Centennial (1978) s01e03 Episode Script
The Wagon and the Elephant
NARRATOR: Centennial, when it was founded, would stand at a spot where a man could look eastward and catch the full power of the prairie, or westward to see the Rockies.
The history of the town born in this area would be a record of the way men made the demands of the mountains meet the needs of the prairie.
Many would destroy themselves in that conflict, but those who survived would attain a largeness of soul that other men who chose easier paths would never discover.
In 1795, a young fugitive from Scotland had come west to trap beaver.
(INAUDIBLE) His name was Alexander McKeag, and he was to become a legend in his own time.
A man who lived among the Indians, who learned their language and their ways.
He had come seeking solitude, but he found friendship and love.
He had lived a life of unparalleled freedom as he explored an uncharted continent.
He had witnessed the passing of great men from a golden age that would never come again, (BAGPIPE PLAYING) and shared these plains and mountains with men whose passion for life he did not expect to find again.
Other men were coming west now, men from different backgrounds, different beliefs.
Like the old mountain man McKeag, they were strong men, stubborn men.
They, too, were men of destiny and vision.
But they saw little in the windy, water-shy stretch of plains to stop for on their trek to a new place called Oregon.
For them, this was only a land to be crossed.
And the crossing was hard.
Some couldn't make it.
Some didn't.
But they kept coming.
If hell lay to the west, it was said Americans would cross heaven to get there.
Alexander McKeag was certain these proud, determined pioneers were doing just that.
For him, the land just south of where the wagon wheels carved a trail to the Pacific was paradise.
In the year 1845, however, it was another part of this country that men valued most.
At the eastern foothills of the Appalachians, the small city of Lancaster in southeastern Pennsylvania claimed some of the most fertile farmland in the world, and some of the most fortunate farmers.
And one of these men who gave thanks daily for his home and the life it afforded was a young Mennonite named Levi Zendt.
And although he could not know it at the time, Levi Zendt was destined to leave this rich land he loved and share the dream of Alexander McKeag.
A dream that would give birth to the town of Centennial.
(ALL SHOUTING) Look! Amos Boemer lost his bells.
Whoa, whoa there.
MAN: How'd you lose your bells, Amos? Damned left wheel worked loose.
Hit a ditch east of Coatesville.
You getting another set, Amos? That I ain't.
MAN: You quitting? BOEMER: That I am.
(BOEMER SPEAKING GERMAN) Anybody who wants this (CURSING IN GERMAN) accursed Jew's car can have it.
I don't want to see the bulldong thing ever again.
Excuse me.
What did you mean about losing his bells? You don't know about a man's bells? No.
Well, maybe you should come inside and let me tell you all about them.
(LAUGHING) Off with you.
It's a code of honor, son.
Any teamster that needs help from another gives him his set of bells.
Oh.
It's not an easy thing to do.
When a man drives down Hell Street without his bells, he's telling the world he couldn't make it alone.
And making it alone, well, that's what life on the road is all about.
I know how old Amos feels today, but he shouldn't give up too easy on that Conestoga like he said.
The man that built it knew a saw from an ax.
(BELL TOLLING) Oh, no.
The Reverend.
(CLEARS THROAT) (SIGHING) Mother.
Reverend.
Mrs.
Fenstermacher.
I'm sorry I'm late.
You haven't started? No.
Oh.
You knew the Reverend and his wife were joining us today.
Of course.
It's Sunday.
They come every I mean, I hoped that you'd be joining us again, Reverend, and I'm truly sorry that I was late.
But you see, Amos Boemer lost his bells.
Levi.
No, that's what happens when a teamster breaks down and he has to accept help from another teamster.
He has to give up the brass bells from his own wagon.
And it must be a humiliating thing, because old Amos Boemer sure cursed something awful.
I have never heard cursing like that before.
Perhaps you could ask the blessing, Levi.
Yes, Mother.
Lord, we thank Thee for Thy bounty and we pray that we are worthy of it.
Amen.
And, dear Lord, hear our prayer for young brother Levi Zendt who has spent too many afternoons on an avenue of sin most aptly named Hell Street, consorting in taverns and making acquaintances with men who speak with the tongue of the devil himself.
Guide him to halt this infamous behavior and direct him to attend to his proper obligations.
Amen.
ALL: Amen.
Levi.
Amos Boemer is a blasphemous man.
It's little wonder he was struck down.
It was God's will.
It was the left rear wheel.
Levi.
Collect the scraps.
I already have.
Then get them to the orphanage.
With no lingering.
I'll not have you hanging about Hell Street disgracing us anymore.
Whatever makes you happy, Mahlon.
Levi! Papa sent some bread.
Oh, thank you.
REBECCA: I'll ride with you if you want.
Sure.
He's coming.
Who is? Don't you play dumb with me, Elly Zahm.
You know who comes every Friday.
And I know who you're in love with.
Laura Lou Booker, you mind your tongue.
You'd better mind how you look if you want him to notice you.
KRUGER: Elly Zahm! I'm coming! Oh, Laura Lou, help me.
(SIGHING) This is silly.
He'll never see me.
Men only notice pretty women with kissable cheeks like you.
Pretty isn't everything.
Elly! Come when I call.
A rich man like Levi Zendt can't be kept waiting by the likes of you.
Yes, Miss Kruger.
And you, finish up that wash.
It will be time for supper soon.
Yes, Miss Kruger.
Hello, Levi.
Elly.
I'll take that.
Oh, it's pretty heavy this time.
Let her take it, Mr.
Zendt.
Thank you anyway.
(CHUCKLING) You're strong.
Levi.
Oh.
KRUGER: Thank you, Miss Stoltzfus.
Just put it on top, Mr.
Zendt.
It's all right.
Really.
See you next week.
Thank you, Mr.
Zendt.
The Lord will bless you and your brothers.
You're welcome, Miss Kruger.
What? Nothing.
I'll get you home.
Well, there's no hurry.
What do you think Mahlon thinks about us being together? Mahlon? I mean, do you ever talk to him about me? About liking me? Talk about you? No.
Well, you do like me, don't you? Like you? (STAMMERING) Oh, Rebecca, I think I mean, I I just I mean Kiss me.
What? Kiss me.
(LAUGHING NERVOUSLY) Rebecca Oh, Elly.
It's all right.
Elly, he will notice you someday.
He will.
And then He noticed me just now.
He did? What did he say? He said I was strong.
Oh! Levi.
Oh, Rebecca, I've wanted to tell you I've thought about you so much that whenever it's market day, I can't sleep for thinking about you.
I get this feeling inside and I just What is it? Let go of me.
What? Let go! (SCREAMING) Rebecca Let her be! Tearing the clothes right off the child, you beast! (CRYING) Keep him away from me.
Keep him away.
He tried to (EXCLAIMING) Levi, you son of Satan.
You pig! Child of the devil! I did nothing evil.
Everyone in Lancaster is talking about it.
You haven't been to Lancaster, any of you.
I saw you working and I saw Reverend Fenstermacher come to tell you.
He's gone mad.
I haven't, and I haven't done anything wrong! Didn't you know? Know what? Mahlon was going to speak to the Stoltzfus girl himself.
The Stoltzfus acres will be left to her, and our farm can be twice as large.
Mahlon, I didn't know.
But she did.
And that's why she went with me to the orphanage.
To make you jealous.
Of course.
She even asked me how you felt about her being with me.
And that's why she did what she did.
What she did? Yes, she tempted me.
I'll not have you lay the blame on her for something you tried to do.
Not for rape.
What? The reverend told me you tried to rape her.
Mahlon, I Before Miss Kruger, the blessed woman who gives her life to that home.
Before the children.
Before the eyes of God himself! Mahlon, you can't believe that.
You can't You've disgraced this family, Levi.
You can never work at the market again.
Is that clear? You'll stay home and tend to your duties and come to market only to clean up.
Then I won't come back at all! You'll do as you're told, and make a public apology.
No.
It's the only way this family can redeem itself.
You'll apologize to Peter Stoltzfus and to the Stoltzfus girl and to the whole market! And you will be shunned.
No, I won't be shunned! No! Amos Boemer.
You still want to sell that Conestoga? Sell that fly bait? I'll give it away.
How much? You know, that once was a very proud wagon.
How much? It was built by Samuel Mummert.
That was Paradise, 1818.
Cost $200.
I'll give you 10.
$10 for a great wagon like that? It's all that I have.
It hasn't got a single broken board, you know.
Tool box, wheel axle's good.
Lazyboard rides good.
$20, and you can take the bulldong thing all the way to Philadelphia.
I'll give you 10 now and 10 when I pick it up.
Something you should know.
What's that? It ain't got no bells.
Where I'm going, I don't need any bells.
KRUGER: Elly Zahm! I suppose you're safe enough with him.
Leave that one for me.
No, I've got it.
Miss Kruger says they're shunning you.
That they are.
I'm not a Mennonite.
What does this mean, shunning? That I may not buy or sell, or give or take.
I can converse with no man nor woman.
I cannot attend church nor speak with anyone who does.
Is that all? If that's shunning, they've been shunning me all my life.
Why? Because I'm a bastard.
That's not your fault.
What happened here last Friday wasn't your fault, either.
How do you know that? How do you know? I just do.
You wouldn't be that way.
No one knows for sure what another person will do or won't do.
I know about you.
And my friend Laura Lou Booker saw everything through that window.
She tried to tell Miss Kruger about it, but Miss Kruger saw it, too.
The way she wanted to see it.
That's the way with most people around here.
You ever think of leaving? Only every day.
Me, too.
You aren't, are you? Did you ever hear of a place called Oregon? Oregon? That's in the west.
All the way to the Pacific Ocean.
How'd you know that? I read about it.
I guess I know I'll never go anywhere, so I read about everywhere, everything I can.
But Oregon? There are hardly even any people there yet.
Just savages.
Which is what people seem to think I am.
So I figured maybe that's a good place for me to be.
But What? Nothing.
It must be a wondrous place to see.
I hope maybe someday I can go somewhere like it, too.
(SIGHS) Elly, are they hard on you here? I'm strong, remember? (DOOR OPENS) Elly, see to what this sinner's good family brought us.
I want no waste around here.
Yes, Miss Kruger.
(DOOR SLAMS) There's milk on the table.
Where's Mahlon? Asleep.
Like I told him you were.
Mother Sit.
You won't forget to eat well when you get there, will you? Get where? Wherever it is you're going with that weapon.
