01x02 - Path of the Dead

[bunniefuu]

[Richard] Welcome to the real America.

[grunts]

[Cornelia] What did he do?

Just the color of his skin.

[Cornelia] You and I, how we met.

It was in the stars.

[lead horseman] Where are you headed?

[Cornelia] Caine County, Wyoming.

[Eli] I've lived here my whole life.

I've seen hell, and I made hell.

- [shotgun cocks]

- [g*nsh*t]

[man grunts]

[Cam] What you gonna do now?

Nebraska.

That ain't Pawnee land no more.

Don't want it all. Just a few acres.

Gadding about

with all that unbanked cash.

[Cornelia] You're gonna k*ll me?

[Richard] Yup.

[Kn*fe stabs]

[Cornelia] Without you,

I'd have been k*lled.

My son, he is dead.

And up on Powder River,

there is a man

trying to forget that he ever existed.

Will you help me? Please?

Can you sh**t?

If I have to.

Oh, you'll have to.

[dramatic music playing]

- [man] Come on. Rub that dang ball.

- [clacking noises]

[man] Put your back into it.

[man] Come on. Move that thing. Come on.

[man] You hit it good, Mr. Trafford.

[man] I got it! I got it! Yeah!

Hey, you gotta hold it up.

[dramatic music playing]

[Thomas] What?

[Thin Kelly] Best see for yourself.

[dramatic music playing]

[man grunting]

[dramatic music playing]

[man grunts]

[dramatic music playing]

Show me.

[dramatic music playing]

[indistinct chatter]

- Sheriff?

- Mr. Trafford.

Actually, I'm an Honorable,

but I'll let it slide.

I would.

In this country,

you gotta earn your titles,

not just get born with.

And so how must that feel,

Sheriff Marshall?

To have a surname exceed your station?

Always looking to better me self.

The American way.

You even arrested anyone yet?

Remarkably civic-minded lot.

That right?

[dramatic music playing]

What about this?

[dramatic music playing]

What is it?

That, Sheriff Marshall,

is a 13-week gestated

prized Longhorn Hereford cross.

I imported the bull from England,

a huge expense.

Jesus, I'm sorry to hear that.

Hundred more lying up there.

All ripped out the same.

By what?

Oh, no, um, by whom.

- Your people.

- Mine?

Homesteaders,

sod-busters, pig f*ckers.

Not my people.

But they're the ones

who pay your bills, Sheriff.

You're not part of this community.

We had law and order

long before you lot got here.

Your law.

Your order.

I opened this place up.

Me.

Alone.

But now, it's just every

Mick, Spik, Paddy,

and Wop who thinks he can follow suit.

And this, this is how they do it!

[dramatic music playing]

Your people

are trying to drive me off my land.

- Your land?

- All of it.

Maybe you should check the statutes.

You're grazing public land,

Mister Honorable.

[Thomas] Which I made.

You English

I think maybe it was God that done that.

See, and yet and yet,

now all your people

want to do is cut it up in barbed wire!

Is that really the future

you're waiting for, Sheriff?

[man grunts]

Who's your man?

Night watch.

- He see anything?

- Does it look like he did?

[Sheriff Marshall] I'd like to

have a talk with him

once he's got his jaw back on.

What for?

He works for me,

just like you work for them.

Kel?

You read this the same?

Maybe.

But maybe not.

Sod-busters,

they're up to sh**t or rustle.

Meat or money.

But these

they just been sliced up and left.

Wolf?

What kind of wolf does that?

Not any animal I ever heard of.

Then what?

Sand Creek, '64.

Heard something similar.

That was against Cheyenne.

k*lling pregnant women?

- Yeah.

- You think this is Indians?

Nope.

They don't read like no pig-farmer.

And it certainly weren't no wolf.

What kinda community

you got going on up here, Sheriff,

do a thing like that?

[Thomas] Jesus, man.

Even you can see the answer to that.

