The Ballad of Cable Hogue Page #6

Hey. Hey!

- Hey, Taggart.

- Oh, my God.

Hey! Taggart!

Taggart. Son of a b*tch, Taggart.

Please, Taggart.

God.

- Taggart, I'm leaving this place.

- Not without me.

Hold up there, boys.

Now, you can start taking off your duds.

Get them off.

Keep your underwear, that's all.

And your boots, get them off.

Boots.

- Socks too.

- Socks?

Now...

...you're gonna head back out

through them hills.

Because if I catch you on a road,

I'm gonna kill you.

But there's no water.

And don't that sound familiar?

I ain't going.

You ain't got the guts, Hogue.

No. No, no.

No, Cable.

No.

Hey, what's that?

- What?

- That.

I seen one once before.

- Out here, on them roads?

- It go anywhere.

Help! Help!

He's gonna kill me!

Kill me!

Stop!

Stop!

You damn, dumb, dumb bastards.

Horseless carriage.

Don't look that good to me.

Went right on by.

Well...

...that's gonna be

the next fella's worry.

I can't go it out there, Cable.

- That right?

- It wasn't my fault.

All I did was...

I'm sorry, Cable.

You know how it was with Taggart.

Yeah, I know.

Bury him.

Bury him.

He's under.

Good.

What else would you like me to do?

What kind of a cockeyed

schedule is this?

Ain't got no passengers,

just two, three sacks of mail.

Well, it don't matter really.

I'm leaving.

- Leaving?

- You leaving the desert?

It's a big world, fellas.

I wanna see some of it.

Next stop, San Francisco.

You serious?

So you're really going in

amongst them, Hogue?

- Shoot, that ain't like you.

- Ain't it?

- You just watch me.

- He means it.

- You bet I mean it.

- Now, hold on.

You just can't up and leave

the station like this.

Well, what are we gonna do

between Deaddog and Lizard?

Gentlemen, I'd like you

to meet my former partner...

...Samuel D. Bowen.

Hey, get some clothes on.

Yes, sir.

Now, wait a minute.

- You can't leave some fool...

- Samuel D. Bowen!

...running around in his long johns

in charge here.

My God, what's that?

Ugly-Iooking damn thing, ain't it?

Kind of strange, moving all by itself.

I seen two before.

That there lady is Hildy.

Hi, Hogue.

The ladiest damn lady I ever saw.

I beg your pardon, sir.

- Might I borrow a tank of water?

- No.

No, no.

Mr. Cable Hogue don't

let nobody borrow nothing.

Hey, Cable?

Cable.

How much water you think

this thing will take?

Three, maybe four horses' worth?

Well, how the hell would I know?

You're in charge here, Bowen.

That'll be five horses' worth,

not a cent less.

Pull it up on the rise

and help me fetch the water.

Get that damn thing out of here...

...before my team takes a notion

to tromp the hell out of it.

Hildy, you do look fine.

I guess you found one of those rich

husbands you was always looking for.

Well, let's just put it

this way, Hogue.

I ain't hurting no more.

I was just headed for New Orleans.

I stopped by to check

to see if maybe you was ready.

I'm ready.

You'd leave your desert, Hogue?

Hell, I've already gone, honey.

I'll go get ready.

I'll be back in a minute.

We got nothing but time, Hogue...

...nothing but time.

Hey, fellas, I'm headed

for New Orleans, in style.

By God, I wish

I was going with you.

Hey.

I seen two before.

I guess you need the water

for the steam, huh?

- No. It burns gasoline.

- Oh, yeah, burns it. Yeah.

Did you hear that, Cable?

It burns gasoline.

Well, of course it does.

You know, maybe a fella could pick up

some extra money selling that too.

That gasoline.

Mister, that'll cost you 10 cents more.

Hey, Bowen.

- Hogue, watch out.

- Hold it.

Hold it.

Oh, my God. Hogue?

Son of a b*tch

kicks worse than a mule.

- You hurt, Cable?

- Hell, I'm all right.

No, I'm not.

Hell, Hogue. It's a long ways

from your heart and on the wrong side.

Well, thanks, fellas.

Much better out here.

Josh.

Well, well, brother Hogue.

What's all this?

What in the hell is that?

Just a means of transportation.

- Well, it sure is an ugly thing.

- You don't look so good, Cable.

- Are you in trouble?

- No trouble, just dying. Last reckoning.

Well, it comes to us all.

Prepare yourself, Cable.

Oh, shut up, Joshua. It ain't so.

You'll be up and around in no time.

- Cable?

- Yep.

I wanna thank you

for what you've done.

And here I waited three years

to get even with you.

I was gonna piss on your grave.

Boys, when I go just bury me where

the sand's soft and the digging's easy.

Oh, hush, Cable.

You're gonna be just fine.

Hildy. That man you was married to...

He died about a month back

of a stroke, in bed.

But he died happy.

I'll just bet he did.

As a matter of fact, if you gents would

be kind enough to move me inside...

...I'd kind of like to throw a little...

- Oh, Cable Hogue.

- Hang in there.

- Brother Hogue...

...this is a time for deep and serious

reflection, not of base and vile lust.

Josh, it's about time

you earned your keep.

- Preach me a funeral sermon.

- Oh, for heaven's sake.

A good one. Don't make me out no

saint, but don't put me down too deep.

- You mean now?

- Yeah.

It's not so much the dying

that you hate...

...it's not knowing what they're

gonna say about you, that's all.

Now, all my life I've been

scared of this living.

Now...

...gotta do the other.

Well, come on, now,

I can't wait all day.

I ain't got any time.

- Brethren!

- Bull's eye! See?

We are gathered here...

...in the sight of God and all his glory...

...to lay to rest Cable Hogue.

- Cable Hogue. Amen to that.

Now, most funeral orations,

Lord, lie about a man.

Compare him to the angels,

whitewash him with a really wide brush.

But, you know, Lord,

and I know that it just is not true.

Hang in there, preacher.

Now, a man is made out of bad

as well as good, all of us.

Cable Hogue was born into this world,

nobody knows when or where.

He came stumbling out of the

wilderness like a prophet of old.

Sounds right, is right.

Out of the barren wastes

he carved himself a one-man kingdom.

- I don't know.

- Some said he was ruthless.

- Who said that?

- More than one, Hogue.

But you could do worse, Lord...

...than to take to your bosom

Cable Hogue.

He wasn't really a good man,

he wasn't a bad man.

But, Lord, he was a man.

Amen to that.

He charged too much...

...he was as stingy as they come.

Yes, he might have cheated,

but he was square about it.

Rich or poor,

he gouged them all the same.

When Cable Hogue died...

...there wasn't an animal

in the desert he didn't know.

There wasn't a star

in the firmament he hadn't named.

There wasn't a man he was afraid of.

Now the sand he fought and loved

so long has covered him at last.

Now he has gone into

the whole torrent of the years...

...of the souls that pass

and never stop.

In some ways he was

your dim reflection, Lord...

...and right or wrong,

I feel he is worth consideration.

But if you feel he is not...

...you should know that Hogue

lived then died here in the desert.

And I'm sure hell will

never be too hot for him.

He never went to church.

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