Broken Trail

Hey, Dink.

That you, Ed?

Didn't recognise me or just figured you'd never see me again?

Ed, I had nothing to do with you being sent up. You got to believe me.

Why wouldn't I believe you, Dink?

Where I've been, they don't pay too good.

Thought maybe you could help out an old friend.

None of us prospered much, Ed.

Think you could offer me a cup of coffee?

Yeah, sure, Ed. Come on in.

Right now I need you to go after my property.

All right, I'll go after those little girls of yours.

Soon as my boys are ready.

- Want me to go round up Dink Yeatman? - No.

I took care of that little snitch for good.

You killed him?

You think that Yeatman snitched on you? You're a damn fool.

What do you think you're talking about, Kate?

It wasn't Yeatman.

It was Nola.

I just need to get this cleaned up, ma'am.

I know it's sore but it'll feel a lot worse if an infection takes hold.

It hurts worse than it looks.

Take this hand, and hold it right on that.

Be right back.

Yeah.

So I guess old boy took a pretty good whack on his brain pan.

This here's Mr Lung Hay.

Yeah.

Mr Lung Hay, that's some gash you got there.

- You any good at stitching hide, nephew? - Yeah.

Probably close it up. Probably put a whip stitch on it.

Yeah. I don't know.

I don't know.

These Chinamen seem to set a lot of stock on their head's appearance.

Well, what do you recommend?

Well, when I sew a pocket back on my shirt,

- I use a tight little chain stitch. - Yeah?

See, I want a pretty job on what I wear.

- That'd work. - Yeah. It's your lucky day.

You're fortunate to have two barbarians that are experts at repairing top notches.

Got several of these vicious-looking beauties from

a saddler in Klamath.

They're superb at stitching rawhide and not bad on scalp work either.

Use this.

Yes.

Sorry again.

- Here. - Good.

Sock it in there.

Mr Lung Hay, you look to be a tough old bird,

but you might want a little whisky before we start.

Are you sure? Okay.

Hell, I'll drink it.

All right.

Okay, let her rip, doc.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Easy.

Got a hell of a grip there, Chinaman.

That's good, Nephew. Good.

That's good.

Yeah.

That's not bad. Not bad at all.

Axle grease. Normally I use lard.

This will keep the flies off

and keep it clean, too. See?

There you go.

Good job.

Yeah.

Good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Ma'am,

I'm Prentice Ritter.

The seamstress is my nephew, Tom Harte.

Tough little wart he's working on is Mr Lung Hay.

And these ladies are One, Three, Four and Five.

Little Number Two died a ways back.

Why don't you get some more sleep?

We'll talk later. All right?

- Thank you. - Yes, ma'am.

How's he doing?

- He gonna survive? - Yeah.

He won't bleed out.

Good job, Nephew.

It's all right. It's all right, little girl.

It's all right. It's all right.

It's all right.

It's over.

It's over.

That's it.

It's all right.

It's all right.

Do you reckon we're gonna get bogged down here by this storm, Mr Ritter?

No, sir. Summer storm.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

You don't get this in August back in Virginia, do you?

No, sir, we don't.

It'll be gone by tomorrow afternoon. You can count on it.

This looks to be a good spot to stop for a few days.

The horses could use the rest and so can we.

We got more than a few sore-footed cavvies,

so let's picket them in the river mud for a day

and cool them hooves out.

How's that woman and the Chinaman holding up?

Tom did a fine job on the old boy's head.

The woman's all right. Nose is much better.

This deal gets more interesting by the day, I tell you.

This deal's getting less profitable by the day.

Never use money to measure wealth, son.

Let's get these sore-footed ones into the water.

You know back there in John Day, when I said

I didn't know what went on between you and your ma, I meant it.

'Cause I know my sister could be a difficult woman.

Comes from being German and Huguenot, I suppose.

Huguenot?

That does make for the kind of people that could up and leave the Cumberland,

my people, to come across this country.

Sure enough makes for a starchy person to have to live with.

Yeah. No doubt, no doubt.

It was always hard for her, you know,

to reveal her feelings.

Now your pa, he was a regular hand.

Best thing that happened to my sister.

No matter how knotted up she might get,

she couldn't put a dent in him.

He was always, you know, a cheerful fellow.

Yeah.

Well, for all her hard praying,

she was fairly convinced she made it all the way out here of her own steam.

Ain't nobody made it out here without some divine luck attached.

You know, she never forgave me for leaving the ranch.

Look at me, son.

That was a man-sized thing you done back there with that shit bird, Fender.

And it was appropriate for what he'd done.

You understand?

You didn't blink. That's good, see?

That's good.

Now, we didn't go looking to save no

Orientals and a broken-nosed whore. It just happened.

Sometimes you just gotta roll with what's thrown at you, eh?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know,

I'd like to see more of your father in you sometimes.

I really would.

Yeah.

Not bad.

Give it a shot.

You must have come early and got all the good rocks.

You bet.

Oh, a new champion.

There we go.

A little salt. Yeah. Yeah, that's nice.

Yes, ma'am.

My name is Nola. Nola Johns.

Welcome. We eat simple.

Mainly cowboy chuck.

Sit.

Yeah.

There's some biscuits, beans and fresh antelope shank, Miss Johns.

Thank you.

I made a place for you and the girls to sleep. Anything else you need, just ask.

Yeah, and we'll try and...

We'll try and keep the snoring down.

- That's good. Thank you. - Yeah.

You ever been to Richmond or anywhere back East?

I've never been east of the Mississippi.

Well, it's a little too neat back there for me.

I was fortunate enough to get a good education

and all it did was make me itch to travel.

I cashed out, packed up and headed out West.

Nothing like a couple of hot meals and some sleep to put a shine on things.

- Relax, ruminate and reflect. - Wild, woolly and hard to curry.

Yeah.

So what kept you out here, Mr Ritter?

I spent most of my life on

the hurricane deck of a cow pony.

I've had my share of dust up my nose, busted bones,

my heart stomped on more than once.

And most of that time I was never worth more than $100.

Most of the time spent out here, I'd say life's pretty grand.

So what about women?

Women.

The habits and ambitions of women are more a mystery to me

than Egyptian hieroglyphics.

And I ain't found the Rosetta Stone yet.

So you're saying you led a monk's life, huh?

There's been a few.

One I even set up house with down in Salida.

Black-haired, green-eyed beauty.

We was bedded but not churched, you might say.

We had us a nice family for a while.

She even got me baptised.

Yeah, but the truth is

I never had women figured out and that's a cold, hard fact.

Yeah.

The deal is there ain't enough of them out here to go around, anyways.

He's always been a pushover for the ladies.