Hold it right there!
Jim.
Look, isn't there someplace we can wait
other than this cave, Mr. Jackson?
Best place to be if you want to see it.
Are you sure it'll show up?
Has for the last three weeks.
Carl's stable boy has seen it.
Or so he says.
You mean, you don't believe him, Mr. Jackson?
Jeremiah's an ignorant, superstitious young man.
He hears the howl of a coyote in the night,
he thinks it's the spirit of some-
What's your stable boy
doing in here at night, Mr. Jackson?
I don't know.
Comes night, he wanders.
Sits out here for hours...
playing music on a flute.
I hate to suggest this,
but do you think maybe he's waiting for the horseman?
Why? Why wait out here when- When he's told me
he's seen this rider and been frightened?
Have you ever seen it yourself?
No.
But I know something's out here.
To say it's supernatural would be to...
You two wait here.
Arty, you come with me.
Don't fire unless I do.
Right.
How can that be, Jim?
I know I emptied my gun into him.
I know I put five bullets right in his head.
You know, I can't believe it.
There must be some explanation.
This is the 19th century. Thank you.
Well, he couldn't been wearing a bulletproof vest.
On his head? Yeah.
Another thing I can't figure
is why...two government agents like you
come here to investigate a ghost...
or whatever it is.
Oh, they were sent for, Ned.
We received this letter last week in Denver.
"Dear Mr. West,
"it is urgent that you come at once to Mills Creek.
"The truth is there waiting for you
in the cave behind Carl Jackson's ranch."
It's not signed.
That's one of the reasons we believe it.
There's only one man
that knew we were in Denver last week, President Grant.
That's why it's vital we find out
who wrote this letter.
Who's the lady?
Elizabeth Carter.
She's a schoolteacher in town...
and my fiancée.
That your stable boy?
Yes, Jeremiah.
I'd like to speak to him.
Come in, Miss Elizabeth.
I hope you don't mind. It's a little messy.
Oh. Course not.
Do you think you can do something about this bird?
I think he's had too much loving at school.
Hello, fella.
Yeah, I think I can fix him up.
Oh, good.
How's this one's leg?
Oh, fine. Oh.
Say hello.
Oh.
Brought you lunch now. Ah, come on.
Are they friendly enough? Oh, very friendly.
Now what are you guys doing here? Come on.
Aren't they sweet? Come on.
Oh, yes.
Adorable.
And how are my kittens today?
Hello, Mr. Puss in Boots.
Hello, Mr. Rabbit.
Here's a carrot for you.
He doesn't want it.
I don't think so.
You know, Jeremiah, sometimes I think
they really understand what you say to them.
You're quite wonderful.
Well, life speaks to life, Miss Elizabeth.
And all life is one.
You know, when I go into the hills at night
and I play my music...
my brother the coyote answers me...
and tells me of his yellow day.
And in the cool of evening,
my sister the mockingbird sings,
tells me of her joy of being alive.
And in the first heat of the morning...
my brother the lizard...
tells me of his.
Oh, Jeremiah.
These gentlemen have some questions to ask you.
Yes, sir?
Elizabeth, this is Mr. West, Mr. Gordon.
Elizabeth Carter. Ma'am.
How do you do?
Is there something wrong, Carl?
Well, the night rider came back last night.
These gentlemen are from the government.
Jeremiah, you're to answer their questions truthfully.
Yes, sir.
Jeremiah, why do you, uh,
go into those back hills at night?
My sister the wind calls me, and I...
play for them.
Who?
Whatever lives in the night.
Or for that man on horseback too?
The wind carries the music, Mr. West.
Who or where it goes, I don't know.
I think you're a liar.
I think you guide him with your music.
No.
Who is it, Jeremiah?
Don't be insolent, Jeremiah. Answer the question.
I don't know who hears the music.
I play, he comes uninvited.
Uh, Jeremiah, I can make it very hard on you.
Now tell the truth. Who is it?
Do you have a place where you can lock this man up?
But why?
Last night someone threw a knife at me
and missed me by inches.
I think he had something to do with it.
And I'm gonna keep him locked up
until he gives me some straight answers.
The old smokehouse by the side.
But I've done nothing.
All right, Jeremiah, come on.
Don't touch me.
I said come on.
Aah!
Don't!
Don't try anything, Mr. West.
Don't you try anything, Jeremiah. I'm warning you.
I know where the smokehouse is.
I don't have to be shoved.
You can't treat him like that.
