03x09 - Wolf Cub

[bunniefuu]

Clear the road.

How are things
up ahead, Captain?

Quieted down some.

We k*lled or captured
the last of them

in that draw
on the edge of your ranch.

Was it a big fight?

Big enough.

I lost two good men.

We best be moving along now.

Good day, ma'am.
Harper, son.

See you, Captain.

Bye.

Did they damage the ranch
at all, Jess, the Indians?

No, not too much, Daisy,
k*lled a cow and ate it,

run off some
of the horses.

Jess, what's that?

Over there.

Whoa, whoa.

You little red ants, you!

If you ain't the fastest
little one-legged skitter bug

I ever seen.

[ chuckles ]

You sure have given me
a heap of fun, boy,

kind of too bad
it's over.

Put that g*n up
and walk down here.

Either I'm real lucky
or you got that g*n trained

to do tricks like a pet co*n.

You were gonna sh**t
that boy.

How'd you know how much
of me was in here?

Answer my question!

You ain't no soldier, why were
you pulling down on him?

For scalp bounty,
they're paying $10 a piece

up in the Dakotas.

Thought everybody "knowed" that.

No questions
where they come from.

Get off this ranch.

What?

[ chuckles ]

Oh, I get your track.

Look, friend,
there's plenty for all of us.

Why, off yonder,
is redskins lying dead

out therelike
stones in a brook.

I said, get off this ranch!

All right, friend.

I do like you say.

First let me tell you something
about Indian scalps.

Cured out, it's no different
than others.

So long
as the hair's black...

just like yours.

Well, the house is dark.
Where is Slim?

He camped up on
the mountain most likely.

Stock got
pretty well scattered,

all that sh**ting,
I reckon.

Oh, well, I'll light the lamps
and go fix us some supper.

I bet you're half-starved,
aren't you?

Thanks, Aunt Daisy,
but I'm kind of cold.

I think
I'll just go to bed.

Come on, tiger.

That's the first time I've ever
heard him refuse a meal.

Well, you can't hardly
blame him, Daisy.

It's not a game of soldiers
and Indians anymore.

You know, kid stuff
and imagination,

it's real and grown up,
full of shivers and hate.

Well, it isn't an easy land
for a boy to grow up in.

No.

Come on,
I'll help you down.

Thank you.

You know, Mike's going
to ask me something

and I don't know
the answer.

How could that man
be a scalp hunter?

Well, Daisy, some men look
at this whole country

through a g*n sight.

They got no feeling
for the land,

just for k*lling
what's on it.

The Indians watch them
slaughter the buffalo

and the antelope
and the elk.

They judged
all whites by them.

Brother of the wolf
they called 'em,

because they take
pleasure in k*lling.

And now they're hunting
children for money.

No wonder
the Indians hate us.

I know what you mean.

I used to blame the towns
that offered the bounties.

It's not them,
they're just frightened folks

new to the land.

It's sidewinders like
that fella we met today.

Men that breed on death,

instead of something
wide and clean.

For them the west is just
a place where the day quits.

But time soon, they'll
make a graveyard out of it.

Not if you fight them for it.

I'd fight 'em, Daisy.

I would fight 'em strong
if I only knew how.

Saving that crippled boy
out there was one thing.

You'll find others.

Got a man lost
some blood, Doctor.

Be with you in a moment.

Step out of the light.

Captain, this soldier
is wounded.

This man's close to dying.

Would you step out
of the light, please?

Thank you.

Captain Foster, you know
better than to administer

to the enemy when
one of your own men

is in need
of your attention.

Now tend this man's
wound, Doctor.

That is an order!

Sit over there, boy.

I'm glad to see
you can still recognize
a direct order, Captain.

I hope it won't again
be necessary

for me to remind you
of your first line of duty.

Your direct order had nothing
to do with it, Captain.

My patient just died.

Well, this patient
was your enemy.

You ought to know that by now.

Is that a fact?

I thought he was a poor
starving Blackfoot Indian

who jumped the reservation

and whom you were supposed
to bring back alive.

I know
what my orders are, Doctor,

they're no concern
of yours.

That's where you're wrong.

They are my concern
and everyone else's

in this part
of the country.

We might have made a friend
out of him one day.

It's too late
for that now, isn't it?

Can't you go out and get him,
Jess, bring him back here?

The Blackfoot boy?

Uh-huh, we've got
plenty of room.

Wish I could, Mikey,
that's against the law.

It's an army order,

until the Indians are back
on the reservation,

we'd get in a pack
of trouble.

You better eat
this while it's warm.

Then we just got
to leave him, Jess?

Do we, Jess?

