Ace in the Hole Page #9

A little lower. Breathe

through your mouth.

Move it down a little.

Breathe. Through your mouth.

- I can't.

- Don't talk, please. Just breathe.

Now, on the other side.

I can't any more.

Get me Father Diego.

Shut up, Leo. Do what

the doctor tells you.

Chuck, don't, don't let me

die without the priest.

You don't need a priest.

You're not going to die.

Tell him he's not

gonna die, Doctor.

Everybody's gonna die someday,

Leo. I am. Tatum is. You are.

But you still have a

long time ahead of you.

Only you have to help.

Now, put it on the left side.

Way over. There. Breathe.

They'll never let me go.

They're getting even with

me for robbing their tomb.

They'll never let me go.

- Pneumonia.

- How bad?

He told you himself.

- Nobody dies of pneumonia these days.

- He will.

You can't lie down here five days and

five nights in the same position.

What can you do?

We can get him some oxygen

and help him breathe.

How long can he hold out?

Oh, 12 hours.

Unless we get him in a hospital

tomorrow morning, he'll be dead.

Chuck. Chuck!

- Yes, Leo?

- Tell them to stop the drill.

It's no use. They'll never make it.

Get those ideas out of your head.

You're talking crazy.

You'll be out of here

by tomorrow morning.

No, I won't.

They'll never reach me

by tomorrow morning.

I figured it out myself.

You'll be out of here in

12 hours. Hang on!

You wouldn't be lying to

me now, would you, Chuck?

Leo, look at me.

No, you wouldn't. You never have.

Here.

How do you like that dumb snake?

I feed him meat. I feed him cheese.

I even caught him some bugs.

Won't touch a thing.

What do you think he goes for?

Chewing gum!

But only with the

silver wrapper on it.

Look at him.

He's putting on weight.

Say, Chuck, I think we ought to get

together about tomorrow night.

The kid will be out, so let's

make a big thing of it.

Now, the moment they bring him up,

I wanna shake hands with him.

But I gotta be the first one.

Then I wanna make a speech

from the top of the hill.

I want you to write it for me.

Something nice and simple.

Hey, what's this?

What are you sending out here?

What new development?

What's this all about?

You read it. We'll have Leo

out by tomorrow morning.

- We're going the other way.

- What other way?

The way we could have gone in

the first place, the easy way.

Now why should we do that?

Now why should we do that?

I'll tell you why. Because

the guy in there is dying.

That's no good for my story.

When you have a big

human interest story,

you've got to give it a big

human interest ending.

When you get people

steamed up like this,

don't ever make

suckers out of them.

I don't want to hand them

a dead man. That's why.

- Well, who says he's gonna be dead?

- I say so.

Well, maybe he will and maybe he

won't, but I know one thing for sure.

If we make that switch now,

we got a lot of explaining to do.

People are gonna wanna

know a lot of things,

especially them reporter

friends of yours.

Like, for instance, why did

we have to set up that drill?

Why did we waste five days?

First, let's get him out. Then

we'll think of what to tell them.

Why should we stick out our necks?

Why not stick to the drill?

We'll speed it up

as much as we can,

and if we get him while he's

still alive, well, fine.

If we're too late, well,

we done the best we could.

It's a better story if we're not

too late. I've sent for Smollett.

Smollett's my man, and

he's taking my orders.

Wait a minute, Gus.

Sit down.

Now when Smollett comes, you

can give him your orders.

Tell him to go in through

the cliff dwelling,

shore it up and get him out fast.

Not through the cliff dwelling.

You can't get him out

that way any more.

Why?

Because we've been pounding

away with that drill too long.

They're all shot, those walls.

You can't shore them up now.

Put a lot of men to work in there,

and they'll cave in on them.

Don't look at me like that.

I never wanted to use the

drill in the first place.

I never wanted to go in on

this at all. You know that.

I'm sorry, Mr Nagel.

He's not back yet.

No, I don't know where he is.

Well, yes, Mr Nagel, I left word

everyplace for him to call New York.

Yes, I know he has a deadline.

Well, of course he hasn't

answered the teletype, Mr Nagel.

He hasn't been in all night.

Yes, I know how much

you're paying him.

If Tatum said he's gonna

send more, he'll send more.

Chuck! Chuck!

- Where are you, Chuck?

- Here I am, Leo.

Over here.

I thought you went away.

Put that thing back on your

mouth, and take a good long drag.

It's morning, isn't it?

- Leo, you have to breathe that oxygen.

- Friday morning.

Come on. Come on, up there.

Make all the noise

you want. Hurry up.

I'm all set.

I got one leg out already. See it?

Cut out all that talking, Leo.

Five years today.

I hope she hasn't found the present.

I want to give it to her myself.

I hid it in a good place.

In the cupboard of our room,

in my old barracks bag.

She'll never find it there.

I want her to wear it.

She'll look like a million.

Why is it so hot in here?

It's so hot.

'Cause you're talking too much.

Don't be so dumb, using

up all your strength!

Breathe that oxygen! Breathe!

Don't you want to get

your other leg out?

Yeah, sure. I have to.

So I can walk down

the hill, walk home,

walk up the stairs to our room.

So I can give her the present.

Up the stairs. Up the stairs.

Up the stairs.

Up the stairs.

I didn't say come in.

Now get out, will you, Chuck?

I wanted to surprise you.

I'm changing my type.

Going light brown again.

That's the colour it was before

I started fooling around with it.

I'm cutting it shorter, too.

What do you think?

Herbie's been looking for you

all night. Where've you been?

What's that?

Here.

What is it?

- A present.

- For me?

It's your anniversary, Mrs Minosa.

- Oh.

- Go on, open it. He wants you to have it.

Parisian furs. All the

way from Albuquerque.

Gorgeous, isn't it?

They must have skinned a

couple of hungry rats.

- Put it on.

- Honey,

you wouldn't want me to

wear a thing like this.

He bought it for you, didn't he?

Now put it on.

Not me. I got enough money to buy

me a real fur, a silver fox.

- He wants you to wear it.

- I don't care what...

I do.

- I hate it, Chuck!

- Don't take it off.

- It's like him touching me.

- You know what he said?

He said you'll look like a million.

- Let me go, Chuck.

- You know what else he said?

He said maybe you'll love him now

after what's happened to him.

Maybe you and he can

start all over again.

- Let go!

- You're all he talks about.

- You're all he thinks about.

- Chuck!

You can buy yourself a dozen silver

foxes, but you're gonna wear this.

Don't, Chuck! Don't!

I can't breathe!

He can't breathe, either.

Now keep it on.

Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah

And a brawla, brawla sooit

Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah

And a brawla sooit

Leo.

Father Diego?

- Is that you, Father?

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