I know Jeremiah,
and he wouldn't hurt a thing.
Have a tough time
convincing Sheriff Briggs of that.
Well, Ned humiliated him, shoving him like that.
How long has, uh, Jeremiah been around here?
He arrived about six weeks ago
looking for work.
Six weeks ago. And then the horseman started to show up.
Well, I'm sure that there's no connection.
I'm not.
Arty.
Hm?
Can you play one of these things?
It's a musical instrument, isn't it? Of course.
Good.
We're going back up to that mountain.
Ma'am.
Get inside, Jeremiah.
The dead only walk to seek out evil, Mr. Jackson.
And I have done no evil.
Carl, you can't keep Jeremiah
locked up in the smokehouse.
It's inhuman.
West takes his orders directly from President Grant.
His word's good enough for me.
Now, what are you doing?
A gunman once got away from me on my own horse.
I decided it was never gonna happen again.
Let me show you.
Watch. This is the safety.
And this unlocks it.
The man spots my horse and runs to it.
All he has to do is put his foot on the stirrup and...
Tip of the shell's filled with dynamite.
Let's go.
¶ No more auction block ¶
¶ For me ¶
¶ No more Auction block ¶
¶ For me ¶
¶ No more Auction block ¶
¶ For me ¶
¶ No more ¶
¶ No more slavery chains ¶
¶ For me ¶
¶ No more slavery chains ¶
¶ For me ¶
That charge, it didn't even faze him.
Who was he? What does he look like?
Couldn't tell.
He looked like nothing
I'd ever seen before in my life.
Come on.
You gentlemen check the other end of the cave.
Ned. His hat.
His name... on the sweatband.
"Colonel Beaumont Carson."
Colonel Beaumont Carson?
Confederate officer.
His face burned.
Carson's been dead for years...
Thirteen years.
You remember, Ned.
He died in a fire with all the others.
You were there.
I set fire to that shack myself.
Get Miss Elizabeth's carriage.
We're going to town, Jeremiah.
You know, James...
to put it blandly,
I have a sneaking suspicion that Jeremiah,
if I may put it as, uh...
inoffensively as possible,
hates your guts.
Let him. He's tied up in this somehow.
The flute proves it.
He knows who that man is.
Man, Jim?
Whatever it is.
Jeremiah, see that Miss Elizabeth gets home.
He'll show you where to bed your horses down.
Ned, judge. Ned told you?
Ned told us. We're in bad trouble.
From a ghost? Be sensible.
Ghost. Something that bullets, not even dynamite can kill.
Ned here thinks that Jeremiah's got something to do with it.
West thinks so too. How?
If Jeremiah knows anything about Carson,
they'll get it out of him.
We've got to do something.
There's only one thing to do, Carl.
What's past is past.
I'm an important rancher.
You're a respected and wealthy man.
Bill here is an honored judge.
And Ned here is a fine sheriff.
With the help of some of my men,
I'm gonna keep it that way.
Tom...those are government men.
Make it look like an accident.
I'll find your men innocent afterwards.
Where are they now?
Probably at the stable.
How about Jeremiah, Bill?
Well, after Kellogg's men have done their job,
we'll have a long, long talk in private with Jeremiah.
He'll tell us. I promise you.
You hit me very hard, Mr. West.
You got in some pretty good licks yourself.
But, Jim, you told me you weren't gonna put
that much powder in the saddle horn.
I told you what was gonna happen when you got on the horse.
Oh. You didn't explain it was gonna burn me.
Wait one minute.
I wanna know what happened to the Barbados accent.
The voodoo, the witchcraft, the whole act.
Well...don't you think that would be
putting it on a little thick, huh?
Oh, you can't do a Barbados accent.
Now wait a minute, Arty.
I didn't say I can't do a Barbados accent.
I can do any accent and any voice.
Ahh...
I can do your voice.
I wanna know what happened to the Barbados accent.
Voodoo, the witchcraft, the whole act.
Or Jim's.
You got in a few good licks of your own.
You know, that smokehouse has improved him.
Smoked ham.
Incidentally, here is your passkey.
And I think, too, we'd better get a new mask.
This one got torn in the fight.
You won't need a new mask.
Carson isn't coming into this town.
What? I mean, one more appearance,
and we'll have Jackson on his knees, Jim.
It's too dangerous.
He'll have men on both sides of the street with shotguns,
and they won't be firing blanks.
Well, it's a little sooner than I thought,
but I guess we gotta play our ace card, huh?
