Dakota Page #5

A few minutes.

What's the matter,

Devlin, you in a hurry?

Yeah.

Get over there with Bender!

Let me remind you,

if I hadn't gotten Mrs. Devlin.

Over here to Dr. Judson,

she might've died.

I'm rememberin' it, and also

how she came to get hit.

Maybe I oughta fix it

so accidents like that

can't happen again. That

calls for killing two men

in cold blood, doesn't it? Yes.

It requires a

certain type of man

to kill without excuse, Devlin,

somebody more like myself. You

coulda killed her, Bender.

That's all the excuse I need.

John?

Is it...

Is it all over?

You seem to have

a sobering effect

upon your husband,

Mrs. Devlin.

You better take your wife

back to the hotel, Devlin.

Perhaps it'd be to the

benefit of all of us

if you pointed out

the advantages to him

of both of you

returning to Chicago.

Suppose you point 'em out.

An agent commissioned to

option land for the railroad

can't function very well

without money, can he?

I'll be over tomorrow

for the money.

Tomorrow may be too late

for it to do you any good.

Have it ready.

Nicodemus!

Comin', cap'n.

Get up outta there!

The town's done cleaned out!

Where's everybody at?

Cap'n, why... why does

you have ta wake me up

ta ask me that?

They're all goin' ta

Fargo on the som'dother,

on da other side of them trees.

Fargo on the prairie?

What's goin' on over there?

Why... why ya has ta

ask me that, cap'n?

Man goes someplace,

it's a visit.

A bunch of men go someplace,

it's a party.

Everybody goes someplace,

it's a meetin'.

Whatever's goin' on over there

has got to be a meetin', cap'n,

'cause that's where

they's all at.

Well, come on...

Let's go over.

Is you comin', or is I

gotta shove ya overboard!!

Comin', cap'n.

So as soon as I saw the crop was

gonna be too big for us to handle,

being President of the wheat

growers association,

I guess it was up to me

to figure out a way

to get the crops harvested

and off to the market.

So like I told ya,

I went to Mr. Bender

and made a deal for him

to lend us the money

to bring in a gang

of harvest hands,

and to take care of

shippin' costs.

But why you go

to Mr. Bender?!

The bank in Grand Fork, she's

got plenty of money to lend!

What's the matter

with Bender's money,

ain't it any good?

Mr. Bender's done plenty

for us around here.

He's give us credit at the

store and staked a few of us.

And I say here and now! If there's any

side money to be made around here,

he's the man who

ought to get it.

But this contract

we are to sign,

if something is

wrong with crops,

all our land will belong

to Mr. Bender?

Well, a man has to have

some kind of security

for the money he

puts up, ain't he?

It's dumb butts like you that keep

us smart folks from progressin'.

What you got to say about this?

You don't farm no lands!

Nobody can talk that way to me!

What he... what he don't

know is that I...

I got secret holdin's.

I got a piece of 10,000 acres,

and I aim to see that wheat

cut with Fargo money.

And if there's any

profit to be made,

I want my good friend, Mr.

Bender, to collect it, see?!

And another thing...

If anything happens to the crop,

Mr. Bender's gonna pay us

for what the land is worth,

accordin' to government

valuation--

A dollar an acre!

And why would anybody want to buy worthless

prairie acreage with nothin' growin' on it?

What Mr. Collins said

sounds logical enough.

All I know is this

deal is fixin' things

so there's a possibility

of Bender buying our land.

And another thing...

The whole blamed layout is so slick

and pretty I don't believe it.

There's gotta be a catch in it.

Exactly what I was thinking, Mr.

Plummer.

If anything happens

to the wheat crop,

looks to me like I'm

stuck with about

50 square miles of

worthless prairie.

So as a favor to me,

will you let out

a man-sized protest

about the whole deal,

and give me a chance

to squeeze out of it?

Don't guess it'd do me any good

for me to say anything, Bender,

a couple other men tried that

and got nowhere.

Seems like I have too many

friends, doesn't it?

It seems to me that

worthless prairie or not,

you're going to own all the

land around here, Mr. Bender.

Do you expect anything to happen

to your wheat, Mrs. Stowe?

Well, along with some

other bonanza farmers,

like Mrs. Stowe and Mr. waters,

I didn't expect to

get burned out.

Somebody come along

with a torch, eh?

What happened to our farm buildings

could happen to our wheat.

If anything happens to your

wheat, I'm the loser.

So I think we better take steps to

see that nothing does happen to it.

What kind of steps,

Mr. Bender?

When the peace of a

community is disturbed

by violence and acts of

vandalism, Mrs. Stowe,

there's only one thing

to do about it

and that's bring in the law,

so that's what we'll do.

Sounds honest enough, didn't he?

I'd never had suspected him,

if Anson hadn't said he

was just no good at all.

I probably wouldn't have myself,

if it wasn't for the fact that

everyone that was burned out

got an offer from him

for their land first.

Come on, Nicodemus,

this is no place for us.

Comin', cap'n.

So the one with all the

eyebrows says to me, he says...

"What makes you

so different?"

Of course, I could always

trim his eyebrows a little,

but even if I did,

what would I have?

A wheat farm.

I'll take a nice, dirty miner

with gold dust caked

under his fingernails.

If you can spare one.

Me, too.

There I was in California, up to my elbows

in hard-rock men, and I had to come here.

I could've married, settled down

and had myself a nice home.

And a native son.

Put it in a gilt frame,

and I'll buy it.

Look, girls, the bell of the

northwest gets in tonight,

and Collins wants you all there

at the landing when she ties up,

looking your best, so be there.

Oh, excuse me... I thought

this was the kitchen.

Well, it is the kitchen.

Looking for anyone

in particular?

I wanted to get

a couple of eggs.

Well, in that case, come on in.

We'll thank you to speak of us

with more respect, Mr. Devlin.

We usually take the

egg to the customer,

unless the customer insists

on coming to the egg.

We want you to be

happy, of course.

And you're just the little

girl that can do it, eh?

Well, these eggs

are for Mrs. Devlin,

and I thought I'd

take them up to her.

You see, she, uh...

She has a headache.

People get them in Fargo.

If you want to get back to

your crocheting, girls,

I'll look after

Mr. Devlin.

How about a couple of eggs for Mr.

Devlin, Nora?

Ain't got no eggs...

The girls ate 'em all up.

But we grow them right

outside the door,

if you've got to have them.

Well, I'm an old egg rustler.

No fun rustling alone.

Did I say rustling?

I meant rustling.

It's not locked!

Where on earth did

you go for the eggs?!

Mornin', ma'am.

Oh.

Where is Mr. Devlin?

He's getting me some breakfast

from St. Paul,

I think.

Is it something important?

No, ma'am, I don't guess it is.

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