The Shepherd of the Hills

Kinda free with your powder, ain't ya?

Not when I'm aimin' at a moonshiner with four jugs

Accordin' to the law, a man's got a right

wherever it fits him best, inside or out.

And he ain't a moonshiner till he sells it and gets caught at it.

The way you talk up for these superstitious mountain people,

you'd think that every third 'shiner is your nephew.

Well, I've been up here long enough for the government

And you better be careful potshottin' at these nephews

Hey, Charlie, come here! Take a look at this!

Uh-huh. I told you I got him.

Cow. Cow?

Yeah. Lamentin' cow.

Full udder and nobody to milk her.

Lamentin', huh?

Snakes.

Get these hid away from here.

Do what you're told. Jim Lane's standin' watch

Let him find his own cover.

Get these things hid away.

Douse that fire. Watch that smoke.

Revenuers! Dump that mash

Who lives there? Jim Lane and his daughter, Sammy.

Come in.

Andy!

Hello, Sammy. You're lookin' fine.

How's everything with you, Jim?

Well, Andy, I can't complain.

You're here just in time. We got a powerful lot

There's only one more plate, unless they wanna eat stew

No, thanks, Sammy. We got business to attend to.

Well, are you satisfied?

So long, Jim. Bye, Sammy.

Good-bye.

They hit me without no warnin'.

Easy. Easy, young'un.

Don't hurt out loud, Pappy. Here. Careful.

The murderin' hounds. I was right down at

Young Matt givin' you sorghum beer for spottin' revenuers...

while he's totin' his corn whiskey down into town!

Someday I'll— Don't aggravate yourself.

'Tain't like it was Young Matt's fault.

It's you that's shot, just like you said.

Come in.

What do you want?

My name's Daniel Howitt. L—

Don't you touch him!

This looks bad. It's stopped bein' bad

I can take care of him.

That bullet's still with him. I said I can take care of him.

I got salve. I got cobwebs—

Boil some water and get some clean rags.

When do you aim to take him?

You're just wellin' him to take him to jail,

I've been tryin' to tell ya. I'm Daniel Howitt.

I came here to get some information, to get acquainted.

Why?

Well, I'd like to buy a piece of land, settle down here.

I- gonies! The man was right clever with me,

and you act like he was a fine-hair.

Folks like him don't come to land

Land with seed ticks and chinch bugs

Why'd you come?

I didn't ask you how he got shot.

No, you didn't, for a fact.

Evenin', brother.

Hello, Sammy.

Keep joggin', Young Matt. Don't get off that horse!

Don't get your dander up. I just come to see

He is, and we don't need you and your kind

I guess then I'll have to invite myself in.

Get on up the hill, Rowdy.

Tell Aunt Mollie I want stack cakes...

and roast yearlin'coon with plenty of gravy!

And tell her we ain't aimin' to stand for no more

My, ain't the birds a- hollerin' pretty.

Aunt Mollie and Old Matt and their poison ways,

There's bluebirds nestin' all over the mountain.

Liquor totin' and gettin' drunk and raisin'Jupiter to suit yourselves!

Your eyes are cussin' pretty tonight.

Givin' the sick a soon start to die, makin' the well dark-eyed

Why can't your dead mother keep her unhappiness

Leave my mother be.

Oh, Matt, why do you keep doin' it? All the way up the trail he bled.

What are you talkin' about? They shot him, Matt.

Did they— I'm all right.

What happened? I was drinkin' when

Andy Beeler? Yeah.

And two new ones with him.

Looks like... he'll never learn.

Well, they're startin' somethin' they better know how to finish.

Who's he?

My name's Daniel Howitt.

What's he here for?

He's my cousin.

Now, that isn't— This here's

Mr. Howitt says he's gonna live here.

That's right. I plan to stay here.

It ain't likely for strangers...

to find these parts to settle down in.

I brought along some good fishing tackle.

We might give 'em a try when the weather's right.

