Episode 15: “New Money”

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Click here for DVD audio commentary by David Milch  (54 MB)

(Open in Al’s office. Al is lying on the floor, covered in sweat and groaning, shivering. In the Gem, the whores are hanging over the upstairs railing looking at Dan down below)

Dan: You want to know when we’re gonna open, Tess? (She nods) Well we’re gonna open when me and Johnny fuckin’ say so! And you three, hoverin’ around like buzzards outside Al’s door, will not hasten the situation. (to Johnny) It was fucking sun up before Al called it quits. Now, he has earned a sleepin’ in.

Johnny: He locks the door, Dan, when he leaves his office. Al does not lock the door when he’s inside.

Dan: That’s just the exception that proves the fuckin’ rule.

Johnny: I suppose.

(In the street, a stagecoach has arrived, men are unloading the baggage as E.B. greets the new arrival.)

EB: May I ask, Mr. Wolcott, what purpose draws you to our hills?

Wolcott: Gold.

EB: Gold? I see. (Charlie walks past, does a double take at Wolcott) Morning, Mr. Utter.

Charlie: Morning.

EB: Frequents my buffet religiously.

Wolcott: Yes, I hope to locate and secure an assortment of claims.

EB: An assortment? Shrewd hedging—which makes me think this is not your first foray.

Wolcott: If it was, I don’t suppose I’d admit it to you. (He touches E.B. on the arm, as he says this. He then walks over to his luggage, stacked nearby.)

EB: Only confirming my original impression.

(Richardson comes out onto the porch, leaning between the two to toss a bucket of rubbish. E.B. grabs him by the arm…)

EB: Get his luggage. (To Wolcott) My staff will install your possessions.

Wolcott: I thank you. (He turns to enter the hotel, E.B. follows)

(Bullock house, Martha is pouring Seth his coffee. He’s standing in the kitchen…)

Seth: You bought provisions.

Martha: During the night…while I was waiting for you to come home.

Seth: It’s a 24-hour camp.

Martha: So I saw.

Seth: (Pauses) Certain things I said yesterday, I regret. I‘ll be grateful if you’d not rely on them.

Martha: All right.

Seth: Representations I made as to letters I’d written—I didn’t.

Martha: I’ll be grateful then if you not rely on my – assurance that I got them.

Seth: All right.

Martha: I’ll hold my deepest gratitude, Mr. Bullock, for what will let us live as we are now.

(Grand Central dining room, Mr. Wolcott is looking over the fare)

Wolcott : This oatmeal looks old.

EB: It does, doesn’t it? Richardson, Goddamn you! The oatmeal is clotted.

Richardson: Well, it’s 45 minutes yet till the three hours.

EB: Stop spouting gibberish and replace the damned oatmeal.

Wolcott: I’ll make do with the bacon. (sniffs his plate)

EB: A camp like this, one draws one’s menials from a small and brackish pool.

(We see Maddie and Joanie across the room, having breakfast. Maddie recognizes Wolcott)

EB: Once the pig is digested, perhaps we could pursue a possibility that’s come to mind.

Wolcott: If the spirit still moves in you, sure.

EB: Maybe we could do it now?

Wolcott: No. Let’s let your mind ripen and mature the possibly first.

Maddie: The creature I saw outside our place last night, who you said is the camp’s mayor, now perches like a vulture over that man at breakfast.

EB: Of course, Certainly.

Joanie: Farnum. He owns the hotel.

Maddie: Have you affection for Mayor Farnum?

Joanie: (shaking her head) None.

Maddie: Good. Because the man the mayor expects to digest is going to toy and play with Mr. Farnum from camouflage for as long as he finds it amusing. And then make him a meal of his own.

Joanie: Who is the man?

Maddie: A trick. A specialist. Who asks to be called Mr. W.

(At the Gem, EB is knocking on the locked front door)

EB: E.B. Farnum demanding entry.

(Johnny looks to Dan, shaking his head about E.B., Dan nods to the bartender, seated at a table by the door, to let the EB inside.)

EB: Summon Al.

Johnny: He’s not summonable.

EB: For the news I bear, he’ll be plenty summonable.

Dan: Why don’t you go on up and summon him yourself, E.B?

EB: Happily. (He walks to the stairs)

Dan: He’s behind lock and key.

EB: (stops) You’re certain he’s within?

Johnny: Called out to my knock, said, “Get the fuck away.”

EB: Fornication demanding discretion or a bribe.

Dan: He’s fuckin’ alone, and he’s gonna stay that way until he chooses to be otherwise.