[dramatic music playing]

[crickets chirping]

It doesn't matter

how many times you ask me,

I won't tell you.

[sighs] You're right.

If wishes were where we would be,

then we would be where we are not.

[Eli] Not a wish.

A message.

Who from?

It comes in a dream.

[Cornelia] Oh, yes?

My dreams are wild.

Then you go to a Gudehus.

[Cornelia] What's that?

An elder.

Helps you understand.

I'm not sure

he'd like what he finds.

No, he's dead.

They all are, up there now.

[Cornelia] Where?

[Eli] Path of the dead.

[Cornelia] The Milky Way?

Hmm

Maybe that's them

trying to send you a message.

What'd be the point in that?

Well, you won't know

until you find out what it means.

But if they are up there

and I'm down here,

who's left to tell me?

[gentle music playing]

It's busy tonight.

[gentle music playing]

[man] [praying foreign language]

Amen.

See, this is my point.

It's against the laws of nature.

Why else you think animals travel by herd?

So it makes it harder

for the predator to choose.

But you, out here all alone?

Only yourself to blame.

[speaking foreign language]

- Huh?

- [speaking foreign language]

- What you saying?

- [speaking foreign language]

And what is the point,

coming to a country

when you can't even begin

to speak its language.

English, all right? Speak in English.

[speaking foreign language]

[Captain Clegg] Your whiff?

[speaking foreign language]

No.

[speaking foreign language]

Your whiff is fat.

[speaking foreign language]

Oh.

Pregnant?

- Your wife is pregnant?

- Yeah!

Why didn't anyone tell me?

That ain't right.

Death, so close to new life.

Not now, that is the wrong way around.

I am so sorry.

Truly.

It's an awful thing.

Go on.

[dramatic music playing]

You get back to her.

Go back to your whiff.

[dramatic music playing]

You gonna let him go?

[Captain Clegg] No.

But when you put an arrow

through his heart,

at least it will be full of hope.

[dramatic music playing]

[panting]

[dramatic music playing]

[arrow pierces]

[dramatic music playing]

You missed his heart.

[wind blowing]

You all right?

[Cornelia] Oh, yes.

What's this?

[Eli] West.

East.

South.

North.

For you, if we get split.

Not for you?

My people lived here over 2,000 years.

No need for sticks.

What's up there for you?

- Land claim.

- [Cornelia] Where?

- Nebraska.

- Is that far?

Not as far as you wanna go.

How come you came from the South?

Well

Should've left from Liverpool

and I get that now.

But, um, Southampton was closest,

so that's how I ended up in New Orleans.

[dramatic music playing]

The thing was, I was in a bit of a hurry

and my son had just d*ed, so

so my mind was foggy.

Not foggy.

It was more, um

it was more

I don't really know what it was.

Or is, really. But, um

but the man responsible is here,

so here is where I must be

or at least up there.

[dramatic music playing]

Well, at least you can ride.

[Cornelia] And sh**t.

Big difference between sh**ting

a pig and a man.

Especially when the pig

hadn't done me any harm.

[Cornelia] I'm good

with a bow and arrow, too.

I can strike a bullseye at 200 feet.

In England, we call it Toxophily.

It's quite the fashion.

Maybe I should go.

Ooh, no.

Look what happened to Pocahontas.

Who?

[Cornelia] You follow the stars at night.

[Eli] Yup.

[Cornelia] Will you teach me?

[Eli] No.

[Cornelia] Well, you told me

about Death Path.

[Eli] Yeah, well, I shouldn't have.

[Cornelia] I like that idea.

Being able to see your way

into the next world.

Makes this one seem less final.

Is that where your family is?

And my boy?

[dramatic music playing]

He die violent or ill?

Why?

Violent takes a short road,

illness, the long.

Which one did yours?

Short, mostly.

- Long, some.

- What if it was both?

The English gave us

all kinds of illness.

Some say that that's the short.

Others, long.

What do you say?

Short.

Violent.

Well then, you and I,

we're looking at the same road.

