"The Attack"
Transcribed by: mchallenger
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On this episode of Call of the Wild: Most folks come to Forty Mile hoping to strike gold. Some folks are planning to steal it. One man arrives with a scheme to get rich that will only work with Buck. While John defends the town’s fortune, Miles must rescue Buck. Is the only path to freedom one that could cost Buck his life? The adventure begins now on Call of the Wild.
(opening theme and credits)
(inside the Trading Post)
(John Thornton is assaying some gold.)
Christophe Parchek: How’s it looking, John?
John Thornton: Well, Christophe, pretty good.
Parchek: You know, John, it’s only a matter of time until I hit the mother lode.
Caleb: No way, Parchek! I can smell the mother lode and it’s on my property.
Parchek: The only thing you smell ain’t coming from gold, Caleb, if you know what I mean.
(The crowd laughs.)
(The Iron Maiden arrives in town and the people leave the Trading Post.)
John: We’d have a parade, if we knew you were coming, Dan-o.
Dan Loughlin: We don’t advertise our route.
Less risk that way. (gets off the wagon) Good mornin’,
Adoley. Taken any more of those wonderful photographs?
Adoley Thornton: Not for a few weeks. John keeps me working too hard in the shop.
John: As if I could keep her and that camera out of the wilderness.
Dan: (shaking hands with John) How are things in Forty Mile, John?
John: Well, I’m not saying the keep around here
is gonna burden your carriage much, but it’s the
heaviest we’ve ever carried.
Dan: The whole territory is getting to be the same
way. Truth be known, the boom’s been so fast
there’stalk
of a train. Come on out, Bob! (Bob comes out of the Iron
Maiden. One of Soapy
Smith’s
men watches from a window and catches sight of the gold.) Come
on, Miles, gimme
a hand
here, will ya? (Miles rushes down to help distribute the newspapers.)
All the papers west
of the
Missouri are two dollars. These will cost ya another dollar.
And another two dollars if it’s
less
than four months old!
(nighttime, at Soapy Smith’s camp)
(The man who saw the Iron Maiden’s gold approaches on horseback.)
Man #1: (dismounts) Got news! You were right. Iron Maiden’s heading east to Skagway.
Theobald “Soapy” Smith: She’s a bank on wheels and she’s got the mother lode. And it’s gonna be ours.
Man #2: We’ll need more men to take her.
Soapy: Oh, what for? It just means splitting
the gold more ways. I got a plan. Hey! You wanna crawl
around in the muck of some mineshaft, you go right ahead. I’m partial
to finding my gold the
easy way, stealing it! So, you boys in or out?
Man #2: I’ve been with ya a long time, Soapy.
But we ain’t never gone up against nothin’ like the Iron
Maiden. Rumor is they got one of those gattling guns in there.
(Soapy takes out a revolver and aims it at the man’s head.)
Soapy: Now I aim to take out this here Iron Maiden.
I can do it with both you boys alive and I can do it
with both of ya dead.
Man #2: We’re with you, Soapy.
(at Forty Mile)
(Reese’s wagon arrives in town.)
Parchek: Them animals for sale? I’m lookin’ for a good dog.
Reese: These are fighting dogs, my friend. And I’ve come to take your money.
(Swede comes outside and notices Spitz in one of the cages on the wagon.)
Swede: My God, Spitz. I thought you was dead for certain.
Guilliard: Hello, Swede! We ain’t gonna get no trouble from you, huh?
Swede: Not unless you’re looking for it, Guilliard.
(to
Reese) I see you found Spitz. He used to be my
lead dog.
Reese: Ah, you must be the sledder I’ve been hearing about. You’ve got no claim.
Swede: I ain’t making one.
Reese: It’s a good money dog. (shouts to
the crowd) Gather around, everybody! Gather around.
Don’t touch the dogs! I have brought dog fighting
to Forty Mile. I challenge each of you to let
your dog of choice take on any of mine in a battle to the death! (Buck
comes out of the Trading
Post) No wager is too large! (Spitz notices Buck and
begins barking. Reese sees Buck.) I
know that dog. Now he’s got the markings of a champion. (to
the crowd) Gather around!
Gather around, everybody! Chance of a lifetime!
(later that evening at the Thornton house)
(Miles is helping Adoley set the table for dinner.)
Adoley: You’re very quiet tonight.
Miles Challenger: I’m fine.
Adoley: Sometimes life seems to move awfully slow, doesn’t it? Especially for a boy your age.