Mother, I I don't want to know.
I don't want a lie.
I loved it here.
I loved it so much.
I know.
Is it wrong for me to leave? Even as a little boy, you were the restless one.
You You always wanted to know why.
And you weren't satisfied till you found out.
This shunning, you know, deep down, it isn't because of the Stoltzfus girl.
It's because you're too independent and too deep-feeling to suit the people here.
They see it in you, and it's a reminder of something they'd rather forget.
You're a fine man, Levi Zendt, and I'm proud of you.
When will you go? Soon.
Do it now.
Tonight.
I need horses.
Take the six grays.
They're the best.
But they're Mahlon's.
They're yours.
And wherever you go, Levi, whatever you do, you always take the best.
Only the best.
(ROOSTER CROWING) LEVI: Elly! Elly Zahm! Whoa! Get your things.
Hurry up.
What's going on down there? It's the day of judgment, Miss Kruger.
And you're looking at the devil himself.
(LAUGHS) Elly Zahm, the sun is rising! KRUGER: Elly Zahm! You come back here.
Do you hear me? You come back here.
I'm never coming back.
Elly Zahm, I forbid you! You hold it right there, Miss Kruger! This is a Lancaster rifle.
It shoots straighter than the road to hell and makes a hole twice as broad.
(EXCLAIMS) Levi, you wouldn't shoot her? Oh, not without reloading first.
(CHUCKLES) And that still takes the fastest man almost a full minute.
Giddyup! Elly, Elly.
Laura Lou Booker, you come back here.
You're as bad as she is! Levi, stop.
Whoa! Here, take this.
Laura Lou, no.
No, take it.
A wife has to have a little money of her own.
Take it.
You're escaping for all of us, Elly.
KRUGER: Laura Lou.
For all of us.
Get up.
Will you be wanting a preacher? Yes.
I want no bastards.
ELLY: Dear Laura Lou, I'm writing to you from our camp on the Ohio River.
We are just outside Pittsburgh.
Can you imagine me ever going so far? And yet, how far we have to go.
When we crossed the Alleghenies, we thought we had climbed halfway to heaven, and they are only 3,000 feet.
The Rockies before us are 14,000.
Levi and I can't believe it's possible to get over them, but if anyone can do it, he can.
He's a fine man, Laura Lou.
And a good husband.
Yes, we're married.
And, so you'll know, Miss Kruger didn't tell us everything.
Probably because she didn't know herself.
But we were right when we spent all those hours wondering.
Men really aren't that much different from horses.
And how Levi loves his horses.
I hope he never has to choose between them and me.
But then, they can't give him everything I can.
No, not yet.
But I'm hoping.
And hoping it's a girl so she can know through her father how tender a strong man can be.
I don't know how to thank you for your gift.
But I will share this adventure with you every step of the way, and pray that someday we may read this record to our grandchildren together.
My love forever.
Elly Zendt.
(METAL CLANGING) Why didn't Amos Boemer get it fixed like this? I didn't say she'd be fixed.
Said the rim would bond.
What's the difference? Well, you got a lot of parts in that wheel, and all of them's figuring out how to wreck on you later on.
It's funny, them other ones are as good as a man sees, but this one's just a poor wheel.
Will it make 3,000 miles? I can't say.
It's a creeper.
You watch it good.
Wet the wood every chance you get.
Whenever you get to a smithy, you have him take a look at it.
(METAL CLANGING) LEVI: Whoa.
Get up.
Get up there.
Whoa.
What do you think? We take the wagon down into that? You got a better idea, I'll listen.
The horses can make it.
No, stay in the wagon.
I can't help from here.
I'll guide the lead team while you work the lines.
It's pretty slippery.
The horses might get scared.
You trying to scare me, too? It won't work.
(NICKERING) All right.
Let's go! (NEIGHING) Whoa! Elly! You all right? Quit hollering and keep driving! What are you grinning at? Just thinking how glad I am that you're here with me.
There'll be plenty more rivers.
We'll learn to do it better.
(CHUCKLES) Hey.
Giddyup.
ELLY: Dear Laura Lou, rivers have begun to play an important part in our life, from the one I fell into to the one our flatboat drifts down now.
It is the Ohio, and we will be on it for 1, 100 miles until we arrive at a place called Cairo.
Then we'll board a steamer for St.
Louis on the mighty Mississippi.
I can't believe it's almost summer.
But then, I never believed I'd be doing anything like this.
I feel important somehow, as if God Intended me for some significant duty.
I have no idea what it might be, but the future is full of promise, and I know there is so much to come.
(BOYS CHATTERING) ANNOUNCER: See the elephant.
Don't delay, come today.
Next month we ship this powerful pachyderm back to Europe.
Don't be one of those who must shamefacedly confess to their grandchildren Whoa.
Whoa.
Which way to the Robert Q.
Fell? ANNOUNCER: See it here.
See the elephant! (SHIP WHISTLE BLOWING) LEVI: Whoa! That? It appears to be.
Disgraceful old tub, isn't she? You going to the forts? Oregon.
Well met! I'm for Oregon, too.
Seccombe, Oliver Seccombe.
Boston, London, Oxford.
Levi Zendt, Pennsylvania.
Delighted, old boy.
Delighted.
And this is My wife.
How do you do, Mrs.
Zendt? Oh, it's Elly, Mr.
Seccombe.
Elly.
Enchanted.
I'll go find the captain.
His name is Frake, but you'll not find him aboard.
He'll be in the tavern down the way.
Heavy drinkers, these riverboat men, but they can navigate narrows you and I couldn't even swim.
Oh, Elly, let me give you a hand.
When Levi's got the wagon aboard, we can all go and see the sights of the town together.
Hmm? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this massive mastodon ate a ton of hay each and every day.
Each mighty tusk was 22-feet long.
The mother carried the baby in her womb His tusk was that big.
for four years, seven months and 19 days.
It gave me the shivers.
I've never seen anything that big.
See the elephant! Don't delay, come today.
It's a big city.
Gateway to the west, they call it.
The last culture before you get to California.
Apart from the Red Indian, that is.
And nobody knows very much about them.
That's part of the reason I'm here, you know.
I'm writing a book on the subject.
You're writing a book? Mmm.
Travels in the Great American West.
Have you ever read Rousseau, by any chance? Rousseau? Mmm-hmm.
What is it? Well, he's a Frenchman.
A philosopher.
Hmm.
A what? Oh, a thinker.
Mostly about nature.
Precisely.
Now, he had a theory that there is still a pure, unspoiled, primitive man that's still in existence.
Well, I intend to find him and describe him before he vanishes.
The noble savage.
Oh, excuse me.
I say, Captain! Captain Mercy, sir.
Good day.
Seccombe, isn't it? Yes, sir.
Oliver Seccombe.
These are my friends, Levi and Elly Zendt from Pennsylvania.
Mrs.
Mercy? Yes, my wife, Lisette.
How do you do? I'm very pleased to meet you.
The Captain will be sailing with us.
And you, too, Mrs.
Mercy? No.
Mr.
Zendt, was that your wagon with the six upper handsome grays I saw? Yes.
You'll forgive me, sir, but I I urge you to sell that team.
Why? They'll die where we're going.
What? Horses can't make that trip.
Well, they've come this far.
You had grain for them.
You'll have none on the plains.
I heard the plains were grassy.
You're getting a late start.
Most of the grass will be gone.
You have to rest your animals, and you can't do that and get there in time to graze.
I love those horses.
I can understand that, they're fine animals.
But you can't afford to wait on them.
And if you don't, they'll drop dead of sheer exhaustion.
On the other hand, this is good country for prime horseflesh.
You could expect four, maybe $500 apiece.
I won't sell them.
Well, then I wish you luck.
You will need it.
Good day.
Excuse me, sir, I believe you've just been awarded a prize commission.
You overrate me, Mr.
Seccombe.
I'm going west to select a site for a new fort with a grand detachment of two.
Myself, Sergeant Lykes and eight mules.
Nine mules.
I've tried to talk him out of going.
You know, I think it'd be easier trying to talk to a mule.
Then you can understand why Levi won't sell his horses.
Yes, I think I can.
Look, I wonder, might it be possible that we could join you and the sergeant when we land? Well, I'm only going as far as St.
John on the Laramie.
It would help to get us started.
Then we can see what kind of outfit we could put together up there.
Well, I'd be glad for the company if you don't mind traveling with nine mules.
Ten.
And six horses.
Shall we? (SHIP WHISTLE BLOWING) (MULE BRAYING) Morning.
Good morning.
Hannibal, I'm gonna give you a count of three.
You hear me? Three.
Trouble, Sergeant? He's just being a mule, mister, that's all.
Come on up there.
Right there.
Good morning.
This is Mr.
Sam Purchas.
He calls himself "King of the Mountain Men.
" I've hired him to lead us to Oregon.
Mr.
Purchas, Maxwell Mercy.
Captain.
You ever been to Oregon? Sonny, I been across them prairies with all the great ones.
Kit Carson, Sublette, Fitzpatrick, the Bents, I knowed 'em all.
My question was, have you been to Oregon? Well, one thing they taught me, (SPITTING) never try to reach Oregon with no horses dragging your wagon.
Are you Zendt? I am.
Sonny, this here mountain man don't travel with no horses.
You sell 'em and get oxen.
Like I told Major Mercy Now, I reckon the Captain here would like to hear just what it is you're buying.
Pretty lady, would you be good enough to read this out loud, so as we can all hear it together? It's from The Dispatch.
(MULE BRAYING) "Strong as a lion, fearless as a tiger" Would you mind speaking up, miss? It's kinda hard to hear over that mule and all.
"Keen-eyed as an eagle and quick" (PURCHAS CLEARING THROAT) "as a panther, Samuel Purchas, "greatest of the mountain men and frontiersman extraordinary, "departed our city on Thursday last week, "leading a party of merchants on an exploratory trip to the forts of the Upper Missouri.
" There's a whole lot more, but that tells you who I am, don't it? Mr.
Purchas, exactly what will be your service to us? Keeping you alive, sonny, that's what.
Timing.
That's the trick.
I know it, you don't.
You move out of here too soon, your oxen starve in Kansas.
Too late, and you'll freeze to death in the Oregon snow.
I want every man to carry two rifles, two pistols, an ax, two knives, a penknife, a hatchet and 20 pounds of lead.
