The Train Robbers Page #4

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I ought to get on my horse and get out.

Get out and never look back.

- Why didn't you?

- I couldn't.

Why?

I don't know. Maybe I was afraid

you'd come after me.

- That's not the reason.

- It's not?

I hate to have to tell you this,

but whether you like it or not...

you're a man and you're stuck with it.

You'll find yourself standing your ground,

and fighting when you ought to run...

speaking out when you ought to keep

your mouth shut...

doing things that will seem wrong

to a lot of people...

but you'll do them all the same.

You mean like talking up

for me in Tucson?

- They were wrong.

- Not if I ain't all the things you think I am.

- Not if I turn and run.

- You won't.

You're going to spend the rest

of your life getting up one more time...

than you're knocked down,

so you better start getting used to it.

If any trouble starts, under there.

Cooking coffee again.

Like hell! Get under there.

- Ten men.

- So far.

- Maybe they'll give it up.

- They should.

- They can't shoot worth a damn.

- But they won't.

No, they won't.

Then maybe we should.

Your mind is as changeable

as the weather.

It's not a joke, Mr. Lane.

I tried to tell you that

before we left the train station.

- You wouldn't listen to me.

- Now you won't.

Not to turning it over to the likes of them.

But they're not going to...

I set out to get you and that gold

back to the railroad.

That's what I fully intend to do.

No matter what?

No matter what.

Lane, they'll more than likely

try and run the horses off tonight.

- You and Sam make sure they don't.

- We may need some help.

You won't get it.

The rest of us will be gone.

- Gone?

- To run off their horses.

Ben, dig up the dynamite.

They're running.

Not as fast as their horses.

Ben, you better take care of that leg.

I'll see if the woman's all right.

- What the hell are you doing up there?

- They needed help.

Get down.

Give me that.

You going to knock me

on my butt, Mr. Lane?

Maybe I should, at that.

Don't you think we better

get the hell out of here?

The sooner the better.

- Ben, how's your leg?

- It's getting better.

It'll be all right as long as I don't have

to wrangle that damn mule.

You don't have to worry about that.

As long as she's packing

that gold, we're in love!

- How about you?

- Are there any more rivers to cross?

- Just a little creek.

- I'll make it.

If them pallbearers jump us here,

they'll wish they hadn't.

You put old Jesse and me

up in that church tower...

with a couple of Winchesters,

they'll never know what hit them.

- We're not staying.

- How the hell come?

Did you ever bury a baby?

No.

Neither have I, and I don't intend to.

Not over gold. Let's move.

Better put some more wood on there.

Not too much. We don't want

them to think we're asking for it.

Can't say that I like this, Jesse.

We've done this once before,

during the war.

Me and Lane got up on the high ground...

left Grady sitting by a fire,

just like this one.

Blankets spread all around,

just like we were all sleeping.

We were trying to scald

them Rebs into the open.

They were driving off a lot of our horses.

- Did it work?

- It's according to how you look at it.

Long about morning,

me and Lane kind of fell asleep.

- When we woke up, Grady was gone.

- Gone?

Yeah, the Rebs sneaked in

and took him prisoner.

Never even fired a shot. If they had,

they wouldn't have got him.

I tried to talk Lane

into letting them keep him.

I think he would have, but he figured

it was our fault that he was took.

They kept him a week and it was

the best seven days of the war.

It's hard as hell to get to like Grady.

- Hell, he likes you.

- He's got to.

Me and Lane are the only ones

who will put up with him.

I've got to admit, though,

he's saved our hide a lot of times.

Jesse, after this is all over with...

do you suppose, maybe me and Sam

could stay along a while?

I figured you two would just roar off

and spend your share of the reward.

We can go together.

Find some women. Get drunk.

That beats the hell out of cold coffee.

- I figure we better get some shuteye.

- Shuteye?

Yeah, Lane will see

that we're not disturbed.

- What if he falls asleep like he did before?

- He won't.

Losing Grady is one thing.

Gold is something else.

Good night.

I hope so.

We better give them a rest.

Ben, you stay aboard.

It don't seem right,

those boys haven't showed up.

- Probably still on foot.

- I doubt that.

If those horses stop running,

they'll start thinking of water...

head for that river.

So many of them,

they won't be hard to track.

Yeah, they double back to the river...

pick up their saddles,

that'll throw them about a day behind.

It shouldn't. No mules to slow them down.

Then where the hell are they?

If I knew that, I could

get some sleep tonight.

Thank you. Hot.

We'll be at the train stop tomorrow.

And then what?

There's a north-bound

due through at midnight.

Any luck, then we can get you

and the gold on it...

before anybody else jumps us.

- You're not coming?

- I'll stay along with the boys.

After this, I'll probably have to buy them

a drink or two.

What about the reward?

You can tell the railroad

we'll drift by and pick it up.

That's all you do, isn't it? Drift.

You could say that.

- Doesn't seem like much of a life.

- It's not.

- Then why do you do it?

- It's what I'm good at.

- My husband was good at robbing trains.

- Your husband was a fool.

Because he got shot in the back

in a whorehouse?

I didn't know that. I'm sorry.

For him or me?

The boy.

No matter how things turn out...

I want to thank you

for all that you've done and...

if you should change your mind

about coming back with me...

- I won't.

- But if you should...

I've got a saddle

that's older than you are, Mrs. Lowe.

Get under the porch.

The Gold!

Lane, come over here!

- Look.

- Get him out of there.

Mule!

Something new!

Nail him!

- Quit worrying about that damn mule!

- It's not! It's the woman!

Look at that. They can't last

under there much longer.

- We're going to have to rush them.

- What good would that do?

Get the horse.

Come a-running!

- Are you hit?

- No. I'm all right.

Go on! Throw it!

Much obliged.

Go ahead, tell her.

Go on.

Ma'am, it's about the reward.

You see, we've been thinking...

if you go turn that gold in to the railroad...

there ain't going to be nothing left

for you and the boy to live on.

We've decided we want you

to have that $50,000.

I couldn't do that.

It's the only thing you can do.

We've already made up our minds.

- Ain't that right, Lane?

- That's right.

Thank you.

That was very touching, boys,

giving up that reward money.

- Who are you?

- I work for Wells Fargo.

- Pinkerton man?

- That's right.

I've been tracking Matt Lowe

for five years.

- He's dead.

- I know.

I was there the night he got shot

in that, shall we say, house of ill repute?

So was the woman. She worked there.

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