"THE SEARCHERS" Revised Final Screenplay by Frank Nugent FADE IN Behind the main title and the credits: EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - CLOSE SHOT - MOVING JUST ABOVE GROUND LEVEL - A STUDY OF HOOFPRINTS - LATE AFTERNOON The hoofprints are deeply etched in the ground, picking their way through scrubby desert growth. An occasional tumbleweed drifts with the light breeze across the pattern of prints; and lightly-blown soil and sand begin the work of erasing them. The CAMERA FOLLOWING the hoofprints RAISES SLOWLY TO: EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - LONG SHOT - LATE AFTERNOON We see the rider now. BACK TO CAMERA, jogging slowly along -- heading down a long valley toward a still-distant ranch house with its outlying barn and corrals. EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - MED. SHOT - MOVING - LATE AFTERNOON The CAMERA FRAMES and MOVES with the lone horseman. He is ETHAN EDWARDS, a man as hard as the country he is crossing. Ethan is in his forties, with a three-day stubble of beard. Dust is caked in the lines of his face and powders his clothing. He wears a long Confederate overcoat, torn at one pocket, patched and clumsily stitched at the elbows. His trousers are a faded blue with an off-color stripe down the legs where once there had been the yellow stripes of the Yankee cavalry. His saddle is Mexican and across it he carries a folded serape in place of the Texas poncho... Rider and horse have come a long way. The CAMERA HOLDS and PANS the rider past and we see another detail; strapped onto his saddle roll is a sabre and scabbard with a gray silk sash wrapped around it... Horse and rider pass, moving closer to the ranch as a little girl and a small dog come tearing around the corner of the house. EXT. THE YARD OF THE EDWARDS RANCH - MED. SHOT - DEBBIE - LATE AFTERNOON She is staring wide-eyed at the distant horseman o.s. Her little dog has seen him too and is barking excitedly. DEBBIE quickly reaches to grab the dog by the scruff of the neck, crouching over him. Debbie is 11 years old with a piquant, memorable face. EXT. THE YARD - CLOSE SHOT - DEBBIE Here we must establish and dramatize what it is about her face that is memorable, so that if we were to see her again five or six years later, we would know it is she -- perhaps the eye color or the slant of eyebrow, or a trick of scratching bridge of nose with crooked forefinger. EXT. THE EDWARDS HOUSE - MED. SHOT - AARON - LATE AFTERNOON The ranch house is of adobe, solidly built, with a sod and cross-timbered roof, deep windows. A small gallery or porch extends across the front. AARON EDWARDS comes through the door, attracted by the dog's barking -- and then he, too, sees the approaching horseman and comes farther out -- curious but not at all apprehensive. Aaron is a lean, weathered and tired man, with a down-swept mustache; a gentler-looking man than Ethan and possibly a few years older. As he squints off, studying the rider, his older daughter, LUCY, comes out to stand behind him. Lucy is from 16 to 18 -- a pleasant, feminine girl. She is carrying a mixing bowl with some sort of batter in it, which she now completely forgets to whip in her interest in the approaching stranger. In the next instant MARTHA EDWARDS follows the daughter onto the porch. Martha is a still-lovely woman, although the years have etched fine wrinkles about her eyes and mouth, and work has worn and coarsened her hands. Those hands will never be idle when Martha is on scene... And now, while she shares the family's interest in the approaching horseman, she automatically notes that Lucy has forgotten her task -- and she takes the mixing bowl from her and stirs the batter. EXT. YARD OF THE EDWARDS HOUSE - FULL SHOT - LATE AFTERNOON Along the side of the house comes BEN EDWARDS, 14, with a man-sized armload of chunkwood clutched to his chest. He, too, has spotted the stranger and is all attention. So much so that he trips, but recovers his footing. He pauses to dump the wood into a woodbox by the door -- his eyes always riveted on the oncoming rider -- and then he moves toward the others, biting a splinter out of a finger. Beyond Ben, MARTIN PAULEY emerges from the barn and crosses the open ground heading toward CAMERA. Martin is somewhat under 20, a lithe, perfectly coordinated male animal, with Indian-straight hair and a white man's eyes. He is carrying bridle or other horse-gear. He looks to the family on the porch -- to see if they recognize the stranger -- then out again. He continues, followed by Ben, toward where Debbie crouches over her dog. EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - LONG SHOT - ETHAN - LATE AFTERNOON As he rides downslope toward the house. THE CREDITS END. EXT. THE EDWARDS RANCH - MED. CLOSE SHOT - MARTHA, LUCY, AND AARON - LATE AFTERNOON Suddenly, Martha's eyes widen as she -- even before Aaron -- recognizes the distant rider. Her hand goes to her mouth to check the name that trembles on her lips... An instant later Aaron, too, identifies the oncoming horseman. AARON (incredulous) Ethan? He looks at her, frowning, then slowly steps out onto the hard ground. Martha hands the bowl back to Lucy and follows Aaron. EXT. THE YARD OF THE EDWARDS HOUSE - FULL SHOT - THE GROUP as Ethan rides in and sits his horse, looking down at them. There is a noticeable constraint on all of them. Finally: ETHAN Hello, Aaron... His eyes shift to Martha and hold. Ethan is, and always has been, in love with his brother's wife and she with him. ETHAN Martha... MARTHA (a bit shakily) Hello, Ethan. Ethan slowly, stiffly swings out of the saddle. Aaron and Martha exchange quick glances... troubled, puzzled. Aaron pastes on an uncertain smile as Ethan comes around his horse toward their side. AARON How's California? ETHAN How should I know? AARON But Mose Harper said... ETHAN That old goat still creakin' around?... Whyn't someone bury him? He goes to his saddle pack, begins unlacing it. Ben and Debbie have inched closer -- half-shy, half-curious. Debbie's dog begins sniffing at his heels. Ethan looks down at them - not unfriendly, just a man not used to children. ETHAN Ben, ain't you? Ben nods. ETHAN (frowning at Debbie) Lucy, you ain't much bigger than when I saw you last. DEBBIE I'm Deborah! (pointing) She's Lucy. Ethan looks in the direction of the pointing finger. EXT. YARD - ANOTHER ANGLE as Lucy steps down from the porch and approaches. MARTHA Lucy's going on seventeen now... BEN An' she's got a beau! Kisses him, too! MARTHA That's enough... Go on inside and help Lucy set the table... You, too, Deborah! EXT. YARD - FULL SHOT - ANOTHER ANGLE as Martin -- with slightly averted face -- crosses to take the bridle of Ethan's horse and lead him away. ETHAN (wheeling on him) MOMENTO! Martin checks his stride, stares in surprise. MARTHA (contritely) Martin!... Here we've been standing... Ethan, you haven't forgotten Martin? ETHAN Oh... Mistook you for a half-breed. MARTIN (levelly) Not quite... Quarter Cherokee. The rest is Welsh... So they tell me. ETHAN You've done a lot of growin'... AARON It was Ethan found you squallin' in a sage clump after your folks was massacred... ETHAN (bluntly) It just happened to be me... No need to make any more of it... MARTIN I'll take care of your horse for you, Uncle Ethan. Again, he starts to lead away. ETHAN Hold on! Martin stops again. ETHAN I'll take this... He completes unlacing the pack and takes it -- treating it as though it contained something of value. Martin watches with a touch of resentment: Ethan doesn't trust him. Ethan turns and sees the look. He doesn't care what Martin thinks, nor does he explain. Martin leads the horse off. MARTHA Supper'll be ready by the time you wash up... Let me take your coat for you, Ethan. He hesitates, then grudgingly surrenders it -- conscious of its sorry condition. MARTHA (smiling faintly) And... welcome home. He just nods, then turns to follow Aaron around the side of the house toward the wash-up. EXT. THE EDWARDS HOUSE - CLOSE SHOT - MARTHA She stands alone, looking after Ethan -- his coat in her arms. She holds it against her breast for just a moment and her eyes are tender. DISSOLVE TO: INT. EDWARDS HOUSE - FULL SHOT - NIGHT The family is finishing dinner -- and the scene is not quite, but almost, a still-life. Loud in the room is the pendulum tick of a Seth-Thomas clock on the mantel above the fireplace -- in which logs are burning briskly. Ben crouches near the fireplace, fascinatedly examining the scabbard and sabre Ethan has brought home from the wars. He tries to ease the blade just a bit out of its scabbard. Aaron sits at one end of the hand-hewn table, Martha at the other. At her right is Ethan, his fork scraping the last crumb off his plate. Lucy sits at her father's right and Martin at his left. Next to Martin is Debbie. In the center of the table is the sorry remnant of what was once a meal. Lucy and Martin have finished eating. Aaron is sipping his coffee, and Martha -- her own plate largely untasted -- is watching Ethan. Ethan has shaved, changed his shirt. He straightens contentedly and every eye is on him, expectantly. ETHAN Good. The clock rattles alarmingly -- the usual preliminary to its striking; and then it bangs out the strokes like a fire-alarm gong. Eight fast clangs. AARON Ben! Deborah! Bed! DEBBIE But I've got to help with the dishes. MARTHA Not tonight... Ben, put that sword back. BEN It's not a sword, ma... it's a saber! (moving to Ethan) Did you kill many damYankees with this sabre, Uncle Ethan? ETHAN (matter-of-factly) Some... BEN How many damYankees, Uncle Ethan? MARTHA Ben!... Martin, he'll sleep in the bunkhouse with you tonight. Martin nods and crosses to kiss Martha good night. MARTIN Good night, Aunt Martha... Uncle Aaron... (he hesitates) Good night, Uncle Ethan. Ethan doesn't like being called Uncle -- as we must know from the quick look he shoots at Martin. But he acknowledges it. ETHAN Night. Ben reluctantly puts the scabbard away, turns to Ethan. BEN Will you tell me tomorrow about the war? AARON The war ended three years ago, boy! BEN It did?... Then whyn't you come home before now? MARTHA BEN!... Go 'long with Martin. MARCH! As Ben reluctantly heads out with Martin, Deborah crosses to Ethan's side and studies him gravely. DEBBIE Lucy's wearing the gold locket you gave her when she was a little girl... ETHAN Oh? DEBBIE She don't wear it much account of it makes her neck green. LUCY (aghast) Deborah! DEBBIE (defensively) Well, it does... But I wouldn't care if you gave me a gold locket if it made my neck green or not. Ethan looks at her gravely. ETHAN 'Fraid I... (then he remembers something, rises) Wait. He crosses to where his pack is -- a side table or something -- and burrows into it. Debbie is at his side. ETHAN How about this? It is a gold medal or medallion -- something appropriate to Maximilian of Mexico -- suspended by a long multi-colored satin ribbon. DEBBIE Oh! LOOK! My gold locket! She holds it high for mother -- and all -- to see. Martha takes it and reacts at its weight. MARTHA It's solid gold... Ethan, I don't think she's old enough... ETHAN Let her keep it... Just something I picked up in Mexico. Martha reluctantly surrenders it to Debbie's eager hand. Aaron hasn't missed the word "Mexico" and looks sharply at Ethan. DEBBIE Oh, thank you, Uncle Ethan... LUCY (to Debbie) Come along... The two girls leave the main room. Martha and Aaron both look at Ethan -- half expecting some further explanation. He turns from them and looks into the fire. Martha begins to clear the table. Aaron gets up, takes a pipe and a spill -- lights it at the fire. ETHAN Passed the Todd place comin' in... What happened to 'em? AARON They gave up... went back to the cotton rows... So'd the Jamisons... Without Martha, I don't know... She wouldn't let a man quit. Ethan turns and looks at her -- still busy with her dishes. AARON (change of tone) Ethan, I could see it in you before the war... (Ethan looks at him) You wanted to clear out! Martha freezes in what she's doing -- listening. AARON And you stayed out beyond all need to... WHY? Ethan can't answer, but he takes it as a challenge and almost welcomes it. ETHAN (hard) You askin' me to clear out now? AARON (straightening -- with grave dignity) You're my brother... You're welcome to stay as long as you got a mind to... Ain't that so, Martha? MARTHA (almost a whisper) Of course he is. ETHAN I expect to pay my own way... Martha resumes her activity. Ethan crosses to his pack, reaches into it for a leather pouch, brings it back and tosses it onto the table. It lands with a resonant clink. Both Martha and Aaron draw close to the table. (NOTE TO WINTON HOCH: This scene should be dramatically back- lighted.) ETHAN There's sixty double eagles in there... twelve-hundred dollars. He opens a waistline shirt button and hauls out a leather money belt and drops that on the table. ETHAN An' twice that in here. He reaches into the belt and takes out a few mint-fresh gold pieces which he slides across the table. ETHAN ...only these got the late Emperor Maximilian's picture on 'em. Martha picks up one of the gold pieces, staring at the face on the coin: the same as that on the medal -- staring sharply then at Ethan. Aaron is examining another coin with a different interest. AARON Mint fresh... not a mark on 'em. He glances questioningly at Ethan. ETHAN So? Aaron shrugs and crosses to a barrel chair. He raises the seat and lifts out a pair of old boots, some rags of clothing and then raises a false-bottom lid and drops pouch and money belt into it. Carefully he replaces everything. During this Ethan's attention has gone to Martha's hand, to one cut finger, its wound barely healed. He takes the hand -- gently. ETHAN Cut yourself? She nods and withdraws the hand. ETHAN (softly) You were always hurting about your hands. She looks quickly at him and self-consciously tries to hide her hands, conscious of their work-worn appearance. Then for a moment their eyes meet and hold -- and a world of sadness and hopelessness is in the look. Aaron closes the seat of the barrel chair. AARON Time for bed... He picks up one of the lamps and starts away toward their bedroom door. Martha looks at Ethan again. His expression is bitter. AARON Night, Ethan... Come 'long, Martha. She turns obediently and follows Aaron. Ethan looks after them and waits as Aaron opens the bedroom door. Martha goes into it and Aaron follows and closes the door. Ethan crosses to the lamp on the mantel, blows it out. Only the firelight strikes his face as he stares broodingly at the closed bedroom door. DISSOLVE TO: OMITTED EXT. YARD OF THE EDWARDS' HOUSE - FAINT DAWN LIGHT Debbie's dog is barking excitedly as six horsemen slowly ride toward the house and dismount. A lamp goes on inside. THE SIX HORSEMEN ARE: CAPTAIN, THE REVEREND SAM CLAYTON, a big man with frosty blue eyes, graying hair, a bristly full mustache and the air of grave and resolute authority. He is a minister of the Gospel with a .44 on his hip. LARS JORGENSEN, the Edwards' neighbor, is a harried little man, Scandinavian. As we shall find out soon, he has a brisk and buxom wife and a rather astonishing brood of children. BRAD JORGENSEN is one of these: sandy-haired, brash, amiable, impulsive. He is in his early twenties. CHARLIE MacCORRY, slightly older than Brad, is Sergeant of Company A of the Rangers. (He is also Company A.) Charlie is a taciturn, gently-spoken, competent man, clearly patterned by his association with Captain, the Rev. Sam. MOSE HARPER is an old scout -- a walking bone-rack, yet capable of tireless feats of endurance. Some think him "tetched" yet he has managed to endure to his age during a time and in a region where few men lived to see their grandchildren. He wears a ragged dark overcoat in all weather, a narrow-brimmed hat with a feather in its band. ED NESBY is a rancher and homesteader in his mid-thirties; resolute, honest, self-effacing; nothing picturesque or dramatic about him; just a solid citizen and a realist. 16-A INT. EDWARDS' HOME - CLOSE SHOT - MARTHA She is at the window of her bedroom, wrapper clutched with one hand, lamp upraised in the other as she stares into the dawn to see who these callers are. We hear the heavy foot- falls of the approaching men, then a loud knock thrice repeated -- an ominous sound. OMITTED 17-A INT. THE EDWARDS' - ANGLE AT DOOR SAM'S VOICE Aaron! Open up!... Sam Clayton! The door is opened by Aaron -- holding a lamp and a gun. He is only partly dressed -- pants, boots, undershirt. The bar of light slashes across the faces of Sam and some of the men behind him. AARON Reverend... Come in! INT. THE EDWARDS' HOUSE - FULL SHOT CLAYTON Sorry to get you out of bed so early... (as Martha enters, tightening her wrapper) Mornin', Sister Edwards. MARTHA What is it, Reverend? CLAYTON Lars Jorgensen claims someone bust into his corral last night and run off his best cows... AARON You mean those pure breds he just bought? Jorgensen enters -- an angry little man -- closely followed by Mose Harper, who is grinning foolishly. JORGENSEN Next time I raise pigs, by golly! You never hear of anyone running off pigs, I bet you. MOSE Injuns has 'em... Caddoes or Kiowas... Kiowas or Caddoes. CLAYTON (irritably) Caddoes! Mose spots Martha and at once whips off his hat and makes her an exaggerated cavalier's bow. MOSE Respects to a charmin' lady, ma'am. ...Respects, respects... Ed Nesby enters. NESBY Mornin'... MARTHA Coffee's made if you... CLAYTON Coffee'd be fine, sister... She heads for the stove. MOSE (an old man's whimper) My bones is cold... His eyes brighten as he looks toward the fire and spots a rocking chair. He shuffles toward it, plants himself and begins rocking and half-crooning to himself. JORGENSEN Or bumble bees, by golly... I show them dirty rustlers! MOSE (crooning) Lookit me, old Mose Harper, rockin' in a rockin' chair... I'm a-goin' to set 'n rock, 'n rock, 'n rock, 'n rock... The front door opens to admit Martin, fully dressed and armed, with Charlie MacCorry. CLAYTON Over here, Martin... Aaron... Martin ranges himself next to Aaron and both face Clayton. CLAYTON Raise your right hands. Martha sets out cups on the table, begins pouring the coffee. During the swearing-in, Ethan will enter the room from the inner door -- unnoticed by the other men, but not by Martha. And as the scene plays, the audience must always be conscious of the by-play of glances between Martha and Ethan as they face the prospect of being left in this house together. CLAYTON You are hereby volunteer privates in Company A of the Texas Rangers and will faithfully discharge the duties of same without recompense or monetary compensation -- meaning no pay!... Amen and get your shirt on, will you, Aaron. AARON (stubbornly) Ain't goin' volunteerin' after rustlers without my morning coffee, Reverend... Drink your own! CLAYTON (sternly -- as he reaches for his cup) From now on, call me 'Captain'! But Ethan advances and calmly appropriates the cup Clayton is reaching for... ETHAN (mockingly) Captain the Reverend Samuel Johnson Clayton!... Mighty impressive. Clayton marks his surprise. CLAYTON (dourly) Well... the prodigal brother... When'd you get back? Ethan sips his coffee and doesn't answer. CLAYTON Haven't seen you since the surrender. (a pause) Come to think of it, I didn't see you at the surrender. ETHAN I don't believe in surrenderin'... I still got my sabre, Reverend... never turned it into any ploughshare neither! JORGENSEN Is no time for kaffee-klatch while a man's beef is been run off. MOSE Injuns, Ethan... (taps his nose) Caddoes or Kiowas... Mose Harper, drinkin' coffee in a rockin' chair. ...ay-eh! Martha has left the room briefly to fetch Aaron's shirt and vest and stands behind him. Aaron drains his cup. AARON Ethan, countin' on you to look after things while I'm gone. Ethan -- cup to his lips -- looks over its rim at Martha as Aaron starts to put on his shirt. Their eyes meet briefly, then she looks away. Ethan sloshes the dregs of his cup into the fire -- some of it spattering Mose. ETHAN You ain't goin'... CLAYTON He sure is goin'... He's sworn in. ETHAN (angrily) Well, swear him out again!... I'll go with you. Martha stands submissively, with her head bent, eyes averted as Ethan crosses the room to get his coat, guns, etc. Aaron follows him. AARON Now, Ethan, I ain't sure... ETHAN Don't argue!... And stay close... Maybe they're rustlers... and maybe this dodderin' old idiot ain't so far wrong... MOSE Thankin' ye, Ethan... thankin' ye. Kind words... CLAYTON (grudgingly) All right... I'll swear you in... ETHAN You can forget that... (as Sam stares) Wouldn't be legal anyway. CLAYTON Why? (a pause -- then shrewdly) You wanted for a crime, Ethan? Martha waits -- intent. ETHAN You askin' as a Reverend or a Captain, Sam? CLAYTON I'm askin' as a Ranger of the sovereign state of Texas. ETHAN Got a warrant? CLAYTON You fit a lot of descriptions. ETHAN (levelly) I figger a man's only good for one oath at a time... I took mine to the Confederate States of America... (he pauses -- then) So did you, Reverend... He looks past him then -- at Martha and then at Aaron. ETHAN Stick close, Aaron... He looks at Martha again... and then strides out. EXT. THE EDWARDS' HOUSE -- DAWN LIGHT As Ethan emerges he is brought to a momentary halt by sight of a couple -- Brad and Lucy -- in each other's arms, standing near the saddled horses of the posse. Clayton and Jorgensen following him out, spot the couple, who now belatedly are conscious of their audience. JORGENSEN Brad!... Is no time for lolly- gagging... In confusion, Lucy runs back around the side of the house as Brad -- unrepentant -- grins at his irascible old man and heads for his waiting horse. Clayton chuckles and turns toward Martha, who has followed them out. CLAYTON Looks like I'll be reading the lines over that pair before long, sister Edwards. JORGENSEN Is no time for talking weddings... Better say prayers for those dirty thieves, by golly... running off a man's beef... Mose, last to emerge, bows elaborately to Martha. MOSE Grateful to the hospitality of yore rockin' chair, ma'am... The men are mounting. Mose nimbly vaults onto the back of his horse -- which he rides bareback, with only a blanket pad. AND OMITTED EXT. THE EDWARDS' HOUSE -- DAWN LIGHT as Ethan and Martin ride to join the group. CLAYTON Let's get on with it... DEBBIE WAIT! She comes flying out of the house in her long flannel nightie and runs to Martin. DEBBIE Martin! Ride