In Old California (1942) Movie Script
There's gold in the valley
there's gold in the hills
there's gold in the river
and gold in the rill
go empty your cabins
and empty your mills
to hold all the gold in the hills
I traveled through mountains
the rain and the snow
but this is as far as I go
I'll dig in the valleys I'll dig in the hills
I pan in the river to pay my bills
I'll build me a cabin I'll empty my mills
to hold all the gold in the hills
I'll build me a cabin I'll empty my mills
to hold all the gold in the hills
Excuse me.
Pardon me.
And this is what this soldier
said to the lady.
I beg your pardon, miss.
I think you dropped this.
Well! Thanks, mister.
- Where do you hail from, stranger?
- Boston.
- That some foreign country?
- I'm beginning to think so. I want a glass of milk.
Plain.
No rum. And no comments.
I like milk.
- He bent that dollar just like it was butter!
- I'll be a ring-tailed baboon!
What do they feed the cows
in that there Boston? Pig iron?
Scrap.
Everybody jump!
Kegs McKeever is on a tear.
He's got the toothache again!
Whiskey, you cross-eyed bar slop!
Whiskey for this blazing tooth of mine!
Don't gulp it. Just roll
it around in your mouth.
Why, you interfering blabbermouth!
Doin' in my-I got a notion...
Got him, boys?
Now listen here, McKeever!
This is the last time you break the
peace. Comanche bill's got a busted jaw.
- You broke up the red stallion too!
- Mike's place is a wreck.
Well, you know I'm not responsible
when this tooth of mine is aching!
Go ahead and hang me if you want to.
Leastwise I won't have no more pain.
Who said anything about hanging?
I'm gonna pull that durn tooth of yours.
Ohh!
- I don't see the point of no joke.
- I guess there isn't any.
But I can fix that tooth for you,
if you let me have a look at it.
- A dentist, huh?
- No! I'm no dentist!
I'm a druggist. Now if you'll just let
me put a little painkiller on it, I can...
- Painkiller?
- Yes.
Well, why don't you quit sashaying around,
and fix me up!
Well, sit down.
Open up.
I said open up.
- What was that?
- Partly me and partly the Sacramento boat whistle.
Well, then come on, man, because
I gotta catch that boat.
No, I can't. I'm afraid. Even
looking at it might hurt.
Then I'll have to give you something.
Something that'll
really settle your nerves.
Now just take a whiff of this, and
think of something pleasant.
You mean like bees a-singin'
and birds a-buzzin'?
That's right.
Ohh, I hear cowbells!
That'll fix him up.
He'll sleep for a while.
- Did he say he'd sleep for a while?
- Sounded something similar.
- We better make a run for it, youngster.
- Nope, we got time.
The Marianne always whistles her
head off to get folks out of the saloon.
Make way, folks! Make way.
Thank you, thank you.
Make way for miss Lacey Miller,
the sweetest singer in Sacramento.
Make way!
People are staring, Helga, because
they've never seen a bathtub before.
- Silly. Ain't worth the look, aint' it?
- Don't be so common!
Make way, folks. Thank you. Make way.
All they need is a brass band.
Take it easy with that tub, boys.
It's real porcelain.
My, oh my! Ain't the lady
gonna look pretty sitting in that.
Any more remarks?
- You dang fool, that's Britt Dawson.
- Get outta here!
Come on, bring the tub through, boys.
Come on! Take it all the way across.
And don't drop it in that mud.
- Lacey, you can't set foot in that.
- Oh, I can say, not with my new slippers.
Wait till I tear up a sidewalk.
He knows I hate waiting.
Take this on board, youngster.
All ladies hate waiting, so they
shouldn't be made to wait.
- Put me down!
- Nonsense! It's ankle deep!
Look, I'm Lacey Miller. Nobody ever
dared pick me up like this before.
Happy to know you. My name's
Craig, Tom Craig. Lately of Boston.
Well, the sooner you get back there,
the safer, stranger.
I don't know. I'm
beginning to like the west.
That'll teach you to lay hands
on the lady I aim to marry!
Oh! In that case,
I offer my sincerest apologies.
- Apologies for walloping ya?
- No! For treating your bride-to-be like a package.
What kind of lingo is this?
Oh, he's from Boston.
Which means I'm ignorant
of the customs here.
Back in Boston, it's considered
good manners to...
carry a lady across a muddy street.
And you had to tear up a sidewalk!
- Well, this ain't Boston!
- Don't let that worry you. Where's my hat?
- Here you are, mister.
- And here you are, Sonny.
Wait a minute. I'll bend it for luck.
- Hey, look at what he's doin'!
- Now that's downright pretty!
- If that don't beat all!
- I've seen everything.
I'll take you to your cabin, Lacey.
Thank you, sir,
for your elegant assistance.
- The pleasure was all mine.
- Oh, cut the palaver.
Stand by at bow line!
Raise up your gangplank.
You lazy swobs!
Well, here I am!
You sure are. How's your tooth?
Whatever you did to my tooth
stopped it achin'.
Whatever I can do for you
in return, I'll do.
Wherever you go in this
whole world, I'm goin' with ya.
- Well, that's fine. Sounds like a nice, quiet life.
- Oh, but you don't understand.
You see, when I haven't got a toothache, I'm
as gentle as a mooing dove.
But when I got one, I'm a raging, ferocious,
long haired sea lion a-roarin' for my prey!
A-roarin'?
A-roarin'!
Well, in that case, I'll keep my
painkiller handy at all times.
Whoa! Where do we sleep?
Come on.
- I wish Britt was more polite.
- Like they are in Boston?
His voice is so loud, and when
he talks he sounds like a cowhand.
Who, Boston?
No, Britt. And I never saw him
bend a silver dollar like that either.
I wouldn't think too much about
that stranger, Lacey. Britt might not like it.
And if Britt don't like a thing,
life gets kinda untidy.
- What is it I won't like, huh? What is it?
- It's manners to knock on a lady's door, really it is, Britt.
- I was asking a question.
- Oh, yes, Lacey was pondering about the house that you're building.
And I said you mightn't like red carpet.
And I said you'd give me
anything I wanted.
Of course I would.
Gold carpets if you wanted 'em.
What do you say we don't wait
for the house to be finished?
- Let's get married right away.
- No, Britt. You promised to wait until the house was finished,
and everything the way I
wanted before we tied the knot.
I got you the bathtub, didn't I?
Ah, that's nothing! I want cut-glass
chandeliers and gold doorknobs.
- Hey, Britt!
- Oh.
- I just heard Collin's on board.
- Collin!
Here's where I get you the gold carpets.
Ah! It's a good thing I have quick wits,
I'll say!
Don't worry about Britt. I can twist
him right around my little finger.
Uh-huh. But someday he might
bite the hand that twists him.
In here.
You two wait out here.
- Hello, Collin.
- I told you, Dawson, I don't want nothin' to do with ya.
You're a mighty hard man
to do business with.
Up in Sacramento, you keep so
many men around, there's no privacy.
And you light out for Frisco
without leaving a word!
We got no business to
talk about, and that's final.
Here's a thousand dollars.
And here's a receipt for half interest
in your ranch. I'm buyin' in like I said.
That wouldn't pay for one quarter
of the stock, and you know it.
I'm a-warnin' ya.
You ain't holding me up...
like you did Hernandez,
and Marks and then Treadwell.
I'm waitin' for you to sign that receipt.
Get out of my cabin!
What was the shot?
- Britt's a little busy in there.
- Oh, Britt.
Someone hurt?
Hey, wait a minute, Boston!
I wouldn't go in there unless you wanna be
knocked down again by Britt Dawson.
Really?
Where do you think you're going?
- Could I be of any assistance?
- Why?
- Well, I heard the shot and...
- Oh, you a sawbones?
No, I'm a pharmacist. Druggist to you.
Oh, a pill peddler! That's rich.
Come on in, have yourself a good time.
Sit down.
- How did this happen?
- The clumsy galoot
grabbed his gun up by the barrel, struck it
against something, and it went off in his hand.
- That's how it happened, eh, Collin?
- Yeah.
A fellow as careless as that
oughtn't to own a gun.
So be more careful in the future, friend.
Is it very bad, doc?
It's only a flesh wound.
Now tell me, how did it really happen?
- You heard Dawson.
- Yeah, but somehow, I don't quite believe him.
You better.
And not only that, we're gonna have
lace curtains on every single window.
And red carpets on every floor.
And two bathrooms!
Including the one with
the tub in it. Eh, Lacey?
Why, Britt, you don't have to
tell folks about our plumbing.
You'll have Boston thinking
we got no class in Sacramento.
It'll be more dressy when he's
joined us. That is, if you aim to stay.
Oh, I aim to. I'm gonna open a drugstore.
Now, that's just what we need up there to
make us amount to something, ain't it, folks?
They'll need it all right, if you
continue to be so quick on the draw.
How do you mean that?
I don't see how even a clumsy galoot...
could shoot himself
in his own right hand.
- Is that a polite way of calling me a liar?
- Now, Britt, he didn't call you anything.
Don't you mix in this, Lacey.
I asked you a question.
Well, let's say your version
of how it happened...
shows a great deal of imagination.
- A fancy way of saying you don't believe me, huh?
- Frankly, it is.
Now, Britt!
You can't do this to my friend!
- Oh, no?
- No, you can't...
Wait a minute, Boston, I'm coming with ya!
Take your choice. Anyone can
have a bath or a drink, on me.
Here's my notion. We don't want
that pill peddler in Sacramento.
And if he turns up, anyone who calls
himself my friend will run him out of town.
Come, Lacey.
Come on, folks, let's wet our windpipes.
Well, where do we go from here, pal?
- Sacramento.
- Sacramento?
- Well, what about it?
- No good, Kegs. He won't rent.
Well, let's sashay
along to a friendlier town.
I'm gonna rent a shop in Sacramento if I
have to pay somebody into bein' my landlord.
Hey, there's the fellow Dawson
knocked overboard off the Marianne.
Yeah? Huh! He dried out
kinda nice, didn't he?
- Good morning.
- Morning, stranger.
Who owns the place next door?
When it's come right down to it, me!
I want to rent it.
Opening a chemist shop.
Certainly won't interfere
with a trade like yours.
Your name wouldn't be Craig, would it?
Yes. Why?
Nothin'. Just good day to you.
Good day! And shut the door behind ya.
What's the matter with this town?
Why won't anybody rent me a shop?
Word's goin' around. You won't find
nobody in town who'll have any truck with ya.
- So, good day.
- Well, why not?
That's on to Dawson. Britt Dawson.
- What is he, king around here?
- Just about.
- Now get along quick before somebody sees you!
- All right, grandpa.
Keep your beard on.
Another scared rabbit.
Well, there's just one more place.
Over by the saloon.
This store hunting is sure dry work.
- And me feets are just a-killin' me.
- All right, go rest 'em at the bar.
Gimme a beer.
Make it long and make it wet.
That's Lacey Miller over there,
isn't it? What's she doin' here?
She works here, mister.
This is Dawson's place.
You're gonna take a short journey over
water, but you just did that from Frisco.
- That's not news.
- It's in your fortune.
Here you are next to the king of
spades, but that's Britt, of course.
- Couldn't you tell me something different?
- All right, all right, here.
Shuffle them over, and cut again.
- And keep your mind on your wish.
- Can't keep my mind off it.
What luck, if any?
- The last empty shack in town belongs to Mr. Dawson's girl.
- Over there.
This saloon belongs to Dawson too.
I think that would be an unhealthy joint.
No! No, not that!
Ohh! Gimme a whiskey.
Make it double. Never mind!
There's a new man coming into your life.
- What's he look like?
- Trouble.
How do you do, miss Miller?
I've never seen anything happen so fast.
Well, if it ain't Mr. Boston.
- Surprised?
- No, I heard you were in town.
- Have you rented your store yet?
- Kinda fancied the one next door.
- Know who it belongs to?
- Mm-hmm.
- And you've still got the nerve to ask me to rent it to you?
- Doesn't take nerve.
- Doesn't take nerve?
- Go away, Helga.
Why, I understand you'd
be the last person in the world
to want to do anything
against Mr. Dawson's wishes.
Oh, no. I ain't afraid of him.
I don't have to be afraid. You see,
I do as I like around here, Boston.
Would you like me for a tenant?
- Lacey...
- Helga, I know what I'm doing.
- Say, what would you sell there?
- Everything in the way of medicines.
With no doctor here, it's a real necessity.
Oughta be a gold mine!
Say, you could charge a dollar a pill!
That's not exactly the idea.
- I'd charge a fair price and expect a fair profit.
- Oh.
Does that spoil the plan?
I'll give you half the profits for rent.
- Half?
- Mm-hmm.
Oh. Say, that would make us
partners, wouldn't it?
- Yes!
- Partners?
She'll be sole owner ten minutes
after Britt finds out about it.
Scared, Boston?
I'll take a chance. Is it a deal?
Sealed.
Thanks, partner.
Partner.
- Come on, Kegs, we're in business!
- Ohh!
Now get out and stay out!
We sure made it hot.
Let's roll into the palace for a drink.
What's goin' on next door?
It's a real sign, Kegs.
You can see it a mile off.
Hey, you!
I wish you wouldn't holler
when I'm hammerin'!
A fine thing, shootin' at
a man with nails in his mouth!
Let's get 'em up.
- When you get through with your joke, you might let us in on it.