Let me know can I do anything for ya, Jim.

Even Sammy's sayin' it now, Ma.

All the lies they teached her.

Blamin' us for all their ails and sufferin'.

You for all the unseen things God lets be.

Me for the fightin' and meanness.

Well, maybe they're right about me, but you—

I'll stop 'em.

Some one of these days I'll find him,

him that... never came back to ya.

Do you suppose the Mathews would sell me some of their land?

Might... if you was that crazy.

They got money cramps.

But don't let 'em sell ya Moanin' Meadow.

Moanin' Meadow?

That's where the hant comes from.

Frogs as quiet as grave rocks, and the light comin' from nowhere.

The trees don't rustle,

and the flowers grow big, but they don't have pretty smells.

Bad land,

like everything has got the name of Mathews is bad, exceptin'—

'Ceptin' Young Matt! He ain't naturally bad.

Them's the ones that makes him so.

Them as won't let the dead rest!

His uncle, Old Matt, with his fire-spittin' tongue.

That old she-devil crow, Aunt Mollie.

And Pete, without no brains and no hope.

All of'em makin' Matt a sick soul, raisin' him to murder,

to murder his pa who run off and left him.

And all of'em guilting her,

she who never done no hurt to no one of God's critters.

She? His mother.

Coot. It's Coot Royal.

The baby. Yeah.

She's needin' some elm bark tea.

Poor young'un can't hardly breathe. She— She's near dyin'.

I- gonies! No, you don't, Pappy.

You stay here. You're too gaunted.

It's just a trot and gallop down the trail.

I knowed it.

I knowed it when I heared the fox bark in the night...

and my voice growed damp when I prayed.

Sammy.

Get a clean rag and a little stick.

Fix me a swab, Sammy.

She's done it! She's sent the hex on us!

It's me done it, Granny Lady,

'cause I ain't never been no good.

The sorriest critter on the creek,

with things always windin' out black for me...

and nothin' to give ya but poke sallet and

You've given me more than that!

You always call me "lady."

And I can sit here and rest myself in a milk-white castle.

It's her in Moanin' Meadow that walks through the night,

touchin' nothing but layin' her hand on all.

It's them darn Mathews on the knob.

It's him, the spittin' snake that never come back to claim

It's him!

The stranger, Coot,

he brung her back to us like a good shepherd.

Your little girl was choked up and became unconscious.

Just keep her throat clear and keep her wrapped up warm,

By tomorrow, she'll be beggin' to wade the creek and askin'

Your daddy will be gettin' anxious, won't he, Sammy?

Stranger?

Did you ever get to feel how good mud is?

No, but I wish I had.

I almost stepped on a cloud.

Morning, and howdy to ya, Sammy!

Wife mendin'? Fine. She's talkin'

Mmm! Goggle-eyes!

Yeah. Catched 'em down by the ol' Beany.

Grasshopper bait? No. Noodlin'!

Yeah?

Hello, Mrs. Schulz. How's the baby?

Just fine, Sammy. Wait, Sammy.

We might need more money when we get up to Mathews'.

Corky? He won't lend you no money. He won't even let you look at none.

I don't want to borrow any money. I only want to cash a check.

A check? Yeah. A check is

Like a mortgage?

Well, no, not— not exactly. A check is a—A check is an exchange.

You mean, like a swap. Well, uh, yes, in a way.

You see, a check is— A check is a letter,

a letter to the bank where I have my money,

tellin' them to— to pay cash to whoever has that letter.

Is it honest?

Yes, if you have the money

All right, I'd like to see you do it.

Hello, Hank! Hello, Sammy.

Let's see, Mrs. Palestrom.

I got Coleby's Cholera Tincture, Miss Wassop's

Kittredge's Salve and Wahoo Tonic.

Could be she might be needin' worm cakes.

Nope, 'tain't that. I put a dried tater chip

but she's still got that seldom feelin', complainin' from head to heel.

How much is them?