Uh, Jerry, are you sure that you can do this thing?
Oh, ye of little faith.
Here. Stand over there, and I'll prove it to you.
Both of you, please.
Well, does that answer your question?
Yeah.
Come on, let's go to the hotel for some lunch.
No, Jim, I think I'd better stay here
and get some rest.
I'm gonna need it tonight.
Well...be careful.
Oh, I'll be all right.
My friends are gonna take care of me.
Hold it, gentlemen.
Throw 'em away!
All right, gentlemen, he's all yours.
What happened to you?
Fighting on the Sabbath?
Never on Sunday.
The horses.
Hey, Kellogg, Jackson.
What is it?
It's the horses. They've all bolted.
There's not a horse in town.
Sheriff, there's been an accident.
Down there in the alley,
two men fell off their horses.
Don't hurry. They'll keep.
Carl!
Carl, help.
It's Jeremiah. He's in the stables,
and he seems half-crazy with fear.
No, don't touch me.
Jeremiah, pull yourself together. What happened?
I saw him. The ghost.
He talked to me. He touched me.
There's a note.
If you want to live, stay in your houses tonight.
"Bolt all your doors. Close and lock all your shutters.
Signed, Colonel Beaumont Carson."
Does that name mean anything to you?
Carson? No.
It's just like the one we got in Denver.
Smoked ham.
Just get me off my knee. It's killing me.
Handwriting's the same.
Jeremiah...
the man who spoke to you, what did he say?
Uh. He said...
He said..."Jeremiah..."
He said, "I will speak through you, Jeremiah...
"and you will be my voice to the living
in the courthouse tonight."
Oh, please, Mr. Jackson,
I don't want no dead man's spirit in my body,
speaking through my mouth.
Jeremiah, I'm sure that whatever it is,
it'll be all right... so don't worry.
We've misjudged him, Jim.
He's scared out of his wits.
Whoever this Colonel Carson is,
Jeremiah wants no part of him.
Spirit.
Dead man's voice.
Speaking through the mouth of the living.
I know it's hard to believe, but whatever Carson has to say,
he wants us to hear it tonight.
That's why he wrote us in Denver.
Don't worry, Jeremiah,
we'll be with you from now on.
Let's go.
Yeah. You can take him to my house.
Come along.
Jeremiah isn't getting to that courthouse alive, Carl.
Get rid of him.
There- There must be something-
Carl, you've got a gun. Draw it.
I said draw it!
See how simple it is?
Now take care of Jeremiah.
No! I- Look, Carl!
No, down. No, no. No!
Let's not start quarreling among ourselves.
Actually, it- It might be better
if Jeremiah finds his way to the courtroom,
along with all the others.
One ball of wax we have to take care of. You see?
Elizabeth.
She'll be there too.
Carl...
I want to ask you one question.
Who do you want to come out of this
with a whole skin?
Elizabeth? Or you?
It's got to be one or the other.
Please, Mr. West, I don't want that spirit inside my body.
I mean, why me?
Why did he pick me out?
Because you're more sensitive to the spirit world, Jeremiah.
I'm sorry. I can't just sit here and wait for it to-
What's happening to him?
It's Carson.
He's started to take possession.
Hear me!
Hear of my death...
by murder most unnatural.
And the death of my family...
and my servants.
Hear of a time long past...
when the air was filled with the rumors of a great war
between the North and the South.
Hear me...
when I speak of a time...
when I took my great wealth,
and my family and my servants,
and I left to find safety for them.
Hear how a few nights into our journey,
we...found a shack.
An old abandoned shack.
And we went inside and slept there.
And hear how four men on horseback...
found that shack
and robbed us of our wealth...
and tied us with ropes!
All of us!
All of us, mercilessly!
And hear how they...
Hear how they set fire to that shack...
and burned us all alive!
And then, hear how they went outside
and sat on their horses
and watched the fire do its work!
Listen!
It's the horses.
They've come back, hundreds of them.
Look!
Ahh! No!
Oh!
Make him stop!
Make him stop it! Stop it!
They're gone.
Hey, sheriff.
H-how come the horses only hit this place?
I don't know. I don't know. Let's move on.
The horses came right to this courthouse, Mr. Jackson.
No other building seems to be touched.
Aah!
And they will return tomorrow night...
and nothing will be spared.
Everything will be destroyed!
There's only one thing that can save this town.
What's that, Jeremiah?
The truth!
The truth from you,
Carl Jackson!
Oh...
Aah!
