The Train Robbers Page #2

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- We ain't no mule packers.

- You will be by the time you get back.

- lf we get back.

Do you see that knot-head

packing that dynamite?

Do what you're told, Cal.

- Yeah, but...

- Calhoun!

There will be one boss.

Now go help with the mules.

Just like old times, huh?

Like hell it is.

- Ready?

- Yes.

Let's go to Mexico.

You afraid of the dark, Jesse?

- Fire's going out.

- Let it.

- Something wrong, Lane?

- Thought I heard something.

I guess not.

Just my old heart pounding.

Gets to doing that

when I'm around a good-looking woman.

- Want some more coffee, Mrs. Lowe?

- Thank you.

Coming up.

Lane tells us you got a little boy.

How old is he?

- Six.

- That's a good age.

What do you call him?

Matt. It was his father's name.

- Sorry, didn't mean to bring it up.

- It's all right.

No, it's not all right. I talk too much.

That's the trouble

with always running around wild.

You get kind of starved

for female attention.

You get near a woman, start talking,

and next thing you know...

you say something wrong

and hurt somebody's feelings.

Shut up, Grady, before you put

your other foot in your mouth.

See what I mean?

Hurt old Jesse's feelings.

Got him all mad at me for no cause.

I've been mad at you

ever since I've known you.

Jesse, that's 10 years.

That's an awful long time

to go around hating a man.

I never said I hated you.

Well, there ain't exactly

any love between us.

I damn sure ain't sweet,

if that's what you mean.

You know, sometimes...

I hate to break up this friendly chatter,

but it's your first guard, Grady.

Jesse, you spell him at midnight.

Don't pay any attention to Grady, ma'am.

He's his own worst enemy.

The hell he is.

It might mean nothing...

but I think I'll take a pass

at our back track.

Ma'am, when you finish that coffee,

you better bed down next to the coals.

Gets kind of chilly long towards morning.

- Jesse?

- Yes, ma'am?

How long have you known Lane?

A lot of years.

Me and Grady rode with him

during the war.

Behind him, I should say.

He was our officer.

We fought together for a couple of years

before he ever knew we had a name.

Then one day at Vicksburg,

we were ordered up a hill.

Over a hundred of us.

Only three of us got to the top alive.

Lane, Grady and me.

We've been going up hills together

ever since.

And the others?

Young Ben, he's been along with us

ever since Lane shot him.

Shot him?

Backing out of a bank in Tucson.

Tried his hand at stealing.

Lane broke him from that.

Doctored him back to life,

got the bank to drop the charge.

Calhoun and Sam, them I only just met.

But from what I've heard...

they haven't made up their minds

what side of the law they're on.

That's the trouble with young guns.

It's mighty tempting

to cross over to the wild side.

I don't think they will, though.

Not now. Lane will see to that.

How is it he never took a wife?

He did.

Right after the war.

Me and Grady stood up for him.

I never got so drunk in my life.

A year later, she died.

We went up that hill with him, too.

What the hell was that for?

You were the last man on guard.

- That's right.

- Count the mules.

It must have pulled loose.

And packed itself and walked away.

- They led him off, then rode off with him.

- How many were there?

Four of them I could make out.

Let Sam and me go after them.

We can get that dynamite back.

One stick at a time.

Grady, when this is over...

- What?

- You brought him. Saddle up.

- I'm sorry, Grady.

- You're sorry?

- Go pick him up, Cal.

- Yes, sir.

How in the hell do you figure

that mule got here?

Well, my Spanish is kind of rusty...

but it seems those fellows

that borrowed our mule...

wanted the dynamite

to blow their friends out of jail.

Do you suppose

they'll let Cal have that knot-head back?

I think gladly.

Jesse, you better tell the boys

to hobble the horses.

If we lose them in this storm...

we'll have a hell of a time

getting them back.

Right.

- Let me give you a hand, Jesse.

- Thanks.

I'm afraid I'm not sticking out

in the right places.

I mean if somebody far off sees me.

Yeah, well, I don't think

anybody will bother us tonight.

I probably shouldn't say this...

but sometimes I get to thinking

I'm making a mistake.

I already told you that.

I mean about the gold.

What if I didn't turn it in?

What if I didn't go to the railroad?

You'd be a rich woman.

And that boy of yours...

would have a mother

that goes around robbing trains.

You're an honest man.

If you thought that...

you'd be waiting for us

back at that train station.

And what if you all didn't come back?

Well, then you'd know...

that we got to figuring

that maybe we'd made a mistake.

Gold has a way of bringing out

the larceny in all of us, Mrs. Lowe.

That's why I'm along, Mr. Lane.

And that's why I'll stay along.

Grady!

- He's alive.

- He won't be if we don't get this off him.

- I'll get his head.

- Stay away from him, Cal.

If we pick this tree half off him,

he'll kick himself to death.

- I know that, and you along with him.

- Yeah, but he's my horse.

I know.

- Grady.

- Calhoun!

You've been warned. Make up your mind!

All right, grab a hold. Heave!

Heave!

He's all right!

That's good.

Now maybe we can get some shuteye.

Soon as you hobble those horses.

Sam, walk him around.

Yes, sir.

I was wrong about you.

How's that?

For hitting you back there

when the jackass got stolen. I'm sorry.

A man gets older, it's harder to say that.

He tries to bully his way through.

I had it coming.

- No, you didn't.

- I was on guard.

So was I, trying to catch you sleeping...

so I could put you in your place

once and for good.

While I was worrying about

kicking your butt...

they stole that ornery mule.

It was as much my fault as it was yours.

I just wanted you to know that.

What's wrong with him?

Not one damn thing.

- We can cross upriver.

- Good.

I didn't say that she didn't say...

that the gold was half a mile

from the river crossing.

What I said...

Slide off and let him swim!

I'm trying to!

What I said is, I don't know

whether this is the right river crossing.

- This is the only one we could find.

- Then maybe...

You think she's drowning?

Sure does look like it.

- Is she all right?

- Come on, give us a hand.

Try to keep her feet higher than her head.

She'll be all right

after she catches her breath.

- Get the whiskey.

- Whiskey?

What are you trying to do?

Save her life or get her drunk?

- I don't swim, you know.

- I do now.

Mrs. Lowe...

if that shirt shrinks up any more,

you're going to be in a little trouble.

But not from you, Mr. Lane.

- What's he up to?

- My last bottle.

I should fall in the river more often.

I haven't felt this good

since I can't remember when.

Can you remember when, Mr. Lane?

I can remember when.

I'll have another.

I drink, you know.

But I can handle it.

"Handle your whiskey

and never feel sorry for yourself."

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