Rooster Cogburn Page #3

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It'll take till morning to fix it.

Nothin' is keeping that gold from me.

Nothin', you hear? Nothin'!

I'll ride with Breed to Goldstrike,

he'll size up the bank, I'll plan.

If this nitro ain't in town by Friday,

the game's over. - Hawk,

I'm gonna ride along with you.

Gotta get to a Doc, before it's quits.

Ride along, but don't hold me back.

I ain't got time for no cripple.

We won't let you down, boss.

- Don't. I ain't a good loser.

Wolf, I got a hunch

we're just a little way from trouble.

Get up there

and take a care look-see around.

I'll try and keep

her ladyship occupied. - Yes, sir.

Marshal Cogburn,

we are here together and it is

our obligation to be on good terms.

If we avoid remarks on the Civil War,

there'll be no open hostility.

Sister, why don't you step down.

We'll give the horses' backs a rest.

Get a little stretch.

Why are you called Rooster?

I never heard a man called that.

I guess in the old days,

I was cocky,

kind of a struttin' bird.

- And have not changed much, as I see.

My tail feathers

may droop a bit, and my wattles show,

but I can still out-crow anything

in the barnyard. - No doubt.

But can you outdo them?

If I couldn't, I wouldn't have

much to crow about, would l?

It all depends on the barnyard.

Is Rooster your Christian name?

I was baptized Reuben.

But I ask you not to repeat that.

Why not? It's a name to be proud of.

Reuben led a great tribe in Israel.

Well, it hit rock bottom with me.

I'm bound to ask you this. Is your

name in the Lamb's Book of Life?

Sister, are you licensed to preach?

What church do you belong to?

They let women preach in it?

I'm not an exhorter, Mr. Cogburn.

Service to others is my witness.

I'm a teacher,

and a journeyman nurse.

Ayah, I can pull teeth.

I'm sorry that you don't like me.

I just don't like the way you talk.

How should I talk?

Talking of such things is my business.

It isn't that, it's the way you talk.

"Ayah, ayah." What is that business?

Oh, it's my Yankee speech

that you find offensive? - I do.

I must try to remedy that.

Paul tells us

that we must be all things to all men.

I'll have to learn

some vulgar southern expressions.

I'll learn to be lazy and slovenly.

I'll tell you something else

that Paul said:

"Let your women be silent in church."

How do you know that passage?

Judge Parker is partial to it.

You're not the only one with a Bible.

He's got a big one.

Make two or three of yours.

It's not the size that's important,

but your knowledge of its contents.

"Repent ye therefore

and be converted."

You have somethin' to say

from that book for every occasion.

Ayah. It was my primer. In Boston

children learn to read from it.

I figured you for a Yankee,

but you look more like a prairie bird.

Boney and tough.

As the only girl

in a family of boys,

I grew up more strong and independent

than a woman should be.

Amen, Sister. Amen.

Marshal, you're praying.

That's the first step

on the road to salvation.

This ain't no

church social nor revival meeting.

So don't try to convert me, Sister,

or I'll end up with a empty sack.

Marshal Cogburn,

a wagon and riders.

Ayah, that's the wagon.

I recognize that wagon.

Just the way I figured.

You pay heed to every word I say,

until this thing is over.

Naturally, Marshal.

Let's go.

Wolf, you to take the horses

and hide them.

Signal from up there when they come.

When I yell "posse" shoot in the air,

make a lot of noise.

Don't shoot at them,

you might hit the nitro.

You got that straight?

Let me show you, there.

You pull that back,

point it up in the air, squeeze it.

Do you understand?

- Yes, I think I understand.

Get up behind

that broken log. - Right.

Don't forget, that thing's loaded.

- No, no, I'll remember.

Sister,

they're comin'.

What's going on? Get these logs

out of the road. - I wouldn't do that.

Rooster J. Cogburn, US Marshal.

My posse has got you surrounded.

Keep your hand away from the rifles.

Anybody can say he's a Marshal.

Where's all your men?

You know who I am,

you riff-raff, and what I'll do.

I'm arrestin' you all and takin' you

and the wagon to Fort Smith.

Clamp your hands on your heads

and get off the horses.

He ain't got nobody with him.

He's bluffin' - Hope so.

You're all talk.

We ain't afraid of you.

Next one goes into that nitro.

OK, dismount, boys.

That's more like it.

Damn your murderin' hides.

Meet your maker.

Posse.

He's got a posse.

- Let's get out of here.

You alright, Sister?

Wolf, give me a hand with the logs.

- Yes, sir.

Marshal, thank God you're safe.

Wolf, that was a great shot.

- But I didn't shoot.

You shot him across that nitro?

You could have killed us all.

If I hadn't shot him,

you'd be dead instead of him.

Were you trying to talk him to death?

If that worked,

you wouldn't need that rifle.

I'll to say a few words over the dead.

Good or bad, they're God's own.

They look like they're past carin',

but go ahead.

Lord have mercy on us for what we did.

"l am the resurrection

and the life," sayeth the Lord.

"He that believeth in me,

though dead, yet shall he live.

And whosoever liveth and believeth

in me shall never die.

The Lord gave and He taketh away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

We brought nothing

into this world

and it is certain

that we can take nothing out.

Unto Almighty God

I commend these souls."

Hurry it up, Sister,

or we'll be joinin' them.

"For thine is the Kingdom,

the power and glory forever. Amen.

Earth to earth,

ashes to ashes and dust to dust."

Dust to dust. Get on the wagon.

My father's murderer

was not among them.

There's a Federal bank at Goldstrike.

Hawk's there settin' up the stealin'.

I'm gonna bait me a rat-trap.

And this is the cheese.

Be careful

you do not end up as the cheese.

Sister, your confidence in me

is inspiring.

I' gonna take this wagon

to Sulfur Bottom and wait for them.

Spring my trap on my own ground.

That's not what's worryin' me.

You gotta help me protect her, son.

- Yes, we'll protect her. - Good boy.

How'd a blue-blooded lady like you

ever learn to shoot like that?

My first beau taught me

how to shoot and equitation.

Equitation?

- Ayah. You know. Horseback riding.

I've been doin' that for 10 lustrums.

Lustrums?

Ayah. I see.

To continue,

my first beau was

a dashing young man. A bit simple.

I think my manner scared him off.

He taught me to shoot well,

don't you agree?

- Fair.

How old are you?

Shall we say,

it has already struck midnight.

How much do you weigh?

- My word!

I don't mind scrawny women.

My first wife was nothing but bones.

I didn't know you were married.

- Yeah, she left me.

Rather like Jack Spratt and wife,

only in reverse.

The Spratts had

a very good arrangement, I must say.

Do you get paid for every conversion?

- No, it doesn't work like that.

No fees?

- No fees.

And you haven't got your own money?

- Very little. - I thought that.

Are you scouting for a rich widow?

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