Like I was telling
Mike, Daisy,

he's got the hills
in the night.

He's a part of them.
He'll be all right.

[ g*nsh*t ]

What was that?

r*fle shot.

Booming like that?

It's a long r*fle,
Mike, Springfield.

Like that
scalp hunter's?

His, I reckon.

He isn't still after that boy?

I guess he is.
Takes pleasure in it.

Army order
or no army order,

he's not gonna
get to enjoy it.

Not around here, anyway.

Could you eat
a little something?

I feel a lot better.

I could eat a whole
supper now.

Well, come on.

[ g*nsh*t ]

Hey, skitter bug,

got me this from a trooper,

price was right,
him being dead.

It's time to see how it works,
don't you think?

[ chuckles ]

[ chuckles ]

[ chuckles ]

[ chuckles ]

[ clicks ]

[ chuckles ]

[ grunting ]

Wait a minute, boy,
I want to help you.

I want to be your friend.

Chika-san.

I want to be your friend.

[ grunting ]

Whoa now.

There might be something
wrong with your leg, boy,

but there sure ain't nothing
wrong with your backbone.

You savvy English?

Get up. Get up.

I ain't after
your hair, boy.

I'm after your heart.

Now get that straight.

Now let's go home.

You gonna walk or am I
gonna have to carry you?

[ groans ]

[ horse neighing ]

It's Jess, Aunt Daisy,
he's got him!

He's got him!

You brought him, Jess.

Yeah, I brought him.

He ain't took to the idea too
good so don't get too close.

We'll be good friends
by the time you leave

for the reservation.

My name's Mike.

He hit his head.

There's no blood.

Why, he has a fever.

He's completely exhausted.

He's lucky he's alive after
what he's been through.

Mike, help Daisy fetch some
food and some blankets.

Bring 'em
in the bunkhouse, huh?

How is he?

He's sleeping,
he's gonna be all right.

Thanks, Mike.

I'm sorry
I stirred him up.

Like I told him, I was just
trying to make friends.

That's all right.

I guess he doesn't know what
we mean by the word.

You see, Mike,
with some whites

when they say "friend"
to an Indian,

it's just before
the g*n goes off.

I brought him some food.

Mike, until we're
a little more sure

how he's going to act,

I think you better go back
to house and go to bed.

Daisy's right.
Beside, it's getting real late.

Goodnight, cowboy.

Goodnight.
Goodnight, Aunt Daisy.

Goodnight.

At least he's here
and not out there alone.

Huh, Jess?
That's the thing.

That's the thing.

Goodnight.

Goodnight, dear.

That's the thing,
all right, Daisy.

I just wish there
was something

we could really
do for him.

Well, at least we can
make him comfortable.

I'll put the food here,
he'll see it when he wakes up.

Why, that looks like
a muscle lesion.

A what?

A muscle lesion.

I was a nurse,
not a doctor,

but it certainly feels
like a muscle lesion.

What does that
mean exactly, Daisy?

When the muscle is cut
and isn't attended to,

it grows back crooked,
pulled like his leg.

Well, can it be fixed?

It takes surgery.

Surgery
is never exactly simple.

Could it put him back
on two good legs?

I don't know.

Captain Foster would know.

He's an army surgeon
with Reeves' outfit.

Slim and I've know
him for a long time.

I think I'll ride out
to the bivouac area tomorrow

and have a talk with him.

But would an army doctor
operate on an Indian?

I don't know, Daisy.

But there's not another
doctor like him closer

than St. Louis.

It won't hurt to ask.

You gonna stay here
tonight with him?

Yeah, I think I better.

If he wakes up, he'll tear
the bunkhouse apart.

We wouldn't have
a patient for our doctor

to look at tomorrow.

You better
take this with you.

Oh, thank you.
Goodnight.

Goodnight, Daisy.

Like to talk
to your captain, soldier boy.

State your name
and business.

Just tell him
it's Earl Droody.

He knows my business.

A civilian to see you,
sir, name of Droody.

Send him in.

After he leaves, roll up
the walls of this tent,

it'll need airing.

Howdy, Captain Reeves.

What you want, Droody?

Ain't the general
published an order

against harboring
hostiles, Captain?

You know he has.

Well, I wanna tell you
about some ranchers

that run a relay station
over on Laramie Road.

All right,
what about them?

They're harboring
hostiles.

They're what?

Yeah, I know
you savvy English.

You dreamed out loud
last night, plenty good.

You still don't believe
we want to help you.

We want to be your friends.

You make me prisoner
for pony soldier,

take back
to reservation.

That's not true.

Soldiers don't know you're here
and they're not going to either.

Until I get a doctor
to look at your leg.

White men not touch
leg again.

Again?

Was it a white man who hurt
your leg in the first place?

Mmm.

Was it a soldier?

No, leg crippled in battle,
mark of courage.

Agent on reservation
crippled Lame Wolf.

Agent?

Well, they're supposed
to help you.

Help?

Agent sell beef army give us,
with money buy whiskey,

drink until I swim
and he sleep.

You're trying to tell me
he have cut your leg off

while he was asleep?

Mmm.

Agent make father chop wood,
Lame Wolf pickup pieces,

axe old, head loose,
head fly off, cut leg,

Lame Wolf fall on ground,
flap bleed like chicken,

agent not let
father help.

How awful.
Why not?

He know Red Wolf
brave warrior,

with crippled leg I never
grow to fight like father.

Jess, Aunt Daisy,
it's Slim!

He brought some soldiers!

You go out with Mike
and meet them, Daisy.

I'll be out in a minute.

Just take it easy.
You're gonna be safe.

Good morning,
Daisy, Mike.

You know
Captain Reeves, don't you?

Met him and his men
coming into the ranch.

Seem to think we've got
a Blackfoot on the place.

Whatever made him
think that?

That beats me.

First they run our horses
off in the mountains

and now the army's saying
we're opening a hotel for 'em.

Stay to the north trail,

it's hard ground
and slow tracking.

I not know
your thought,

maybe you call pony soldier,
maybe not.

You follow me,
I k*ll you.

Where's Jess?

Here I am, Slim.

Harper, you take a hostile
in last night?

Not a hostile, Captain,
just a crippled boy.

Where is he now?

Well, he must have
heard you coming.

He broke out
of the bunkhouse.

That was not just
a crippled boy, Harper,

that was the son of Red Wolf.

Now both of them have escaped.

The chief got away?

Saw him shot off his horse
early in the fight.

Our prisoners say
he was only wounded.

All we know is
we couldn't find his body.

Well, a limping boy is slow,
easy to track.

He might lead us
right to his father.

Which way did he go?

East, you'll probably
pick his trail up

in one of those
shallow canyons.

Thanks.

Good day, ma'am.
Sherman.

Somebody gonna tell me
what's going on around here?

All right, Jess.

Mike and Daisy
will tell you the whole story,

I got to saddle up.

Now wait a minute.

Hey, we still have some stock
to round up.

Where are you hurrying off
to so fast?

I'm trailing north, Slim.

I got something more important
to do than herd stock.

They'll tell you about it.

He's going
after the Blackfoot boy.

Jess brought him
home last night

and he slept in the bunkhouse.

And he broke out?

Yeah, that's right, he did.

Slipperiest fella I ever saw.

Pretty smart Indian,
prying outside boards

loose from the inside.

You and Daisy
better have a lot to tell me.

[ g*n c*ck ]

I've come to help you, boy.

You fool, white man.

Maybe.

Maybe standing in front
of these rocks in plain sight,

taking off my g*n belt

and putting it
by your boot track,

something that's as plain
as a trail marker

and then turning my back on it,

maybe that's being a fool...

if I had come to k*ll
instead of help.

I say I would k*ll you.

Your father is alive,
Lame Wolf.

Now I know you lie.

Red Wolf was shot
during the battle,

but he wasn't
counted among the dead.

White men always lie.

Not important.

It's not important to you
that your father got away,

that he might be
in these mountains?

Son with crippled leg
counted among dead.

To a father a son is a son,
a part of him no matter what.

I told you white medicine
can fix that leg.

You can go back
to your father as a brave,

counted among the living,
as his son,

if you'll just trust me.

Trust?

White men make much talk,
mean nothing.

All right,

if Lame Wolf kills his friends,
k*ll me now.

I wish you'd say
something, Slim,

and get me to thinking whether
I should have brought him back.

Well, quit thinking.

I rode out and got
Doc Forster, didn't I?

What about it, Doc?

Well, it's a bad lesion.

Bring me that small table
over there, will you, Slim?

What are the odds?

I can quote your odds
on poker acey-deucey

but not on operations.

I'm sorry, Doc.

We all know you've taken more
of a gamble than any of us.

Maybe even more than the boy is.

Well, thank you, Jess.

I guess the young man
means a lot to all of us.

That's the weight
of things, Doc.

That leg heals right,
I guess a lot of things

around this territory
will heal right up with it.

I figure that way too.

Well, bring him in.

[ door opens ]

You ready?

Doctor lie.

He say he cut my leg.

I would feel nothing.

That's right,
you won't.

You'll breathe something
that'll make you go to sleep,

it's called chloroform.