[dramatic music playing]

[Eli] I'm not sure.

Kickapoo maybe.

Tribal lands?

Allotments.

[dramatic music playing]

[water pattering]

[dramatic music playing]

What?

We're being followed?

Only one way to find out.

[tense music playing]

[speaking in foreign language]

Is he a friend?

Of mine?

Maybe.

Of yours?

[dramatic music playing]

[Eli] Take out your r*fle.

Ratchet a b*llet.

[cocks g*n]

If it comes to it,

I'll take the two on the left,

you gut-sh**t the Pawnee's horse.

- [shotgun cocks]

- His horse?

Oh, you getting picky now?

If I go down,

the scrub's your only chance.

But then if I go down

I haven't really got one.

Steady is quick.

[tense music playing]

Trooper Charlie White.

[speaking in foreign language]

We fought together in Cheyenne County.

Long time back.

You don't remember me?

You fought well.

Thank you, brother.

[tense music playing]

[Eli, in English] That why you didn't try

and jump us back there?

[Charlie] Captain Clegg here,

he wanted to meet you.

Often's the time, Charlie here

warms our campfire

with your heroic exploits.

Tall tales on a short story.

Make it longer,

if you care to join us.

[tense music playing]

Bushwhackin'?

Pays better than an army pension.

Which, anyways, you can't claim,

given the nature of your skin and all.

Pays even shares.

Don't go sayin' it's a livin'.

[Charlie] It's survivin'.

That living, ain't meant

for the likes of you and me.

Unless, of course, you got other ideas.

Just go my own way,

let you go on yours.

What's in her bags?

[tense music playing]

Nothin' worth dyin' for.

[laughs] So hand them over.

Well

It's the natural order of things,

ain't it?

It's like being a m*llitary hero

from a breed we was all just looking

to wipe off the face of the earth.

Now, the last man in your position,

all he could do was pray.

And here we are.

[tense music playing]

Just give him the damn bags.

[tense music playing]

[g*nsh*t]

[horses shriek]

[g*nshots]

- [Charlie grunting]

- [g*n locks up]

[dramatic music playing]

[arrow strikes]

[dramatic music playing]

[coyotes grunt]

[coyote barks]

[g*n cocks]

They didn't make the mess.

Just cleanin' it up.

[dramatic music playing]

Oh, my God.

Too late for her.

- But I can try for the child.

- The baby's alive?

Weak.

Done it before, but only for horses.

Oh, God, you've got to save it.

Please save the baby.

Go look for some sugar.

[suspenseful music playing]

It's all right.

Come here.

Come here.

It's all right.

Hold on to me.

All right.

I have you.

All right.

It's all right.

[baby crying]

Come on.

All right. You do it.

- I'm not a midwife.

- [Cornelia] Well, neither am I.

Hold it to your atu,

your milk will come on.

No.

I couldn't. I mean, I can't.

You don't want it?

Their mother is not yet cold in her grave.

Please.

It won't last a week on sugar water.

Well, then we have to get her to a doctor.

- Out here?

- Somewhere safe for the both of them.

With that money, travel north,

buy a spread, safe enough?

No, I don't. I don't want

I and I couldn't be

A mother?

I am a mother.

I'm just not theirs.

You lost a child.

Now you got another.

Well, you lost a family,

so I could say the same.

With you?

No, no.

I was merely reversing the argument.

[coyotes barking]

We should've left them to it.

I noticed this about you.

You keep saying these negative things

and you end up always doing the opposite.

Hmm, well

Maybe I should start listening to myself.

[baby cooing]

You don't talk about that fight.

- Most people did nothing but

- [Cornelia] Do you want to?

Things were hit.

Things were missed. About it.

Is this part of your m*llitary training?

But you were in the army?

- [Eli] Yup.

- The American Army?

- Calvary.

- So, like a conscript?

Joined up.

[Cornelia] Of choice?

Got enemies.

Who?

Sioux, Cheyenne,

Arapaho, Comanche, Osage, Kansas.

