02x28 - The Lion's Cub

[bunniefuu]

[thudding]

♪ Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie

♪ He was a bold adventuring 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 adventuring' man ♪

- Good evening, I'm Charles MacDonald Heard,

former curator of weapons

at the Alamo Museum in San Antonio, Texas.

It was at the Alamo that Jim Bowie made his heroic death.

It was there that I first saw a knife such as this.

A knife that made Bowie a legend in his own lifetime

and it was while working at the Alamo,

that I first heard the stories, and countless variations,

of his search for the lost San Saba mine.

A search so long and tireless that it is now known in Texas

as a lost Jim Bowie mine.

It has a curious history.

It was first worked by the Lipan Apaches

for silver to make ornaments such as this.

Then, in 1756, the Spanish came and enslaved the Indians.

They call the mine the San Saba.

It is believed to be the richest

silver deposit in Spanish America.

Later, the Indians revolted.

Massacred every man, woman, and child.

Destroyed the Spanish buildings, leaving not a trace.

Still later, they masked interest to the mine

and for 70 years its exact location remained

the well-guarded secret of the Lipan Apache.

Until Jim Bowie heard about it.

How he did so was one of his most stirring adventures.

As you will soon discover.

It so happened that in the summer of 1828,

when Jim Bowie came back to San Antonio

from a business trip to Saltillo,

the Lipan Apache were in town

on their semi-annual trading visit.

[vocalizing music]

[speaking in foreign language]

- No, I need my hat.

How about money, uh gold?

- Same like silver.

Plenty silver.

- Huh?

- Big Knife.

- No thanks, I need that too.

I need that even more of my hat.

[laughs]

[speaking in foreign language]

All right, you got yourself a deal.

[speaking in foreign language]

- [Apache] Where did you get these?

- [Girl] No.

- Tell me quick, where did you get these?

- I don't know. - Tell me.

[screaming] Where do they come from?

You must know, where are they from?

- Hold on, hold on a minute here.

That's no way to treat a little girl.

[speaking in foreign language] These friends of yours?

- They frighten me, Senor.

- Oh, they do do they?

Well, boys you better move along.

Go on now, go on.

- Big Knife.

Excuse our, Big Knife.

- Yeah.

Well, what's all this is about?

What's your name, huh?

- Maria.

- Maria, mine's Jim.

What you doing, Indian trader?

- Si Senor, I trade bread.

- Bread?

Oh yeah.

Mm smells fresh.

- It was baked only this morning, Senor.

- It was, huh?

How much?

- One centavo, Senor.

- One centavo, that's nowhere near enough

for a loaf of bread.

How about one peso?

- Gracias.

Here, Senor.

- Well, gracias, Maria.

- Maria.

Maria, the Apaches, they have seen these?

- Si, but they did not buy any.

- We must go, hurry. - No, Tomas, I want to trade.

- Hey. - Tomas.

[screaming]

- Hey, muchacho, what are you doing here, huh?

- Keep away, hombre.

This is with my sister and myself not with you.

[crying]

[vocalizing music]

- Oh Jimmie, amigo.

I have been anxious for news of you Senor.

- Well, the news is good, Don Juan.

You busy right now?

- Oh come, I will introduce you.

Chief Xolic, I would like to present

my good friend, Senor Bowie.

- [Both] How.

- Xolic savvy Big Knife.

- Me savvy, too, Chief Xolic, great hunter of Comanche.

- Aye, aye, bueno, too many Comanche.

- The chief and I have been exchanging gifts.

Twice a year, he brings to me a silver ingot

and I in return give him a horse.

It is a custom left over from the time

when I was alcalde.

The amusing part of the arrangement is that

each of us thinks the other made the better bargain.

[laughs]

- Now, that's very funny.

I have one just like that.

[footsteps thudding]

Only mine's made of Adobe.

You see, they're identical

and the same letters, exactly the same, SS.

