Man in the Shadow

Come on.

- Don't forget to get that haircut. - Yes ma'am.

Oh Ben, what you want for dinner tonight?

I don't know. Anything, anything but liver.

- The girls are coming over this afternoon. - See you tonight.

- Morning Ben. - Oh hi, Herb.

- Hot one, eh? - Yeah, looks like it, all set for Saturday?

- Yeah, are they biting? - Mort Williams got a four-pounder yesterday.

- Count me in. - Fine.

- Good morning Ben. - Good morning Ab.

- Another hot one, eh? - Yeah, looks like it.

- Radio says it's going to be 110. - Wouldn't be surprised if it goes higher.

- You let Hank out yet? - No, not vet.

Thought you might want to read them off.

Want to post that for me when you get a minute?

Who's it for?

What difference is it make? He wouldn't come here anyhow.

- You want Hank now? - Yeah, might as well.

- Anything else? - No.

- Could sure use a new fan. - Yeah.

Alright Hank my boy, you being evicted.

Already? What's the idea coming around so early?

Come on, you old bum.

Go on, go on, we haven't got all day.

- Good morning Sheriff. - Well Hank, what's the excuse this time?

- It ain't the season for catching cold. - Oh, no, no, no. No cold.

Only my leg. Shrapnel I got it in France. Hurts something terrible this time of year.

Hank, what are you going to do when we start charging you rent?

Well, I don't reckon I'll be able to pay Sheriff.

Sure, you could.

We got a stretch of ditch out along the Empire Road needs a lot of digging.

Now, maybe I could persuade Judge McCullough to let you have 10 days on it.

Oh no, you wouldn't do a thing like that, you know I can't take that hot sun.

Well, next time we pick you up drunk I'm going to have to see to it.

Doggone it Hank...

you going to get yourself killed one of these days if you keep getting boozed up.

Now I mean what I say, next time we bring you in...

you're going to take the sweat treatment out along the road, you understand?

Alright Sheriff.

Not even a little teeny one to kill the pain?

Suffering will be good for you, now get out.

Yes sir, thank you Sheriff.

Oh and thanks for the use of the bed.

- I don't know Ben, you're too easy on him. - No.

No, Hank hits the jug too much but he don't hurt anybody but himself.

Señor Sheriff?

Doggone, forgot all about this fellow, he was here when I opened up.

- What can I do for you? - You are the sheriff?

- It's right, who are you? - My name is Jesus Cisneros señor.

I have my friend señor, who is gone, my friend Juan Martin.

- You, you want to report a missing man? - Sí, señor, but...

I do not think he is just perdido, lost.

I think maybe he is dead.

Come in and sit down. Bring me that chair, will you?

Let's start all over again, Cisneros, you say.

- YOU live in town? - NO senor, on the rancho.

- Golden Empire? - Sí senor.

Alright Cisneros, now what's this about your friend?

He is Juan Martin senor.

We work on the rancho together for many months and we are friends.

Even though Juan is to me more like a son...

SO young and strong, I know him well.

Alright. Just, just tell me what happened, eh?

Señor Sheriff, I tell you these things so you will know that Juanito...

is not a man to run away one night without a word.

You know how many braceros work at the ranch?

I, I never gave it any thought.

Maybe 400, perhaps 500, a great many.

And it is not a good place to work.

- Why do you work there? - A man must work.

Sometimes it is that a man must work in the sun for another and be paid a little.

Sometimes a man must live like a dog and not complain like a dog.

But señores, a man is not a dog, even if the patron thinks a man is a dog...

this does not make him one, not even on the Golden Empire.

Look Cisneros, I ain't the state employment service...

and I don't like speeches, if you got something to tell me get on with it, eh?

The Sefnor Yates, comprende? The foreman?

- Yeah? - He does not like Juan, I do not know why.

Last night he and the Señor Huneker came to the bunkhouse...

as Juan washed himself and took him outside.

I am an old man señor...

and I have seen many things and I know a bad thing when I see it.

Last night, when they took Juanito, from the bunkhouse, it was a bad thing.

They took him to the tool room of the barn, I am a man of peace senor.

I cause no trouble, but I followed them and waited outside.

Señor, they beat him.

With their fists they beat him until he bled, I watched.

Maybe they had good reason, maybe this Martin kid stepped out of line.

It's not my business how they run their ranch.

But Juan hit the Señor Yates to defend himself...

and the Señor Yates went loco, wild senor and he picked up the handle of a pick.

Oh, I have seen many things and I have seen death...

and Juan Martin died last night.

Ben, you're not going to take it seriously.

No, no, wait a minute, they pay me to take people seriously.

People sure, but you know how that story will go over at the ranch.

You can't go around accusing Virg Renchler's boys of murder.

Not even a bracero's murder.

You're making a pretty important charge against some...