- My name's Joe Dawson.
- My brother say you could have this store?
- I didn't consult him about it.
- Nobody store-keeps in this town without Britt Dawson's say-so.
- Except me.
- Gonna look real nice, isn't it?
- You think so?
- Yank that sign down, Chick.
- I wouldn't do that.
- Maybe you'll get the idea if I decorate it with lead!
- That's the way we do it.
Go play Indian someplace else.
Say, what's going on around here?
Oh, little brother Dawson
wants to wreck the shop.
Little brother Dawson had better
watch out for himself. I'm partners in this shop.
- You're partners?
- Yes, so you better run along and mind your own business.
Does Britt know about this?
- Why don't you ask him?
- I will!
- Well, what do you think?
- Oh, yeah!
It's wonderful. Is this the
way it's supposed to look?
Oh, the stock isn't here yet,
but wait till I get that front window fixed
with the colored bottles and stuff.
Oh, yeah, it'll be very pretty. Let's
celebrate at the palace with a drink.
Just the thing to wash down
those nails I swallowed.
A keg of beer, a keg of nails, it's all the
same to him. I gotta get some work out of him.
We'll celebrate later. Let's fix the sign.
Let's sing a song about a
man that everyone should know
a funny-faced old-timer
known as California Joe
he owns a lazy swaybacked mule
that travels mighty slow
the mule's a little faster
than old California Joe
old slow California Joe
known from the Pacific
to the Texas Alamo
Ya-hoo!
There was a mat beneath his
hat that some folks might call hair
he wore his beard down to
his knees but old Joe didn't care
he went and bought a curry
comb to brush his hair one day
and when he lifted up his hat
two pigeons flew away
old slow California Joe
known from the Pacific
to the Texas Alamo
He used to wander all
around as quiet as a mouse
but Joe was sure to be there
when the drinks were on the house
old slow California Joe
known from the Pacific
to the Texas Alamo
old slow California Joe
known from the Pacific
to the Texas Alamo
Charlie, that fella aimin' to read in here?
There's no tellin'. He sure is a queer fish.
- Who is he, anyway?
- Craig's pharmacy. The new druggist.
Druggist? Remind me to
ask him about my rheumatisms.
No monkeying with that hand.
Oh, say, Mr. Britt, would
you buy me a little snort?
Get outta my way, Whitey,
you drunken buzzard.
- Britt.
- There he is.
Yeah, that's Craig. But have
you seen the sign on his store?
Yes, and I want to know how he
and it got there after my orders.
- Ask Lacey. She told me personal.
- Lacey?
- They're partners in the store.
- You know better than to lie to me, Joe.
Cut my throat if it ain't
the truth, Britt. Just ask her.
- I don't understand.
- You need a might more paint.
He started to clap, and then when I finished my song,
he started to read again, just like he wasn't interested.
You better hurry and change.
Oh, Britt! When did you blow in?
- Get outta here, Helga.
- Since when did you start giving orders around me, Britt?
- Since now. Git, Helga.
- I ain't contradicting no one.
What makes you so good tempered today?
What is this I hear about you
being partners in that drugstore?
- Oh, that!
- Well? Are you or aren't you?
You don't have to shout. Of course I am.
Why shouldn't I go in business
if I feel like it?
Business!
Now, Britt, you don't have to be like that.
I had the shack standing there doing nothing, and I had
the chance to make a little money out of it.
Wish I could believe
this was on the level.
Maybe you will when I tell
you that I get half the profits.
- Huh?
- And being no drugstore in town, there'll be plenty.
And you know that we can charge them
a dollar a pill?
Then you're not just doing this
for his benefit.
Britt, since when did I do anything
for anybody's benefit but my own?
That's right, Lacey.
For a minute, I was forgettin'.
No, Britt, I've gotta change for
the next song. You better run along.
All right. But remember, if I catch
Boston so much as givin' you the eye,
I'll put a slug in him.
- More beer?
- No, thanks.
- Good evening, Boston.
- Oh, hello. How are you?
You don't act like you recollect
I had you thrown overboard.
Yes, I remember all right.
How've you been since?
How have I been?!
Yes. You know, you oughtn't to
give way to those outbursts of temper.
It's bad for you.
Accelerates the pulse,
overworks the heart,
gives you indigestion.
You mean to say you're not sore at what happened?
Why should I be? You didn't
really interfere with my plans.
I'm in Sacramento,
and opening my drugstore.
Here you are.
Mr. Craig, could you recommend
some rubbing oil for Tomkins's shoulder?
I think so.
Put a teaspoon full of this in a pint
of boiling water and just apply it.
Don't rub it in or you'll
take the skin off him.
- Sometimes I've wanted to do just that.
- Not with anything from my shop, please.
Your tonics may be tonics, but I can't get Archie to take this,
so I'll take my money back, if you please.
- Well, what's the matter with it, Archie?
- Don't like it.
That's too bad. I was raised
on that fine old remedy.
It's a great muscle builder too.
- Gee, look it!
- For land sakes!
- We'll take it back, ma.
- Get me one, ma. Get two!
- Two?
- Yeah, I got a date to fight Archie.
- Well, what are you doing out here that's so useful?
- Just admiring your washing.
You get shirts nice and clean. I don't
know how I ever got along without you.
- That's the last cleaning and washing I'm doing for you.
- How's that?
Well, a single girl can't do for a fellow
regular without people talkin'.
- And I got my good name to consider.
- Talking? Saying what?
Oh, nothin', just askin' if you
and I are aimin' to get hitched.
You better get outta here
quick and permanent.
I see, thanks. Well, I think I'll
get in the laundry first.
- What are you doing with my gun?
- Oh, I used to be a mighty pretty shot. Excuse me.
Thank you. Any questions?
Helga, be mine!
Why, Kegsie, this is such a surprise!
- Now that you've seen the whole town, Ellen...
- Yes, what do you think of our Sacramento?
Haven't seen a man I'd sit
at the same dinner table with.
- Oh, naturally the settlers are rather crude, but...
- Good heavens, who's that?
Oh, she's just a singer from the dance hall.
She looks like she just escaped
from a birdcage.
And over there is the new drugstore.
And is that, by any chance,
the new druggist?
- I'm sure I hope you'll make a success of it, Mr. Craig.
- Thank you, Mrs...
- Coggins, is the name.
- Coggins...
That's a downright shame to saddle
a pretty girl with a name like that.
- Somebody oughta change it for her.
- Coggins is my name, young man!
Yes. Huh? Oh! Sorry.
Is this the new drugstore
everybody in town's talkin' about?
Hey, look out there!
Look out!
What are you tryin' to do?
Run me down?
- Think she owns the street!
- Quiet, you're scaring the horse.
I feel faint.
Ellen!
She's fainted!
Ellen handles horses like a man.
She's never afraid!
Yes, it's very odd.
What can we do?
Go in the back room
and get some water. Hold her.
I'm all right. It must've
been a touch of the sun.
There's not enough sun out
to warm a rattlesnake.
And that's how I bid
good-bye to San Francisco.
So you didn't like my home town.
I didn't see the best part
of it until you came to Sacramento.
- Ooh, fried chicken!
- Men always like fried chicken, don't they?
It's all I need to make
life perfect and complete.
That is, practically all.
- Certainly is a beautiful view, isn't it?
- It certainly is.
Hey, Boston, you're wanted at the store.
The man's here from San Francisco
with the medical supplies.
- Why does Tom have to go?
- He won't leave them unless he checks the list.
He would pick my one day off.
It's a good thing you didn't bring
anything hot. It might get cold.
Jerusalem my happy home
name ever dear to me
when shall my labors have an end
when I my joy shall see
oh will I find I'm worthy of
the heavens to ascend
where congregations ne'er raise up
and sabbaths have no end
Jerusalem my happy home
name ever dear to me
when shall my labors have an end
when I my joy shall see
Oh, seor Hernandez, go get me a glass
of punch, por favor.
For me too, Jos.
Rosita, I'm sure he'll propose to her tonight.
Oh, but Ellen won't accept.
She doesn't love him.
Now what are you two saying about me?
We were just talking
about you and Mr. Craig.
- Has he proposed yet?
- No, but he will before the evening's over.
He's very much in love with you, Ellen.
He will be terribly sad when you say no.
- Who's saying no?
- But you don't love him.
What if I don't? You
girls are so old-fashioned.
He's good-looking, and a gentleman.
With my father's backing, I can
make him a big man in San Francisco.
Is the young lady present
who promised me this dance?
Why, I'd forgotten all about you.
Pardon.
Ellen?
I, uh... this is the first time...
- Are you in the mood for a very important question?
- I guess I'm in the mood.
Well, then I'm gonna ask you
right here and now if...
Tom, will you please
go in the house and get my fan?
- Before I ask you the question?
- Yes, please. It's on the big chest in the hall.
Well... all right.
- Oh, hello.
- Well, what is it this time?
- I'm looking for Tom Craig.
- With some other trumped-up call to the drugstore?
- You don't fool me one bit.
- Funny. I see through you too.
Throwing yourself at his head.
Trailing him like a bloodhound.
Now even trying to poke your nose
in here. Haven't you any pride?
No. But at least I never
pulled a fake faint on him either.
Why, you cheap painted hussy!
Well, thank goodness I am not
lady enough to hit anybody.
Here's your fan, Ellen.
Oh, hello, Lacey.
Who wants to see me now?
Old man Higgins is very sick.
His boy's at the drugstore and
won't leave until you get there.
I guess I'd better go, then.
Well, of course, you must go, Tom!
Poor man, I hope it isn't serious.
Don't forget. I'll be down at the dock tomorrow
to see you off, and ask that question.
Bye till then.
Good night, miss Miller.
Night.
She has a remarkably sweet disposition.
Yes, I've never met anything quite like it.
Lacey, wait a minute. I wanna...
I told you about Higgins,
and that's all I came for.
Here you are, Sonny. The
directions are on the label.
If he doesn't feel better
in the morning, let me know.
Boston! Boston!
Boston! Boston!
Hey, what's wrong now, Kegs?
It's the Dawsons. They're on
a land-grabbing tear.
The Peterson's house is burning,
and the Libberts were driv' out.
And with only with what they stood up in.
Doesn't anybody fight back around here?
What's one man agin that whole gang?
Well, can't we get 'em together?
Hey, you better shake a leg, kid.
The last seen, they were on their way to your house.
- But my pa's not able to lift a hand.
- Well, don't worry, son, we will get you some help.
Let's round up some of the neighbors
and give the Dawsons a reception.
- Come on, Kegs. Are you with us?
- You're darn tootin' I'm with you!
Tomkins! Tomkins!
- Here, here, here! What in tarnation...
- The Dawsons are ridin'.
We'll round up some of
the neighbours and gonna try
to stop 'em at the Higgins
place. Will you come along?
- Soon as I get my pants on.
- Good.
- Hey, Bates!
- Who's there?
- Carlin.
What's the matter, Carlin?
Ride over to the Higginses. We're
gettin' up a hot reception for the Dawsons.
Well, it's about time!
I'll be right along.
Shake a leg, and don't lose
any time doin' it!
I'll be there!
- Meet ya at the Higgins place.
- Right.
- You better hide the horses around back of the house.
- All right.
- Hello, Archie.
- Hello, Mr. Bates.
- Hello, Mrs. Higgins.
- Well, how are you, boy?
- Not so good.
Sure glad you got here. You can
help us get pa into the wagon, Mr. Bates.
He hadn't oughta leave the house.
Let's take him up in the loft.
- You mean up the ladder?
- Sure! Take the younguns, and go on up ahead.
- Step smart, children. We'll get him up.
- Mister, give me a hand.
Hurry up, ma.
- Fine time for me to be laid up.
- That's all right.
Go on, Archie.
- Hey, they're here.
- I can hear 'em.
Where in tarnation is Craig and the rest of them?
We're no match for the whole gang!
- Higgins, open up!
- What are we gonna do?
Stall 'em some way.
- Get in there.
- What?
- You're gonna have a baby.
- Baby?
Ooh, get out!
I'll have it.
- And I ain't even married.
- Shh!
Higgins!
What are you doin' here?
- I might ask you the same question.
- I'm looking for Higgins.
- He ain't here.
- Where'd he go this time of night?
Look who just rode up.
Packin' a gun too.
- Isn't that the custom in this part of the country?
- Quite a gathering here tonight.
- I heard that Mr. Higgins was ill.
- Not the mister!
- The missus.
- Missus?
- Yes!
- So mister went up the riverways to get a doctor.
- Oh!
Don't get too close, Britt.
It might be catching.
Don't be afraid of catching that, Dawson.
She's having a baby.
Lie still, Mrs. Higgins. I'll heat
some rocks to put at your feet.
- She been suffering much?
- Not yet.
But you can never tell about
a woman like Mrs. Higgins.
- She'd die before she'd even let out a whimper.
- Yes, yes.
How insignificant is man when
confronted with the divine mystery of birth,
and the courage of a woman like that.
I don't suppose
that means anything to you!
Nobody can say Britt Dawson
don't respect motherhood.
Don't worry, ma'am, we'll wait
for your ol' man outside.
Aa-choo!
I'll show you how I respect a mother!
Why, you fast-talkin', son of a coyote!
We're in trouble. There's a
crowd comin' over the hill.
Come on, Britt!
We're in trouble!
- Hey, whatever's happened?
