Third Man on the Mountain Page #7

Go to sleep, boy.

Let me have a look.

- I see someone.

- Where?

- High above the Fortress.

- Only one?

- Wait. Now I see two people.

- No others?

- No. Just two black specks.

- Didn't you say there were four?

There were four yesterday.

They may have changed places higher up.

Captain Winter with Saxo, probably.

Franz with Rudi.

- I mean that...

- You mean my son is on the Citadel.

You've lied to me.

You've all lied to me.

Frau Matt!

Well, Lizbeth, I hope you're satisfied.

Yes. Rudi's doing

what he was meant to do.

What right have you to say what he was

meant to do? How could you know?

You've never been a wife, a mother.

You've never lost a man.

But don't you see,

we both nearly lost a man?

- Why couldn't you have left him alone?

- But it was Rudi himself.

It wasn't me.

Nor was it Old Teo.

That's what makes it so right.

So wonderful.

Would you want to be the wife of a guide?

Yes. Or a dishwasher.

Or a hotel proprietor.

But never the wife of a hotel proprietor

who wanted to climb mountains.

Because a man must do what he feels

he must do, or he isn't a man.

And no one, wife, mother or sweetheart,

has the right to make him

into something he wasn't meant to be.

I'm sorry you didn't know.

I'm sorry they lied to you.

There's nothing to do now, is there?

He'll never be anything but a guide.

No, Frau Matt.

Where are the others, Franz?

What happened?

Gone, the two of them.

It's what Saxo threatened last night

when he said you were too sick to try,

and that crazy boy's gone after him.

- All right, I'm ready.

- Ready for what?

- To go after them.

- No. Captain, you're too weak.

I'm much better. The pain's gone.

Then, if you don't mind staying here

for a few hours, I'll go up and...

I mind very much. We're going together.

Don't worry,

I won't be a bundle of firewood.

Herr Saxo! Don't move!

Herr Saxo, you're hurt.

Badly hurt.

I'll make you a sling.

Let me alone!

I don't need help from you.

Go on back. You've won.

Climb to the top and crow like a cock.

Herr Saxo, there must be some way

I can hold you.

Go on, boy. Go on, kitchen boy.

You've won, I'm telling you.

And I've lost. Claim your victory.

Leave me.

You've left the others, why not me?

I'm nothing to you.

Not even a friend. Go on.

That's it. You are no fool.

Take it. You'll be a hero.

Conqueror of the Citadel.

Your father's son.

I'm making you a sling.

Since we can't go up, we'll go down.

It's Rudi's pack.

Rudi!

Rudi!

- He must have fallen.

- His pack would still be on his back.

We'd better push on.

We can pick those things up

on the way down.

He brought these

all the way up from Kurtal.

I think he'd like them at the top.

Herr Saxo.

- I'm done. Finished.

- You can't stop now.

The tents are just below.

No, boy. You leave me here.

- You'll never get me down.

- I will get you down.

Now, just try! Try!

Thanks, boy.

- Come, Lizbeth.

- No, it should only be you.

My turn will come.

I'm sorry if I made you worry again.

You're not angry? You're happy!

Yes, Rudi, and very proud.

You, the conquerors of the Citadel,

which stands above our valley,

there it will stand forever,

and all men will know it by your names,

as your mountain.

Forgive me, Herr Hempel,

but you're wrong. It's not our mountain.

It's Rudi's mountain.

Rudi? Rudi, come up here.

- I didn't even get to the top, sir.

- Look.

- You carried it up. You put it there.

- No, Rudi. You put it there.

You and your father.

That is true.

- He could have been the first.

- And so could his father.

Long live our dishwasher! Bravo!

Say something, Rudi. Don't just stand

there like a lump. Invite them up to see.

- Where's Lizbeth?

- There she is.

Here I am, Rudi.

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