- Nat Burkett: You mind what I say. Bring me what I need, you hear. Don't tell anybody what you're doing. Or I'll creep into your house in the dark of night and roast you alive. Go on.
- Elizabeth: I have no comprehension of the word love. It seems to me a delusion that people grasp and cling to. It has no reality.
- Tom Tuckett: When you find it, it's the only reality.
- Elizabeth: I will never love anybody. I've been brought up without a heart.
- Tom Tuckett: Do you remember the first thing you ever said to me? You told me I was a common little labouring boy with thick boots.
- Elizabeth: Well, I could hardly say anything like that now. Anyway I've learnt better manners.
- Miss Stevenson: I brought it with me. Look about you. One clock I used to watch when I was young. It stopped at the hour my heart stopped beating. One candelabra. It used to light the face that turned towards mine to remind me that light can mask a hundred treacheries. One pillow on which I used to dream. To remind me that tears are the scalding aftermath of dreams.
- Miss Stevenson: Then love her, love her. If she favours, love her.
- Elizabeth: Don't. Please don't.
- Miss Stevenson: I adopted her to be loved. I bred her, I educated her to be loved. Love her, love her, love her, love her.
- Tom Tuckett: Well, she, um, she seemed to like me as a boy
- Elizabeth: Like you? She would destroy all men if she thought she could.
- Charlie Wooster: Bill, don't put those dirty things in there. I've been boiling my things for hours.
- Bill Hawks: Charlie, these clothes aren't dirty, you washed them for me last month.
- Charlie Wooster: Now, stop it. Quit. Stay away from my underclothes. A man's wash is his castle, you know.
- Indian Chief Blackhawk: [He speaks to the brave with the drum] Let the drums say that Blackhawk, Chief of the Ottawa, beg all tribes to protect the life of Burkett, friend of all Indians. Let the Sioux. the Commanche, the Kiowa, the Cheyenne, the Ottawa watch over his journey and, if he is in danger, let all Indians ris up to protect him, watch him, guard him, protect him and, if need be, attack.
- Nat Burkett: There was a guardian, I think. There had to be a guardian while you were a minor. Was it a lawyer named Pennyworth?
- Tom Tuckett: Yes?
- Nat Burkett: Then, when Pennyworth died, a Mr Miles took over from him.
- Tom Tuckett: You. You?
- Tom Tuckett: If you've looked me up to thank me, it really isn't necessary, and, ah, I'm sure you understand I really can't wish to renew our acquaintance.
- Nat Burkett: [the smile on Nat's face slides downwards and disappears] You know, Tuck, my boy, that never once occurred to me.
- Tom Tuckett: Look here, I'm sorry, that sounded very rude and harsh. I didn't mean it that way.
- Nat Burkett: Well, maybe it's a disappointing welcome coming so far. You're not to blame.
- Nat Burkett: I'm unrepentant. If time were to roll back and I had to face those moments again, I'd still do exactly the same.
- Tom Tuckett: So, in parting, I will tell you again the last time. I have loved you long and deeply.
- Elizabeth: I'm sorry, Tuck. I did try to warn you.
- Tom Tuckett: Warn me. Well, why don't you warn the wind to stop blowing, the earth to stop turning. You have a lot to learn about reality yourself, Elizabeth. You can't change what is. My love lives within me. You can't command it to end, no more than you can command it to begin.
- Elizabeth: Then I have no responsibility in the matter.
- Tom Tuckett: None whatsoever.
- Nat Burkett: The Indian and the White Man must ride in safety in the forests, and rest without fear beside the same rivers. The world changes, you must change with it.
- Elizabeth: Tuck.
- Tom Tuckett: Elizabeth.
- Elizabeth: It's good to see you, Tuck.
- Tom Tuckett: Elizabeth.
- Elizabeth: Oh, is that all you have to say to me after all these years?
- Tom Tuckett: I don't suppose you're going to tell me who made these arrangements.
- Major Seth Adams: Well, they were made by an attorney in St Louis.
- Tom Tuckett: Yes, they're always made by an attorney. Somewhere.
- Tom Tuckett: That was fifteen years ago. It's a long time to get the same frustrating answer.
- Major Seth Adams: Yes, I suppose it is. But you don't seem to have suffered any by it.
- Major Seth Adams: Hear those drums?
- Flint McCullough: Yeah, they're Ottawa.
- Major Seth Adams: Ottawa? In this part of the country?
- Flint McCullough: Yeah, they range from here to Canada. They're sending word about us.
- Major Seth Adams: What kind of word?
- Flint McCullough: That we'll be in the territory for the next 20 moons.
- Major Seth Adams: What the Sam Hill does that mean?
- Flint McCullough: It means someone wants to keep track of us.
- Major Seth Adams: Do you think there's anything bothering them?
- Flint McCullough: I don't know. I haven't seen any sign of a war party. But it wouldn't hurt if I ride ahead and see what's going on.
- Major Seth Adams: Why don't you do that.
- Flint McCullough: I will.
- Major Seth Adams: Nat, you're a fool to come here.
- Nat Burkett: I tried not to come. I did my level beat to stay away but once I knew the boy was on the train, I just had to come.
