Will Penny

Catron:
Best thing you can do for him, pilgrim, is make him rest easy while he waits till the end. Anything he drinks is on the house. And then you can bury him out back and away from the hogs. And it won't cost much. I'll even carve him a nice head marker. Twenty-five dollars sound about right? The ground is kind of hard this time of year... and the diggin' ain't easy.

Will Penny:
That's always the way, ain't it?

Alex:
What's always the way?

Will Penny:
Let a man die, right away he's "good, old Claude". How was he *before* he bucked out?

Alex:
You'll be line rider up in ridge country. It pays $30 a month. You sure you rode line before?

Will Penny:
Sure enough to have some might strong feelings about it.

Preacher Quint:
I knew'd a fellow once, his wagon team got away with him and run a wheel spoke right through his middle. Bled hisself out, right there. Don't you know how easy it was? It was like taking a little sleep under a shady tree, didn't hurt none at all. He just got kind of drowsy, and he just, well, he just dozed off. Well, sir, it ain't gonna be that easy for you. No, sir, not that easy.

Rufus Quint:
He dead?

Preacher Quint:
No, he ain't dead. Leave him be.

Rufus Quint:
Leave him? Pa . . .

Preacher Quint:
Leave him be. Out here, by hisself, no goods, winter coming on. He's gonna be a long while dying. And all that time, he's gonna know who done it to him. Yes, sir, a mighty long time, and then he'll be dead.

Catherine Allen:
How often do you bathe?

Will Penny:
Well, eight or nine times. It depends.

Catherine Allen:
On what?

Will Penny:
The weather.

Catherine Allen:
Eight or nine times a month?

Will Penny:
Eight or nine times a month? A year!

Catherine Allen:
A year?

Will Penny:
Well sure. You have a real good one when you finish the shove up north, like at the hotel in Alfred. Then one or two in the winter, if you don't catch your death. Then a couple in the spring and one more good one before you start the shove up again. The rest depends on what kind of water you hit on the drive. Well, what's wrong with that? That's as much as anybody!

Catherine Allen:
I need some time. It's a very hard choice to make.

Preacher Quint:
Of course it's hard. I'll give you two days. That's fair, two days. Now, pick over all the fine points. Rafe there is smarter but he's meaner, and Rufe there, he's stronger but he's dumber. If the good Lord had seen fit to put them both together, they would have made a perfect man.

Anse Howard:
Save your money! Get you a spread of your own like me.

Will Penny:
It wasn't money started you in the cattle business, Anse.

Anse Howard:
Well, what do you think it was, Will?

Will Penny:
More like a long rope and a hot iron!