Broken Arrow Page #2

Right. Anybody would.

Why don't you join

the Colonel's staff?

- That's private business, Slade.

- War ain't private business...

...when they kill women and kids.

At Big Creek we killed

Indian women and kids.

Cochise started this and any...

Hold on! Let's just get

the facts straight here.

Cochise didn't start this war.

A snooty little lieutenant

fresh out of the east started it.

He flew a flag of truce which

Cochise honored...

...then he hanged his brother and...

...others under the flag.

You hear all sorts of stories.

You want to know why I didn't

kill that Apache boy?

For the same reason I wouldn't kill

your boy or scout for the army.

I'm sick and tired of

all this killing.

And, who asked us

out here in first place?

I don't know, Tom.

I don't say we do right.

But we're bringing civilization here.

Clothes, carpets, hats,

boots, medicine.

Why I got a wagonload of whiskey...

...waiting in the east?

I could sell that

if it wasn't for Cochise.

It's an ambush!

Run!

Juan, come on in.

- Hi, Tom.

- Hi, Milt.

After all this time,

one single freight wagon...

...squeezed through.

Cochise didn't show his ugly face.

Are you sending your mail riders

with the military?

It'd take the Army and Navy.

No eastern mail has gone out

or come in for seven weeks.

The Apaches are shooting

my job right from under me.

Maybe there's a way to

get your mail through.

A new route?

Could I use this office

every afternoon for a while?

- What for?

- Juan.

Juan, I've got work for you.

I want to hire you for

maybe almost a moon.

I want you to teach me

to speak Apache good.

I want to learn about Apache spirits.

I want to learn about the Apache ways.

Apache in here.

No white man asks to learn

these things. Why do you?

I want to speak to Cochise.

Are you crazy, Tom?

Milt, I'm sick and tired

of being in the middle.

I'm tired of people like Lowrie,

Terry, and you...

...asking my position.

I've been willing to go

into Cochise's territory...

...to look for gold.

I've risked before.

Cochise will not speak

with white men.

We'll send up smoke signals.

He will not come to see you.

No, I want to go and see him.

- To his stronghold?

- That's right.

No white man's seen

Cochise in ten years...

- ...and lived to tell it.

- Once you could talk to him.

Don't try it, Tom.

The ants will eat your eyes.

That could happen any time.

Like the other day.

Juan, will you teach me?

I want to tell Cochise to

let the mail go through.

Maybe even about peace.

Yes...

...I will teach you, and for this

I will not take any dollars.

But I think it will end bad.

I think Cochise will kill you.

Milt, can we use the office?

It's your eyes.

Good enough. Apache eyes quick.

This says you come in peace.

They will doubt it but it'll

make them want to find out.

You've speak our language well.

You do not yet think

like an Apache...

...but you are close to.

Juan, you've been a good guide.

If I see Cochise...

...what grows from our talks

will be from you too.

Last night I heard an owl...

...the worst of all signs.

It is not yet too late.

Come back with me.

They will kill you.

I didn't hear the owl, Juan,

but thank you anyway.

Remember then:

...If you see him...

...do not lie to him.

Not in the smallest thing.

His eyes will see into your heart.

He is greater than other men.

I started into the canyons that

led into Cochise's country.

I never felt so lonely and

frightened in my life.

For three days I climbed

higher towards...

...the Apache stronghold.

On the third day...

...I was nearing the entrance

to the stronghold.

Juan had told me what to look for.

Cochise had given me

permission to enter.

I kept my hands visible...

...away from my weapons...

...and I tried to look at ease.

It is known that the chief

of Chiricahua Apaches...

...is the greatest Indian leader.

I have come to speak to him about

the welfare of his people.

It is known he respects truth...

...as he respects bravery.

You will hold these for me?

I will want them when I leave.

How do you know you will

leave here alive?

I am Cochise.

Speak.

When the Indian wishes to

signal his brother...

...he does so by smoke signs.

This is the white man's signal.

My brothers far away can look at

this and understand my meaning.

We call this mail.

The men who carry the

mail are like the air...

...that carries the

Apache smoke signals.

They seek no trouble.

Yet your warriors kill them.

I've come here ask you to let

these men travel in safety.

This mail carries war

signals against us.

No, this is used for other talk.

War signals are sent

by the military...

...by special ways.

How?

Sometimes by a thing

we call the telegraph.

Other times by men like me.

You have carried messages against us?

When I was a scout for

the military, yes.

You have fought us?

Yes.

In the battle of Apache Pass.

Come with me.

You are a brave man.

Now hear me.

I am the leader of my people.

They do not betray me and

I do not betray them.

We fight for out land against

Americans who try to take it.

You give me no reason why I should

not kill American mail riders...

...and kill you too.

You were not asked to come here.

Mail riders do you no harm.

Apaches who did your people

no harm were hanged.

One was my brother.

My people have done

yours great wrong.

I have always said this.

Do you think because I am

an Indian I am a fool?

You can trick me?

I would not have come here

if I thought that.

A fool sees only today.

Because I respect you and

your people, I think of tomorrow.

What about tomorrow?

The Apaches are warriors

without equal.

But they are small in number...

...and tomorrow they'll be smaller.

I will not talk of that with you.

Is it not possible that your

people and mine...

...can some day live together

like brothers?

That is strange talk

from a white man.

Your people do not want peace.

They have taught me that.

This mail can be the first step.

I ask you to think on it.

Why should not the

white man act first?

Am I better than the white man?

A white man has come here.

I ask you to think of your people...

...and look at tomorrow.

My mind must work on it.

You will rest here tonight.

It is my strong wish.

Walk with me so they will

see us together...

...so you will be safe here.

What is the meaning of the dance?

The Spirits of Good and

Evil are dancing.

Not everyone can do it.

If it's done wrong they

will be angry up there.

This must be the dance preceding

the sunrise ceremony for a girl.

You know about it?

A little bit.

Without words it tells me things.

You are very different from

other whites, Tall One.

You learn to speak our tongue...

...try to understand our ways.

It is good to understand

the ways of others.

I respect your people, Cochise.

You know what I am thinking?

Maybe some day you will

kill me or I will kill you...

...but we will not spit

on each other.

That is how I feel.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes