Texas Page #5

that we establish a price...

that will give me at least an even break.

Since I'm the one who's going to have to

worry about the stampedes and things...

I figure that a fair price

for your beef would be...

- $2 a head.

- $2?

That wouldn't even pay for the hide.

Just a minute, friends.

I knew this was too good to be true.

You'd think from the way you're acting

I was trying to rustle your cattle.

There ain't a man in here who can say

that I ever took advantage of a living soul.

You're being a little unreasonable.

I think $2 a head for your beef is a fair price.

- What'll you sell them for?

- Yeah, what'll you get for them?

I don't even know

I'm going to get them through.

I might have to turn back

the same as you did.

Windy's right. We can't get them through...

and there ain't no sense

of fooling ourselves anymore.

Of course, $2 a head ain't very much.

You can have mine for $2.

I've got 4,000 heads you can have at $2.

Mine, too, I have 5,000.

You can have the Flying W.

- What's the matter with you?

- Listen, friends!

Maybe Windy is trying to help us...

and then again,

maybe he is trying to help himself.

You know as well as I do

if the East hasn't had beef for four years...

the market price is way up.

That means the average steer should bring

$15, $18 a head, maybe more.

I ask you people, just who

do you think Windy's more interested in:

Us or himself?

Please, just a minute.

Shut up. Go ahead, Tod, say your piece.

- Yeah, go ahead.

- All right.

All I'm saying is that the $2 a head

that Windy's offering...

that may be a lot of money

to his way of thinking.

But $18 a head is a whole lot more

and that's what we can get in Abilene.

You've tried it and failed.

Sure we failed

because this is the same as the gold rush.

Everybody trying to get there first.

But you've proven what Dusty King

tried to tell them for months.

That the only way we'll make it

is to get together a big herd.

The biggest this state ever saw...

and some of them are bound to get through.

I ask you men here with big herds...

isn't $18 a head

worth taking some risks for?

- Come on outside and settle it like a man.

- What?

They're gonna be talking about cattle

for hours, let's go.

I happen to be interested

in what they're talking about.

That's because you've never listened to me.

Come on. Tod can take care of that.

What?

- Nope, you ain't.

- I ain't what?

You ain't as pretty in the moonlight

as you are in the sunlight.

Why you, blankety-blank

hamstrung hunk of jerky beef, l...

Don't get upset, nobody's perfect.

- I'll marry you, anyway.

- You...

I wouldn't marry you...

- if you were the last man in the world.

- Last man in the world.

Good night, Mike.

Come in.

Sit in the chair there, Windy.

It kind of bothered you, didn't it?

First time in my life I ever upset

the apple cart with one of my own speeches.

There ain't no use denying it.

We've got a mess on our hands.

You may remember I didn't want to come

to Texas in the first place.

- It was your idea.

- This is not the first idea...

something's happened to us.

You got a bad bicuspid there.

Wait a minute.

You fixed that the last time I was here.

- I did?

- You sure did.

It looks like there ain't but one thing

left to do. That's to get Tod Ramsey.

- I can go out there...

- I like you, Matt.

You're a simple man of direct action.

Thanks, Doc.

But it so happens that's the worst thing

we could do right now.

Let me take a look at that, Windy.

After that meeting tonight...

Tod Ramsey will be the rallying point

for every rancher in this section.

- Are you sure I put that in?

- Yes.

You ought to know.

If he gets hurt, I'm afraid

people will begin to wonder why.

That's 100% right. But remember this, Doc...

if one man gets through

to Abilene with his cattle...

we might as well throw all our ideas

out the window.

This young squirt

ain't going to get through.

We've just got to begin all over again...

at the beginning.

It came out.

I knew that wasn't one of mine.

It's one of them dang Kansas City jobs.

You go back to Abilene, Windy.

Matt, you take 1,000 head and join the drive.

That's crazy, Doc. Me join the drive?

It'll be crazier if you don't.

The color of this whole thing

has changed in the last few hours.

Every rancher around here

is going with him...

and the quickest way to attract attention

to yourself is not to go.

- But you're gonna raid them, ain't you?

- You can bet your life we are.

This time, they'll know it, too.

It'll hit them so hard that in the future...

not a man in this state

will move a steer out of his own backyard.

What do you know? You had two bad ones.

That's the trouble with using

that cheap stuff.

A little gold in that.

Forward eight, fall back eight

Forward again, with a right, left through

and a right, left back

Meet your pardner, promenade eight

Round the old track

till you come out straight

Alaman left with your left hand,

back to your pardner, right and left grand

Rope that cow, brand that calf

Meet your honey with a once and a half

Treat them all alike, treat them all the same

Treat them all alike, no cheating in the game

Meet your pardner with an elbow whirl

Promenade around the world

Promenade, you know where, I don't care

And put that pretty girl in this chair

Time out for refreshments.

While I'm still up here,

I want to make a little speech.

Tomorrow is a big day

in the history of Texas.

Tod Ramsey is going up the trail...

with 6,000 head of cattle.

Seven thousand, Doc, you forgot mine.

Thanks, Lashan.

Seven thousand head of cattle.

I want to say...

here's hoping he gets through to Abilene,

without losing a single steer.

- Sanctimonious old buzzard, ain't you?

- It pays, don't it?

- How's things?

- Fine, Doc.

Boys all set?

- They're riding advance guard.

- Guard?

- Just to see that nothing happens.

- That's good.

- Doc, I want to talk to you about my teeth.

- What's the matter with them?

They're noisy, that's what they are, listen.

They're bound to clatter a little

at first until they get set.

That ain't what you told me.

Just keep right on chewing with them

and they'll be fine.

You'll get them back

if they don't stop clicking.

Why so quiet?

- I'm just thinking.

- What about?

Why are you going to New Orleans?

To see about a new cattle market.

- How long you gonna be gone?

- Couple of weeks.

- Going to miss me?

- You know I will.

I'll miss you, too.

But then we'll be together a long time

after we're married.

What's the matter?

You are in love with me, aren't you?

- Is that what this is? Love?

- What else?

I don't know, Dan.

It's all happened so fast.

That's the way it's supposed to happen.

Fast.

- What about it? When do we hit them?

- I want to talk about that.

We've already let them come

farther than Lashan said.

He said to hit them

after they crossed the Red River.

They did that three days ago.

I know what he said.

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