The Scalphunters Page #2

A needle and thread. For sewing things.

Here we are, Joseph Lee,

in the Carden of Eden.

Just like Adam and Eve.

Chokecherries. They make a fine pudding.

You like pudding?

Joseph Lee, let's eat.

Co get 'em, Joseph Lee. I'm hungry.

I guess a slave like you got fed

pretty good in that big house kitchen.

Sleeping in a bed every night.

Maybe you should have stayed

where you was.

Vir libre quam in servitude.

"Better beans in freedom

than cake in slavery. "

Aesop. And he was a slave himself

back in the Creek times.

Trouble with you is

you read too many books.

You call it right when a man's a slave?

Owned, worked, beat all the time?

Natural state of affairs, Joseph Lee.

Black man started

being a slave in the Bible.

If Cod didn't want it that way, Cod

wouldn't have done it. Consult your Bible.

Cod didn't invent slavery.

The Egyptians did.

Sold all the children of Israel.

That ain't the way I read Scripture.

- What about Julius Caesar?

- Who?

Julius Caesar. He was an Italian. He made

slaves out of all you Englishmen.

Julius Caesar made slaves

of every kind of white man.

Put chains on 'em, dragged 'em

back to Rome and fed 'em to the lions.

Africans like me, we didn't care

that much for Julius Caesar.

Never heard of him.

That's cos you don't know how to read.

- I could bust you in the jaw.

- Wouldn't change anything.

And it wouldn't change you into

a white man. Cet that through your head.

Let's see you write your name.

Let's see you feed yourself, Julius Caesar.

You wait here, Joseph Lee.

I'm going to take a look around.

- Mr Bass!

- Shh!

Co down there and those people

will just kill the literal hell outta you.

Now, don't you move.

Mr Bass.

Shh.

Howie! How many times I gotta tell you?

Cet that sack of hair off my wagon.

Now, Kate, honey,

them scalps is worth $25 apiece.

That don't mean we gotta sleep with 'em.

- That little old smell bother you?

- That ain't all that's bothering me.

Kate. Kate.

- Morning, Miss Kate.

- Morning, Mr Howie.

Shut up.

Co get some clothes on. I don't want

these men getting horny notions.

Stop talking like a preacher.

If I had half the boots been under my bed,

I could outfit the US Cavalry.

- Hush and get back inside that wagon.

- I'm sick of that damn wagon.

Washing with no bathtub,

getting rats in my hair.

- I'm living like a squaw.

- Kate, honey.

Look at my skin. It's all dried up.

Soon I'm gonna look like an old prune.

- I like prunes.

- Howie, I'm warning you.

If you don't find someplace I can live

decent, you'll be sleeping with your horse.

Kate, honey. It's gonna be all right.

And stop chewing that damn tobacco!

You ever kiss anybody chewed tobacco?

Ain't she darling? Now you get

those horses hitched and let's move!

Move!

Damn.

Now, Kate, honey.

Don't get your pretty little

dooly-dooly all fussed up.

We was gonna have a fancy house.

With servants.

At last I was gonna live like a lady.

I should've stayed where I was.

You know, I knew a lady one time.

Chewed snuff. A redhead.

She'd stand on a piano and sing songs.

Damn.

Jim Howie, you got as much feelings

as a bald-headed hog.

Oh, Kate, honey.

There's no cause to talk that way.

I'm gonna get you these things. I told you.

Oh...

Centlemen. Am I glad to see you.

I have been chased and run over

every rock pile for the past 50 miles.

I saw your wagons, and I knew right there

my trials and tribulations were over.

- Anybody with you?

- Nobody, sir. Nobody at all.

- What's your name, son?

- Black Feather, sir.

I was adopted into the Wolf tribe

of the Comanche nation.

The Kiowas set up a terrible slaughter

on us three days ago. I escaped.

I'll just travel along with you gentlemen

till I get back to my tribe.

- What'll he sell for, Jed?

- Oh, about 1,000.

1500 on the Calveston block,

if he ain't lame or got belly worms.

Throw a rope on him.

- Let's move out!

- Hey! Hey!

Wait! Wait a minute! Wait a minute!

Stop! Wait!

I started out in life

a prosperous, good-looking trapper.

And now, by Cod,

I ain't even got a slave no more.

- Whoa!

- Hey, hold on.

- Cet up there, boy. Come on.

- No, sir.

- I said get up there. Right now.

- No, sir.

What the hell's going on down here?

Camp meeting?

I'm not gonna be worth anything

like this. Ruined on my feet.

- Drag him!

- Sir!

I'd be worth much more to you if you let

me ride. Besides, I'm slowing you down.

- Holding you back.

- That's the first good sense I heard today.

You hush up and read your stargazing

book and let me run my business.

Then why don't you run it

like you knew what you was doing?

Look at that. Ain't she pretty?

All right, let him ride. Move it out!

Thank you, sir.

Not now, Julius Caesar.

Heading for church, sonny?

No, sir, Mr Howie.

I was just, um... making a botanical study,

you might say.

You see that? Sagebrush.

Crows where nothing else will.

Make Indian tea from the leaves,

and it makes a passable fodder for stock.

Look around you, Mr Howie.

All natural creation! Here we are in the

Carden of Eden. Just like Adam and Eve.

- Cet that water the hell back up there.

- Yes, sir, Mr Howie. Yes, sir.

- Beans, beans, beans. I'll look like beans.

- Nothing wrong with beans, honey.

I like beans.

What I wouldn't give for a decent meal.

On a white linen tablecloth,

all fixed up nice.

I listen to you, Jim Howie, and I end up

bouncing over every rock in creation.

My hair's all snarled up like a dish mop.

When we gonna start living

in some kinda style?

When the hell we ever

gonna get to Mexico?

Miss Kate.

You see that? Maguey.

Did you know that that makes

a fine soap for a lady's care?

Brings the bloom of sunrise to her skin.

Used in the ancient times

by the Queen of Sheba

to restore the natural oils

to her beautiful blonde hair.

- You mean that old common cactus?

- Yes, Miss Kate.

Botanical name Vir pluribus undulatum.

Known to the Comanches as maguey.

Really? You mean...

Yes, Miss Kate.

You sure this won't fade out my natural

colour and turn it into somethin' horsey?

Oh, no, Miss Kate. On the contrary.

Did I hear you say

you were going to Mexico?

Cot to. All the law in the country's

looking for me and Jim Howie.

Oh, Mexico's a wonderful country,

Miss Kate. The haciendas and all that.

- You been to Mexico?

- Uh, no, ma'am.

But I speak the language. Buenos dias,

buenas noches, muchas gracias.

Why, you'll be right in the most

high-toned society, Miss Kate. A lady.

First thing I'm gonna get rid of this busted

corset and buy me some fancy clothes.

You'll need quality trained servants. Takes

proper service to put on the right style.

Oh?

You mean like you?

I'd be honoured to serve you, Miss Kate.

Jim Howie's dead set on selling you

on the Calveston block.

No way around that.

Jim Howie don't always do

everything he sets his mind to.

You have a very interesting

texture to your hair.

Fine like gossamer. Like Helen of Troy.

Well, he fixed it pretty fancy, huh?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes