The Searchers Page #6

Aaron is little more than a shadowy silhouette as he peers

into the night through a partly-opened shutter. Suddenly

the room leaps alight as Lucy opens an inner door and

enters, holding a lighted lamp. Aaron closes the shutter,

spins on her angrily.

AARON:

LUCY!

Martha crosses the room swiftly and blows out the lamp.

In the brief moment the room has been lighted, we see

that Lucy is carrying a dark shawl in one hand; that

Ben is crouched at another window -- rifle ready; and

that Deborah is on her feet -- standing like a child

who is being dressed.

LUCY:

I'm sorry...I couldn't find the

shawl...

AARON:

Hurry, Martha...Moon's fixin' to

rise...

He cautiously swings the shutters open. A pale light

filters into the room. We see Martha wrapping the

shawl around Deborah.

MARTHA:

(softly to the child)

We're going to play the sleep-out

game...Remember?...Where you hide

out with grandma?

DEBBIE:

Where's she buried?

MARTHA:

And you'll go along the ditch --

very quietly -- like a...

(her voice breaks)

DEBBIE:

Like a little mouse.

AARON:

Now!

He reaches for the child, but he has to wait for Martha's

last embrace.

MARTHA:

There!...And you won't come back

or make a sound...no matter what

you hear? Promise!..No matter what?

DEBBIE:

I promise...Wait!

AARON:

Child, child!

DEBBIE:

Can't I have Topsy to keep me

company?

AARON:

There's no time...

MARTHA:

Here she is, baby...Baby...

Aaron takes the child, swings her out the window.

AARON:

Down low -- go!

Martha would come to the window to look out, but Aaron bars

her with an arm and draws back to the side of the window to

watch her go...Outside the little dog barks a welcome and

presumably starts to follow the girl. Aaron reacts.

AARON:

(hoarse whisper)

Here dog...here!

The dog whines but obeys. Aaron continues watching the

child's course -- unconsciously imitating her every run

and twist...Then he smiles and we may see the brightness

in the corners of his eyes.

AARON:

She reached the ditch...

He closes the shutters and turns -- and his arms go

around Martha, weeping soundlessly.

AARON:

She'll be all right, mother...

she'll be all right.

50EXT. A HILLOCK WITH TWO HEADBOARDS - MED. CLOSE SHOT -

NIGHT:

Nothing stirs and we hear nothing. Then, with faintest

little rustle, Debbie comes snaking along the ground

into the hollow between the two graves and lies there

face down, pressed against Topsy. She becomes one

with the earth and the stillness. And then the moonlight

strikes the tips of the scrub growth and as a cloud scuds

by, the moonlight reveals something glittering -- like

beads. And the CAMERA from that ground-level shot

RAISES quickly to:

51CLOSE SHOT - FROM EXTREME LOW ANGLE - SCAR

The Comanche we are later to know as SCAR is painted

for war -- tall, savage, mockingly looking down at what

we know is the child's hiding place...And in that

instant, from a dozen quarters and a dozen throats,

sounds the wild yammer of the warwhoop!

DISSOLVE TO:

52-OMITTED

53

54EXT. RISING GROUND - MED. CLOSE SHOT - MARTIN - MOONLIGHT

He stands beside his spent and fallen horse. Its breathing

is a rasping whistle. Martin tries to haul its head up.

Useless. Breathing hard himself, his face ashen in the

moonlight, Martin looks desperately off in the direction

of the ranch. Then he jerks the rifle from its saddle

scabbard -- struggling with it because it is under the

horse. He freezes then -- listening...And we hear the

steady beat of two horsemen approaching. Martin knows

who they are and his face is alive with hope. He gets

the rifle free at last and goes running toward the oncoming

riders.

MARTIN:

(shouting)

Ethan!...Ethan!

The CAMERA SWINGS with him and we see Ethan and Mose

approaching at the same steady gait.

MARTIN:

(waving)

Uncle Ethan...it's me...Martin!

Ethan doesn't slacken, nearly rides him down.

ETHAN:

Out of my way!

Martin goes sprawling to his hands and knees. Mose con-

tinues without slowing.

55EXT. RISING GROUND - ANOTHER ANGLE - PAST THE RIDERS -

MOONLIGHT:

MARTIN:

(desperately)

Mose! Wait!...

He goes running, stumbling after the riders -- desperately

calling to them...

MARTIN:

Ethan!...Mose!...

And then at the crest of the rising ground, he stops --

We see in the distance the glow of a fire leading from the

barns and the hayricks and the house of Aaron Edwards.

Martin runs down the slope.

56EXT. YARD AND APPROACH TO EDWARDS HOUSE - WIDE ANGLE - NIGHT

(NOTE TO W. HOCH: Here again that use of red is suggested.)

The ANGLE is past the porch uprights toward Mose and Ethan as

they ride in. Little tongues of fire are licking the edges

of the uprights. A few arrows, imbedded in the wood, are

burning along their shafts. Beyond are the glowing ashes of

the hayricks and the charred, smouldering rails of the corral.

There are no bodies in evidence...The red glow of the burning

is on the faces of the men as they dismount.

Ethan strides to the porch, knocking away one of the blazing

arrows as he heads to the door. He stops there -- and what

he sees makes the big shoulders droop, the huge frame slump.

Slowly then -- and removing his hat -- he goes in. Mose

shuffles to the edge of the porch and squats there and rocks

back and forth, his face working and crying soundlessly with

senile grief. We hear a splintered door crash from its hinges

within the room and Ethan's muffled voice calling through the

house:

ETHAN (o.s.)

Lucy?...Deborah? Lucy?

He strides back through the main room and out onto the porch

just as Martin comes at a shambling run across the yard.

Ethan takes a few steps out toward him. Martin would pass

him, but Ethan grabs his arm.

ETHAN:

(harshly)

You stay out!

Martin tries to fight his arm free.

ETHAN:

Nothing for you to see.

MARTIN:

Leggo...

Ethan turns him and drives a brutal right to his jaw. Martin

goes down -- out cold. And only now do we understand how

merciful the blow was as Ethan looks compassionately at the

fallen figure.

ETHAN:

Don't let him go in there, Mose...

And he takes off at a stumbling run for the hilltop.

57EXT. THE HILLOCK WITH THE TWO HEADBOARDS - FULL SHOT - ETHAN

as he nears the graves.

ETHAN:

(calling)

Lucy -- Lucy!

He runs in, looking around him. He sees the little dog,

dead on the ground. And then he sees a shadowed something:

The shawl Debbie had worn. It is spread out, almost as though

concealing a body. Fearfully he stoops and pulls it away...

There is nothing there, but the shawl. He drops to his

knees, his head bowed, his face tortured. The moonlight

is clear on the face of the nearer headboard. It is of

weathered wood and the chiselled letters on it read:

HERE LIES:

MARY JANE EDWARDS

KILLED BY COMANCHES

MAY 12, 1852

a good WIFE & MOTHER

In her 41st year

SLOW DISSOLVE TO:

58EXT. THE HILLOCK - FULL SHOT - SLOWLY PANNING - DAWN LIGHT

The funeral is begun. In the foreground are three newly-

made crosses at the head of as many open graves -- which we

need not see. With head bared, Sam Clayton is concluding

his prayer. Near him stand the Jorgensen family: Mrs.

Jorgensen, Lars and LAURIE -- blonde, just beginning to

reach her maturity -- and a stepping-stone of tow-headed

children.

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