A few.

A lot.

Why?

Some of it, long time.

Some of it

Because of us?

Not looking for blame, favors neither.

Well, then what?

Just a piece of land.

The same thing happened to my father.

And they gave him

a peerage and half of Devon.

[Eli] Devon big?

I mean, in your terms, probably not.

I just need a few acres.

Hmm.

[Eli] Your father, soldier?

Yup.

Figures.

Why?

That where you live, with your folk?

Hmm, but not in the main house.

It was in a different

separate part of the grounds.

With your boy?

Yes.

Uh-hmm.

Well, you can ask if you want.

I don't.

My father was much the same.

Only ask a question

if the outcome is uncertain.

About right.

Well, maybe that's what

made him such a good soldier.

Like you.

Not me.

That trooper told stories about you.

- Nothing to write home about.

- Except obviously people did.

No point in that.

We don't read, never did.

You think that's wrong?

- Like an animal?

- No, no.

Um, it's just, how do you keep a record

of everything?

What we said to each other?

Well, you don't talk much.

- Learned not to.

- [Cornelia] Why?

But in the before-time, nothing but.

One voice to the next.

For a thousand years.

Pretty good record as it went.

Direct line to the stars.

No need to write it down.

Is that why you paused on your sh*t?

Didn't think you wanna talk about that.

k*lling him k*lled the story.

No, he was dead already,

whether I drew a bead on him or not.

[Cornelia] Doesn't that bother you?

Don't see I got a say in it.

Ain't that the point?

I'll tell your story.

- Yeah?

- [Cornelia] Yeah.

Willingly.

But you ain't survived it yet.

We can't go to town.

[Cornelia] Why?

Same reason we're off the trail.

Can't move forward.

Don't know what's ahead.

Got no choice.

We gotta go back.

[dramatic music playing]

Don't go telling anybody about your money.

You don't trust them?

You met anyone out here you could?

Scout?

Kickapoo.

Cherokee.

That why you stayed?

Instead of what?

I thought the Kickapoo went South?

Mexico some place,

instead of picking up on these allotments.

Well, that was Ishko's people,

drunkards and fools. [laughs]

[Eli] You got offered allotments?

[John] Takin' em' up.

Down there it's just rock and dust.

[John] Oklahoma?

Beautiful territory.

Some is, some ain't.

Well, takes time to make a bed

for Mother Corn.

They're never gonna grow without water.

We dug for ours

through 20-foot of rock till we hit it.

And they let you keep it?

They?

[laughs] Oh, no.

You know the greatest enemy to an Indian?

Our past.

We have to turn our back on it.

If we've any hope to survive.

I got a knack for survival.

Well, then you will look to the future.

[Eli] Lookin' to head back North.

- Why there?

- Where I was born.

Long as you remember,

it ain't who you are.

Not anymore.

[Katie] John, quit your lecturing.

[John] I apologize.

I'm awfully quick for sermonizing.

[Katie] You are.

He really is.

[John] But with this Ghost Dance going on,

I mean, that's pure insanity.

Can't go dancing to a better future.

You gotta dig for it.

[Katie] John, please.

I'll just talk to my doll here.

So, I've got a mix we use for dogies.

When the baby wakes it will nourish it

better than she's used to.

Well, thank you.

And I've been thinking, John,

there's that family near Hungry Horse

lost a babe.

I'm guessing her milk is still on.

Yeah, we should ride out.

[Katie] Not sure how they'd take

to a couple of extra mouths.

Oh, I've got money, I can offer to pay.

No.

It's Christian folk.

I'm sure God will find a way.

And seeing as that rabbit fell

at your feet, no point in wasting it.

Milche.

[Katie] I thought you said

she didn't speak?

German? Milche yah?

Oh, you spooked her.

[laughs]

Now ain't that something?

Do you do you speak German?

Yup.

[speaking German]

What did

what did her folk look like?

Well Well, it was, um

- There a father?

- Yes.