me as far as the well! MARTIN Grab hold!... He swings her up in front of his saddle. They start away. Ethan is last to ride out. He is watching Martha. He brings a gloved hand up in a salute. She starts to raise her hand but only brings it just above her waist, a fluttering gesture with tremulous fingers. It is the last he will ever see of her alive. EXT. YARD OF THE EDWARDS' HOUSE - FULL SHOT as the posse slowly rides out, with Ethan last. Martin reins in to let Debbie slip to the ground. Ethan passes her. Debbie stands watching the men ride away, waving at them. AARON'S VOICE (calling) DEBORAH! She turns and comes running back -- CAMERA PANNING -- to the little group on the porch; Ben in the door; Lucy crossing the porch; Aaron and Martha at the steps. SLOW DISSOLVE TO: EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - FULL SHOT - POSSE - LATE AFTERNOON Ethan and Mose are advancing at a steady walk, both men leaning slightly out of their saddles to study the terrain -- the trail they are following. Out to one side -- fifty yards distant -- is the main body of the posse: Sam, Jorgensen, Charlie, Ed, moving roughly parallel to Ethan but at a faster clip. Martin comes riding in toward Ethan from behind CAMERA. MARTIN (calling) Uncle Ethan! Ethan reins in -- compressing his lips at the "Uncle." Mose waits. MARTIN Somethin' mighty fishy about this trail, Uncle Ethan... ETHAN Stop callin' me 'uncle'... I ain't your uncle. MARTIN Yes, sir. ETHAN Don't have to call me 'sir' neither... Nor grampaw neither... Nor Methuselah neither... I can whup you to a frazzle. Mose lets out a snickering laugh. MARTIN What you want me to call you? ETHAN Name's Ethan... Now what's so mighty fishy about this trail? MARTIN Well, fust off... He breaks and all turn at a distant hail from Jorgensen. JORGENSEN Look! Look! OMITTED EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - LONG SHOT - RISE OF GROUND - BRAD He is holding his rifle with both hands straight over his head -- and he repeats the signal until he sees they have seen him. JORGENSEN'S VOICE (excitedly) Brad! He's found them... Come on! EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - FULL SHOT - THE POSSE WITH BRAD IN THE DISTANCE as Jorgensen digs spurs and leads the way. The other riders follow. MED. SHOT - BRAD - RISING GROUND - LATE AFTERNOON He waits grimly until he sees them coming, then wheels his mount and takes off over the hill. FULL SHOT - THE POSSE as it comes up the rise and the men rein in on the crest. Jorgensen stares and his face mirrors shock and dismay. The other men look down into the long valley on the far side with equally grim expressions. ETHAN Call that young fool back! Jorgensen doesn't even seem to hear him. Angrily Ethan whips out revolver and fires into the air. Then he swings his arm in a come-back gesture. He rides out ahead then a short distance and dismounts... and slowly the others follow. We see now, the bodies of a few bulls stiffening in the sun. Ethan goes to the nearest one. A feathered lance is driven into it. He pulls the lance out. Mose comes over beside him. ETHAN (angrily) Caddo or Kiowa, huh?... Ain't but one tribe uses a lance like that! He hands the lance to Mose. MOSE (almost a whisper) Ay-he... Comanch! Brad rides in -- shrill with anger. BRAD Killed every one -- an' not for food either... Why'd they do a thing like that? ETHAN Stealing the cattle was just to pull us out... This here's a murder raid... (facing Jorgensen) It shapes up to scald out either your place... or my brother's. Jorgensen wilts and casts an anguished look back over the miles they have ridden. JORGENSEN Mama!... Oh please... please no... BRAD! And with that one word, Jorgensen calls upon his son to follow and they take off... fast. Ed Nesby and Charlie MacCorry follow. Sam Clayton pauses. CLAYTON Jorgensen's place is closest... If they're not there, we'll come straight on! Then he too rides. Martin swings his horse back to where Ethan and Mose still are standing. MARTIN Well, come on! ETHAN Easy! (he starts toward his horse) It's forty miles, sonny... Horses can do with some grain and a little rest. MOSE Comanch generally hits at moonrise. MARTIN Moonrise!... It'll be midnight before... I ain't waitin'...! He wheels his horse and goes tearing to catch up with the others. Ethan shrugs and stoically takes grain bag to feed his horse. Mose does the same. MOSE Wisht it was Caddoes... or Kiowas... (shakes his head) Comanche... Ethan just gives him an angry look and then ruthlessly begins discarding every bit of unnecessary equipment from his saddle. WIPE TO: EXT. THE EDWARDS RANCH - WIDE ANGLE - SUNDOWN Nothing moves. Nothing could be more tranquil. The shadows are long. A thin wisp of smoke rises from the chimney. And then Debbie's little dog trots around the side of the house out into the yard. EXT. EDWARDS YARD - CLOSE SHOT - THE DOG - SUNDOWN He comes to a standstill and his nose is working. He begins to make excited little sounds deep in his belly. Then he lies down, muzzle between his paws, watching, listening. INT. THE EDWARDS HOUSE - FULL SHOT - ANGLING TOWARD THE DOOR Debbie sits on the floor, playing with a little rag doll. The slanting blaze of the setting sun makes a brilliant area of light in which she is sitting. Beyond her, on the porch steps, Ben is squatting, whittling a piece of pine into a slingshot frame. We hear Martha and Lucy busy with the dishes. Aaron comes from behind CAMERA and stands in the doorway, absently rapping out his pipe. Near the doorway, on a wooden peg, hangs his gun, belt. He puts the pipe in his pocket and glances down at Deborah, intent on her play. He looks swiftly at where the women are busy - then stealthily eases the gun from its holster and slides it under his shirt. He hasn't made a sound and is sure he's got away with it. He clears his throat noisily and reaches for a light shotgun pegged above the door. AARON Think I'll see if I can pick off a sage-hen or two, Martha... INT. THE EDWARDS HOUSE - MED. CLOSE SHOT - MARTHA AND LUCY busy at the wooden sink. Martha doesn't turn. MARTHA You do that, Aaron... AARON (still pleased with himself) Won't go far... He steps out. Only then does Martha turn -- and her EYES GO AT ONCE TO: INT. THE EDWARDS HOUSE - ANGLING TO DOOR and FRAMING the empty holster, as Aaron pauses on the porch. LUCY'S VOICE My, the days are getting shorter! INT. EDWARDS HOUSE - CLOSE SHOT - MARTHA AND LUCY as Lucy heads for the lamp. MARTHA (sharply) Lucy!... We don't need the lamp yet... Lucy frowns at her mother. MARTHA (easily) Let's enjoy the dusk a while. EXT. THE EDWARDS HOUSE - MED. CLOSE SHOT - AARON AND BEN - ON PORCH Aaron is slowly scanning the terrain. AARON (to Ben) Mind you sweep up them shavin's. BEN Yes, Pa... (undertone -- man to man) An' if you see any sage-hens, I'm ready. Aaron stares as the boy shifts a fold of blanket, or whatever, by his side -- to disclose Ethan's cavalry sabre. Aaron smiles and rubs the youngster's head, then sets out across the yard. EXT. THE EDWARDS YARD - FULL SHOT - MOVING Debbie's dog rises at Aaron's approach and joins his master as they set out across the plain. EXT. OPEN COUNTRY NEAR EDWARDS HOME - MED. CLOSE SHOT - AARON He is walking through the scrub and brush grass, every sense alive and straining. He pauses every three or four strides -- casting each quadrant in turn. Once he whips, gun ready, as a sage-hen or quail whirrs up not far from him. He smiles grimly as he watches it fly away. He keeps on. EXT. THE EDWARDS HOUSE - MED. CLOSE SHOT - AT PORCH Martha comes to stand in the doorway. Ben doesn't look at her. His eyes -- like hers -- are fixed on the figure of the man. BEN (quietly) It's all right, ma... I been watchin'... Only I wish... MARTHA (quietly) What, Ben? BEN I wish Uncle Ethan was here. Don't you, ma? She doesn't answer. Lucy comes to the door. LUCY Mother, I can't see what I'm doing!... MARTHA NOT YET, LUCY!... EXT. RISING GROUND - WIDE ANGLE - PAST AARON He stands on the near slope of a rise and then gradually moves toward its summit, so that only head will be silhouetted. He drops to one knee, half-leaning against the slope and slowly looks out... The CAMERA PANS very slowly, following his careful sweep of the terrain. The scene is entirely peaceful. EXT. RISING GROUND - CLOSE SHOT - AARON with narrowed eyes slowly scanning the ground. Suddenly the head whips right. We hear a bird's sharp call. EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - SKYWARD SHOT - A SMALL BIRD It is taking flight, sweeping away in erratic arcs. EXT. RISING GROUND - CLOSE SHOT ON AARON He squints closely at the ground from which the bird had flown. Then slowly his eyes range toward the left. EXT. RISING GROUND - WIDE ANGLE - PAST AARON Across the meadow, a shadow seems to touch the grass and at once a covey of quail takes off, whirring loud. Aaron waits no longer, but slides down the slope and starts running at a crouch for the house, stopping every so often to look backward. EXT. THE EDWARDS HOUSE - MED. CLOSE SHOT - MARTHA AND BEN - SUNSET NOTE TO W. HOCH: What J.F. has in mind for this and the following scenes is the same kind of dramatic use of red you achieved in "Yellow Ribbon" in the scene telling of Custer's defeat. They are standing in the ruddy glare of the sunset and Ben has Ethan's sabre in his hand. We hear Aaron coming at a run, breathing hard. Ben takes a step as though to go to him, but Martha's hand at once is on his shoulder. Aaron gains the porch. AARON In the house, boy... and... He puts finger to his lips, sign for Ben to say nothing. Ben nods and goes inside. Aaron and Martha face each other, the question large on her face. Slowly he nods the confirmation of her fears, then gently propels her ahead of him through the door. INT. THE EDWARDS HOUSE - FULL SHOT - SUNSET The room is deeply shadowed except where the dull crimson of the sun through door and windows slashes the blackness. Ben is waiting and Martha turns toward Aaron as he pulls the door shut, bars it and sets the shotgun down. He takes the revolver from his waist and Martha holds it as he reaches for his gun belt. AARON Ben, close the shutters. Buckling on his gun belt, he moves toward the middle of the room, looking around him, taking inventory of his resources. Lucy slowly approaches, biting a knuckle, eyes wide with fright. LUCY Pa? One shutter closes and the bar of light they were standing in goes out. Martha, Aaron and Lucy are dark silhouettes now against the red beam from another window. MARTHA (sudden fear) Where's Deborah?... (calling it) DEBORAH! Debbie emerges from a shadowed corner into a beam of light. She is clutching her rag doll, nibbling a cookie. She holds it for them to see. DEBBIE I only took one, ma... Topsy was hungry. Ben closes the shutter. And now the room is almost completely blacked out, except for the dying light filtering through the rifle ports of the closed shutters. WIPE TO: EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - WIDE ANGLE SHOT - THE POSSE - DUSK This should be an expansive view to convey the fact that the posse has split -- the main group heading for the Jorgensen place, Martin forking off to race alone for the Edwards ranch. Coming toward and passing CAMERA is Martin, riding all out. Several hundred yards away and moving in a divergent direction are the others -- Brad and Charlie, Sam, Jorgensen and Ed Nesby. The men are not compactly bunched, but strung out, each taking his own best course and his own speed... As the riders pass and the dust of their passing, we see two other riders -- Ethan and Mose -- minute specks in the distance, possibly a mile or two behind. EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - MOVING SHOT - ETHAN AND MOSE - DUSK (NOTE TO W. HOCH: What we are trying to get here is that moment of swift transition from twilight to night; of riders briefly touched with the last colors of day and then, as they pass, becoming one with blue shadows of night.) Ethan and Mose are holding their mounts to a jog, in marked contrast to the all-out pace of the others. The CAMERA PANS after them as the dark fingers of the night stretch across the valley. The wind begins to rise and somewhere off in the hills a coyote pack yaps. DISSOLVE TO: INT. EDWARDS - ANGLING PAST AARON AT WINDOW INTO ROOM - NIGHT Aaron is little more than a shadowy silhouette as he peers into the night through a partly-opened shutter. Suddenly the room leaps alight as Lucy opens an inner door and enters, holding a lighted lamp. Aaron closes the shutter, spins on her angrily. AARON LUCY! Martha crosses the room swiftly and blows out the lamp. In the brief moment the room has been lighted, we see that Lucy is carrying a dark shawl in one hand; that Ben is crouched at another window -- rifle ready; and that Deborah is on her feet -- standing like a child who is being dressed. LUCY I'm sorry... I couldn't find the shawl... AARON Hurry, Martha... Moon's fixin' to rise... He cautiously swings the shutters open. A pale light filters into the room. We see Martha wrapping the shawl around Deborah. MARTHA (softly to the child) We're going to play the sleep-out game... Remember?... Where you hide out with grandma? DEBBIE Where's she buried? MARTHA And you'll go along the ditch -- very quietly -- like a... (her voice breaks) DEBBIE Like a little mouse. AARON Now! He reaches for the child, but he has to wait for Martha's last embrace. MARTHA There!... And you won't come back or make a sound... no matter what you hear? Promise!... No matter what? DEBBIE I promise... Wait! AARON Child, child! DEBBIE Can't I have Topsy to keep me company? AARON There's no time... MARTHA Here she is, baby... Baby... Aaron takes the child, swings her out the window. AARON Down low -- go! Martha would come to the window to look out, but Aaron bars her with an arm and draws back to the side of the window to watch her go... Outside the little dog barks a welcome and presumably starts to follow the girl. Aaron reacts. AARON (hoarse whisper) Here dog... here! The dog whines but obeys. Aaron continues watching the child's course -- unconsciously imitating her every run and twist... Then he smiles and we may see the brightness in the corners of his eyes. AARON She reached the ditch... He closes the shutters and turns -- and his arms go around Martha, weeping soundlessly. AARON She'll be all right, mother... she'll be all right. EXT. A HILLOCK WITH TWO HEADBOARDS - MED. CLOSE SHOT - NIGHT Nothing stirs and we hear nothing. Then, with faintest little rustle, Debbie comes snaking along the ground into the hollow between the two graves and lies there face down, pressed against Topsy. She becomes one with the earth and the stillness. And then the moonlight strikes the tips of the scrub growth and as a cloud scuds by, the moonlight reveals something glittering -- like beads. And the CAMERA from that ground-level shot RAISES QUICKLY TO: CLOSE SHOT - FROM EXTREME LOW ANGLE - SCAR The Comanche we are later to know as SCAR is painted for war -- tall, savage, mockingly looking down at what we know is the child's hiding place... And in that instant, from a dozen quarters and a dozen throats, sounds the wild yammer of the warwhoop! DISSOLVE TO: OMITTED EXT. RISING GROUND - MED. CLOSE SHOT - MARTIN - MOONLIGHT He stands beside his spent and fallen horse. Its breathing is a rasping whistle. Martin tries to haul its head up. Useless. Breathing hard himself, his face ashen in the moonlight, Martin looks desperately off in the direction of the ranch. Then he jerks the rifle from its saddle scabbard -- struggling with it because it is under the horse. He freezes then -- listening... And we hear the steady beat of two horsemen approaching. Martin knows who they are and his face is alive with hope. He gets the rifle free at last and goes running toward the oncoming riders. MARTIN (shouting) Ethan!... Ethan! The CAMERA SWINGS with him and we see Ethan and Mose approaching at the same steady gait. MARTIN (waving) Uncle Ethan... it's me... Martin! Ethan doesn't slacken, nearly rides him down. ETHAN Out of my way! Martin goes sprawling to his hands and knees. Mose continues without slowing. EXT. RISING GROUND - ANOTHER ANGLE - PAST THE RIDERS - MOONLIGHT MARTIN (desperately) Mose! Wait!... He goes running, stumbling after the riders -- desperately calling to them... MARTIN Ethan!... Mose!... And then at the crest of the rising ground, he stops -- We see in the distance the glow of a fire leading from the barns and the hayricks and the house of Aaron Edwards. Martin runs down the slope. EXT. YARD AND APPROACH TO EDWARDS HOUSE - WIDE ANGLE - NIGHT (NOTE TO W. HOCH: Here again that use of red is suggested.) The ANGLE is past the porch uprights toward Mose and Ethan as they ride in. Little tongues of fire are licking the edges of the uprights. A few arrows, imbedded in the wood, are burning along their shafts. Beyond are the glowing ashes of the hayricks and the charred, smouldering rails of the corral. There are no bodies in evidence... The red glow of the burning is on the faces of the men as they dismount. Ethan strides to the porch, knocking away one of the blazing arrows as he heads to the door. He stops there -- and what he sees makes the big shoulders droop, the huge frame slump. Slowly then -- and removing his hat -- he goes in. Mose shuffles to the edge of the porch and squats there and rocks back and forth, his face working and crying soundlessly with senile grief. We hear a splintered door crash from its hinges within the room and Ethan's muffled voice calling through the house: ETHAN (O.S.) Lucy?... Deborah? Lucy? He strides back through the main room and out onto the porch just as Martin comes at a shambling run across the yard. Ethan takes a few steps out toward him. Martin would pass him, but Ethan grabs his arm. ETHAN (harshly) You stay out! Martin tries to fight his arm free. ETHAN Nothing for you to see. MARTIN Leggo... Ethan turns him and drives a brutal right to his jaw. Martin goes down -- out cold. And only now do we understand how merciful the blow was as Ethan looks compassionately at the fallen figure. ETHAN Don't let him go in there, Mose... And he takes off at a stumbling run for the hilltop. EXT. THE HILLOCK WITH THE TWO HEADBOARDS - FULL SHOT - ETHAN as he nears the graves. ETHAN (calling) Lucy -- Lucy! He runs in, looking around him. He sees the little dog, dead on the ground. And then he sees a shadowed something: The shawl Debbie had worn. It is spread out, almost as though concealing a body. Fearfully he stoops and pulls it away... There is nothing there, but the shawl. He drops to his knees, his head bowed, his face tortured. The moonlight is clear on the face of the nearer headboard. It is of weathered wood and the chiselled letters on it read: HERE LIES MARY JANE EDWARDS KILLED BY COMANCHES MAY 12, 1852 a good WIFE & MOTHER In her 41st year SLOW DISSOLVE TO: EXT. THE HILLOCK - FULL SHOT - SLOWLY PANNING - DAWN LIGHT The funeral is begun. In the foreground are three newly- made crosses at the head of as many open graves -- which we need not see. With head bared, Sam Clayton is concluding his prayer. Near him stand the Jorgensen family: Mrs. Jorgensen, Lars and LAURIE -- blonde, just beginning to reach her maturity -- and a stepping-stone of tow-headed children. CLAYTON ...and to Your keeping we commend the souls of Aaron... Martha... and Benjamin Edwards... Mrs. Jorgensen and Laurie -- impelled by the same feminine sympathy and interest -- turn to look at Ethan and Martin. The PANNING CAMERA picks them up...Ethan standing dry-eyed, looking at the grave of Martha; Martin -- with bruised lip -- looking out across the plain. Clayton now opens his small, well-worn Bible to a marked page. CLAYTON Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble... Ethan looks at him, angrily, impatiently. CLAYTON He cometh forth like a... ETHAN (harshly) Amen!... Put an 'amen' to it! CLAYTON ...like a flower and is cut down... Amen! ETHAN ET AL. Amen! Ethan turns on his heel and walks -- CAMERA PANNING -- to where Ed Nesby has been holding the horses. Brad is already mounting. Mose is there too and Charlie MacCorry. Silhouetted against the dawn light are the rifles in each man's saddle scabbard. Clayton is right behind Ethan. CLAYTON Charlie--you and Brad ride point! ...Don't get too far ahead... The young riders spur out. EXT. NEAR HILLOCK - MED. CLOSE SHOT - ETHAN AND MRS. JORGENSEN Ethan is about to mount when Mrs. Jorgensen comes up and catches his arm. MRS. JORGENSEN Ethan... (he turns impatiently) Those girls mean as much to me as though they were my own... Maybe you don't know my Brad's been sittin' up with Lucy... and my Laurie's real fond of Martin... Ethan glances back at where Martin and Laurie are standing. ANOTHER ANGLE - FAVORING LAURIE AND MARTIN The girl is looking at Martin full of compassion, tries to console him by taking his arm and squeezing it as he stares blindly at the graves and Jorgensen stolidly beginning the work of shovelling them full. EXT. NEAR HILLOCK - ETHAN AND MRS. JORGENSEN AS BEFORE Ethan looks back at her -- stone-faced. ETHAN (impatiently) I'd be obliged if you'd get to the point, ma'am. MRS. JORGENSEN I am... I am... It's just that I know Martha'd want you to think of her boys as well as her girls... And if the girls are... dead... Ethan, don't let the boys waste their lives in vengeance! Ethan shrugs his arm free and mounts. MRS. JORGENSEN Promise me, Ethan! He ignores her and turns angrily to where Martin is. ETHAN (harshly) Come on, if you're comin'... He digs spurs and rides out with the others. Martin comes over, with Laurie a step behind. His face is set, his eyes almost unseeing. MRS. JORGENSEN (a heartbroken murmur) Oh, Martin... Martin... MARTIN We'll find them, Mrs. Jorgensen... We'll find them... He swings into his saddle. Laurie impulsively runs to his side, steps onto the toe of his stirruped boot and pulls herself up to his level to kiss him hard and full upon the mouth. He looks at her dully, as though hardly conscious of it. And she is back beside her mother. Martin rides away after the others. MRS. JORGENSEN (slowly) I almost hope they don't find them! Laurie looks at her mother and understands. CUT TO: 61-A EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - THE SEARCHERS - EARLY MORNING LIGHT The SEARCH THEME begins as we see the riders in turn. A series of portraits of the men. CLOSE SHOT - BRAD AND CHARLIE - riding point, they come to a pause, surveying the terrain ahead. Charlie, with an arm signal, indicates he will take the left. Brad nods and he rides out to the right. THE MAIN BODY OF THE MEN, Clayton passing first, expression resolute, competent... Then Ed Nesby and old Mose, squinting at the ground as they ride, all but sniffing like an old hound dog. 63A MARTIN - Next to last in file. Finally: 63B ETHAN - His face a study of relentless purpose. WIPE TO: OMITTED. EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - FULL SHOT - BRAD AND CHARLIE - AFTERNOON The two men are at a cairn of rocks -- their horses nearby. In the near distance, Clayton is leading the men of the search party at a fast clip toward the cairn. Charlie is standing, Brad tearing the rock cairn apart. In Charlie's hands is a Comanche head-dress of polished buffalo horn and feathers. Brad doesn't even look up as the men ride in and dismount, but continues his grim work of uncovering the buried Indian. CLAYTON Another one, eh? CHARLIE This 'un come a long way 'fore he died. CLAYTON Well, that's seven we can score up to your brother, Ethan. NESBY I don't like it. CLAYTON What don't you like? NESBY Injun's on a raid generly hides their dead so you won't know how many they've lost... If they don't care about us knowin', it only spells one thing... they ain't afraid of us followin' -- or of us catchin' up with 'em either. ETHAN You can back out any time, Nesby. NESBY Didn't say that... (angrily indicating Brad) What's he doin' that for... CHARLIE He wants to be sure... Brad shifts another rock and Looks grimly upon the face (O.S.) of the dead Comanche. Then he spits at it and stands. BRAD (grim) Let's get along... ETHAN (to Brad) Why don't you finish the job? With that he strides to the cairn, whipping a knife out. he crouches over the body (O.S.) concealing what he is doing, he bends to his bloody task. Sam Clayton crosses to stand behind him. CLAYTON (gravely) What good does that do? ETHAN By what you preach... none! He stands now and he faces Sam. ETHAN But by what the Comanche believe -- now he can't enter the spirit land, but has got to wander forever between the winds... because I took his mangy scalp! He flings the scalp down and grinds it into the dirt with his heel... He wipes clean the blade of his knife as he crosses back to his horse. The men mount (those who have dismounted) and they ride off. DISSOLVE TO: OMITTED EXT. NIGHT CAMP - RAVINE - CLOSE SHOT - BRAD AND MARTIN Brad is looking out into the night -- strain and tension in every line. Beyond them we may see some of the other men -- sitting or sprawled on the ground near a sheltered fire. BRAD (a whisper) If only she's alive... I'll make it up to her... No matter what's happened... I'll make her forget... She's just got to be alive... Ethan crosses behind them carrying his blanket roll. He looks at them sourly. ETHAN Get some rest! They move off, heading for their blankets. The CAMERA HOLDS on Ethan as he rolls up his blanket and turns on his side. He fishes a miniature out of his pocket and gravely studies it by the light of the flickering little fire. 70-A CLOSE SHOT - THE MINIATURE - NIGHT It is a picture of Martha. The CAMERA PULLS BACK to show Ethan studying it gravely, then putting it away and lying back to stare broodingly into the night. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. RIDGE TOP - CLOSE SHOT - ETHAN, BRAD, MOSE, SAM - SUNSET The four faces are just over the ridge, peering at something far distant, far below. MOSE Could be a buffler... BRAD It's horses, I tell ya... ETHAN It's them all right... He starts to squirm down the ridge, the others following. EXT. HIGH COUNTRY - FULL SHOT - THE SEARCHERS - SUNSET Ethan's group crosses to where the other men are waiting with the horses. ETHAN They're camped by the river -- 'bout twenty miles from here. Soon's it gets dark we'll circle out so's to jump 'em before daybreak. CLAYTON (slowly) You're right sure you want to jump 'em, Ethan? Martin and Brad stare at Sam -- not understanding the question. But Mose knows what he means and studiously looks into space. ETHAN (touch of defiance) It's what we're here for, ain't it? CLAYTON I thought we were trying to get the girls back -- alive... We jump those Comanches, they'll kill 'em... You know that! BRAD (bewildered, angry) But... but what are we doin' then?... What are we supposed to do? CLAYTON What I had in mind was runnin' off their hoss herd... A Comanche on foot is more apt to be willin' to listen... NESBY That makes sense to me. MARTIN Yeah... ETHAN (angrily) What do you know about it?... What's a quarter-breed Cherokee know about the Comanche trick of sleeping with his best pony tied right beside him... You got as much chance of stampedin' their herd as... CLAYTON ...as you have of findin' those girls alive by ridin' into 'em... I say we do it my way, Ethan... and that's an order! ETHAN Yes, sir... But if you're wrong, Captain Clayton, don't ever give me another! They look into each other's eyes a moment, then Sam turns to mount... and the others follow. Slowly then they start riding down the slope. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. FLAT GROUND, LIKE MARSH COUNTRY - FULL SHOT - THE SEARCHERS - DAWN MIST EFFECT (NOTE: It is now planned to shoot this on sound stage.) Fog and heavy morning mist rise from the swamp. Some cattails in the near ground. The effect is eerie, very still except for the trilling of frogs. Then, very quietly, the men emerge from the mist swirling around them. They are leading their horses. Sam looks baffled, angry. They stand still, listening -- then slowly continue. EXT. FLAT GROUND - ANOTHER ANGLE - FULL SHOT - DAWN MIST (SOUND STAGE) The mist is thinning. In the f.g. is a small blackened area -- the ashes of a campfire. The men come through the mist -- wary, vigilant. It is Mose who first spots the fire. He runs to it and drops beside and feels the ashes. The others come up around him. MOSE Ay-he... They was here... ETHAN (to Sam) SURE!... They WERE here... Now they're out there... an' waitin' to jump us!... He looks at Clayton. ETHAN You got any more orders, Captain? CLAYTON (quietly) Just keep goin'... They move on, slowly. 74-A EXT. FLAT GROUND - FULL SHOT - MOVING (SOUND STAGE) The mist is thinning as the men warily move along. Suddenly there is the faint hoot of an owl from behind and to one side... the men turn slightly, hearing it... A moment later another owl hoot, from the same side but up ahead. From the interchange of looks, we must know that the riders are aware of its significance. Mose cups hand to his mouth and he hoots in exact imitation of the other calls. Clayton glares at him. MOSE (in soft apology) Jus' bein' sociable, Cap'n... Ethan grins wryly. And now the first, faint, ruddy touch of the sun hits the slowly moving horsemen and begins to burn through the mist. 74-B EXT. NEAR RIVER - PANNING SHOT - MORNING The CAMERA SLOWLY PANS from a sun-touched butte or crag to the file of men slowly walking their horses. An occasional shred of mist drifts by. Everything about the little cavalcade bespeaks tension, watchfulness. Suddenly -- and every man sees it at the same time -- we see a file of eight Comanches ride slowly out of a canyon at a distance, walking their horses at the same pace and on a course roughly parallel with, but slightly converging on, our group. CLAYTON (softly) Keep goin'... Brad, who has been looking up ahead, sounds a new warning. BRAD (tensely) Look! CLAYTON Easy! 74-C EXT. CANYON COUNTRY - LONG SHOT - PAST THE SEARCHERS Another Indian file of eight angles out of a different canyon and begins to cut in toward the group -- riding slowly, very quietly. Clayton slightly alters course, veering slightly away from the converging files, but still riding slowly. And then, from ahead but at a 100 yards, another Comanche group seems to rise out of the ground and slowly begins closing the gap. ETHAN (to Clayton) If you were tryin' to surround 'em, you sure succeeded. CLAYTON How far's the river from here, Mose? MOSE I been baptized, Reverend... yes suh, been baptized, thank ye... CLAYTON Well, you better brace yourself for another one... Ya-HEE! And with that yell, he drives spurs and cuts sharply at an angle to the converging Indian files -- and every man is with him. In the next instant, the Comanches whoop and give chase. 74-D EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - FULL SHOT - THE CHASE with the Ranger group short-cutting in such a way as to outstrip the Comanche horsemen in a mad dash for the river. 74-E EXT. THE RIVER'S EDGE - FULL SHOT - THE GROUP Clayton flings his hand up in a signal to halt as the Rangers reach the bank. They rein in, wheel their horses and are reaching for the rifles as the Comanche vanguard races into view -- to find themselves opposed by seven veterans, sitting their horses, rifles at their shoulders. The charge breaks as the seven rifles bark, almost in unison -- and the Indians wheel to shelter. CLAYTON YA-HEE! And once again he spins his mount and takes off, across the river, followed by the others. 74-F EXT. THE RIVER - FULL SHOT As the men pound across. 74-G EXT. FAR BANK OF RIVER - FULL SHOT - THE GROUP They dismount and Charlie and Nesby take the horses and run them to some place of protection as the men group around Clayton and Ethan. During this: CLAYTON (shouting his orders) This is as good as any... Charlie, you and Ed take the horses... Mose runs over and crouches beside Ethan. Beyond Ethan is Martin, then Brad... Nesby and Charlie will rejoin the group after an appropriate interval... with all the men shielded behind river boulders, etc. EXT. RIVER'S EDGE - ANGLING PAST ETHAN AND MOSE WITH MARTIN AND BRAD BEYOND Ethan and Mose are hunkered down behind some rocks, very casual and business-like as they check rifles, set out and carefully wipe cartridges. MOSE (chattily) Minds me o' the time Joe Powers an' me fit us some Kiowas... Martin is in the throes of buck-fever, wiping mouth with back of his hand, peering anxiously across the river. MARTIN You think they mean to charge us, Uncle Ethan...? MOSE ...We found us an ole buffler wallow... BRAD (staring across river) Criminy! EXT. RIVER'S EDGE - LONG SHOT - PAST THE GROUP On the opposite bank, we see the full force of Comanches riding into sight -- racing their mounts to the edge, then wheeling off -- jeering, taunting. Brad starts to bring up his rifle. ETHAN Steady, Daniel Boone! You don't want to miss... It makes them think their medicine's stronger than yours... MOSE Ay-he... That's jest what I tole Joe Powers... That un's gettin' kinda sassy, ain't he, Ethan? One Comanche rides a few yards into the water, brandishing his rifle, taunting the white men. A moment later he is joined by a second brave. ETHAN (grimly) Real sassy. He and Mose slowly bring their rifles to bear -- and then the two shots crack out almost simultaneously. And within split seconds both Comanches fall. The others race away. Sam comes charging over to Ethan and Mose. CLAYTON (angrily) I didn't give any order to fire! ETHAN That's all right, Captain... I don't need any formal invitation to kill a Comanch... CLAYTON (grimly) You got one now! And he drops behind a rock as, with a wild whooping, the Comanche forces swing from their places of hiding and hit the river. The men open fire, all but Martin, who has frozen, staring wild-eyed at the oncoming Comanches. EXT. RIVER'S EDGE - PROFILE SHOT - THE DEFENDERS Brad, Charlie, Clayton, Nesby are snapping shot after shot. Only Martin seems out of it. Ethan shoots him a glance. ETHAN Slack your shoulders... Slack 'em... Your hands'll take care of themselves... Some of the tension leaves Martin. Somehow his gun is in position and he is firing as fast and well as the others. 77-A EXT. THE RIVER - FULL SHOT - INDIAN CHARGE The Comanches are coming in, crouched low over their ponies' necks, whooping and firing. Men and horses go down, counted off by the expert marksmanship of the Texans. But they keep coming. 77-B EXT. RIVER'S EDGE - PROFILE SHOT - PAST MARTIN, ETHAN, MOSE They drop their rifles now and pull out revolvers for close- range work. One Comanche breaks through from the side, his buffalo lance ready for the thrust. Ethan whirls and fires. The Comanche horse charges through the defense line and out and there is a muffled scream of pain from Ed Nesby. 77-C EXT. THE RIVER - WIDE ANGLE - THE INDIANS The charge breaks and Comanches wheel left and right, racing back across the river. With magnificent horsemanship, one brave rides to an unhorsed warrior crouched in the shallows and swings him up behind. Two others, riding together, head for one of the two dead Comanches Ethan and Mose had downed on their first shots. Swinging simultaneously from their saddles, they grab the dead man and carry him off. 77-D EXT. THE RIVER'S EDGE - ANGLING PAST MOSE AND ETHAN MOSE (cackling) There goes yer scalp, Ethan!... Ethan snuggles his rifle to his shoulder as two other racing Comanches prepare to pick up the other dead Indian. Most of the Comanches have regained the far bank now and are racing away. The firing from the Texans has stopped. ETHAN I still got one out there. OMITTED EXT. RIVER'S EDGE - CLOSE SHOT - BEHIND ETHAN The angle is along his rifle barrel as it beads on one of the racing Comanches trying to pick up the dead Indian. Clayton's big hand grasps the rifle barrel. CLAYTON'S VOICE (quietly) No, Ethan. EXT. RIVER'S EDGE - CLOSE SHOT - THE TWO Ethan looks up into Clayton's face. CLAYTON Let them bury their dead... Ethan pulls the gun free and looks out across the river. EXT. THE RIVER - LONG SHOT - PAST THEM The Comanches have done their work, are riding away -- and over the saddle of one lies the limp form of the dead Indian. Ethan looks back at Sam. ETHAN That tears it, Reverend... From now on, you keep out... (mad now -- facing the others) All of you!... I don't want you with me... I don't need you... for what I got to do! CHARLIE (quietly) No need to shout, mister. The CAMERA SWINGS to pick up the figure of Nesby outstretched on the ground, writhing in pain; with Charlie kneeling beside him. The men cross to stand around the fallen man. CHARLIE Reckon we got to go back -- Ed's shoulder is smashed -- bad! NESBY I can make it... just get me on a horse... CLAYTON No good, Ed... And Ethan's right... This is a job for a company of Rangers... or it's a job for one or two men... Right now we're too many... an' not enough... BRAD (facing Ethan) Only one way you can stop me lookin' for Lucy, mister... An' that's kill me... MARTIN That's how I feel, Uncle Ethan... (correcting the slip) Ethan, sir. Ethan glares at them, but has to accept it. ETHAN All right... but I'm givin' the orders... You take 'em or we split up here and now... MARTIN (quickly) Why, sure, Ethan... There's just the one thing we're after... finding Deborah and Lucy... ETHAN (grimly -- turning away) If they're still alive... He heads away, for his horse. Brad and Martin look at each other as the full import of Ethan's footnote strikes home. Then they head for their own horses. OMITTED 86-A EXT. THE RIVER - FULL SHOT Ethan, Martin, and Brad mount. Clayton crosses to them. CLAYTON You boys got enough shells? They nod. MARTIN Yeah... CLAYTON Vaya con dios. The three re-enter the river and slowly start across, with Clayton gravely looking after them. The three riders continue across the river... and the Search Theme resumes. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. WIDE ANGLE - DESERT COUNTRY - BLAZING NOON A region of buttes and giant rock formations; treeless, arid and seemingly reaching out to infinity. Far off we see a cloud of dust -- miles and miles off. Only the dust, nothing else. From behind CAMERA ride the three men -- Ethan, Brad, and Martin -- dust-powdered, eyes bloodshot. The three are watching that distant cloud of dust. They force their weary horses onward. WIPE TO: EXT. DESERT COUNTRY - WIDE ANGLE - LATE AFTERNOON The ANGLE is past some spectacular butte or citadel of rock into another long reach of valley -- different from the first view of it, yet alike in its suggestion of endlessness. But now there is no cloud of dust far away -- nothing to suggest the passage of anything but time itself. Ethan, Martin, and Brad ride into the fringe of the butte's shadow and scan the terrain ahead. BRAD (shrill) They got to stop sometime... if they're human at all, they got to stop! ETHAN Naw... a human man rides a horse till it dies... then he goes on afoot... A Comanche comes along... gets that horse up... and rides it twenty more miles... Then he eats it. Ethan turns to catch Martin thirstily drinking from his canteen. ETHAN (angrily) Easy on that! MARTIN Sorry... We don't even know if Debbie 'n Lucy are with this bunch... Maybe they split up... ETHAN They're with 'em -- if they're still alive. Brad wheels on him. BRAD You've said that enough!... Maybe Lucy's dead... maybe they're both dead... but if I hear it from you again, I'll fight ya, Mr. Edwards! ETHAN (an aside) That'll be the day!... Let's ride. WIPE TO: OMITTED 89-A EXT. VALLEY AND CANYON WALL - WIDE ANGLE - THE RIDERS - LATE AFTERNOON (NOTE: This is the gap in the rocks near the "Medicine Country" at Monument.) The three riders come to where the trail they have been following forks... the main horseprint track leading ahead, a lesser track heading for a narrow gap between two buttes. MARTIN Four of 'em cut out here... Why? Ethan thinks he knows why. His face is bleak. But he tries to be casual. ETHAN I'll take a look... You keep after the others... He turns his mount toward the gap. MARTIN (eagerly) You want us to fire a shot if... ETHAN (disgustedly) No... nor build bonfires... nor beat drums neither. I'll meet you on the far side. He's still grumbling as he rides off. An abashed Martin rides ahead along the broad trail with Brad. (NOTE: Ethan's serape, tied behind his saddle, should be clearly seen as he rides away -- not pointed up, but visible.) WIPE TO: EXT. FAR SIDE OF BUTTE - TWILIGHT Martin and Brad, riding in a direction opposite to that in which they had taken off -- indicating their circle route -- haul up momentarily as they spot Ethan, standing beside his horse, his back to them, some distance along. They turn slightly off their course and ride out toward him. EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - NEAR BUTTE - TWILIGHT Ethan turns, almost startled, as the two youths ride in. His serape is no longer behind his saddle. Ethan looks at them blankly for a minute -- as though not really seeing them. ETHAN Oh... it's you. They both stare at him. ETHAN (a vague gesture) I... uh... here's where they met up again... They both can see that. ETHAN (pointing) Trail leads off there... They look at him and each other -- for these are clearly unnecessary remarks and doubly surprising coming from Ethan. BRAD Why'd they break off? (no answer) Was there water in that canyon? ETHAN Huh...? No... no water. MARTIN You all right, Ethan? ETHAN Huh...? (more like his usual gruff self) Sure I'm all right... He goes to his horse, mounts. Martin is right beside him and he notes the missing serape. MARTIN Say!... What happened to your blanket? Lose it? ETHAN Must've... Anyway, I ain't goin' back to look for it... He leads out. Brad rides up beside Martin. Again the two exchange puzzled looks. Martin shrugs and the three continue along the broad trace of the Indian ponies into the setting sun. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. NIGHT CAMP - A POCKET IN THE HILLS - TWILIGHT Ethan crouches over a small fire built into a slit trench so that barely the glow of the flames can be seen. Beyond him Martin is leading their unsaddled horses away. The men have come to the end of another long day. Both men look up as Brad comes over a hill slope and rides recklessly down the incline to their camp. His horse is lathered. BRAD (shouting it) I saw her!... I saw Lucy! Martin runs to his side as Brad slides off his mount. Ethan moves more slowly. BRAD (continuing) They're camped 'bout two miles over... I was just swingin' back when I saw their smoke... I bellied up a ridge an' they was right below me... MARTIN Did you see Debbie? BRAD No, but I saw Lucy all right... She was wearin' that blue dress... an' she was walkin' along... ETHAN (voice flat) What you saw wasn't Lucy. BRAD It was, I tell you! ETHAN What you saw was a buck wearin' Lucy's dress... (they stare at him) I found Lucy back there in that canyon... I wrapped her in my blanket an' buried her with m'own hands... I thought it best to keep it from you -- long as I could. He can't look at Brad or at Martin. Brad can't speak -- and then finally: BRAD Did they...? Was she...? Ethan wheels on him in shouting fury. ETHAN (blazing) What've I got to do -- draw you a picture?... Spell it out?... Don't ever ask me!... Long as you live don't ever ask me more! Brad wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He turns -- walking stiff-legged as though on stilts back to his horse. He bends his head against the saddle, as though to hide his grief. Martin turns away from him and walks back to Ethan. And in that moment, Brad mounts and takes off in the same direction from which he had ridden in. MARTIN (frantically) BRAD!... They run for their horses. CUT TO: 92-A EXT. ROUGH ROLLING COUNTRY - NIGHT - MOVING - CLOSE SHOT - BRAD He comes pounding down a slope, and he takes off his hat and skims it away. He rips off a neckerchief as though to relieve the rush of raging blood. 92-B EXT. THE EDGE OF A RISE - MED. CLOSE SHOT - BRAD - NIGHT He reaches the crest and reins in. A distant firelight is on his face. He takes one moment to look down into the Comanche camp o.s. Then he has his gun out. His eyes are wild, his face wet with sweat. Then he throws back his head and he yells -- and with the yell goes charging into the camp. 92-C EXT. A RIDGE - FULL SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - NIGHT They rein in -- staring -- as from afar they hear Brad's yell echoing and bouncing off the canyon walls. There is nothing they can do. They hear his shouts, then the quick bark of his .44, and the angry shouts of the Comanche. 92-D EXT. COMANCHE CAMP - EXTREME CLOSEUP - BRAD - RIDING - NIGHT His face is red with the reflected light of the fires he is passing o.s. and his eyes are alight with a crazy, savage joy. His gun cracks once, then again -- and the hammer clicks on a spent shell. 