They Came to Cordura Page #6

I say blow him full of holes, | and let's find our own way home.

He won't shoot. He's a yellow-guts. | A yellow-guts!

Lieutenant, take their guns.

Mister, take their guns.

His too.

- Me, major, me? | - His too.

Now throw them away | as far as you can.

Now move.

You gonna get us to base, major?

We'll stand alternate guard tonight.

As far as I'm concerned, major, | you're on your own.

An officer's duty is to protect his kind, | but only to a point.

Covering up for cowardice | is beyond it.

Hearing Trubee has made | everything clear to me.

We've only been the means | of repairing...

...the damage done to your pride.

You can't be a hero yourself...

...but you can make as many heroes | as you want.

You're not trying to save | the men now...

...you're trying to keep | your own creations.

In the end we'll all die for your guilt.

If something should happen to you, | it'd be the best thing for all of us.

You need us, we don't need you.

Now, if something does happen...

...I won't participate, | but I won't lift a finger to prevent it.

Here's my gun.

Don't come any farther, sergeant.

I think it's time you and me | had a talk, major.

You wrote up that citation of mine yet?

Why?

What else you got wrote about me | in that book of yours?

You said something, that we'd get | in the papers about those medals.

You might.

- You mean, pictures of us? | - Probably.

I can't have that. You drove me hard | this trip already, but I won't have that.

Maybe you don't know it, but some | men go into service to hide out.

A horse, you know, | he don't ask no questions.

What are you driving at?

You write me up, and they read it | up in Albuquerque...

...and I'll have a rope | around my neck, not no medal.

- What for? | - Murder.

I got in a fight with a hunky | I was working with on the railroad.

The short of it is | I'm wanted for murder.

A year ago I was over in Tucson...

...they still had my picture up | in the post office.

So it's your medal or my neck.

I'm sorry, Chawk. | There's nothing I can do about it.

You mean you'll see me strung up?

No, I mean it's my duty | to write your citation.

You gutless jerk, this ain't Columbus. | There ain't no ditch you can jump into.

You'd faint before you'd pull | that trigger.

Try me.

I got nothing to lose, Thorn.

I gotta kill you.

I need help.

- Tequila. | - It's finished.

Give me two quinine.

Sleep, boy. Sleep.

How old are your children?

The boy was 5 | when they took him away.

The girl a year younger.

Where are they?

I think he's falling asleep.

Don't go.

Have you ever talked to anyone | about Columbus?

No.

Do you want to talk to me about it?

Nobody expected Pancho Villa | to cross the border.

Most of us were asleep when, | suddenly...

...he struck in the middle of the night.

My father was a very brave man. | He was killed in action.

In all the years I had been | in the Army...

...l'd never seen danger | or been in action.

Suddenly there was firing.

I took my pistol and ran outside, then | started for Regimental Headquarters.

There was confusion. | There was chaos.

Very few of us knew | what was happening.

Some bullets went through | some leaves...

...of the tree right close to my face.

I was standing next to a culvert | running under a railway...

...and I took cover.

There's a moment in life when you | stop being several things...

...and become one thing.

When I left that ditch, | I became one thing.

A coward.

- What did you think during the fight? | - Nothing.

- And afterward? | - I became two men.

One can't stand living | in the same skin with the other.

Can you explain what you did? | Even to yourself?

I've got no excuse.

One act of cowardice doesn't | make a man a coward forever.

Just as one act of bravery | doesn't make a man a hero forever.

What will happen if we reach Cordura | and Trubee talks?

Oh, it'll spread. Pressure will build up, | and they'll have to wash the dirty linen.

- What will that do to you? | - Dishonourable discharge.

A resignation at least.

Trubee doesn't want the citation.

- He gave you a choice. | - I can't take it.

How long must you go on atoning?

I'm not. What I'm doing is for them. | Not for me.

Otherwise, it has no meaning.

- You still think that they deserve... | - They do. They do.

You're still in that | railroad ditch at Columbus...

...unable, or afraid, to see out of it.

Heroes? Saints living in the desert?

Oh, my God.

They tried to rape me | and blackmail you.

It's a wonder they haven't | shot you already. No, Thorn...

...they're only men. | And damn poor specimens at that.

I have less right than | any man on earth to judge them.

Or to judge yourself, either.

You may be right what you say. | They're human beings.

But they're more than that. | They have one thing in them...

...that is a miracle and a mystery.

It redeems them.

They don't know themselves what it is, | but they have it.

I have to save it.

You really believe this.

If you do, Thorn...

...if you do, | you may be worth all of them.

I have to turn in. Another day like this | and I'll be a litter case.

And so will you, | if you don't spare yourself.

Why don't you let the lieutenant | take a turn at standing guard?

I'll do that.

Got an "officers only" sign | on her, major?

Now you wouldn't gun me, major.

It'd be a mighty sinful thing to do.

Kill a hero?

You honestly think | you can wait me out?

Don't you close your eyes, Thorn.

Don't you even blink.

Water!

Don't drink that! | I order you not to drink that!

You'll be sick, all of you. Sick! | This water's alkaline.

- We'll find water at the railroad soon. | - What railroad, major?

There ain't no railroad. Nothing.

I don't believe you, major. | I just don't believe you.

I signed up for the Army | to be shut of the railroad.

I'll be a brass monkey, | here I am again.

How far is it to base now, major?

I don't know.

What's down the other end?

Chihuahua City.

Why don't we be democratic, major?

Them that wants to go south | and back to the regiment can.

Them that wants to go north | and be heroes...

...or get kicked out of the Army | can do that.

Let's go.

Trubee, get up.

I ain't carrying him no further! | You hear me, major?

He's gonna die anyways.

You can leave him or tote him, | but I ain't. I'm finished.

We're all gonna die | in this God-forgot country.

And the buzzards will pick us clean.

And they'll say to our skeletons | what heroes we was.

Trubee. Get on that litter. | That's an order.

You wouldn't let that alkali | go through you.

He knows how you feel, Milo. | He had it at Columbus.

It wasn't from drinking alkali water.

We're going on. We made the railroad. | That's the last lap.

Cordura can be behind | any one of those hills.

If we're close to base, why not leave | him and send a detail back after him?

Or don't you really know how close?

Make up your mind, Trubee.

On your feet or I'll wing you.

You shoot me | and my kids will have no father.

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