These Thousand Hills Page #2

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Dirty, soft-belly Indian!

- That was the foulest race I ever saw run!

- Get your hands off me.

- The bronc won.

- Who says so?

I do,Jehu.

- Oh, Mr. Conrad.

- Trick and all, this boy took it.

Yippee!

Anything I can do for you, Miss Callie?

No, thanks, Happy. Nothing at all.

- Fifteen dollars.

- Call.

Hey, Lat, I got a big run

ofluck going here. Come on over.

Let it go, baby.

Yeah! That does it.

Hey,Jen, I want you to meet

my partner Lat- Lat Evans.

He's cute, even when

he ain't on a horse.

How about finding

a partner for my partner?

Sure.

Come on.

Let's have a drink.

Stylish place.

Howdy, boys.

Fran's my name, and fun's my failin'.

- What are you gonna drink?

- What's the best in the house?

- Champagne.

- Well, like the fellow said, ''No fools, no fun.''

- We'll have a bottle.

- Happy...

bring a bottle of champagne

for these gentlemen, and hustle it up.

There's a nice table for you right over there.

Make yourselves at home.

And if you need help, holler.

I'll bring it to the table, gents.

- Hey, Ram, how you doing?

- Hey, Tom.

- Howdy, boys.

- Hi, Tom.

- Tom, you ain't going back on our deal, are ya?

- What deal?

Well, wolfing.

You're not going back on your word?

Well, I said yes once, didn't I?

Anybody knows me, once is enough.

Come on. Let's have some fun.

This is Callie. Lat, Tom.

- How do you do?

- I saw you ride today.

- Oh, did you?

- I was afraid you'd been hurt.

Nah, Sugar kicked him

in the head.

That's the only safe place to kick a wrangler.

- Champagne, gents.

- Oh, look at that.

- Mm-mmm.

- Well, here's to- to Albert Gallatin Evans.

Hadn't been for him, we wouldn't

have had the pleasure of knowing you...

'cause we'd have been broke.

- Champagne?

- Yeah.

I ordered a case once in New Orleans.

Now, there's a town.

Oh, they got nothing in New Orleans

they don't have right here.

And it's a lot closer.

- Hear your outfit's pulling out tomorrow.

- The rest ofem are. Not us.

What do you boys aim to do?

Well, first we're gonna

finish this champagne.

- And then, uh-

- Oh-ho-ho. Ain't he awful?

- I could use a rider like you.

- No, thanks.

- Eighty a month, and grub.

- A month's too slow.

- It's almost a thousand a year.

- Ayear's too long.

That win money won't last.

I've seen punchers.

They come in flush and go out broke.

It's a natural law.

Well, I might just change it.

Britches getting

a little tight, ain't they, boy?

- Oh, they fit.

- Well, watch it.

You might bust the seams.

I was figuring on a- on a quiet supper.

-Not tonight.

Well, now, that's twice today

I bet on the wrong animal.

You're having a run of luck, boy.

The thing is...

can it last?

I think it will.

Go on, Lat. You're falling way behind.

These giris want to have some fun.

- Yeah, sure. Come on.

- Happy, bring us another bottle.

You sit. I'll fix a drink.

Thanks.

- My outfit's pulling out tomorrow.

- I know.

Butler- he-he's the trail boss-

he's going back to Texas.

Is he?

I- I'm figuring on

hanging around for a while.

A fella in the crew says that wolf hides

is worth maybe five dollars apiece.

H- He says you can get maybe

a hundred wolves from just one bait.

- Can you?

- That's what the fella says.

Tom's going with me-

huntin' wolves, I mean.

That's nice.

You just make yourself comfortable.

I'll be right down.

Lat?

Lat?

Well, I guess we'd better get going.

- Mike.

- Oh, I'll ride out a ways with you. - Fine.

- Take care of yourself, Lat.

- Thanks, Ram, for everything.

Nothin' to thank me for.

Just remember, people get changed.

By what?

Men you meet.

The way the cards fall.

The chippie that rolled you.

The friend you trusted. Add them up.

Nobody ends like he started out.

The bunch is leaving, huh?

Always when the bunch left me,

I- I felt like a drink.

Ah.

Drink hearty, boy.

Drink, boy.

You ain't a bird.

Yes, sirree.

That cures the miseries.

When I was your age,

it was mostly giris.

Now I'm my age,

it's mostly that it mostly ain't.

You happen to know a gal in town

by the name of Callie?

- Sure. Why?

- Is she anybody's in particular?

I wouldn't say in particular, son.

- Where you from?

- Oregon.

What was it like?

- What?

- Home.

Don't play cards.

Don't dance.

And don't drink.

I'll tell you, son...

it ain't what you do that spoils

your sleep, but what you missed.

Take it from an old man.

Now my nerves is all settled down.

I'll just catch me a little nap.

See you, son.

All day I was hoping

you'd come back.

Why did you run off

like that last night?

I don't know.

Maybe... Well...

when I was 12, 13 years old...

my pa caught me with a girl

out in the hay shed.

We wasn't doing anything-

just-just kissing maybe.

There stood Pa in the doorway.

And there was this

buggy whip up on the wall.

Well- I- I didn't mind

for myself so much, but...

h- he kept whipping her too.

And she was crying

and dodging around.

Now, every time

there's a girl- any girl- I-

I keep seeing Pa...

or something like him...

standing there in the doorway.

Mine didn't whip me.

He just sent me off far as he could.

Why?

He didn't come into the hay shed.

I haven't cared for anybody

in such a long time, Lat.

Two months. Two whole months

of being snowbound...

- wind-bound and cold-bound!

- You knew what it would be like.

A quick dollar.

Yeah, poisoning wolves.

- I must've been out of my mind.

- I don't like it any better than you do.

But we got 25 buffalo skins,

worth maybe two dollars apiece.

And almost a hundred wolf pelts,

worth five dollars each.

Money, huh?

You'd skin me if I had fur on.

It ain't just the money I want.

Not even a ranch.

I want my name

to mean something.

I heard about a fellow

named Granville Stuart-

he started with nothing.

Now he's got a big spread

over in the Flat Willow country.

He's got respect,

political influence, everything.

- If he can do it, why can't I?

- Wolfer to rancher.

- Plowboy to president, huh?

- Why not?

Because I ain't seen a man yet that didn't

step up by stepping down on somebody else!

I liked you more

when you stunk of cow, not wolf.

- The stink will go, but the money's gonna stay!

- Yeah, well I won't! I've had a bellyful.

I'm cuttin' out.

I'm going back to Fort Brock.

- You coming with me?

- Not until I got every hide I can get.

How.

Friends?

- Smoke? Drink?

- Here, no. At cabin.

Much smoke, much drink.

Much good things for empty belly.

That good fast horse.

No!

I got to get you to Fort Brock.

You hear?

That bullet's got to come out.

What day is it?

Monday, Tuesday- I don't know.

- How much longer we got?

- A day or two, at the most.

Tom, the skins!

- Hey, Lat, you just take it easy.

- A hundred skins! They'll steal 'em!

Lat, I had to leave 'em, kid.

I- I couldn't pack you and the skins too.

Come on now.

Tom, if I die, will you bury me

under a rock so the wolves don't get me?

You just shut up now.

You're still gonna live to die rich.

Tom!

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