Mm.
What happened?
Did he come?
Yeah, he came.
Oh, I'm- I'm so tired.
I feel so tired.
Don't you remember anything?
No, Mr. West, I just-
I just feel tired.
What truth, Carl?
Carl?
What truth, Carl?
Elizabeth...we're all kind of shaken out of our wits.
Let's get some rest.
We can talk sensibly in the morning.
I'll take Jeremiah to your ranch...
and I'll wait for you there.
We'll go with you.
See you there and back.
What are we gonna do, Tom?
Jeremiah's tired, and Elizabeth can't walk fast.
We can get to your place
before they do, Carl.
We've come a long way, Carl.
I don't aim to throw it away now.
Do you understand me, Carl?
I wished you'd all stay with me till Carl gets back.
There's so much I want to ask him.
I-I'll make some coffee. You too, Jeremiah?
Uh, no thank you, Miss Elizabeth.
I-I'm very tired, and I -
I think I'd better go to sleep.
Well...good night, then. Good night.
Good night, Jeremiah.
Don't make a move, gentlemen,
unless you want a bullet through Elizabeth's head.
Raise your hands.
Carl, what is this?
It seems that Mr. Jackson's secret is more important
to him and his friends than your life is.
Get them down to the basement, Ned.
Get going. You too, Elizabeth.
Salt, sugar and flour.
Are you thinking of baking a cake, James?
And powdered pepper.
Uh, Miss Elizabeth, everything's gonna be all right.
Mm-hm.
Arty. Mm?
I think we should bake a cake.
We need a mixing bowl. That's our problem.
Well, would you mind letting me in on-?
A mixing bowl?
Mixing bowl.
Perfect.
And now, season to taste.
Right here, Arty.
How about some sugar and flour?
All right, Bill, you get West.
Ned, Gordon is yours.
Jeremiah's yours, Carl.
I'll take care of the girl.
I'm not, uh, too sure
that I remember this recipe too well,
but you go ahead, I learn fast-
Arty, you will. The pepper.
Pepper.
Pepper coming up.
Here, help me.
Lift this thing up.
Oh, oh.
Oh, I remember this recipe now.
Powdered potpourri surprise.
Spécialité de la maison of the Hotel Desperation, right?
Right.
Are you sure?
Are you sure it was Carl
who killed and robbed those people?
Oh, we're sure.
And Jeremiah saw it all?
Yes.
You see...
he wasn't in the shack that night.
He'd gone off to the woods to sleep among the animals.
Ever since he was a little boy, he's had some kind of...
affinity for animals.
When he came back, he saw them burning the shack.
In the firelight...
he could only make out one of the murderers.
Jackson.
Well, why didn't he go to the authorities then?
He tried to.
He went back to town a week later.
The town was in chaos.
Everyone was leaving...
including the authorities.
The war was starting.
Jeremiah left too.
He traveled with a carnival...
tending the animals.
Went all over the country with the carnival...
constantly searching.
There was a carnival here last year, remember?
Oh, yes, of course. I remember now.
That's when...he spotted Carl Jackson.
Well...why didn't he go to the authorities then?
Jackson's become a very influential man.
Who would have taken Jeremiah's word?
He came to us.
Convinced us that if he could
trick Jackson into confessing...
it would all work out.
Once he had that confession...
it would be over.
He certainly had no proof.
Any time you're ready, gentlemen.
Any time at all.
When it's over, we'll have to get rid of Carl too.
He's too far gone.
He'll blabber it out sooner or later.
But, Tom-
Don't worry. He'll give us an out.
Carl Jackson went mad out of fear.
He killed the others.
We had to shoot him, sheriff.
Ready, aim...
Mott, you take West.
Look out!
Gesundheit.
Superb cake. My compliments to the chef.
Fire three shots into that bag.
What?
Then it won't ricochet.
Welcome, Mr. Jackson.
I've been waiting for you...a long time.
I confess!
Carson!
I conf-
Carson.
I confess, Carson.
I'm sorry.
I didn't know.
I'm sorry.
Carson.
What cracked him, Jerry?
My friend over there.
Colonel Carson.
Where are you headed for now, Jeremiah?
Home.
Where's that?
I don't know yet.
Well, why don't you come to Washington and work with us?
Thanks, but no, Jim. I-
Well, a man's gotta look until he finds his place...
And I'm still looking.
Well, thanks for your help.
Thank you both very much.
Goodbye, Jeremiah.
Goodbye, friend.
Yeah.