Mother Lode Page #4

- And I know what he thinks.

I'm sorry for him.

This country is no place

for a bonny lassie like you.

Take the man you got

and get home with you.

While you still can.

Jean, for God's sake.

I just talked to McGee.

What?

He had a picture of his brother.

And they looked almost exactly alike.

I couldn't even tell them apart.

It's down here, Andrea.

I'm gonna find it.

- Jean, he knows we're down here.

- How does he know that?

I told him.

You really have no idea

what's at stake here, do you?

Do you?

Jean, please.

Can't we just... What? What is it?

- He's not working.

- What?

He's not working this part of the mine.

It's a dummy hole.

- He was working the other tunnel...

- No, he wasn't. Christ!

- This whole thing, it's a show.

- But maybe...

Okay. Look. I've gotta be sure.

Take some samples from the floor.

I'll be right back.

No!

You tell me where you're going.

Please.

Jean?

Jean, I found something here.

Andrea, stay there.

What's wrong?

Jean?

McGee.

No!

Andrea.

Andrea.

McGee.

McGee!

Morning.

Something the matter with your plane?

Where's Andrea?

- Dead.

- What?

She's dead, Elijha.

- McGee?

- Dead.

You kill him?

Yes.

He kill Andrea?

Yes.

Getting cold in the mornings already.

You notice that?

- You knew about McGee.

- It's my business to know.

- Why didn't you tell me?

- Would it have made any difference?

Probably not.

You want that gold awful bad,

don't you?

It's all I got left.

You know what I think

about that gold, Jean?

I think there isn't any.

There's always one place

you haven't looked.

I'll be back this way in a day or two.

I'll take you down to Telegraph Creek.

If you can stay alive.

Balls.

Jesus!

Mud. Nothing but mud.

You're not hurt are you, lad?

Now, you listen to what I have to tell you.

It weren't me.

- Go to hell.

- It was Ian.

You said he was dead.

So he is.

So he is.

He's dead. All right, lad.

Only it was you that killed him.

Do not trouble yourself.

He was a murderous bastard.

Lan believed in the mother lode,

you see.

The old Indian

who first dug out this mine...

...my brother killed him for it...

...just on the chance of the gold

being there.

And then no more

than a fortnight or two ago...

...that geologist chap

that you were asking about.

- Patterson.

- Patterson, aye.

He came snooping around here

just like you.

I told him to clear out.

He would not listen to me.

Lan dropped a hanging wall on him.

Threw the body down the shaft.

Lan dug that, you know,

400 foot through solid rock.

He knew the gold was there, you see.

He knew.

When we were getting close,

we sunk this shaft...

...and put the cabin on top of it

to keep the snipers away.

Oh, that is what you are, Mr. Dupre.

Sniper.

- What gold?

- The mother lode.

The glory hole, lad.

The very source of all the gold

been washing down these streams...

...for 10,000 year.

Lan killed Patterson for it.

And he killed your lovely Andrea for it.

Damn his soul.

He would have killed you too

if you had not done him in.

I tried. I tried to warn you.

I told you to stay out of the mine.

Could not very well tell you my baby brother

was a murderer. Now, could I?

McGee, there's no gold.

- Of course, there is.

- Where?

- In the mine, for the love of God.

- I was down there.

It's nothing but country rock.

There's nothing there.

There is!

Do you think it's just out in the open

so you only have to scrape it off the walls?

You're infernal ignorant

if you believe that. No.

It's there, all right. Only you can't see it.

Not yet.

Just another few foot of rock to blast away

and you'll see it right enough.

Now, take a last good nip of that whiskey.

We got work to do.

Aye, that's the catch.

The tunnel's filling up.

Seepage from the creek.

I don't know how much longer

I can stay ahead of it.

Perhaps a month, and then it floods.

I'll give you half, lad. Half.

I killed your brother for chrissake.

- Doesn't that mean anything to you?

- You only put him out of his misery, lad.

We'll say no more

about this nasty business.

What about Andrea?

My God.

Are you daft? It's the mother lode.

Do you hear?

The richest gold mine in the world.

Are you daft?

Look, there's more gold down there

than you've ever dreamt of.

And in less than a month, won't nobody be

able to get at it because it'll be drowned.

I could work it alone, but what

with pumping and mucking and what all...

...I'd be lucky to pull out a third of what

the two of us could, working together.

It's common sense.

What makes you think

I'm not gonna walk out of here right now?

I suppose you could.

But I do not think you will.

I found this in my diggings.

Your lassie must have dropped it.

Give it to me.

When you went into that mine...

...when you climbed down 400 foot of shaft

with hot sweat running down your back...

...not knowing

whether you'd get out of it or no...

...were you thinking about that girl?

Or were you thinking about the gold?

It's the mother lode.

The mother lode!

I thought... I thought you were McGee.

He got down the air shaft.

He pulled me out before the blast.

He told me to hide in the woods.

I was sure you'd been killed.

What do you mean?

Who got you out?

Lan.

He saved my life.

Oh, dear God.

What? What's wrong?

Pack your gear. Just your sleeping bag

and some warm clothes.

- We're getting out of here.

- Now? Like this?

Damn right. If McGee finds out you're alive,

he'll kill us both.

No.

We can't just leave. What about Ian?

I killed him.

- God.

- I thought he was McGee.

He came up behind me in the cabin.

It was dark.

And what about the gold?

There isn't any.

Have you seen the, uh, compass?

Andrea?

Andrea.

Andrea!

McGee!

McGee.

McGee!

McGEE:

Aye?

Let her go.

McGEE:

I couldn't do that.

Let her go...

...and we'll leave.

I swear it.

We'll clear out.

We can walk out, all right?

McGEE:

I have no doubt you could.

And then tell every sniper

in the north country...

...you found the mother lode.

Just...

...let her come with me.

I swear I won't tell a soul!

McGEE:
A dead man

don't tell nothing, Master Dupre.

Twenty-nine year I worked in this hole.

Twenty-nine year for the mother lode,

Master Dupre.

And not you, not your lassie...

...not anyone else

is going to take it from me. Do you hear?

I've got more gold in my mouth

than you got in this mine, McGee!

Let her go!

Killed the wrong man, have you, laddie?

Lassie...

...you shouldn't have done that.

It was the gold, lass.

The mother lode.

Twenty-nine year, I broke my back for it

with Ian hanging on to me like a leech.

Aye.

Lan fancied you, he did.

May the good Lord

have mercy on your soul.

Move!

Empty is it, lad?

That's too bad.

Oh, for Chrissake.

Morning.

Morning.

- Glad to see you alive, young lady.

- Yeah.

Me too.

Where'd you come from this time,

old man?

Just downriver. Where you headed for?

Downriver.

Hop in.

- I'll give you a ride on down to Wrangle.

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