That's enough to fight your way inch by inch.
Soldier boy, that's exactly what we may have to do.
No, the officers at Fort Leavenworth assured me the Cheyenne and the Arapaho were peaceful this year.
Did they tell you about the Oglala Sioux, the Crow, the Blackfoot and the Gros Ventres? Them's the people we're going to be dealing with.
The Pasquinel brothers are riding with the Sioux this year.
Pasquinels? Who are they? Half-breeds.
French trapper name of Pasquinel took himself a squaw.
Now we got his redskinned sons along the trail to keep us company.
You ever seen them? Came down the river in 1839 with three bales of buffalo robes.
They led a party of Cheyenne that cleaned me out.
I'm surprised they didn't kill you.
Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.
If I ever see 'em again, they won't have the option.
All the same, the armament seems too heavy.
Sonny, I been with 'em all.
And one thing they taught me, carry plenty of guns.
Me, I travel with four rifles, two pistols and this little beauty.
Without reloading, I can kill six of anything that moves.
(MULE BRAYS) And if it was me, I'd start with that critter over there.
I wonder what it'll really be like.
What? Oregon.
Oliver says everything grows there.
Oliver says a lot.
Levi Zendt, you jealous? Just thinking.
Meeting new people makes you look at yourself.
Elly, are you sorry that you married such a plain man? (LAUGHING) What's funny? Laura Lou Booker, she used to look over every man that came to the orphanage.
Make lists of their good and bad qualities.
"Is clean, listens well.
"Eats with good manners.
Knows how to laugh.
" Or, "Too thin, too nervous.
"Wants to peek at the girls, but is afraid to.
" What'd she say about me? Well I'm not sure I remember Elly! (GIGGLES) She said She said, "He's very well-built, dependable and strong.
" (LAUGHS) Sounds like a horse.
(GIGGLES) "He's shy, but not crooked.
" I'm not as shy as I was.
I know.
(SHIP WHISTLE BLOWING) That's right, get 'em out of here.
Levi, get up.
Levi, they're taking your horses.
Deal's all set, sonny.
You got $500 apiece.
You got eight of the best oxen, $15 each.
That gives you the best, about $2,900 profit, and my commission is only $50.
No.
You can't do that! It's done.
You (PURCHAS LAUGHING) Cool out, sonny.
I'm doing you a service.
Get 'em out of here.
You want to tangle, sonny boy, I'm game.
But I'm telling you, it's the only way.
You take this money now or you'll have six dead horses by the time you get to the Platte.
He's right.
They'll never make it, Levi.
Trust me.
You're both taking horses.
So is Seccombe.
We ain't pulling wagons.
Take it.
It'll build a fine home for you and Elly in Oregon.
They've served you well, Levi.
Now they'll buy you a better start than most men on the trail can even hope for.
Levi! Go! Go! Now we really are alone.
Now we can never go back.
I heared what you was thinking, sonny boy.
But I'm telling you, when we hit the Rockies, we're gonna pass them horse-people like they was staked to the ground.
Look.
Pawnee.
ELLY: What do they want? (RIFLE FIRES) MERCY: Purchas! What the hell do you think you're doing? Good gun.
A Fordney, ain't it? Damn it, man, I asked you a question.
I'm doing my job.
Well, they hadn't done anything.
They was Injuns.
How could you do that, Sam? I been fighting Injuns all my life.
They gave me this, and one on my stomach, and this.
I tell you, they ain't real people like you and me, soldier boy.
They're no good.
Yes, sir.
That's a real good gun.
Now you know what it's for.
ELLY: I think we have finally realized what moving west means.
The strange rivers flowing swift with mud, the lurking Indians, the burden of rifles, the long, long trails with no homes and no lights at dusk, and the awful loneliness.
We have each other, of course, and thank God for that.
We've seen what can happen to men who have no one.
But what a story we'll have to tell when we reach Oregon, Laura Lou.
This is no ordinary trip, for we move within a great dimension.
But Levi says the desert we cross is untillable, unprofitable, and unneeded.
We are deep in Indian country now, and have joined up with two other families, because Mr.
Purchas says we need at least three wagons for defense and to stand the night watches.
(WIND WHISTLING) Morning.
Windy.
That's just the elephant flicking his tail.
The elephant? You don't know about the elephant? The one in St.
Louis? St.
Louis? You mean the circus? (CHUCKLING) No, that was just a bunch of bones standing in a room.
Take a look out there.
Ain't that a home for a real giant of an elephant, huh? Yes, sir.
Why, he's taller than most trees.
He's got tusks that curve back just like Turkish swords.
His trunk blows just like a hurricane, and his tail will flick a wagon bigger than yours right off the trail.
(CHUCKLING) A man can't believe everything he hears, Sergeant.
Oliver says there hasn't been an elephant on this continent for 10,000 years.
Oliver said that, huh? Old fancy pants.
Well, that's for sure that Oliver has never seen the kind of elephant that I'm talking about.
'Cause if he had, he'd have hightailed it back to London so fast his feet never would have touched the ground.
You trying to tell me you've seen it? Seen it? I'm trying to tell you that any man that's been alone out there on that prairie has seen it.
Now, don't let 'em tell you any different, Levi, 'cause you're gonna see it one of these days, too.
And when you do see it, you're gonna run as far as you can as fast as you can, because you know you You can't fight it.
Because you know if you don't get out of its way, it's gonna crush you flat, and grind you down so deep in this Godforsaken land that no amount of prayers in heaven will ever resurrect your soul.
Gonna turn in now, gonna be daylight soon.
Thank you for the story.
See you in the morning.
(BIRD CALL) (DIFFERENT BIRD CALL) Indians! Pasquinels.
How do you know? They're riding the Oglala Sioux.
He's bringing a whole bunch of 'em in here.
Hello! Bacon? Jake Pasquinel.
You're welcome, we do have bacon.
Mike Pasquinel, you, too.
Come.
Jake Pasquinel, I've heard a lot about you.
How you know my name? This finger, you lost in the Kiowa fight.
That scar on your cheek, at Fort Osage.
How are you, Jake? What your name? Maxwell Mercy, Captain, United States Army.
You come to fight, huh? No, to establish a fort.
Where? Come, we smoke.
No, where the fort going to be? That's why I'm here, to pick the spot.
You and Mike be my guides, we'll make the decision together.
No.
Why not? Our father was white.
If we were to help guide you, our Sioux brothers, they say, "Pasquinel is traitor.
" Then come to Fort John.
Bring the Sioux chiefs, the Cheyenne, and the Arapaho.
We can't say they will come.
Well, Jake, you're an Arapaho.
How you know I'm Arapaho? In St.
Louis, everyone knows you.
They believe you're the man to bring peace to the prairie.
You talk of peace, you take our land.
No.
One road, one road west.
This land will be yours as long as the grass grows and the eagle flies.
Hmm.
We come to Fort John.
The day must come when the killing stops, eh? I wouldn't trust you to stop killing rabbits.
We get you yet, squaw killer.
I'll wait at Fort John.
I say, you wanted bacon? And some tobacco, perhaps? Another time, huh? Another time.
Then tell me, if our watchman hadn't heard you, would you have slain us all? You got good guards.
We'll keep 'em posted.
(GUN FIRES) He did not have to stop you, squaw killer.
Shooting at a man, you'd have missed.
(SPITS) Nobody spits at Purchas! Forget it, or by God, your last scar won't come from an Indian.
(PURCHAS YELLS ANGRILY) Mr.
Seccombe, when we get to the fort, I'd pick another pilot if I were you.
That man will get you all killed.
I will.
Be with you in a moment.
Afternoon.
Hello.
I'm Levi Zendt from Lancaster.
Alexander McKeag, Scotland.
I'll be needing a lot of your stuff.
Well, it's here waiting for you.
Well, this is my wife, Elly.
Let her have whatever she needs.
This is my wife, Clay Basket.
My daughter, Lucinda.
Arapaho.
Daughter and granddaughter of the greatest warrior in the history of their nation.
McKeag.
But I still maintain they are a race of savages.
But that is the myth that I'm going to explode.
You see, I believe that the original Indians were Welshmen.
The very cream, the best of Welsh society that migrated here early on in history to find a more natural way of life.
PURCHAS: They ain't Welshmen, sonny boy! They're Egyptian.
Egyptians? Who do you think that old pharaoh had roughing up Moses and the Israelites? Injuns, that's who! God sent 'em out here as a punishment, and it's our bounding duty to punish 'em.
I never heard anything like that before, did you? That's because you don't talk to nothing but mules.
Never mind about my mules Lykes.
Yes, sir? Find the Zendts, tell them that the proprietor, Mr.
Kellen, wants them to join him for dinner.
He's from Pennsylvania, too.
Yes, sir.
That was McKeag.
McKeag? He runs the store.
Never mind, Sergeant.
Yes, sir.
Now, Sergeant, you was about to say? I think I'd rather do my talking to the mules.
Trapping, huh? Till they stop making beaver hats.
And that was just south of here? Aye, a place called Beaver Creek.
Superb country.
Good water, trees.
All a man could ask for.
The Army captain we came with said there was nothing to the south but desert.
You encourage him to keep saying that.
It'll keep the bad ones out.
Why didn't you stay down there? Well, I had a partner.
He died.
I couldn't find anyone to go it with me after that.
And, well, a man must get his living.
(KNOCKING AT DOOR) Captain.
Clay Basket? Yes? Lucinda.
And you're McKeag.
Aye.
It's an honor, sir.
Should I know you, Captain? No, sir, but you You do know my wife, Lisette Pasquinel.
Your partner's St.
Louis daughter.
PURCHAS: Well, pilgrims, you'll see some country now.
And you'll see why you had to sell them grays of yours.
Did you get that wagon wheel reset? I did.
That's good.
Them big-busted ladies up ahead will give it a workout.
Sam! Oh, sorry, missy.
(CHUCKLES) Hey, is that a new bonnet you're wearing? Yes.
I thought so.
It frames that pretty face real nice.
SECCOMBE: Sorry, old boy, I really am.
I mean, there just wasn't another pilot at the fort, and unfortunately, we are what he calls us.
We're pilgrims.
I wish Captain Mercy was with us.
He has his job, and we have ours.
Indians! Indians! Pasquinels bringing in a party of Arapaho and Cheyenne! (PEOPLE CLAMORING) (BELL RINGING) Well, they're no Sioux.