- Hightail it outta here!
Tell 'em again how you stalled 'em, Kegs.
Well, Bates told Dawson
I was gonna have a baby.
Hello, mama!
I bet Britt and Joe are boilin' mad by now.
Boilin' at Craig, anyhow. He gets
all the credit for them being driv' off.
About time they got a dose
of their own medicine.
Sure, the prescription's simple. You take a
bunch of angry men defending their homes,
mix well and serve hot.
- To the Dawsons.
- Let's drink to the cure of the Dawson disease.
And let's always make it
Craig's prescription!
Something's wrong, honey.
Britt and Joe are stalking behind the
drugstore, and they ain't looking for pills.
Look... I'll run over. You keep Boston here,
even if you gotta hogtie him.
- They're still inside whoopin' it up.
- He's gotta come out sometime.
Hello, Lacey. Takin' the air
kinda late, ain't ya?
- Who are you and Joe waiting for?
- Me and Joe?
Taking the air ourselves. With your
gun drawn so you don't feel chilly?
We're waiting for your friend Craig.
He interfered with the little business
we had at up the Higgins place,
but tonight his interfering days
are over.
Why, he was there because
the old man was sick, it was his duty.
- It's no go, Lacey.
- He was there, and he made fools out of us.
So you better mooch out
of the way of any shooting.
All right. But I may as well warn you.
If you harm him in any way,
you're out of my life for good.
Seems to me you're mighty upset
about your business partner.
She's stuck on him, that's why.
You keep out of this.
Well, Lacey?
Sure, I'm upset. I kinda feel
responsible for him.
If I hadn't wanted to make money out
of the drugstore, he wouldn't be here.
And if you lay a hand on him,
we're through.
All right, Lacey. You win.
You know I wouldn't
do anything to lose you.
Sweet singin' coyotes!
Why, Britt, you're a real gentleman.
That being the case, allow me the
honor to escort you back to the Mirror Palace...
Stylish, like they do in Boston.
Good night, ma'am. Sweet dreams.
- How's that for manners?
- Fine, Britt, and thanks.
What's your hurry?
Never thought you'd be
henpecked into being a softy.
- Can't you see she's lyin', trying to save Craig's hide?
- Of course she's lying.
She means that about not marrying
me if anything happens to him.
So this has to be done some way
she doesn't know I have a hand in it.
Let me do it, Britt.
In fact it'd be a pleasure.
No, she'd lay it to me just the
same. This is gonna be a smart one.
Like the time we got the Johnsons
for stealing their own cattle.
Say, there's a tonic that he's been
pouring down everybody.
Sure. That whole shebang that gave
us the shootin' party tonight take it.
That's right. You wait here.
I got a notion to take a swig
of this, I'm so weak-like.
You're strong enough for me,
Kegsie-wegsie.
Plenty strong.
When I get a toothache, I'm too
strong for any sheriff's posse too.
Which reminds me, Helga.
I ain't fit to marry no woman,
no matter how good a shot she is.
If you have a reason, it better be good.
- Well... it's this tooth.
- Hmm.
When I get a toothache,
I'm a raging bull.
I shoot up joints. I throw
bartenders out of windows.
I slap widows. I kick babies.
- I'm a terror.
- I'll bet.
I'm liable to throw you off a roof.
I'm liable to cut your head off with an axe.
So you see, I just can't
let you marry me, Helga.
Oh, you can't?
Well, it's on account of my tooth.
- You're too fine a woman for such a fate.
- Mmm.
Just the mention of it
starts it aching... a mite.
If that's the case, you better
go in the back room and have a little nap.
- And I'll finish everything out here.
- That's fine of you to take it thataway.
Oh, think nothing of it.
Ellen!
Oh, I'm sorry.
Wait a minute!
Don't go on board.
Hello, everybody. Have an apple?
If you'll excuse me,
I'd like to speak to Ellen.
Seor, it is not proper
without a chaperone.
Well, then we'll make it a family session.
By now, Ellen, you know that I love you,
and I want to marry you.
- Why, Tom!
- Now, don't say this is so sudden.
You've seen this coming on for a long time.
It is correct only to make
the proposal to the parent.
When she produces a parent,
I'll gladly propose to him,
but right now, what do you say about that?
I'll ask father as soon
as I get to San Francisco.
While we're waiting for his consent,
why don't you say yes, anyway?
Yes, anyway.
Seor.
This is highly irregular!
All aboard for San Francisco!
- Ellen, hurry. You're going to miss your boat!
- Essos americanos!
Pretty, isn't it?
Oh, hello.
- I saw you from the road.
- That's fine.
- What are you doing?
- Thinking.
- What about?
- A man in Boston.
- Oh.
- He was my roommate in school.
Skinny little galoot.
Always talkin' about fate.
You know, the thing that
makes you suddenly decide
not to take a certain train
but to take another one,
and the one you missed is wrecked.
Or maybe the one you took is wrecked,
and you'd have been safe on the other one.
- Scary, isn't it, when you get to thinking about it?
- Yep.
Particularly when you think of how
little things can change your whole life.
I know what you mean. You
go along following a sort of a...
- Pattern?
- Yes. Then suddenly something happens that...
doesn't seem to amount to
anything at all at the time.
No. But when you look back,
you can trace it and say...
- The change began right then.
- That's it.
Boston, are you trying to make
up your mind about something?
Oh, no. I'm just thanking my lucky
stars I did what I did six months ago.
See, the day before I left Boston,
a man offered to set me up
in business on a big scale.
Common sense told me I should take it.
But something else told me to
go on to California like I'd planned.
I didn't even take a day to
think it over. I just left,
and traveled 3,000 miles, and...
arrived just in time to
catch a boat you were on.
If I'd have started a day
sooner or a day later, I...
might've missed you,
and the girl I'm gonna marry.
And the strangest part of it is,
that I...
didn't settle in San
Francisco where she lives,
but I picked Sacramento,
where she came on a visit.
That's one for Charlie's books.
Who's Charlie?
The man in Boston.
So it was serious with you and her.
Plenty serious.
Good luck, Boston.
- What do you want, Whitey?
- I want a drink.
We don't sell liquor here.
Roll into the Mirror Palace.
Well, they just rolled me out of there.
There's no more credit. They told-
Hey, what's in them bottles? Ain't that liquor?
That's tonic waitin' to be delivered to
respectable folk. Get yourself out of here.
- Go on. Scat. Git!
- I'm a-goin'.
The idea!
Ooh, my tooth!
That's a dirty trick, creeping up
on an innocent man in his sleep.
March. Mustn't keep
the preacher waiting.
Preacher? He won't be in now.
- Come back here!
- Yes, dear.
The preacher is in and your tooth is out.
- So pick up those feet or my handbag might go off.
- Yes, honey.
That's better. Howdy.
Well, here's to ya, Ezra.
Wanna stop in at the store?
No, thanks. You can set
me down at the Palace.
Tom, look!
What's happened? What's the crowd for?
- Here he comes now!
- There he is!
- What's wrong here?
- Plenty.
- You've got a mite of explaining to do to what's-
- What sort of explaining?
How come Whitey's
layin' dead in his store?
- With a bottle of Craig's mixture by him, empty.
- That's right!
Don't be too long explainin' or...
- What's goin' on here?
- Whitey's been murdered.
- Murdered?
- By poison.
- Poison?
- He's dead.
- Let's find out.
- He's dead, all right.
- By what means, druggist?
Poison.
Must've been enough laudanum in
that bottle to kill a mule.
- How'd it get there, Craig?
- I don't know.
- Let me through. Let me pass.
- Quit shoving.
This is a free show
for all of us, miss Lacey.
Well, Craig?
- They've all been tampered with, every last one of them.
- Can you explain how it could've happened?
Someone must've poured laudanum in
this big bottle that I mix the prescription in.
- You keep laudanum in this shop?
- Of course. This is a drugstore.
- Just a minute, folks. Mr. Craig has been a friend to everyone.
- Mind your own business, Eli.
Wait, wait, uh...
- Proceed, Bates.
- You use it to mix medicine for folks?
Yes, but only a few drops at a time.
Then your hand slipped this time, druggist.
I don't say this man's done it intentional,
but he made a mistake that could've
killed half of this town.
- It's happened. Look at that crowd.
- Sizeable and sore.
- What's going on, neighbour?
- They're trying the druggist for poisoning Whitey.
- Come on, let's get inside.
- No. Better not mix in.
It might've been my kid!
Sounds like they'll be bringin'
him out in a minute.
- Get a rope!
- Get that buggy down by the big tree.
- You're not gonna use my rig for any lynching.
- Use Jim's buckboard.
Let me through! Tom!
- Tom! Tom!
- Put him up there. Put him on the wagon.
There she is, fightin' like a
wildcat to save that pill peddler.
- No fightin' will save him now.
- Get that rope around him.
Gold! Gold!
- Gold!
- Where'd you find it?
- Let me see it.
Gold! Look at it. They're
picking it up in chunks.
- What are you waitin' for?
- Huh? Why, I'm your friend.
So you're gonna stand around
here and watch me hang
when you could be out
grabbing yourself a rich claim?
Forget friendship, men!
That fella's talkin' about gold.
Gold that you can buy
anything in the world with.
Kegsie, gold!
Gold lying on the ground,
waitin' for you to pick it up.
Now, go on, get out of here before
everybody in California beats you to it.
- Gold! Everybody, gold!
I'm gonna be the first one
to stake a claim!
I'm gonna stake a claim right away.
Follow me. Come on, let's go!
Let's get gold! Come on.
Gold!
Gold at Sutter's Mill!
- That fellow has the devil's own luck.
- Yeah, sure.
What are we hangin' around for?
Let's get in on that gold rap.
Come on, Britt. He'll keep.
You're right.
I can come back and get him.
With the gold mine for Lacey to dry
her eyes on, she won't feel so bad.
At Sutter's Mill there's gold!
Gold at Sutter's Mill!
Boy, that's as near to a
funeral as I ever wanna get!
If you hadn't pulled my tooth, I could've
gotten mad enough to handle that whole crowd.
- What are you doin'?
- Oh, we're married.
Yeah, we are.
Huh! Ain't he wonderful?
That's my man.
Here you are, folks! Get your
utensils for pannin' gold!
Pots and pans, all prices, all sizes.
- That one'll cost you two bags of gold dust, pardner!
- Why, that's quite outrageous!
Cheapest in Sacramento. There's a
run on pans same as there is on gold.
Come on, folks, get your pans!
What luck did you have with the bighorn
that calls himself our town marshal?
He refused to open the case.
So that's what he calls
bringin' in law and order, huh?
- Did you come right out and accuse Dawson?
- Certainly.
But all bighorn would say is, "I ain't
interested in your personal feuds."
Well, I guess that closes up
our business permanent, huh?
Britt isn't coming back and holler
to this whole town that Craig's innocent.
No, but he's comin' back, all right,
'cause I'm still walking around.
But as far as this store goes,
we might as well admit it.
We're whipped.
Write "Closed" on the window.
- Cologne soap?
- We might as well finish in style.
Clem, you and Pike take the bags
of dust to the Palace safe.
Chick and I are gonna pay
a call on the pill peddler.
Too bad Joe ain't here to see the fun.
He's having fun seein' folks
don't cut in on our claim.
Closed, huh? Had to skip town.
Ain't that a pity?
Too bad you can't say good-bye personal.
Let's make the closing official.
It's our friend Dawson.
- Hello, Lacey.
- Britt!
Bust my britches, but you're prettier
than ever. Glad to see me, huh?
Sure, but you don't have
to squeeze the life out of me.
You'll be a sight gladder when
you've seen what I brought ya.
Jumpin' coyotes! Where did
you get such large nuggets?
From the claim up at Bogus Thunder.
Come on, Red, drinks on the house.
- Yes, sir!
- For everybody.
For you and me, too, honey, to
celebrate the pill peddler's departure.
I think you're a bit previous, Britt.
Well, well. Craig.
I figured you were halfway to Boston
by now with your tail between your legs.
You figured a lot
of things wrong, Dawson.
Britt, stop it! Stop it, someone!
Are you ready to talk, Dawson?
Now you're gonna tell these people who doctored
the medicine that killed poor Whitey.
Now what's going on? Break it up.
Get him off of there.
- Don't pay any attention to him, marshall. He's crazy.
- This man committed murder.
I'm not concerned with any arguments that
happened before I took over the law here.
I rule this fight broke up permanent,
and I'll slam both of you in the calaboose...
- If you don't keep away from each other.
- Not till I make him talk.
Grab him, deputies, grab him!
For assault, battery, ignoring,
and disregardin' the law,
and pushin' a United States
marshal around, 60 days!
- Now, march!
- Come on.
What did you have to call
the marshal for?
- Tom had Britt ready to sing his song.
- Yeah.
Come on, Red, set up those drinks I was
orderin' before this squall blew up.
Step up, folks, and wet your windpipes.
Ahh! What's the matter, Lacey?
Ain't you thirsty?
You wanna tell me your joke?
What's the idea of
throwing this back at me?
I don't want it or anything
else from you from now on.
Why, because I had a fight
with your pill peddler?
Oh, no. Something a little more
important than that.
Where do you think you are going?
Anywhere from here. I'm not particular.
Look, Lacey, I gotta know the reason for this.
The reason is the way Whitey died.
He died because your high-snootin' friend
from Boston doesn't know his business.
