Escape from Fort Bravo Page #2

C Troop. I'm Captain Roper.

- Fort Bravo?

- That's right.

I'm Carla Forester.

I'm going there to visit the colonel.

- Well, you may be just in time.

- Why?

Well, in a couple of days,

we may not have a fort.

You shouldn't try to frighten a lady.

I can see I'm not.

We had Indians too.

He's bleeding.

Well, what's this?

Paradise?

The bandage is too loose.

- Is there a clean one?

- No.

- Got anything we could use for a bandage?

Yes, sir.

Are you going to-?

- Shh.

Are you a friend of the colonel's?

I went to school

with Alice before the war.

You don't sound like a northerner.

I'm not.

Or a southerner.

No.

You must be from Texas.

He can ride back in the coach with me.

I'll take care of him.

Take good care of him,

because he's gonna marry your friend.

We'll be pulling out at dawn.

Try to get some sleep.

All right, captain.

Good night.

Good night.

Ran into a band coming home,

Canyon Diablo.

How many casualties?

Two dead, five wounded, one badly.

- How is he?

Good enough to save.

Darling.

- Put him on the litter, boys.

Carla.

It's all right, dear. Later.

- Go on.

- Don't worry.

He'll be all right.

We weren't expecting you

so soon, Carla.

I took an earlier stage.

If you'll excuse me, Captain Roper

will escort you to my quarters.

We'll talk later at dinner tonight.

Perhaps the captain will join us.

- Roper?

- A pleasure, sir.

- I'll take the rest of your report then.

- Yes, sir.

You've come at a bad time, I'm afraid.

I'm not.

Carla's a beautiful girl, isn't she?

Yes, she is.

Times like these, I wish she hadn't come.

I was thinking

of sending Alice to visit her.

If we've got an Indian war on our hands,

do you think the rebs would fight with us?

For their lives, they will.

Only if we win,

we might belong to them.

It'd still be better than the Indians.

For me, it would be the same thing.

Coffee. Hot, fresh and strong.

Good.

Will the captain be

at the dance tomorrow night?

Have you ever been to a dance, captain?

Once I went to a war dance

with an Indian.

A young squaw?

No. An old chief, a Rio Verdes.

Prisoner?

Oh, they roughed me up a bit.

Didn't hurt.

Just made me about five years older.

Oh, I prefer to have a drink from that bottle

you keep hidden behind your gun cabinet.

Do you know everything

that goes on in this fort?

I have to.

I'm the eyes in the back of your head.

Thank you.

Where are your quarters, captain?

At the far end of the post.

May I walk you home?

What part of Texas are you from?

I must go there some time.

You'd enjoy it.

I've never been in a fort before.

Is it safe to walk around at night?

- No.

- I mean, with you.

You'll burn yourself.

I asked you a question.

May I walk you home?

Aren't the prisoners guarded?

Where would they go

without arms and horses?

Over that hill, there are four more hills,

and then miles of desert to Mescal.

Nothing much in Mescal.

At least for a rebel.

Do any of them ever try to escape?

Sometimes.

What happens?

I find them.

You're the man who finds everybody.

Well, I had to ask you

if I could walk you home.

Do I have to ask you to take me

to the dance tomorrow night?

Yes. I'd like to hear you ask me.

Perhaps I'm moving too fast.

Perhaps you are and perhaps you're not.

I'll pick you up at 7.

Fine.

Oh, I should tell you, captain,

I can be a little trouble.

I believe that.

But then you look big enough

to handle a little trouble.

Good night.

Good night.

I see some of the prisoners are here.

It's the colonel's idea.

Esprit de corps. One big happy family.

You don't seem

to think much of the idea.

I don't do the thinking.

- Where's Alice?

- She took punch and cakes to Beecher.

- Oh, how's he feeling?

- He's all right.

He could get up now, but he likes

the attention he's getting from Alice.

With your permission, sir.

May I have the pleasure of this dance?

Well, it's never been done.

I like doing what's never been done.

Miss Forester,

may I present Captain Marsh?

- Miss Forester.

- Captain.

Colonel.

Captain.

It's been so long just to touch you again.

Darling, I know, I know.

Then smile.

Is it still the night of Beecher's wedding?

There will be four of us now.

Then I'll meet you in Texas.

We'll have a wedding of our own.

There's only one danger.

Captain Roper.

Don't worry.

I can handle him.

You falling in love with that girl, Roper?

How's that, sir?

You're beginning to act human.

You even showed fear as though

that Johnny reb might run away with her.

Have some more punch, sir.

Did you see her? Did you talk to her?

When do we go?

Why does it have to be

such a big secret?

- Because I'm not supposed to have brains?

- That's a good question.

And an even better answer.

Take it easy, Cabot, take it easy.

It's gonna be all right.

I wanna get out of here

as much as both of you.

And Bailey too. But it can't be done

by just being bold and tough.

Roper is both.

He's something else too.

He's pretty smart about men.

I'll go with that.

About men, that is.

Meaning,

women might be something else.

They always have been.

Only don't that go for you too?

Sure.

But I know it.

Maybe Roper doesn't.

- You said Bailey?

Mm-hm.

Does he have to go?

Yes, he has to go.

- Why do I have to take a punk like him?

- Because I said so.

You act like he was your kid brother.

All men are brothers, Cabot.

Most of them are kids.

One of these days...

...I'm gonna take that little gray cap

and knock it right off your head.

And do you know something, Cabot?

From that day on, I'll be wearing yours.

Do you think it's proper?

A little water and a little dirt,

a few cuttings from back East.

You raised these?

Roper's roses.

Always good for a laugh.

Green thumb on an iron hand.

You should have been a farmer,

not a soldier.

My old man had a dream

about this country.

He dreamt about finding water,

growing crops, raising cattle.

I guess he handed it down to me.

That's why I do this.

It isn't much, is it?

I think it is.

What was your father like?

Well, he was something.

He taught me how to ride

and how to shoot...

...how to see and how to hear.

He was big.

Do you know what I mean?

A man is bigger than anything he does.

Or should be.

It's like a Bible

that's bigger than any religion.

I guess he was my Bible.

Did he ever teach you to smile?

He did that too but I guess I forgot.

It's so quiet.

Yes, isn't it?

So completely quiet.

That's the wonderful thing

about this country.

Everything about it is so complete.

That's the way you want to live, isn't it?

Everything complete.

Why settle for anything less?

I think you'd better walk me home now.

Yes, I think I'd better.

You're smiling now, captain.

Am I?

Good morning.

- Good morning.

So you're off to Mescal

to buy a wedding gown.

- Isn't it wonderful?

- Nicest thing that happened to Lt. Beecher.

What about me?

You could have done better.

You might have got me.

Are you going too?

Certainly I'm going.

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