Dead Man's Burden

This must be the saddle bum

they damn ran off our deer.

Well, we'll be.

You do that?

You run off our deer?

Only deer that's been through here passed that way,

about an hour ago, I reckon?

You calling me a damn liar?

Ain't one to judge a man before I've had a chance to meet him.

Wade McCurry.

Archie Ainsworth.

He ain't apologized for the deer.

That there's my brother Ben, we're out of Georgia.

Where do you hail from, Wade?

Cheyenne.

Before that?

Texas originally.

Pleasure is all mine.

And you reckon your brother might lower his sidearm?

Ain't going to shoot a fellow Southerner, are you Ben?

Hood's Texans, you know at the sight of them,

them damn Yankees just throw

down their guns, run like a wind.

You should have seen them at Checkamauga.

Yellow-belied cowards, the whole damn lot.

Running don't make a man of coward.

Who do you serve under?

Was it Hood?

What you all boys doing now?

We're heading west.

I heard there's a strike...

Shut your trap.

I ain't got no interest in mining.

That's like saying you ain't got no interest

in making it rich.

Can't rightly say I do.

The fact is, I'm trying my hand at farming.

Farming?

You don't look like no farmer I ever saw.

That's on account of being Deputy

of Cheyenne the last two years.

Well, Deputy, you ain't said who you served under.

I thought.

Hold it there, Ben.

We're keeping company with a deserter.

I thought.

Under Taylor then?

Not under Taylor.

Not under Smith.

Hector or Hood neither.

I served in the command of General Thomas.

Don't know no General Thomas.

Thought you boys said you're Checkamauga.

Yankee traitor!

Don't.

I got to go before a judge.

Promise me, next time,

a self-respecting Southerner asked you who you served under.

I ain't no traitor.

Next time you ought to lie.

I ain't no liar neither.

Yeah, just 'cause you made peace

with your past don't mean the world has.

Well, that damn well cooled off already.

I got to go before a judge or not?

No. It seems like a fair fight to me.

I'll just have stovetop Charlie bring his China man over.

Yep. You're going to be pig food.

Yes, you are you dirt.

Wade, seeing as how you ain't been around lately.

By the by, the way has been talking sounds

as though she's aiming to make a respectful man out of you.

Thank you kindly if you'd dispose of that for me.

Joe McCurry your Pa?

I reckon that depends on which one of us you're asking.

Don't you think you ought to read the thing?

Ain't as though he read any of mine.

That's your family.

No. This man said he'd shoot me if I ever came back to him.

This is why we have horses in the first place.

Can't ride them all day.

Just give me a gosh darn minute.

Shit. I'm starting to have second thoughts whether you're

going to be all right without me.

Hell Wade, you were my Deputy, it ain't like we're kin.

I ain't your responsibility.

I told you to quit about the damn letter.

My boy is hiding down in Mexico on account

of a killing over a girl.

That's a hanging offense.

And yet a day don't go by where me

and Janie don't think on him.

'Cause that's the thing about blood, Wade, ain't nothing

in this world can truly break it.

Come on.

He really threatened to shoot you?

I ain't home now, am I?

Well, ever occur to you

that he just might have changed his mind?

And so saith the Lord, "As the heavens are higher

than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways. "

All we know is this world around us

and the people who inhabit it.

We trust your grace of love to...

This ain't no saloon.

Fine sermon Reverend.

Sure is. Ain't for his ears though.

There ain't no kind words ever escaped your father's lips

about that fella.

We are here to remember the dead not dishonor them

by brawling on their grave.

Well, this here greedy carpet bagging son

of a bitch is a doing your family the damn dishonor.

Now, you know, I would never do Joe no disrespect,

but it ain't right.

It'd be fine if you come stand by Heck and me.

Pa would've wanted it that way, I think.

You mean that?

He lost to you at cards more times that he could count.

Still he kept on coming back.

But you think you and Heck might maybe want to come

and visit the lonely old man one of these days?

You sing with me?

Shall we gather at the river

where bright angel feet have trod.

With its crystal tide forever flowing by the throne of God.

Mr. Lane.

My apologies for the trouble my presence has caused.

As far as meetings with Three Penny Hank go,

I'd say yours wasn't all that bad.

Best not begrudge a man in mourning.

Me and your father were very close.

Well, ain't nobody else could stand neither of them.

Well, my thanks to you for allowing me to be in attendance.

You've come to understand a man sitting

across a negotiating table and your father was

as fine as he was hardheaded.

Well, perhaps one day soon, you'll get to know us that well.

Is that a fact?

I'm not my father, Mr. Lane.

And you certainly are not.

I do imagine you have an asking price.

Mr. Lane, you're paying respects to my father.

Business will be conducted at the proper time.

I appreciate your support in this.

Lady said her goodbyes.

Well, you let her know I'll be back

in a month's time with a bill of sale.

Well, I do think Martha aims to be done with this place,

a might bit sooner than that.

Tell me, Mr. Kirkland,

you ever traveled to Morris, Kansas?

I may have ridden through.

Well, I hear it used to be beautiful,

especially by firelight.

It'll be a pleasure doing business with you.

Damn mule got in the locoweed again.

I have to put it down.

It needed to be done.

Lane ain't by today.

He'll come.

A few weeks is what he said.

You got to eat.

I like how much you like my food.

We got enough.

These all the food we'll have in San Francisco?

Well, I heard took another herd up to Kansas.

It could be.

Cows are no better than crops.

We're opening a hotel.

I ain't exactly the hotel type.

We weren't exactly the farming type either.

It'll be a grand place.

Grandness in San Francisco with large green drinks,

a polished wood entrance, children running all through.

Lane's coming.

That ain't Lane.

Do we have to?

Stay in the house.

This McCurry place?

Who's asking?

I ain't angling for a fight.

Folks don't ride out this way lest they're angling

for something.

Be obliged if I could water my horses.

Been riding hard this last day.

Wrong way?

Got business with the McCurrys.

Ain't you heard?

Joe McCurry is dead.

I heard, I heard about James and Billy.

Dead too.

Dead? No they ain't.

See for yourself.

Stranger?

All of them.

If you want to water your horses, be on your way.

It's fine by me.

Why is he asking about my family?

Stay inside, he'll be gone soon.