Green Fire Page #4

You take my advice.

Hang on to what you've got.

Well, I know, but--

Look out! Come on! Quick!

Hello, Vic.

This is one of El Moro's boys.

Well, what do we do with him?

Send him back.

What?

Sure.

Then he'll tell El Moro

that we're very well prepared

for anyone

who shows his face up here.

Manuel, better double the guard.

A lovely evening.

But it's a bit crowded.

I'd very much like you

to show me the plantation?

Later.

I'm sure Vic would enjoy it too.

Hmm.

Let me freshen that up for you.

Sure. Thanks. unh.

Uh, Father,

it might interest you to know

that Vic here is quite a student

on the religious movement

of South America.

Is that true, Senor Leonard?

Well, I, uh--

Oh, don't be modest, Vic.

He's got a whole library

on the subject.

One day we must have

a long talk, you and I.

Sure, Father, fine.

Well, there's no time

like the present.

Now don't you worry about us.

Cathy has promised to show me

around the plantation.

You two go right ahead.

Shall we?

Well, Senor Leonard.

As you know,

the historians tell us

that the Jesuits first landed

in Colombia in April of 1590.

If I were to tell you

that it was a month earlier,

would that surprise you?

Some.

That's a very tricky maneuver.

What?

Oh, well, now you're not

going to tell me

Vic is a student

of the religious movement?

You know, he's brighter

than you think.

Well, it won't hurt him.

We'll let them wrestle it

through to say, 1890,

and then go to his rescue.

In the meantime,

there's all this.

A classic setting,

a man, a woman,

tropic night, beautiful river.

Oh, that's fine

except no one who lives here

thinks the river is beautiful.

The villagers call it

Mujer Traidora.

A Treacherous Woman.

Is that so?

Would've fooled me.

Well, not in the rainy season.

Why, without the levee,

there'd be riverboats running

up and down the plantation.

You haven't heard a word

I've said.

Hmm?

Of course I have.

I was just thinking.

What?

About you.

It's an odd sort of life,

isn't it?

Don't you ever get lonely?

Yes, desperately.

I should think you do.

First of year I went

to school in California,

then the summers,

Father took us to Europe.

Oh, I see, but never here.

No, never here.

That's hard to believe.

I mean, you're under 50.

You're not altogether

unattractive.

Oh, heh.

Well don't get the idea

I spend my life

fenced in by the jungle.

I go to Bogota and Barranquilla,

and I have lots of friends.

And I've even managed to wangle

a couple of proposals.

You turned them down.

Yes.

Well, I'm not exactly

panicky yet and, heh...

Well, there's always the chance

that Prince Charming

may come riding down

off the mountain someday.

When he does,

he'll find you're beautiful.

I take it you must be the expert

on the romantic movement

in South America.

I've wanted to do that

from the first day we met.

I've thought about you

all the time I was away.

I thought about you too.

That seems

to make it unanimous, hmm?

There's one thing wrong.

What is it?

I-- I just, I just don't want

to be a Saturday night girl

waiting at the foot

of a mountain.

No.

I think we'd better get back.

I'm sure Father Ripero

is well into

the 20th Century by now.

If there's anything

you wanna know

about the religious

movement in South America,

don't hesitate.

Well, you never know

when that kind of information

may be useful.

One day you'll thank me.

Oh sure, sure.

By the way,

that's, uh, quite a girl there.

You thinking of going

in the coffee business?

Mm-Hm.

That's not a bad idea,

maybe a partnership.

You know, put an emerald

in every can of coffee.

Kill the competition.

First, let's find the emeralds,

shall we?

You may not know it, pal,

but you struck it richer

down here than up there.

The homely philosopher.

Hey, give this one a bath.

Hey, that looks like...

Well, we could corner

the paperweight market.

Why, you old pessimist.

They're there.

We'll find them.

Well, we better find them soon

or I'm back

in the carbon business.

Only by now

they probably filled the job.

Well, we could put up a sign,

"Free Dirt."

Oh, I wish you

could have seen Vic's face.

Of course, he was quite right.

There was a lot of free dirt,

and most of it

was in our mouths.

Heh. Well, landslides

aren't very new around here.

Years ago,

there was one big enough

to change the course

of the river.

I bet it would take

more than a landslide

to change your course.

Well, it's taken me a long time

to get to that mountain.

Tell me something, Rian.

Sure, anything.

What keeps a man looking

for the rainbow all his life?

Well, if you catch a rainbow,

there's a premium on it.

There's premiums

on other things too.

Oh, you mean a place

to hang your hat.

Roots in the ground.

Something like that.

Well, it's not only the money.

It's the mountain itself.

There it sits, calm,

peaceful, like an iceberg.

The danger's hidden

beneath the surface.

It'll kill you

the first chance it gets.

You make it sound

as though it's alive.

Well, it is for me.

My father was a coal miner.

He spent half his life

down in the dark,

grubbing for pennies.

And then a cave-in

took the other half.

Right then,

I decided that one day

I'd go into a mountain myself,

but I'd come out rich,

not dead.

Do not move.

I am El Moro.

We have no guns.

Do his hands have to be tied?

We were wondering when you

were going to get around to us.

Take what you've come for

and get out!

I do not come to make trouble.

I wish to talk

to Senor Mitchell.

Quietly, not between gunshots.

What about?

The work you are doing

in the mountain.

It makes me happy.

Very happy.

Well, don't get hysterical.

Of course,

you do not understand.

I explain.

Tell him to keep back.

Geraldo, he is harmless.

You see, Senor Mitchell,

the mountain,

it is mine.

You don't say?

- You are surprised.

- I don't blame you.

It is a deed to the land.

It's been in my family

for many years.

Big surprise, no?

We talk.

Inside.

With your permission, senorita.

As you see, Senor,

a very old deed.

I wish to live there someday

when I'm old.

But now I find

you are ruining my land.

But perhaps we can make

an agreement, see?

What kind of an agreement?

Reasonable.

Very reasonable.

Mm-hm.

If this deed's legal,

our claim's worthless.

But I wish to be fair.

Without engineer,

the mine is worthless.

Thanks.

If he killed you,

who would find the emeralds?

Yeah, I get your point.

I am ambitious man,

Senor Mitchell.

I wish to grow.

For this, I need money,

a great deal of money.

So when you find

the green fire in Carrere,

we will share it.

We'll be partners.

There's only one thing

that worries me

about this ancient

family document.

The ink's hardly dry.

You say I am lying?

Yeah, that's right.

Mm-hm.

You were right.

It was carelessly done.

But it was one way to have

an agreement without bloodshed.

You see how quick

people are hurt?

No deal.

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