You'll still have your hands full anyway, Mercy.
They brought Broken Thumb.
Broken Thumb? Yeah, Cheyenne, just to the right of Jake Pasquinel.
He got his hand mangled in a mountain man's beaver trap.
He's a bad one, and a real disruptive influence on all the tribes.
It is a bitter burden he carries, Mr.
Kellen.
You see, he understands all too well what's happening to his people in this time of change.
Just whose side you on, McKeag? I thought the idea was to keep everybody on the same side.
Well, you'll want to meet 'em down there.
They won't think much of you spying on 'em with that thing from up here behind a wall.
Oh, and don't forget to smoke before you parley.
Hello, McKeag.
Jake.
Mike.
We come in peace, but we are a little confused about what the Army wants.
The captain's brought many fine presents from our Great White Father in Washington.
I am the son of a trader, Kellen.
I know what the white man's presents means, eh? Mercy, you will explain to us why you need another fort.
I'll tell you, Jake.
But first we smoke.
No smoke.
Broken Thumb, this is important talk.
It's important the Great Spirit bless us before we begin.
Lost Eagle.
The Arapaho wouldn't come all this way and then insult their hosts, would they? Hello, McKeag.
The Arapaho will smoke.
(SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE) Whoa.
Whoa.
What is it? Turn around.
What happened to them? Same thing that would've happened to you it you hadn't sold your horses.
What you're looking at is a miserable sight, but I don't want none of you bleeding for them! They guessed wrong and they'll pay for it.
They won't even make the fort.
They should've listened to the men that know.
They'll perish.
So, they'll perish! They have no right coming on this trail that way.
I'm giving them my two spare oxen.
You'll do no such thing! You'll need them oxen, maybe for food.
I'm giving them two oxen.
The rest of you, get them wagons rolling! We make camp in the Rockies tonight, or we'll be caught in snow in three weeks' time! Elly, Purchas was right about the horses.
And Levi's right about the oxen.
This is a picture of our Great White Father in Washington.
He's asked me to tell you of our need for a fort.
You have a fort.
No, this place is Mr.
Kellen's.
The Army needs a fort of its own.
Why the Army? To protect our people who move to the great water across the mountains, to the place called Oregon.
Long time ago, when the white men came across this land, they were good.
McKeag, the father of the Pasquinels.
Some wanted to stay and live with us.
There was fighting, but never much, and there was always respect.
Now there are men with no respect, mean men with no women and no children.
That squaw killer who you brought with you, Mercy, ugly men that char our people for no reason, who have only war in their hearts.
And we shall give them war.
Mercy? Just thinking how to argue with the truth.
You're doing fine, son.
But you're talking to the wrong man.
You want Lost Eagle.
You want to show him who you are.
Broken Thumb, your words are true, but if there is a fort, then there will be soldiers to punish these evil men you speak of.
Now they live outside our law because we cannot reach them.
Lost Eagle, I tell you the Great Father wants peace.
We can have peace.
Do you want it? Yes, Mercy.
We want peace, and we want to protect our people.
We do not want our women killed by men like the cut-nose you rode with.
And we do not want our men, like Jake, shot in the back.
I saved Jake's life.
He told us.
Did he tell you why? Because you are like McKeag, like the men who used to come.
I try to be, but there is another reason.
Jake is my brother.
We are all your brothers.
But the Pasquinels are my real brothers.
My wife is Lisette Pasquinel, their white sister in St.
Louis.
McKeag? 'Tis true, Jake.
That's Lisette.
I saw her even before your father did.
I know we've had our differences, but I'd like to think there's some of that respect Broken Thumb mentioned between us, too.
And I'll tell you about Captain Mercy, I trust him.
And I say y'all can trust him, too, even the mighty Cheyenne chief who speaks of war.
There will be no war.
We will help you to find a place for your fort, Mercy.
And I believe what McKeag says about you.
But I pray to the medicine arrows, and I know this to become truth, that I shall kill you, and you shall kill me.
Levi, I'm proud of what you did today.
I only did what was right.
Right to you.
I wonder what your Reverend Fenstermacher would have done.
(LAUGHING) I haven't thought about him for six months.
I wanna do something for you, but I don't know what I can.
Oh, Elly.
I guess I'll just have to share my secret with you.
About the baby? You know? (LAUGHING) I married a willow stem.
The last few weeks you've been blooming like a rose.
How do you feel about it? Like the Lord of Creation.
I've been thinking.
How do you like the name "Maxwell"? Not for a girl.
A girl? We need sons.
I want a girl.
I want to see her grow up knowing your kindness and your gentleness.
I'll be through here in a bit.
And you better think of some other names besides Laura Lou.
(LAUGHING) Sometimes there's more than one, you know.
PURCHAS: Missy? What? Out here.
Please, would you gimme a hand with your friend, Mr.
Seccombe, here? Mr.
Purchas? I hate to bother you, I don't know what happened to him.
I'm afraid I'm afraid he's hurt real bad.
Just another step, all right? He's a He's just right in here.
I don't see anything.
Let me help you.
What happened? I don't know, ma'am.
I sure don't.
But I know what I want to happen now.
(MUFFLED SCREAM) (SCREAMING) Elly! (SCREAMING) Levi! Levi! (SCREAMING) Levi! SECCOMBE: Levi, don't! She's all right! Elly's all right! Stop, don't kill him! You kill him, we'll all die! (GASPING) Levi, I'm sorry.
It's all right, Oliver.
Well, good luck to you both.
You, too.
Get up.
Come on.
Get up! (GUN FIRES) Whoa! My Fordney.
So long, turnarounds! Be sure to tell 'em back in St Louis that when you lost your nerve, old Sam Purchas was still heading west.
Levi! Let him go.
He's a pitiful old man and something we know we don't want any part of.
What about you, pilgrim? Have you still got the stomach to follow this mountain man? Oliver's going with him? They can both go all the way to hell for all I care.
Get up, come on! Keep going.
(GOADING OXEN) (WHIP CRACKING) ELLY: September 2nd, Sunday.
We have devised many names for what we are doing in turning back, but the real name is one we have not used.
The word is "defeat, " the defeat of all we had hoped for.
The horses we loved are lost.
The wonderful oxen who were so good to us are dying, and those that live break my heart with their loyal plodding.
They cannot last long.
Levi.
Levi, the wheel, Levi.
Whoa.
Well, that's one problem we don't have anymore.
What'll we do? (SIGHING) Hand me the saw.
The saw? ELLY: September 9.
We arrive at Fort John again, this time from the west.
We have thrown away most of the things we were going to use in Oregon for our new life, and even our wagon is a poor thing, cut in half, with only two wheels that cannot continue turning much longer.
We have nothing, and now we have lost hope.
Levi.
A wheel give up? After we did.
What? We turned around.
Why? I saw the elephant.
Oh, I don't believe that.
Why not? Well, a man doesn't spin a tale that tall unless he's hiding a mountain of fear.
I don't see that in you.
Well, it doesn't matter.
The fact is, we quit.
Because of the baby? How'd you know about that? Not me, Clay Basket.
She's had three herself, you know.
I was wondering if No, I don't suppose you'd consider it.
What? Oh, just an old man's foolish dream.
It wouldn't be fair to a young one, with the makings you have.
What? Well, I told you I wanted to start another store, for trading with the Indians on that land down south of here, near Beaver Creek.
The place you trapped with your partner? Pasquinel.
I just had a funny feeling maybe you'd take to it the same way he and I did.
I don't even have to see it to know that for a fact.
ELLY: September 15.
To be pregnant takes away the sting of defeat, for just as we shall be starting a new community where the rivers meet, so Levi and I shall be starting a new family.
Also, the land we are traveling through is the kind that makes you proud, for it is beautiful in a manner that those of us who lived always in Lancaster could never have dreamed or appreciated.
There it is! It looks like the walls of Jericho.
It looks like a castle.
Well, to me, it looks like we're almost home.
To Clay Basket, too.
We camped here many summers when I was a girl, following buffalo.
Beaver Creek's over to the south.
That's where Pasquinel and Lame Beaver first met, and where we'll build our store.
To the west is Fox Canyon.
I spent the winter there one year, under a 15-foot snowdrift.
Three weeks without ever seeing the sky.
My lodge is still there, if someone hasn't chopped it up for firewood.
I won't go on boring you with reminiscing.
Boring? Coming from Lancaster, it's like a fairy tale.
I'm absolutely sure it's a castle.
Levi.
This land.
We're home.
I feel it, too.
We never did decide about the names.
Oh, I did.
You said it has to be a girl, and I'm saying we can only have one girl.
So, it has to be Elly.
No.
Yes.
Remember what you said about my blooming like a rose? I feel that way tonight.
Do you still feel that way about me? After After what happened? Oh, I love you, Elly.
(LAUGHING) I love you.
You know, after what my brothers told me, I never saw how men and women could be friends.
But, Elly, you're the greatest friend I've ever had, and the only woman I've ever really wanted.
What about Rebecca Stoltzfus? Oh, I forgot.
I guess I love her, too.
What? (LAUGHING) For what she did to me.
If it hadn't been for that, we wouldn't have each other and we wouldn't know how beautiful it is out here.
Morning, Elly.
Morning.
Dear Father, thank you for Dear God, thank you for this life and this place.
(RATTLING) (GUN FIRES) What is it? Snake bite! (SPITTING) Elly? Look.
The neck.
She was down low.
Elly? Elly! Elly! That's God's mercy, son.
I've seen 'em die slow.
Believe me, it's better this way.
And aye.
(SOBBING) Oh, Elly! Elly! Oh, Elly.
Elly.
(KNOCKING AT DOOR) McKEAG: Levi.
Levi? Clay Basket says dinner's ready.
Being a butcher, you'll appreciate what an Indian can do with buffalo tongue.
That place you stayed, Fox Canyon, where is it? (DOOR OPENING) Someone should go to him.
I needed to be alone then.
Almost the same way he needs it now.
You'd seen the winters before.
You knew how to survive them.
Well, if the cabin's still standing he'll be lf? Well, if you won't go, then I will.
No.
He may need you sometime, but not right now.
Clay Basket, it's like the time the Pawnee and the pirates stripped Pasquinel of everything he had.
He went back to St.
Louis with nothing.
But maybe that gave him more than he'd ever have had otherwise.
Same way with Levi Zendt.
With Elly, it seemed like he had everything he could ever want.