Johnny: I think he’s fuckin’ poorly. (E.B. strokes his chin) His voice has got a gravelly timbre.

Dan: Want to leave a message?

EB: In fact, I do. Yes. “Al, if you’re not dead and already molderin’, I send news to revive you. A fish to rival the fabled leviathan has swum into our waters. Get well soon and we will land the cocksucker together. Your Friend, E.B.” (He nods, happy with his message, starts to leave…he stops, turns back to the guys…) You might add as a postscript, “I also have the news you dispatched me to secure of the newly arrived cunt.” Please. (He leaves)

(Outside the Bullock house, William is talking to a red-headed boy. He’s on one side of the footbridge, the boy on the other side.)

Boy: You just move here?

William: Just yesterday.

Boy: I watched the Sheriff build this house.

William: Mr. Bullock’s my Pa’s brother, that married my mom when my Pa got killed. So now he’s my Pa and my Uncle.

Boy: (Points down the creek) Big Trout lives in that deep part down there.

Boy’s Dad: Damon!

Damon: Coming! My Pa and me are going to grow apples in Oregon.

William: Will you come back?

Damon: (Backing down the steps, toward his father’s wagon…) Pa says we ain’t never coming back. Keep your eye on that rainbow. I call him Jumbo.

(Damon leaves and hops in his father’s wagon. William walks a few steps to the end of the footbridge…Seth comes outside)

Seth: Morning, William.

(William steps up to Seth and shakes his hand.)

William: Morning Mr. Bullock. You got your gun and badge back.

Seth: I did. I put ‘em in that basket for you to see.

William: Did you fight that man again?

Seth: (Shakes his head) No. We didn’t have to fight.

William: (Nods his head towards Damon’s wagon) That boy is going to Oregon.

Seth: (Looks at Damon’s wagon leaving town, Damon is still looking back…) There’s a trout that loiters just downstream there.

William: The boy called him Jumbo.

(Seth walks across the footbridge, down the steps, turns back to William…)

Seth: Maybe after work we can make him pay for his slothful ways.

(William nods his head in agreement, Seth turns and leaves.)

(Alma’s claim, she and Ellsworth are touring the site. There is a roar of stamp mills.)

Alma: (loudly) Does the scope of the find, Mr. Ellsworth, warrant more than the five-stamp mill we operate with now?

Ellsworth: (loudly) Oh, no question, Ma’am. Your holdings justify 25 stamps easy. Just a matter of waiting till the legalities get resolved.

Alma: (loudly) And why would the purchase of a larger machine await legal resolution?

Ellsworth: (loudly) Well, Ma’am, ‘cause without title, you wouldn’t own no quartz for your 25-stamp machine to crush.

(Seth is standing in the entryway of the hotel, Richardson presents Miss Isringhausen & Sophia to him as they come down the stairs…)

Miss Isringhausen: Good morning, Mr. Bullock.

Seth: (Takes off his hat) Good morning. Good morning, Sophia.

Sophia: Good morning.

Miss Isringhausen: Mrs. Garret has gone to see her claim.

Seth: (Looking up at the door to Alma’s room) Has she?

Miss Isringhausen: Yes, with Mr. Ellsworth.

Seth: I see.

Miss Isringhausen: She asked if I saw you, please to give you this back. (She holds out his pocket watch.) Sophia can learn on another watch.

Seth: (Quickly grabs the watch from her hand, looking at Sophia, puts it in his pocket) All Right. When opportunity permits, you might inquire of Mrs. Garret, as few children as are in the camp—

Miss Isringhausen: I take your meaning, Mr. Bullock.

Seth: If she decided it was appropriate, other parties would be delighted and grateful.

Miss Isringhausen: Yes, well, she will have to decide that.

Seth: Yes.

(Miss Isringhausen and Sophia turn, walking back upstairs. Seth puts his hat back on and leaves. E.B., carrying in Mr. Wolcott’s bags, passes him in the entryway.)

EB: The camp pugilist.

(Maddie & Joanie walk along the thoroughfare)

Maddie: Fond as I am of you, Joanie, I wouldn’t have brought my girls and my own tired ass out here on just your kind invitation.

Joanie: The trick sweetened the prospect of Mr. W?

(We see Wolcott being shown to his room by E.B.)

Maddie: He offered on one of my girls to bring her out here. Being as Mr. W is chief lookout for George Hearst—that struck biggest in the Comstock and Mexico—I knew he’d just endorse the camp’s future. (As E.B. helps settle Mr. W into his room…) Short side, Mr. W enjoys being cranky with his women. (They reach the Chez Amie) But sometimes when disappointed his crankiness runs away with him.