Miles: I just wanna get out there before the gold
rush dries up. I mean, those two city slickers last year
in the Yukon, they walked out with more than three million.
Adoley: What about all those hundreds of others in tent-city that never walked out at all?
Miles: What happened to the Levants, mother, was not my fault. I tried to stop them.
Adoley: No one’s blaming you, son. In fact,
I’d wager you’re the best guide in all the territory, along
with John of course. (A wolf howls in the distance.)
What is a wolf doing so close to town?
Miles: It’s no wolf.
(goes outside)
(At the Trading Post)
(Dan steps out onto the porch after hearing the howl.)
Dan: What the hell was that?
John: Probably some kind of hybrid turned feral.
Dan: I’ve never heard anything like that.
John: You got a long trip ahead of you, if you’re going to Skagway.
Dan: My regular assayer, Jenkins, you remember him?
John: Yeah, sure, city fella. Never quite got the city out of his system.
Dan: Well, he took sick about ten days out.
Had to leave him behind. Sure could use ya, John, for that
route
back to Skagway.
John: Well, Adoley will never stand for it.
Dan: You could be back in a couple of weeks and I’ll pay you double wages.
John: Ah, well, it’s not that, Dan-o. It just, I got a business to run.
Dan: But the miners all know you and trust you.
I don’t have anyone who can vouchsafe their keep.
I’m
in a tough spot, John.
John: I’ll ask Adoley.
(at the Thornton house)
(The family is eating dinner.)
Adoley: So why don’t you ask me?
John: Ask you what?
Adoley: Whatever it is you gotta ask me that you can’t quite find the right moment for.
John: Dan-o wants me to take the Iron Maiden up
to Skagway with him. There’s a dozen miners’
camps up there and he reckons that, uh, they’re willing to, uh, give their
gold up to me with a
lighter heart.
Adoley: That’s because you’re the most honest man in the territory.
Miles: Can I come?
John: Well, somebody’s gotta stay here and help
your mother take care of the store. (to Adoley) So,
you got no problem, uh, with me taking the trip?
Adoley: I think it’s only right that the miners
in the small towns get their fair shake. Just be sure to bring
me back some fabric from Skagway.
Miles: May I be excused?
Adoley: You may. (Miles gets up and leaves
the room. Adoley stands up.) Maybe you shouldn’t have
asked me in front of Miles.
John: Well, I can’t be on guard with him all the time.
Adoley: I know, John. You just gotta give him some time.
John: We’ve been married two years. How much time is it gonna take?
Adoley: To accept a new father? I guess we’ll
find out. He does care a great deal for you. He just has
a hard time showing it.
(the next day)
(John and Dan are on the Iron Maiden.)
Adoley: Be careful, John.
(kisses John)
John: You know I will.
Dan: Let’s get started, John, so we can stay on schedule.
(The Iron Maiden leaves Forty Mile.)
(at the Trading Post)
(Reese enters and Buck notices him. Buck starts to growl and bark.)
Miles: Hey, Buck, stop it!
Reese: Buck, I knew that had to be you.
Miles: Excuse me?
Reese: That’s my dog.
Miles: No, he can’t be.
Reese: I lost him. Now I found him.
This must be my lucky day. (Reese and Miles walk outside of the
Trading Post.) Now listen up, boy. Taking a man’s dog is
no different than taking his horse.
Miles: I didn’t steal Buck.
Reese: I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that.
Miles: I said, I didn’t steal Buck.
(Reese turns around and punches Miles.)
Reese: Let that be a lesson to ya, boy!
(Buck rushes to attack Reese.)
Miles: No, no, Buck! Buck, no! It’s okay, boy! It’s all right. It’s okay.
Reese: I have the right to string you up right here and now for thieving what lawfully belongs to me.
Miles: He don’t belong to you!
(Swede comes forward out of the crowd.)
Swede: He said it honest enough. He first belong to me, mister.
Reese: How’s that?
Swede: I bid fifty dollars at auction awhile ago against the boy.
Reese: You bought him first at an auction you say?
Swede: That be the truth.
Reese: Where did Buck come before the auction?
San Francisco. Pinched! He was from a kennel I run
down there by the docks.
Swede: Well, that’s a long way from here.
(Guilliard appears from the crowd.)
Guilliard: Well, maybe not so far! (shows a photograph) Take a look at this!
Miles: That doesn’t prove anything. So, the dog looks like Buck. It doesn’t mean it’s him.