92-E EXT. COMANCHE CAMP - CLOSE SHOT - SCAR - NIGHT He stands apart, warbow drawn and arrow notched. He releases it at his running target. We hear its impact and a high gasp of pain... and then the jubilant, yammering yells of other Comanches. 92-F EXT. A RIDGE - FULL ON MARTIN AND ETHAN AS BEFORE - NIGHT The distant yammering of the Comanches doesn't quite drown out one stifled scream of pain; we can surmise a scalping knife was busy in the last instance of Brad's life. Martin slumps in his saddle. Ethan listens a moment, then turns to Martin. ETHAN Let's just hope he took some with him... He turns his horse back the way they had come. Martin stares at him. MARTIN What you goin' to do? ETHAN Get some sleep... Tomorrow's another day... Slowly, he rides away. Slowly, reluctantly but helpless to do otherwise, Martin follows. DISSOLVE TO: OMITTED EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - LOW ANGLE SHOT - DAY A study of horseprints etched in the soil -- the mark of the passage of many horses; perhaps an eagle or turkey feather fallen from a warbonnet. And then we hear and see the approach of two plodding horses, and the dusty boots of the horsemen -- Ethan and Martin -- following the trail. The Search Theme resumes and continues over the next three shots, helping us suggest the passage of time, the change of scene. EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - LONG SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - DAY The two figures are little more than specks in a vastness of savage country. WIPE TO: EXT. MOUNTAIN COUNTRY - LOW ANGLE SHOT - DAY Again we study the hooves of two horses, fighting their way up a rocky slope and past a thorn bush on which -- fluttering in the mountain wind -- is a torn scrap of scarlet cloth with a bit of beadwork or Indian decoration. WIPE TO: OMITTED EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - LOW ANGLE SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - AFTERNOON It is a portrait study of two faces -- etched by wind and privation and cold into tragic, fanatic masks. Martin has aged years in a matter of months. Falling snow flakes touch their faces and begin to rime their stubbly beards. MARTIN (bitterly) Say it. We're beat! ETHAN (slowly) No... our turnin' back don't change anything... not in the long run. If she's alive, she's safe... for a while... They'll keep her to raise as one of their own, 'til she's of an age to... He turns his mount. MARTIN And you think we got a chance to find her? ETHAN An Injun will chase a thing til he thinks he's chased it enough... Then he quits... Same when he runs... Seems he never learns there's such a thing as a critter that might just keep comin' on... So we'll find them in the end, I promise you that... We'll find them just as sure as the turning of the earth. FADE OUT OMITTED FADE IN EXT. THE JORGENSEN HOUSE AND APPROACH - WIDE ANGLE - TWILIGHT The time is spring. It is a year and a half later. The Jorgensen house is larger than the Edwards place -- of sod and logs, with a covered breezeway connecting the two separate buildings of the house: one being the keeping room, the other the sleeping quarters of the numerous Jorgensen brood. A meadowlark breaks into his sudden song. A dog or two come barking around the side of the house as Ethan and Martin ride slowly from behind CAMERA toward the house. In that instant a lamp is lighted within the house and Lars Jorgensen comes to the door. EXT. THE JORGENSEN HOUSE - FULL SHOT - NEAR DOOR - TWILIGHT Jorgensen peers at the two men as they ride up - recognizing them, of course, but ill-prepared for the change in their appearance and full of unspoken questions. Bearing a lamp, Mrs. Jorgensen hurries out to stand beside her husband -- and her face works and tears begin to well in her eyes. Two tow-headed boys -- 13 or 14 -- come after her. Jorgensen makes a little signal with one hand, not even looking at the boys, and they hurry out to take the reins as Ethan and Martin dismount. EXT. THE JORGENSEN HOUSE - MED. SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN The passage of time has stamped Martin -- and will continue during our story more and more to stamp him -- in the image of Ethan. Now it may show only in the set of his hat or trick of standing; later it will be in his walk, in his speech (or paucity of speech). Neither man is sure of his reception. They are thinking of Brad -- dead because of their search; and Martin is thinking of Laurie. And then Mrs. Jorgensen is running across to Martin and has him in her arms as though he were her son -- saying nothing, just holding him. He stands frozen a moment and then he returns the embrace. Ethan watches a moment, then crosses to Jorgensen. ETHAN (to Jorgensen) You got my letter about your son, Brad? JORGENSEN Yah... Just about this time a year ago... MRS. JORGENSEN It came the day before his... birthday. JORGENSEN The Lord giveth--the Lord taketh away... Mrs. Jorgensen starts to lead the way inside. Martin hangs back. MARTIN I ain't fit to go indoors, miz Jorgensen... These clothes is... Laurie rushes past her mother. LAURIE Martie! She kisses him hard and full on the mouth -- and has no eyes for anyone else. Mrs. Jorgensen looks on with amusement. Martin is just bowled over. MRS. JORGENSEN (teasing) And him probably forgettin' all about you!... Probably can't even call your name to mind. MARTIN (smiling) Laurie. And Laurie smiles triumphantly at her mother. MARTIN (continuing) But I fairly forgot just how pretty you was... Laurie grabs his hand then and pulls him indoors -- and there is no further resistance from Martin. Mrs. Jorgensen and her husband converge then on Ethan -- and her face is gravely questioning. MRS. JORGENSEN The little one?... Debbie? Ethan shakes his head. She squeezes his arm reassuringly and they start indoors. DISSOLVE TO: INT. THE SPARE BEDROOM OF THE JORGENSEN'S - MED. SHOT - MARTIN - NIGHT This is a room off the kitchen end of the keeping room -- and described in the book as the "grandmother room": with narrow, slit-like windows, a set of single bunk beds, possibly a fireplace. Martin is in a deep wooden tub, taking a hot bath, currying his back with a long-handled brush. Beyond him is the door. It opens and Martin turns casually -- and at once stops being casual as Laurie enters and purposefully crosses to a stool or bench on which his discarded clothing is scattered. MARTIN Hey... What you doin'...? She picks up the shirt, puts it over one arm; she reaches for his long-handled and ragged underwear, runs a fist through a hole in its seat, clucks and shreds it into rags. During this: MARTIN (a yelp) Don't go takin' that stuff... LAURIE Ain't worth the mendin'... She turns and looks at him, matter of fact. LAURIE What you gettin' red-in-the-face for?... I have brothers, haven't I? MARTIN Well I ain't one of 'em! LAURIE I'm a woman, Martie... (he tries to say something but she goes right on) We wash and mend your dirty clothes all our lives... When you're little we even wash you... How a man can ever make out to get bashful in front of a woman I'll never know... MARTIN You talk like a feller might just as leave run around nekkid... LAURIE Wouldn't bother me... (she heads for the door) I wouldn't try it in front of pa, though, was I you... And she is laughing as she closes the door behind her. INT. THE KEEPING ROOM OF THE JORGENSEN HOUSE - FULL SHOT It is a plastered room, everything bright and shiny; a big wood-burning cookstove, above it a row of shiny copper pots; the furniture handmade and probably not too much unlike the good plain Swedish modern of today. There should be Scandinavian accents in the decor. All told, a cheerful, warm-smelling room. Ethan is talking as Laurie enters the room still carrying Martin's shirt, the rags of his underwear. She will wait, listening for a break in what Ethan is saying, to try to get her mother's attention. Jorgensen is sitting in his usual chair -- with his boots off, puffing his pipe more or less in tune with what Ethan is talking about. Mrs. Jorgensen is in her rocker, darning or knitting. Ethan is standing near the mantel. ETHAN ...an' then it snowed and we lost the trail... No need to tell ya all the places we went... Fort Richardson, Fort Wingate an' Cobb... the Anadarko Agency... Trouble is we don't even know which band that war party belonged to... Mrs. Jorgensen looks up from her darning. MRS. JORGENSEN Well, you did all a body could, Ethan. ETHAN I got your boy killed. MRS. JORGENSEN (gently) Don't go blamin' yourself... JORGENSEN (angrily) It's this country killed my boy!... Yes, by golly! Mrs. Jorgensen stands. MRS. JORGENSEN Now Lars!... It so happens we be Texicans... We took a reachin' hold, way far out, past where any man has right or reason to hold on... Or if we didn't, our folks did... So we can't leave off without makin' them out to be fools, wastin' their lives 'n wasted in the way they died... A Texican's nothin' but a human man out on a limb... This year an' next and maybe for a hundred more. But I don't think it'll be forever. Someday this country will be a fine good place to be... Maybe it needs our bones in the ground before that time can come... The speech impresses everyone but Laurie, who probably hasn't heard a word of it. LAURIE Ma!... Martie's drawers is a sight! Ain't fit for rags!... Would it be all right if we gave him some of Brad's things? There is just the briefest hesitation... MRS. JORGENSEN Why...'course it would! They're in the chest... And she leads the way briskly, with Laurie following, to a big chest at the far end of the room. JORGENSEN (rising excitedly) By golly, the letter... In the chest, mama... It came for you, Ethan... last winter... Ethan and Jorgensen cross together to where Mrs. Jorgensen is raising the top of a huge dower chest. She extracts a letter, wrapped in oilskin against moths. JORGENSEN (continuing) Joab Wilkes of the Rangers brought it... Ethan takes the letter and studies it very carefully before venturing to open it. Jorgensen is quite curious, but trying not to seem nosy. The women remain at the chest -- pulling out various folded garments, etc. Finally Ethan carefully opens it and takes out a letter -- dirty as to paper, crudely printed in pencil and with a horseshoe nail pinning a two- inch square snip of calico to the bottom of the sheet. He reads the letter with the habitual difficulty of a man unused to words and then he turns the letter, removes the nail and looks at the snip of cloth. ETHAN (quietly) Mrs. Jorgensen... She comes to him, her arms piled with clothing; and Laurie a step behind her, holding up a new pair of long- handled underwear -- measuring it with her eyes for holes, etc. ETHAN Will you look at this? He holds out the snip of calico. MRS. JORGENSEN Why it's just a snip of calico... ETHAN You ever see it before... like mebbe on a dress Debbie wore? MRS. JORGENSEN Yes!... Yes, I remember!... Have they found her, Ethan? ETHAN No... not yet... He takes the calico snip, places it within the letter and carefully pockets it. He looks broodingly into the fire. ETHAN (continuing) ...not yet... Laurie's face is troubled as she turns from him and heads for the grandmother room, carrying the armful of clothes. INT. THE SPARE BEDROOM - FULL SHOT - NIGHT Martin is sitting sulkily on a cot, wrapped in a blanket. He glares up as Laurie enters. His feet are in his boots. MARTIN Might at least have left me my pants! LAURIE Shush!... Time for bed anyway... (putting clothes near him) Likely these'll need some takin' in... Oh, Martie, you're that gaunted! ...Ma's havin' a turkey for dinner tomorrow and... JORGENSEN'S VOICE (calling) Laurie!... Come... come! Ethan opens the door, enters. LAURIE Yes, Pa!... Good night, Martie... good night, Mr. Edwards... She wants to kiss Martie but is shy in Ethan's presence and hurries out. MARTIN Good night... Laurie... ETHAN Good night... Martin stoops to remove his boots. Ethan studies him and looks thoughtfully after the girl and at Martin. He takes the letter out of his pocket -- as though he meant to read it -- and then he puts it back decisively. He starts to undress. Martin lies back on his bunk. ETHAN Jorgensen's been runnin' his cattle with my own... MARTIN (staring) YOUR cattle?... DEBBIE'S cattle! Ethan returns the stare without any change of expression. ETHAN He's agreed to take you on and share the increase from my herd while I'm gone... I'll be pushin' on tomorrow... MARTIN I ain't stayin'... I set out lookin' for Debbie... I aim to keep on... ETHAN Why? MARTIN Because she's my... my... ETHAN She's your nothin'... She's no kin to you at all! MARTIN I always felt like she was... Her folks takin' me in, raisin' me like one of their own... ETHAN That don't make 'em kin... MARTIN All right... I ain't got no kin... I'm goin' to keep lookin' that's all. ETHAN How? You got any horses, or money to buy 'em... You ain't even got money to buy cartridges... Jorgensen's offering you a good livin' here... Martin throws himself back, turns his face to the wall. Ethan looks soberly at him -- and is sorry for the brutality of his words. ETHAN Martin... I want you to know somethin'... MARTIN (turning -- mad as hell) Yeah... you want me to know I ain't got no kin -- no money -- no horses -- nothing but a dead man's clothes to wear!... You tole me that already... Now shut your head! ETHAN Good night. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. THE JORGENSEN HOME - WIDE ANGLE - DAWN LIGHT It is a still scene, with the first light of day in the sky, a thin plume of smoke rising from the chimney. INT. THE JORGENSEN KEEPING ROOM - MED. CLOSE SHOT - LAURIE - DAWN LIGHT She is in a robe made of an Indian blanket, belted snugly around her waist. She wears moccasins for slippers. Her flannel nightgown is high at the collar and almost trails the floor. She is at the stove, frying bacon and eggs; a coffee pot is on the boil. Beyond her the door to the grandmother room opens and Martin comes in -- dressed in Brad's clothes. His eyes whip around the room. Laurie doesn't turn as he slowly approaches. LAURIE (quietly) Ethan rode on... an hour ago. The starch goes out of him. He walks heavily to the table and sits, slumped. She looks at him compassionately. LAURIE I don't know what you can do about finding Debbie that he can't... He just shakes his head, not looking at her. She lifts the food from the skillet onto a plate and sets it before him. LAURIE He'll find her now, Martie... Please believe me... I know. He shakes his head. She crosses to the stove for the coffee pot. MARTIN That's what scares me -- him findin' her. Now it is her turn to stare. MARTIN Laurie, I've seen his eyes when he so much as hears the word 'Comanche' ...I've seen him take his knife an' ...never mind... But he's a man can go crazy wild... It might come on him when it was the worst thing could be... What I counted on, I hoped to be there to stop him, if such thing come. Laurie has poured his coffee. Now he sips it. She sits at the table with him. LAURIE (slowly) I hoped I could hold you here... But I guess I knew... So I stole this for you... She takes Ethan's letter from her breast and hands it to him. He takes it, puzzled, and slowly reads it aloud. MARTIN 'I bought a small size dress off a Injun... If this here is a piece of yr chiles dress bring reward. I know where they gone... Jerem Futterman.' Martin is on his feet. MARTIN (excited) Futterman!... He's got a little tradin' post on the South Fork o' the Brazos... Laurie, I just got to get me a good horse! Think yer pa would... LAURIE Finish your breakfast... MARTIN I gotta catch up with him, Laurie! LAURIE (almost in tears -- but angry) Go on then! Pa's in the barn saddlin' the Fort Worth stud... an' you can take the light gelding with the blaze... MARTIN But that's Sweet-face -- your own good horse. Laurie goes to the front door and throws it wide. LAURIE (hysterically) Take it and welcome... but don't count on finding me here when you get back... I've been dallying around this god-forsaken wind-scour almost two long years waitin' for you... I ain't cut out to be an old maid! MARTIN (miserably) I can't help it, Laurie... I just gotta catch up with Ethan... He runs out and she slams the door, then rests her head against it. 113-A INT. JORGENSEN KEEPING ROOM - FULL SHOT - EARLY MORNING Mrs. Jorgensen quietly enters the room and sees Laurie with head pressed against the door. She wants to offer some word of sympathy, but doesn't know what to say. She crosses to the stove to pour herself a cup of coffee. Then we hear the drum of horses' hooves, the sound of Martin riding away. Laurie flings open the door, almost as though to call him back. 113-B EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY AND LAKE BEFORE JORGENSEN HOUSE - EARLY MORNING ANGLING from behind Laurie in the doorway as Martin, riding one horse, leading another, goes galloping away. EXT. FUTTERMAN'S TRADING POST - WIDE ANGLE - DAY Low, squat adobe structure, with a crudely lettered sign- board proclaiming it: 'JEREM. FUTTERMAN, TRADER' There are adjacent outbuildings and corral. Four horses are tied outside, two being pack animals. A surly-looking white man or breed sits in a stool tilted back near the door, whittling with a long-bladed knife, eyeing the horses covetously. He glances aside and glares as a squaw shuffles along bearing a clumsy load of faggots on her bowed back. MAN Andale! Andale! Fearfully she quickens her step. The man gets up, shoves knife into belt and heads into the post. INT. FUTTERMAN'S TRADING POST - FULL SHOT - DAY It is a grimy establishment with some dusty trade goods on shelves; a counter which serves as a bar; a few plank tables and benches. The breed seen outside enters and crosses to a side table where another mean-looking hombre sits preparing to play a game of solitaire with a deck of limp cards. Ethan and Martin are at a table in the center of the room, examining a dirty, rumpled child's dress -- Debbie's. Martin nods soberly in answer to Ethan's inquiring look; yes, it's hers. Both look up as FUTTERMAN crosses from the bar, carrying a whisky jug and two dirty glasses -- his fingers thrust inside the glasses. Futterman is a squaw man and a killer -- dead eyes in a white face. FUTTERMAN Drink? He sets the jug down, picks up one of the glasses -- so grey and thumb-printed it is almost opaque. Both Ethan and Martin regard it with disgust. Futterman gives a slight shrug, takes the dress and starts to wipe the dirty glass with it. Martin snatches it out of his hand. ETHAN (harshly) How'd you come by this? FUTTERMAN You said there'd be a thousand dollar reward. ETHAN That's what I said. FUTTERMAN You got it with you? Ethan looks at him and beyond toward the two men. INT. FUTTERMAN'S - CLOSE SHOT - THE TWO PLUG-UGLIES The solitaire player has a card in mid-air -- frozen, watching. The other man has the same buzzard-watchful look. INT. FUTTERMAN'S - FULL SHOT - THE GROUP AS BEFORE ETHAN Reward'll be paid when I find her -- an' if she's alive... Futterman uncorks the jug, prepares to drink. FUTTERMAN Man's got a right to expect some kind o' payment... I laid out for the dress an' sendin' you the writin'... He tilts the jug to his mouth as Ethan reaches for his heavy leather pouch. Futterman watches greedily as Ethan lets a gold piece slide out. He tosses it onto the table. ETHAN Twenty Yankee dollars. Futterman puts the jug down. His hand inches -- as though pulled by a magnet -- toward the gold piece. FUTTERMAN ...an' a man's time is worth somethin'... Ethan's big hand clamps over Futterman's and he starts squeezing as a man would squeeze a lemon. Futterman's lips whiten. ETHAN Talk! FUTTERMAN A young buck fetched it in late last summer... (Ethan eases the grip) Said it belonged to a captive chile of Chief Scar... ETHAN Scar? Never heard of any Chief Scar. FUTTERMAN Me neither... But this buck claimed he was a big war chief with the Nawyecky Comanches. ETHAN Keep talking. FUTTERMAN Scar's band was headin' north... to winter in at Fort Wingate... eatin' agency beef. That's what this buck said... Maybe he lied. ETHAN And maybe you lie... FUTTERMAN In that case you won't find her -- and I won't get my thousand dollars. Ethan stands. Martin follows. Martin takes the dress and folds it carefully. FUTTERMAN (too casually) Stay the night if you want... (Ethan shakes his head) Cards?... A jug?... If you'd like some company, we got a few squaws on the place... Ethan and Martin head for the door. ETHAN No thanks. The two plug-uglies stand -- mean ready to do their master's bidding. FUTTERMAN Don't forget to come back with my thousand dollars. ETHAN Ain't yours yet. They leave. The CAMERA holds on Futterman as he slowly rubs his bruised hand. His henchmen drift toward him. FUTTERMAN (slight smile) Bad manners... He shoulda said 'good- bye.' DISSOLVE TO: EXT. HILLY COUNTRY - MED. SHOT - ETHAN - NIGHT They have set up camp near a cluster of cottonwoods to which the horses have been tied. One of the horses is restless, possibly nickering. Ethan strokes its neck, looking out thoughtfully into the night -- listening. MARTIN'S VOICE Acts like somethin's out there. ETHAN (heading toward campfire) Smells a change in the weather... CAMERA PANS him to where Martin is spreading his blanket some little distance from the small fire. ETHAN Wouldn't surprise me if we didn't have a frost 'fore mornin'... Here... (he picks up a saddle and puts it close to fire) Whyn't you bed down closer to the fire, boy? Martin is a bit surprised as Ethan takes the blanket and spreads it near the saddle -- making the saddle serve as a pillow. Then Ethan tosses a few more heavy pieces of dry wood on the fire, making it blaze up. MARTIN Hey! What's the idea...? ETHAN Maybe I'm gettin' like Mose Harper -- my bones is cold tonight... He spreads his own blanket as Martin wraps into his bedroll, and when Martin turns, he casually arranges the blanket to suggest it is over the figure of a man. During this: MARTIN Funny... When we passed through Fort Wingate last winter, we didn't hear mention of any Nawyecky Comanche there... Ethan steps back -- and studies the "dummy." ETHAN Not so funny... if you recollect what 'Nawyecka' means... MARTIN What's that? Ethan studies Martin's back -- the light on him -- and looks around figuring the range of fire. ETHAN Sorta like 'roundabout' -- like a man says he's goin' one place when he means to go just the reverse... MARTIN (drowsily) Oh... ETHAN You all settled an' comfortable now? Martin just grunts and snugs deeper into his blanket. Ethan nods his satisfaction -- sure