- Major Seth Adams: Drums again, huh?
- Flint McCullough: Yeah. But they're Commanche drums. They say someone has arrived at the camp. Who arrived?
- Major Seth Adams: Who do they say arrived? They definitely know more about it than I do.
- Flint McCullough: They're just saying he arrived safely over and over again.
- Major Seth Adams: He?
- Flint McCullough: That's what it says.
- Major Seth Adams: Well, at least it's not a war party.
- Flint McCullough: No, it isn't.
- Major Seth Adams: Well, maybe we'd better check the camp anyway. You take that side , I'll take this.
- Nat Burkett: I can never go to San Fransisco, you know that. I may never get another chance to see the boy.
- Major Seth Adams: Is it worth risking your neck? Your life?
- Nat Burkett: Yes, it is.
- Major Seth Adams: What're you gonna tell the boy?
- Nat Burkett: The truth.
- Major Seth Adams: It seems to me you're disappointed. I hope you didn't let Nat see what I see.
- Tom Tuckett: Well, how could I help it? How would you like to have a convict look at you and say that he made you, that he owned you.
- Major Seth Adams: Convict? That's a strange word to apply to Nat Burkett.
- Tom Tuckett: Does it? Last time I saw him, he had a ball and chain around his...
- Major Seth Adams: And you were ten years old and you brought him a file. And for that he'll bless you for the rest of his life. And to repay you, he gave you a life far beyond anything you had a right to expect. And because of that you're disappointed, you dislike him, you hate him.
- Nat Burkett: I swam the river and the Caw Indians hid me in their villages. Later on, they passed me from village to village until I ended up with the Ottawas on the other side of the Canadian border.
- Tom Tuckett: I wonder if I'd been in your place if I'd have had your courage.
- Nat Burkett: Thank you, Tuck, my boy. thank you.
- Maj. Anderson: An I to believe you warned your friends, Lieutenant Burkett?
- Nat Burkett: The village is empty, sir.
- Maj. Anderson: You contemptible traitor. ARREST THIS MAN, ARREST THIS MAN.
- Major Seth Adams: Tuck, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Like I said, a man only begins to live when he discovers the truth about himself.
- Tom Tuckett: My values have been false, even my dreams false. What else is left?
- Major Seth Adams: What's left is up to you. In fact it's the only thong that's been completely left to you. You asked for the truth, you got it. Now, let's see what you can do with it.
- Nat Burkett: Finally, a man named Anderson came out to take charge, the most fanatical, sadistic man you'd ever want to meet.
- Nat Burkett: A man is a human creature with a divine right to be illogical if he chooses.
- Tom Tuckett: Well, I don't choose.
- Nat Burkett: Love is important, boy. I wish you'd go back and fight for yours.
- Tom Tuckett: No. That door's closed behind me now. Oh, I expect to suffer for a time , but I'm resolved to recover.
- Major Seth Adams: It seems to me there were some extenuating circumstances. Wasn't there a side that was never heard?
- Col. Barkley: What side?
- Major Seth Adams: The Indian side.
- Col. Barkley: The Indian side?
- Major Seth Adams: Yes. Humanities side.
- Flint McCullough: Hey, Charlie, that's good stew.
- Charlie Wooster: Are you trying to be funny or just plain insulting?
- Flint McCullough: Well, I said it's good stew. What do you want?
- Charlie Wooster: That was Prairie Chicken. Not stew.
- Flint McCullough: Well, everybody knows Prairie Chicken makes the best stew in the world.
- Charlie Wooster: I know that but I'm getting tired of everything O concoct around here people calling stew.
- Flint McCullough: Oh, I see. Well, Charlie, I didn't say it to hurt your feelings.
- Charlie Wooster: Well, good.
- Indian Chief: I speak for the Cheyenne, the Commanche, the Sioux, the Kiowa, the Ottawa. We would have the white man's army know that we have no fear of their bullets, or their tomorrow if it is to be that tomorrow is theirs. But this day is ours and we will surrender it because it has been asked for in the name of friendship by Burkett, a white man who knows the honour of the word.
- Nat Burkett: If one arrow is sent winging through the morning, it will call back a thousand bullets. Not today.
- Nat Burkett: I am Burkett, blood brother of Blackhawk, Chief of the Ottawa. I address the Seven Council fires, the mighty Sioux, I ask for Red Cloud, noble leader of a noble nation to come forth to talk in friendship. I call for Bright Eagle, noble chieftain of the Kiowa. I ask for Bright Eagle to come forth to speak in friendship. I call for Storm Cloud, noble leader of the Commanches. I ask for Storm Cloud to come forth to talk in friendship with his brother.
- Col. Barkley: Are these your terms?
- Indian Chief: Terms? Let there be no talk of terms. You are not in a position to bargain.
- Tom Tuckett: I have the book learning. And you have the knowledge. And You have the wisdom, and courage. I just hope I can measure up to you.
- Nat Burkett: Thank you, son.
- Indian Chief: Blackhawk, Chief of the Ottawas,has asked all the tribes to protect the life of Burkett. Is he ready to leave the valley with us?