Dances with Wolves Page #7

DUNBAR:

This is my post...

TIMMONS:

This is my... are you crazy boy?

The lieutenant's eyes have gone absolutely black. The heel

of his hand is dropping lightly on the butt of a long revolver

at his hip.

DUNBAR:

This is my post! And these are the

post's provisions. Now get your ass

off that wagon and help me unload.

Timmons leaps down.

INT. SUPPLY HOUSE - DAY

The half-caved in supply house bulges with supplies.

INT. CARGILL'S QUARTERS - DAY

Cargill's late quarters are also filled with new goods.

There's barely enough room to reach the little bunk.

EXT. SEDGEWICK - DUSK

Timmons is atop his wagon seat, reins in hand.

TIMMONS:

Well... I'll let 'em know where you

are.

DUNBAR:

Good.

TIMMONS:

Good luck lieutenant.

DUNBAR:

Thank you.

Timmons clucks to his team and the wagon pulls out. The light

on the prairie is fading fast.

EXT. SEDGEWICK RIVER BANK - DUSK

The wolf with two socks is patrolling along the edge of the

river.

INT. QUARTERS - NIGHT

A lamp turns up, casting a glow over Dunbar's incredibly

cramped quarters.

He adjusts the lamp and sits back on the bunk, his journal

on his lap. He begins an entry.

DUNBAR (V.O.)

Have arrived to find Fort Sedgewick

deserted. Am now waiting for the

garrison's return or word from

headquarters. Post is in exceedingly

poor condition. Have decided to assign

myself clean-up duty beginning

tomorrow. Supplies abundant. The

country is everything I dreamed it

would be. There can be no place like

this on earth.

Dunbar signs the entry, yawns contentedly and reaches to

turn down the lamp.

A wolf howls somewhere outside. It's low at first but it

keeps on building. At its height, the howl sounds as though

it is coming from, something gigantic.

Dunbar is still listening after it's gone. He hears wood

snap in the direction of the river then all is quiet again.

Without hesitating, he slips the big revolver out of its

holster and cradling it like a teddy bear, slips it under

his blanket.

The light is left blazing.

EXT. SEDGEWICK - DAWN

First light over the sad fort.

INT. QUARTERS - DAWN

Dunbar is sleeping quietly. He opens his eyes and rears his

head to get his bearings. Then he flops back down and shuts

his eyes, hoping for more sleep.

He hears two heavy footfalls in rapid succession.

Dunbar holds his breath staring at the doorway. Quietly, he

pulls his gun aiming it directly at the doorway.

Silence. Suddenly, a shadow starts across the threshold,

followed quickly by Cisco's big buckskin head. The horse

watches Dunbar a moment, then looks curiously around the

room.

EXT. CORRAL - DAY

Dressed in pants, old boots, and a threadbare shirt, Dunbar

bangs home a nail on the sagging corral gate. He tests the

gate's swing and satisfied with this, he latches it leaving

Cisco inside.

The lieutenant picks up a water bucket and we follow as he

walks the few, quick yards it takes to reach the bank

overlooking the river.

When he sees what lies along the slope below, he stops. At

this spot just below the fort, a garbage dump falls away to

the stream. Old containers, sacks, rags, trash, bottles, and

a thousand other miscellaneous scraps.

Dunbar hops over the steep lip of the bank and starts down

the gentle incline, eyeing the trash as he goes. Now he

reaches the stream and kneels, preparing to dip the bucket.

He sniffs a bad odor, looks across the stagnant stream and

sees something sticking out of the water.

It's a cloven hoof. And further out, another. And part of an

antler. There are decomposed antelope corpses everywhere.

EXT. RIVER - DAY

An antelope skeleton is being pulled from the muck.

Dunbar is stripped to the waist as he drags the body through

deep water. Covering his face against the stink is a bandana.

His pants are soaked and he's sweating hard.

At the stream's edge he heaves the antelope onto a pile

holding several others. Under the bodies is a huge bed of

trash which he has already collected.

The body he tosses up slips and he has to right it. Now he

wades back into the river and searches the water with his

hands for more.

EXT. RIVER BANK - DAY

Dunbar fastens the last of the traces to a pile of garbage

spread out on a sheet of canvas. He picks up a set of long

reins, clucks to Cisco and they start up the steep bank with

the load.

EXT. RIVER - DAY

A distinct change has taken place with the water. It's

running.

EXT. TRASH PILE - DAY

Oil is pouring out of a jug and onto the great heap. Dunbar

empties the last of the oil and throws the empty jug onto

the pile. He takes the match he's been holding between his

teeth and flicks it to life with a fingernail. He flips it

onto the heap.

The fire catches immediately and Dunbar has to back away a

few steps as the flames send a column of thick, black smoke

into the air.

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