I sleep,
white knife cut leg?

Sleep will soften
the muscles,

so the knife can do
its work better.

I not like breathe
white medicine.

Well, you like being
left behind by your people,

hobbling like a dog

who's had his leg caught
in a beaver trap?

I could have k*lled you,
white man.

If I wanted you dead,
do you think you'd be here now?

You take me to medicine
like white man.

Captain Foster,
you're under military arrest.

Any particular charge?

Do you know
what's in this letter?

Depends on who wrote it.

It charges you with performing
an operation on a hostile.

Do you deny it?

Who wrote the letter?

But it isn't signed.

Oh, anonymous?

Well, now, Captain,

you shouldn't believe
everything you read.

Do you deny the charge

of giving aid
and comfort to the enemy?

A charge which is, as you know,
punishable by...

Death or such as a punishment
as a military court may direct.

Yes, I deny it.
What?

All right, Captain,
I performed that operation.

Yes, on a crippled boy.

But you're going to have
a rough time proving it.

That's giving aid
and comfort to the enemy.

In fact
you're gonna look like


of a fool if you try.

Now look, Doc--Sir.

Hold it.

All right, that's enough,
that's enough.

You bet it's enough.

Give me my g*n.

Just a minute, Sherman.

Where did you find him?

On the way to Laramie, sir.

He didn't want
to come along.

Well, good morning, Slim,
welcome to the club.

Hiya, Doc.

You better have good reason
sending your troopers out

to haul in
a civilian off the road.

I have. Give him his g*n,
corporal.

That's all, let me know

when the patrol's
ready to ride.

Yes, sir.

Inside, Sherman.

You're pretty good
at giving orders, aren't you?

Well, let me tell you
something, Captain,

I'm not in your army anymore.

Slim, come on.

Now, Mr. Sherman,

you wish to bring
charges against me

for detaining you,
no one's going to stop you.

While you're at it, you better
have some answers ready

when you're accused of harboring
a hostile at your ranch.

All right,
so you found out.

What are you gonna do now?

I'm going to bring him in.

Do you realize who he is?

He's Red Wolf's son.

He's an Indian boy
with his leg in a sling,

that's mostly who he is.

And maybe
your 10-man patrol

is not gonna be enough
to take him, Captain.

You ought to bring along
some a*tillery too.

No one's going to harm him,

the patrol is merely a deterrent
against any action by Red Wolf

or any of his braves
that might show up

when we take his son
into custody.

Now, after we leave,
you are free to go, Mr. Sherman,

I-- I invited you here

to keep you from
interfering with me

when I ride to your ranch.

One thing you better know,
if you move that boy now,

I can't answer
for his healing properly.

No one will ask you to, Doctor.

You don't seem
to understand, Captain.

Why, if Lame Wolf can
walk again without a limp,

it'll do more for this territory
than 10 military campaigns.

When will you and the rest
of the civilians learn?

What guarantee have you

that this Blackfoot
won't turn on you?

Doctor, you think you've cured
his limb, that's fine.

Now he'll be able
to fight better.

Next year or the year
after maybe,

he'll put a lance
through your throat.

No, no, he goes back
to the reservation

where he belongs, now!

Captain Reeves,

what about that order
from Washington,

the one that says,
"Every effort will we made

to recruit the Blackfoot tribe
as military scouts"?

I know that order
was issued 3 days ago

because I got a copy too.

I also know that you haven't
done anything about it.

Well, what do you expect me
to do about it?

Those prisoners I took,

they'd make a great bunch
of scouts, wouldn't they?

You know as well as I do
they'd k*ll us all right now

if they thought they could.

Lame Wolf wouldn't.

You want me to recruit him,
is that it?

What kind of a military scout
would a cr*pple make?

Not the boy, Captain,
his father, Red Wolf.

If you could
sign him up as scout,

you'd have the whole tribe
right in your pocket

and I think the boy
would lead you to him.

Oh, sure and get us
all ambushed.

You know what that savage
has been doing up in those hills

while your own town
posted a reward for him?

No one's proven
he's done a thing

and personally,
I don't think he has.

Well, how do you propose
to find out?

You could ask him.

I'll ride out with you, Captain,
we'll talk to the boy.

Doc will talk to him too.
I think he'll listen.

And deliberately lead us
to his father?

When he's well enough
to ride, yes.

You know what I think?

I think you're both crazy.

But you give us a change
to prove it.

Had me a sorrel like that once,
color of the morning sun

through river mist,
lost him to a pair of jacks.

How you be, boy?

What--
What are you doing here?

Oh, now don't take
fear, boy.

I come as a friend.