Reese: My dog has a scar on his front right leg,
kinda in a crescent shape. Let’s take a look. (Miles
examines Buck’s right leg and sees the scar.) There’s your proof.
Swede: It’s clear, Miles. You have to give
him up. The law’s not always fair about things, but it’s all
we got.
Miles: Come on, Swede.
Reese: Take the dog.
(Guilliard approaches and puts a rope around Buck’s neck.)
Guilliard: Come on!
(hawls Buck away)
Reese: Delighted we could work things out, kid.
And let me be the first to invite you to our
extravaganza. Buck won’t win, but I’ll wager he’ll give my top dog
a good fight to the death.
(Swede approaches Miles, but Miles just walks back into the Trading Post.)
(on the trail)
(Soapy’s team observes the Iron Maiden from a hill.)
Man #1: I’ll be damned. Shopkeeper’s taggin’ along.
Soapy: Shopkeeper, huh? It’s gonna make stealing that gold mighty easier. Let’s go.
(at the Forty Mile Hotel)
(Miles knocks on the door to Emma’s room.)
Miles: Emma, it’s Miles! I need to see you. It’s important.
Emma Berry: Well, come in.
(Miles enters and notices Emma wrapped in a towel. He turns away.)
Miles: Uh, um, I’m sorry. Ah, the door was
unlocked and I, I heard you singing in the bathroom, I
guess. And uh, you know what, I’ll come back. You’re, you’re
not decent.
Emma: I am decent. You can turn around now.
I’m behind the screen. (Miles turns around.) You’re
blushing.
Miles: (embarrassed) I am not.
Emma: It’s very becoming. Hard to find a gentleman in this town.
Miles: You, ah, you’re alone again?
Emma: Of course I am. When aren’t my mother and father travelling? Doesn’t bother me anymore.
Miles: Yes it does. I can see it does.
Emma: Well, you’re the only one. But, my father’s
coming home any day now. You said you needed
my help?
Miles: Yeah. They took Buck.
Emma: They can’t do that.
Miles: I know, but they did. And I’m gonna get him back. I just, I just need your help, Emma.
Emma: Of course I’ll help you.
(night, at John and Dan’s camp)
Dan: John, you know I’m sitting on a gold mine of
my own with the Iron Maiden. Another season or
two
and I’ll be giving Wells-Fargo a run for their money.
John: Well, I sure wouldn’t want to bet against you, Dan-o.
Dan: I’d be proud to call you partner.
John: I’m pretty well settled down now. I’ve got the business and all.
Dan: Towns like Forty Mile live and die with each new strike.
John: Still, for a spell, I have the same four walls and a warm bed. And a wife I love dearly.
Dan: How you getting along with that stepson of yours?
John: Now, you figure you have to ask a question like that?
(They sit near the fire.)
Dan: Seen you two together a lot over the last two years. Never heard him call you father, only John.
John: I’m not his father, but I am his friend. He’s learning that. We kinda got thrown together.
(notices something on a distant mountain)
Dan: Well, getting back to my offer. Ah, you could come back any time you want.
John: I’ve been on the move for too many years.
(gets up)
Dan: You’re a legend in the territory, John.
You’ve earned the respect of all the guides and even the
fellows
that never come down out of the mountains.
John: (staring at the mountain) What
I was, is a vanishing breed. It’s the dawn of a new century.
I
aim to keep up with it.
Dan: I’m offering you great wealth.
John: I already got it.
(looks intently at a campfire on the mountain)
Dan: What’s out there?
John: I’m not sure.
Dan: Well, that campfire must be a good two mile away.
John: Yeah. You take the first watch.
(at the saloon)
(Adoley and Mercedes are walking together.)
Mercedes Levant: It’s fantastic here. The possibilities are endless. Oh, what I could do with this place.
Adoley: Mercedes, there isn’t anything remotely
artistic about the saloon. I don’t even like to walk in
here.
Mercedes: It’s not a saloon. It’s an opera
house! (pointing to a far wall) Over there, a stage.
The
curtain rises. A hush falls over the crowd and La Traviata,
by Verdi, fills the air.
(Swede enters the saloon and walks over to Reese.)
Swede: I come to buy the dog.
Reese: Not for sale.
Swede: I have money.
Reese: You got five hundred dollars? Because
that’s how much I’m gonna make when Spitz tears his
guts out.
(Adoley turns and notices the conversation.)
Swede: Three hundred and seventy five dollars is all I have.