No, but up to now
I must admit you had me fooled.
I might've known
you were behind this lynching.
You were the only person in town
who had anything against him.
- Did he teach you to say this?
- No, he didn't say a word.
He's much too decent. So let go
of my arm. I want to finish packing.
Listen here, Lacey, I don't admit
monkeying with anything.
What I can't get is why you're takin' on
like this. Thunderation, I've killed men before!
Yeah, but shootin' out in the open
has something square and fair about it.
Killing with poison
is sneaky and lowdown.
Look here, Lacey. What's come over you?
I tell you, I had nothing to do with it.
Let's forget it and start all over again.
I struck it awful rich. I can even give you those
gold doorknobs you were talking about.
Let me go, Britt. If you kept me here till
doomsday, it wouldn't make any difference.
Go to your quack pill peddler.
He can have you, and welcome!
This scheme of going up to the camps
is all wrong, and I won't have no part of it!
Rest your tonsils.
We're a-goin', and you're a-comin'.
- Take this.
- Hey, why don't you use some tact?
- Let her go in there and say good-bye to him alone.
- What...
Oh, maybe you're right, but it ain't gonna
do any good as far as she's concerned.
He's always acted more like a
hitchin' post than a two-legged man.
Aw, shut up!
Hello, there, Boston.
Why, Lacey, don't you look grand!
Oh, it's just a little traveling
outfit that Helga and I ran up.
- You're going someplace?
- Sure, to the gold mines, with the rest of the world.
Thought I'd just come in
and say good-bye.
- Don't tell me you're gonna dig gold!
- Sure am.
The easy way. Out of miners' pockets.
Figured they needed entertainment right now.
Can't sit in the back of an empty
drugstore for the rest of my life.
I'm sorry our partnership
was such a failure, Lacey.
Oh, that... I don't regret any of it.
That a letter from San Francisco?
Oh, yes. I'll be leaving soon too.
Ellen's coming up, and
we're going back together.
Oh.
- Good luck, Boston.
- You too, Lacey.
- And if you ever get to San Francisco...\
- Oh, yes!
Drop in and have
dinner with you and the wife.
No, thanks. I'm just hoping
that I never see you again.
- Why?
- Don't you know?
You're makin' me shove off and leaving
Boston with no one to look after him.
Oh, he'll do fine once he's hitched
to miss snippety-puss up to Frisco.
Listen, you two. I don't want to
hear any more talk about him.
I want to forget that I ever set eyes on him.
Don't ever hear his name mentioned again.
- Hello, Boston!
- Shut up!
Quiet. Shh.
- Hey, partner.
- What do you want there, lady?
- How big a camp is this?
- Was 30 shacks or so till folks started to sicken.
You all look puny, as if you could
do with a good meal and some sleep.
Giddyap! They need entertainment
like a dead horse needs flies.
- What's the name of this camp?
- Brandy Gulch.
Say, did you pass a doctor on the trail up?
- A short, stubby fellow with gray hair?
- No. Is anybody sick?
Anybody sick?!
Half the camp's down with the fever!
Hello, there!
- Are you from Sacramento?
- Why, yes.
Well, I'm Dr. Clagham. Did you bring
those medical supplies?
- What supplies?
- What supplies!?
Howlin' coyotes! Don't they know
we've got an epidemic on our hands?
- Epidemic?
- Yes. Typhoid fever.
And we got no drugs to treat it.
We got no food or comforts.
And in every camp for miles around
men are dying like flies.
Doctor, you gotta save Carson.
You can't leave him like this, burning and
raving with fever. You gotta do something!
Mrs. Carson, what can I do?
- I'm helpless.
- Why, doc?
Isn't there something we can do to help?
What do you think you could do here,
Lacey Miller?
We got enough trouble
without women of your kind.
Look, miss Carson.
- Don't take on like that. Maybe Helga and I could help.
- Sure we'll help.
- So, will you show us where we could shake down, please?
- All right.
- I take it real kind of you, Lacey.
- Thanks, Mrs. Carson.
I don't suppose there's any of those
fellows down in Sacramento that give a hang
about these poor devils dyin' up here.
I know someone. Tom Craig, a druggist.
Keg, get a fast horse and ride like
blazes and bring him back here.
- Where'll I get a horse?
- Use my horse. He's a whizzer.
Come on, come on!
Tell him we need enough for an army!
Hurry up, Tom.
If I'd known all this was going on, I certainly
wouldn't have come to make the trip back with you.
You wouldn't want me to show my appreciation
by leaving my stock in trade behind, would you?
Oh, Boston, oh, I'm so glad
I caught you. They sent me.
Corral all the medicine you got,
everything you got, and hurry up!
- What on earth are you talking about?
- Oh, him, they want him up at the camps.
- There's fever, nothing to fight it with.
- Nothing to fight it with?
- No, there's only one doc, and he's working like mad.
- Oh, that's terrible!
- Are there many cases?
- All the camps have got it. It's so bad at Bear Claw...
that Lacey and Helga pitched in as nurses.
- Oh, that woman!
Oh, come on, Ellen. I don't think Lacey
started an epidemic just to see me.
She did send you, didn't she?
I suppose you could say
she had a hand in it.
- It looks like I'll have to go.
- Why?
Why should you risk
your life for a lot of riffraff?
Oh, they're people. They need help.
Oh, you and your high ideals.
Where did they ever get you?
Why, they're the very same people that turned
against you. They even tried to hang you!
- Well, that doesn't enter into it.
- Well, if it doesn't, it should.
Let's just forget the whole idea, Boston.
Don't go, Kegs.
Ellen...
I'm going back to San Francisco.
Are you coming with me?
I'm going to the gold camps first.
Then don't bother to come after me,
if and when you come back.
I saw the same look
in a rattlesnake's eye once...
When I accidentally stomped on it.
Let's see how we're fixed for medicine.
What you got here is only a drop in the bucket.
Doc says he wants enough for an army.
Then we'll get enough,
and an army to take it.
Thanks for your cooperation, marshal.
Oh, it's easy enough to get the
medicine for an epidemic, but I don't
see how you're gonna get the
people to walk right into the thick of it.
Well, you have the supplies ready,
I'll round up the people.
They wouldn't even stop to listen
to Gabriel's horn, let alone you.
They'll have to... sometime.
- Here, Kegs. Keep that up.
- Huh? Oh.
Hold it, everybody!
Quiet down! Don't panic.
I got a message for you.
I don't know whether to appeal to
your good sense or your courage...
Because I don't know how much
of either you have.
- What's that?
- What's he getting at?
I do know you're facing something
that's gonna call for both.
Good sense and courage.
You think you're running away
from the fever. Well, you aren't.
Some of you already have it, and
you're carrying it to others...
- Same as it was carried to you.
- Ain't that too bad!
What's he trying to say? We
ought to stay here and die like flies?
- No!
Word just came through from San Francisco that they're
sending us all the medical help we'll need.
They're also sending enough supplies
and medicines for the gold camps.
And it's up to us to get them there.
It's gonna take every wagon, horse and
able-bodied man we have to get 'em through.
- Are you out of your head?
- You think we're crazy?
You askin' us to go into that death trap?
I'm not asking you anything.
I'm just telling you how things
stand, then it's up to you.
You can stampede out of here
like a lot of cattle and spread this fever...
into every town in
California if you want to.
Or you can stay here
and get help if you're sick,
and give help if you're not.
It's in your hands,
so make up your minds.
Pioneers!
I've got two wagons I'll donate.
Somebody can drive the other one.
Charlie, I'll drive the other one.
- Reckon I'll go with him. I ain't got no womenfolk to worry about.
- Me, neither.
I ain't seen a man yet come stand and
tell me I'm afraid and prove it.
- Me, neither.
- I reckon I'll go along.
Dang if I don't think I'm goin' with 'em.
I should've shot him off the
wagon while I had the chance.
- I'm glad you didn't.
- When did you get religion?
- We're gonna need Craig around for a while.
- What for?
Get the wagon train started for the camp.
- Since when did you mind people dying?
- Use your head.
Those folks up on the camps
are rolling in gold.
And if we corner all the medicine, we can swap it
for every nugget they've dug in the last six months.
How do you figure to grab the wagons?
They have to go through
Digger Pass, don't they?
We'll be there waitin' for them.
You know, Britt, I gotta hand it to you, for being the
meanest coyote this side of the Rockies.
Thanks.
But remember, I claim the pleasure
of pickin' off Craig personal.
Let's get going and round up
the rest of the gang.
Digger Pass is half a day's ride.
Good. We ought to be
at Bear Claw by nightfall.
Whip it up, boys. We're on our last lap!
Come on, boys!
Once we're through the pass,
the going's easy.
Them wagons are sure
takin' a long time.
Clem, any sign of those wagons yet?
No, not a sign of nothing, except Pike.
Well, Pike, my boy?
How are things up at Bear Claw? Are the folks up there
ready to swap all their dust for a little medicine?
- It's awful bad, Britt.
- Fever's got most everybody down.
- Lacey's up there.
- Lacey?
Yeah. She and Helga's got their
hands full taking care of sick folks.
- Lacey's up at Bear Claw.
- What of it?
She might get the fever. Maybe
she's got it already. I've got to get to her.
- We've got a date with the wagon train.
- I've got to get Lacey out of there.
- We get the wagons first.
- You can take care of the wagons by yourself.
Listen, Britt, I ain't takin' those wagons alone
while you go chasing around after Lacey.
Have you forgotten she threw you over for
the first soft-talkin' dude that came along?
Why don't you get smart? She never
had any use for you anyway.
Now maybe you'll stop your yapping.
I'm gonna get Lacey and you're
gonna take care of those wagons.
The wagons are coming!
From now on I'm giving the orders
around here.
When this job is finished, every
man gets his equal share of the dust.
Any arguments? Then get on
your horses and follow me.
We haven't got a chance here!
Make a run for it!
Let's go, men!
These teams can't keep up this
pace. Pull over into that draw.
Hiya there, Craig, I want those wagons!
- Come and get 'em!
- It sounds like the Dawsons.
It is the Dawsons!
Got 'im.
You have enough yet, Craig?
Our only chance is to
get 'em out of those rocks.
Yes, if you want any drivers left.
- Well, I... guess I better go up there and have a chat with him.
- Why, they'll fill you full of lead.
Hold your fire, Dawson!
- Boston, you're crazy!
- Let go of me.
That moss-head.
What a target for a bull's-eye...
Hold it. We need him to
order the train to surrender.
I'm comin' up to talk to you.
Chuck your gun away and come on up, Craig!
Keep him covered.
You walked right into it, eh, Craig?
- I've a proposition to make to you.
- We make the proposition.
You order that wagon train to surrender,
or we shut your mouth up for you permanent.
- And you've got five minutes to make up your mind.
- I can't understand you, fellows, at all.
Most of you need what's in that wagon train
as much as the people in the gold camps.
- Sure we do, to swap for all the gold they got.
- Oh, so that's your plan.
From the looks of you,
most of you won't get that far.
- Funny, you giving me five minutes.
- What kind of talk is this?
I know the signs of the fever, Dawson.
Look at that man's hand shake.
Look at his eyes.
You fellas have been drinking that
river water at the claim, haven't you?
Well, that's where the fever comes from.
And out of all the people in the camps,
what makes you think you'd escape it?
And it isn't exactly a pleasant way
to die, burning with fever,
all twisted up in agony
and fighting for breath...
And frankly, I don't like
the look of any of you.
Especially you, Dawson.
So now if you're smart,
you'll call this gunfight off,
and let me try and save you with the stuff
in the wagon train, if it's not too late.
We'll get all the medicine
we want. Rush the wagons!
Now talk yourself out of this one, Craig.
Joe had it comin' to him.
Get the wagons to Bear Claw.
Up the river to Red Dog.
You go on up to Gospel Creek.
Up the river to Red Dog.
Drive on up the river.
Am I glad to see you.
Besides drugs, did you
bring food, blankets?
We brought everything.
Unload the wagons, men!
First two wagons go on
to Shinbone Creek!
Doc, there's a badly wounded man in
this first wagon. Will you take a look at him?
- Sure.
- Tom!
Tom! Thank heaven you're here.
Why, Lacey, you look so different.
Why, yes. These are my working
clothes from now on.
I hope sending for you
didn't get you into any trouble.
One the contrary. It got me out of it.
Oh, Lacey, Britt Dawson was badly wounded.
- Britt!?
- He wants to see you.
No, it's no good, doc.
I got it bad... and final.
Where's Lacey?
I lied to you.
I could've had you for a nurse.
Hold your hand.
Now I haven't got the strength.
Nobody go.
I got somethin' to say before witnesses.
The medicine that killed Whitey?
I doctored it.
Boston is no way to blame.
Thanks, Britt.
The house... With the gold doorknobs?
If you want 'em...
There's gold in the valley
there's gold in the hills
there's gold in the river
and gold in the rill
go empty your cabins
and empty your mills
to hold all the gold in the hills
What's the shootin' for, partner?
That's my wife taking down the washing.
Oh! Oh...
Coming, dear. Coming, dear.
I'm not gonna do
that washing all over again!
McKeever, pick it up!
- Oh.
- The laundry.
Go empty your cabins
and empty your mills
to hold all the gold in the hills
I traveled through mountains
the rain and the snow
but this is as far as I go
I'll build me a cabin
I'll empty my mill
to hold all the gold in the hills
there's gold in the hills
there's gold in the river
and gold in the rill
go empty your cabins
and empty your mills
to hold all the gold in the hills
I traveled through mountains
the rain and the snow
but this is as far as I go
I'll dig in the valleys I'll dig in the hills
I pan in the river to pay my bills
I'll build me a cabin I'll empty my mills
to hold all the gold in the hills
I'll build me a cabin I'll empty my mills
to hold all the gold in the hills
Excuse me.
Pardon me.
And this is what this soldier
said to the lady.
I beg your pardon, miss.
I think you dropped this.
Well! Thanks, mister.
- Where do you hail from, stranger?
- Boston.
- That some foreign country?
- I'm beginning to think so. I want a glass of milk.
Plain.
No rum. And no comments.
I like milk.
- He bent that dollar just like it was butter!
- I'll be a ring-tailed baboon!
What do they feed the cows
in that there Boston? Pig iron?
Scrap.
Everybody jump!
Kegs McKeever is on a tear.
He's got the toothache again!
Whiskey, you cross-eyed bar slop!
Whiskey for this blazing tooth of mine!
Don't gulp it. Just roll
it around in your mouth.
Why, you interfering blabbermouth!
Doin' in my-I got a notion...
Got him, boys?
Now listen here, McKeever!
This is the last time you break the
peace. Comanche bill's got a busted jaw.
- You broke up the red stallion too!
- Mike's place is a wreck.
Well, you know I'm not responsible
when this tooth of mine is aching!
Go ahead and hang me if you want to.
Leastwise I won't have no more pain.
Who said anything about hanging?
I'm gonna pull that durn tooth of yours.
Ohh!
- I don't see the point of no joke.
- I guess there isn't any.
But I can fix that tooth for you,
if you let me have a look at it.
- A dentist, huh?
- No! I'm no dentist!
I'm a druggist. Now if you'll just let
me put a little painkiller on it, I can...
- Painkiller?
- Yes.
Well, why don't you quit sashaying around,
and fix me up!
Well, sit down.
Open up.
I said open up.
- What was that?
- Partly me and partly the Sacramento boat whistle.
Well, then come on, man, because
I gotta catch that boat.
No, I can't. I'm afraid. Even
looking at it might hurt.
Then I'll have to give you something.
Something that'll
really settle your nerves.
Now just take a whiff of this, and
think of something pleasant.
You mean like bees a-singin'
and birds a-buzzin'?
That's right.
Ohh, I hear cowbells!
That'll fix him up.
He'll sleep for a while.
- Did he say he'd sleep for a while?
- Sounded something similar.
- We better make a run for it, youngster.
- Nope, we got time.
The Marianne always whistles her
head off to get folks out of the saloon.
Make way, folks! Make way.
Thank you, thank you.
Make way for miss Lacey Miller,
the sweetest singer in Sacramento.
Make way!
People are staring, Helga, because
they've never seen a bathtub before.
- Silly. Ain't worth the look, aint' it?
- Don't be so common!
Make way, folks. Thank you. Make way.
All they need is a brass band.
Take it easy with that tub, boys.
It's real porcelain.
My, oh my! Ain't the lady
gonna look pretty sitting in that.
Any more remarks?
- You dang fool, that's Britt Dawson.
- Get outta here!
Come on, bring the tub through, boys.
Come on! Take it all the way across.
And don't drop it in that mud.
- Lacey, you can't set foot in that.
- Oh, I can say, not with my new slippers.
Wait till I tear up a sidewalk.
He knows I hate waiting.
Take this on board, youngster.
All ladies hate waiting, so they
shouldn't be made to wait.
- Put me down!
- Nonsense! It's ankle deep!
Look, I'm Lacey Miller. Nobody ever
dared pick me up like this before.
Happy to know you. My name's
Craig, Tom Craig. Lately of Boston.
Well, the sooner you get back there,
the safer, stranger.
I don't know. I'm
beginning to like the west.
That'll teach you to lay hands
on the lady I aim to marry!
Oh! In that case,
I offer my sincerest apologies.
- Apologies for walloping ya?
- No! For treating your bride-to-be like a package.
What kind of lingo is this?
Oh, he's from Boston.
Which means I'm ignorant
of the customs here.
Back in Boston, it's considered
good manners to...
carry a lady across a muddy street.
And you had to tear up a sidewalk!
- Well, this ain't Boston!
- Don't let that worry you. Where's my hat?
- Here you are, mister.
- And here you are, Sonny.
Wait a minute. I'll bend it for luck.
- Hey, look at what he's doin'!
- Now that's downright pretty!
- If that don't beat all!
- I've seen everything.
I'll take you to your cabin, Lacey.
Thank you, sir,
for your elegant assistance.
- The pleasure was all mine.
- Oh, cut the palaver.
Stand by at bow line!
Raise up your gangplank.
You lazy swobs!
Well, here I am!
You sure are. How's your tooth?
Whatever you did to my tooth
stopped it achin'.
Whatever I can do for you
in return, I'll do.
Wherever you go in this
whole world, I'm goin' with ya.
- Well, that's fine. Sounds like a nice, quiet life.
- Oh, but you don't understand.
You see, when I haven't got a toothache, I'm
as gentle as a mooing dove.
But when I got one, I'm a raging, ferocious,
long haired sea lion a-roarin' for my prey!
A-roarin'?
A-roarin'!
Well, in that case, I'll keep my
painkiller handy at all times.
Whoa! Where do we sleep?
Come on.
- I wish Britt was more polite.
- Like they are in Boston?
His voice is so loud, and when
he talks he sounds like a cowhand.
Who, Boston?
No, Britt. And I never saw him
bend a silver dollar like that either.
I wouldn't think too much about
that stranger, Lacey. Britt might not like it.
And if Britt don't like a thing,
life gets kinda untidy.
- What is it I won't like, huh? What is it?
- It's manners to knock on a lady's door, really it is, Britt.
- I was asking a question.
- Oh, yes, Lacey was pondering about the house that you're building.
And I said you mightn't like red carpet.
And I said you'd give me
anything I wanted.
Of course I would.
Gold carpets if you wanted 'em.
What do you say we don't wait
for the house to be finished?
- Let's get married right away.
- No, Britt. You promised to wait until the house was finished,
and everything the way I
wanted before we tied the knot.
I got you the bathtub, didn't I?
Ah, that's nothing! I want cut-glass
chandeliers and gold doorknobs.
- Hey, Britt!
- Oh.
- I just heard Collin's on board.
- Collin!
Here's where I get you the gold carpets.
Ah! It's a good thing I have quick wits,
I'll say!
Don't worry about Britt. I can twist
him right around my little finger.
Uh-huh. But someday he might
bite the hand that twists him.
In here.
You two wait out here.
- Hello, Collin.
- I told you, Dawson, I don't want nothin' to do with ya.
You're a mighty hard man
to do business with.
Up in Sacramento, you keep so
many men around, there's no privacy.
And you light out for Frisco
without leaving a word!
We got no business to
talk about, and that's final.
Here's a thousand dollars.
And here's a receipt for half interest
in your ranch. I'm buyin' in like I said.
That wouldn't pay for one quarter
of the stock, and you know it.
I'm a-warnin' ya.
You ain't holding me up...
like you did Hernandez,
and Marks and then Treadwell.
I'm waitin' for you to sign that receipt.
Get out of my cabin!
What was the shot?
- Britt's a little busy in there.
- Oh, Britt.
Someone hurt?
Hey, wait a minute, Boston!
I wouldn't go in there unless you wanna be
knocked down again by Britt Dawson.
Really?
Where do you think you're going?
- Could I be of any assistance?
- Why?
- Well, I heard the shot and...
- Oh, you a sawbones?
No, I'm a pharmacist. Druggist to you.
Oh, a pill peddler! That's rich.
Come on in, have yourself a good time.
Sit down.
- How did this happen?
- The clumsy galoot
grabbed his gun up by the barrel, struck it
against something, and it went off in his hand.
- That's how it happened, eh, Collin?
- Yeah.
A fellow as careless as that
oughtn't to own a gun.
So be more careful in the future, friend.
Is it very bad, doc?
It's only a flesh wound.
Now tell me, how did it really happen?
- You heard Dawson.
- Yeah, but somehow, I don't quite believe him.
You better.
And not only that, we're gonna have
lace curtains on every single window.
And red carpets on every floor.
And two bathrooms!
Including the one with
the tub in it. Eh, Lacey?
Why, Britt, you don't have to
tell folks about our plumbing.
You'll have Boston thinking
we got no class in Sacramento.
It'll be more dressy when he's
joined us. That is, if you aim to stay.
Oh, I aim to. I'm gonna open a drugstore.
Now, that's just what we need up there to
make us amount to something, ain't it, folks?
They'll need it all right, if you
continue to be so quick on the draw.
How do you mean that?
I don't see how even a clumsy galoot...
could shoot himself
in his own right hand.
- Is that a polite way of calling me a liar?
- Now, Britt, he didn't call you anything.
Don't you mix in this, Lacey.
I asked you a question.
Well, let's say your version
of how it happened...
shows a great deal of imagination.
- A fancy way of saying you don't believe me, huh?
- Frankly, it is.
Now, Britt!
You can't do this to my friend!
- Oh, no?
- No, you can't...
Wait a minute, Boston, I'm coming with ya!
Take your choice. Anyone can
have a bath or a drink, on me.
Here's my notion. We don't want
that pill peddler in Sacramento.
And if he turns up, anyone who calls
himself my friend will run him out of town.
Come, Lacey.
Come on, folks, let's wet our windpipes.
Well, where do we go from here, pal?
- Sacramento.
- Sacramento?
- Well, what about it?
- No good, Kegs. He won't rent.
Well, let's sashay
along to a friendlier town.
I'm gonna rent a shop in Sacramento if I
have to pay somebody into bein' my landlord.
Hey, there's the fellow Dawson
knocked overboard off the Marianne.
Yeah? Huh! He dried out
kinda nice, didn't he?
- Good morning.
- Morning, stranger.
Who owns the place next door?
When it's come right down to it, me!
I want to rent it.
Opening a chemist shop.
Certainly won't interfere
with a trade like yours.
Your name wouldn't be Craig, would it?
Yes. Why?
Nothin'. Just good day to you.
Good day! And shut the door behind ya.
What's the matter with this town?
Why won't anybody rent me a shop?
Word's goin' around. You won't find
nobody in town who'll have any truck with ya.
- So, good day.
- Well, why not?
That's on to Dawson. Britt Dawson.
- What is he, king around here?
- Just about.
- Now get along quick before somebody sees you!
- All right, grandpa.
Keep your beard on.
Another scared rabbit.
Well, there's just one more place.
Over by the saloon.
This store hunting is sure dry work.
- And me feets are just a-killin' me.
- All right, go rest 'em at the bar.
Gimme a beer.
Make it long and make it wet.
That's Lacey Miller over there,
isn't it? What's she doin' here?
She works here, mister.
This is Dawson's place.
You're gonna take a short journey over
water, but you just did that from Frisco.
- That's not news.
- It's in your fortune.
Here you are next to the king of
spades, but that's Britt, of course.
- Couldn't you tell me something different?
- All right, all right, here.
Shuffle them over, and cut again.
- And keep your mind on your wish.
- Can't keep my mind off it.
What luck, if any?
- The last empty shack in town belongs to Mr. Dawson's girl.
- Over there.
This saloon belongs to Dawson too.
I think that would be an unhealthy joint.
No! No, not that!
Ohh! Gimme a whiskey.
Make it double. Never mind!
There's a new man coming into your life.
- What's he look like?
- Trouble.
How do you do, miss Miller?
I've never seen anything happen so fast.
Well, if it ain't Mr. Boston.
- Surprised?
- No, I heard you were in town.
- Have you rented your store yet?
- Kinda fancied the one next door.
- Know who it belongs to?
- Mm-hmm.
- And you've still got the nerve to ask me to rent it to you?
- Doesn't take nerve.
- Doesn't take nerve?
- Go away, Helga.
Why, I understand you'd
be the last person in the world
to want to do anything
against Mr. Dawson's wishes.
Oh, no. I ain't afraid of him.
I don't have to be afraid. You see,
I do as I like around here, Boston.
Would you like me for a tenant?
- Lacey...
- Helga, I know what I'm doing.
- Say, what would you sell there?
- Everything in the way of medicines.
With no doctor here, it's a real necessity.
Oughta be a gold mine!
Say, you could charge a dollar a pill!
That's not exactly the idea.
- I'd charge a fair price and expect a fair profit.
- Oh.
Does that spoil the plan?
I'll give you half the profits for rent.
- Half?
- Mm-hmm.
Oh. Say, that would make us
partners, wouldn't it?
- Yes!
- Partners?
She'll be sole owner ten minutes
after Britt finds out about it.
Scared, Boston?
I'll take a chance. Is it a deal?
Sealed.
Thanks, partner.
Partner.
- Come on, Kegs, we're in business!
- Ohh!
Now get out and stay out!
We sure made it hot.
Let's roll into the palace for a drink.
What's goin' on next door?
It's a real sign, Kegs.
You can see it a mile off.
Hey, you!
I wish you wouldn't holler
when I'm hammerin'!
A fine thing, shootin' at
a man with nails in his mouth!
Let's get 'em up.
- When you get through with your joke, you might let us in on it.
