True Grit Page #4

See? Sleep.

That is fine, I will wake him.

Marshal Cogburn.

It is I, Mattie Ross, your employer.

How long 'till your ready to go?

- Go where?

- To the Indian Territory. In pursuit of Tom Chaney.

Oh, you're the bereaved girl with

stories of El Dorado.

Huh, how much money you got there?

I said $50 to retrieve Chaney.

You did not believe me?

I did not know.

You are a hard one to figure.

How long for you to make

ready to depart?

Well uh, hold on sis.

I remember your offer, but

do not remember agreeing to it.

If I'm to go up against Ned Pepper.

Then I'll need $100.

That much I can tell you. $100.

To retrieve your man - $100.

I will take that $50 in advance.

There will be expenses.

You are trying to take advantage of me.

I am giving you the children's rate.

I'm not a sharper. I am an old man sleeping on a rope bed in a room behind the Chinese grocery.

- I have nothing.

- You want to be kept in whiskey.

I don't have to buy that,

I confiscate it.

I am an officer of the court.

Ah, thank you.

$100, that's the rate.

I shall not niggle.

Can we depart this afternoon?

We?

You're not going, that ain't no part of it.

You have misjudged me if you think I'm silly enough

to give you $50 and simply watch you ride off.

I am a bonded US Marshal.

That weighs but little with me.

I will see the thing done.

Damn ducks. I can't go after Ned Pepper

and a band of hard men and look after a baby at

the same time

I am not a baby.

I will not be stopping at boarding houses where there is

warm beds and hot grub on the table

I'll be traveling fast and eating light.

What little sleeping is done will

take place on the ground.

Well I have slept out a night before.

Papa took me and Little Frank coon

hunting last summer on the Petit Jean.

We were in the woods all night.

We sat around a big fire and Yarnell told ghost stories.

We had a good time.

Coon hunting?

This ain't no coon hunt!

It is the same idea as a coon hunt.

It don't come within forty miles of being a coon hunt!

You are just trying to make your work sound harder than it is.

Here is the money.

Now I aim to get Tom Chaney,

and if you are not game, I will find

somebody who is game.

All I've heard out of you so far is talk.

I know you can drink whiskey, and snore and spit

and wallow in filth and bemoan your station.

The rest has been braggadocio.

They told me you had grit, and

that is why I came to you.

I am not paying for talk. I can get all the talk I

need and more at the Monarch Boarding House

Leave your money.

Meet me here tomorrow morning at seven

o'clock and we will begin our coon hunt.

Dearest mother,

I'm about to embark on a great adventure.

I have learned that Tom Chaney has

fled into the wild.

And I shall assist the authorities in pursuit.

You know that Papa would want me

to be firm in the right.

As he always was.

So do not fail on my account.

Tho I walk through the valley, of the shadow of death.

I shall fear no evil.

The author of all things watches over me, and

I have a fine horse.

Kiss little Frankie for me,

and pinch Violet's cheek.

My Papa's death will soon be avenged.

I'm off for the Choctaw Nation.

Where's Marshal Cogburn?

Went away.

Left this.

Here inside is a train ticket for your return home.

Use it.

By the time you read this, I will be across

the river in the Indian Nation.

Pursuit will be futile.

I will return with your man, Chaney.

Leave me to my work.

Rueben Cogburn.

Is that Marshal Cogburn?

That is the man

Who's he with?

I do not know.

Well take me across.

So, you're the runaway.

Marshal told me you'd show up.

I'm going to present you to the Sheriff.

That is a story, let go of my horse.

I have business across the river.

If you don't turn around and take me across

you may find yourself in court where you don't want to be.

I have a good lawyer.

HEY!

Go, Little Blackie.

Come on.

That is quite a horse.

I will give you $10 for him.

From the money you stole from me?

That was not stolen, I'm after your man.

I was to accompany you.

If I do not there is no agreement and

my money was stolen.

Marshal, put this child back on the ferry.

It's a long road and time's a wasting.

If I go back it's to the US Marshals office

to report the theft of my money.

And "fudel" Marshal Cogburn?

Pursuit would be futile?

It's not spelled, F-U-D-E-L.

It's time for your spanking.

Now you do as the grown-ups say!

Or I will get myself a

birch switch and stripe your leg!

Are you going to let him do this, Marshal?

No, I don't believe I will.

Put your switch away, La Boeuf.

I aim to finish what I started.

That'll be the biggest mistake you ever made.

you Texas brush-popper.

Hoorawed by a little girl.

I am not accustomed to so large a fire.

In Texas we make do with a fire

of little more than twigs.

or buffalo chips.

Heat the nights rations of beans.

And it is Ranger

policy never to make the camp

the same place as your cook fire.

Very imprudent to make your presence

known in unsettled country.

How do you know that Bagby will have intelligence?

He has a store.

That makes him an authority on movements

in the Territory?

We have entered a wild place.

Anyone coming in

wanting any kind of supply,

cannot pick and choose his portal.

That is a piece of foolishness.

All the snakes are asleep this time of year.

They've been known to wake up.

Well let me have a rope, too.

A snake would not bother you.

You are too little and boney.

You should fetch water for the morning.

Put it on the fire.

- The creek'll ice over tonight.

- I'm not going down there again.

You want anymore water,

you can go fetch it yourself.

You're lucky to be traveling in a place

with a spring so handy.

In my country you could ride for days and

see no ground water.

I have lapped filthy water from a hoofprint.

And was glad to have it.

If I ever meet one of you Texas waddies

who says he never drank

water out of a horse track

I think I'd shake his hand and

give him a Daniel Webster cigar.

You do not believe it?

Oh, I believe it, the first twenty

thousand times I heard it.

Maybe. Maybe it is true.

Maybe lapping water off the ground is

Ranger policy.

You're getting ready to show your ignorance

now, Cogburn.

I don't mind a little personal chaffing.

But I won't hear anything against the

Ranger troop from a man like you.

How long you boys been mounted

on sheep down there?

My white Appaloosa will still be galloping,

when that big American stud of yours

is winded and collapsed.

Now make another joke about it.

You want to try to put on

a show for this girl, Mattie.

With what you must think is a keen tongue.

This is like women talking.

Yes, that is the way.

Make me out foolish in this girls eyes.

At least she has you pretty well figured.

Would you two like to hear the

story of the 'Midnight caller'?

One of you is gonna have to be the caller.

I will tell you what to say.

I will do all the other parts myself.

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