Now he's come to a place where Where he has nothing.
Well, maybe that's the place in every man's life when he finally learns the value of all things.
The history of the town born in this area would be a record of the way men made the demands of the mountains meet the needs of the prairie.
Many would destroy themselves in that conflict, but those who survived would attain a largeness of soul that other men who chose easier paths would never discover.
In 1795, a young fugitive from Scotland had come west to trap beaver.
(INAUDIBLE) His name was Alexander McKeag, and he was to become a legend in his own time.
A man who lived among the Indians, who learned their language and their ways.
He had come seeking solitude, but he found friendship and love.
He had lived a life of unparalleled freedom as he explored an uncharted continent.
He had witnessed the passing of great men from a golden age that would never come again, (BAGPIPE PLAYING) and shared these plains and mountains with men whose passion for life he did not expect to find again.
Other men were coming west now, men from different backgrounds, different beliefs.
Like the old mountain man McKeag, they were strong men, stubborn men.
They, too, were men of destiny and vision.
But they saw little in the windy, water-shy stretch of plains to stop for on their trek to a new place called Oregon.
For them, this was only a land to be crossed.
And the crossing was hard.
Some couldn't make it.
Some didn't.
But they kept coming.
If hell lay to the west, it was said Americans would cross heaven to get there.
Alexander McKeag was certain these proud, determined pioneers were doing just that.
For him, the land just south of where the wagon wheels carved a trail to the Pacific was paradise.
In the year 1845, however, it was another part of this country that men valued most.
At the eastern foothills of the Appalachians, the small city of Lancaster in southeastern Pennsylvania claimed some of the most fertile farmland in the world, and some of the most fortunate farmers.
And one of these men who gave thanks daily for his home and the life it afforded was a young Mennonite named Levi Zendt.
And although he could not know it at the time, Levi Zendt was destined to leave this rich land he loved and share the dream of Alexander McKeag.
A dream that would give birth to the town of Centennial.
(ALL SHOUTING) Look! Amos Boemer lost his bells.
Whoa, whoa there.
MAN: How'd you lose your bells, Amos? Damned left wheel worked loose.
Hit a ditch east of Coatesville.
You getting another set, Amos? That I ain't.
MAN: You quitting? BOEMER: That I am.
(BOEMER SPEAKING GERMAN) Anybody who wants this (CURSING IN GERMAN) accursed Jew's car can have it.
I don't want to see the bulldong thing ever again.
Excuse me.
What did you mean about losing his bells? You don't know about a man's bells? No.
Well, maybe you should come inside and let me tell you all about them.
(LAUGHING) Off with you.
It's a code of honor, son.
Any teamster that needs help from another gives him his set of bells.
Oh.
It's not an easy thing to do.
When a man drives down Hell Street without his bells, he's telling the world he couldn't make it alone.
And making it alone, well, that's what life on the road is all about.
I know how old Amos feels today, but he shouldn't give up too easy on that Conestoga like he said.
The man that built it knew a saw from an ax.
(BELL TOLLING) Oh, no.
The Reverend.
(CLEARS THROAT) (SIGHING) Mother.
Reverend.
Mrs.
Fenstermacher.
I'm sorry I'm late.
You haven't started? No.
Oh.
You knew the Reverend and his wife were joining us today.
Of course.
It's Sunday.
They come every I mean, I hoped that you'd be joining us again, Reverend, and I'm truly sorry that I was late.
But you see, Amos Boemer lost his bells.
Levi.
No, that's what happens when a teamster breaks down and he has to accept help from another teamster.
He has to give up the brass bells from his own wagon.
And it must be a humiliating thing, because old Amos Boemer sure cursed something awful.
I have never heard cursing like that before.
Perhaps you could ask the blessing, Levi.
Yes, Mother.
Lord, we thank Thee for Thy bounty and we pray that we are worthy of it.
Amen.
And, dear Lord, hear our prayer for young brother Levi Zendt who has spent too many afternoons on an avenue of sin most aptly named Hell Street, consorting in taverns and making acquaintances with men who speak with the tongue of the devil himself.
Guide him to halt this infamous behavior and direct him to attend to his proper obligations.
Amen.
ALL: Amen.
Levi.
Amos Boemer is a blasphemous man.
It's little wonder he was struck down.
It was God's will.
It was the left rear wheel.
Levi.
Collect the scraps.
I already have.
Then get them to the orphanage.
With no lingering.
I'll not have you hanging about Hell Street disgracing us anymore.
Whatever makes you happy, Mahlon.
Levi! Papa sent some bread.
Oh, thank you.
REBECCA: I'll ride with you if you want.
Sure.
He's coming.
Who is? Don't you play dumb with me, Elly Zahm.
You know who comes every Friday.
And I know who you're in love with.
Laura Lou Booker, you mind your tongue.
You'd better mind how you look if you want him to notice you.
KRUGER: Elly Zahm! I'm coming! Oh, Laura Lou, help me.
(SIGHING) This is silly.
He'll never see me.
Men only notice pretty women with kissable cheeks like you.
Pretty isn't everything.
Elly! Come when I call.
A rich man like Levi Zendt can't be kept waiting by the likes of you.
Yes, Miss Kruger.
And you, finish up that wash.
It will be time for supper soon.
Yes, Miss Kruger.
Hello, Levi.
Elly.
I'll take that.
Oh, it's pretty heavy this time.
Let her take it, Mr.
Zendt.
Thank you anyway.
(CHUCKLING) You're strong.
Levi.
Oh.
KRUGER: Thank you, Miss Stoltzfus.
Just put it on top, Mr.
Zendt.
It's all right.
Really.
See you next week.
Thank you, Mr.
Zendt.
The Lord will bless you and your brothers.
You're welcome, Miss Kruger.
What? Nothing.
I'll get you home.
Well, there's no hurry.
What do you think Mahlon thinks about us being together? Mahlon? I mean, do you ever talk to him about me? About liking me? Talk about you? No.
Well, you do like me, don't you? Like you? (STAMMERING) Oh, Rebecca, I think I mean, I I just I mean Kiss me.
What? Kiss me.
(LAUGHING NERVOUSLY) Rebecca Oh, Elly.
It's all right.
Elly, he will notice you someday.
He will.
And then He noticed me just now.
He did? What did he say? He said I was strong.
Oh! Levi.
Oh, Rebecca, I've wanted to tell you I've thought about you so much that whenever it's market day, I can't sleep for thinking about you.
I get this feeling inside and I just What is it? Let go of me.
What? Let go! (SCREAMING) Rebecca Let her be! Tearing the clothes right off the child, you beast! (CRYING) Keep him away from me.
Keep him away.
He tried to (EXCLAIMING) Levi, you son of Satan.
You pig! Child of the devil! I did nothing evil.
Everyone in Lancaster is talking about it.
You haven't been to Lancaster, any of you.
I saw you working and I saw Reverend Fenstermacher come to tell you.
He's gone mad.
I haven't, and I haven't done anything wrong! Didn't you know? Know what? Mahlon was going to speak to the Stoltzfus girl himself.
The Stoltzfus acres will be left to her, and our farm can be twice as large.
Mahlon, I didn't know.
But she did.
And that's why she went with me to the orphanage.
To make you jealous.
Of course.
She even asked me how you felt about her being with me.
And that's why she did what she did.
What she did? Yes, she tempted me.
I'll not have you lay the blame on her for something you tried to do.
Not for rape.
What? The reverend told me you tried to rape her.
Mahlon, I Before Miss Kruger, the blessed woman who gives her life to that home.
Before the children.
Before the eyes of God himself! Mahlon, you can't believe that.
You can't You've disgraced this family, Levi.
You can never work at the market again.
Is that clear? You'll stay home and tend to your duties and come to market only to clean up.
Then I won't come back at all! You'll do as you're told, and make a public apology.
No.
It's the only way this family can redeem itself.
You'll apologize to Peter Stoltzfus and to the Stoltzfus girl and to the whole market! And you will be shunned.
No, I won't be shunned! No! Amos Boemer.
You still want to sell that Conestoga? Sell that fly bait? I'll give it away.
How much? You know, that once was a very proud wagon.
How much? It was built by Samuel Mummert.
That was Paradise, 1818.
Cost $200.
I'll give you 10.
$10 for a great wagon like that? It's all that I have.
It hasn't got a single broken board, you know.
Tool box, wheel axle's good.
Lazyboard rides good.
$20, and you can take the bulldong thing all the way to Philadelphia.
I'll give you 10 now and 10 when I pick it up.
Something you should know.
What's that? It ain't got no bells.
Where I'm going, I don't need any bells.
KRUGER: Elly Zahm! I suppose you're safe enough with him.
Leave that one for me.
No, I've got it.
Miss Kruger says they're shunning you.
That they are.
I'm not a Mennonite.
What does this mean, shunning? That I may not buy or sell, or give or take.
I can converse with no man nor woman.
I cannot attend church nor speak with anyone who does.
Is that all? If that's shunning, they've been shunning me all my life.
Why? Because I'm a bastard.
That's not your fault.
What happened here last Friday wasn't your fault, either.
How do you know that? How do you know? I just do.
You wouldn't be that way.
No one knows for sure what another person will do or won't do.
I know about you.
And my friend Laura Lou Booker saw everything through that window.
She tried to tell Miss Kruger about it, but Miss Kruger saw it, too.
The way she wanted to see it.
That's the way with most people around here.
You ever think of leaving? Only every day.
Me, too.
You aren't, are you? Did you ever hear of a place called Oregon? Oregon? That's in the west.
All the way to the Pacific Ocean.
How'd you know that? I read about it.
I guess I know I'll never go anywhere, so I read about everywhere, everything I can.
But Oregon? There are hardly even any people there yet.
Just savages.
Which is what people seem to think I am.
So I figured maybe that's a good place for me to be.
But What? Nothing.
It must be a wondrous place to see.
I hope maybe someday I can go somewhere like it, too.
(SIGHS) Elly, are they hard on you here? I'm strong, remember? (DOOR OPENS) Elly, see to what this sinner's good family brought us.
I want no waste around here.
Yes, Miss Kruger.
(DOOR SLAMS) There's milk on the table.
Where's Mahlon? Asleep.
Like I told him you were.
Mother Sit.
You won't forget to eat well when you get there, will you? Get where? Wherever it is you're going with that weapon.
Mother, I I don't want to know.
I don't want a lie.
I loved it here.