Martin isn't going to change positions. Then he takes off his hat and boots and uses them to complete the dummy. He picks up his rifle then and quietly walks out of the camp. CUT TO: EXT. HILLY COUNTRY - A RAVINE OR ARROYO - FULL SHOT - THREE MEN - NIGHT Three shadowy figures -- Futterman and his two henchmen -- are quietly dismounting, taking rifles from saddle scabbards. At a hand signal from Futterman, they quietly fan out afoot. EXT. NIGHT CAMP - MED. CLOSE SHOT - MARTIN still snug in his blankets, sound asleep; the fire burning a little lower but still shedding plenty of light on him. EXT. HILLY COUNTRY - FULL SHOT - FROM BEHIND FUTTERMAN AND HIS HENCHMEN At a crouch or crawling, the three worm their way among some rocks until they reach a slight rise looking down into the camp. Martin is asleep and next to him is Ethan's dummy, hat over its face, and the fire still burning. The two henchmen snake their rifles up to a firing position. A shot cracks... and one man is knocked flat on his face. The other whirls in the direction of the shot, his rifle swinging in search of a target. A second shot splits the night and the breed falls as though hit by a giant fist... Martin is sitting up now, staring wildly around. Futterman starts to run down-slope, away from the hidden marksman, dodging between the rocks. A third shot catches him in the back and he spins and falls and rolls down the slope into the firepit camp area. Martin is on his feet now. EXT. NIGHT CAMP - FULL SHOT - MARTIN He is staring at Futterman, face down and almost at his feet. He looks around in fear at someone approaching -- hand going to his gun. Then he relaxes as Ethan casually enters the camp, bareheaded, carrying his rifle. ETHAN Thanks... you did just fine... Ethan kneels beside Futterman, turns him over, reaches into his pockets -- first one, then another. MARTIN (dazed) Futterman? ETHAN He just couldn't wait... MARTIN (watching him go through pockets) Whatchu doin'?... Ethan grins satisfiedly as he straightens and spins the gold piece in the air, catches it and pockets it. ETHAN Even got my twenty dollars back... We did all right. And now Martin is getting the whole picture... and he's mad. MARTIN WE?... You just used me for bait -- staked me out like a... buildin' up the fire... fixin' it so's... I coulda had my brains blowed out! Ethan is just grinning at him -- completely unruffled, denying none of it. MARTIN (explosively) Suppose you'd missed! Ethan sobers a little, seems honestly surprised. ETHAN Never occurred to me... DISSOLVE TO: EXT. THE JORGENSEN HOME - WIDE ANGLE - DAY It is a day in early winter. Charlie MacCorry, short-coated, is galloping across the yard as Jorgensen crosses it -- carrying a load of firewood. CHARLIE (calling it) Howdy, Mister Jorgensen... JORGENSEN Charlie... MacCorry swings off his saddle near the porch, as the door opens and Mrs. Jorgensen comes out -- shawled against the cold. CHARLIE Got a letter here... Jorgensen lets the cordwood drop... JORGENSEN By golly! A letter? CHARLIE For Miss Laurie... MRS. JORGENSEN Come in, Charlie, come in... (calling inside) LAURIE!... My land!... Two letters in the one year!... INT. JORGENSEN KEEPING ROOM - FULL SHOT as Charlie enters, following Mrs. Jorgensen. Jorgensen excitedly enters and closes the door. Laurie comes in from another room. Charlie smiles and bows clumsily. MRS. JORGENSEN (to Laurie) A letter for you, Laurie... CHARLIE Yes'm... Figgered it might be the news you been waitin' for... so... He hands the letter to Laurie who comes over eagerly, takes it and studies the wrapper before opening it. MRS. JORGENSEN Real good o' you to ride all the way over, Charlie... Might at least say your thank you's, Laurie... Declare! CHARLIE No need to... But Laurie has no interest in anything but the letter which she is reading skimmingly. MRS. JORGENSEN Well? JORGENSEN (expectantly) Yah? MRS. JORGENSEN Laurie! Don't keep a body just standin'! Laurie looks up then. LAURIE (impatiently) I was just readin' to see if... Anyway, it's MY letter! MRS. JORGENSEN (agreeably) 'Course it is. Now let's all get comfortable an' set so's we can listen while Laurie reads her letter... CHARLIE (turning as if to go) Maybe I'd better be goin'... JORGENSEN You stay, Charlie... After all, Charlie brought the letter, Laurie... He got a right to listen too! Mrs. Jorgensen has been pulling and pushing chairs around and now they all take places. Jorgensen automatically reaches for his glasses on the mantel and puts them on -- even though he isn't going to read the letter. Laurie has been sneaking looks at some of the other pages. LAURIE (surrendering) Oh, all right! Well... Martin says... JORGENSEN From the beginning... LAURIE 'Dear Miss Laury'... He spells it with a Y instead of an I... E... Wouldn't you think he'd know... JORGENSEN Who cares what he spells it? Read the letter. LAURIE Dear Miss Laury... I take pen in hand to let you know Ethan and me still are trying to catch up with them Comanches the late Mister Futterman told us about... She breaks off, looks up -- puzzled. LAURIE The late Mister Futterman? JORGENSEN That means Mister Futterman is dead, by golly. MRS. JORGENSEN Wonder what happened to the poor man. Go on, Laurie. LAURIE (resuming the letter) We cut north through Indian territory and... (her voice fades) DISSOLVE TO: EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - LATE SUMMER OR FALL - ETHAN AND MARTIN (SILENT) leading their pack animals. Martin's voice picks up the narration. MARTIN'S VOICE Soon we was meeting up with Kiowas an' Wichitas an' even some Comanches camped by one of the agencies... WIPE TO: WIDE ANGLE - A COMANCHE ENCAMPMENT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - DAY FALL WEATHER (SILENT) The camp is on the outskirts of a trading post. Indians watch unsmilingly from tepees, or in little clusters afoot; a few mounted braves ride on parallel courses as Ethan and Martin ride through camp toward the post. MARTIN'S VOICE But none of them was Nawyecky's nor claimed to know a war chief named Scar... He's the one the late Mister Futterman said had Debbie... WIPE TO: INT. APPLEBY'S TRADING POST - MED. SHOT (SILENT) - DAY This trading post is in marked contrast to Futterman's -- being well-stocked, clean and presided over by HIRAM APPLEBY, a resolute, clean-looking man of middle years. Ethan and Martin -- in winter garb -- are being shown a variety of trade goods, including a shoebox full of ornate ribbon rosettes, such as are awarded animals at stock fairs. Appleby is solemnly affirming the trade value of these, as well as sleeve garters, etc. MARTIN'S VOICE At one o' the agencies we outfitted with all kind an' manner of trade goods... figgerin' that'd make it easier for us to come an' go... You'd laugh if I told you what was our biggest seller... WIPE TO: EXT. INDIAN ENCAMPMENT - MED. CLOSE SHOT - ETHAN AND FAT INDIAN - EARLY WINTER OR FALL DAY Ethan is ceremoniously pinning something on the stern-faced buck. It is one of the rosettes seen in the shoebox. CAMERA MOVES to an extreme CLOSEUP of the rosette. On it, in gold letters, is: FIRST AWARD LARD TYPE HOG EXT. INDIAN ENCAMPMENT - FULL SHOT - EARLY FALL OR WINTER DAY As the Indian proudly steps back, we see beyond him a half dozen other braves -- all rosetted. Ethan looks them over complacently while Martin -- to hide the smile that threatens to split his face -- bends to pick up a huge bundle of furs. WIPE TO: INT. JORGENSEN KEEPING ROOM - FULL SHOT - THE GROUP FAVORING LAURIE reading the letter. She is at the bottom of a page. LAURIE 'There is one other thing I got to tell you before you hear it from Ethan... How I got myself a wife'... She stops and stares. LAURIE A WIFE? She looks at them - dazed. CHARLIE (delightedly) He did? JORGENSEN (smacking his knee -- very happy indeed) Good! A young man should get married early in life. Right, mama? Mrs. Jorgensen, full of sympathy for Laurie, just glares at her husband. JORGENSEN Every young man should at least once...Go on, Laurie! Read! LAURIE (haltingly) A little Comanche squaw - SQUAW! And with that she crumples the letter and throws it into the fire. MRS. JORGENSEN (aghast) Laurie! Jorgensen is out of his chair and scrambling in the fireplace to recover the letter. He fetches it out, beating the sparks out. The letter is basically undamaged. JORGENSEN (sternly) Is no way to treat a letter, Laurie ...Mama maybe you better read it... (to Charlie, proudly) My wife was a school teacher, Charlie ...She reads good. Laurie snatches the letter back. LAURIE I'll read it... Charlie crosses the room, picks up a guitar. CHARLIE (smugly) So he married a Comanche squaw... Haw haw haw! Laurie glares at him. He begins chording the guitar. WIPE TO: EXT. INDIAN ENCAMPMENT - MED. CLOSE SHOT - MARTIN AND "LOOK" - FALL OR EARLY WINTER - DAY "LOOK" is somewhat under five feet tall, pigeon-toed, platter- faced and wide-eyed. Over her arm is a very handsome blanket. She is coming forward shyly toward Martin, propelled by a Comanche -- her father. Martin, with an armful of trade goods -- a few yards of bright calico, a couple of AGED SOW rosettes and some trinkets -- is indicating the blanket. Look glances shyly at her father. He shakes his head negatively. Look is disappointed. The father points to Martin's pile of trade goods. Martin bends and picks up the indicated object: it is a battered high-crowned beaver hat. The Indian grunts his approval and puts it on. Look looks relieved. Martin reaches for the blanket. Look takes a quick step backward and holds up one finger: wait! Then she runs back through the other Comanches now crowding forward. EXT. INDIAN ENCAMPMENT - ANOTHER ANGLE - FULL SHOT - INCLUDING ETHAN who rides in slowly, leading their pack horse and Martin's horse. ETHAN (quietly) Let's go... I think I stumbled onto somethin'... MARTIN (eagerly) Scar? The name registers with some of the nearer braves. There is a quick interchange of glances, frowning, hostile. ETHAN (angrily) When are you goin' to learn to keep your mouth shut! Come on. Let's get out of here. MARTIN But I just bought a good blanket. ETHAN (curtly) Forget it... Martin mounts and the two ride out. The Comanches stare after them suspiciously, resentfully. EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - FULL SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - MOVING SHOT - EARLY WINTER DAY They are riding down a slight grade beyond which (we can assume) is the Comanche camp. ETHAN What I heard back there was that a band o' hostile Nawyeckas came through this way less'n two weeks ago... MARTIN (excitedly) Think it might be...? He breaks and both turn as Look rides over the hill on a little spotted Indian pony, with her squaw-bag slung up behind her and her blanket over the saddle. She closes the gap between them. ETHAN What's she followin' for? Look smiles shyly at Martin. MARTIN Look, I changed my mind... You can keep your blanket. He gestures for her to go back. MARTIN Go on back... She stares and then dutifully wheels her horse. Martin and Ethan face front again. Look wheels her horse again and is right with them. Martin stops - exasperated. MARTIN Look... you don't understand... (he waves her away) I don't want it. Look just sits. ETHAN (explosively) YOU don't understand, ya chunkhead! You didn't buy any blanket! Ya bought her! MARTIN (aghast) What? ETHAN You got yourself a wife, sonny! MARTIN (a wail) Oh no! Tell her she's got to go back... ETHAN And have her whole family after our scalps for floutin' one o' their women?... No sir! Come on, Mrs. Pauley... Look smiles and sets her horse in motion as Ethan moves ahead. Martin's face is a mask of comic despair as he gives up. He is mouthing the words -- MARTIN Mrs... Pauley? And Ethan suddenly breaks into song; to the tune of "Skip To My Lou:" ETHAN (singing) I got another gal purtier'n you. I got another gal purtier'n you. I got another gal purtier'n you. Skip to my Lou, my darlin'. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. NIGHT CAMP - OPEN COUNTRY - CLOSE SHOT - ETHAN - NIGHT Ethan is wrapped in his blanket roll, head propped by an elbow, grinning sardonically as he watches a strange ritual in the camp. The score is softly reprising "Skip to my Lou." EXT. NIGHT CAMP - FULL SHOT - PAST ETHAN - NIGHT Look is standing with her blanket folded over one arm, her head shyly downcast, not far from where Martin (back to her) is spreading his own bed roll. He sits on it then and begins pulling off his boots. He is very conscious of Ethan's watchful scrutiny. Finally he is ready. He lies back on his blanket. At once Look is at his side to spread her own blanket. Martin sits bolt upright and tugs his blanket free and wraps it protectively around him. She stares at him, puzzled. MARTIN Water!... (in Comanche) Pah! She nods her understanding, hurries off to fetch a canteen. Martin glares at Ethan. ETHAN That's the way to train 'em. Looks like Mrs. Pauley's goin' to make you a fine beautiful wife... MARTIN Cut it out, will ya... Look returns with the canteen, hands it to Martin and kneels beside him. He looks at her sympathetically. MARTIN Look... I wish I could explain to you. And now Look speaks for the first time. She indicates herself. LOOK Look?... Now she jabbers in Comanche and, at the appropriate time, will point to the sky and imitate a bird flying. LOOK Nay tzare T'sala-ta-komal-ta-name... unt kang-yah Look. (which means) (My father calls me Wild Goose Flying in the Night Sky... but you call me 'Look'). Martin looks blank, but Ethan chuckles. ETHAN Says her name's Wild Goose Flying in the Night Sky... but she'll answer to Look since it pleases ya... MARTIN (blankly) Look? She nods and smiles and quickly settles alongside him and spreads her blanket over them both. Martin recoils, plants his foot in the small of her back and sends her sprawling. Ethan busts a gut laughing. Martin jumps to his feet, angrily. MARTIN (hotly) I don't think it's so funny... If you want to do some good, whyn't you ask her where Scar is? Ethan stares at the girl. Her face is suddenly impassive as she looks from Martin to the ground. ETHAN (grimly) She heard ya-all right... An' she knows... He gets to his feet and he crosses to stand before her. So does Martin. ETHAN Unt osupanet cah-nay Scar? (meaning) (You know where Scar is?) She stares sullenly, not answering. ETHAN You ask her! MARTIN Look! (she faces him) Scar?... (sign talk) Do you know where he went? And if he has a girl with him... a white girl -- nai-bist pabo taibo... She stands... She indicates Martin. She indicates herself. LOOK Mah nee-koo-ur? (meaning) (Your woman?) MARTIN (shaking head) No... not my wife... My... (to Ethan) How do you say sister? ETHAN (in Comanche) Nami. She looks gravely from Ethan to Martin. Then, with impassive face, she bends swiftly, picks up her blanket and walks away from them to choose her own sleeping place. The two men don't know what to make of it. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. CAMP - OPEN COUNTRY - FULL SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - MORNING It is the same scene the following morning. The men are standing above where Look had bedded for the night, looking at the ground. Clearly marked on the hard ground is a crudely drawn arrow. MARTIN Beats me how she could get that pony out o' camp without neither of us hearin' a thing... ETHAN She ain't goin' back to her family, that's certain... not if she took off where the arrow points. MARTIN Think she means for us to follow? ETHAN How should I know... She's YOUR wife! He walks toward their horses, starts to saddle up. Martin follows. MARTIN I think maybe we oughta... ETHAN (hiding a grin) Yeah, I kinda figgered you'd say that... Bein' a new husband and all... And Ethan starts singing "Skip to My Lou" half under his breath. Martin gives him a sour side-glance and continues saddling. DISSOLVE TO: INT. JORGENSEN HOME - GROUP AS BEFORE - LAURIE READING - DAY Mrs. Jorgensen is bringing a lighted lamp over to the table where Laurie is reading against the fading light of day. Jorgensen's pipe has gone out and he lights it. LAURIE Maybe she left other signs for us to follow but we'll never know -- 'cause it snowed all day and all the next week... We were heading north, through the buffalo country when something happened that I ain't got straight in my own mind yet... (her voice fades) 137-A EXT. SNOW COUNTRY - WIDE ANGLE SHOT - TWO RIDERS (COLORADO FOOTAGE) The two men are picking their way through a snow-mantled grove. Martin's voice resumes the narration. MARTIN'S VOICE Ethan's always been throwing it up to me that I'm a quarter-breed... I never figgered it made much difference... 137-B EXT. BUFFALO HERD - WIDE ANGLE SHOT - DAY (COLO. FOOTAGE) MARTIN'S VOICE But this day we came on a small herd. We needed some meat so we circled 'round... 137-C EXT. THE HERD - ANOTHER ANGLE (COLO. FOOTAGE) MARTIN'S VOICE ...and came up on 'em afoot... They hadn't been hunted, so it was no trick workin' in close. 137-D EXT. THE HERD - MARTIN AND ETHAN - DAY (COLO. FOOTAGE) The two men walk from behind CAMERA. Ethan aims, fires and brings down a bull. MARTIN'S VOICE Ethan got a nice one on his first shot, but then he began killing one after another -- cows as well as bulls -- fast as he could fire and load... It was just a slaughter... no sense to it... 137-E EXT. THE HERD BEGINNING TO RUN (COLO. FOOTAGE) Shots cracking out -- the terrified bawling of the bulls -- the beginning of the stampede. 137-F EXT. MED. CLOSE SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN (PROCESS) Martin strides across to where Ethan is firing. MARTIN Ethan, quit it! ETHAN (firing again) Nine... (another shot) Ten! MARTIN What's the sense in it! Ethan turns and swings a backhand blow which catches Martin by surprise and fells him. ETHAN (in a fury) Hunger! -- Empty bellies! That's the sense in it, you Cherokee!... He swings up his gun and fires again -- and again... as Martin stares at him from the ground. 137-G EXT. THE HERD - LONG SHOT - THE STAMPEDE (COLO. FOOTAGE) Fear-maddened animals are swinging into full stampede fleeing the deadly marksman. Rifle shots keep cracking out. 137-H EXT. MED. CLOSE SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN AS BEFORE (PROCESS) The thunder of the hooves is receding and Ethan grimly lowers his rifle. Martin picks himself up -- still staring at Ethan as though at a madman. Ethan turns and looks at him. ETHAN Least, THEY won't feed any Comanches this winter... Killin' buffalo's as good as killin' Injuns in this country. MARTIN Peaceful tribes depend on the buffalo, too.... ETHAN Ain't that too bad... If you feel that sorry for your kinfolk, I'm surprised you didn't take up with that squaw wife of yours... He whips out his shinning knife and strides toward the dead buffalo o.s. Martin looks after him with troubled expression. Suddenly he hears something, borne faint by the wind. MARTIN ETHAN! Ethan turns. Now faintly, little more than a shred of sound, is the distant blowing of a bugle. MARTIN Listen!... Hear it?... There! Ain't that a bugle... and firing? Ethan stares -- and then the bugle sound repeats and the distant crack of shots, from long miles off. ETHAN (grimly) Just hope we ain't too late... And the two break and run for their horses. DISSOLVE TO: OMITTED EXT. A RIVER - WIDE ANGLE - CAVALRY CROSSING WITH PRISONERS - DAY MARTIN'S VOICE (as narrator) It was all over long before we got there and the soldiers was high- tailin' it back to the agency with their prisoners -- squaws mostly -- by the time Ethan and me reached the camp... EXT. SNOW SLOPE - WIDE ANGLE - ETHAN AND MARTIN Horses and riders plunge downslope through breast-high snow. MARTIN'S VOICE It was the Nawyecky Comanches all right -- the ones we'd been looking for all this time... EXT. BURNING INDIAN VILLAGE - WIDE ANGLE - ETHAN AND MARTIN - DAY as they ride in, passing dead horses, a few bodies of men. MARTIN'S VOICE Trouble of it was that the soldiers had hit when most of the fightin' men was away -- huntin' maybe... So most of the dead was old men and women an' kids... And it was in one of the tepees Ethan found her -- the little squaw who wanted me to call her Look... Ethan has dismounted in front of one of the tepees, heads inside. INT. TEPEE - FULL SHOT - DAY as Ethan enters. A body -- Look's -- is sprawled on the ground. He crosses, turns her over. Martin enters behind him. ETHAN Well, you're a widower now... MARTIN (angrily) What'd the soldiers have to kill her for!... He sees something clutched in her hand. He stoops quickly. MARTIN Ethan! Ethan, who has turned indifferently to leave, pauses. Martin shows him what Look had been clutching -- Debbie's rag doll. MARTIN Look! It's hers, Debbie's... Ethan snatches it, stares at it. Then he turns and runs from the tepee. Martin stares at Look's body, then covers it with a robe. MARTIN'S VOICE So we knew Debbie had been in the village... What Look was doing there -- whether she'd come to warn them, or maybe to find Debbie for me... there's no way of knowing... He turns and then slowly heads out. EXT. THE TEPEE - ETHAN AND MARTIN Ethan stands there, his expression bleak, looking at the scene. Martin joins him. MARTIN We gotta catch up with them yellow legs... Maybe they got her with them. Ethan isn't thinking of that at all. ETHAN (harshly) And maybe they got Scar! They start away -- fast. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. SNOW COUNTRY - WIDE ANGLE - THE CAVALRY AND PRISONERS - DAY A long line stretching across the landscape -- women falling and being prodded along by their captors. From behind CAMERA ride Ethan and Martin and move to intercept the column. EXT. THE COLUMN - FULL SHOT - DAY as Ethan and Martin come closer and look at the shawled prisoners stumbling along. EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - FULL SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - DAY as a young OFFICER spurs out of the column and rides toward them. OFFICER (inquiringly) Yes? ETHAN We're looking for a girl -- a white girl... MARTIN She'd be about thirteen now... OFFICER We got two around that age... MARTIN (eagerly) Where? OFFICER You'll have to wait until we reach the agency... Fall in behind the column... MARTIN (protestingly) But couldn't you...? OFFICER Sorry... (shouting it) Keep the column moving!... Close ranks there! The officer spurs out to rejoin the column. Martin looks at Ethan, his face alive with hope. But Ethan is just looking stonily along the line of passing prisoners. WIPE TO: EXT. THE NOKONI AGENCY - WIDE ANGLE - DAY The column of cavalry and prisoners enters the agency (COLORADO FOOTAGE). We see the dead and wounded on travois; the agency Indians watching stoically; the prisoners -- some of them -- being herded into a chapel. INT. OFFICE OF NOKONI AGENCY - FULL SHOT - DAY The office has been set up as a temporary army headquarters. The GENERAL is being interviewed by two Eastern newspaper CORRESPONDENTS. At a table beyond is a telegrapher, sending out a report of the victory. A pot-bellied stove supplies heat and the General is warming his hands at it, intermittently. An adjutant is rather wearily filling out a long official form. The General, for all his mudded boots remains a beau sabreur and is loosely modeled upon a certain other well-known glory hunter of the Indian wars. He wears a colonel's straps, but insists upon his brevet rank. GENERAL And it was clear to me the hostiles outnumbered us four to one... with all the advantage of terrain... CORRESPONDENT Four to one! What did you do, general? Ethan and Martin enter, stand in the doorway. GENERAL (impressively) Sir -- we charged!... Gentlemen -- and I hope you will quote me -- I cannot say too much for the courage of the men who followed me into that Cheyenne camp... ETHAN (blurting it) Cheyenne! What Cheyenne? GENERAL (turning and staring) I beg your pardon? ETHAN That camp you hit was Nawyecka Comanche... Chief Scar's bunch... CORRESPONDENT (fascinated) Scar? What a wonderful name!... GENERAL (to his aide) Are you getting this, Keefer? CORRESPONDENT (to Ethan) How do you spell that word -- Nawyecka? Ethan ignores him, still facing the General. ETHAN My name's Edwards... I'm looking for my niece... she was in that camp when you attacked... GENERAL (uncertain) Well... I know there were some captives recovered... MARTIN (bitterly) Four of 'em dead... so we were told... GENERAL (uncomfortably) Unfortunately, the hostiles murdered them as we developed the village... ETHAN Are you sure they didn't die of carbine shots fired by a bunch o' Yank bluebellies so scared they couldn't tell the difference between a Cheyenne and a Comanche? GENERAL Keefer!... Put this man under arrest! ETHAN That'll be the day... (scornfully) 'As we developed the village'... Next time you develop a village, hit it where the fightin' men are... You won't get any headlines for killin' squaws. Keefer coughs. KEEFER Shall I show him the captives, sir? GENERAL Just get him out of here! KEEFER Yes sir... (he crosses to Ethan) This way... INT. THE CHAPEL - MED. CLOSE SHOT - ANGLING TO DOOR - AFTERNOON The door is opened by a guard and Ethan takes a step into the room -- then stops in manifest shock. Martin is at his heels, eager and expectant. Beyond them stands Keefer, grave and compassionate. There is a keening sound in the room -- almost an animal sound. INT. THE CHAPEL - REVERSE SHOT - FULL It is a simple log-sided room with plank benches without backs. Up front is a small box-like pulpit, no altar. Across the front of the room, set up either on benches or on boards over saw-horses are four blanket-covered figures -- at least two being the bodies of children. Squatting on the floor near them is an elderly white woman with hair hanging loosely down her back and clad in Indian robes. Standing, facing the newcomers, is a woman who may be no more than in her mid-thirties. She is mad -- wild-eyed, frightened, with matted, unbrushed golden hair, torn garments. It is she who has been making the keening sound, the animal moans. Now she crouches at the sight of them and looks desperately for a means of escape. Two girls are asleep, heads together and backs to the door. One has light hair, like Debbie's; the other brown hair. The afternoon sun coming through a high window touches the light hair. MARTIN Debbie?... DEBBIE? He has seen the light hair and starts crossing the room. Now the madwoman begins her screaming, running from side to side like a trapped animal. Ethan follows Martin into the room, Keefer behind him. Martin comes to a stop, realizing the woman is afraid of him. The two sleeping girls stir, but do not turn. MARTIN Don't be scared, ma'am... The madwoman crouches behind one of the benches, looking at them with frightened eyes. KEEFER Just don't pay any attention to her... Martin swallows and nods and crosses to the light-haired girl. He reaches a hand gingerly to touch her shoulder. MARTIN (softly) Debbie? At the touch, the girl is on her feet, crouching -- one hand, like a claw, drawn back to rake his face. She is unmistakably a white girl, but she is painted like a Comanche woman --her ears red inside, streaks of paint accenting the savagery of her face. Her eyes are frightened, yet full of hate. GIRL Pabo-taibo! (White man!) The other girl has risen almost in the same instant -- but more out of fear. She is younger, but painted like the other. She moves to stand behind the savage one. MARTIN (slowly) No... She's not... ETHAN I ain't sure... Where's that doll? Martin stares at him, then realizes what he has in mind. He fishes the rag doll from under his coat and holds it out to the girl. She looks at it... and we may almost suspect it is rekindling a memory -- but then she spits at it. The other girl laughs. Martin turns away and he's sick. KEEFER Was your niece about their age? ETHAN Not far from it... KEEFER Hard to realize they're white, isn't it... ETHAN (grimly) They're not white any more -- they're Comanche!... Let's see the bodies... Martin nerves himself for the ordeal, turns to follow. ETHAN I don't need you... Ethan and Keefer move away. As they do, the madwoman -- eyes fixed on the rag doll in Martin's hand -- begins creeping up behind him. Martin is torturedly watching Ethan and Keefer as first one blanket then another is raised -- we will never see the dead. During this: KEEFER (the dispassionate pro) I'd like you to see them all... It might help us identify them... Shot in the head -- flash-burn range... The boy got his skull cracked... Here's the girl... Martin stiffens, waiting. ETHAN No... Martin relaxes... and in that instant the madwoman has the doll in her hands. She cradles it and she croons. Martin reaches to take it away. But she calmly sits, cradling the doll, and rocks to and fro, humming a lullaby. He can't take it. Ethan returns. ETHAN Well, we only got the one lead -- Scar... And where we begin to look, I don't know... KEEFER There's one thing. We recovered a bushel of trinkets in that camp... cheap stuff... trade goods... Couldn't help noticing that most of it was Mexican... Maybe if you could talk to some of those Mexican traders along the border... What do they call themselves? ETHAN Comancheros... KEEFER That's the breed... Course it might take time. ETHAN Time's running out... But I'm obliged to you. They leave. CUT TO: INT. JORGENSEN KEEPING ROOM - FULL SHOT - THE GROUP - EVENING Laurie has reached the last page of the letter, reading it by the lamp on the table. Jorgensen is knocking out the dead ashes of his pipe. Charlie is in the shadows, a guitar in his hands -- not playing it, but occasionally softly picking a note or chord. Mrs. Jorgensen is dabbing moist eyes with a corner of her apron. LAURIE ...so we're setting out for New Mexico Territory in the morning... I am sorry I won't be back for Christmas again this year... She swallows hard, pauses a moment in her reading. MRS. JORGENSEN (quick sympathy) And you knittin' that muffler... LAURIE (impatiently) What's the difference! MRS. JORGENSEN Well, I just thought it would be a sin and a shame not to let SOMEONE get some good of it... She looks almost too obviously at Charlie, which annoys Laurie. Laurie resumes her letter reading: LAURIE (peering closely) There's a word crossed out... It looks like 'I wish' or 'I will'... (she gives up) Anyway... 'I set pen aside in the hope you are enjoying good health and your folks the same... I remain, respectfully... (forlornly) yours truly, Martin Paulie.' That's all there is. Not a cross on it. Laurie just looks at it. Jorgensen stands, pocketing his pipe, easing the crick in his back. He ceremoniously removes the spectacles and replaces them on the mantel. JORGENSEN They never find that girl. LAURIE (half to herself) Yours truly... (hotly) And he even has to write his full name... Martin Pauley... not even just Martie!... (she stands) I don't care if he never comes back! She heads for the front door. MRS. JORGENSEN (rising -- saying it without conviction) Now, Laurie!... Charlie hits the guitar a little stronger. Mrs. Jorgensen looks at him -- and the matchmaker is at work. MRS. JORGENSEN Charlie, you'll stay for supper?... Now I won't take no for an answer. CHARLIE Thought of saying 'no' never crossed my mind, Miz Jorgensen... No place I'd rather be than right here, right now. Mrs. Jorgensen smiles and moves about her duties. Laurie has opened the door and is staring out wistfully... and Charlie begins playing and singing a verse from "Skip to My Lou." CHARLIE (singing) One old boot and a button shoe One old boot and a button shoe... FADE OUT FADE IN EXT. DESERT COUNTRY - WIDE ANGLE - ETHAN AND MARTIN RIDING - DAY The search theme is heard again as the two riders, with single pack horse, are heading south through New Mexico. It is hot country. EXT. DESERT COUNTRY - CLOSE MOVING SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - DAY Their faces are sun-tanned, burned dark and dry. Gone are the heavy coats and clothing of their northern days. They do not speak, just ride -- and there is the same bleak, fanatic, hard look about them both. The music theme segues into something livelier and Mexican as we - DISSOLVE TO: EXT. A MEXICAN VILLAGE - FULL SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - DAY It is a small place -- a single dirt street, a few adobe houses; a few racks of dried meat; a burro with a load of faggots on its back being driven along by a small boy; the music coming from a little cantina in the middle of the street. Before the cantina is a bone rack of a horse, without a saddle -- only a blanket pad. There is something familiar about the horse and Ethan is staring at it as they ride in. EXT. THE CANTINA - FULL SHOT - DAY The two men dismount, beating dust out of their clothes. Ethan takes another look at the sorry old nag tied outside. Martin pauses beside Ethan. ETHAN Recognize it? Martin shakes his head. They start toward the cantina. ETHAN There couldn't be two like that in all the world... INT. THE CANTINA - FULL SHOT - DAY as Ethan and Martin enter. It is a dirt-floored room with a small bar near the door, chairs and benches along the walls. A pair of guitar players are at the far end of the room. A couple of Mexicans are playing a noisy game of dominoes, slapping the dominoes down hard... EMILIO FIGUEROA, back to the door, spurred boots across one of the tables, is sipping a drink. Emilio is a cynical, middle-aged, aristocratic- looking man in modified charro costume. Watching the domino game is ESTRELLA, lithe, sensuous, smoking a brown-paper cigarette; she is barefoot. Behind the bar is the proprietor, dozing on his stool. Ethan takes a step into the room. ETHAN (loudly) MOSE!.... MOSE HARPER? The proprietor awakens. The domino game is suspended in mid- play. Estrella turns... and from beside Emilio, previously obscured by the man's back and the big charro hat, pokes the head of old Mose. Emilio turns then to look at the newcomers. MOSE Ay-eh...? He is on his feet and advancing to meet them. As he recognizes them a wide, foolish grin splits his face and his mouth opens and closes in words that won't come out. He grabs and shakes Ethan's arm, then Martin's. ETHAN Leggo my arm... You look mangier 'n ever. MOSE Ain't been too good... No sir, not too good... Gettin' old, Ethan... ETHAN You were born old... PROPRIETOR (all smiles - as they head for the bar) Bienvenidos, senores... Pulque?... tequila?... mescal?... huiskey? ETHAN Tequila... MARTIN Lo mismo. PROPRIETOR (beaming) Y' par' el Viejo -- el vino del pais... tequila tambien! Martin puts his back to the bar, leans elbows on it and looks around. 158A INT. THE CANTINA - ANGLING PAST MARTIN TOWARD ESTRELLA She is giving him an appraising once-over, then signals the musicians to play. She rests her buttocks against a table and waits, her eyes challenging Martin to make a move. Emilio is watching Estrella and Martin with something akin to bored amusement. 158B INT. THE CANTINA - ANGLE AT BAR Ethan has poured a drink for Mose, now one for himself -- leaving Martin's glass empty. MOSE I been helpin' ye, Ethan... I been lookin' all the time... Martin turns back to the bar to take his glass. He finds it empty. MARTIN (to Ethan's back) Thanks for nothin'... He angrily throws a coin on the counter, appropriates the bottle and his glass and heads for a table closer to Estrella. Neither Ethan nor Mose seems aware of his going. ETHAN Well, the reward still stands... MOSE Don't want no money, Ethan... jus' a place -- a roof over m' head... a little grub... a bunk to sleep in... an' a rockin' chair by the fire... my own rockin' chair by a fire... ETHAN You help me find her, you got your rockin' chair... MOSE Swear it, Ethan?... Given word? ETHAN (impatiently) Told ya, didn't I? MOSE (impressively) Ethan... I found a man's seen her... knows where little Debbie is! Ethan stares at him. Mose nods his reaffirmation of it. Then Ethan's hand locks on the old man's shoulder. ETHAN Who? Where is he... this man? Mose winces under the grip. He can't speak, but he looks past Ethan and he points. Ethan turns. Emilio swings his boots off the table and slowly crosses to them. He lets cigarette smoke curl out of his mouth. Then he smiles. EMILIO I am this man, senor... Emilio Gabriel Fernandez y Figueroa... at your service... (afterthought) ...for a price... (he smiles) ...Always for a price... As the men study each other, Estrella begins her dance -- and the rhythmic click of the castanets will beat like a metronome. Emilio looks at the bottle on the bar, disdainfully pushes it away and imperiously signals the proprietor to bring something better. EMILIO Un otra! INT. THE CANTINA - ANGLING PAST MARTIN TO ESTRELLA He is knocking off his tequila and looking at the girl hungrily. She is doing her swaying dance, playing up to him and with unmistakable effect. He sloshes another drink into his glass and, never taking his eyes off her, downs it. INT. THE CANTINA - FULL SHOT - ANOTHER ANGLE - THE DANCE Beyond Estrella we see Ethan, Emilio, and Mose at the bar -- gestures, headshakes, the entire pantomime of an inaudible conversation. Then Ethan takes out his pouch and begins dropping gold pieces into Emilio's hand. Meanwhile, dance and dancer are achieving their purpose with Martin. And the tequila is working. He gets to his feet, a little groggily. Estrella's smile deepens and there is a clear invitation in her eyes... Ethan turns then, his deal with Emilio concluded, and he sees what is going on. He starts for Martin's table just as Martin moves out to take the girl. ETHAN (tolerantly) Come on, Don Juan... We're on our way... Martin tries to push him away, his eyes still on the girl. MARTIN (thickly) Lemme alone... ETHAN (taking his arm) You breeds are all alike -- two drinks an'... Martin breaks free and squares off. MARTIN Take yer hands off'n me... This lady an' me got some things to talk over! Estrella ranges herself alongside of Martin and slips an arm possessively through his. ETHAN (a shrug) Suit yourself... While you're enjoyin' your little conversation, I'll be ridin' out with Senor Fernandez here... The Comanch' medicine country ain't far... there's one camp with a chief named Cicatriz. MARTIN Never heard of him... ETHAN Cicatriz is Mex for Scar... an' he has a white girl in his tepee... Be seein' you... He turns and heads out. Emilio, who has come up behind him, gives Estrella a slight smile and bow. EMILIO Buena suerte, Estrella... Hasta la vista. He follows Ethan. Estrella swings her body close to Martin and lets her arms slide around his neck. ESTRELLA (softly) Tu quieres...? Martin blinks to clear away the fog of tequila and desire. MARTIN (a bitter laugh) Sure... sure... Only not this year... He pulls her arms away and goes lurching after the others. Mose catches his arm. MOSE 'Mind Ethan 'bout my rockin' chair! Martin continues out and Mose stands there -- his head rockin' as though he already were in his chair. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. (APPROACH TO THE NEEDLES MONUMENT) - A BROAD CANYON - FULL SHOT - DAY A small pack train (nine or ten horses, six or seven men) winds through a canyon behind which we can see huge needles of rock: majestic, savage country. At the head of the column ride Ethan, Emilio, and Martin. Behind them come Emilio's cargadores -- lean, hard-bitten wiry little Mexicans. One leads a handsome palomino. The SOUND of the CASTANETS ECHOES in the musical theme. EXT. CANYON - MED. SHOT - HEAD OF COLUMN - MOVING - DAY Ethan is looking around with grim interest. ETHAN Medicine country, huh? EMILIO (slight smile) Medicine so strong they believe the feather of an eagle found here can guard a man against bullets... MARTIN (looking ahead) If you got one handy, now's the time... Ethan and Emilio both look in the direction of his glance. EXT. CANYON - FULL SHOT - REVERSE ANGLE - FROM BEHIND RIDERS - DAY They are turning a bend and now, ahead, we see a cordon of Comanches -- all armed, all quiet, all very menacing as they watch the approaching column. Emilio calls a greeting in Comanche. It gets no answer. EXT. CANYON - MOVING SHOT - THE COMANCHE FACES - DAY The CAMERA PICKS UP the faces in turn, as from the white men's viewpoint, as they ride slowly by. EXT. COMANCHE ENCAMPMENT - FULL SHOT - DAY One tepee stands apart from the other's -- Scar's. Beyond it are other tepees, the gathering of braves and some squaws, the drying racks for meat, etc. Emilio leads the way toward the central tepee. They dismount nearby and Emilio inclines his head toward the one tepee. Ethan and Martin brace themselves and wait. The flap of the tepee is closed. MARTIN (gruffly) What are we waiting for? Emilio cautions him with a hand gesture. EXT. THE TEPEE - MED. CLOSE SHOT - DAY The flap is thrust aside and SCAR steps out -- the same Comanche we had seen at the grave when Debbie was captured. He stands tall, arrogant, eyeing the white men with hard, implacable eyes. He has a robe gathered about him. Across his face is a scar. EMILIO'S VOICE Senores! This is Cicatriz! EXT. INDIAN ENCAMPMENT - CLOSE SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - DAY The white men's eyes are as hard as the Comanche's: this is the man they have long sought, the killer, the raper. They cannot mask the hatred they feel. ETHAN (slowly... at last) Scar... It's plain to see where you got your name. Scar's hand moves to the scar on his face, and a finger runs along it. SCAR Your name - Big Shoulders... His name - He Who Follows. ETHAN You speak pretty good American for a Comanche... Someone teach you? It is a leading question and Scar knows it. He looks long at Ethan and the suggestion of a smile touches his lips. But he makes no direct answer. He looks instead to Emilio. SCAR (in Comanche) Ah-we pabbo-tie-bo ee-kee-tay? (Why did you bring the gringos here?) EMILIO (a shrug -- in Comanche) Pabbo-tie-bo kim te-moo-er. (The gringos want to trade.) ETHAN That's right... We come to trade... Only not out here... (with sign language accompaniment) I don't stand talkin' in the wind. Emilio quickly turns and calls to one of his men. Emilio is worried. EMILIO (sharply) Miguel... caballo -- aca! One of the Mexicans comes on the trot, leading in the palomino. Emilio makes a gesture -- giving it to Scar. EMILIO Co-bay tabitz-chat. (meaning) (Very fine horse.) Scar looks at it greedily, then nods. He'll accept it. He looks at Ethan. Again that faintly contemptuous smile. He signals them to enter his tepee. ETHAN (to Martin) Stay out here. MARTIN Not likely. He follows Ethan into the tepee... and a worried Emilio goes along. INT. THE TEPEE - FULL SHOT A small fire burns in the center of the lodge and a shaft of sunlight strikes in from the smoke flap at the peak. Two chunky squaws, who have been tending the fire or grinding corn in a rock pestle, scuttle to a side of the tepee. Two others, one half-grown and the other slightly taller, sit with their backs to the fire, huddled over some leather work or stitching. Both are shawled. As Scar enters, he barks a word to the squaws near the fire. SCAR Pie-kay! (Clear out!) (then he turns to the white men) IH-CARD! (Sit!) He sits on some robes, signs for them to sit opposite. Slowly they look around them. INT. THE TEPEE - REVERSE ANGLE - AS FROM THEIR VIEWPOINT - TTE TWO OLDER SQUAWS They are sitting with heads averted, slightly profiled -- but clearly Indian women, broad-faced, dark of hair and skin. EMILIO'S VOICE His sons are dead... So his wives sit on the honor side of his lodge. INT. THE TEPEE - ANGLING PAST ETHAN TOWARD THE TWO YOUNG ONES ETHAN (glancing at them) Are those his wives too? One of the squaws turns -- and even in the shadows we see it is another Indian face. The other does not turn. Scar leans in, blocking the view. SCAR Two sons -- killed by white men... For each son, I take many scalps... (in Comanche) Mayah-kay zee-eh!... (Bring the lance!) The slightly smaller of the young squaws stiffens but doesn't move. Scar glares. SCAR (louder) MAYAH-KAY ZEE-EH! The girl gets to her feet. Ethan and Martin watch as, still with averted face, she crosses to where a lance hangs from the tepee wall. It has several scalps on it, including one with light red hair. Slowly she carries it back. Scar never takes his eyes from the faces of the white men, savoring every moment of it. The girl extends the lance between them, so that it is like a bare blade separating two duelists. Neither Ethan nor Martin dares at first look at more than the scalp pole... Then slowly their eyes lift... and the CAMERA MOVES IN and RAISES TO: INT. THE TEPEE - EXTREME CLOSE SHOT - DEBBIE As the shawl slips back to reveal her light hair, the slant green eyes looking at them from a tanned, but still white and very beautiful face. (NOTE TO MUSIC: The SEARCH THEME should cover all the foregoing action -- but at the first clear view of DEBBIE, it ends dramatically.) Debbie's eyes hold theirs -- and then Scar's voice is heard: SCAR (in Comanche) Pie-kay! (Go!) Swiftly she straightens, takes away the scalp pole and goes back to her former place. INT. THE TEPEE - MED. CLOSE SHOT - THE GROUP AS BEFORE Scar is watching the white men like a hawk. Martin's eyes are wide and his breathing seems suspended. But Ethan is playing it like a poker player. ETHAN (his voice controlled) I've seen scalps before... Scar's eyes are mocking. He lets his robe slip back from his shoulders, revealing a bare bronzed chest on which -- glinting in the reflected firelight -- is the medallion that Ethan had given Debbie. It is suspended by a chain or rawhide string. Scar touches it. SCAR This before? Ethan smiles -- and he's still playing poker. He stands... and the others follow. Scar is puzzled. ETHAN (to Emilio) I came to trade, not to admire his collection... Tell him we're going to pitch camp across the crick... Maybe we can talk trade tomorrow. Scar hasn't understood all of it. He scowls and looks at Emilio. SCAR (in Comanche) Ee-sap! Pabbo-tie-bo ee-sap! (He lies! The gringo lies!) EMILIO (placatingly) Tomorrow -- manana -- 'puetze.' Scar looks at Ethan and at Martin. He smiles slightly, and he nods his agreement. SCAR Puetze! Martin and Ethan turn to go. Only then does Debbie look swiftly at them and as swiftly away. Martin can't help but pause, but Ethan prods him toward the tepee flap. EXT. THE TEPEE - MED. CLOSE SHOT - MOVING - THE THREE MEN They emerge from the tepee and begin to walk away -- not fast, not slow, and without a side glance. Scar emerges and looks after them -- glowering. A few other Comanches begin to gather near his tepee. EMILIO (urgently) Walk with dignity! (after a moment; lips hardly moving) If you gringo heretics have any prayers, say them... MARTIN (transfigured) She's alive... Can you believe it, she's alive... alive... An' we found her... EMILIO (fervently) Please!... I, too, am alive... I wish to stay that way. They reach the waiting cargadores and the pack train, surrounded by suspicious Comanches. EMILIO (to his men) Vamanos! They mount and ride out. WIPE TO: EXT. SAND DUNES NEAR NEEDLES (MONUMENT) - FULL SHOT - LATE AFTERNOON Emilio is standing near his horse, talking to Ethan and Martin. EMILIO You understand, senores... It is not that I am cobarde... cowardly... ETHAN Don't apologize... You did your job... Emilio nods and mounts. EMILIO He knows you -- who you are -- and why you are here... This I did not understand... or I would not... even for gold, senores... have led you here. He fumbles for a pouch, holds it out to Ethan. EMILIO Take it. I do not want blood money. Vaya con Dios! He digs spurs and rides out. Ethan turns and looks soberly at Martin. We hear the rest of the riders moving away. Ethan and Martin cross the sand and go down slope toward the creek where their horses are waiting. 