Reese: Then we got nothing more to talk about.
(Swede turns back and begins to leave. Adoley stops him.)
Adoley: Thank you, for what you tried to do for Miles.
Swede: I’m sorry, Adoley.
(leaves)
(During the night, John secretly investigates Soapy’s camp on the mountain. He heads back to his own camp unnoticed.)
(at the saloon)
(Miles and Emma stand at the entrance.)
Miles: All right, go on.
Emma: What do you want me to do?
Miles: Cause a commotion.
Emma: I’ve got an idea.
Miles: Am I gonna like it?
Emma: I don’t know. I like it.
(Emma approaches Guilliard, who is seated in a nearby chair, and whispers something in his ear. Guilliard rises and heads towards one of the men in the saloon. Emma returns to the doorway.)
Miles: What did you say?
Emma: You’ll see.
Guilliard: So, you think all Canadian are coward, huh?
Man #3: Only the French ones.
Guilliard: One round, fifty dollar. Winner take all.
(The two men fight and cause a commotion.)
(at John and Dan’s camp)
(John approaches silently behind Dan.)
Dan: What are you, part Indian or somethin’?
John: We got company.
Dan: That camp fire?
John: Soapy Smith and his boys.
Dan: They fixin’ to ambush us?
John: No doubt about it. I’ve got me an idea. I’m gonna head back. Here’s the plan.
(at the stable)
(Miles tries to break the lock on Buck’s cage.)
Emma: Miles, we don’t have long. That fight won’t last.
Miles: It’s okay, Buck. I’m not gonna let them take you.
Emma: Hurry, Miles.
(at the saloon)
(Reese steps outside and hears barking coming from the stable.)
(at the stable)
(Miles frees Buck from the cage.)
Miles: Okay, come on, boy. Come on, let’s get out of here. Come on.
Reese: (approaching from the shadows)
I’m becoming very tired of your scheming and thieving, boy.
You’ve become a thorn in my side. I want Buck and I want him now.
Miles: No way! You’re gonna butcher him!
Reese: The law’s on my side. I can shoot you
right now and nobody can touch me. In fact, I think
that’s just what I’ll do.
(withdraws a revolver and cocks it)
Charlie Jimmy: (approaches from behind with a
rifle) I don’t think you wanna try that, mister. There
won’t be enough left of you for a dog’s breakfast.
Reese: The dog is mine. I proved it.
The whole town knows it. Theft is theft, whether it’s a bag of
gold, a man’s horse or just a dog.
(Charlie takes the revolver and approaches Miles.)
Charlie: Look, Miles, stealing a man’s property
is a hangin’ offense. You know that I ain’t gonna stand
by and watch you swing at the end of a rope. (to Reese)
You get out of here! The dog will
stay.
Reese: That dog better be here in the morning.
(leaves)
Miles: Thanks. Let’s get Buck out of here.
Charlie: No, Miles. We ain’t got a choice. If your father was here…
Miles: Step-father!
Charlie: He woulda done the same thing.
Miles: He’s gonna kill Buck.
Charlie: That fellow woulda opened fire on you. He’s got right on his side, even if he ain’t got humanity.
Emma: Come on, Miles.
(Miles gives Buck over to Charlie.)
Miles: I’ve lost Buck.
(They leave the stable.)
(the next day, at the Trading Post)
Adoley: (looking out the window) Reese
is selling tickets in the stable. It’s a carnival atmosphere,
except it’s about animals ripping each other apart.
Disgusting!
Mercedes: (reading a newspaper) It’s
business. Look at this. (shows Adoley the newspaper)
Of
course, my original intention was to keep up with the social calendar.
I do so miss it in this
wild backwater. When this caught my eye. Illegal dog fighting.
Reese is a common dog
thief. His proof that he’s Buck’s real owner will establish his guilt.
Adoley: I suppose in a real court maybe. Not out here. Somehow we have to stop this.
(at Charlie Jimmy’s cabin)
(Charlie places a rifle wrapped in cloth on the bed. He unwraps it.)
Charlie: Exactly the way you left it, John. (lifts
the rifle off the bed) You haven’t shot it for quite a
while.
John: (taking the rifle) It’s been over eight years.
Charlie: Might feel a little heavy to you.
John: I need your help, Charlie.
Charlie: A little hunting?
John: You could say that.
Charlie: Miles had some trouble yesterday.
A man came to Forty Mile promoting dog fights. He saw
Buck and claimed him as his own. He had to give the dog over to him.