Must been cast in the same mold.

- Oh impossible.

- Where getting them, Big Knife.

- From a little girl on the sidewalk.

She was playing shop--

- Just a clever copy, Chief Xolic, nothing more.

Now if you will excuse me, matters of business, you know.

[speaking in foreign language]

- A pleasure, Chief Xolic.

Well sir, what was all that about?

- Forget it.

How went matters at Saltillo?

- Look, I come along with a piece of Adobe

shaped like a Spanish ingot,

you and Chief Xiloc look like you've seen a ghost,

you asked me to forget it.

- Our friends the Lipan Apaches,

act as a buffer between us

and the savage Comanches to the northwest.

I worked hard to establish this friendship

when I was alcalde

and I am still prepared to sacrifice anything

to maintain that peace, even you, my friend.

Is that clear?

- Mm no sir, it's not very clear

but I guess I have to take your word for it.

- Now, tell me how go things at Saltillo?

What is the good news?

- Everything went as expected.

The machinery for the textile mills on it's way from Boston

should be here in a few days.

Meantime, there's nothing left for me to do.

- Oh then, I suggest you use the time in acquiring land.

Soon you will be a citizen and someday you will marry

and establish a home.

- Well, I don't know about that, sir.

I doubt very much whether there's a woman

who want to marry me and I never stay put

long enough to find out.

[laughs]

- Oh, speaking of women.

Got a few little things here.

Thought your wife and daughters might be amused by them.

I'd like to pay my respects,

before I go on back to the inn.

- Oh I'm sorry, they have already gone

to our summer home at Monclova.

- Oh, that's a pity, huh, I'll miss them.

- I miss them, too.

Oh, would you would you join me for dinner?

- Well, I was hoping you'd ask me.

- I shall expect you then at 9:30.

- All right I'll be here.

[vocalizing music]

- Senor Bowie.

It is important you come with me, at once.

- Well, I have a dinner engagement, Senora,

which is also kind of important.

- This morning you bought a loaf of bread made from Adobe.

- That's right.

- Did you note its shape?

- Yes, I did.

- It was not shaped by hand, it was molded in this.

Will you come with me now, Senor?

- All right.

[knocking]

[speaking in foreign language]

- It is mama, Tomas, open.

- [speaking in foreign language] Senor Bowie,

I am Tomas Gonzales.

- [speaking in foreign language] Tomas.

[speaking in foreign language] Maria.

Here Tomas, do not keep the old one waiting.

- This way, Senor. - Huh?

- Say your rosary mama, it will help.

- I will.

- Senor Bowie, my grandfather, Don Ramon Gonzales.

- Senor.

- The door, Tomas, this is not for the ears of women.

Be seated Senor.

- Oh, thank you.

I hope you'll make this brief, sir.

I have an important engagement with Don Juan de Veramendi.

- That friendship happens to be

one of the reasons you're here Senor Bowie.

The other happens to be your heroic reputation.

- Huh?

- You're said to be much man.

A proven bravo of many fights.

Is this true?

- Look, sir, I didn't come here

to answer personal questions, if you'll excuse me.

- Stay where you are.

Beneath my hand lies the key

to the greatest fortune in Mexico,

perhaps in all the world.

The lost treasure of the San Saba.

Does that mean anything to you?

- Well, I've heard about it.

I mean the legend.

- The legend, this is reality.

SS, San Saba.

Silver ingot cast from such a mold,

stacked in quantities this room could never contain

and the vein two varas wide.

How deep, there is no telling.

- You've seen this?

- With these eyes, Senor, less than a year ago.

Myself and my son, the father of that boy.

- The Lipan Apaches k*lled my father.

- Silence [speaking in foreign language].

I myself carry the head of an arrow here,

crawling toward my heart.

My death is near.

Through the innocent play of a child,

the Apaches have found me out.

They will soon be here to k*ll me

and to take the map.

