The Last Sunset Page #2

terms are gonna be pretty high.

Well, you just name

your terms, Mr. O'Malley.

Only two.

First I take

a fifth of the herd.

It's outrageous.

Well, I fight better when

part of the property's mine.

But that's exorbitant.

You think about it.

All right. All right,

you've got your fifth. Good.

Now, wait a minute, you said you had

two conditions. What's the second?

Oh, yes, the second.

I want your wife.

You're joking.

No.

If I get the herd through for

you, I mean to take your wife.

You? You and my wife?

You and Mrs. Breckenridge...

A dirty shirt Irishman

and a Fitzleigh from Richmond.

Yes, I'll accept your

challenge. Yes, indeed.

And you can go to work.

You can go to work at once.

Hold it, O'Malley!

They told me you'd try to circle

around to get the sun in my eyes.

You did a little

circling yourself.

Insurance.

The sun was in Jimmy Graham's

face when you killed him.

I don't remember.

Well, a lot of

people do.

I got a warrant

for your arrest.

I'm taking you back to Frio

County, Texas, to stand trial.

Will you come voluntarily

or will I have to take you?

Say, it just happens that I'm

just headed for Texas right now.

Crazy Horse. Of course,

it isn't Frio County,

but you'd die a lot closer to home

than if I had to kill you here.

All right, let's go.

I'm running these

cattle up there.

You?

Yeah.

With a drunken owner, no trail

boss, a few vaqueros and myself.

What do you want in that outfit

you're willing to risk a hanging for?

Why don't you ride over

and find out?

Why not?

You know, Sheriff, this is Mexico.

Your warrant's no good here.

I'll serve it as soon as

we cross the Rio Grande.

Is that the gentleman you were

telling me about, Mr. O'Malley?

That's him.

They need a trail boss.

Mmm-hmm.

With just the two of us riding,

I can always keep you in sight.

But trailing cattle, it'd be too

easy to catch a bullet in the back.

I hope Mr. O'Malley has discussed the

possibilities of your joining up with us?

He has.

I'm not interested.

Why that's most unsettling.

I was counting on it.

You have any idea what

you're getting yourself into?

There's nothing on that trail

but rustlers and Indians.

And Johnny Rebs who crossed the border to

steal what they couldn't win in a fair fight.

I do beg your pardon.

I almost lost a leg

at Fredericksburg

in as fair a fight as

this world has ever seen.

I'm a Virginian and an officer

in the armies of the Confederacy.

I'm from Virginia, too,

except I served under Grant.

Oh, I beg your pardon.

Oh, forgive me. My dear,

allow me to present Mr...

Stribling.

Dana Stribling.

Mr. Stribling, my wife.

Almost forgot her.

I don't see how that

could be possible.

Well, bravo, you are

really a Virginian.

Why don't I show Mr.

Stribling around the place?

Might help him

change his mind.

That's a mighty

good idea, Mr. O'Malley.

It's right gracious of you.

Ma'am.

You know, I've got a nasty

feeling I've seen you before.

You were too drunk

to remember.

Bents Fort, Colorado.

So broke you were making

up rhymes for whiskey.

One free drink,

one free verse.

What's the matter?

Cost you a drink?

I'm gonna see that

you hang, O'Malley.

Ooh! Hanging's

a long-time proposition.

Well, Mr. Breckenridge, to

pull the 1,000 head of cattle,

you need two good point riders, four

swing riders, and one man on the tail.

You need a man to drive the mules, a

trail cook, a wrangler for the horses,

plus four horses in the

remuda for each rider.

I got plenty of horses

in the remuda.

My wife drove a chuck wagon

coming down here

and she's perfectly willing

to drive one going back.

And she's an

excellent trail cook.

Then she counts

for two men.

You've married well.

You ride, miss?

Oh, yes. I can even

work cattle on a horse.

Good.

She can ride herd on the remuda.

Give us another hand for the cattle.

My daughter's a lady.

A Southern lady.

If I'm trail boss,

my word goes

when it comes to running

the cattle, is that right?

Well, whatever you say.

We're ready to go.

Melissa.

We'll see how Milton's

doing with the herd.

Fine, Papa.

Mrs. Breckenridge,

it's not often I interfere

in somebody else's business,

but this is one of the

times I think I should.

O'Malley's a killer,

and as soon as he crosses the border

into Texas, I'm gonna see that he hangs.

Until then, my advice to you is to

keep your door locked when he's around.

He can't tell

one female from another.

And he don't care much,

either.

Please,

don't cause trouble.

Why did you say those things

about Mr. O'Malley?

Because they're true.

I'm not a child, Mr. Stribling. I'm

perfectly able to take care of myself.

It won't happen again.

It's a nice night,

isn't it?

Miss out on the nights,

you miss half your life.

Are you a killer?

Now, why do you

ask me that?

What they say.

Well, when you come right down to it,

all men in their hearts are killers.

But that's wrong.

Maybe it is.

I don't know.

When a man kills,

it means God let him,

because God could stop him

if he wanted to, couldn't he?

I don't understand.

Well, you asked

if I'm a killer,

I'm trying to tell you it's

not an easy question to answer,

but I have killed.

But you didn't

want to, did you?

No.

Do you like God?

Do you like God?

Well, of course, but...

I don't know him really.

Do you? Part of him.

Someday I'm going to

know all of him.

Oh, not all of him, Missy. That'd

be too much for anyone to know.

It would blind you.

Just learn to know rocks and

trees and stars and sunlight.

They're all

part of God, too.

Learn to know the sea.

I will when we

get to California.

Good. Find yourself a nice big boulder

with the waves breaking against it.

Look deep. Dream of

seahorses and they'll come.

Not many people know of it,

not many people care,

but the sea is a place where the seamen

shoe the hooves of the wild sea-mare.

Not many people have seen it,

nor caught the faintest gleam of the

ice-green cave in the deep green sea

in the heart of

the cold sea-stream,

where the sea-mare hides her young

sea-colt wrapped in a shy sea-dream.

But practically all of the

people known can absolutely say

that the foam on the sea is a sign that

you see the mare and her colt at play.

Oh, I like that.

Did you make that up?

A drunk made that up,

sitting in a saloon

in Bents Fort, Colorado.

Give him a subject, he'd write a verse.

"One free drink, one free verse. "

That must've been a part

of God, too. God in him.

Of course it was.

God has a special love for drunks

and fools and children like you.

I'm not a child.

I'm almost 16 years old.

I'm a woman.

Oh, Missy.

Put it away.

When I kill you, it'll be face-to-face

with both of us on our feet.

I'd like to believe that.

You can.

And here's something else

you can believe, too.

Never talk to me again

the way you did tonight.

The truth hurts,

doesn't it?

The truth hurts.

I'd like to know

the truth about you.

Just being sheriff isn't enough

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