The rest of the dogs
were in like condition,

"a wretched state,
worn out and worn down.

"Sol-leks was limping, and Dub was

suffering from a
wrenched shoulder blade.

"They were all terribly footsore.
No spring or rebound was left in them.

"There was nothing the matter with them
except that they were dead tired.

"There was no power
of recuperation left,

"no reserve strength to call upon.

"It had all been used,
the last bit of it.

"Every muscle, every fiber,
every cell was tired.

Very tired."

He's dry on this side.

You think maybe you could
give me a hand with this?

Sure. No problem.

He could use another half-turn is all.

I'll get his feet. You get his head.

- Easy, easy, that's it. Okay, got it.
- Yeah, there we go.

Oh, my back is killing me.

I'm not surprised, that fall
down that hill. Can you ride?

Yeah, sure. I think so.

How far'd you say it was
to No Name Point?

Well, we got to go around,

so I figure a week, 10 days.

Oh, well, good.

How's our food holding up?

We lost most of it in the river.

Oh, well, we had too much food anyway.

Plenty of fish in the streams.

Yeah, and plenty
of winter tubers underfoot.

You smell that?

Fraid so.

He's taking on an odor.

Yeah, he was getting ripe
when we picked him up.

You know what Bill would like?

Take us with him.

Much more of this,
he's gonna have his wish.

The one thing Bill
couldn't tolerate... was a fool.

That's true.

What do you think?

I think this is a damn nice place.

Come morning,
we'll put old Bill in the ground.

Right here.

Yeah.

- Well, that oughta suffice.
- Yeah.

Well, I guess that's it then.

Oh, wait a minute.

Ruth-Anne, uh-
Oh, here-gave me this gum.

Black Jack.

Yeah, none the worse for wear.
You want a stick?

Uh, no thanks.
It sticks to my bridgework.

Well, he'll be fine here.

He loves spruce. He's
got that river right

there and a nice view of the foothills.

Yeah. You wanna say a few words?

Uh, no.

Uh, all right.

The man could skin a
10-point buck in the

time it took most people
to tie their shoes.

No point in living in the past.
Let's go.

Amen.

"Buck heard the calls still sounding
in the depths of the forest.

"And as never before,
he was ready to obey.

"His master, John Thornton, was dead.

"The last tie was broken.

"Man and the claims of man
no longer bound him.

"An old wolf, gaunt and
battle-scarred, came forward,

"sat down, pointed a nose at the moon...

"and broke out in a long wolf howl.

"The wolf pack had at last crossed over
from the land of streams and timber...

"and invaded Buck's valley.

"Into the clearing,
they poured in a silvery flood.

"And in the center of the clearing
stood Buck, waiting their coming.

"One wolf advanced,
and Buck recognized the wild brother...

with whom he had run
for a night and a day."

Holling, you're home! Oh.

- Oh. Good to see ya.
- I missed you.

- I missed you.
- Hi, Holling.

- Hi, Ed.
- You guys get your friend buried?

- We did.
- Good.

I missed you so much.

"Now the call came back to Buck
in unmistakable accents.

"He, too, sat down and howled.

"The leaders lifted the yelp of the pack
and sprang away into the woods.

"The wolves swung in behind,
yelping in chorus.

"Buck ran with them,
side by side with the wild brother,

yelping as he ran."

The end.

There's a fine line between
the wild and the tame,

between Alaska and us.

Me? I gotta have
my-my music and my books.

No matter how urbane we humans become,

something in us still longs for the-
for the virgin forest.

So, good luck, Buck. You're out
there for me and for all of us.

Good night, Cicely.

What a time we had.

Splashed through bogs,
ate like hogs, slept like logs.

I'm glad you still dig
doing the wild thing, babe.

You are?

Oh, yeah.

Truth is, I was afraid you were getting
too domestically weird on me.

Oh, it was grand out there, Shelly.
I won't deny it.

But I'm glad to be back home.

No Name Point. Was it as
gnarly as you remembered?

Well, actually, uh,
we didn't get to No Name.

I thought you said
you got Bill all planted.

Well, yeah, we did,
but just not in No Name.

You mean, you broke your promise?

Well, yes, we did,
but it wasn't gonna work, Shelly.

Bill's body was-Well, let's just say
it was developing a strong odor.

And, uh, the glacier had
pretty near wiped out the trail.

Besides, Maurice and I are not as young
as we used to be. That part was obvious.

Well, you're young enough for me, babe.

Yeah.

Oh, oh, your back go out again, hon?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We had-We had a little

disagreement in a place
called Two Forks.

Seemed a gentleman there took issue
with Maurice's skill with cards.

- Said he was cheatin'.
- Maurice deck him?

Well, only after he
decked Maurice first.

Wow. It's too bad.

That happened to my boyfriend Ernie
in 11 th grade. He called strike and-