John: Miles is gonna have to take care if it by
himself. I can’t go back to Forty Mile. I’ve got the Iron
Maiden to take care of and four men waitin’ to get shot at.
Charlie: (picking up a knife) Let’s go hunting.
John: Let’s do it.
(They leave the cabin.)
(on the trail)
(The Iron Maiden has broken down.)
Dan: How much longer?
Man #4: I don’t know. She’s pretty busted up. We’re like sittin’ ducks in this place.
Dan: John knows what he’s doing.
(On a nearby hill Soapy’s gang notices the broken wagon.)
Man #1: Well, look at that. They broke down.
Soapy: (laughing) Well, it’s our lucky day. Spread out.
(at the stable)
Reese: You got business with me?
Miles: You wanna make money with Buck?
Reese: The thought had crossed my mind.
Miles: Then let me be his handler during the match.
Reese: That’s Guilliard’s job.
Miles: Buck won’t respond to his commands.
Reese: And you can make him fight?
Miles: Or not. He’ll do whatever I say.
Reese: What’s in it for you?
Miles: I just don’t want to see Buck suffer, that’s all.
Reese: If your dog’s losing and Spitz is killing him, you don’t step in and try to stop him. Understood?
Miles: Yes, sir.
(on the trail)
(John and Charlie ride towards the Iron Maiden.)
(On top of a hill, Soapy’s gang prepares for a fight.)
Soapy: Let ‘em have it, boys! (A gunfight
ensues. Soapy’s gang fires from the nearby hill as Dan and
his men take cover behind the Iron Maiden.) Hey, Loughlin!
You know we got ya dead to
rights.
Dan: I don’t think so! (He taps on the
Iron Maiden and the gattling gun begins to fire.) That’s as
close
as you’re ever gonna get to the Iron Maiden, Soapy!
Soapy: That’s what he thinks.
(He retreats and retrieves a stick of dynamite from his saddle bag.)
(at the stable)
(A dog fight is about to begin.)
Man #5: Yeah, yeah! Bring me the best you
got, Reese! (Guilliard brings a dog into the ring.)
Yeah!
Yeah! That old mutt? That dog belongs six feet under!
Reese: Put your money where your mouth is!
Man #5: Yeah! Here’s your gold! Yeah!
(tosses Reese a bag of gold)
(Swede and Miles watch in the background.)
Swede: I hope you can forgive me for doing what I had to do, Miles.
Miles: I appreciate you doing what you thought was
right and best, Swede, for me. But not for Buck.
Here’s something you don’t understand. I would give my life for that
dog.
Reese: Gentlemen, let the fight begin.
(The dogs fight.)
Man #5: Yeah, get him, boy! Yeah! (Guilliard’s
dog gets the advantage.) Okay, okay! My dog has
had enough. I’ll be takin’ my dog and leaving you the gold.
Reese: You got on thing right. I’ll be keeping the gold. The fight is to the finish.
(Guilliard gives a command and his dog kills the other.)
(on the trail)
(Soapy hurls the dynamite at the Iron Maiden.)
Dan: Dynamite! Get out of here!
(He runs and the dynamite detonates.)
(John and Charlie observe the fight from a hill.)
John: You go around that way.
(A man staggers out of the Iron Maiden.)
Dan: Can’t wait any longer, John. (shouting) We surrender!
(on the hill)
(John looks through the rifle’s sight and sees Soapy’s gang.)
John: Charlie, Charlie, come on. Come on, Charlie. Where are ya?
(on the opposite hill)
Soapy: The gold is ours. (laughs)
(at the stable)
(A man brings a dead dog out of the stable, wrapped in a cloth.)
Reese: Any more? Any more challengers?
Then I guess it’s time to present our main attraction. I
present the toughest fighting dog in the territory, Spitz.
Guilliard: Look out! Give him room!
(fetches Spitz out of a cage)
Reese: And the hometown favorite, Buck. (Miles
fetches Buck from his cage.) Some say he’s younger.
Some say he’s stronger. But is he tougher? We will find out.
Swede: Miles, I’ve seen him fight. Buck can take him.
Miles: I hope so.
Reese: Right here! Right now!
(on the hill facing the trail)
(John fires a shot that takes off one of Soapy’s men’s hats. Soapy and his men run behind cover.)
Man #1: What the hell is going on?
John: (shouting from the hill) Give it up, Soapy. It ain’t worth it.
Man #1: It’s the shop-keep.