- pretty important people, you know that? - Sí, señor.

I know that a bracero does not expect much from the law.

You listen to him Ben and you sure not going to make a friend out of Virg Renchler.

I'll tell you what probably happened.

Some of those dirt-diggers down there got into a fight...

and this old coot came up here trying to get out from under it.

Alright Cisneros, I'll, I'll try to find your friend.

You making a mistake Ben.

Look, in this office I'm the judge of that, let's not forget it.

You will find what they did to Juan Martin?

Now, I doubt if anything happened to him.

Yates probably had this Martin beat up and thrown off...

the ranch, I can't be expected to track down every bracero in the county.

- Sí, señor. - I'll get in touch with you.

Gracias, senor.

Oh, you probably ain't going back to ranch, where you be staying?

With my friend Aiken Clay.

- Aiken Clay. - Señor, to be honest...

I did not think you would help me.

For that, I am sorry and ashamed.

If it turns out to be a false alarm you won't feel so grateful.

Wait a minute Ben, come here.

You say they killed this Martin. How you know he's dead?

Did you feel his pulse? Did you hold a mirror up to his mouth?

- Did you go near him? - No.

I am not a brave man. I ran, senor.

- 1 ran from the ranch, I was afraid. - Alright. There you are.

Sefnor Sheriff, have you ever killed a steer for a barbecue?

No, but I've seen it done.

When they kill the steer, you recall that they hit it on the head with a sledgehammer?

Yeah.

You have heard the sound like a melon splitting?

Yeah.

It was the sound I heard senior, when the Señor Yates hit Juanito.

It was a pick handle he hit him with.

If a man is given a pick handle he can kill a bull.

Ben...

- Yeah? - Open up, I want to see Mr. Renchler.

Is that a fact? He want to see you?

- He might. - I don't know nothing about it.

Well, you might learn something about it.

Why don't you go to the phone and tell Mr. Renchler Ben Sadler is got business with him.

Oh, you the sheriff.

- We don't get many sheriffs out this way. - Well, you got one now.

You wait a minute and I'll call.

- He ain't expecting you, is he? - Not that I know of.

Ok, I'll let him know.

Ok.

You must be a mighty important man Sheriff.

You're the first lawman gone through these gates since I've been here.

- Yeah? - About four miles right on up the road.

I've been there before.

Mr. Renchler said to remind you to stick on the road.

This here is a mighty big spread.

He don't like for people to go wandering all over the place.

- Makes the stock nervous he says. - Makes the stock nervous?

That's what he says. Shouldn't take you more than five or six minutes.

- They'll be looking for you. - Yeah.

Down Rocco, down boy. Down Rocco. Attaboy.

We weren't expecting visitors today Sheriff.

I wasn't expecting to come out.

Mr. Renchler is waiting for you in his office.

Stay Rocco, stay, stay boy.

Sheriff?

- I didn't know were having visitors today. - Morning Miss Renchiler.

He ain't no visitor Skippy, it's business.

What kind of business brings Sheriff Sadler all the way out here?

Well, nothing important.

It's so dull out here that anybody at all is exciting.

- Oh, I didn't mean it the way it sounds. - It's alright.

- The boss is waiting. - Yeah.

It's been real nice seeing you Miss Renchler.

Come in.

Yours sincerely, et cetera. And take a letter to the Reverend Dr. Hill.

Dear Reverend, I don't presume to advise a minister of the Lord...

Hi Sheriff, I'll be with you in just a minute.

But regarding that matter we were discussing, if I can see your way clear,

I think your orphanage can count on an additional donation of...

$25,000 by Christmas, payable of course...

through the Angus Renchler Memorial Foundation. Yours very sincerely, et cetera.

Sheriff, haven't seen you since you got yourself elected.

- Have a cigar? - No, no thank you.

- Well, sit down. Sit down. - Thank you.

I'd hate to come out here when that dog of yours is loose in the yard.

Rocco? He's...

He's pretty mean, but ain't keeps the visitors away.

- Unwelcome ones, of course. - Not all of them.

You'll have to excuse Ed Sheriff, he's little edgy, he's been...

waiting for me to clear up that payroll since early morning.

I'll only be a few minutes Mr. Renchler.

I, I wonder if I could speak to you alone.

Sure, will you excuse us a minute Ed?

Don't go too far away.

Mr. Renchler, do you have a young fellow named Martin working for you?

Sheriff, I got 400 or 500 braceros working for me, besides my hands.

He's supposed to be about 18 to 19 years old, a stoop laborer.

I don't keep track of the stoop laborers, is it too many of them.

I wonder if you would check up on it and see if he's here.

- Martin, you say? - That's right.

- What's he wanted for? - Well, he's not wanted for anything.

You see, I got a report that he was beaten up here on the ranch last night.