The Rebel

Hey Del.

Look at that.

Some stray Reb come here to roost.

Well, if that don't beat all.

That boy really needed that.

Mr. Pierce, my wife will have some food

for y'all in just a minute.

Del, I think I need to have me

some fun with that little Reb.

Can I have some fun, Del?

Johnny.

You know him?

Yes I do, Mr. Pierce.

Later, Zecker.

I want to watch Bart make his acquaintance.

Hey you, Reb.

Hey you, Reb.

This here water's for horses.

It ain't for no jackass.

I come here to water my horse.

And you do that.

Well, not with your face in it.

I don't want him contaminated.

Don't push.

Push?

Why Reb, you oughta be used to being pushed.

Why we pushed you clear from Gettysburg through Georgia.

You gotta admit you been pushed real good.

Yeah.

The war's done.

So it is, but,

I'm not.

Ha, I'm gonna enjoy pushing you pretty good.

Pushing.

I'm gonna push.

Now you done it, Reb.

Now you don't push me no more.

I'll blow your eyeballs out, both of them.

You had enough fun for one day, Bart?

I tried to tell ya, Mr. Pierce.

That's Ned Yuma's boy.

Is that a fact?

Well now, that sort of makes him your kin,

don't it, Zecker?

Well uh, not exactly Mr. Pierce.

He's my wife's nephew, not mine.

Ned Yuma's boy, huh?

Well maybe the fun's just startin', all over again.

Hey, Jess.

Jess!

Jess, come on, get up!

Ah, go on, let me be.

I ain't hurtin' nothing from that.

My pa outta town?

He comes back and finds you like this

you're gonna be in deep trouble.

Jess, it's me Johnny!

Jess!

Johnny.

Boy, I ain't never seen you pie-eyed before.

Come on, let's get some coffee in ya

and get this place straightened up before pa gets back.

John, you shoulda come back sooner.

Jess, what's wrong with you?

What's happened in this town?

Where's my pa?

Where's my pa?

Aw, Johnny.

Jess, where's my pa?!

Just a few weeks ago, Johnny.

They rode in, took over the mine,

forced the owners to sell out for practically nothing.

Everybody just backed down.

Most family people moved away after they killed him.

He wouldn't sing small.

They killed five men already, always self defense.

It's not worth it anymore.

Take my horse and ride out, Johnny.

That's what we're all gonna have to do.

Did they shoot him in the back?

They didn't have to.

There was enough of 'em in front of him.

Was he alone?

Why was he alone?

Johnny, you don't understand how it happened.

I understand.

Where was the rest of the town?

All his friends?

Where were you, deputy?

Where were you, Johnny?

The war's been over for more than a year.

Has it?

Well there's different kinds of wars.

There's wars that don't end just 'cause

a white flag goes up

or somebody signs a piece of paper.

There's wars that go on inside.

Johnny?

Don't do anything crazy.

You didn't come back all this way just to die.

If the sun hadn't have been in my eyes

he'd have never got that first one across.

I'm gonna put six slugs right through his brisket.

Is that before he gets your eyeballs?

Huh?

Oh, sure you will Bart, sure.

You better believe it.

He was lucky.

I'm gonna kill him.

Bart.

Yeah?

You better wait 'til your britches dry.

Two cards.

Well I'm gettin' tired of waitin' for a lot of things.

Is there anything you'd like to do

about those other things?

Yeah, well, when are Laif and Chet

getting back with them Mexicans?

I'm gettin' sick of this.

They'll be here.

Then all you'll have to do is sit back

and stack that gold when they dig it

out of that mine for us.

Of course now, if you're gettin' tired of waitin'

maybe you'd like to go down that hole

and do a little digging all by yourself.

Yeah, well.

Bart!

You say yeah like that one more time

and I'm gonna crack your skull.

Now, shut up!

Raise five.

Jack nine, ace king, taking bets.

Pair of nines.

Uh, beg your pardon, Mr. Pierce

but we're about out of provisions.

So get some more.

Well it's the money.

I'm all out.

You promised me money, that you'd pay for all this

and well, I've spent all I had.

If you'd just...

I just bet five more.

Your credit's good at the store, ain't it?

Put it on your bill.

- But you promised! - That's all, Zecker.

Mr. Pierce I, I think that you've been...

Miss Emmy!

You didn't even go to your own brother's funeral.

Now, Bart back here tells me he's liable

to have to kill your nephew, too.

Of course now, I ain't a mind to let him do it,

but just in case he does,

are you figuring on missing that funeral too?

Mr. Dodson?

Hello, John.

You turning out like the rest of them?

I'm just a small business man going out of business.

You're closing down The Bulletin because of them?

That's correct.

Oh yes, I saw what you did to one.

Any time they want, oh my poor, innocent lamb,

they'll devour you like the ravaging jackals they are.

If you leave, if you leave everybody else will.

There's just the quick and the dead

with Del Pierce in between.

The jackals will inherit the earth,

at least this part of it,

and they're welcome to it.

Why haven't you sent for government troops?

We have.

We're still waitin'.

I guess they're too busy attending to

the defeated Confederacy or the undefeated Indians.

So the town died, and so did your father.

You and pa, you were the two people I.

John, I loved your father like my own brother,

but I'm not anxious to join him.

I'm sorry if that sounds cruel or cowardly.

But the things you wrote.

That's mostly what set me off to readin' and wonderin'.

Stay ignorant, John.

Ignorance is the greatest comforter of all.

I remember something you printed in your paper.

Something about for everybody there's a time to decide.

That's when the brave man chooses

and the coward steps aside.

That was a reprint.

Words always did come easy to me.

I even thought of asking you for a job.

John, I read those letters you wrote your father.

They were crude, but beautifully expressive.