All I got to do is yell

and they'll hear me
in the kitchen.

Who will?

Harper's out hazin' mustangs.

Sherman into Laramie,

seen him ride off
just a couple hours back.

No one home
but one woman and a--

Daisy's got a shotgun

and she knows
how to use it too.

One woman and a Blackfoot.

Blackfoot?

What Blackfoot?

Oh, now don't play dead
with me,

boy, I tell you
I come friendly.

I know the Indian cub's there

and I know the folks
had the doctor

fixin' over his leg.

And it was a proper
Christian doin' too.

Now, of course, the army
looked at it different.

The army?

Uh, sure, one of them
soldier boys told me.

They're borrowin' the Blackfoot
from your folks

to stake him out in the hill.

Stake him out?

Yeah, for bait.

They gonna bush up nearby
and they gonna k*ll Red Wolf

when he comes sniffin'.

Then the reward
will be all theirs.

What reward?

Don't you know, boy?

Here, I guess
it can't make up for the cub,

what I've done,
but that warrant might help,

bein' as I'm leavin'
the country.

I wouldn't say nothing
to the woman in there,

on account of

women take on so
when men go bravin'.

Goodbye, boy.

You can't do it alone.

How'd you mark
by yourself?

How'd you catch your pony
if he's straight?

We may be many days
in mountains.

I'll bring some food
and a blanket.

When we get to your pa,
I'll turn back.

Slim and Jess will find me.

You get pony,
chika-san.

What?

That Blackfoot word,
mean "friend."

Chika-san.

Mike.

Mike, are you in there
with Lame Wolf?

Mike?

[ horse neighing ]

Jess, Jess...

Mike's gone.

Well, where did he go to?

He went off on his horse
with Lame Wolf.

He knows
better than to do that,

so does Lame Wolf.

He could tear
those stitches out.

Yes, but that isn't
all of it,

look what I found
in Lame Wolf's room.

Well, how'd this
get here?

Slim and I wouldn't
allow nothing like this

to be posted
on the ranch.

Oh, someone must have ridden by
and left it the barn.

Mike was working in there.

Yeah, this could do it.

Mike was worrying all morning
about that trooper

who came for Slim,
kept asking me why.

He kept asking me too,
I didn't know.

I guess he figured
they were after Lame Wolf.

Daisy, fetch me something
to eat on the run, will you?

Yeah.

Which way now?

How do you know?

These are my father's markings.

When I'm small boy like you,
we hunt here.

Maybe Red Wolf camp near here.

How do you know?

Since yesterday,
I have seen Blackfoot sign.

[ calling ]

[ calling ]

That Red Wolf, my father.

[ calling ]

[ c*ck g*n ]

[ calling ]

[ c*ck g*n ]

Hold it, mister!

[ c*ck g*n ]

Gonna pleasure me plenty
taking you hair, friend.

[ groans ]

[ g*nsh*t ]

Jess!

Come on, tiger.

Come on, Lame Wolf.

No.

Father, not sh**t,
these friends.

Friends?

They bring the scalp hunter
and pony soldier

and you call them friends?

Pony soldier not come yet,
we come to warn.

Look behind you, son.

Lame Wolf...

Lame Wolf, we didn't know
they were following you.

You got to believe one thing,
we didn't try to betray you.

Tell him, Mike.

No, we didn't,
chika-san.

We still want to be
your friends.

We still want to keep you
at the ranch if we can.

I believe.

Do not sh**t, Father.

These friend have
white medicine, can save you.

You save yourself,
crooked leg,

I have no son.

I have a fool.

No, Red Wolf.

White medicine strong,
make leg straight.

A liar is worse than a fool.

Stop, I'll k*ll until I die.

White medicine
make this leg straight.

You k*ll me, Red Wolf,
if I lie.

My son,
you are again my son.

Corporal,

get a letter,
take it forward on the double.

Yes, sir.

By this paper,
the father in Washington

agrees with Chief Red Wolf's
request

that mountain land be found
for his people,

in return for the services
of yourself

and your bravest warriors
as scouts.

It is good.

Not quite, Chief,
we need your mark.

Mark?

I have already given my word.

Why do they need my mark?

Oh, Washington
strong on paper and marks.

Chief Scout,

on behalf of the government
of the United States,

congratulations to both of you.

Well, we'll be riding now.

Goodbye, Sherman.

Harper. Madam.

Goodbye, son.

Word is not heart,

but if heart have word--

We have words,
my son.

Kataki abska
chika-san.

Come, we ride.

What is "kataki abs--
abs..."?

That's Blackfoot, Mike.
It means "the hatred
has flown."