I loved it so much.
I know.
Is it wrong for me to leave? Even as a little boy, you were the restless one.
You You always wanted to know why.
And you weren't satisfied till you found out.
This shunning, you know, deep down, it isn't because of the Stoltzfus girl.
It's because you're too independent and too deep-feeling to suit the people here.
They see it in you, and it's a reminder of something they'd rather forget.
You're a fine man, Levi Zendt, and I'm proud of you.
When will you go? Soon.
Do it now.
Tonight.
I need horses.
Take the six grays.
They're the best.
But they're Mahlon's.
They're yours.
And wherever you go, Levi, whatever you do, you always take the best.
Only the best.
(ROOSTER CROWING) LEVI: Elly! Elly Zahm! Whoa! Get your things.
Hurry up.
What's going on down there? It's the day of judgment, Miss Kruger.
And you're looking at the devil himself.
(LAUGHS) Elly Zahm, the sun is rising! KRUGER: Elly Zahm! You come back here.
Do you hear me? You come back here.
I'm never coming back.
Elly Zahm, I forbid you! You hold it right there, Miss Kruger! This is a Lancaster rifle.
It shoots straighter than the road to hell and makes a hole twice as broad.
(EXCLAIMS) Levi, you wouldn't shoot her? Oh, not without reloading first.
(CHUCKLES) And that still takes the fastest man almost a full minute.
Giddyup! Elly, Elly.
Laura Lou Booker, you come back here.
You're as bad as she is! Levi, stop.
Whoa! Here, take this.
Laura Lou, no.
No, take it.
A wife has to have a little money of her own.
Take it.
You're escaping for all of us, Elly.
KRUGER: Laura Lou.
For all of us.
Get up.
Will you be wanting a preacher? Yes.
I want no bastards.
ELLY: Dear Laura Lou, I'm writing to you from our camp on the Ohio River.
We are just outside Pittsburgh.
Can you imagine me ever going so far? And yet, how far we have to go.
When we crossed the Alleghenies, we thought we had climbed halfway to heaven, and they are only 3,000 feet.
The Rockies before us are 14,000.
Levi and I can't believe it's possible to get over them, but if anyone can do it, he can.
He's a fine man, Laura Lou.
And a good husband.
Yes, we're married.
And, so you'll know, Miss Kruger didn't tell us everything.
Probably because she didn't know herself.
But we were right when we spent all those hours wondering.
Men really aren't that much different from horses.
And how Levi loves his horses.
I hope he never has to choose between them and me.
But then, they can't give him everything I can.
No, not yet.
But I'm hoping.
And hoping it's a girl so she can know through her father how tender a strong man can be.
I don't know how to thank you for your gift.
But I will share this adventure with you every step of the way, and pray that someday we may read this record to our grandchildren together.
My love forever.
Elly Zendt.
(METAL CLANGING) Why didn't Amos Boemer get it fixed like this? I didn't say she'd be fixed.
Said the rim would bond.
What's the difference? Well, you got a lot of parts in that wheel, and all of them's figuring out how to wreck on you later on.
It's funny, them other ones are as good as a man sees, but this one's just a poor wheel.
Will it make 3,000 miles? I can't say.
It's a creeper.
You watch it good.
Wet the wood every chance you get.
Whenever you get to a smithy, you have him take a look at it.
(METAL CLANGING) LEVI: Whoa.
Get up.
Get up there.
Whoa.
What do you think? We take the wagon down into that? You got a better idea, I'll listen.
The horses can make it.
No, stay in the wagon.
I can't help from here.
I'll guide the lead team while you work the lines.
It's pretty slippery.
The horses might get scared.
You trying to scare me, too? It won't work.
(NICKERING) All right.
Let's go! (NEIGHING) Whoa! Elly! You all right? Quit hollering and keep driving! What are you grinning at? Just thinking how glad I am that you're here with me.
There'll be plenty more rivers.
We'll learn to do it better.
(CHUCKLES) Hey.
Giddyup.
ELLY: Dear Laura Lou, rivers have begun to play an important part in our life, from the one I fell into to the one our flatboat drifts down now.
It is the Ohio, and we will be on it for 1, 100 miles until we arrive at a place called Cairo.
Then we'll board a steamer for St.
Louis on the mighty Mississippi.
I can't believe it's almost summer.
But then, I never believed I'd be doing anything like this.
I feel important somehow, as if God Intended me for some significant duty.
I have no idea what it might be, but the future is full of promise, and I know there is so much to come.
(BOYS CHATTERING) ANNOUNCER: See the elephant.
Don't delay, come today.
Next month we ship this powerful pachyderm back to Europe.
Don't be one of those who must shamefacedly confess to their grandchildren Whoa.
Whoa.
Which way to the Robert Q.
Fell? ANNOUNCER: See it here.
See the elephant! (SHIP WHISTLE BLOWING) LEVI: Whoa! That? It appears to be.
Disgraceful old tub, isn't she? You going to the forts? Oregon.
Well met! I'm for Oregon, too.
Seccombe, Oliver Seccombe.
Boston, London, Oxford.
Levi Zendt, Pennsylvania.
Delighted, old boy.
Delighted.
And this is My wife.
How do you do, Mrs.
Zendt? Oh, it's Elly, Mr.
Seccombe.
Elly.
Enchanted.
I'll go find the captain.
His name is Frake, but you'll not find him aboard.
He'll be in the tavern down the way.
Heavy drinkers, these riverboat men, but they can navigate narrows you and I couldn't even swim.
Oh, Elly, let me give you a hand.
When Levi's got the wagon aboard, we can all go and see the sights of the town together.
Hmm? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this massive mastodon ate a ton of hay each and every day.
Each mighty tusk was 22-feet long.
The mother carried the baby in her womb His tusk was that big.
for four years, seven months and 19 days.
It gave me the shivers.
I've never seen anything that big.
See the elephant! Don't delay, come today.
It's a big city.
Gateway to the west, they call it.
The last culture before you get to California.
Apart from the Red Indian, that is.
And nobody knows very much about them.
That's part of the reason I'm here, you know.
I'm writing a book on the subject.
You're writing a book? Mmm.
Travels in the Great American West.
Have you ever read Rousseau, by any chance? Rousseau? Mmm-hmm.
What is it? Well, he's a Frenchman.
A philosopher.
Hmm.
A what? Oh, a thinker.
Mostly about nature.
Precisely.
Now, he had a theory that there is still a pure, unspoiled, primitive man that's still in existence.
Well, I intend to find him and describe him before he vanishes.
The noble savage.
Oh, excuse me.
I say, Captain! Captain Mercy, sir.
Good day.
Seccombe, isn't it? Yes, sir.
Oliver Seccombe.
These are my friends, Levi and Elly Zendt from Pennsylvania.
Mrs.
Mercy? Yes, my wife, Lisette.
How do you do? I'm very pleased to meet you.
The Captain will be sailing with us.
And you, too, Mrs.
Mercy? No.
Mr.
Zendt, was that your wagon with the six upper handsome grays I saw? Yes.
You'll forgive me, sir, but I I urge you to sell that team.
Why? They'll die where we're going.
What? Horses can't make that trip.
Well, they've come this far.
You had grain for them.
You'll have none on the plains.
I heard the plains were grassy.
You're getting a late start.
Most of the grass will be gone.
You have to rest your animals, and you can't do that and get there in time to graze.
I love those horses.
I can understand that, they're fine animals.
But you can't afford to wait on them.
And if you don't, they'll drop dead of sheer exhaustion.
On the other hand, this is good country for prime horseflesh.
You could expect four, maybe $500 apiece.
I won't sell them.
Well, then I wish you luck.
You will need it.
Good day.
Excuse me, sir, I believe you've just been awarded a prize commission.
You overrate me, Mr.
Seccombe.
I'm going west to select a site for a new fort with a grand detachment of two.
Myself, Sergeant Lykes and eight mules.
Nine mules.
I've tried to talk him out of going.
You know, I think it'd be easier trying to talk to a mule.
Then you can understand why Levi won't sell his horses.
Yes, I think I can.
Look, I wonder, might it be possible that we could join you and the sergeant when we land? Well, I'm only going as far as St.
John on the Laramie.
It would help to get us started.
Then we can see what kind of outfit we could put together up there.
Well, I'd be glad for the company if you don't mind traveling with nine mules.
Ten.
And six horses.
Shall we? (SHIP WHISTLE BLOWING) (MULE BRAYING) Morning.
Good morning.
Hannibal, I'm gonna give you a count of three.
You hear me? Three.
Trouble, Sergeant? He's just being a mule, mister, that's all.
Come on up there.
Right there.
Good morning.
This is Mr.
Sam Purchas.
He calls himself "King of the Mountain Men.
" I've hired him to lead us to Oregon.
Mr.
Purchas, Maxwell Mercy.
Captain.
You ever been to Oregon? Sonny, I been across them prairies with all the great ones.
Kit Carson, Sublette, Fitzpatrick, the Bents, I knowed 'em all.
My question was, have you been to Oregon? Well, one thing they taught me, (SPITTING) never try to reach Oregon with no horses dragging your wagon.
Are you Zendt? I am.
Sonny, this here mountain man don't travel with no horses.
You sell 'em and get oxen.
Like I told Major Mercy Now, I reckon the Captain here would like to hear just what it is you're buying.
Pretty lady, would you be good enough to read this out loud, so as we can all hear it together? It's from The Dispatch.
(MULE BRAYING) "Strong as a lion, fearless as a tiger" Would you mind speaking up, miss? It's kinda hard to hear over that mule and all.
"Keen-eyed as an eagle and quick" (PURCHAS CLEARING THROAT) "as a panther, Samuel Purchas, "greatest of the mountain men and frontiersman extraordinary, "departed our city on Thursday last week, "leading a party of merchants on an exploratory trip to the forts of the Upper Missouri.
" There's a whole lot more, but that tells you who I am, don't it? Mr.
Purchas, exactly what will be your service to us? Keeping you alive, sonny, that's what.
Timing.
That's the trick.
I know it, you don't.
You move out of here too soon, your oxen starve in Kansas.
Too late, and you'll freeze to death in the Oregon snow.
I want every man to carry two rifles, two pistols, an ax, two knives, a penknife, a hatchet and 20 pounds of lead.
That's enough to fight your way inch by inch.
Soldier boy, that's exactly what we may have to do.