- Well, if things are as serious as you say they are,

maybe you ought to have the protection of the authorities.

- And be questioned about this map?

See my family cheated out of this treasure, no Senor.

Far better the Apaches k*ll me

and keep their treasure.

- You offering me a share in this enterprise?

- Half, Senor.

An equal share with the family of my son.

- You mean you trust me?

- You will do this thing?

- Maybe. - Oh no, Senor.

Please God.

Do not touch it.

- Out of here woman. - Mama, please.

- Give it to me.

I must take it back.

It will k*ll you, like it k*lled my husband.

- Out of here woman. - Do not touch it.

- Just a minute, wait a minute.

Senora, calm yourself.

What is it you want to tell me?

Yes?

- No.

It is too late.

I see it there

behind your eyes, crawling around.

- Go away, Senor.

Forget what you heard here tonight.

I have done you great wrong.

I ask your forgiveness.

- You've told me too much already.

Now what else is there about this map

that I ought to know?

- She worked in the archives of the government at Saltillo.

It was she who discovered the dusty old map,

lost in the files, unknown even to the officials.

I threatened to break up her engagement to my son

unless she stole it for me.

To be obsessed with lost treasure,

is like loving a wicked woman.

You know she leads you down and down

the stairs of degradation yet you cannot give her up.

It is like the cucaracha that creeps into your ear

and claws into your brain

and crawls around and round and never lets you rest.

Sometimes you feel you want to tear off

the top of your skull with your fingers and dig him out.

You cannot.

That is how it has been with me, Senor,

and how I must not let it be with you.

- I'm not superstitious, old one.

What has been your misfortune may very well

turn out to be my good fortune.

I would like to make the search.

- [Don Ramon] Knowing what you know?

- Knowing what I know.

- You are either a great man or a great fool

and I would be an even greater fool

to throw this chance away.

Swear, Senor Bowie, swear on the skull

of my beloved son that you will search.

That you will share equally

with the wife of my son and her children.

Swear, señor.

- I so swear.

- It is done.

[vocalizing music]

Go now, I am tired.

- [Jim] Just this side of the Rio San Saba.

I can make it about a week.

- [Don Juan] Ten days.

- All right then, ten days.

Anyway, I'll be back in about three weeks, in the outside.

Meantime, you can have everything organized here

but remember the fewer the better.

The less people we'll have to share with.

Something wrong, Senor.

- There's a great deal wrong, my son.

- Do you doubt the map?

- No, my own sanity,

that I could let myself be carried away even for a moment

like a romantic young visionary.

- This is no vision.

Why were the Lipans questioning that little girl?

Why was Chief Xiloc so upset?

- I do not look for proof.

I only pray for the courage

to resist this enormous temptation.

- All right, I'll go alone.

The Mexicans'll take no risk,

the Apaches will blame only me.

- There will be no search.

I will not permit it.

- Look sir, I gave my word.

I made a vow to Gonzales.

- This is no longer Spanish treasure

nor is it government treasure, nor Gonzales,

nor yours, nor mine.

Ownership has passed to the Lipan Apaches, it is theirs.

I will not take the responsibility

for the hostilities that surely will follow.

Am I understood?

- Forgive me, your excellency.

Thieves have m*rder*d an elderly man in Niku Vieta.

His name was Ramon Gonzales.

[vocalizing music]

- A few bruises that's all.

Not enough to have k*lled him.

- Perhaps his heart, he was old and wounded.

[speaking in foreign language]

- You have it with you Senor?

- No, Senora.

- You have destroyed it?

- No, no I haven't.

- Their abuelo was m*rder*d because of it.

You will be m*rder*d, too.

Return it to their alcalde.

He will return it to the archives.

Give it to Tomas, he will take it to him.

- Where is Tomas?

- Is he not here?

Tomas?

[speaking in foreign language]

He went for help, did he not come back?

Tomas.

Tomas.

