The Hunting Party

Brandt!

Stop!

- Brandt? - Get dressed.

- Brandt, why do we have... - Get dressed!

Frank Calder!

Sheriff Ben C. Johnson, Ruger County!

We hung four of your kind last spring!

Don't come into town, and don't stop no place in the county!

Nowhere in Ruger County!

Matt!

Brandt. Whoa!

You son of a gun!

- You made it! - Yeah!

Why, I rode all night.

- Good to see you! - I couldn't get away any sooner!

- Sam! Buford! - You son of a gun!

I knew you'd make it!

I decided to do it the hard way. Straight through.

I wouldn't miss this for anything!

- Let's get started! - Melissa!

I knew it'd take a hunting trip to get you here.

Come on, boys. Move them on. Move them on.

Move them on.

Put that in the forward sleeper.

Melissa, let the men say goodbye! We're ready to go!

Thank you for a wonderful stay, Mrs. Ruger.

- Always welcome. - And the hospitality.

Nobody keeps a better house.

Emma and I would like you and Brandt to join us in Paris in the fall.

I'd love to. Talk to Brandt.

Get Mr. Gunn's rig on up the stable.

All right, Matt. Let's get on board.

Brandt, if Melissa's gonna be too lonesome, I'd be happy to stay behind.

Yeah, I bet you would.

Can't pry her away from you no matter what I do.

Back in two weeks?

- Yeah. - Brandt, can't we talk...

Tell Jed when he gets back to keep that bull away from them longhorns.

Tell Jed to keep his eye on that grass in the new section.

Go on in, Edward. Jimmy, you let him by!

Morning!

- Morning, Mary! - Go on in, Edward. They won't bother you.

Good thing you like children. I don't know how...

Boys, stop! Edward, Jimmy, get in!

I don't know how I'd manage if you didn't help me, Melissa.

Glad to do it! Girls, come on! Get in to school.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G

H, I, J, K, I, M, N, O, P

Q, R, S and T, U, V

W and X, Y, Z

Now you've heard my ABC's.

Tell me what you think of me.

No!

Come on!

Now, wait a minute! Don't be that way, honey!

There!

Now, don't fall out! We just getting started!

There, you sweet little thing!

I ain't gonna hurt you! But I sure would like to try!

You're a cute little thing, ain't you? You need breathing room in there!

Hog! Now, you save me seconds on that, goddamn you!

No!

You ain't going nowhere, are you, now, honey?

All right with me! I love you. Can't you see that?

Now, if you just help by getting your ass down on that flour sack!

Hog, let me see! Let me see!

Goddamn stuff! I love you, baby!

And I'm gonna get me some of that!

Get in there, Hog! Get in there!

You rotten bastard!

Just 'cause you got me and Jim Loring out of that...

You son of a bitch!

Come on! Let's go!

We're gonna go up across cattle country.

We'll be on the trail about six weeks.

Don't you touch me!

Ain't nobody gonna hurt you, little lady.

You just get outta that wagon.

I'm not gonna go any further! You can't!

- There, you... - You shut up!

Now, you just get out of that wagon!

You get ahold of things.

I promise you,

ain't anybody gonna hurt you,

just as long as you do as you're told.

Fella I knew give it to me once.

You're gonna teach me to read.

That's what you're here for.

I'm just a country boy. I'll stick to eggs.

Where'd you get quail this time of year?

Harvey Pullman build this car for you, Brandt?

George Vanderbilt's got a car on the New York Central, cost him $50,000!

Got something to show you, boys.

The Sharps Borchardt. .54 caliber. Finest rifle ever made.

Isn't that the gun at Creedmoor International?

- In '77. - That's right. And won it, too.

- Yeah. - Is that some kind of telescope?

That is a telescope. First time on a rifle.

Fires a center-fire cartridge with the new DuPont gunpowder.

Accurate up to 800 yards.

800 yards? Let me see that, Brandt.

Oh, come on, Brandt. No gun has that range.

It's a fact. I can prove it.

I gotta see that kind of range before I believe it.

What'd it cost?

$700 apiece.

It's a present for you boys. There's one for each of you.

I thought it would add a little something to the hunt.

Damn! That's the way to run a hunting party!

Frank!

I think the girl wants to come over and eat with us boys.

You heard of the Loring bunch, ma'am.

Me and Hog figured she wants to sit with us.

Have a little talk. Get to know each other.

Maybe later, after supper, well...

She's fine right here, Jim.

Well, let's find that out.

Give me that plate of food. I'll carry it over to her.

Come on, lady! You're gonna like having supper with us.

Right in the back, Loring.

Think you got brains enough to boss a range war?

The Macon County people hired Frank, not you.

You'd still be rotting in the Nogales jail if it wasn't for him.

You dumb bastards.

You kill each other,

then nobody's gonna get any money.

'Cause any other chances we got

damn near all run out,

for everybody.

'Cause if we don't make it this time,

we ain't never gonna make it.

How's your jaw, Hog?

Oh, it's all right.

Hell, I like being kicked.

Oh, where shall I go?

What can I do?

No one to tell me what course to pursue.

Weary and footsore and hungry and weak.

Get undressed.

You like?

Chinese girl very good. Very special.

I show you good time.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, you're gonna show me a good time, all right.

Yes, you're gonna show me the best damn time I ever had.

Mr. Ruger.

No!

Please, Mr. Ruger!

You better get some sleep.

I'm not going to stay here.

And you ought to realize there's no way you can keep me.

I am getting out of here one way or another.

You go right ahead, lady.

Oh, God damn it, Frank.

Ain't we wore out enough without you playing games with that woman?

We ride all day, that saddle burning my ass...

You wanna bed down with Crimp or me?

...bounty hunters shooting at us from every direction, vigilantes, posses.

I don't know. Son of a bitch. I don't know what it's all coming to.

I never had a job like this in my...

You ain't too bad.

For a schoolteacher.

If you think you're going to get a lot of money for me, you're wrong.

They'll be coming after us, you know.

A lot of men.

Why? They short of teachers back there?

I am not a teacher.

I am Brandt Ruger's wife.

I am!

I am Brandt Ruger's wife!

It don't matter whose wife you are. There ain't nothing he can do about it.

Why do you want to learn to read?

'Cause I can't.

Who the goddamn hell would stop a train in the middle of the goddamn night?

Brandt?

Mr. Ruger, your wife's been kidnapped.

Sheriff says Frank Calder took her and they're headed north.

Ever kill a man, Matt?

No! Not actually.

This'll do it. 700, 800 yards.

Winchester's good for 350 yards.

Jesus Christ himself couldn't get any more range out of it.

This is 800.

What exactly are you getting at, Brandt?

A little hunting trip.

If you mean help the posse, Brandt, I mean, we're all gonna help.

He's not thinking about helping anybody.

Hang back and pick them off, like trailing bear.

- That's right. - That Calder bunch?

Why, they're hired gunfighters. More than 20 of them.

Jim Loring, the Thompson brothers, Hog Warren, Doc Harrison.

You mean to say that we go up against them?

Up close, no.

But from a distance.

Come on, honey. You're gonna get it!

Come on!

It's gonna be all right, Brandt.

There'll be some kind of ransom.

A note. Something.

You pay it, and Melissa'll be back with you, and it'll be all over.