- My name's Joe Dawson.
- My brother say you could have this store?
- I didn't consult him about it.
- Nobody store-keeps in this town without Britt Dawson's say-so.
- Except me.
- Gonna look real nice, isn't it?
- You think so?
- Yank that sign down, Chick.
- I wouldn't do that.
- Maybe you'll get the idea if I decorate it with lead!
- That's the way we do it.
Go play Indian someplace else.
Say, what's going on around here?
Oh, little brother Dawson
wants to wreck the shop.
Little brother Dawson had better
watch out for himself. I'm partners in this shop.
- You're partners?
- Yes, so you better run along and mind your own business.
Does Britt know about this?
- Why don't you ask him?
- I will!
- Well, what do you think?
- Oh, yeah!
It's wonderful. Is this the
way it's supposed to look?
Oh, the stock isn't here yet,
but wait till I get that front window fixed
with the colored bottles and stuff.
Oh, yeah, it'll be very pretty. Let's
celebrate at the palace with a drink.
Just the thing to wash down
those nails I swallowed.
A keg of beer, a keg of nails, it's all the
same to him. I gotta get some work out of him.
We'll celebrate later. Let's fix the sign.
Let's sing a song about a
man that everyone should know
a funny-faced old-timer
known as California Joe
he owns a lazy swaybacked mule
that travels mighty slow
the mule's a little faster
than old California Joe
old slow California Joe
known from the Pacific
to the Texas Alamo
Ya-hoo!
There was a mat beneath his
hat that some folks might call hair
he wore his beard down to
his knees but old Joe didn't care
he went and bought a curry
comb to brush his hair one day
and when he lifted up his hat
two pigeons flew away
old slow California Joe
known from the Pacific
to the Texas Alamo
He used to wander all
around as quiet as a mouse
but Joe was sure to be there
when the drinks were on the house
old slow California Joe
known from the Pacific
to the Texas Alamo
old slow California Joe
known from the Pacific
to the Texas Alamo
Charlie, that fella aimin' to read in here?
There's no tellin'. He sure is a queer fish.
- Who is he, anyway?
- Craig's pharmacy. The new druggist.
Druggist? Remind me to
ask him about my rheumatisms.
No monkeying with that hand.
Oh, say, Mr. Britt, would
you buy me a little snort?
Get outta my way, Whitey,
you drunken buzzard.
- Britt.
- There he is.
Yeah, that's Craig. But have
you seen the sign on his store?
Yes, and I want to know how he
and it got there after my orders.
- Ask Lacey. She told me personal.
- Lacey?
- They're partners in the store.
- You know better than to lie to me, Joe.
Cut my throat if it ain't
the truth, Britt. Just ask her.
- I don't understand.
- You need a might more paint.
He started to clap, and then when I finished my song,
he started to read again, just like he wasn't interested.
You better hurry and change.
Oh, Britt! When did you blow in?
- Get outta here, Helga.
- Since when did you start giving orders around me, Britt?
- Since now. Git, Helga.
- I ain't contradicting no one.
What makes you so good tempered today?
What is this I hear about you
being partners in that drugstore?
- Oh, that!
- Well? Are you or aren't you?
You don't have to shout. Of course I am.
Why shouldn't I go in business
if I feel like it?
Business!
Now, Britt, you don't have to be like that.
I had the shack standing there doing nothing, and I had
the chance to make a little money out of it.
Wish I could believe
this was on the level.
Maybe you will when I tell
you that I get half the profits.
- Huh?
- And being no drugstore in town, there'll be plenty.
And you know that we can charge them
a dollar a pill?
Then you're not just doing this
for his benefit.
Britt, since when did I do anything
for anybody's benefit but my own?
That's right, Lacey.
For a minute, I was forgettin'.
No, Britt, I've gotta change for
the next song. You better run along.
All right. But remember, if I catch
Boston so much as givin' you the eye,
I'll put a slug in him.
- More beer?
- No, thanks.
- Good evening, Boston.
- Oh, hello. How are you?
You don't act like you recollect
I had you thrown overboard.
Yes, I remember all right.
How've you been since?
How have I been?!
Yes. You know, you oughtn't to
give way to those outbursts of temper.
It's bad for you.
Accelerates the pulse,
overworks the heart,
gives you indigestion.
You mean to say you're not sore at what happened?
Why should I be? You didn't
really interfere with my plans.
I'm in Sacramento,
and opening my drugstore.
Here you are.
Mr. Craig, could you recommend
some rubbing oil for Tomkins's shoulder?
I think so.
Put a teaspoon full of this in a pint
of boiling water and just apply it.
Don't rub it in or you'll
take the skin off him.
- Sometimes I've wanted to do just that.
- Not with anything from my shop, please.
Your tonics may be tonics, but I can't get Archie to take this,
so I'll take my money back, if you please.
- Well, what's the matter with it, Archie?
- Don't like it.
That's too bad. I was raised
on that fine old remedy.
It's a great muscle builder too.
- Gee, look it!
- For land sakes!
- We'll take it back, ma.
- Get me one, ma. Get two!
- Two?
- Yeah, I got a date to fight Archie.
- Well, what are you doing out here that's so useful?
- Just admiring your washing.
You get shirts nice and clean. I don't
know how I ever got along without you.
- That's the last cleaning and washing I'm doing for you.
- How's that?
Well, a single girl can't do for a fellow
regular without people talkin'.
- And I got my good name to consider.
- Talking? Saying what?
Oh, nothin', just askin' if you
and I are aimin' to get hitched.
You better get outta here
quick and permanent.
I see, thanks. Well, I think I'll
get in the laundry first.
- What are you doing with my gun?
- Oh, I used to be a mighty pretty shot. Excuse me.
Thank you. Any questions?
Helga, be mine!
Why, Kegsie, this is such a surprise!
- Now that you've seen the whole town, Ellen...
- Yes, what do you think of our Sacramento?
Haven't seen a man I'd sit
at the same dinner table with.
- Oh, naturally the settlers are rather crude, but...
- Good heavens, who's that?
Oh, she's just a singer from the dance hall.
She looks like she just escaped
from a birdcage.
And over there is the new drugstore.
And is that, by any chance,
the new druggist?
- I'm sure I hope you'll make a success of it, Mr. Craig.
- Thank you, Mrs...
- Coggins, is the name.
- Coggins...
That's a downright shame to saddle
a pretty girl with a name like that.
- Somebody oughta change it for her.
- Coggins is my name, young man!
Yes. Huh? Oh! Sorry.
Is this the new drugstore
everybody in town's talkin' about?
Hey, look out there!
Look out!
What are you tryin' to do?
Run me down?
- Think she owns the street!
- Quiet, you're scaring the horse.
I feel faint.
Ellen!
She's fainted!
Ellen handles horses like a man.
She's never afraid!
Yes, it's very odd.
What can we do?
Go in the back room
and get some water. Hold her.
I'm all right. It must've
been a touch of the sun.
There's not enough sun out
to warm a rattlesnake.
And that's how I bid
good-bye to San Francisco.
So you didn't like my home town.
I didn't see the best part
of it until you came to Sacramento.
- Ooh, fried chicken!
- Men always like fried chicken, don't they?
It's all I need to make
life perfect and complete.
That is, practically all.
- Certainly is a beautiful view, isn't it?
- It certainly is.
Hey, Boston, you're wanted at the store.
The man's here from San Francisco
with the medical supplies.
- Why does Tom have to go?
- He won't leave them unless he checks the list.
He would pick my one day off.
It's a good thing you didn't bring
anything hot. It might get cold.
Jerusalem my happy home
name ever dear to me
when shall my labors have an end
when I my joy shall see
oh will I find I'm worthy of
the heavens to ascend
where congregations ne'er raise up
and sabbaths have no end
Jerusalem my happy home
name ever dear to me
when shall my labors have an end
when I my joy shall see
Oh, seor Hernandez, go get me a glass
of punch, por favor.
For me too, Jos.
Rosita, I'm sure he'll propose to her tonight.
Oh, but Ellen won't accept.
She doesn't love him.
Now what are you two saying about me?
We were just talking
about you and Mr. Craig.
- Has he proposed yet?
- No, but he will before the evening's over.
He's very much in love with you, Ellen.
He will be terribly sad when you say no.
- Who's saying no?
- But you don't love him.
What if I don't? You
girls are so old-fashioned.
He's good-looking, and a gentleman.
With my father's backing, I can
make him a big man in San Francisco.
Is the young lady present
who promised me this dance?
Why, I'd forgotten all about you.
Pardon.
Ellen?
I, uh... this is the first time...
- Are you in the mood for a very important question?
- I guess I'm in the mood.
Well, then I'm gonna ask you
right here and now if...
Tom, will you please
go in the house and get my fan?
- Before I ask you the question?
- Yes, please. It's on the big chest in the hall.
Well... all right.
- Oh, hello.
- Well, what is it this time?
- I'm looking for Tom Craig.
- With some other trumped-up call to the drugstore?
- You don't fool me one bit.
- Funny. I see through you too.
Throwing yourself at his head.
Trailing him like a bloodhound.
Now even trying to poke your nose
in here. Haven't you any pride?
No. But at least I never
pulled a fake faint on him either.
Why, you cheap painted hussy!
Well, thank goodness I am not
lady enough to hit anybody.
Here's your fan, Ellen.
Oh, hello, Lacey.
Who wants to see me now?
Old man Higgins is very sick.
His boy's at the drugstore and
won't leave until you get there.
I guess I'd better go, then.
Well, of course, you must go, Tom!
Poor man, I hope it isn't serious.
Don't forget. I'll be down at the dock tomorrow
to see you off, and ask that question.
Bye till then.
Good night, miss Miller.
Night.
She has a remarkably sweet disposition.
Yes, I've never met anything quite like it.
Lacey, wait a minute. I wanna...
I told you about Higgins,
and that's all I came for.
Here you are, Sonny. The
directions are on the label.
If he doesn't feel better
in the morning, let me know.
Boston! Boston!
Boston! Boston!
Hey, what's wrong now, Kegs?
It's the Dawsons. They're on
a land-grabbing tear.
The Peterson's house is burning,
and the Libberts were driv' out.
And with only with what they stood up in.
Doesn't anybody fight back around here?
What's one man agin that whole gang?
Well, can't we get 'em together?
Hey, you better shake a leg, kid.
The last seen, they were on their way to your house.
- But my pa's not able to lift a hand.
- Well, don't worry, son, we will get you some help.
Let's round up some of the neighbors
and give the Dawsons a reception.
- Come on, Kegs. Are you with us?
- You're darn tootin' I'm with you!
Tomkins! Tomkins!
- Here, here, here! What in tarnation...
- The Dawsons are ridin'.
We'll round up some of
the neighbours and gonna try
to stop 'em at the Higgins
place. Will you come along?
- Soon as I get my pants on.
- Good.
- Hey, Bates!
- Who's there?
- Carlin.
What's the matter, Carlin?
Ride over to the Higginses. We're
gettin' up a hot reception for the Dawsons.
Well, it's about time!
I'll be right along.
Shake a leg, and don't lose
any time doin' it!
I'll be there!
- Meet ya at the Higgins place.
- Right.
- You better hide the horses around back of the house.
- All right.
- Hello, Archie.
- Hello, Mr. Bates.
- Hello, Mrs. Higgins.
- Well, how are you, boy?
- Not so good.
Sure glad you got here. You can
help us get pa into the wagon, Mr. Bates.
He hadn't oughta leave the house.
Let's take him up in the loft.
- You mean up the ladder?
- Sure! Take the younguns, and go on up ahead.
- Step smart, children. We'll get him up.
- Mister, give me a hand.
Hurry up, ma.
- Fine time for me to be laid up.
- That's all right.
Go on, Archie.
- Hey, they're here.
- I can hear 'em.
Where in tarnation is Craig and the rest of them?
We're no match for the whole gang!
- Higgins, open up!
- What are we gonna do?
Stall 'em some way.
- Get in there.
- What?
- You're gonna have a baby.
- Baby?
Ooh, get out!
I'll have it.
- And I ain't even married.
- Shh!
Higgins!
What are you doin' here?
- I might ask you the same question.
- I'm looking for Higgins.
- He ain't here.
- Where'd he go this time of night?
Look who just rode up.
Packin' a gun too.
- Isn't that the custom in this part of the country?
- Quite a gathering here tonight.
- I heard that Mr. Higgins was ill.
- Not the mister!
- The missus.
- Missus?
- Yes!
- So mister went up the riverways to get a doctor.
- Oh!
Don't get too close, Britt.
It might be catching.
Don't be afraid of catching that, Dawson.
She's having a baby.
Lie still, Mrs. Higgins. I'll heat
some rocks to put at your feet.
- She been suffering much?
- Not yet.
But you can never tell about
a woman like Mrs. Higgins.
- She'd die before she'd even let out a whimper.
- Yes, yes.
How insignificant is man when
confronted with the divine mystery of birth,
and the courage of a woman like that.
I don't suppose
that means anything to you!
Nobody can say Britt Dawson
don't respect motherhood.
Don't worry, ma'am, we'll wait
for your ol' man outside.
Aa-choo!
I'll show you how I respect a mother!
Why, you fast-talkin', son of a coyote!
We're in trouble. There's a
crowd comin' over the hill.
Come on, Britt!
We're in trouble!
- Hey, whatever's happened?
- Hightail it outta here!
