02x05 - b*llet Metal

[bunniefuu]

♪ Jim Bowie! Jim Bowie!

♪ He was a bold, adventurin' man! ♪

♪ Jim Bowie! Jim Bowie!

♪ Battled for right with a powerful hand! ♪

♪ His blade was tempered and so was he! ♪

♪ Indestructible steel was he!

♪ Jim Bowie! Jim Bowie!

♪ He was a fighter

♪ A fearless and mighty adventurin' man! ♪

[gentle music]

- Mr. Jason?

- [Mr. Jason] Hmm?

- You were recommended to me by my brother, Rezin Bowie.

- Rezin Bowie?

- Why, you remember. Last year, Arkansas?

Had a little trouble with Spanish land grants?

- Rezin Bowie, well, say, then, you must be

- Jim Bowie.

- Well naturally, stupid of me

not to recognize the name right away.

Thought your brother said you'd gone to Texas.

- Gone and back.

- Well, look here, have a seat.

How about a cigar or a drink?

- No thank you, sir.

All I want from you is a title search on this property.

I'm thinking of buying it.

Up stands the farm on the northeast end of town, here,

with a fine apple orchard.

- Mmhm, you haven't seen it?

- No, I'll go out and take a look right now

while you clear up the legal business.

- Oh, no grass grows under your feet, eh, Mr. Bowie?

- Not if I can help it.

See you this evening, Mr. Jason.

- All right.

- Nothing, just a truck farm with an orchard on it.

- Think again, it's Jim Bowie who's interested.

- Jim Bowie?

- A man like Jim Bowie wouldn't come all the way

from Texas just to look at an apple orchard, would he?

[cow moos]

[boy whispers]

- Knowst what we taught thee of secrets, child.

- Thee also knows, Zenas, what we taught thee about lying,

even big lying, which thee knows is only in jest.

- I tell what my eyes see, Papa.

- A man climbing down our well?

- Thee would have me doubt my senses?

[wood creaks]

- Thee, friend, must have a mighty thirst.

- Oh, just, uh, just looking over the property.

- Thee is a thorough man.

- Quakers, right?

- Yes.

- Don't often find Quakers in Missouri.

- The property was left me by my elder brother,

he was not a Quaker.

- Would thee care to rest in the shade of the porch,

friend, and refresh thyself with a cup of apple juice?

- Why, delighted Ma'am.

- Thee mustn't say ma'am or sir, friend,

we are all equal in this world.

- Zenas, come Zenas.

- He echoes your sentiments, no doubt, sir,

I mean, friend, and they also happen to be mine.

- Zenas spoke rashly, but he did speak truly.

I am Issac Dickson, thee will call me Issac.

- I'm James Bowie, you can call me Jim.

- Why, thank you, Zenas.

- I do not know thy name, but thee is welcome.

- He is called Jim, and this is my wife, Sarah.

- Come Zenas, thee may throw the bad apples.

- Ahh.

- The apple juice is to thy liking?

- Fine, fine.

Do I have more the appearance of a hard cider man?

- I do not judge thee, friend.

- Well I have nothing against hard cider.

I have nothing against soft cider, either.

- Did thee find the cider soft in Texas?

- In Texas?

- What did Stephen Austin serve thee?

- Why, nobody could've told you

that I'd just come from seeing Austin.

Do you Quakers have second sight?

- Quakers, like others, learn from using their five senses.

- Well, how can you possibly know?

- This property was an original grant

under Spanish law, to Moses Austin of Virginia.

Moses Austin lived in Missouri for 20 years.

He was a speculator in lead mines

before he lost his fortune.

Went to Texas as a colonizer.

- Lead mines?

- Last year, my well went dry, I climbed down to dig it out,

cut through a vein of lead ore.

- Well, dog my cats.

- Well, Stephen Austin wondered

whether the secret had been kept.

I came here to make you an offer,

but I don't suppose I can meet your price, now.

- No.

- Huh, well, can't say I blame you.

You're sitting on a fortune.

- Fortune to one man is sometimes misfortune to another.

- You don't seem very happy about it.

What's the matter, is it too big for you?

You wouldn't care to lease me the mining rights, would you?

- Neither lease, nor sell.

- But friend, everything has its price.

What's yours for this property.

- This property is not for sale, not to such a man as thee.

I have heard of thee, and thy knife.

- What's that got to do with it?

- Lead is the metal used for making b*ll*ts.

- Well what's wrong with b*ll*ts?

- b*ll*ts are used by men to take the lives of other men.

- Well, lead's used for other things, besides b*ll*ts.

There's paint, paint which protects things

and makes them look nice.

And then there's sinkers, you know, for fishing.

