The Searchers Page #10

ETHAN:

I'll take a look...You keep after

the others...

He turns his mount toward the gap.

MARTIN:

(eagerly)

You want us to fire a shot if...

ETHAN:

(disgustedly)

No...nor build bonfires...nor beat

drums neither. I'll meet you on

the far side.

He's still grumbling as he rides off. An abashed Martin

rides ahead along the broad trail with Brad.

(NOTE:
Ethan's serape, tied behind his saddle, should be

clearly seen as he rides away -- not pointed up, but visible.)

WIPE TO:

90EXT. FAR SIDE OF BUTTE - TWILIGHT

Martin and Brad, riding in a direction opposite to that in

which they had taken off -- indicating their circle route --

haul up momentarily as they spot Ethan, standing beside his

horse, his back to them, some distance along. They turn

slightly off their course and ride out toward him.

91EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - NEAR BUTTE - TWILIGHT

Ethan turns, almost startled, as the two youths ride in.

His serape is no longer behind his saddle. Ethan looks at

them blankly for a minute -- as though not really seeing

them.

ETHAN:

Oh...it's you.

They both stare at him.

ETHAN:

(a vague gesture)

I...uh...here's where they met up

again...

They both can see that.

ETHAN:

(pointing)

Trail leads off there...

They look at him and each other -- for these are clearly

unnecessary remarks and doubly surprising coming from Ethan.

BRAD:

Why'd they break off?

(no answer)

Was there water in that canyon?

ETHAN:

Huh...? No...no water.

MARTIN:

You all right, Ethan?

ETHAN:

Huh...?

(more like his

usual gruff self)

Sure I'm all right...

He goes to his horse, mounts. Martin is right beside him

and he notes the missing serape.

MARTIN:

Say!...What happened to your

blanket? Lose it?

ETHAN:

Must've...Anyway, I ain't goin' back

to look for it...

He leads out. Brad rides up beside Martin. Again the two

exchange puzzled looks. Martin shrugs and the three

continue along the broad trace of the Indian ponies into

the setting sun.

DISSOLVE TO:

92EXT. NIGHT CAMP - A POCKET IN THE HILLS - TWILIGHT

Ethan crouches over a small fire built into a slit trench so

that barely the glow of the flames can be seen. Beyond him

Martin is leading their unsaddled horses away. The men have

come to the end of another long day. Both men look up as

Brad comes over a hill slope and rides recklessly down the

incline to their camp. His horse is lathered.

BRAD:

(shouting it)

I saw her!...I saw Lucy!

Martin runs to his side as Brad slides off his mount.

Ethan moves more slowly.

BRAD:

(continuing)

They're camped 'bout two miles over...

I was just swingin' back when I saw

their smoke...I bellied up a ridge

an' they was right below me...

MARTIN:

Did you see Debbie?

BRAD:

No, but I saw Lucy all right...She

was wearin' that blue dress...an'

she was walkin' along...

ETHAN:

(voice flat)

What you saw wasn't Lucy.

BRAD:

It was, I tell you!

ETHAN:

What you saw was a buck wearin'

Lucy's dress...

(they stare at him)

I found Lucy back there in that

canyon...I wrapped her in my blanket

an' buried her with m'own hands...I

thought it best to keep it from you --

long as I could.

He can't look at Brad or at Martin. Brad can't speak -- and

then finally:

BRAD:

Did they...? Was she...?

Ethan wheels on him in shouting fury.

ETHAN:

(blazing)

What've I got to do -- draw you a

picture?...Spell it out?...Don't ever

ask me!...Long as you live don't ever

ask me more!

Brad wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He turns --

walking stiff-legged as though on stilts back to his horse.

He bends his head against the saddle, as though to hide his

grief. Martin turns away from him and walks back to Ethan.

And in that moment, Brad mounts and takes off in the same

direction from which he had ridden in.

MARTIN:

(frantically)

BRAD!...

They run for their horses.

CUT TO:

92-AEXT. ROUGH ROLLING COUNTRY - NIGHT - MOVING - CLOSE SHOT - BRAD

He comes pounding down a slope, and he takes off his hat and

skims it away. He rips off a neckerchief as though to

relieve the rush of raging blood.

92-BEXT. THE EDGE OF A RISE - MED. CLOSE SHOT - BRAD - NIGHT

He reaches the crest and reins in. A distant firelight is on

his face. He takes one moment to look down into the Comanche

camp o.s. Then he has his gun out. His eyes are wild, his

face wet with sweat. Then he throws back his head and he

yells -- and with the yell goes charging into the camp.

92-CEXT. A RIDGE - FULL SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - NIGHT

They rein in -- staring -- as from afar they hear Brad's yell

echoing and bouncing off the canyon walls. There is nothing

they can do. They hear his shouts, then the quick bark of his

.44, and the angry shouts of the Comanche.

92-DEXT. COMANCHE CAMP - EXTREME CLOSEUP - BRAD - RIDING - NIGHT

His face is red with the reflected light of the fires he is

passing o.s. and his eyes are alight with a crazy, savage

joy. His gun cracks once, then again -- and the hammer

clicks on a spent shell.

92-EEXT. COMANCHE CAMP - CLOSE SHOT - SCAR - NIGHT

He stands apart, warbow drawn and arrow notched. He releases

it at his running target. We hear its impact and a high

gasp of pain...and then the jubilant, yammering yells of

other Comanches.

92-FEXT. A RIDGE - FULL ON MARTIN AND ETHAN AS BEFORE - NIGHT

The distant yammering of the Comanches doesn't quite drown

out one stifled scream of pain; we can surmise a scalping

knife was busy in the last instance of Brad's life. Martin

slumps in his saddle. Ethan listens a moment, then turns

to Martin.

ETHAN:

Let's just hope he took some with

him...

He turns his horse back the way they had come. Martin

stares at him.

MARTIN:

What you goin' to do?

ETHAN:

Get some sleep...Tomorrow's another

day...

Slowly, he rides away. Slowly, reluctantly but helpless to

do otherwise, Martin follows.

DISSOLVE TO:

93-OMITTED

99

100EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - LOW ANGLE SHOT - DAY

A study of horseprints etched in the soil -- the mark of

the passage of many horses; perhaps an eagle or turkey

feather fallen from a warbonnet. And then we hear and

see the approach of two plodding horses, and the dusty

boots of the horsemen -- Ethan and Martin -- following

the trail. The Search Theme resumes and continues over

the next three shots, helping us suggest the passage

of time, the change of scene.

101EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - LONG SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN - DAY

The two figures are little more than specks in a vastness

of savage country.

WIPE TO:

102EXT. MOUNTAIN COUNTRY - LOW ANGLE SHOT - DAY

Again we study the hooves of two horses, fighting their

way up a rocky slope and past a thorn bush on which --

fluttering in the mountain wind -- is a torn scrap of

scarlet cloth with a bit of beadwork or Indian decoration.

WIPE TO:

103OMITTED

104EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - LOW ANGLE SHOT - ETHAN AND MARTIN -

AFTERNOON:

It is a portrait study of two faces -- etched by wind

and privation and cold into tragic, fanatic masks.

Martin has aged years in a matter of months. Falling

snow flakes touch their faces and begin to rime their

stubbly beards.

MARTIN:

(bitterly)

Say it. We're beat!

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