No, the officers at Fort Leavenworth assured me the Cheyenne and the Arapaho were peaceful this year.
Did they tell you about the Oglala Sioux, the Crow, the Blackfoot and the Gros Ventres? Them's the people we're going to be dealing with.
The Pasquinel brothers are riding with the Sioux this year.
Pasquinels? Who are they? Half-breeds.
French trapper name of Pasquinel took himself a squaw.
Now we got his redskinned sons along the trail to keep us company.
You ever seen them? Came down the river in 1839 with three bales of buffalo robes.
They led a party of Cheyenne that cleaned me out.
I'm surprised they didn't kill you.
Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.
If I ever see 'em again, they won't have the option.
All the same, the armament seems too heavy.
Sonny, I been with 'em all.
And one thing they taught me, carry plenty of guns.
Me, I travel with four rifles, two pistols and this little beauty.
Without reloading, I can kill six of anything that moves.
(MULE BRAYS) And if it was me, I'd start with that critter over there.
I wonder what it'll really be like.
What? Oregon.
Oliver says everything grows there.
Oliver says a lot.
Levi Zendt, you jealous? Just thinking.
Meeting new people makes you look at yourself.
Elly, are you sorry that you married such a plain man? (LAUGHING) What's funny? Laura Lou Booker, she used to look over every man that came to the orphanage.
Make lists of their good and bad qualities.
"Is clean, listens well.
"Eats with good manners.
Knows how to laugh.
" Or, "Too thin, too nervous.
"Wants to peek at the girls, but is afraid to.
" What'd she say about me? Well I'm not sure I remember Elly! (GIGGLES) She said She said, "He's very well-built, dependable and strong.
" (LAUGHS) Sounds like a horse.
(GIGGLES) "He's shy, but not crooked.
" I'm not as shy as I was.
I know.
(SHIP WHISTLE BLOWING) That's right, get 'em out of here.
Levi, get up.
Levi, they're taking your horses.
Deal's all set, sonny.
You got $500 apiece.
You got eight of the best oxen, $15 each.
That gives you the best, about $2,900 profit, and my commission is only $50.
No.
You can't do that! It's done.
You (PURCHAS LAUGHING) Cool out, sonny.
I'm doing you a service.
Get 'em out of here.
You want to tangle, sonny boy, I'm game.
But I'm telling you, it's the only way.
You take this money now or you'll have six dead horses by the time you get to the Platte.
He's right.
They'll never make it, Levi.
Trust me.
You're both taking horses.
So is Seccombe.
We ain't pulling wagons.
Take it.
It'll build a fine home for you and Elly in Oregon.
They've served you well, Levi.
Now they'll buy you a better start than most men on the trail can even hope for.
Levi! Go! Go! Now we really are alone.
Now we can never go back.
I heared what you was thinking, sonny boy.
But I'm telling you, when we hit the Rockies, we're gonna pass them horse-people like they was staked to the ground.
Look.
Pawnee.
ELLY: What do they want? (RIFLE FIRES) MERCY: Purchas! What the hell do you think you're doing? Good gun.
A Fordney, ain't it? Damn it, man, I asked you a question.
I'm doing my job.
Well, they hadn't done anything.
They was Injuns.
How could you do that, Sam? I been fighting Injuns all my life.
They gave me this, and one on my stomach, and this.
I tell you, they ain't real people like you and me, soldier boy.
They're no good.
Yes, sir.
That's a real good gun.
Now you know what it's for.
ELLY: I think we have finally realized what moving west means.
The strange rivers flowing swift with mud, the lurking Indians, the burden of rifles, the long, long trails with no homes and no lights at dusk, and the awful loneliness.
We have each other, of course, and thank God for that.
We've seen what can happen to men who have no one.
But what a story we'll have to tell when we reach Oregon, Laura Lou.
This is no ordinary trip, for we move within a great dimension.
But Levi says the desert we cross is untillable, unprofitable, and unneeded.
We are deep in Indian country now, and have joined up with two other families, because Mr.
Purchas says we need at least three wagons for defense and to stand the night watches.
(WIND WHISTLING) Morning.
Windy.
That's just the elephant flicking his tail.
The elephant? You don't know about the elephant? The one in St.
Louis? St.
Louis? You mean the circus? (CHUCKLING) No, that was just a bunch of bones standing in a room.
Take a look out there.
Ain't that a home for a real giant of an elephant, huh? Yes, sir.
Why, he's taller than most trees.
He's got tusks that curve back just like Turkish swords.
His trunk blows just like a hurricane, and his tail will flick a wagon bigger than yours right off the trail.
(CHUCKLING) A man can't believe everything he hears, Sergeant.
Oliver says there hasn't been an elephant on this continent for 10,000 years.
Oliver said that, huh? Old fancy pants.
Well, that's for sure that Oliver has never seen the kind of elephant that I'm talking about.
'Cause if he had, he'd have hightailed it back to London so fast his feet never would have touched the ground.
You trying to tell me you've seen it? Seen it? I'm trying to tell you that any man that's been alone out there on that prairie has seen it.
Now, don't let 'em tell you any different, Levi, 'cause you're gonna see it one of these days, too.
And when you do see it, you're gonna run as far as you can as fast as you can, because you know you You can't fight it.
Because you know if you don't get out of its way, it's gonna crush you flat, and grind you down so deep in this Godforsaken land that no amount of prayers in heaven will ever resurrect your soul.
Gonna turn in now, gonna be daylight soon.
Thank you for the story.
See you in the morning.
(BIRD CALL) (DIFFERENT BIRD CALL) Indians! Pasquinels.
How do you know? They're riding the Oglala Sioux.
He's bringing a whole bunch of 'em in here.
Hello! Bacon? Jake Pasquinel.
You're welcome, we do have bacon.
Mike Pasquinel, you, too.
Come.
Jake Pasquinel, I've heard a lot about you.
How you know my name? This finger, you lost in the Kiowa fight.
That scar on your cheek, at Fort Osage.
How are you, Jake? What your name? Maxwell Mercy, Captain, United States Army.
You come to fight, huh? No, to establish a fort.
Where? Come, we smoke.
No, where the fort going to be? That's why I'm here, to pick the spot.
You and Mike be my guides, we'll make the decision together.
No.
Why not? Our father was white.
If we were to help guide you, our Sioux brothers, they say, "Pasquinel is traitor.
" Then come to Fort John.
Bring the Sioux chiefs, the Cheyenne, and the Arapaho.
We can't say they will come.
Well, Jake, you're an Arapaho.
How you know I'm Arapaho? In St.
Louis, everyone knows you.
They believe you're the man to bring peace to the prairie.
You talk of peace, you take our land.
No.
One road, one road west.
This land will be yours as long as the grass grows and the eagle flies.
Hmm.
We come to Fort John.
The day must come when the killing stops, eh? I wouldn't trust you to stop killing rabbits.
We get you yet, squaw killer.
I'll wait at Fort John.
I say, you wanted bacon? And some tobacco, perhaps? Another time, huh? Another time.
Then tell me, if our watchman hadn't heard you, would you have slain us all? You got good guards.
We'll keep 'em posted.
(GUN FIRES) He did not have to stop you, squaw killer.
Shooting at a man, you'd have missed.
(SPITS) Nobody spits at Purchas! Forget it, or by God, your last scar won't come from an Indian.
(PURCHAS YELLS ANGRILY) Mr.
Seccombe, when we get to the fort, I'd pick another pilot if I were you.
That man will get you all killed.
I will.
Be with you in a moment.
Afternoon.
Hello.
I'm Levi Zendt from Lancaster.
Alexander McKeag, Scotland.
I'll be needing a lot of your stuff.
Well, it's here waiting for you.
Well, this is my wife, Elly.
Let her have whatever she needs.
This is my wife, Clay Basket.
My daughter, Lucinda.
Arapaho.
Daughter and granddaughter of the greatest warrior in the history of their nation.
McKeag.
But I still maintain they are a race of savages.
But that is the myth that I'm going to explode.
You see, I believe that the original Indians were Welshmen.
The very cream, the best of Welsh society that migrated here early on in history to find a more natural way of life.
PURCHAS: They ain't Welshmen, sonny boy! They're Egyptian.
Egyptians? Who do you think that old pharaoh had roughing up Moses and the Israelites? Injuns, that's who! God sent 'em out here as a punishment, and it's our bounding duty to punish 'em.
I never heard anything like that before, did you? That's because you don't talk to nothing but mules.
Never mind about my mules Lykes.
Yes, sir? Find the Zendts, tell them that the proprietor, Mr.
Kellen, wants them to join him for dinner.
He's from Pennsylvania, too.
Yes, sir.
That was McKeag.
McKeag? He runs the store.
Never mind, Sergeant.
Yes, sir.
Now, Sergeant, you was about to say? I think I'd rather do my talking to the mules.
Trapping, huh? Till they stop making beaver hats.
And that was just south of here? Aye, a place called Beaver Creek.
Superb country.
Good water, trees.
All a man could ask for.
The Army captain we came with said there was nothing to the south but desert.
You encourage him to keep saying that.
It'll keep the bad ones out.
Why didn't you stay down there? Well, I had a partner.
He died.
I couldn't find anyone to go it with me after that.
And, well, a man must get his living.
(KNOCKING AT DOOR) Captain.
Clay Basket? Yes? Lucinda.
And you're McKeag.
Aye.
It's an honor, sir.
Should I know you, Captain? No, sir, but you You do know my wife, Lisette Pasquinel.
Your partner's St.
Louis daughter.
PURCHAS: Well, pilgrims, you'll see some country now.
And you'll see why you had to sell them grays of yours.
Did you get that wagon wheel reset? I did.
That's good.
Them big-busted ladies up ahead will give it a workout.
Sam! Oh, sorry, missy.
(CHUCKLES) Hey, is that a new bonnet you're wearing? Yes.
I thought so.
It frames that pretty face real nice.
SECCOMBE: Sorry, old boy, I really am.
I mean, there just wasn't another pilot at the fort, and unfortunately, we are what he calls us.
We're pilgrims.
I wish Captain Mercy was with us.
He has his job, and we have ours.
Indians! Indians! Pasquinels bringing in a party of Arapaho and Cheyenne! (PEOPLE CLAMORING) (BELL RINGING) Well, they're no Sioux.
You'll still have your hands full anyway, Mercy.
They brought Broken Thumb.
Broken Thumb? Yeah, Cheyenne, just to the right of Jake Pasquinel.
He got his hand mangled in a mountain man's beaver trap.
He's a bad one, and a real disruptive influence on all the tribes.
It is a bitter burden he carries, Mr.
Kellen.
You see, he understands all too well what's happening to his people in this time of change.
Just whose side you on, McKeag? I thought the idea was to keep everybody on the same side.
Well, you'll want to meet 'em down there.
They won't think much of you spying on 'em with that thing from up here behind a wall.
Oh, and don't forget to smoke before you parley.
Hello, McKeag.
Jake.
Mike.
We come in peace, but we are a little confused about what the Army wants.
The captain's brought many fine presents from our Great White Father in Washington.
I am the son of a trader, Kellen.
I know what the white man's presents means, eh? Mercy, you will explain to us why you need another fort.
I'll tell you, Jake.
But first we smoke.
No smoke.
Broken Thumb, this is important talk.
It's important the Great Spirit bless us before we begin.
Lost Eagle.
The Arapaho wouldn't come all this way and then insult their hosts, would they? Hello, McKeag.
The Arapaho will smoke.
(SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE) Whoa.
Whoa.
What is it? Turn around.
What happened to them? Same thing that would've happened to you it you hadn't sold your horses.
What you're looking at is a miserable sight, but I don't want none of you bleeding for them! They guessed wrong and they'll pay for it.
They won't even make the fort.
They should've listened to the men that know.
They'll perish.
So, they'll perish! They have no right coming on this trail that way.
I'm giving them my two spare oxen.
You'll do no such thing! You'll need them oxen, maybe for food.
I'm giving them two oxen.
The rest of you, get them wagons rolling! We make camp in the Rockies tonight, or we'll be caught in snow in three weeks' time! Elly, Purchas was right about the horses.
And Levi's right about the oxen.
This is a picture of our Great White Father in Washington.
He's asked me to tell you of our need for a fort.
You have a fort.
No, this place is Mr.
Kellen's.
The Army needs a fort of its own.
Why the Army? To protect our people who move to the great water across the mountains, to the place called Oregon.
Long time ago, when the white men came across this land, they were good.
McKeag, the father of the Pasquinels.
Some wanted to stay and live with us.
There was fighting, but never much, and there was always respect.
Now there are men with no respect, mean men with no women and no children.
That squaw killer who you brought with you, Mercy, ugly men that char our people for no reason, who have only war in their hearts.
And we shall give them war.
Mercy? Just thinking how to argue with the truth.
You're doing fine, son.
But you're talking to the wrong man.
You want Lost Eagle.
You want to show him who you are.
Broken Thumb, your words are true, but if there is a fort, then there will be soldiers to punish these evil men you speak of.
Now they live outside our law because we cannot reach them.
Lost Eagle, I tell you the Great Father wants peace.
We can have peace.
Do you want it? Yes, Mercy.
We want peace, and we want to protect our people.
We do not want our women killed by men like the cut-nose you rode with.
And we do not want our men, like Jake, shot in the back.
I saved Jake's life.
He told us.
Did he tell you why? Because you are like McKeag, like the men who used to come.
I try to be, but there is another reason.
Jake is my brother.
We are all your brothers.
But the Pasquinels are my real brothers.
My wife is Lisette Pasquinel, their white sister in St.
Louis.
McKeag? 'Tis true, Jake.
That's Lisette.
I saw her even before your father did.
I know we've had our differences, but I'd like to think there's some of that respect Broken Thumb mentioned between us, too.
And I'll tell you about Captain Mercy, I trust him.
And I say y'all can trust him, too, even the mighty Cheyenne chief who speaks of war.
There will be no war.
We will help you to find a place for your fort, Mercy.
And I believe what McKeag says about you.
But I pray to the medicine arrows, and I know this to become truth, that I shall kill you, and you shall kill me.
Levi, I'm proud of what you did today.
I only did what was right.
Right to you.
I wonder what your Reverend Fenstermacher would have done.
(LAUGHING) I haven't thought about him for six months.
I wanna do something for you, but I don't know what I can.
Oh, Elly.
I guess I'll just have to share my secret with you.
About the baby? You know? (LAUGHING) I married a willow stem.
The last few weeks you've been blooming like a rose.
How do you feel about it? Like the Lord of Creation.
I've been thinking.
How do you like the name "Maxwell"? Not for a girl.
A girl? We need sons.
I want a girl.
I want to see her grow up knowing your kindness and your gentleness.
I'll be through here in a bit.
And you better think of some other names besides Laura Lou.
(LAUGHING) Sometimes there's more than one, you know.
PURCHAS: Missy? What? Out here.
Please, would you gimme a hand with your friend, Mr.
Seccombe, here? Mr.
Purchas? I hate to bother you, I don't know what happened to him.
I'm afraid I'm afraid he's hurt real bad.
Just another step, all right? He's a He's just right in here.
I don't see anything.
Let me help you.
What happened? I don't know, ma'am.
I sure don't.
But I know what I want to happen now.
(MUFFLED SCREAM) (SCREAMING) Elly! (SCREAMING) Levi! Levi! (SCREAMING) Levi! SECCOMBE: Levi, don't! She's all right! Elly's all right! Stop, don't kill him! You kill him, we'll all die! (GASPING) Levi, I'm sorry.
It's all right, Oliver.
Well, good luck to you both.
You, too.
Get up.
Come on.
Get up! (GUN FIRES) Whoa! My Fordney.
So long, turnarounds! Be sure to tell 'em back in St Louis that when you lost your nerve, old Sam Purchas was still heading west.
Levi! Let him go.
He's a pitiful old man and something we know we don't want any part of.
What about you, pilgrim? Have you still got the stomach to follow this mountain man? Oliver's going with him? They can both go all the way to hell for all I care.
Get up, come on! Keep going.
(GOADING OXEN) (WHIP CRACKING) ELLY: September 2nd, Sunday.
We have devised many names for what we are doing in turning back, but the real name is one we have not used.
The word is "defeat, " the defeat of all we had hoped for.
The horses we loved are lost.
The wonderful oxen who were so good to us are dying, and those that live break my heart with their loyal plodding.
They cannot last long.
Levi.
Levi, the wheel, Levi.
Whoa.
Well, that's one problem we don't have anymore.
What'll we do? (SIGHING) Hand me the saw.
The saw? ELLY: September 9.
We arrive at Fort John again, this time from the west.
We have thrown away most of the things we were going to use in Oregon for our new life, and even our wagon is a poor thing, cut in half, with only two wheels that cannot continue turning much longer.
We have nothing, and now we have lost hope.
Levi.
A wheel give up? After we did.
What? We turned around.
Why? I saw the elephant.
Oh, I don't believe that.
Why not? Well, a man doesn't spin a tale that tall unless he's hiding a mountain of fear.
I don't see that in you.
Well, it doesn't matter.
The fact is, we quit.
Because of the baby? How'd you know about that? Not me, Clay Basket.
She's had three herself, you know.
I was wondering if No, I don't suppose you'd consider it.
What? Oh, just an old man's foolish dream.
It wouldn't be fair to a young one, with the makings you have.
What? Well, I told you I wanted to start another store, for trading with the Indians on that land down south of here, near Beaver Creek.
The place you trapped with your partner? Pasquinel.
I just had a funny feeling maybe you'd take to it the same way he and I did.
I don't even have to see it to know that for a fact.
ELLY: September 15.
To be pregnant takes away the sting of defeat, for just as we shall be starting a new community where the rivers meet, so Levi and I shall be starting a new family.
Also, the land we are traveling through is the kind that makes you proud, for it is beautiful in a manner that those of us who lived always in Lancaster could never have dreamed or appreciated.
There it is! It looks like the walls of Jericho.
It looks like a castle.
Well, to me, it looks like we're almost home.
To Clay Basket, too.
We camped here many summers when I was a girl, following buffalo.
Beaver Creek's over to the south.
That's where Pasquinel and Lame Beaver first met, and where we'll build our store.
To the west is Fox Canyon.
I spent the winter there one year, under a 15-foot snowdrift.
Three weeks without ever seeing the sky.
My lodge is still there, if someone hasn't chopped it up for firewood.
I won't go on boring you with reminiscing.
Boring? Coming from Lancaster, it's like a fairy tale.
I'm absolutely sure it's a castle.
Levi.
This land.
We're home.
I feel it, too.
We never did decide about the names.
Oh, I did.
You said it has to be a girl, and I'm saying we can only have one girl.
So, it has to be Elly.
No.
Yes.
Remember what you said about my blooming like a rose? I feel that way tonight.
Do you still feel that way about me? After After what happened? Oh, I love you, Elly.
(LAUGHING) I love you.
You know, after what my brothers told me, I never saw how men and women could be friends.
But, Elly, you're the greatest friend I've ever had, and the only woman I've ever really wanted.
What about Rebecca Stoltzfus? Oh, I forgot.
I guess I love her, too.
What? (LAUGHING) For what she did to me.
If it hadn't been for that, we wouldn't have each other and we wouldn't know how beautiful it is out here.
Morning, Elly.
Morning.
Dear Father, thank you for Dear God, thank you for this life and this place.
(RATTLING) (GUN FIRES) What is it? Snake bite! (SPITTING) Elly? Look.
The neck.
She was down low.
Elly? Elly! Elly! That's God's mercy, son.
I've seen 'em die slow.
Believe me, it's better this way.
And aye.
(SOBBING) Oh, Elly! Elly! Oh, Elly.
Elly.
(KNOCKING AT DOOR) McKEAG: Levi.
Levi? Clay Basket says dinner's ready.
Being a butcher, you'll appreciate what an Indian can do with buffalo tongue.
That place you stayed, Fox Canyon, where is it? (DOOR OPENING) Someone should go to him.
I needed to be alone then.
Almost the same way he needs it now.
You'd seen the winters before.
You knew how to survive them.
Well, if the cabin's still standing he'll be lf? Well, if you won't go, then I will.
No.
He may need you sometime, but not right now.
Clay Basket, it's like the time the Pawnee and the pirates stripped Pasquinel of everything he had.
He went back to St.
Louis with nothing.
But maybe that gave him more than he'd ever have had otherwise.
Same way with Levi Zendt.
With Elly, it seemed like he had everything he could ever want.
Now he's come to a place where Where he has nothing.
Well, maybe that's the place in every man's life when he finally learns the value of all things.