The Mountain Men Page #3

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I have no more words.

Iron Belly.

You will know when you find it.

Damn your eyes, Running Moon.

I left you possibles to get you home,

didn't I?

Well, damn it!

Voil! You're sober now,

huh, Billy Tyler?

Sure you can take her?

Better watch out, Billy,

she's gonna lift your hair!

- What'd you do that for?

- You lied to me!

- You said you'd go when I asked you.

- But you have not said so.

Running Moon, why don't you go home?

I have no home.

Oh, for Christ's sake!

It is the custom of my people.

I go with you.

Tribal custom? Sacre dame!

She's trs pumpkin, Billy Tyler.

I never heard of no such tribal custom.

If Tyler does not want the squaw...

...I take the squaw.

That's my tribal custom. Huh?

What d'you wanna latch on to me for?

I have nowhere to go.

Hey, Tyler,

you give me that Crow of a b*tch, huh?

I'm not afraid of her. She won't hurt me.

Excuse me.

You don't wanna get him riled, froggy.

He might have you for lunch. There you go.

Well, I thank you.

Why don't you learn trapping?

Take up a decent trade, instead of

latching on to that damn wagon string.

Train. Wagon train.

Come on.

We're going clear to Oregon, Mr Tyler.

You won't get past the Snake!

You can't get wagons

through the mountains!

Damn pilgrim!

Dumb a**hole.

Reckon you're gonna keep her?

You reckon I got any choice?

I don't know. Got sand in her, she does.

Hell.

Kicked the sh*t out of you.

Christ. Sand.

You ain't gonna catch nothing up here

except rheumatism, Tyler.

We'd best move on in the morning.

This sure Lord ain't the place.

Yes, sir,

whole valley swarming with beaver...

...fighting to get into your trap.

- "Take me, take me," they say.

- God damn it, Henry.

A place like that ain't gonna be

easy to find, it stands to reason.

You see any sign?

Sure as sh*t ain't no sign of beaver.

I don't mean beaver sign.

Oh, maybe. I can smell Blackfoot a mile off.

No offence, Running Moon.

This child smells Blackfoot, too.

Nothing particular, just a feeling.

My people come here many times.

- You've been here before?

- Many times.

- Why in the hell didn't you say so?

- You did not ask.

You know about this valley

all full of beaver?

My people kept it a secret

from the other tribes.

They say it was rich in fur,

thick and sleek.

- Where in the hell is it?

- I don't know. I don't remember.

What do you mean, you don't remember?

- You was raised here, for Christ's sake...

- Henry!

She says she don't know.

It's only a legend.

Well...

- Where you been?

- Trapping.

- Any Injun sign?

- Oh, some.

- Do you reckon they'll be back?

- Not the ones that tangled with me.

You look all tuckered out, Bill.

I think you're getting too old

for the mountains.

- Losing your wind.

- Could be, Henry.

Could be.

Injuns!

Injuns, God damn it!

Damn Blackfoot stealing my mules.

If I was you, I'd let them keep them.

Anyways, you was guarding the stock.

They snuck up on me, God damn it.

That's what Injuns do for a living.

Heavy Eagle.

- Him?

- No.

Do you reckon he saw you?

Looks like they crossed here.

Must be halfway to Three Forks.

Running Moon!

Running...

I thought you'd gone under.

Heavy Eagle will hunt us.

His blood burns. He will...

Where's Frapp?

Where's my shirt?

Damn it. Running Moon, where's my shirt?

You promised to mend it.

Damn thing's plumb wore out anyways.

Well, what'd...

Well, now, then.

That shines. That...

That truly shines.

The woman is of our nation. She's mine.

- Go on, get!

- I stay with you.

- You'll go under if you do.

- I stay!

Running Moon!

Running...

Where's Running Moon?

Is the long knife a swift runner?

What do you mean, run?

It was not for me to decide.

The council of elders are like squaws.

The white man's medicine makes us weak.

We die like flies at Fort McKenzie.

You mean the pox?

We trade at the fort,

and our faces rot and fall off.

Even the wolves will not touch us.

This is strange, evil medicine.

And we can do nothing about it.

But you and I are the same.

A few passing suns will see us no more.

Our bones will bleach in the sun

with the bones of the buffalo.

But we shall be remembered.

Tomorrow, you'll see your last sunrise.

Where is Running Moon?

She is dead.

Run.

He cannot be found.

You hunt for him still?

No man can live in that water.

Not the Gros Ventre.

- He is dead.

- I survived.

When his scalp...

...hangs from my lodge...

...when his head sits on my spear...

...then he will be dead.

It will be winter soon.

Running Moon, go. Bring us wood.

We have little to eat.

We must move the village.

When the snow fall, it will hide his tracks.

We need no tracks.

We will move the village

before the snow come.

Then we will hunt.

There is only one place

he can survive the winter.

In the village of Iron Belly, the Crow.

Git!

Go on!

- You black your face for a hunt?

- For this hunt.

Christ.

I am dying.

There is no more.

I am hungry, too.

I am Medicine Wolf.

I will not die like a slave.

Medicine Wolf?

You know Bill Tyler? He spoke of you.

- Bill Tyler is my friend.

- When did you see him?

- Was he not in your village?

- No.

He escaped from Heavy Eagle

before the winter.

- Maybe he go under.

- No.

I know that he's alive.

Maybe he go north.

Yellowstone country.

Many trappers winter on the Madison River.

I am Tyler's woman.

I will bring you more.

What the hell took you, Tyler?

Henry?

Sit your ass down and have a cup of coffee.

Oh, that's good, man.

That's mighty good.

Look here, Henry.

If I'd a knowed...

You was laying there scalped.

If I'd a knowed you weren't dead...

I never would've left you, not for nothing.

You don't have to tell me that,

for Christ's sake. I know that.

Well, I was laying there.

Come to all by my lonesome.

Them Blackfeet was so busy

taking off after you...

...they even forgot to take my rifle.

I got back to camp, I seen you was gone.

Just walked the hell out of there.

Takes a lot more than a scalping knife

to put this child under.

It sure must've smarted some, though.

Well, I guess.

Ain't that the shits?

I tell you, it felt mighty queersome.

Hey, where in the hell's Running Moon?

She's gone under, Henry...

...when Heavy Eagle stove her head in.

Oh, sh*t.

God damn!

She was some pumpkin, too.

Well...

Say, you ever find that valley?

The one that's

always swarming with the beavers?

Where they run up on the banks

and fight one another to get in your trap?

Hollering, "Take me, Bill Tyler! Take me!"

Beaver, many as stars in the sky.

- There's an old horse outside.

- What?

There's an old horse outside.

You are only a slave.

They will not go after you.

Find Tyler. Tell him I wait.

Go.

Before I got there, he'd burnt it out.

Killed the old man,

and the squaws and the young ones, too.

Left me between a rock and a hard place.

All I could do was try for the Flathead

countries, see if they'd take me in.

I worked across the Yellowstone.

Yeah, you got the hair of the bear on you,

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