Ulzana's Raid

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Well, what's the point, Mr. MacIntosh, if we can't close the gap.

McIntosh:
Remember the rules, Lieutenant. The first one to make a mistake gets to buryin' some people.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Then they are on foot!

McIntosh:
A mighty fair description of men without horses, Lieutenant.

McIntosh:
Lieutenant, a horse will run so far, so fast, for so long, and then it will lie down on ya. When a horse lies down on an Apache, he puts a fire under his belly and gets him back on his feet. When the horse dies, he gets off, eats a bit of it, and steals another. Ain't no way you can better that.

'Dutch' Steegmeyer:
What are you trying to do, give them extra rations?

McIntosh:
Just don't water the beef before you weigh 'em. You'd be surprised how many steaks there are in two gallons of river water.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Do you hate Apaches, Mr. McIntosh?

McIntosh:
No.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Well, I do.

McIntosh:
Well, it might not make you happy, Lieutenant, but it sure won't make you lonesome. Most white folks hereabout feel the same way you do.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Why don't you feel that way?

McIntosh:
It would be like hating the desert because there ain't no water in it. For now, I can get by being plenty scared of 'em.

McIntosh:
[Referring to the old Indians he has been interrogaing] Half of what they say is lies. The other half ain't true.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Would you kill a man like that?

Ke-Ni-Tay:
Yes.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Why?

Ke-Ni-Tay:
To take the power. Each man that die, the man who kill him take his power. Man give up his power when he die. Like fire with heat. Fire that burn long time. Many can have heat.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
You mean you'd torture a man for hours? And you can get power from watching some poor creature suffering? What kind of power is that?

Ke-Ni-Tay:
Here in this land man must have power.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Why didn't they kill the boy?

Ke-Ni-Tay:
Man cannot take power from boy... only man.

Maj. Cartwright:
[Holdig out army manual as if he is quoting it] Any band of hostiles leaving United States Indian agency will be pursued and apprehended with all due vigor. What we have to determine, Mr. McIntosh, is how many of them there are and whether they are hostile.

McIntosh:
Well, the first is open to question; the second you can bet money on.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Well, killing I expect, Mr. McIntosh, but mutilation and torture? I cannot accept that as readily as you seem to be able to.

McIntosh:
What bothers you, Lieutenant, is you don't like to think of white men behaving like Indians. It kind of confuses the issue, don't it?

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Which way do you think they're headed?

McIntosh:
[Nodding in the direction] Indian land.

Ke-Ni-Tay:
Apache will take us where it's hard to follow.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Where will he fight us?

McIntosh:
He don't mean to fight yuh no place, Lieutenant. He only wants to kill yuh.

McIntosh:
How many troopers is the Major planning to put out?

Maj. Cartwright:
Well, that's a decision I won't be able to make until I know the strength of the hostile force.

Capt. Charles Gates:
And their probable intention.

McIntosh:
Their probable intention is to burn, maim, torture, rape and murder, Charlie.

McIntosh:
Ke-Ni-Tay reckons that Horowitz shot the woman and then made a run for it with the boy. When they got his horse, he killed himself. Good man, that Horowitz.

Ke-Ni-Tay:
Ulzana is long time in the agency. His power very thin. Smell in his nose is old smell of the agency. Old smell. Smell of woman, smell of dog, smell of children. Man with old smell in the nose is old man. Ulzana came loose for new smell. Pony running, the smell of burning, the smell of bullet - for power!

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
You know Ulzana?

Ke-Ni-Tay:
His wife my wife's sister.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Sisters?

Ke-Ni-Tay:
His wife ugly. My wife, not so ugly.

McIntosh:
[Describing and picking up aa horse turd] Lieutenant, a horse apple dries out at a certain rate. This one's pretty solid. Ke-Ni-Tay figures four, maybe five hours.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
What do *you* think?

McIntosh:
I ain't about to argue with no Apache about horseshit, Lieutenant. He's the expert.

[points at Ke-Ni-Tay]

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Can this man be trusted to pick up the trail if we leave him behind?

McIntosh:
I trust him.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
How many are watching?

Ke-Ni-Tay:
One man see as many as ten.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
Can we find him and kill him?

Ke-Ni-Tay:
You cannot.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
But Ke-Ni-Tay can?

[Ke-Ni-Tay nods]

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
But will he?

Ke-Ni-Tay:
Ke-Ni-Tay sign paper. Ke-Ni-Tay soldier.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
All right. Find him and kill him!

Sergeant:
We've gone through Dog Canyon, right?

McIntosh:
That's right.

Sergeant:
Then you're expecting 'em to jump us, ain't ya?

McIntosh:
Could happen.

Sergeant:
You're not fooling me, McIntosh, it's supposed to happen. Then Lieutenant DeBuin, he's supposed to just ride up and save us when we're down to our last bullet, ain't that right?

McIntosh:
Something like that.

Sergeant:
Hmm. Something like that. You're putting a hell of a lot of trust in a man who can't tell an inside curve from a three-legged horse.

McIntosh:
These horses they're after... you keep 'em tucked away safe. And if the worse comes to it - shoot them.

Sergeant:
Shoot them?

McIntosh:
Shoot them!

Sergeant:
The army don't take very kindly to sergeants shooting their horses.

McIntosh:
Maybe so, but they'll take it a lot less kindly then seven Apache bucks riding 'em off.

Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin:
[Referring to the dead Mrs. Rukeyser] At least they don't seem to have violated the woman.

McIntosh:
That's because she was dead before they got to her.

McIntosh:
[to the lieutenant and major] Apache war parties come in all sizes... sometimes with a hundred braves... sometimes with one.