War Arrow Page #3

You just furnish

the transportation.

Where are you going?

To Major Brady's house

to stay with my father.

That would not be good.

They put me in a tent worse

than the hut I came from.

If you would marry me,

I would build a house for us.

What will you build?

A jackal hut?

Made of handsome sod and

magnificent mud? No, Pino. Never.

A house is good because of how

you live in it, not how it is made.

That is not for me!

Hello.

I'm Mrs. Corwin.

Elaine Corwin.

My name is Avis.

Your dress

is very pretty.

Thank you. Coming from another

woman, that's the highest compliment.

Did it cost much?

No. I made it myself. You can't

buy ready-made dresses out here.

Someday I'll have

a dress prettier than that.

I'll show you how to make one

with my patterns.

If I had the cloth, I could sew it

myself. I might have some cloth too.

Thank you,

but I'll get my own.

Afternoon, Mrs. Corwin.

Hello, Major.

You're about to have a new resident

in your house. Oh, homesick already?

As far as I'm concerned, one house is

the same as another on an army post.

I'm disappointed.

I'm flattered

by your disappointment.

And I'm properly

put in my place.

About my new resident...

It's Avis.

I understand

she's moving in.

I guess she wants to be

near her father. Uh-uh.

She's dying to have

a dress like mine,

probably so her father will

realize how pretty she is.

Or Pino.

Or you.

She has a kind

of untamed charm.

They say that a wild plant

never lives very long indoors.

I'm gonna be too busy

to conduct social experiments.

Speaking of experiments, the talk is

that you'll never train the Seminoles.

The only thing that talk

ever trained is a parrot.

By the way, they don't like

to be called Seminoles. Oh?

Suppose we discuss it later?

Be all right?

Very well.

Well, your men are ready. I gave 'em

each a horse and a Henry repeater.

These guns will speak their

own answer to the colonel.

Just load 'em up on Sunday,

and they'll shoot all week.

For you.

Well, you can't see

through the paper, you know.

Oh.

There's enough material for a dress,

pattern, needles, thread.

If you need any more help, I

can't give it to you. Thank you.

Hope it'll give you

something to do.

She told you, didn't she?

Yeah.

I'll be a better woman

than she is.

What do you do

with your old losers, Major?

All right, now, keep

your elbow on your knee.

The stock dug

into your shoulder.

That's it. Just like that.

Pick your targets

carefully,

every shot.

All right, Luke.

Take a steady grip

and squeeze.

Don't pull the trigger, or you'll

jerk the barrel off the target.

Keep this little ball Just underneath

what you're aimin' at, like this.

All right, one at a time.

Maygro, you lead off.

Ha!

All right, Pino.

I'm not sure

this is such a good idea.

What?

Leaving the fort after dark.

Could get mighty dangerous

out here.

Everything's dangerous

in this country.

I know.

I mean, danger doesn't stop

at the walls of the fort.

I know that too.

Why, even in your own home.

Once I walked into my living

room, and there was a rattler.

Gave me quite a start.

Once I walked into a room...

and there was one of the most

beautiful women I've ever seen.

Gave me quite a start.

Anyway, if I didn't get outside

once in a while, I'd go crazy.

Sometimes the fort seems

Just like a prison.

Why do you stay on?

Oh, it isn't easy for a woman to

pull up roots and start traveling.

Colonel Meade wouldn't have

anything to do with it, would he?

Why do you ask that?

Because he's entirely too paternal

for a man who isn't the fatherly type.

I'm very fond

of jack as a friend.

Nothing more,

and he knows it.

A smart officer prepares

for a long campaign.

He'd have the same luck with me

that he's having with the Kiowas.

That seems to be true

for everybody.

Something tells me that

you'll do a little better.

With you?

I was thinking

about the Kiowas.

Oh.

I don't know.

Their raids aren't haphazard.

There's a plan behind them.

I'm sorry

I even mentioned it.

All right, pick a subject.

Something far away, something

like Washington or St. Louis.

Oh, the buildings hem you in

and the noise wears you down.

I've had

a warehouseful of quiet.

Tell me about the parties

and the dresses...

and the crystal

and the silver.

And the colds and bad food

and the empty conversation?

Oh, sounds wonderful.

To be sitting with a cold in a

noisy restaurant in Washington...

listening

to bad conversation,

I'd give all the love

that's in me.

Now or when

you get there?

I... I don't know what

made me say that.

Don't you?

Do your plans really

include a return to the East?

I don't know, except... Well,

then why don't we talk about it...

when you really know

where you're going?

All right, Wilks, take over.

Yes, sir.

Now, you all know

how to sit on a horse.

I'm gonna show you

how to jump a horse!

Now pay attention.

Pino, follow me over.

When the time comes, you'll

have to dig 'em faster and deeper.

Man should not fight in

hole. He should stand erect.

And get his head shot off?

In case of a sudden attack, this is what

we'll use these trenches for. Ready?

Think we had enough?

Even the army don't work this hard.

That's why we're out here. Come on.

He's training those Seminoles like a cross

between Kentucky frontiersmen and rustlers.

Digging holes, firing dismounted,

charging four at a time.

To fight Indians, you've got to give

'em a spectacle. Stun 'em, make noise.

I'd like to be looking on when Brady's

bunch meets its first party of Kiowas.

Those lads aren't

interested in playing games.

It'll take him a month to

round up his Seminoles again.

One way or another,

I'd like to see it.

A toast...

to the memory

of Brady's bunch.

Oh, hello, Major.

Looking for the colonel?

No, he's in his office.

I made sure of that.

May I come in?

Oh, of course.

Would you like

a cup of tea?

No, thank you.

Oh, um, how's your army

coming along?

If maneuvers mean anything,

we're unbeatable.

We'll know shortly. I leave

in a day or so. Oh, so soon?

Mm-hmm.

Elaine, I-I don't know how long this

will take or how well it'll come out.

What an alarming lack of

confidence. It isn't like you.

I have my moments.

Sometimes when we play

make-believe, we get overconfident.

Worse, we lose sight of what's

make-believe and what's real.

Are we talking

about the same thing?

I think we are.

If we ever get

the Kiowas in line,

I can just about pick

my next assignment.

I've had enough of this special

frontier duty to warrant it.

You're very fortunate,

Major.

I thought I might ask for a

tour of duty in Washington,

the A.G. office

or something like that.

Where the buildings hem you in

and the noise wears you down.

When a man has nothing but time on

his hands, no one to share it with,

he concentrates

on noise and cold.

He has to blame

his loneliness on something.

Elaine, I... I-I'm not doing

a very good job of this,

but I'm trying to tell you

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