174-A EXT. SAND CREEK (MONUMENT) - FULL SHOT - THE TWO - DAY MARTIN You figger Scar means to kill us? ETHAN He's got to... All these years, runnin', dodgin', knowin' we were after him... Now we caught up... It's him or us. MARTIN Why didn't he make his move back there? ETHAN I don't know... Somethin' tied his hands... maybe hospitality... He breaks and both wheel as sand slides from the top of the dunes. They look up. 174-B EXT. SAND DUNE - DAY Debbie is silhouetted atop the dune, looking down at them. MARTIN (barely breathing the name) Debbie...? She slides down the dune to stand across the creek from them. 174-C EXT. SAND CREEK - FULL SHOT - THE THREE - DAY Her hand cautions them to silence and against coming any closer. DEBBIE (in Comanche) Unnt-meah! (Go away!) Both men move closer. She takes a frightened step back, as if to run. MARTIN Debbie... Don't you remember me? I'm Martin. She hesitates. She looks long at him. DEBBIE (in Comanche) Unnt-meah! MARTIN (softly) We ain't goin'! We ain't goin' without you, Debbie... Ethan, get the horses... I'll try to keep her talkin'... ETHAN (harshly) How? She's even forgot her own language! MARTIN Debbie, you're comin' with us! Hear me? DEBBIE No... not now... not ever. These have been her first words in English... and they bring new hope to Martin. MARTIN I don't care what they've done to you... what happened... DEBBIE (angrily) They have done... nothing... They are my people... ETHAN Your people? They murdered your family! DEBBIE (reverting to Comanche) Ee-sap! (furiously) White men killed them - to steal cows! I was... little... I ran away... They find me... take care of me. MARTIN No Debbie! That ain't what happened! They been lyin' to you... DEBBIE You lie! All white men lie... and kill... MARTIN Debbie, think back! I'm Martin... remember? Remember how I used to let you ride my horse? Tell you stories? Don't you remember me, Debbie? DEBBIE I remember... from always... At first I prayed to you... come and get me... take me home... You didn't come... MARTIN I've come now... DEBBIE These are my people... (in Comanche) Unnt-meah! Go! Go! Please! ETHAN (grimly) Stand aside, boy... Martin turns as Ethan slowly reaches for his gun. It takes Martin a moment to realize what he is about to do. MARTIN Ethan -- NO! He moves quickly then to put himself between Ethan and the girl and in that instant there is the crack of a rifle. Ethan is hit in the leg. It goes out from under him. Martin swings and his gun is out and firing. 174-D EXT. SAND CREEK - FULL SHOT - INCLUDING THE DUNES - DAY A mounted Comanche is on the crest of the dune above them -- rifle raised. Martin's first shot brings him down the dune in a spectacular horse-and-man fall. Debbie goes running like a deer up the creek, away from Martin; in the same instant we hear the angry yells of distant Comanches charging from the far left. Martin turns to see Debbie running away. MARTIN Debbie! WAIT! Ethan is on his feet now and limping frantically toward their horses. He shoves Martin ahead of him. ETHAN (angrily) Never mind her! MOVE! They mount and take off, just as the vanguard of the attacking Comanches swings around a point of rock and comes charging toward the creek. EXT. DESERT COUNTRY - WIDE ANGLE - LATE AFTERNOON as Ethan and Martin race their horses from the creek area and down a long incline, as -- from the heights above -- a dozen or more Comanches, led by Scar, come tearing after them. 175-A EXT. DESERT COUNTRY - MED. CLOSE SHOT - ETHAN - MOVING - DAY Ethan is swaying in his saddle, just barely hanging on, as Martin races up behind him -- driving Ethan's horse along. They swing past a huge outcrop of rock and go tearing along a vaulting wall of stone. Their hoofbeats and those of the pursuers bounce and echo off the canyon walls, and bullets whine and ricochet. 175-B EXT. CANYON COUNTRY - FULL MOVING SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - DAY They swing around giant boulders, up-ended like pancakes. Ethan is lurching almost out of the saddle, barely conscious. Martin spots the cave -- ahead -- and drives his mount and Ethan's toward it. 175-C EXT. THE CAVE (MONUMENT) - FULL SHOT - THE TWO - DAY Martin pulls his horse in and swings off just as Ethan slides from his saddle. He runs toward one of the huge boulders, crouches and starts firing. 175-D EXT. CANYON COUNTRY - WIDE ANGLE ON THE COMANCHES - DAY The Comanches are spread out but coming on fast. One goes down under Martin's fire.... another is hit in the arm. He pulls up and the other Comanches wheel away from the hidden marksman. 175-E EXT. THE CAVE - FULL SHOT - MARTIN AND ETHAN Martin runs back from his firing post toward where Ethan has fallen. ETHAN (angrily) Go on! Get out of here while you can... MARTIN (pointing to the cave) Over there! Ethan turns and sees what he means. He starts dragging himself to the cave as Martin grabs the rifles from their saddle scabbards, yanks off the water canteens and then drives their horses away. Then he too runs for the shelter of the cave. 175-F EXT. THE CANYON - ANGLING FROM BEHIND MARTIN AND ETHAN Both men are crouching, rifles ready. In the distance we see their horses running off -- pursued by some yelling Comanches. Four or six others come into sight, heading for the cave -- moving cautiously, uncertainly -- not seeing their quarry. Then the white men open fire and the Comanches bend low over their horses' necks and clear out of there. Ethan looks grimly at Martin. ETHAN They'll be back... MARTIN We won't be here... Come on! He gets an arm under Ethan and hauls him to his feet. DISSOLVE TO: 175-G EXT. THE GAP IN THE CLIFF - PANNING SHOT - SUNSET CAMERA PANS from the top of the rock chimney to where Martin is snaking his way through, carrying newly-filled water canteens. He stands there, listening and looking back the way he has come; and then, satisfied there has been no pursuit, he continues away. OMITTED INT. THE CAVE - MED. SHOT - ETHAN - HALF-LIGHT Ethan is lying on the hard earth, perhaps cushioned with some boughs. He is half delirious. A small fire is burning. Martin enters carrying the canteens. He looks unsympathetically toward Ethan, then continues to the fire, takes a knife and starts to sterilize it. Ethan gasps, mumbles and then a word comes clear. ETHAN Martha... Martha! Martin stares at him -- and now, perhaps for the first time, he is fitting pieces into the jig-saw puzzle. He shifts closer to Ethan and we see he is preparing to dig out the bullet. Ethan opens his eyes and looks at him. MARTIN I gotta open that leg and let the poison out... He poises the knife. ETHAN Wait... He fumbles in his shirt pocket, brings out a greasy folded piece of paper. ETHAN Just in case... Read it. Martin sets the knife down, takes the paper, opens it and slowly reads: MARTIN 'I, Ethan Edwards, being of sound mind and without any blood kin, do hereby bequeath all my property of any kind to Martin Pauley...' (he stares, then) I don't want your property.... 'Sides, what do you mean no 'blood kin?' Debbie's your blood kin... ETHAN Not no more. MARTIN (angrily) You can keep your will! (he thrusts it back into Ethan's shirt) I ain't forgettin' you was all set to shoot her yourself... What kind o' man are you, anyway. ETHAN (sitting up -- eyes blazing) She's been with the bucks! She's nothin' now but a... Martin shoves him back onto the ground. MARTIN (a shout) Shut your dirty mouth! He gets to his feet, trembling, and stands looking down at Ethan, his fists clenched at his sides and murder in his eyes. Then his eyes rove to the knife lying on the blanket. He picks it up and he looks again at the wounded man. MARTIN (slowly) I hope you die! And he kneels again to open the wound. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. DESERT COUNTRY - FULL SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - DAY Martin is hauling an improvised travois over the ground in which, lashed by vines and some clothing, is the unconscious figure of Ethan. CLOSE SHOT - MOVING - MARTIN - DAY Eyes shadowed, whiskered, drawn -- he is an implacable figure as he drags the weary miles home. He hears a groan from Ethan o.s. He barely lets his eyes drift to the sound. He doesn't stop. CLOSE SHOT - MOVING - ETHAN IN THE TRAVOIS - DAY We see he is delirious, lips parched, strapped to the poles. The travois jolts over the ground. As he passes out of frame, the CAMERA HOLDS on the marks of the travois poles scraping across the desert. FADE OUT OMITTED FADE IN INT. JORGENSEN KEEPING ROOM - FULL SHOT - NIGHT A party is in progress. Fiddler and banjo-player are playing a lively square dance for one or two sets of dancers -- ranchers, their wives and daughters. Laurie is not in evidence. At the far end of the room is a table with a punch bowl set up and a cluster of men and women about. Jorgensen is at the door boisterously welcoming some new arrivals. Leading them into the room is Captain the Reverend Sam Clayton, with a bulky oil-skin package under his arm. With him is Charlie MacCorry, dressed in his best black suit and scrubbed until he looks raw. Behind them come three or four other competent-looking men -- Rangers all of them. JORGENSEN (shouting) They're here, mama... Come in, come in... INT. JORGENSEN HOME - FULL SHOT - FAVORING GROUP AT DOOR Clayton waits for Charlie to come abreast, then hits him on the back and drives him inside. CLAYTON Here he is, Lars... Combed, curried 'n washed behind the ears! Mrs. Jorgensen hurries over, beaming, to admire Charlie. MRS. JORGENSEN Why, Charlie, you look real handsome! CHARLIE (grinning) Yes'm... scarcely reck'nize myself... Where's Laurie? Mrs. Jorgensen smiles and playfully pushes him toward the guests. MRS. JORGENSEN You'll see her soon enough... Clayton -- and the other Rangers -- have been hanging gunbelts on pegs along the wall. Now he shakes out his parcel -- disclosing a green-black frock coat. CLAYTON (nodding to the music) Say, that music sounds so good it must be sinful... MRS. JORGENSEN Grab a partner, reverend! CLAYTON Well, now, a man of my age just can't haul off and dance in cold blood... but if there's any of that wild cherry brandy of yours, Lars... JORGENSEN (suddenly sober) Nooo... (change of heart) Yah, by golly... One jug left... I get it! Mrs. Jorgensen glares as he heads out. MRS. JORGENSEN Last winter that man swore up and down there wasn't a drop left -- and me with pneumoney!... Reverend, you'd better start clergyin' again! EXT. JORGENSEN HOME - FULL SHOT - NIGHT Horses, wagons fill the yard. We can hear the lively music of the square dance. As Jorgensen opens the door and sets out toward the barn, a battered dusty trap drives in -- and on it are Martin and Ethan. Jorgensen at first doesn't recognize them. JORGENSEN (hailing them) Hi!... You're late... hurry... And then he sees who they are, and his jaw drops. JORGENSEN (staring) Ethan... Martie... No, don't get down! ...You can't come in! They stare at him. JORGENSEN The Rangers are here! He says it as though that explains everything. ETHAN What's that got to do with us? MARTIN (eyeing the house) What's goin' on? JORGENSEN (who's forgotten they wouldn't know) Why, my Laurie's getting married... Martin throws the reins aside and jumps out. Jorgensen grabs his arm. JORGENSEN Wait! Don't you hear me! The Rangers... MARTIN So what? JORGENSEN You been posted for murder... both of you... That trader fella, the late Mister Futterman... Martin tries to break free. MARTIN I gotta see Laurie! JORGENSEN (desperately) Go around the side... the grandmother's room... I'll tell her... PLEASE! MARTIN You better! He heads around the side. Ethan meanwhile has climbed stiffly down, slightly favoring his leg. JORGENSEN Quick... hide in the barn, Ethan... ETHAN Hide? Why would I? He brushes past the little man and heads for the door. INT. THE JORGENSEN HOUSE - ANGLING FROM BEHIND ETHAN as he enters, with Jorgensen at his heels. For a moment, as he stands there, the party breezes on. Then first one, then another sees him. They gape, and the music falters and stops. Sam Clayton crosses to confront him across the width of the room. Jorgensen tries to be the easy, smiling host--and makes a very bad job of it. JORGENSEN Look everybody... Look who's... He can't even finish it but stands there making flapping gestures. INT. JORGENSEN ROOM - FULL SHOT - ETHAN AND SAM -- others gaping. During the opening lines, Jorgensen will covertly back toward the door to the inner room -- Laurie's room. ETHAN (to all) Evenin'... evenin' Reverend... or do I call you 'Captain'...? CLAYTON Came here for a wedding, Ethan... Until that's over, I reckon 'reverend' will do... MRS. JORGENSEN (coming forward) And news of our little girl, Ethan? His face contorts and his smile is twisted. ETHAN She's not a little girl any more. MRS. JORGENSEN (eyes wide) You've seen her!... She's alive? ETHAN I've seen her... and she's alive. Mrs. Jorgensen throws herself against his chest, sobbing. Ethan looks past her at Clayton. And the faces of both men are grim. CUT TO: INT. THE GRANDMOTHER ROOM - FULL SHOT The room is dark. Martin is pacing, eyes constantly turning to the inside door. And then it opens and Laurie is inside, holding a lamp. She is in her bridal gown and very obviously trying to keep from betraying the stress she is under. LAURIE (quietly) Hello, Martie.... He just stares at her -- very lovely, strangely remote. He suddenly is conscious of his dirty hands, his dusty, worn clothing. MARTIN I... I wrote you a letter... Reckon you didn't get it... LAURIE (setting the lamp down) One letter in five years... I read it till the paper dried up and the writing faded out... MARTIN It wasn't much of a letter... LAURIE No, it wasn't... You mighta said you loved me... You mighta asked me to wait... At least that'd have been something... MARTIN But I allus loved you... You know that, without my sayin' it... I couldn't bring myself to ask you to wait... the little I had... not knowin' how much longer until we found Debbie... LAURIE (breaking) It isn't fair... She sinks onto the bench. LAURIE (sobbing) It isn't fair, Martin Pauley, and you know it! She begins to cry, very softly. He is beside her and his arm goes around her shoulder comfortingly. MARTIN Don't cry, Laurie... I understand how it is... I'll just go 'way... LAURIE (spinning on him) You do and I'll die, Martie... I will! I'll just die! And they are kissing through her tears when the outer door is flung open by Charlie MacCorry. They part as he glares. CHARLIE I'll thank you to leave the room, Laurie. Martin stares at him, then at her. MARTIN (incredulous) Charlie MacCorry!... You weren't fixin' to marry HIM?? CHARLIE She sure is!... An' don't think your comin' back is goin' to change it! MARTIN As to that, I don't know, Charlie... We hadn't got around to talkin' marriage... CHARLIE What right you got to be talkin' marriage to any decent woman... MARTIN (angrily) If you're talkin' about that crazy murder charge... CHARLIE AND other things... Mebbe you thought you was gettin' away with being comical about that Indian wife you took... I bet she wasn't the first squaw you... Martin swings wildly but Charlie is a wily fighter. He side- steps and chops Martin in the jaw and drives him against the wall. Laurie runs between them. LAURIE Stop it! Both of you... I won't have any fighting in this house. Martin gently brushes her aside. MARTIN It's all right... Charlie, let's move outside. CHARLIE I ain't wearing no gun. Martin nods and unbuckles his gunbelt. The men head outside as Laurie runs to get help. EXT. THE JORGENSEN HOME - BREEZEWAY Charlie waits assuredly as Martin follows him outside. Martin makes a wild run, swings. The blow is neatly guarded by Charlie's left and countered with a crisp right that puts Martin down. Martin gets to his feet, more cautiously this time, and comes in at a crouch; he's fighting like an Indian, not a white man. The men from the wedding party come out now at a run. CLAYTON (yelling) Sergeant MacCorry! Charlie turns slightly and in that instant Martin springs and drives a straight right at his face -- almost as though there were a knife in the hand. MacCorry stumbles back into Clayton's arms. CLAYTON Is this in the line of duty, sergeant? CHARLIE (regaining his balance) No sir... pleasure. CLAYTON In that case, give the boys room... Martin waits at a crouch as Charlie comes in, feints his right and crosses his left. It is a hard blow but Martin recovers and waits... Charlie circles and starts to repeat. He feints his right but this time Martin springs in, ducks and -- as the left shoots out -- he grabs the wrist and throws Charlie over his head. What we are looking at, in effect, is a wrestler against a boxer. CLAYTON Fight fair, son... Use your fists! ETHAN (drily) Comanches don't use their fists, reverend... Let 'em alone... Charlie is on his feet and warily starts circling -- now trying to imitate Martin's crouch. Suddenly Martin feints a right swing and connects with a solid left -- reversing the order of business. Charlie staggers and Martin follows up with a wrestling hold, leaping behind Charlie, locking both legs around him and driving his arms upward behind his back so that his face is in the dirt and so he could -- under other circumstances -- be neatly and expeditiously scalped. With the hands locked, Martin then calmly draws a knife. He looks innocently into the aghast faces of the crowd. MARTIN Could scalp him... but I'll just count coup! With that he releases the paralyzed arms just long enough to grab a lock of Charlie's hair and neatly snip it off. He stands then and laughs as Charlie lamely gets to his feet -- easing the tortured arms. Clayton goes to Charlie's side. Laurie moves to Martin's side. CLAYTON You all right, sergeant? CHARLIE Dunno... Seems so. CLAYTON Well, go get cleaned up and we'll proceed with the weddin'... Charlie frowns and looks off at where Laurie and Martin are standing. CHARLIE Ain't goin' to be any weddin' -- not till we get a few things cleared up 'round here... He walks rather unsteadily away leaving a thunderstruck assembly, murmurous with surprise. WIPE TO: INT. JORGENSEN KEEPING ROOM - LATER THAT NIGHT The last of the wedding guests is leaving: Ed Nesby carrying his bull fiddle and with his wife and daughter and two smaller children preceding him out the door. The Jorgensens stand by -- trying to put a good face on the wedding debacle. Charlie MacCorry is sitting dejectedly, studying a spot on the floor. Ethan is at the mantel. Laurie is in her room -- presumably changing out of her wedding gown. Martin is at a sink, bathing a cut on his lip. Clayton, still in his clerical coat, is near the door. NESBY (a grin) Well... it was a nice weddin' party... considerin' no one got married... 