And, let's see, there's, why sure, there's type,

lead type, for printing, why, you wouldn't even

have a Bible to read if it weren't for lead type.

- A Bible?

- Thousands of Bibles.

You don't think the Quakers are the only people

ever read the holy scriptures, do you?

- Will thee solemnly affirm that my lead be used

for naught but type for printing holy Bibles?

- Look, this is silly.

You just sell me the land and it'll be my moral problem.

- If I did not burst the apples thus,

only the China boar would eat his fill.

- Nevermind the sermons, Issac, just tell me the price.

- Not for sale.

- Is that your final word?

- May peace go with thee, Jim.

[cow moos]

- [Sarah] Friend Jim!

Did thee buy this property?

- Your husband won't sell.

- I see.

- Well, you don't seem very pleased.

- My pleasure need not concern thee.

- You don't like it here, do you?

You'd like to sell, is that it?

- Not if Issac wishes otherwise.

- Will you be talking this over with him?

- There are no secrets between Issac and me.

- Well, let me put it this way,

do you think I might have a chance if I came back tomorrow?

- Thee is always welcome as a friend, Jim.

- Thank you, Sarah.

Well, see you tomorrow, Zenas.

- Bye!

- [Jim] Bye!

- I like that friend, Mommy.

- Ah, thee will find many

in the world who are likable, Zenas,

but few who are worthy of that respect.

- Ah, Mr. Bowie, have a seat.

Did the property fulfill your expectations?

- Yes and no.

How goes the title search?

- Splendidly.

Now, the present owner of the property,

a Quaker named Dickson,

- Yeah.

- Fell out of one of his apple trees about six months ago,

and suffered a broken leg, and he couldn't work for months.

As a result, he was forced to go to his local bank

and borrow 300 dollars, secured by a first mortgage

on the property in question.

- How much is the property valued at?

- Hm, 700 dollars.

- I could do a pretty nasty thing here, couldn't I?

- Oh, you mean, buy up the first mortgage and foreclose

on the property?

Yes, you could, except for one thing.

- What's that?

- I already bought it.

- You already? Why you petty,

You're supposed to be my lawyer! Who in sam hill do you?

[dull thud]

- All right, Bowie, on your feet.

- Get going, Bowie, start heading right back for Texas.

[defeated music]

- We're in trouble, friend.

- We?

- Well, I'm counting myself in

because it happens to be my fault.

If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be in it.

- What kind of trouble, Jim?

- Does the bank in St. Geneveve hold a mortgage

on this place for 300 dollars?

- I don't see where that is any of thy concern.

- You'll see soon enough, because the bank

doesn't hold the mortgage anymore, Jason bought it up.

He's my lawyer, at least he was, not anymore.

See, I told him about this place,

and he guessed it was something big.

Tried to steal it right out from under me.

- Issac, I don't understand.

- Business, Sarah, bad business.

- Well, maybe not so bad.

How do you stand with your payments?

- I'm three days in arears,

but I'm taking the apples in tonight, tomorrow

- Too late, if I know these men,

they'll be here this afternoon.

You got any cash?

- About 20 dollars.

- Hm. All I got's 100, didn't have a chance

to stop at the bank.

- I do not want thy money, Jim.

- It's a loan, not a gift, or an advance on the sale,

if you want it that way.

- There will be no sale to thee, Jim.

- You mean you'd rather lose the mine to Jason?

- If he forecloses.

- Well, you don't make sense, man.

Not even Quaker sense!

If Jason forecloses, you'll get nothing,

you understand, nothing, and he'll get rich making b*ll*ts.

Not an ounce of lead for type for printing Bibles,

you can bet your life on that.

- If it is the lord's will,

- I don't believe it is the lord's will.

Or your wife's, for that matter.

[gasps]

She's willing to sell.

- How dare thee say such a thing!

- Why you as good as told me that

right here in the orchard this morning.

- How dare thee twist the meaning of my words.

Oh, does thee believe this, husband?

- I have never had cause to doubt thee, Sarah.

- Issac, we are amid strangers hostile to our ways,

thee needs the support and counsel of a congregation

to keep thy faith robust and strong.

Thee has only me, even Zenas is confused,

torn between respect for thee,

and a man such as this.

- No Papa, it is thee I love!

- These things and many more I wish to tell thee,

to share thy burdens, and to ask if thee would wish

to leave this alien land and return home to our own.

- There will be no more need for thy worry, Sarah.

This friend has shown me the way.

- I did not know, Issac, forgive me.

- Wait, Mama, wait, are we going away?

- What did you mean I'd shown the way?

- I cannot tell thee that now, Jim.

