Morgan:
[greeting Starrett's wagon] Alright. Alright. I'll open the gate for ya.
Joe:
Who goes there?
Morgan:
Brother Rufe's come to pay you a little visit.
Ryker:
Howdy, Starrett. 'Evening, Ma'am. I had something I wanted to talk over with you Starrett.
Joe:
Whatever business you and I got we can say it right here.
Ryker:
I'll just lay it on the barrel-head then. How'd you like to work for me?
Joe:
I work for myself. I've done enough working for others.
Ryker:
Wait till I tell ya. I'll pay ya top wages, more than you can make on this patch of ground.
Joe:
Nope. I'm not interested.
Ryker:
I haven't said it all. You can run your cattle with mine. What's more I'll buy your homestead. Set a price you think is reasonable, you'll find me reasonable. Is that fair?
Joe:
You've made things pretty hard for us, Ryker, and us in the right all the time.
Ryker:
Right? You in the right! Look, Starrett. When I come to this country, you weren't much older than your boy there. We had rough times, me and other men that are mostly dead now. I got a bad shoulder yet from a Cheyenne arrowhead. We made this country. Found it and we made it. We worked with blood and empty bellies. The cattle we brought in were hazed off by Indians and rustlers. They don't bother you much anymore because we handled 'em. We made a safe range out of this. Some of us died doin' it but we made it. And then people move in who've never had to rawhide it through the old days. They fence off my range, and fence me off from water. Some of 'em like you plow ditches, take out irrigation water. And so the creek runs dry sometimes and I've got to move my stock because of it. And you say we have no right to the range. The men that did the work and ran the risks have no rights? I take you for a fair man, Starrett.
Joe:
I'm not belittlin' what you and the others did. At the same time, you didn't find this country. There was trappers here and Indian traders long before you showed up and they tamed this country more than you did.
Ryker:
They weren't ranchers.
Joe:
You talk about rights. You think you've got the right to say that nobody else has got any. Well, that ain't the way the government looks at it.
Ryker:
I didn't come to argue. I made you a fair proposition.
Joe:
What about the others?
Ryker:
Shane already knows he can work for me anytime.
Joe:
The other homesteaders.
Ryker:
Look, be reasonable! After all, there's only so many hands in a deck of cards.
Joe:
Then I've got to say no.
Ryker:
You don't give a man much choice do you, Starrett? [to Joey] How do you feel about it, son? Wouldn't you like to go partners with me? I don't want trouble with your father. We don't want anyone to get hurt, do we?
Joe:
Joey ain't quite of age, Ryker.
Ryker:
What d'you say, son?.
Marion:
Come up here, Joey.
Ryker:
I don't want you to be sorry, Starrett. I'll see ya. [he leaves].
Joe:
[to Shane, watching the retreating Wilson] What do you make of him?
Shane:
He's no cowpuncher.
Joe:
: No. He don't look the part sure enough.