Tell 'em again how you stalled 'em, Kegs.
Well, Bates told Dawson
I was gonna have a baby.
Hello, mama!
I bet Britt and Joe are boilin' mad by now.
Boilin' at Craig, anyhow. He gets
all the credit for them being driv' off.
About time they got a dose
of their own medicine.
Sure, the prescription's simple. You take a
bunch of angry men defending their homes,
mix well and serve hot.
- To the Dawsons.
- Let's drink to the cure of the Dawson disease.
And let's always make it
Craig's prescription!
Something's wrong, honey.
Britt and Joe are stalking behind the
drugstore, and they ain't looking for pills.
Look... I'll run over. You keep Boston here,
even if you gotta hogtie him.
- They're still inside whoopin' it up.
- He's gotta come out sometime.
Hello, Lacey. Takin' the air
kinda late, ain't ya?
- Who are you and Joe waiting for?
- Me and Joe?
Taking the air ourselves. With your
gun drawn so you don't feel chilly?
We're waiting for your friend Craig.
He interfered with the little business
we had at up the Higgins place,
but tonight his interfering days
are over.
Why, he was there because
the old man was sick, it was his duty.
- It's no go, Lacey.
- He was there, and he made fools out of us.
So you better mooch out
of the way of any shooting.
All right. But I may as well warn you.
If you harm him in any way,
you're out of my life for good.
Seems to me you're mighty upset
about your business partner.
She's stuck on him, that's why.
You keep out of this.
Well, Lacey?
Sure, I'm upset. I kinda feel
responsible for him.
If I hadn't wanted to make money out
of the drugstore, he wouldn't be here.
And if you lay a hand on him,
we're through.
All right, Lacey. You win.
You know I wouldn't
do anything to lose you.
Sweet singin' coyotes!
Why, Britt, you're a real gentleman.
That being the case, allow me the
honor to escort you back to the Mirror Palace...
Stylish, like they do in Boston.
Good night, ma'am. Sweet dreams.
- How's that for manners?
- Fine, Britt, and thanks.
What's your hurry?
Never thought you'd be
henpecked into being a softy.
- Can't you see she's lyin', trying to save Craig's hide?
- Of course she's lying.
She means that about not marrying
me if anything happens to him.
So this has to be done some way
she doesn't know I have a hand in it.
Let me do it, Britt.
In fact it'd be a pleasure.
No, she'd lay it to me just the
same. This is gonna be a smart one.
Like the time we got the Johnsons
for stealing their own cattle.
Say, there's a tonic that he's been
pouring down everybody.
Sure. That whole shebang that gave
us the shootin' party tonight take it.
That's right. You wait here.
I got a notion to take a swig
of this, I'm so weak-like.
You're strong enough for me,
Kegsie-wegsie.
Plenty strong.
When I get a toothache, I'm too
strong for any sheriff's posse too.
Which reminds me, Helga.
I ain't fit to marry no woman,
no matter how good a shot she is.
If you have a reason, it better be good.
- Well... it's this tooth.
- Hmm.
When I get a toothache,
I'm a raging bull.
I shoot up joints. I throw
bartenders out of windows.
I slap widows. I kick babies.
- I'm a terror.
- I'll bet.
I'm liable to throw you off a roof.
I'm liable to cut your head off with an axe.
So you see, I just can't
let you marry me, Helga.
Oh, you can't?
Well, it's on account of my tooth.
- You're too fine a woman for such a fate.
- Mmm.
Just the mention of it
starts it aching... a mite.
If that's the case, you better
go in the back room and have a little nap.
- And I'll finish everything out here.
- That's fine of you to take it thataway.
Oh, think nothing of it.
Ellen!
Oh, I'm sorry.
Wait a minute!
Don't go on board.
Hello, everybody. Have an apple?
If you'll excuse me,
I'd like to speak to Ellen.
Seor, it is not proper
without a chaperone.
Well, then we'll make it a family session.
By now, Ellen, you know that I love you,
and I want to marry you.
- Why, Tom!
- Now, don't say this is so sudden.
You've seen this coming on for a long time.
It is correct only to make
the proposal to the parent.
When she produces a parent,
I'll gladly propose to him,
but right now, what do you say about that?
I'll ask father as soon
as I get to San Francisco.
While we're waiting for his consent,
why don't you say yes, anyway?
Yes, anyway.
Seor.
This is highly irregular!
All aboard for San Francisco!
- Ellen, hurry. You're going to miss your boat!
- Essos americanos!
Pretty, isn't it?
Oh, hello.
- I saw you from the road.
- That's fine.
- What are you doing?
- Thinking.
- What about?
- A man in Boston.
- Oh.
- He was my roommate in school.
Skinny little galoot.
Always talkin' about fate.
You know, the thing that
makes you suddenly decide
not to take a certain train
but to take another one,
and the one you missed is wrecked.
Or maybe the one you took is wrecked,
and you'd have been safe on the other one.
- Scary, isn't it, when you get to thinking about it?
- Yep.
Particularly when you think of how
little things can change your whole life.
I know what you mean. You
go along following a sort of a...
- Pattern?
- Yes. Then suddenly something happens that...
doesn't seem to amount to
anything at all at the time.
No. But when you look back,
you can trace it and say...
- The change began right then.
- That's it.
Boston, are you trying to make
up your mind about something?
Oh, no. I'm just thanking my lucky
stars I did what I did six months ago.
See, the day before I left Boston,
a man offered to set me up
in business on a big scale.
Common sense told me I should take it.
But something else told me to
go on to California like I'd planned.
I didn't even take a day to
think it over. I just left,
and traveled 3,000 miles, and...
arrived just in time to
catch a boat you were on.
If I'd have started a day
sooner or a day later, I...
might've missed you,
and the girl I'm gonna marry.
And the strangest part of it is,
that I...
didn't settle in San
Francisco where she lives,
but I picked Sacramento,
where she came on a visit.
That's one for Charlie's books.
Who's Charlie?
The man in Boston.
So it was serious with you and her.
Plenty serious.
Good luck, Boston.
- What do you want, Whitey?
- I want a drink.
We don't sell liquor here.
Roll into the Mirror Palace.
Well, they just rolled me out of there.
There's no more credit. They told-
Hey, what's in them bottles? Ain't that liquor?
That's tonic waitin' to be delivered to
respectable folk. Get yourself out of here.
- Go on. Scat. Git!
- I'm a-goin'.
The idea!
Ooh, my tooth!
That's a dirty trick, creeping up
on an innocent man in his sleep.
March. Mustn't keep
the preacher waiting.
Preacher? He won't be in now.
- Come back here!
- Yes, dear.
The preacher is in and your tooth is out.
- So pick up those feet or my handbag might go off.
- Yes, honey.
That's better. Howdy.
Well, here's to ya, Ezra.
Wanna stop in at the store?
No, thanks. You can set
me down at the Palace.
Tom, look!
What's happened? What's the crowd for?
- Here he comes now!
- There he is!
- What's wrong here?
- Plenty.
- You've got a mite of explaining to do to what's-
- What sort of explaining?
How come Whitey's
layin' dead in his store?
- With a bottle of Craig's mixture by him, empty.
- That's right!
Don't be too long explainin' or...
- What's goin' on here?
- Whitey's been murdered.
- Murdered?
- By poison.
- Poison?
- He's dead.
- Let's find out.
- He's dead, all right.
- By what means, druggist?
Poison.
Must've been enough laudanum in
that bottle to kill a mule.
- How'd it get there, Craig?
- I don't know.
- Let me through. Let me pass.
- Quit shoving.
This is a free show
for all of us, miss Lacey.
Well, Craig?
- They've all been tampered with, every last one of them.
- Can you explain how it could've happened?
Someone must've poured laudanum in
this big bottle that I mix the prescription in.
- You keep laudanum in this shop?
- Of course. This is a drugstore.
- Just a minute, folks. Mr. Craig has been a friend to everyone.
- Mind your own business, Eli.
Wait, wait, uh...
- Proceed, Bates.
- You use it to mix medicine for folks?
Yes, but only a few drops at a time.
Then your hand slipped this time, druggist.
I don't say this man's done it intentional,
but he made a mistake that could've
killed half of this town.
- It's happened. Look at that crowd.
- Sizeable and sore.
- What's going on, neighbour?
- They're trying the druggist for poisoning Whitey.
- Come on, let's get inside.
- No. Better not mix in.
It might've been my kid!
Sounds like they'll be bringin'
him out in a minute.
- Get a rope!
- Get that buggy down by the big tree.
- You're not gonna use my rig for any lynching.
- Use Jim's buckboard.
Let me through! Tom!
- Tom! Tom!
- Put him up there. Put him on the wagon.
There she is, fightin' like a
wildcat to save that pill peddler.
- No fightin' will save him now.
- Get that rope around him.
Gold! Gold!
- Gold!
- Where'd you find it?
- Let me see it.
Gold! Look at it. They're
picking it up in chunks.
- What are you waitin' for?
- Huh? Why, I'm your friend.
So you're gonna stand around
here and watch me hang
when you could be out
grabbing yourself a rich claim?
Forget friendship, men!
That fella's talkin' about gold.
Gold that you can buy
anything in the world with.
Kegsie, gold!
Gold lying on the ground,
waitin' for you to pick it up.
Now, go on, get out of here before
everybody in California beats you to it.
- Gold! Everybody, gold!
I'm gonna be the first one
to stake a claim!
I'm gonna stake a claim right away.
Follow me. Come on, let's go!
Let's get gold! Come on.
Gold!
Gold at Sutter's Mill!
- That fellow has the devil's own luck.
- Yeah, sure.
What are we hangin' around for?
Let's get in on that gold rap.
Come on, Britt. He'll keep.
You're right.
I can come back and get him.
With the gold mine for Lacey to dry
her eyes on, she won't feel so bad.
At Sutter's Mill there's gold!
Gold at Sutter's Mill!
Boy, that's as near to a
funeral as I ever wanna get!
If you hadn't pulled my tooth, I could've
gotten mad enough to handle that whole crowd.
- What are you doin'?
- Oh, we're married.
Yeah, we are.
Huh! Ain't he wonderful?
That's my man.
Here you are, folks! Get your
utensils for pannin' gold!
Pots and pans, all prices, all sizes.
- That one'll cost you two bags of gold dust, pardner!
- Why, that's quite outrageous!
Cheapest in Sacramento. There's a
run on pans same as there is on gold.
Come on, folks, get your pans!
What luck did you have with the bighorn
that calls himself our town marshal?
He refused to open the case.
So that's what he calls
bringin' in law and order, huh?
- Did you come right out and accuse Dawson?
- Certainly.
But all bighorn would say is, "I ain't
interested in your personal feuds."
Well, I guess that closes up
our business permanent, huh?
Britt isn't coming back and holler
to this whole town that Craig's innocent.
No, but he's comin' back, all right,
'cause I'm still walking around.
But as far as this store goes,
we might as well admit it.
We're whipped.
Write "Closed" on the window.
- Cologne soap?
- We might as well finish in style.
Clem, you and Pike take the bags
of dust to the Palace safe.
Chick and I are gonna pay
a call on the pill peddler.
Too bad Joe ain't here to see the fun.
He's having fun seein' folks
don't cut in on our claim.
Closed, huh? Had to skip town.
Ain't that a pity?
Too bad you can't say good-bye personal.
Let's make the closing official.
It's our friend Dawson.
- Hello, Lacey.
- Britt!
Bust my britches, but you're prettier
than ever. Glad to see me, huh?
Sure, but you don't have
to squeeze the life out of me.
You'll be a sight gladder when
you've seen what I brought ya.
Jumpin' coyotes! Where did
you get such large nuggets?
From the claim up at Bogus Thunder.
Come on, Red, drinks on the house.
- Yes, sir!
- For everybody.
For you and me, too, honey, to
celebrate the pill peddler's departure.
I think you're a bit previous, Britt.
Well, well. Craig.
I figured you were halfway to Boston
by now with your tail between your legs.
You figured a lot
of things wrong, Dawson.
Britt, stop it! Stop it, someone!
Are you ready to talk, Dawson?
Now you're gonna tell these people who doctored
the medicine that killed poor Whitey.
Now what's going on? Break it up.
Get him off of there.
- Don't pay any attention to him, marshall. He's crazy.
- This man committed murder.
I'm not concerned with any arguments that
happened before I took over the law here.
I rule this fight broke up permanent,
and I'll slam both of you in the calaboose...
- If you don't keep away from each other.
- Not till I make him talk.
Grab him, deputies, grab him!
For assault, battery, ignoring,
and disregardin' the law,
and pushin' a United States
marshal around, 60 days!
- Now, march!
- Come on.
What did you have to call
the marshal for?
- Tom had Britt ready to sing his song.
- Yeah.
Come on, Red, set up those drinks I was
orderin' before this squall blew up.
Step up, folks, and wet your windpipes.
Ahh! What's the matter, Lacey?
Ain't you thirsty?
You wanna tell me your joke?
What's the idea of
throwing this back at me?
I don't want it or anything
else from you from now on.
Why, because I had a fight
with your pill peddler?
Oh, no. Something a little more
important than that.
Where do you think you are going?
Anywhere from here. I'm not particular.
Look, Lacey, I gotta know the reason for this.
The reason is the way Whitey died.
He died because your high-snootin' friend
from Boston doesn't know his business.