Soapy: (shouting) I ain’t letting no shopkeeper tell me what to do!
Dan: (shouting) The shopkeeper has a name. Thornton! John Thornton!
Man #2: (to Soapy) You didn’t tell
us it was Thornton we was going up against. This ain’t worth dying
for.
(runs away along with another man)
Soapy: Hey!
Man #1: I ain’t scared of you, Thornton! (stands
up to fire his rifle, but John fires first and hits him in
the right shoulder) Don’t leave me out here! Soapy!
(Soapy runs but is captured by Charlie Jimmy.)
Charlie: Going somewhere?
(at the stable)
(Buck and Spitz fight in the ring.)
Miles: Come on, Buck! Come on, low!
Guilliard: [French commands]
Miles: Come on, Buck! You can do it. Come on!
Guilliard: [French commands]
Reese: Hey, kid, I already thought I told you who was boss.
Miles: Sorry, I didn’t hear you. (turns around and punches Reese) Bastard! Come on, Buck!
Guilliard: [French commands]
Miles: Come on, Buck!
Guilliard: [French commands]
(Reese approaches the ring and beats Spitz with a stick.)
Reese: You get back in there! I have a lot
riding on you! (to Guilliard) Do you know what that
mangy
mutt is costing me? (Spitz turns and attacks Reese.)
Get him off me! Get him off! For God’s
sake, shoot him!
(Adoley and Mercedes enter the stable. Adoley fires her rifle in the air twice.)
Adoley: It’s over! You’ve all been taken.
Mercedes: This is in the San Francisco Chronicle.
(reading
from newspaper) “These dog fights were
declared not only illegal, but fraudulent. The winners’ bags of gold
had been switched for
bags of sand. The perpetrators of this act of treachery and cowardice
are Messrs. Reese and
Guilliard.”
Adoley: You people got what you deserved.
You wanted dog fights? Easy money? You can’t blame
Reese for taking advantage of your greed. All of us came here to
start over and I include myself
in that. I don’t recall when gettin rich quick meant betting on which
dog would kill another for
entertainment. What I know is that they help us through the winter
so we can make a better life.
They are our best friends in times of need. And they have saved the
life of more than one
person in this room. Mr. Reese, you and your friend might consider
another line of work.
(Reese reaches for a nearby weapon but Swede stops him.)
And you best get out of town while
you still can.
(Reese and Guilliard leave.)
(at the trail)
(John and Dan’s men have set up a makeshift gallows at a nearby tree. Soapy’s head is in the noose.)
Soapy: Don’t, don’t hang me. Don’t, don’t hang me. You can’t hang me.
John: You know, Soapy, the law around here is scattershot at best.
Soapy: You ain’t a lawman. You’re not allowed to hang me.
John: Most of the time we just make it up as we go along.
Soapy: It won’t happen again. I’m gonna mend my ways. Just, just don’t kill me.
(The rope tightens.)
John: If I let you go, and I’m saying if, do you promise never to come back to these parts again?
Soapy: Yes, yes! Yes!
(The rope tightens.)
John: What’s that? I can’t hear ya.
Soapy: I…promise.
(The rope is loosened and Soapy is freed.)
John: Git!
(Soapy runs off.)
Dan: Why did ya let him go?
John: Word about Forty Mile is gonna spread as wide and as far as Soapy can run.
(at the Trading Post)
(John is cleaning his rifle behind the counter. Miles walks in carrying some fabric.)
Miles: Did you get this material for mom? (John
nods.) She’ll be pleased. It’s good to have you back.
I, ah, talked to Charlie Jimmy the other day. He told me what happened.
I didn’t know you
could shoot a long rifle.
John: That was a long time ago. I don’t hunt
buffalo anymore. I reckon there’s a lot of things you could
find out about me if you had the mind to ask.
Miles: Yes, sir.
John: How’s Buck?
Miles: He’s hurting. Chewed up pretty bad. I think he’s gonna be okay.
John: Probably hurtin’ a lot more inside.
Miles: Yeah, that’s what I figured. (A
wolf howls in the distance. Miles and John go out onto the
porch and join Buck.) Spitz! (Spitz
runs off. Miles kneels beside Buck.) You’ve had it hard
all
along, haven’t you, boy?
John: Now, I hear you coulda had Buck take that dog. Is that right?
Miles: Buck made that choice.
John: It’s a good choice. Take care of him, son.
(Miles walks down the street with Buck.)
The End.
