The Painted Desert

Give me a hand here, Cash.

Ooh, you know I will.

Poor little cuss.

It appears to me

we'll be splitting our grubstake three ways from now on, Cash.

Yeah. I reckon so.

Ohh. What have we got that'll fit his gizzard?

He can't chaw jerky.

Oh, you don't know nothin'.

Oatmeal gruel and a mite of bacon grease will see him through.

Come on, partner.

Ohh.

Yes, sir.

Give me a hand here with the boy, Cash.

You know I will.

- Hey. - Hey, you little rascal, you.

Hey. Giddyap. Giddyap.

Ahh.

Here. You're going to get your shirt on now, Bill.

Here. That's right.

Pretty little cuss, ain't he, Jeff?

- He sure is. - Yeah.

Looks just like me.

Don't you, Bill?

Hmm.

- Here we are. Here we are. - Hey.

- Here we are, boy. - Hey.

Oh, jeez, that boy.

Hmm. Bill sure does love me, Jeff.

Mines.

Come on, baby.

Boy...

Attaboy.

Lovely boy.

Here. Take a swig of this, Bill.

It'll put hair on your chest.

Don't be giving that maverick poison.

And don't be calling him Bill.

Once and for all, Cash Holbrook,

we're callin' him Daniel Boone Cameron.

And once and for all, Jeff Cameron,

we're calling him Buffalo Bill Holbrook.

I've put up with your bullheadedness about long enough.

Bullheadedness? Me?

Why, you hammer-headed old mule.

You're as stubborn about branding that yearling as...

As you are about wanting to settle down here

at this measly water hole.

Water means a grubstake in this country, Cash.

We're stayin' right here.

No. We ain't.

You are.

Grubstake's just about as far as you can see.

I'm headin' west till I hit grazing land.

I've put up with your stubbornness ever since we started out, Jeff.

Now I'm done with you.

If you're headin' west, it seems to me you'd best get goin'.

Now, then, I'll take Dan.

- Bill's going with me. - Oh, no, he ain't.

He's too smart for you, Holbrook.

He's a Cameron' and he knows where he belongs.

He's a bit young to know what a pigheaded old hyena you are, Cameron.

But I'll learn him.

You wouldn't plug Dan...

would you, Cameron?

And if you was to drill me in the back while I was riding away,

why, you'd just naturally bust Bill's neck.

Mary Ellen?

- Yes, Dad? - They're comin'.

Put your ear to the ground.

- Cattle. - Yep.

You see? I was right, Mary Ellen.

When I seen that big, ornery Bill Holbrook riding the ridge this morning,

I figured that him and his old man was up to something.

Dad, them two are just alike, meaner than two rattlers.

Cash Holbrook ruined the boy, Mary Ellen.

He was a lively young'un when I found him.

Well, Dad, if they think they're gonna water cattle here tonight,

here's two Winchesters say they ain't.

Oh, I reckon we ought to turn the herd toward the gap here, Mr. Holbrook.

We'll get to the water hole quicker that way.

All right, turn it.

You know more about it than I do, Kirby.

I ain't set foot on Jeff Cameron's land in a good many years.

I wouldn't be doing it tonight if this herd wasn't drying up on me.

Well, we won't have no trouble.

There ain't nobody at the water hole but old Cameron and his daughter.

I don't care if there's 50 of them.

Cameron ain't keepin' me away from that water no longer.

So long.

Listen.

What was that?

Someone afoot.

Stay where you are.

What do you want here?

Water. I can use some.

My name's Rance Brett.

Had to shoot my horse today. Prairie dog hole.

This is the first water I've seen since.

I don't know this country.

You don't know Cash Holbrook neither, I suppose?

Who?

Go ahead, fill up.

Thanks, mister.

Well?

Who's this, uh, Holbrook you were talkin' about?

You never heard of him, I suppose.

Miss, I'm from Montana,

and I'm headed New Mexico way.

What was your name in Montana?

Brett. Same as here.

And I'm headed New Mexico way.

At least I was.

While I had a horse.

Seems like I've stepped into something here, mister.

Might be you'd care to enlighten me of what.

Cameron's my name. Jeff Cameron.

My daughter, Mary Ellen.

I'm honored to know you, Miss Cameron.

This here is my livin'.

The only water hole between the range and the railroad.

Cowmen all water here on their way to the loading pens.

All but one.

This, uh, Holbrook fella?

Yeah.

I make him go the long way for water.

Twenty-seven miles across the desert, losing beef every mile.

Why?

Got a match?

When they smell that water, they're going big for a lection.

Fire and brimstone won't stop 'em.

Neither will Jeff Cameron.

I got married and settled down here.

He kept on persecuting me.

Why, it wasn't a month after her ma died,

he tried to stampede me into selling.

It began right here,

and it's liable to end right here, tonight.

- Meaning what? - Meaning this.

Miss, do you aim to take aim?

I do if a Holbrook crosses our line.

Well, the odds ain't with you.

Perhaps it'd even them up a little if I might offer to throw in with you folks.

Thanks just the same.

Well, put it this way:

Maybe I could work it out around here long enough to get me a horse.

Startin' tonight.

They're comin'.

Throw a saddle onto one of them broncs. We'll ride out to meet 'em.

Good enough.

They won't get in here tonight.

They're gettin' mighty uneasy.

They're liable to start any minute now.

We'll tangle with them right here.

Mary Ellen, you get behind them rocks.

Brett, you go hold out on the other side of that wash.

I'll stay here.

Don't take no chances with yourself, now.

There they go!

Whoa.

- It's a bunch of rustlers! - No, it ain't.

Cameron's got men to help him.

They're stampeding the herd away from the water hole!

What happened?

I'll tell you what's happened.

They're not Holbrook's cattle at all.

But Holbrook's got men running off stock that's being drove to my water.

He's tryin' to break me.

Well, it might've been worse.

We only lost a few head.

Jeff Cameron declared war on me when he drove them cattle off tonight.

Before it's over, I'll drive him out of the country.

I wonder who those men was helpin' him.

I'll find that out too.

- And when I do... - Take it easy.

I ran that herd out of there tonight, Dad.

You ran that herd off?

What's to make of all this, Son?

I'll tell you, Dad.

I ran those cattle off to keep you and Jeff Cameron from killing each other.

Hmm.

And who appointed you to be my guardian angel?

You and Jeff split over me, Dad.

Tonight, when I learned you was gonna tangle, I had to stop it.

Yeah, and make a fool out of me right in front of him,

to say nothin' of the cattle lost.

Dad, you and Jeff shared your last flapjack once.

Since then, you've wasted all those years hating each other.

But it's not too late.

I've got something to show you.

You see that?

Hmm.

Well, what is it?

What about it?

That is tungsten ore.