No, but up to now
I must admit you had me fooled.
I might've known
you were behind this lynching.
You were the only person in town
who had anything against him.
- Did he teach you to say this?
- No, he didn't say a word.
He's much too decent. So let go
of my arm. I want to finish packing.
Listen here, Lacey, I don't admit
monkeying with anything.
What I can't get is why you're takin' on
like this. Thunderation, I've killed men before!
Yeah, but shootin' out in the open
has something square and fair about it.
Killing with poison
is sneaky and lowdown.
Look here, Lacey. What's come over you?
I tell you, I had nothing to do with it.
Let's forget it and start all over again.
I struck it awful rich. I can even give you those
gold doorknobs you were talking about.
Let me go, Britt. If you kept me here till
doomsday, it wouldn't make any difference.
Go to your quack pill peddler.
He can have you, and welcome!
This scheme of going up to the camps
is all wrong, and I won't have no part of it!
Rest your tonsils.
We're a-goin', and you're a-comin'.
- Take this.
- Hey, why don't you use some tact?
- Let her go in there and say good-bye to him alone.
- What...
Oh, maybe you're right, but it ain't gonna
do any good as far as she's concerned.
He's always acted more like a
hitchin' post than a two-legged man.
Aw, shut up!
Hello, there, Boston.
Why, Lacey, don't you look grand!
Oh, it's just a little traveling
outfit that Helga and I ran up.
- You're going someplace?
- Sure, to the gold mines, with the rest of the world.
Thought I'd just come in
and say good-bye.
- Don't tell me you're gonna dig gold!
- Sure am.
The easy way. Out of miners' pockets.
Figured they needed entertainment right now.
Can't sit in the back of an empty
drugstore for the rest of my life.
I'm sorry our partnership
was such a failure, Lacey.
Oh, that... I don't regret any of it.
That a letter from San Francisco?
Oh, yes. I'll be leaving soon too.
Ellen's coming up, and
we're going back together.
Oh.
- Good luck, Boston.
- You too, Lacey.
- And if you ever get to San Francisco...\
- Oh, yes!
Drop in and have
dinner with you and the wife.
No, thanks. I'm just hoping
that I never see you again.
- Why?
- Don't you know?
You're makin' me shove off and leaving
Boston with no one to look after him.
Oh, he'll do fine once he's hitched
to miss snippety-puss up to Frisco.
Listen, you two. I don't want to
hear any more talk about him.
I want to forget that I ever set eyes on him.
Don't ever hear his name mentioned again.
- Hello, Boston!
- Shut up!
Quiet. Shh.
- Hey, partner.
- What do you want there, lady?
- How big a camp is this?
- Was 30 shacks or so till folks started to sicken.
You all look puny, as if you could
do with a good meal and some sleep.
Giddyap! They need entertainment
like a dead horse needs flies.
- What's the name of this camp?
- Brandy Gulch.
Say, did you pass a doctor on the trail up?
- A short, stubby fellow with gray hair?
- No. Is anybody sick?
Anybody sick?!
Half the camp's down with the fever!
Hello, there!
- Are you from Sacramento?
- Why, yes.
Well, I'm Dr. Clagham. Did you bring
those medical supplies?
- What supplies?
- What supplies!?
Howlin' coyotes! Don't they know
we've got an epidemic on our hands?
- Epidemic?
- Yes. Typhoid fever.
And we got no drugs to treat it.
We got no food or comforts.
And in every camp for miles around
men are dying like flies.
Doctor, you gotta save Carson.
You can't leave him like this, burning and
raving with fever. You gotta do something!
Mrs. Carson, what can I do?
- I'm helpless.
- Why, doc?
Isn't there something we can do to help?
What do you think you could do here,
Lacey Miller?
We got enough trouble
without women of your kind.
Look, miss Carson.
- Don't take on like that. Maybe Helga and I could help.
- Sure we'll help.
- So, will you show us where we could shake down, please?
- All right.
- I take it real kind of you, Lacey.
- Thanks, Mrs. Carson.
I don't suppose there's any of those
fellows down in Sacramento that give a hang
about these poor devils dyin' up here.
I know someone. Tom Craig, a druggist.
Keg, get a fast horse and ride like
blazes and bring him back here.
- Where'll I get a horse?
- Use my horse. He's a whizzer.
Come on, come on!
Tell him we need enough for an army!
Hurry up, Tom.
If I'd known all this was going on, I certainly
wouldn't have come to make the trip back with you.
You wouldn't want me to show my appreciation
by leaving my stock in trade behind, would you?
Oh, Boston, oh, I'm so glad
I caught you. They sent me.
Corral all the medicine you got,
everything you got, and hurry up!
- What on earth are you talking about?
- Oh, him, they want him up at the camps.
- There's fever, nothing to fight it with.
- Nothing to fight it with?
- No, there's only one doc, and he's working like mad.
- Oh, that's terrible!
- Are there many cases?
- All the camps have got it. It's so bad at Bear Claw...
that Lacey and Helga pitched in as nurses.
- Oh, that woman!
Oh, come on, Ellen. I don't think Lacey
started an epidemic just to see me.
She did send you, didn't she?
I suppose you could say
she had a hand in it.
- It looks like I'll have to go.
- Why?
Why should you risk
your life for a lot of riffraff?
Oh, they're people. They need help.
Oh, you and your high ideals.
Where did they ever get you?
Why, they're the very same people that turned
against you. They even tried to hang you!
- Well, that doesn't enter into it.
- Well, if it doesn't, it should.
Let's just forget the whole idea, Boston.
Don't go, Kegs.
Ellen...
I'm going back to San Francisco.
Are you coming with me?
I'm going to the gold camps first.
Then don't bother to come after me,
if and when you come back.
I saw the same look
in a rattlesnake's eye once...
When I accidentally stomped on it.
Let's see how we're fixed for medicine.
What you got here is only a drop in the bucket.
Doc says he wants enough for an army.
Then we'll get enough,
and an army to take it.
Thanks for your cooperation, marshal.
Oh, it's easy enough to get the
medicine for an epidemic, but I don't
see how you're gonna get the
people to walk right into the thick of it.
Well, you have the supplies ready,
I'll round up the people.
They wouldn't even stop to listen
to Gabriel's horn, let alone you.
They'll have to... sometime.
- Here, Kegs. Keep that up.
- Huh? Oh.
Hold it, everybody!
Quiet down! Don't panic.
I got a message for you.
I don't know whether to appeal to
your good sense or your courage...
Because I don't know how much
of either you have.
- What's that?
- What's he getting at?
I do know you're facing something
that's gonna call for both.
Good sense and courage.
You think you're running away
from the fever. Well, you aren't.
Some of you already have it, and
you're carrying it to others...
- Same as it was carried to you.
- Ain't that too bad!
What's he trying to say? We
ought to stay here and die like flies?
- No!
Word just came through from San Francisco that they're
sending us all the medical help we'll need.
They're also sending enough supplies
and medicines for the gold camps.
And it's up to us to get them there.
It's gonna take every wagon, horse and
able-bodied man we have to get 'em through.
- Are you out of your head?
- You think we're crazy?
You askin' us to go into that death trap?
I'm not asking you anything.
I'm just telling you how things
stand, then it's up to you.
You can stampede out of here
like a lot of cattle and spread this fever...
into every town in
California if you want to.
Or you can stay here
and get help if you're sick,
and give help if you're not.
It's in your hands,
so make up your minds.
Pioneers!
I've got two wagons I'll donate.
Somebody can drive the other one.
Charlie, I'll drive the other one.
- Reckon I'll go with him. I ain't got no womenfolk to worry about.
- Me, neither.
I ain't seen a man yet come stand and
tell me I'm afraid and prove it.
- Me, neither.
- I reckon I'll go along.
Dang if I don't think I'm goin' with 'em.
I should've shot him off the
wagon while I had the chance.
- I'm glad you didn't.
- When did you get religion?
- We're gonna need Craig around for a while.
- What for?
Get the wagon train started for the camp.
- Since when did you mind people dying?
- Use your head.
Those folks up on the camps
are rolling in gold.
And if we corner all the medicine, we can swap it
for every nugget they've dug in the last six months.
How do you figure to grab the wagons?
They have to go through
Digger Pass, don't they?
We'll be there waitin' for them.
You know, Britt, I gotta hand it to you, for being the
meanest coyote this side of the Rockies.
Thanks.
But remember, I claim the pleasure
of pickin' off Craig personal.
Let's get going and round up
the rest of the gang.
Digger Pass is half a day's ride.
Good. We ought to be
at Bear Claw by nightfall.
Whip it up, boys. We're on our last lap!
Come on, boys!
Once we're through the pass,
the going's easy.
Them wagons are sure
takin' a long time.
Clem, any sign of those wagons yet?
No, not a sign of nothing, except Pike.
Well, Pike, my boy?
How are things up at Bear Claw? Are the folks up there
ready to swap all their dust for a little medicine?
- It's awful bad, Britt.
- Fever's got most everybody down.
- Lacey's up there.
- Lacey?
Yeah. She and Helga's got their
hands full taking care of sick folks.
- Lacey's up at Bear Claw.
- What of it?
She might get the fever. Maybe
she's got it already. I've got to get to her.
- We've got a date with the wagon train.
- I've got to get Lacey out of there.
- We get the wagons first.
- You can take care of the wagons by yourself.
Listen, Britt, I ain't takin' those wagons alone
while you go chasing around after Lacey.
Have you forgotten she threw you over for
the first soft-talkin' dude that came along?
Why don't you get smart? She never
had any use for you anyway.
Now maybe you'll stop your yapping.
I'm gonna get Lacey and you're
gonna take care of those wagons.
The wagons are coming!
From now on I'm giving the orders
around here.
When this job is finished, every
man gets his equal share of the dust.
Any arguments? Then get on
your horses and follow me.
We haven't got a chance here!
Make a run for it!
Let's go, men!
These teams can't keep up this
pace. Pull over into that draw.
Hiya there, Craig, I want those wagons!
- Come and get 'em!
- It sounds like the Dawsons.
It is the Dawsons!
Got 'im.
You have enough yet, Craig?
Our only chance is to
get 'em out of those rocks.
Yes, if you want any drivers left.
- Well, I... guess I better go up there and have a chat with him.
- Why, they'll fill you full of lead.
Hold your fire, Dawson!
- Boston, you're crazy!
- Let go of me.
That moss-head.
What a target for a bull's-eye...
Hold it. We need him to
order the train to surrender.
I'm comin' up to talk to you.
Chuck your gun away and come on up, Craig!
Keep him covered.
You walked right into it, eh, Craig?
- I've a proposition to make to you.
- We make the proposition.
You order that wagon train to surrender,
or we shut your mouth up for you permanent.
- And you've got five minutes to make up your mind.
- I can't understand you, fellows, at all.
Most of you need what's in that wagon train
as much as the people in the gold camps.
- Sure we do, to swap for all the gold they got.
- Oh, so that's your plan.
From the looks of you,
most of you won't get that far.
- Funny, you giving me five minutes.
- What kind of talk is this?
I know the signs of the fever, Dawson.
Look at that man's hand shake.
Look at his eyes.
You fellas have been drinking that
river water at the claim, haven't you?
Well, that's where the fever comes from.
And out of all the people in the camps,
what makes you think you'd escape it?
And it isn't exactly a pleasant way
to die, burning with fever,
all twisted up in agony
and fighting for breath...
And frankly, I don't like
the look of any of you.
Especially you, Dawson.
So now if you're smart,
you'll call this gunfight off,
and let me try and save you with the stuff
in the wagon train, if it's not too late.
We'll get all the medicine
we want. Rush the wagons!
Now talk yourself out of this one, Craig.
Joe had it comin' to him.
Get the wagons to Bear Claw.
Up the river to Red Dog.
You go on up to Gospel Creek.
Up the river to Red Dog.
Drive on up the river.
Am I glad to see you.
Besides drugs, did you
bring food, blankets?
We brought everything.
Unload the wagons, men!
First two wagons go on
to Shinbone Creek!
Doc, there's a badly wounded man in
this first wagon. Will you take a look at him?
- Sure.
- Tom!
Tom! Thank heaven you're here.
Why, Lacey, you look so different.
Why, yes. These are my working
clothes from now on.
I hope sending for you
didn't get you into any trouble.
One the contrary. It got me out of it.
Oh, Lacey, Britt Dawson was badly wounded.
- Britt!?
- He wants to see you.
No, it's no good, doc.
I got it bad... and final.
Where's Lacey?
I lied to you.
I could've had you for a nurse.
Hold your hand.
Now I haven't got the strength.
Nobody go.
I got somethin' to say before witnesses.
The medicine that killed Whitey?
I doctored it.
Boston is no way to blame.
Thanks, Britt.
The house... With the gold doorknobs?
If you want 'em...
There's gold in the valley
there's gold in the hills
there's gold in the river
and gold in the rill
go empty your cabins
and empty your mills
to hold all the gold in the hills
What's the shootin' for, partner?
That's my wife taking down the washing.
Oh! Oh...
Coming, dear. Coming, dear.
I'm not gonna do
that washing all over again!
McKeever, pick it up!
- Oh.
- The laundry.
Go empty your cabins
and empty your mills
to hold all the gold in the hills
I traveled through mountains
the rain and the snow
but this is as far as I go
I'll build me a cabin
I'll empty my mill
to hold all the gold in the hills