- No, no, no, wait, Senora.

- But they have him, Senor.

They will k*ll him, too. - Mama, mama.

- Don't worry about Tomas, we'll find him for you, Senora.

Come sit down, come on.

- Not Tomas. - It's all right.

[speaking in foreign language]

[vocalizing music]

Xiloc, if you move you die.

- Xiloc die, boy die.

- Boy?

You mean Tomas, you have him?

- Si.

- Where?

Your camp?

- Xiloc take Big Knife, show him boy.

My knife.

- You take me to the boy, first.

- You one good fighter, Big Knife.

You like me.

- Let's go Xiloc, which way?

[vocalizing music]

- Now, come see boy.

[speaking in foreign language]

- [Tomas] Leave me alone.

[speaking in foreign language]

Leave me alone.

[punch cracking]

[thudding]

[speaking in foreign language] - Senor Bowie.

- All right, how about you, boy?

- I did not tell them what they want to know, Senor.

- What do they want to know?

- Old man have mapa show way to Lipan silver.

Lipan Apaches look for old man long time.

- The medicine man, he k*lled my grandfather, Senor Bowie.

- No, Three Hands not k*ll old man, heart stopped

but old man not have map.

Old man make talk with Big Knife.

Big Knife have map.

- It is our secret, Senor, do not tell them.

- Mapa Big Knife, boy live, no mapa, boy died.

- Say nothing Senor, nothing.

- I've given the map to

Don Juan de Veramendi, Xiloc's friend.

- You would betray us, Senor.

- Look boy, I'm not gonna bargain with your life.

Xiloc take me to Don Juan.

He will see that I speak the truth.

[vocalizing music]

- This is the property of the government, Xolic.

The Chiefs of Mexico.

- Lipan Apache no more come trade

or make peace with Comanche.

Make w*r on white people.

- You would turn against us because of this?

- Si.

[paper rustling]

- No.

You have burned a map Apache

but it is here in our heads and you cannot burn that away.

- Mapa in head like picture in water, when wind comes up.

Xiloc go in peace now.

Come back six moons, make more trade.

- Go in peace, Xiloc.

- Senor.

Big Knife come ride with Xiloc someday.

Hunt buffalo, k*ll many Comanche, yes?

- Maybe.

- Remember the words of the abuelo, Senor Bowie,

about the cucaracha.

- I'll remember.

[crying]

- My boy.

[speaking in foreign language]

- Do not cry, mama, there is nothing more to fear.

Come.

- Give me some paper.

I want to write this map down

while I still remember it.

Let's see, Rio de la Saba.

[scratching]



No, wait a minute, it's eight miles north, yeah.

- It is no use, my son.

Map in head is like picture in water, when wind come up.

- No, no, I think I can get it.

Let's see eight miles north on the Royal de la Plata.

[vocalizing music]

- That's how it started,

Jim Bowie's search for the lost San Saba mine.

It's somewhere about here,

between the Rio San Saba and the Rio Llano.

Go ahead, look for it.

Thousands have, thousands will.

Word of caution though,

don't forget the old Spanish saying

about the cucaracha, treasure hunting is like an insect,

it creeps in your ear, gnaws into your brain

and crawls around and around till it drives you mad.

So, if you decide to go search for it as Jim Bowie did,

don't say I didn't warn you.

- [Announcer] And here's the star of our show, Scott Forbes.

- Hello everyone.

Hope you enjoyed tonight's show

and will be with us again next week

for another exciting adventure in the life of Jim Bowie.

♪ Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie

♪ He was a bold, adventuring 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 fighter, a fearless and mighty adventuring man ♪

♪ He roamed the wilderness unafraid ♪

♪ From Natchez to Rio Grande

♪ With all the might of his gleaming blade ♪

♪ He fought for the rights of man ♪

♪ Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie

♪ He was a fighter, a fearless and mighty adventuring man ♪

[vocalizing]