They Came to Cordura Page #5

When an officer puts words | in my mouth, I let him.

But I don't see I give you proper | cause to lay hands on me.

- Have I, sarge? | - You're on guard.

I'm at my position, major. | I'm watching.

And listening for my answer.

- When you plan to take us out of here? | - That is my business.

It's my business too. The lieutenant | tells me that you aim to keep us here.

The lieutenant had no right.

- Right or wrong, you want my advice? | - I don't.

I don't need tactics | from enlisted personnel.

I may take you out, I may not. In either | case it'll be my decision, not yours.

If you don't take us out, maybe I will.

Not while I'm alive to give orders.

It's daybreak, sir. | It's been quiet.

Major, this is my last cigarette...

...so I'm gonna offer you | a safe way out.

He's not really after us.

Did you notice yesterday some of their | horses were being ridden double?

- That's what he wants. | - Horses?

He could have a little fun | by tying you all down...

...riding back and forth | over you until you all die.

But at this point he has to be practical.

So my hunch is he wants | the horses, not us.

If I were you, I'd let him have them...

...on the chance | he may call off the siege.

I'm doing you no favour. I just | happen to be fond of my own skin.

So think it over, major.

But not for long.

And now have the men untie | the horses and turn them loose.

It's as unthinkable as surrendering.

Another day without water, | and they won't be worth keeping.

We'll have to walk it to base | either way.

We can manage a two-day walk.

- Why not give them our weapons too? | - Don't be a fool.

It's a gamble, I admit.

If we lose, and they don't pull out, | we'll be no worse off than we are now.

I'm willing to gamble to save our skins.

For the U.S. Cavalry to give up | its horses to the enemy is cowardice.

And I protest it formally.

I want you men to remember that | for the record.

That as an officer | I protested any such act.

Give your orders.

Lead them out and turn them loose.

If this don't work, this is the last order | you're ever going to give.

Move.

- How many miles you figure to base? | - Forty, more or less.

- How many miles you figure to base? | - Forty, more or less.

If my calculations are right...

...we ought to hit the Tex-Mex | railroad tomorrow afternoon...

...then follow it right on into base.

- We gotta take her with us, huh? | - Yes.

Feed her out of our grub?

I don't understand Spanish, | but I understand enough to know...

...that she was yelling | to Arreaga to kill us.

We have no choice. | She's a military prisoner.

I want to say something to all of you | about my decision today.

If we had been on scout duty, | or supply or courier...

...I would have taken you out of here.

Most of us would have made it. | But you five have...

...had more than your share | of luck lately.

Congressional Medals of Honor | are usually awarded to the dead.

My duty was to get you to base...

...without losing one of you | to the law of averages.

You've heard about the war in Europe.

And just as sure as I'm kneeling here | our country will be in it soon.

We'll need heroes to look up to.

To show us how to behave in battle. | And you will be our example.

You'll probably be sent home | on furlough...

...your pictures will be in the papers. | People will point you out in the streets.

But no matter what you do | from now on...

...you can never escape | your new selves.

That is why I had to see | that you were spared today.

- Coffee, major? | - Thank you.

- Begging the major's pardon. | - At ease. Just a minute.

- Well, Trubee? | - That was a right moving speech.

What is it you want?

No grudge about you | laying hands on me.

I don't carry a mean bone in my body.

But an ordinary soldier has | to look out for himself...

...or he'll be took advantage of.

Major, I know something | you may not figure I know.

And it puts me a leg up on you.

- Columbus? | - That's the short of it.

But I don't plan to make a stink | unless I have to.

There are two things I'm after. And | I don't see as you can turn me down.

One:
I don't want no medal. | I don't hanker to be made a lead mule.

Two:
I ain't had a woman | since we crossed the border.

You turn her over to me, and after I get | through she won't be so damn fancy.

You let me put the bit to her.

- She'd have given up U.S. Soldiers. | - That's enough!

Don't you rare up to me, major.

You're lucky | I kept my mouth shut this far.

Now, you give me the woman | instead of the medal.

You give me her or I'll raise | such hell about Columbus...

...you'll be the one in the stockade, | not old Milo.

Major, major.

- Major, I'm so sick. | - Better get some blankets.

I've been feeling poorly all day, sir.

But the run after that woman | brought the weakness on.

- I feel sick. Weak. | - You should have told me, son.

I didn't think I ought | with such a long hike ahead, sir.

I've never been so bad off before.

I think it's typhoid.

The fever will go up and down for a day. | If it breaks, he'll pull through.

- What'll take the fever down? | - Quinine, rubbing alcohol and water.

Rubbing alcohol. | You have some tequila...

...in your saddlebags. | Bring it over.

Have the men cut some wood | and build a litter. We've got to move.

Forty miles? We can't carry anybody | 40 miles. The rest ain't up to make it.

We'll all make it. | Or none of us will.

Just as easy to leave | two behind as one.

I had one for the road.

Halt!

Renziehausen. | We change around. Chawk.

Will he pull through?

I don't know. | He has some kind of typhoid.

- You told Chawk about 40 miles. | - Give or take a few.

- Did you ever think he might be right? | - About what?

About the rest of us not making it | unless we travel light.

Don't let me hear that again.

For the Lord thy God | bringeth to a new land...

...a land of brooks, of water, | of fountains and depths.

Will you shut up? You nose-wiping, | holy-rolling preacher.

The tequila is almost gone.

I don't think he can stand | another day like this.

- How much quinine have you left? | - Ten.

We ought to try tomorrow to put him | on it before the fever starts up.

I gotta have some water.

I gotta have some water, major.

Just one capful, no more.

That's enough.

I said you had enough!

Get some rest.

Let her up.

If you try that again, I'll prefer charges | the day we get to base.

And what day might that be, major?

You don't know where | that railroad is anymore...

...than you know which end is up.

Prefer charges, huh? | I'll do the preferring.

You can't do nothing to nobody. | Tell the boys, major.

Tell them where they found them oak | leaves at Columbus. In a ditch, boys.

That's where he was while | we were fighting.

The dirty yellow-guts hid out | in a ditch!

If he'd been an ordinary soldier | like us, he'd be in Leavenworth.

The high mucky-muck is telling us | we're heroes, boys.

And trying to kill the lot of us.

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