- Changed your mind about selling?

- No, now, more than ever, I wish to remain.

- Well, you won't be able to without 300 dollars.

- Oh, I changed my mind about that.

I would like to take thy offer of a loan.

- Oh, well, that's better.

I'll go get the money.

There comes a time when every man

has to fight, even a Quaker.

- I will not fight, Jim.

- Well, say a little prayer that

I'll be back before Jason shows up.

[ominous music]

- It's there all right, Jase, big,

deeper than half the well, and no telling how wide.

- Nice of you to tell us right away, Quaker,

you saved your family a real bad time.

- How soon will thee want us to move?

- Well, you may start right now.

- Come, Sarah.

- We do not have much of this world's goods, friend,

but we do have need of the wagon.

- Oh, I'm not a hard man, Quaker.

Get those apples off of there,

and I'll loan you the wagon for the rest

of the day, how's that?

- I thank thee, friend.

- Pay them off, Issac.

[coins clink]

- What's this?

- The money I owe thee.

- Too late, Quaker, you're already in arears,

now get on with your moving.

- [Jim] By what right are you ordering him to move?

- By right of law.

- Well, let's see your court order, signed by a judge.

- Well, I don't happen to have the document on me.

- You're bluffing, Jason, you don't have any court order.

Now clear out, and I mean now.

- You don't bluff me, either, Bowie.

No knife fighting scoundrel

out of Texas is going to intimidate me.

I'm shocked at you, Quaker, having truck

with a man of violence such as this.

- You've got perfect right to sh**t trespassers,

Jase, what're you waiting for?

- All right, Bowie, you had your warning in town.

[g*nsh*t]

- All right, now, stay where you are,

or I'll throw this, and this is no apple.

- Got here fast as I could, Mr. Bowie.

- You're just in time to arrest them, sheriff.

- If you persist in this foolish action, sheriff,

I'll not only have your badge, I'll have your neck!

- You'll not have my badge nor my neck, Jason,

I've got warrants here, arresting both of you.

Charging as*ault.

- Assaulting who?

- Mr. James Bowie, in your office.

You're also facing a suit for betraying the confidence

of a client to cheat him, now get on your horses,

and no more talking.

- Just a minute, Jason.

The mortgage paper, please.

We'll make this all nice and legal

and proper when I get back to town.

- How can we repay thee, friend Jim?

- Well, how about naming a price for the sale?

- No, Jim, thee knows my sentiments.

- Issac, 2500 dollars,

that's enough to buy you a fine farm in Indiana,

back among the Friends.

- Thee waste thy breath.

- Issac.

- My lead will not make b*ll*ts.

- Papa!

- In the house with thee, Zenas.

- All right then, now, this is my final offer,



- It is not enough.

- Not enough?

Look friend, I'm just beginning to wake up.

All this talk of peace and nonviolence,

why you don't believe it any more than I do,

it's just another Yankee way of driving a hard bargain.

You and your piety, why you'll not only wind up

making b*ll*ts, you'll wind up sh**ting them.

Well?

[Zenas crying]

- Thee cannot provoke me, friend.

- Well, I'll tell you what I'll do.

I'll foreclose, that's what I'll do.

I just bought this mortgage.

- So be it, Jim, if that is thy wish.

- I'll be back here in the morning,

with the sheriff, and a court order,

and if you're not out of here by then,

well, we'll just have to drive you out.

- Don't go, Jim, don't go Jim!

Please don't go away!

Don't go Jim, please don't go away.

- You'd better get back to your folks.

- Is thee angry with me, too, Jim?

- I might as well be.

You'll grow up to be just like your Papa.

[sobbing]

- Oh, Zenas, I didn't mean it.

Hush boy, hush, dry thy tears.

- Thee said thy.

- Huh? Why so I did.

Come on, I'll ride thee back.

[uplifting music]

- Issac.

- All right, Sarah, you don't have to move,

you can take that stuff back in the house.

- Jim is just like us, Papa, he said thy!

- You win, Issac, you can pay me back when you can.

- He's not angry at us now, Papa.

- Jim, so far I have refused all thy offers,

now I'll give thee a chance to refuse mine.

- Go on.

- It was your idea, Jim, remember?

Lead type for printing Bibles.

The Friends will mind the lead and oversee its use.

- Well, how do I fit in?

- We'll need capital, thy 300 dollars

will get thee three percent.

- Three percent?

Well that'll give me all of nine dollars a year.

- My final offer, thee may take it or thee may leave it.

- You mean I came all the way from Texas to,

I'll take thy offer, friend.

- ♪ Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie,

♪ He was a fighter, a fearless

♪ and mighty adventurin' man!