Jubal Page #3

And I know they're good people.

All right, you can stay

till your folks get better.

Shep's gonna have

something to say about that.

Could be. But until he does,

I'm saying they can stay.

Working a little far from your range,

aren't you?

We're grateful, mister.

There'll be a lot of prayers

said for you here tonight.

Say, do you mind if I ride along with you?

I've said my goodbyes to these here people.

I came back when I heard the shots.

See all that down there? That's the ranch.

- You a cowhand?

- Yep. Why?

The boss was figuring

on hiring some extra help.

- Want to ride along with me?

- Sure, don't mind if I do. Thanks, friend.

You gonna let them Rawhiders

squat on your land?

Well, if Jube seen they got sick folks.

That ain't why he got soft on them.

He seen this girl...

and she give him the eye

and his guts got mushy inside.

Maybe now we know why he ain't going

for that ordinary stuff in town.

He was waiting for something special.

- When Jube makes his report...

- You don't have to wait for a report.

I'm trying to tell you,

he rode up and there was the girl looking...

I'm beginning to think

the trouble with you is...

you've hated every boss and foreman

you ever worked under.

- Now if you don't like your job here...

- Shep, please, you got me wrong.

If I have, you ride back

to the Iron Springs camp and cool off.

And remember, Jube's my foreman.

What he says, goes.

Sure.

I was just trying to protect your interests,

that's all.

Sure.

Good night.

You know what, honey?

Jube's gone and got himself a girl.

What you need that screen up for

when we're here all alone?

We're married, ain't we?

I suppose you'd like your cowhands

gawking at me through the window?

Nope. But when we're alone, duchess...

ain't nothing wrong

with me doing a little gawking, is there?

You know, I think I'll ride down

by that Rawhider camp...

to get a look at Jube's girl myself.

Wouldn't want him making out

with the wrong kind of girl now, would we?

He's a grown man. Let him alone.

You smell as good as fresh-cut hay.

Is that Jube?

- It ain't a "him."

- It's a "them." Two.

Just passed Pinky on the way.

He acted kind of sore.

Mr. Horgan,

I'd like you to meet Reb Haislipp.

Howdy.

You said you were going

to hire some more help.

I thought maybe you could use him.

Just for the roundup. Can't use

more than four the rest of the time.

That's good enough for me, Mr. Horgan.

Thank you.

Come in and warm your gullets.

All right with you, Mae?

If they can stand it, I can.

Meet the wife, Reb.

- Howdy, ma'am?

- Evening.

- Evening, Jube.

- Evening, ma'am.

Shep, why don't you order Jube

to call me Mae?

Only way he'll do it.

Yeah. And stop calling me Mr. Horgan.

- I'm Shep.

- All right.

There's 520 head down

at Cattlemen's Bridge ready to be branded.

Good. We'll ride out in the morning.

Anything else?

Well, I guess Pinky told you

about those Rawhiders?

Yeah. He says you snagged yourself

a pretty piece of gingham.

They're a religious group, sort of, you know.

You just go after anything you want, boy.

The liveliest little filly I ever roped...

was a red-headed daughter

of a fire-eating preacher.

Present company accepted, honey.

Excuse the way I look.

So you got yourself a girl, Jube.

I'll take Reb down

and show him the bunkhouse.

Sure. Nice meeting you, Reb.

See you at daybreak.

I missed you.

You coming to bed, honey?

No, I'm not sleepy.

I'm having another cup of coffee.

Take that bunk over there.

Nobody's using it.

Tried to roll them cigarettes once,

but I couldn't learn to keep my finger out.

I saw you come from the window up there.

I came as quick as I could.

Didn't you want me to come?

Didn't you see me at the window?

Don't you want me here?

He's asleep. He won't know.

Look, as far as I'm concerned

he's standing right here.

If you're talking about conscience,

I haven't got any. Not about him.

- He loves you, Mae.

- Loves me? Shep?

I'm no more than his pet filly.

His heifer. You've heard him.

I'm livestock.

With men, maybe he's great.

With a woman, he's an animal.

- Why don't you leave him?

- And go where?

Didn't you come from some place?

- Where did you come from?

- Canada?

Go back there with my tail

between my legs and get laughed at?

By whom?

By all them that are just waiting to say,

"I told you so."

Don't worry. There wasn't a fellow

back there I couldn't have if I'd wanted.

Even if we was poor, they came round

with their tongues hanging out.

- Know how many proposals I got?

- Of marriage?

What else? I got 23.

Then Shep came up to Calgary to buy cattle.

Everybody said

he was a Wyoming cattle king.

When I asked him

was he really a cattle king...

he said sure and would I be

his cattle queen and come to his castle.

And he laughed the way he does.

His castle. This is where he brought me.

10,000 acres of nothing.

- This is a fine ranch.

- For men, horses, and bulls.

For a woman,

it's 10,000 acres of Ionesomeness.

No. I can't ever go back home.

But now you're here,

I don't want to go back anyway.

This will just be the first time, Jube.

We'll find ways. Lots of ways.

This isn't the first time, Mae.

This is the last time.

- Why?

- Because of Shep. He's my friend.

It isn't that at all. It's that new girl

with the Rawhiders, isn't it?

- She's just a kid.

- What difference does that make?

- What do you mean...

- When are you going to see her again?

Don't you think

you better go back to the house, Mae...

before your husband misses you.

If I go back there, I'll be missing you.

Suppose he was dead.

Would you come to me then?

Don't worry. I've thought about it.

Anyway, you go have yourself

some Rawhider fun and I hope you enjoy it.

You don't know

how sorry you're going to be.

I'm sorry already.

All right, baby. All right, now.

You're going to die, too,

unless you come with me. Come on, honey.

Little honey.

Don't come with me,

you'll be dead like your mama was.

Man, I'm hungry enough

to eat a hairy old saddle blanket.

All right, Troop.

I bring him in, you do the wet-nursing.

- Mountain lion?

- Yep.

Whoa there now.

He got his mama, but I got him.

Easy, boy, easy.

I shot the guts right out of him.

Easy now.

It's funny. You know,

nobody learns without help.

Even Pinky seems to be learning.

Maybe he don't hate us no more, huh?

You're a good foreman, Jube.

You know men.

- You know much about women?

- I can't say I do. Why?

Mae. Things ain't right between us.

You've been around. You've seen us.

You know anything I can do

to make her like me better?

Of course,

I can't change this ugly face none...

but maybe some things I do,

I don't do right.

There's a lot of things a man does

that bother a woman.

Like what?

- Like slurping coffee out of a saucer.

- Yeah?

Spitting. Scratching.

Whacking her on the behind

when she isn't looking.

- Why, I always do that.

- You mean, in front of company?

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