He have, like,

a pre-w*r beard, no mustache?

Yup.

Sunday suit?

Some.

Mennonites.

Come through here not five days ago

saying there was a wagon down, remember?

- [John] Uh-hmm.

- [Katie] There was a family

with a pregnancy got held up.

Asked us to keep an eye out for him

should they pass.

[John] Yeah.

And here they are.

What's left of 'em.

Where Where were they going?

Oklahoma.

Sorry. Which way which way is that?

South.

They're boomers,

heading for another land run.

South.

Um, so might you ride after them?

Us?

It's just that we're headed North.

Well, there, back, around ten days.

And farm work can't wait.

Couldn't you?

We, um, we have reasons,

you know, not to

Go backwards.

But we will.

I mean, of course we will.

We must.

They've offered us supplies

and a draft horse if we want.

[Eli] Not me.

Why?

[Eli] Turned around far enough.

Need to turn back.

You heard of boomers?

No.

First, the government sent us down

to Indian Territory,

now they just don't call it Oklahoma.

First it was ours.

Now, it's not.

Put us on little strips

of hard rock scrabble

and opened up the rest to land runs

for everyone else.

For White folk.

That's boomers.

White folk could come like locusts

hopping over each other's back

to steal the land

we'd only just been given.

Even though the best bites,

we never even got a sniff.

See why we don't talk much no more?

The English writes a Bible,

but didn't tell us no truths.

The other day you said

you weren't looking for blame or favors.

And I ain't.

Just not where my future lies

like he said.

Well, or mine, but

what other choice is there?

Leave them local, be on our way.

They are three days

from their family, Eli.

Took mine through here once.

Fifteen years back been strong

armed down from Nebraska,

heading where them folk are now.

Wife d*ed with child on the way.

Can't be more than a hundred miles off

'fore I cut that one out.

Kept the baby, girl,

two years till fever took her

like it took most everyone else.

By the time the army

came back to fetch me,

I was living for nothing,

but the blanket covered my head.

I get what you gotta do

and why you gotta do it.

And I ain't gonna make

no dance about it.

But I've been here before.

And I ain't going back.

I gotta listen to myself on that one.

[somber music playing]

[singer] Still ♪

Falling ♪

Breathless and on again ♪

Inside ♪

Today ♪

Beside me today ♪

A round broken in two ♪

Till your eyes shed ♪

Into dust ♪

Till your eyes shed ♪

Into dust ♪

Like two strangers ♪

Turning into dust ♪

Till my hand shook ♪

With the way I fear ♪

Turning into dust ♪

Different wagon?

[Cornelia] They swapped it.

It suits their horses better.

So you coming back?

I left the money.

It turns out

I have met someone I can trust.

Fool thing.

Keep them close,

but keep your Kn*fe closer.

Someone gets tight,

even your k*ller's gonna give you pause.

Why?

Your face.

What's wrong with it?

Some men look at it.

Use the moment.

And remember, steady is quick.

You're a Scorpion?

Hmm?

[Eli] In the stars, you said.

Scorpio. Yes.

The Stinger?

They call its tail Kawhat,

- the Swimming Ducks.

- [Cornelia] Hmm.

Brings spring.

Good.

And storms.

Right.

[Eli] Scorpions are dangerous.

Oh, yes.

To themselves.

Looks so hard to k*ll its prey,

ends up stinging itself.

Well, I'll watch out for that.

It's just your nature.

Brought you something.

Ooh.

Apparently the journey

is quite straightforward.

Says a woman who looks

for Wyoming from New Orleans.

I bought it from them,

or at least I offered to work it off.

See, I knew you'd stay.

It's in the stars.

Oh, I was hoping

you might say a little bit more

about what's up there and such.

Said it's made in England.

[Cornelia] Yes, it is.

Thank you.

A week, maybe more.

[horse whining]

[dramatic music playing]

[Eli chanting in Pawnee language]

[somber music playing]

[horse whining]

[somber music playing]