Silverado Page #9

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PADEN:

You're wearing my hat. What else you

got that's mine?

UGLY COWBOY:

I don't know what you're talking

about, mister.

He shifts a little in his chair. His right hand slides off

the table. Bystanders back away. Emmett watches from the

bar.

PADEN:

I hope your hand isn't tickling my

bone-handled Colt. If you stand up

real slow and let me see, you might

live through this night.

The Ugly Cowboy hesitates, his eyes darting. He pushes his

chair back slowly and begins to rise as if in compliance.

But now a bone-handled Colt is in his hand, clearing his

holster. Paden is quicker. He snatches his gun from his belt

and fires.

Paden's eyes, squinting through a cloud of gunsmoke, as we

hear the Ugly Cowboy's body CRASH to the floor in his chair.

Paden's glance now darts down at an angle.

WHAT HE SEES. His hat lands on the saloon floor, spins once

on its brim, and settles into stillness like a tossed coin.

Silence in the saloon. Then, in a far corner, the BANGING of

chairs and a door SLAMMING. Paden's gun points that way, but

there is no one there. Only an overturned chair, and an empty

pair of boots -- Paden's.

Paden picks up his hat and walks toward his boots. Emmett

moves to the dead man, unbuckles the gunbelt, and pulls it

free of the body. He picks up the bone-handled Colt and puts

it in the holster, then stops abruptly. We hear the steady

advance of FOOTSTEPS across the saloon floor. Emmett's eyes

follow the off-screen presence.

Paden, seated, is pulling on his newly-regained boots with a

delighted air when a shadow surges up and engulfs him. He

looks up.

Sheriff Langston towers over him.

INT. CELLBLOCK - NIGHT

Paden is brusquely deposited in the cell next to a surprised

Jake by Sheriff Langston and DEPUTY BLOCK.

PADEN:

You're making a big mistake.

Langston is not interested. He and Block go out.

JAKE:

That's what I told 'em.

INT. SHERIFF'S OFFICE - NIGHT

Deputy Block eyes Emmett, who loiters by the door as Langston

settles himself.

LANGSTON:

Maybe I ought to throw you in jail

too. Then you could be with all your

friends.

EMMETT:

I haven't done anything.

LANGSTON:

I want you out of town before the

hanging.

EMMETT:

I'll be long gone.

OMIT:

INT. CELLBLOCK - NIGHT

Paden forlornly regards a snoring drunk in another cell as

Jake talks to him.

JAKE:

You mean you ain't coming with Emmett

and me?

PADEN:

I can't say I'm convinced you're

going anywhere.

JAKE:

Sure we are. We're leaving at dawn.

PADEN:

I've got no reason to run. It was a

fair fight and there were plenty of

witnesses.

JAKE:

(bubbly)

Yeah, that's what happened with me

too.

PADEN:

The other guy drew first.

JAKE:

(same for him)

Right!

Paden looks a little discouraged, but is still unconvinced.

EXT. GALLOWS - MAIN STREET - NIGHT

Emmett sits up on the new gallows in the deserted

intersection, his legs dangling through the dropped trap

door. Now he begins idly collecting wood shavings into a

little pile.

INT. CELLBLOCK - NIGHT

Paden steps close to the bars that separate the cells and

looks up at Jake, who is dangling at arm's length from one

of the overhead bars in his cell.

PADEN:

(whispering)

Your brother seems pretty good, but

it isn't going to be easy getting in

here.

Jake drops down to the floor.

JAKE:

He ain't coming in, we're going out.

(motions)

Gimme your belt.

Paden, trying to follow this, unbuckles his belt.

JAKE:

Didn't he tell you about Blind Pete?

PADEN:

(handing him the belt)

We didn't get that far.

JAKE:

Blind Pete taught me a great trick.

Jake grasps Paden's belt by the buckle and snaps it at Paden

with a CRACK, like a lion tamer.

INT. SHERIFF'S OFFICE - DAWN

Deputy Block cheats at solitaire while Langston dozes at his

desk. Now we hear FOOTSTEPS and BANGING outside.

STABLE BOY (O.S.)

Sheriff! Sheriff! Open up!

Block unlocks the door as Langston comes groggily to life. A

STABLE BOY bounces at the door, pointing off.

STABLE BOY:

Sheriff Langston, come quick!

He disappears. Langston goes out, calling back to Block --

LANGSTON:

Lock this door and don't let anybody

in.

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