The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Page #8

Not $40,000.

I'm willing to lower my hindsight.

We've got upwards of $35,000 apiece.

I tell you, we ought to be plenty thankful.

DOBBS:
Let's call it quits,

pack up and leave.

The sooner the better

as far as I'm concerned.

I don't want to keep that dame waiting.

It'll take a week to break the mine,

put the mountain back in shape.

Do what to the mountain?

Make her look like

she was before we came.

I don't get it.

We wounded this place.

It's our duty to close her wounds.

The least we can do to show our gratitude

for all the wealth she's given us.

If you guys don't want to help me,

I'll do it alone.

You talk about that mountain

like it was a real woman.

She's been a lot better to me

than any woman I ever knew.

Keep your shirt on, old-timer.

Sure, I'll help you.

[Dramatic instrumental music]

I reckon that's about everything.

Each man's burros with his goods

will be his own responsibility.

Come on.

Goodbye, mountain, and thanks.

DOBBS:
Yeah, thanks, mountain.

CURTIN:
Thanks.

[Howard playing cheerful song

on harmonica]

I've been thinking about her.

Cody's widow, I mean, and the kid.

You know what?

We ought to give them a fourth just

as if he'd been our partner from the start.

What? A fourth of all our goods?

- That's right.

- Are you crazy?

If not for him, we wouldn't have

walked away from that mountain.

Ask Howard.

The buzzard would have gotten fat

on us all right.

DOBBS:
Yeah, it might just as well

have been one of us.

But it wasn't.

It's our good luck and his bad.

Whatever you guys do,

I'm going to give a fourth.

I got more than I need, anyhow.

Half what I got is enough to last me out.

Fourth? Sure.

You two guys must have been born

in a revival meeting.

[Howard continues playing harmonica]

[Suspenseful instrumental music]

HOWARD:
We got company.

HOWARD:
Steady, boys.

[Speaking Spanish]

Curtin.

Coffee.

Give him some tobacco.

[Monkeys gibbering]

[Howard speaks Spanish]

We give them our tobacco,

they give us theirs, I don't get it.

Why not everybody smoke his own?

Take some and thank them.

They're after something.

Takes them a while to come to the point.

To say what you want right off the bat

isn't considered polite among Indians.

They got nothing but time?

[Speaking Spanish]

His boy fell in the water,

they fished him out.

- He ain't dead, but he just won't come to.

- Tough.

I'll go have a look at the boy.

I'll be back in a little while.

Before morning, probably.

[Howard speaking Spanish]

Look after my goods while I am gone.

[Somber instrumental music]

Tequila.

[Speaking Spanish]

[Somber instrumental music continues]

[Boy whimpering]

[Speaking Spanish]

[Crowd muttering]

[Soaring instrumental music]

HOWARD:
Artificial respiration did it

and a few Boy Scout tricks.

I think it was more shock than drowning.

He hadn't swallowed much water.

Maybe he was stunned while diving.

CURTIN:
How did these Indians know we

were in this neck of the woods anyhow?

HOWARD:
When you're near their villages,

don't ask me how, they just know.

[Approaching hoofbeats]

[Speaking Spanish]

DOBBS:
What's up?

He's insisting we return to his village

and be his guests.

Tell him to forget it.

Tell him he don't owe us a thing.

[Howard speaking Spanish]

[Speaking Spanish]

HOWARD:
If he doesn't pay off his debt

all the saints will be angry.

This is no laughing matter.

I'm afraid he's determined

to take us with him, even if it means force.

DOBBS:
I'll handle this.

[Speaking Spanish]

Wait a minute. You can't fight your way

out of this. Put your guns away.

Have every Indian in the mountain on

our trail. We'd be scalped in half an hour.

[Speaking Spanish]

DOBBS:
What'd he say then?

It didn't make any difference

about you guys but I have to come.

- It's like that, he just wants you.

- Looks like it.

Why don't you go with them?

Stay a few days and we'll meet you

in Durango. We'll wait there.

HOWARD:
What about my goods?

CURTIN:
Take them with you.

If they found out they might forget he was

their honored guest and bump him off.

What'll I do? Dump them on the ground?

CURTIN:
We'll take them with us if you

want us to and wait for you in Durango.

I reckon that's about the only solution.

DOBBS:
I bet you'll remember this

the next time you try to do a good deed.

Maybe after I've stayed with them

they'll give me a horse.

Then I'll be a day or two behind you.

CURTIN:
That'll be swell.

Good luck, Howard.

DOBBS:
Yeah, all the luck in the world.

We'll be lonesome without you. But

my Sunday school teacher used to say.

"You got to learn to swallow

disappointments in this sad life."

Hurry up and join us.

Look out for those Indian dames.

They tell me they're smart.

One of them squaws might marry you.

Maybe I'll do just that. Pick out

a good-looking squaw and marry her.

They're easy to dress, feed and entertain.

They don't nag at you, either.

So long, partners.

See you in Durango.

[Dramatic instrumental music]

[Somber instrumental music]

Hey.

[Burros braying]

DOBBS:
Ain't it always his burros

that won't march in line...

stray off the trail and smash their packs

against the trees and rocks?

I wish they'd stray off far enough

to fall down about 2,000 feet of gorge.

Why'd you offer

to carry his goods for him?

As if he couldn't manage by himself.

He knew what he was doing

when he turned them over to us.

Mighty cute of him, wasn't it?

What's the use of railing against

the old man? It won't do any good.

Save your breath

for the next piece of trail.

I'm stopping here for the night.

If you want to go on it's okay with me,

but take his burros with you.

They ain't my responsibility.

It's early. We can make four,

five miles more before dark.

DOBBS:
Nobody ordered you to stay here.

You can go 20 miles more for all I care.

Ordered me?

You?

Who's ordering who to do anything?

You talk like you're boss of this outfit.

DOBBS:
Maybe you are,

let's hear you say it.

All right, if you can't go any further.

Who says I can't? Don't make me laugh.

I can go four times

as far as a mug like you.

But I don't want to. I could if I want to,

but I don't want to, see, mug?

What's the use of hollering?

We're started on something

and we've got to finish it, like it or not.

We'll camp here.

CURTIN:
Wonder what

the old man's doing now.

Eating a meal of roast turkey

and drinking a bottle of tequila probably.

CURTIN:
It's the first day we've had

to manage without him.

Once we get the hang of it, it'll be easier.

How far away

do you suppose the railroad is?

CURTIN:
Not so far as the crow flies.

DOBBS:
We ain't crows.

I figure we can reach the high-pass

in two days more...

then it'll be three or four days

to the railroad.

That's figuring no hard luck

on the trail, of course.

[Dobbs laughing]

CURTIN:
What's the joke, Dobbsie?

Aren't you going to let me in on it?

In on it? Sure I will.

Sure.

[Laughing]

CURTIN:
Go ahead, spill it.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes