Track of the Cat

Listen.

Listen to wind.

Curt.

Maybe I'm just hearin' things.

Hey, what's going--

Look out you don't get a fist in the teeth.

Curt!

Huh?

Cattle's bawlin'. Something's at them.

Is that what you woke me up for?

Wait till the wind changes.

How long has this been goin' on?

Joe Sam just now told me.

Thinks it's the cat, huh?

The black panther that's big as a horse,

and you can see right through him.

Shoot at him, and he keeps on comin'.

So what are you gonna do, just stand there listenin'?

Thought you'd like to know.

Thinking's about all you do around here.

Get your clothes on.

He ain't gonna wait for us.

What do you see, Joe Sam?

You see the black panther?

Look at him seein' it.

Snow come.

Black panther come.

Let him be!

You get him out of here, or I will!

I'll finish it today. Go on back to bed.

Joe Sam's personal medicine man.

Well, I've got the proper medicine for that cat.

A .3030 slug right between the eyes.

That'll kill him for sure.

Unless he's black.

Yeah, unless he's black.

Hey, wake up!

I had a dream I was tryin' to remember.

Cat's out there, and he had a dream.

Well, they were here when we came

and there were more deer than there are now.

So don't kill him, huh?

Just let him kill stock.

The old man and his com stock, and you and the good old days

and that old Indian with his cat.

Well, we woke the old lady.

Now there'll be 2 of you. We'll never get out.

Well, I'm all set. I'll go.

No, you won't do, kid.

Got to take art in case the cat's black.

I wouldn't know what to do if it was black.

You could take Joe Sam.

No, he'd be for the cat.

I don't know if I'd trust you, either.

Better let me come along Curt.

A million to one it ain't black.

Now, you know better than that, kid.

You know how Joe Sam gets with the first snow.

You're the white hope of the bridges.

You stay right here and tend to the future.

Don't mess around cookin' anything, Ma.

Got to get out in a hurry. Panther's at the stock.

Are you goin' alone?

No, ma'am. I'm taking art. In case he's black.

He'll be like that all the way.

Aah, you get so you don't hear him.

Seems to me you could wait until daybreak.

Won't be many tracks left in this snow.

That won't stop Curt. Never has.

Well, I asked for a medicine man, and what do I get? A monk.

Did you know we had a monk in the house, ma?

Don't blaspheme.

No need to hurry as I can see.

I'll be a few minutes yet.

Art dreamt it was a panther.

Had a notion it might be black.

I had a dream, and it ain't left me in no mood for jokes.

The place is just crawlin' with dreams.

Did you have any, kid?

No, I wouldn't waste my time dreamin' either,

if I had a girl like Gwen.

Watch your mouth! Now, what'd I say, ma?

All I said, with a girl like Gwen,

who'd waste his time dreamin'?

Curt likes a dream he can lay his hands on.

Yes, sir.

I said, watch your mouth!

Hal ain't like art, ma.

Old art's a monk.

Hal, he's just a kid, and already he's got--

you hear me, Curtis?

Well, I'm no kid, either.

I'm 37,

art's 43, and the old man's nobody knows how far past 70.

You go bossin' the bunch of us

like we was kids. Can't even make a little joke.

The girls is awake in there.

You want Gwen Williams to hear you?

Now what did I say, ma? Just tell me one little thing I said.

Wouldn't take any fancy guessin' to know what you mean.

Well now, if we're gonna start guessin',

anything I said about Gwen Williams

is brotherly love compared to what you--

let it go, Curt.

Just thought maybe the kid might like to know

what his ma thinks of his girl.

If you're in such an all-fired hurry to get out after that cat,

you'd better be gettin' them ponies saddled.

And don't go takin' holy names in vain

every time you open your mouth.

They're likely to be a long time,

if you was figurin' on waitin'.

Ask her what she thinks of your girl.

They're having a good time in there.

Yeah. Ain't they, though?

Don't you think it'd be better

if Harold would go instead of you,

the way Curt's takin' on this morning?

He can't very well with Gwen just come.

Her first visit, too.

She's gotta be broke into the rest of us

kind of gradual, and he better do it.

Harold, have you thought any how you're gonna live when you get married?

Well, it hasn't gone that far, yet.

Well, it's what you want, ain't it?

It's for sure what the Williams think you want

all the time you've been sittin' in their kitchen.

Well, I--I guess so, if she does.

You needn't worry too much about that.

Not with all the money this ranch could make

and that gopher hole the Williamses live in.

She's not that kind, ma.

What kind is she?

Have you got a name for her I haven't got?

Was you expectin' to bring her in this house to live?

No, I--I don't think so.

Well, then, what was you figurin' on doin'?

Does it have to be settled right now, Mother?

Now is just as good a time as any.

She don't think she was asked over here

just to keep an old maid like grace company.

Harold's too young to get married,

and to an older woman at that.

You talk like she was 50! She's not 2 years older than I am!

2 or 20, you're a child compared to her.

You couldn't even support a wife,

even if she was proper for you, which she ain't.

What do you want, mother?

One of these days, the Bridgeses are gonna die out.

Is that what you want?

Harold's found a girl.

You think you'd be glad, instead of turning against her.

It's been a long time since grace laughed like that.

And your pa primpin' himself, just for her.

They wouldn't have to live here.

We could have an old-fashioned house-raising.

I thought that was just about where we was headin'.

Well, why not? This is a big valley.

It can hold a lot more stock than we've been running.

We could have one drive, one roundup, same as ever.

Only let Hal take out his share.

Splittin' things.

Once the splittin' starts, it never stops.

Dad owes him the start.

It's been a long time since your pa's had any say about anythin'.

Have you spoken to Curt?

That's where it sticks, doesn't it?

That's where everything sticks.

Well, one of these days.

One of these days.

That's the Bridges motto around here.

Harold, why don't you go with Curt?

If you're waitin' on Arthur,

the only one he really stands up for around here

is that no-good Indian.

Now's your chance to stand up for yourself.

Go along with him, and then you could talk to him

while you're huntin' the panther.

Well, don't think I won't.

Of course you will.

Then you'll have something to tell your girl when you get back.

Come on, ma. You know what Curt will say.

Besides, he might need me if the cat's black.

What are you carvin' that thing for?

I have a mind to throw it in the stove.

Joe Sam likes a god he can see.

You and your heathen nonsense,

your godless jokes.

Keep it up, and you'll be believin' them

the same as that no-good Indian.

If I had my way, I'd throw him off the place.

Come on, here!

What's the matter with you? Move!

What's bothering you, Kentuck?

Take her out!

And quit spooking Kentuck!

Boo.

The girls up yet?

No, not yet, but any minute now.

Fine, then I can get my shaving done before they come out.