Decision at Sundown Page #4

After all that searching around,

it seems like you'd have been satisfied

to just kill him on sight.

- Even a rattler gives a warning.

- Oh, yeah?

Well, if they gave as much advance notice

as you're giving that Kimbrough,

rattlesnakes would be as out of date

as them dinosaurs.

What time do you figure it to be?

Sun's throwing a pretty good shadow now.

It must be nigh unto 2:00.

Oh, my old belly's growling

like a trapped bear.

Bart, I think you ought to have

snapped up Summerton's offer.

There ain't nothing to stop you

from taking him up on it, Sam.

Oh, well, we'll probably both be as dead

as a pulled beef by suppertime, anyway.

I sure ain't hankering to try

and argue my way

past old St. Peter on an empty stomach.

Allison, the offer still stands,

but it ain't going to much longer.

If you're smart, you'll ride out of town

while you got the chance.

Swede!

Hey, give me another drink, will you, Otis?

Me, too.

Oh, I wish those fellows would hurry up

and get out of there

so I could get in and get my other boots.

These things are killing me.

Hey, Doc, come get these things off of me,

will you?

Yeah, and you can send him

a bill for it, too, Doc.

That Swede is the shyest sheriff I ever saw.

Look at him, he's been doing nothing

but just stand there.

There's nothing keeping you from going

down there, Barber. You're not tied down.

It isn't any of my business.

Besides, I wouldn't want to do that, Tate.

If I went down and took care of those two,

I'd be showing up our sheriff.

Swede!

You still got your prayer book on you?

Sure do, Mr. Kimbrough.

I'm never without it.

Well, a saloon is no place for

a staunch citizen like you. Come on!

There something eating you, Doc?

No, nothing's bothering me, Morley.

This affair is no concern of mine.

After all that's happened,

Lucy needs time to think it over.

We've wasted too much time already.

The train pulls out of Silver Springs

tonight at 8:
00.

Mr. And Mrs. Tate Kimbrough

are going to be on it.

I wouldn't count on that if I were you.

But I am counting on it, Charlie.

The only changes we're making in our plans

is getting married here

instead of the church.

Now, honey, hasn't this gone far enough?

When we decided to get married,

I didn't think it would be necessary for me

to chase after you anymore.

And come to think of it, Lucy,

it wasn't me did the chasing.

You don't have to remind me of that, Tate.

I'm really no different than Ruby, am I?

You must be.

I never asked Ruby to marry me.

And what about Mary?

I never asked her either.

You know, there are some girls

a man gets to know pretty well

without having to ask them anything.

How well did you get to know Mary?

Oh, well enough

never to consider marrying her.

Lucy, I never pretended to be a saint,

and you never tried to pass yourself off

as a wide-eyed innocent.

You know about Ruby and me and...

Tate, why does this man want to kill you?

Maybe it's because he doesn't

understand women the way that I do.

Lucy, I promise you,

when you wake up tomorrow morning,

you won't be a widow.

You'll be a very happy

and content Mrs. Tate Kimbrough.

- Now, forget all about this fellow.

- I can't, Tate.

- Afternoon, Lucy.

- May I come in?

Your Pa send you here?

Why should my father ask me to come here?

Well, he might have figured you'd have

a little better luck than he did.

- What are you talking about?

- Come on in.

Your Pa offered to pay us to leave town.

- I don't believe you.

- It's true.

Maybe your father's more interested in

having this wedding come off than you are.

Look, I'm marrying Tate Kimbrough

because I want to,

not because my father

or anyone else wants me to.

You're a stubborn gal.

I was hoping you'd stopped by to thank me.

Thank you for embarrassing me

in front of the whole town?

I did you a favor, Lucy, and it won't

take long to get over your embarrassment.

And how long do you think it'll take you

to get over the fact that Tate

once took a woman away from you?

I'd expect Kimbrough

to explain it to you that way.

Well, what other way is there to explain it?

Instead of putting all the blame on Tate,

why aren't you big enough to admit

that whatever happened was just as much,

and probably more,

your fault than anyone else's?

Just because your girl

liked the way Tate looked

doesn't give you the right to kill him.

I don't suppose he bothered to tell you

that that "girl" was my wife.

Well, does even that

give you the right to kill him?

Listen, when you're in love

the way you must have been,

the truth isn't an easy thing to face up to.

No man, including Tate Kimbrough,

can take another man's wife away from him

unless she wants to be taken.

So maybe you didn't lose anything

that was really very worthwhile.

Bart, I was just thinking...

- Well?

- That little girl had a point.

Did I hear you right?

If I'd known you was hunting Kimbrough

because of Mary,

I'd have tried to stop you from coming here.

Bart, I gotta tell you something about Mary.

She wasn't the girl you thought she was,

and Tate Kimbrough,

he wasn't the first man...

Sheriff, that offer of yours still go?

It's about time

you started showing some sense.

- Does it or don't it still go?

- It does.

- Then my partner's coming out.

- I'm staying.

- Get your horse, Sam, and get moving.

- I ain't leaving, Bart.

I told you to get moving.

I won't need my horse just to go

across the street to get something to eat.

I'm going to that restaurant

and then I'm coming back.

Hold it!

Drop your gun belt.

Anybody home here?

Pancho, Jose,

Guadalupe, Maria!

Maureen.

Maureen.

I was gonna have some enchiladas, but

maybe I'd better make it Irish stew, huh?

Well, you can have anything you want.

Well, bring me eggs, then. Lots of them.

Maureen.

I think you made a mistake

trusting the sheriff, Sam.

Oh, I've made a lot of mistakes

in my time, Doc.

One more ain't gonna hurt much.

What happened between you

and your friend?

I got this from trying to tell him the truth.

Sometimes the truth can be mighty painful.

Yeah, anyway,

maybe you can't convince a man like him

about something

he just don't want to know about.

You knew Mary?

- Here, this ought to hold you for a while.

- Oh, fine, fine.

I don't know whether to gulp it right down

or just let it sit there and admire it.

Well, I always figured I could go for a man

as uncertain as him.

Looks like it's been a long time between.

You want some more coffee?

- You did know Mary.

- I knew her.

Maybe I should say I knew more about her.

Well, she was no wife for Bart Allison, Doc,

or no other man.

Beautiful, though,

beautiful as the springtime, but wild.

The way I figure it,

Kimbrough must have been

one of the last fellows

she got a hankering for.

Anyway, about a week before Bart got back

from fighting the war,

she killed herself.

On account of the way she was,

I guess that's all she could do.

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