'Night. JORGENSEN Good night, Ed... Mrs. Jorgensen puts her handkerchief to her eyes -- letting down now that the guests have gone. Jorgensen crosses to her, pats her sympathetically. JORGENSEN Now, mamma!... He leads her away. Clayton faces Ethan. CLAYTON I got to ask you and Martin to ride to the State Capitol with me, Ethan. ETHAN This an invite to a necktie party, Reverend? CLAYTON Captain... Nope, wouldn't say that... Likely you had your reasons for killin' Futterman... Probably needed killin'... I'm speaking as a ranger now, not as a reverend... Fact that all three was shot in the back is the only thing that's raised some question -- that and a missin' gold piece known to have been on him just prior to his demise. Ethan casually reaches into his pocket, takes out a gold coin and spins it. ETHAN (casually) That so? Martin crosses to confront Clayton. MARTIN I ain't goin' to Austin, Reverend. Charlie gets to his feet and he has his gun in his hand. CHARLIE You're goin' if the captain says you're goin'... CLAYTON Now, now... let's not grow disputatious... Fast hoofbeats sound o.s. -- signalling the approach of a four-man cavalry detail. CLAYTON (turning) What's that? More company? He and Jorgensen head for the door. CLAYTON Kinda late getting here, aren't they? A voice hails from outside. LIEUTENANT'S VOICE Hello there! Captain Clayton? INT. - EXT. JORGENSEN HOUSE - ANGLE AT DOOR - NIGHT Clayton stands in the opened doorway, Jorgensen behind him, looking out. Drawn up outside is the four-man cavalry detail, led by a young and very crisp LIEUTENANT. We may or may not see the sixth man, slouched over his horse. The Lieutenant swings off and crosses. LIEUTENANT Is Captain Clayton here, Reverend? CLAYTON I'm Clayton. The Lieutenant gapes at Clayton's ministerial coat. LIEUTENANT (doubtfully) You're Captain Clayton?... Ethan chuckles, to Clayton's very obvious annoyance. LIEUTENANT (recovering, he salutes) Colonel Greenhill's compliments, sir. The Colonel wishes to know how soon you could put a company of Rangers in the field, fully armed and... CLAYTON Hold on, son... Who's this Colonel Greenhill you're talking about? LIEUTENANT Why Colonel Greenhill is Colonel Greenhill, sir... Commanding Officer, Fifth U.S. Cavalry... I'm Lieutenant Greenhill, sir. CLAYTON Oh... Now what's this your pa wants to know? LIEUTENANT My pa wants to know... Colonel Greenhill wants to know how soon you could put a company of your Rangers in the field, fully armed and equipped, for joint punitive action against the Comanches. CLAYTON JOINT action? LIEUTENANT Yes sir... We've received information about a band of Comanches under a chief named Scar... ETHAN What information? LIEUTENANT That maybe he's not far from here -- holed up somewhere, waiting his chance to get back over the border... He raided north about a month ago... ran into more army than he bargained for... Now he's running for cover, for keeps this time... CLAYTON And what makes you think he's in this territory? LIEUTENANT Yesterday, one of our patrols picked up a man claims he was a prisoner with Scar till only two days ago... He talks crazy but I brought him along... Says he lives here... keeps mentioning a rocking chair. ETHAN (half to himself) Mose... And then he is striding to the door, calling it: ETHAN MOSE! MOSE'S VOICE Ay-he?... Ay-eh?... And the old man totters in, half-supported by a trooper -- hollow-eyed, weak, almost delirious. MOSE Come f'r my rockin' chai'... ole Mose. ETHAN (shouting it) Where's Scar, Mose... SCAR? MARTIN Ask him about Debbie!... Is she all right, Mose? MOSE My rockin' chai'... MRS. JORGENSEN (bustling over) Leave the poor man be! Can't you see he's out of his mind... She tries to lead him away, but Ethan shoves her aside and grips the old man by his arms. ETHAN Mose... try to remember!... You were in Scar's camp... MOSE Ay-he... Made out I was crazy... (he giggles foolishly) Ate dirt... chewed grass... I fooled 'em, Ethan!... an' I got away... ETHAN Scar! Where's he holed in? MOSE Seven Fingers... ay-he... Seven... He staggers and this time Mrs. Jorgensen won't be denied. MRS. JORGENSEN Now that's enough! Here... by the fire... What you need's a good bowl of soup... She leads him away, at last to his rocker by the fire. During this, Ethan and Clayton have been mulling Mose's answer. ETHAN (blankly) Seven Fingers? LIEUTENANT That's what he told us... but there's no such place on the maps. MARTIN Wait a minute! Isn't that the Caddo name for where all those canyons branch on the Malapai? MOSE (from his rocker) Caddo or Kiowa... ay-he... ay-eh... Sam Clayton wheels on the Lieutenant. CLAYTON You tell your pa a company of Rangers -- all fourteen of 'em -- fully armed an' equipped will be in the field by daylight... headin' for the south end of the Malapai. If he can catch up with us, well an' good... LIEUTENANT But... but captain, we can't possibly take the field tomorrow... for your own protection... CLAYTON Sonny, yonder's a passel of murderers, complete with Texican scalps an' white girl captive... You want to protect us, you just get out of our way... Now skedaddle! The lieutenant skedaddles. Sam whirls on Martin and Ethan. CLAYTON Ethan, you an' Martin are hereby appointed civilian scouts -- without pay... Charlie, hightail it to headquarters an' spread the word... CHARLIE Yes sir... He leaves. Martin's hands go to his side -- recalling where he left his guns. MARTIN My guns... He heads for the inner door to the grandmother room. INT. THE GRANDMOTHER ROOM - FULL SHOT as Martin enters and crosses to where he had dropped his gunbelt. Even before he reaches it, Laurie is in the room -- closing the door after her. LAURIE Martie... don't go! Not this time. MARTIN (staring) You crazy? LAURIE It's too late... She's a woman grown now... MARTIN I got to fetch her home... LAURIE Fetch what home?... The leavin's of Comanche bucks -- sold time an' again to the highest bidder?... With savage brats of her own, most like?... MARTIN (shouting it) Laurie! Shut your mouth! LAURIE Do you know what Ethan will do if he has a chance?... He'll put a bullet in her brain! And I tell you Martha would want him to! MARTIN Only if I'm dead! He strides out past her. INT. THE KEEPING ROOM - FULL SHOT as Martin re-enters. Ethan and Sam are waiting. Martin looks hard at Ethan. CLAYTON You ready? MARTIN (eyes never leaving Ethan's face) I'm ready. As they stride out, CUT TO: 204-A INT. JORGENSEN HOUSE - GRANDMOTHER ROOM - CLOSE SHOT - LAURIE - NIGHT as she stands at the window, in her bridal gown, and sadly watches Martin again going away. Softly the score reprises -- sadly now -- "Skip to My Lou." DISSOLVE TO: EXT. MESA COUNTRY - LONG SHOT - THE RANGERS - DAWN LIGHT A file of eighteen men and horses -- Rangers -- is walking under the shoulder of a mesa, keeping well below the skyline. FULL SHOT - THE FILE OF RANGERS - DAWN LIGHT They pass CAMERA one by one -- Sam Clayton in the lead, Martin behind him leading two horses, then the others -- grim- looking, capable men of varying ages; some with long drooping mustaches, some in need of shaves, some chawing tobacco. CLOSE SHOT - ETHAN - AT RIM OF A MESA - DAWN LIGHT He is lying prone, his hat off, squinting down into a long reach of desert canyon at the Comanche encampment -- with tepees set up, a thin wisp of smoke rising from a fire, the horse herd penned in a draw cut off by an improvised corral of rawhide ropes. EXT. THE COMANCHE ENCAMPMENT - WIDE ANGLE SHOT - DAWN LIGHT The camp is sleeping. A dog yaps shrilly. One of the tepee flaps opens and Scar steps out. He picks up a stone or a chunk of wood and throws it. The dog yelps and runs off. Scar's air is troubled, suspicious. He heads for the horse herd. The camp sleeps on. CLOSE SHOT - ETHAN - AT RIM OF A MESA - DAWN LIGHT His face betrays a bitter inner satisfaction. He looks back along the trail as faintly we hear the approach of the Ranger company. Then he squirms back, retrieving his hat. FULL SHOT - HEAD OF RANGER COLUMN - DAWN LIGHT Sam, seeing Ethan in the near distance, raises his hand in a signal for halt and waits. Ethan scrambles down the trail to join him. He takes the reins of his horse from Martin. ETHAN We can get within 500 yards... there's a hogback to the south. CLAYTON How many, would you say? ETHAN (drily) Enough to go around... I'd say about a dozen apiece... Mount 'em up! He moves as though to mount, but Martin steps forward. MARTIN Wait! We go chargin' in, they'll kill her... and you know it. ETHAN (calmly) It's what I'm countin' on. Sam stares at him, but Martin isn't surprised. MARTIN I know you are... Only it ain't goin' to be that way... she's alive... ETHAN Livin' with Comanches ain't bein' alive... MARTIN (same tone) She's alive... Better she's alive and livin' with Comanches than her brains bashed out... CLAYTON Now son, it's a bitter thing to say, but there's more than your sister at stake here. ETHAN There sure is! I'm going to tell you somethin'... I wasn't going to speak of it... But I'll tell you now. Did you notice them scalps strung on Scar's lance? (MARTIN NODS) Did you see the third scalp from the point of the lance? Long... wavy hair... MARTIN I saw it... And don't try to tell me it was Aunt Martha's or Lucy's... ETHAN You don't remember it, but I remember. That was your mother's scalp! Martin stares, quick disbelief in his eyes. But Ethan's eyes hold his and there is no doubting the truth in them. ETHAN I didn't want to tell you... but maybe it's your right to know. CLAYTON (quietly) Now mount up, son... Sam puts his hand on Martin's elbow -- as though to turn him to his duty. But Martin jerks the arm away. MARTIN It don't change it... All I'm askin' is a chance to sneak in there... an' try to get her out before you come chargin' in. CLAYTON What if you're caught? MARTIN It won't tell 'em anything, will it! Just a man alone... ETHAN I say NO! CLAYTON Go ahead, son... But at the first alarm, we're comin' in -- and we ain't goin' to have time to pick and choose our targets when we do... Ethan looks long and hard at Martin, then reaches into his shirt for the folded, dirty, dog-eared paper that was his will. Slowly he tears it into shreds. ETHAN It's your funeral... Martin squats and starts pulling off his boots. He glances up as Charlie MacCorry comes over, an Indian blanket in his hands. He tosses it onto Martin's shoulder. CHARLIE Here... you fight like a Comanch... Maybe this'll help ya pass as one. Then he grins and extends his hand. Martin takes it -- and they shake as Charlie pulls him to his feet. Martin drops his hat, and then -- at a crouching run -- he heads for the distant Comanche camp. FULL SHOT - FROM BEHIND CLAYTON AND ETHAN, TOWARD MARTIN as he runs downslope under the shelter of the hogback toward the unseen camp. Clayton waves an arm at his men and starts leading out -- in a somewhat different direction. FULL SHOT - THE RANGERS, FAVORING CLAYTON AND ETHAN They are leading their horses down the slope, still under the lee of the butte, when two riders are seen approaching at a fast gallop -- Lt. Greenhill and his courier. (The latter is a bugler). CLAYTON What in...? GREENHILL (calling -- still distant) Captain Clayton... Captain! Sam whips off his hat and makes frantic signals to Greenhill to shut up. Greenhill pulls to a canter, puzzled, and rides in. CLAYTON (exploding) Go on! Whyn't you have your bugler sound the charge while you're at it?? GREENHILL (blankly) Sir? CLAYTON Never mind... Your pa know you're out here? GREENHILL Yes, sir... Troop's about ten miles back... The Colonel sent me looking for you... CLAYTON (dismissing him) Well you found me... Good work, son... Good work. He starts away. Greenhill follows. GREENHILL If there's anything I can do, sir... CLAYTON (under his breath) God forbid... No, son, you flog on back and tell your pa where we're at... and where he's at... GREENHILL But he knows THAT, sir... Can't I stay, sir? CLAYTON (reluctantly) All right... But keep your eye on me, boy... I'm the hard case you're up against here -- not these childish savages... If you don't hear me first time I holler, you better read my mind... I don't aim to raise no two hollers on any subject at hand... GREENHILL Yes, sir... He whips out his sabre -- to the imminent peril of Captain Sam who quickly shifts out of the way. CLAYTON Watch that knife, boy! Then Sam continues away and the Rangers after him. EXT. OUTSKIRTS OF COMANCHE CAMP - FULL SHOT - DAWN LIGHT Martin runs from behind CAMERA and dodges behind a rock. The camp is still asleep, very quiet. Martin runs out from behind the rock and makes another short dash toward the camp, dropping behind a pile of blankets or other impedimenta. A dog runs out of one of the tepees, begins barking. EXT. THE HORSE HERD - MED. CLOSE SHOT - SCAR He stands with another Comanche -- inspecting the horse lines. In the near distance the dog's barking is heard -- shrill, insistent. Scar, almost like an animal, sniffs the air suspiciously. The other Comanche laughs. COMANCHE Tahbo. (A rabbit.) Scar isn't satisfied but returns to his work. EXT. THE COMANCHE CAMP - ANGLE FAVORING SCAR'S TEPEE PAST MARTIN He is staring at it -- remembering it from certain distinct decorations. The lower part of the tepee is rolled up, for better air circulation. Martin wraps Charlie's blanket around him and begins walking to the tepee. EXT. THE LEE OF THE HOGBACK OR RISE - FULL SHOT - THE RANGERS The line is drawn up, dismounted, the men checking their sidearms, tightening cinches, etc. Sam moves briskly along the line of men, then mounts his horse. CLAYTON The State of Texas is payin' you boys $12 a month. Here's your chance to earn it... Now I don't want any foolin' around after scalps. We ain't got the time... Yankee cavalry's on its way here to set those Comanches free... We gotta beat 'em to it -- our way... Now mount an' guide center on young Greenhill here. Son, you just follow me... And WATCH THAT KNIFE! The last comes as Greenhill tries to mount, simultaneously flailing out his sabre perilously close to Clayton. EXT. SCAR'S TEPEE - MED. CLOSE SHOT - MARTIN Martin has gained the tepee, takes one quick look around, then strides in. INT. SCAR'S TEPEE as Martin enters. One robe, tossed back, shows where Scar has slept. Against one wall lie the huddled figures of two squaws. Two other figures -- one being Debbie's -- sleep in robes. Martin's eyes go to Scar's place and then rove slowly and hold on: INT. TEPEE - MED. CLOSE SHOT - DEBBIE She moves slightly so that the light strikes her fair hair. Martin kneels close to her and gently touches her shoulder, to awaken her. Her eyes open, then widen in fear. Martin quickly claps a hand over his mouth. Silently she fights him, trying to pull the hand away. MARTIN (a hoarse whisper) Debbie... don't! And then her fingernails rake his hand. He winces and lets go. She screams and tries to leap up. He grabs her. The other squaws wake -- begin squawking. MARTIN (grimly) I'm takin' you whether you want to or not... Debbie sees something beyond him. Her eyes widen. DEBBIE (a scream) MARTIN! INT. TEPEE - SHOOTING FROM EXTREME LOW ANGLE, AS FROM HER P.O.V. - SCAR He looms in the flap of the tepee much as he had over the grave when he first kidnapped her. He has a scalping knife in his hand. Scar whips his arm back. Behind him we see the other Comanche -- the one from the horse herd. INT. TEPEE - FULL SHOT Martin spins and his gun is out. He fans the trigger hammer twice -- and both slugs hit Scar. As the other Comanche leaps in, Martin's gun speaks again. And then he is on his feet, catching Debbie by the arm -- unresisting now -- and pulling her after him through the camp. Shouts and cries bespeak the awakening of the camp. EXT. THE HOGBACK - FULL SHOT - THE RANGER GROUP They are mounted and in line. The echo of a shot comes bouncing back. Clayton is facing the men. He solemnly doffs his hat and bows his head. CLAYTON For these Thy gifts which we are about to receive... (donning his hat, he turns to the bugler) Sound that horn, son, and Leave Us Go Amongst Them...YA-HEE! And shouting the rebel yell, he leads the charge. The yell is picked up by every man and the bugler sounds the charge as though he had a regiment at his back. Lt. Greenhill -- a West Point beau sabreur in strange company -- has his sabre at the "charge." FULL MOVING SHOT - ON THE CHARGE In the swamp of men and horses, we just have time to notice that Sam is darting a somewhat worried look at Greenhill's saber ominously close to his back. The charge is sounding, the hooves are drumming and the men are yelling the way they did when they rode with Bedford Forrest -- reins in their teeth, guns in their fists. EXT. THE ENCAMPMENT - FULL SHOT - AS THE RANGERS HIT Comanches are running from the tepees, trying to reach their horse herd as the file of Rangers knifes in. The bark of hand guns is a steady sound now -- and the Comanches have never been up against such marksmen. One charging Ranger rides down a tepee. Another, with two guns drawn, scores a running double on two Indians racing toward him from opposite sides of his fast-running horse. A dodging Comanche screams as a barrel-chested roan hits him broadside and sends him sprawling into the embers of the campfire. EXT. SCAR'S TEPEE - FULL SHOT - ETHAN He yanks his horse back to its haunches, firing at a Comanche crouched near the tepee. The charge races past him. Ethan swings off and runs to the tepee flap, whips it open and glares. A squaw comes running out at him, knife upraised, but he knocks her sprawling with a full arm sweep. He turns and his face is a mask of frustration -- and then he freezes, seeing what he has been looking for: EXT. THE INDIAN ENCAMPMENT - LONG SHOT - ETHAN'S P.O.V. Martin is running with Debbie, trying to pull her along, while she kicks and claws and tries to break free. (They are about thirty yards from the camp proper.) Riderless horses are milling, circling. O.s. we can hear the firing, the yells. EXT. SCAR'S TEPEE - FULL SHOT Ethan remounts and heads around the side of Scar's tepee. In the distance we see Martin and Debbie. The Rangers, regrouping, are charging back through the camp, driving the Comanche horse herd. EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - MED. CLOSE SHOT - MARTIN AND DEBBIE Martin hears Ethan's horse riding down at them; he turns, and Debbie pulls free and starts to run away. MARTIN No, Ethan! NO! He goes running into the path of Ethan's horse. EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - MOVING SHOT - ETHAN as Martin runs and grabs hold of his stirrup, trying to fight the horse to a stop. Ethan swings on him -- once, twice -- and Martin is knocked sprawling. Ethan rides on, relentlessly. EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - FULL SHOT - DEBBIE AND ETHAN She is running and dodging, trying to escape the horseman. Ethan has his gun drawn. She ducks to one side and the horse goes past. Both figures are almost obscured in the dust. Ethan spins his mount and charges after her. She runs and then falls -- and he is off his horse and striding toward her. EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - ETHAN AND DEBBIE Ethan is at the left of CAMERA and slightly closer to the foreground, with Debbie at the right, supine on the ground and the dust swirling around her. Ethan draws and raises his gun. The hammer goes back. ETHAN (quietly) I'm sorry, girl... Shut your eyes... The dust clears. The CAMERA MOVES slightly forward along the gun arm and HOLDS on Debbie's face -- the eyes gazing fearlessly, innocently into Ethan's. We HOLD for a long moment and then the gun lowers. Ethan slowly holsters it and walks over to her. EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - CLOSE SHOT - ETHAN He looks down at her. ETHAN (softly) You sure favor your mother... EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - MED. CLOSE SHOT - THE TWO He extends his hand to her. She takes it and he helps her to her feet. And then she is against his chest and his arm goes protectingly about her. They are standing that way when Martin stumbles up -- and stares. WIPE TO: 233-A EXT. COMANCHE CAMP - WIDE ANGLE - DAY The line of Rangers is afoot now, each man near his horse, each man with rifle out, pumping shot after shot at the fleeting remnant of Comanches riding down the long valley with their scattered horse herd milling and criss-crossing in mid-ground... And then as the firing slackens, from afar we can hear the blare of a cavalry bugle sounding the charge: sign of the approach of Greenhill's troop. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. THE INDIAN ENCAMPMENT - FULL SHOT - FAVORING CLAYTON It is perhaps half an hour later. Clayton is very grim of face and occasionally wincing. His trousers are down over his ankles, his shirt-tails flapping over his long-handled red underwear. Behind him Charlie MacCorry is kneeling, applying some crude first aid to Sam's rump. Beyond them some of the Rangers are readying for the move-out. Sam looks up angrily as COLONEL GREENHILL, a guidon bearer, and bugler ride in. Greenhill is a choleric man. COLONEL Clayton, if you were in my command I'd have you courtmartialed for this! CLAYTON (angrily, to MacCorry) Hurry it up! COLONEL What's the matter, sir... You wounded? What is it, Sergeant -- a bullet or an arrow? Charlie just gapes, but Clayton -- grim-lipped -- bends a meaningful glare on someone off. Greenhill looks that way. EXT. THE INDIAN ENCAMPMENT - CLOSE SHOT - LT. GREENHILL He is standing with his sabre at salute -- looking as miserable as any shavetail would look when in disgrace. It could be that the end of the sabre has a pronounced bend. EXT. THE INDIAN ENCAMPMENT - FULL SHOT - THE GROUP Sam suddenly slaps MacCorry's hand away and grabs for his pants and pulls them up -- and around a tepee come three figures -- Ethan, Debbie, and Martin -- with Ethan holding Debbie's hand. And Sam's face is split by a grin as he tucks his shirt-tails in and goes to meet them. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. THE JORGENSEN HOUSE - CLOSE SHOT - MOSE HARPER - AFTERNOON He is in a rocker on the porch. Suddenly he stares out and stops rocking. Faint in the distance, but coming closer, the clop-clop of two horses, moving at a walk. A moment later Jorgensen emerges and comes to stand beside Mose, shading his eyes and squinting against the sun, still not recognizing the distant horsemen. He is joined by Mrs. Jorgensen. And then Laurie comes out and she too stares, frowning at first, then with dawning realization. Lars and Mrs. Jorgensen also begin to guess... to suspect... and then to know. And Laurie starts to run. CLOSE SHOT - MOVING WITH LAURIE The CAMERA MOVES ahead of her as she runs blindly over the hard-packed ground, running as hard as she can toward the still unseen but nearing horsemen. FULL SHOT - THE GROUP Ethan has Debbie on the pommel of his saddle, his arm supporting her, and she is asleep. Martin is riding beside them. Laurie comes running up to stare at Ethan and at the girl. He smiles and puts a finger to his lips -- cautioning her against waking Debbie -- and then he rides by. Laurie looks then at Martin. He doesn't know whether to smile or not; he just waits. And then she is beside him and she steps onto his stirruped foot and vaults up beside him, and she kisses him just as she had on the day he left the graves to take up the search. And still holding her beside him, he rides slowly after Ethan and Debbie toward the house. FADE OUT THE END