Joanie: (looking up at Maddie) What’s gonna disappoint him?

Maddie: Devious sort that I am, I’ve got the girl he’s interested in on ice.

(Back in the hotel room, E.B. hands Wolcott his key…)

Wolcott: Thank you.

EB: (sitting down) Mr. Wolcott I’m the custodian—note I do not say owner—of Wild Bill Hickok’s final earthly communication. (Takes the letter from his inside jacket pocket, hands it to Wolcott…)

Wolcott: It’s damp. (Shakes it)

EB: Mr. Wolcott, (grabs the letter) not an hour before giving me the letter, Bill confided to me, having come upon a quartz deposit promising in Bill’s own words “Wealth beyond counting.” How much wealth is that? I don’t know, Mr. Wolcott. I don’t know how high Bill could count.

Wolcott: How much do you want me to pay?

(E.B. laughs, gets up from the bed where he was seated, retrieves another bag from the hall…)

EB: I’d hardly expect you to pay anything. Imagining rather I will pay you your cost (strains as he brings in a bag) to see the letter delivered to it’s proper recipient. Plus $100…set against whatever profits you may generate. Should delivery prove impossible…from the information the letter contains.

Wolcott: (stroking his beard) So, this set-off against profits I might gain in the event that this letter, proving undeliverable, contains such valuable information, have you an amount in mind?

EB: Mmmm. $10,000.

Wolcott: Less the $100 you would pay me?

EB: Correct.

Wolcott: $9,900 net then, me to you.

EB: Yes.

Wolcott: And I would pay you that now before attempting the letter’s delivery?

EB: Oh, yes. Once you have the letter, all my connection to it is severed.

Wolcott: I see.

EB: To deliver it or not, or whatever the hell you want to do.

Wolcott: (standing up) Well, you will have my decision shortly.

EB: Fine then.

Wolcott: Uh, for the luggage. (Offers E.B. a tip)

EB: Oh no. I wouldn’t hear of it. It was my great pleasure. (turns to leave) I trust I will, uh, hear from you soon. (nods, leaves.)

(At the hardware store, Trixie is pulling up her stockings and lacing her boots as Sol lays in bed…)

Sol: I see now what it takes to bring you back into my life.

Trixie: Just passing through, Mr. Star.

Sol: Even so, (getting up) it makes a man glad he has three limbs left to be damaged.

Seth: (Enters the store…) Morning.

(He closes the door and heads to the back. Trixie gives Sol an anxious look)

Trixie: A man can get me in his life with five bucks. $2 if he just needs a handshake.

Seth: (Clears his throat) Good morning.

Sol: Morning.

Seth: Morning.

(Trixie starts to leave)

Sol: Trixie! (She stops & looks at him) Many thanks. (He stands, holds out his hand, she takes it, he shakes it) Ah.

(They smile, Trixie leaves. Sol sits back down, Seth pulls up a chair, sitting across from Sol. We hear the door shut.)

Seth:How bad does that pain?

Sol: It’s all right.

Seth:I’m in my house, Sol.

Sol: With Martha and the boy?

Seth:Chose not to put ‘em in the thoroughfare. (Sol raises his eyebrows) Or, I see what you’re asking. Far as her having a different opinion, possibly, once I showed up--no, she chose to stay.

Sol: Well, good. (Seth stands) Anyways, could you open up?

Seth: Sure, glad to. Any help with your person?

Sol: No, I’m all right.

Seth:(Walking to the front) Swearengen said the county commissioners are all from Yankton.

Sol: When was this?

Seth:Just before we hit the mud. It’s wrong the hills get no representation.

Sol: Even in an Eden like this, wrongs sometimes occur.

Seth: (Walks to the back) I meant maybe we should try to do something about it.

Sol: I’m with you.

(Doc, outside of Al’s door…)

Doc: God damn it, Al! Such as they are, my arts cannot be practiced at this remove. (He knocks – listens a moment, hears nothing.) Stop being a baby! (Still hears nothing. He speaks softly…) Any secrets that you feel need keeping will not be betrayed by me. (Trixie approaches)

Trixie: Doc.

Doc: Trixie. (loudly to the door) Rest, uninterrupted. No visits, no exception. (Shakes his head and approaches Trixie.)

Trixie: From his fray with Bullock he’s poorly, or his trouble with his prick?

Doc: (whispers) If you can get him to grant you entry, maybe you’ll confide that to me?

(Doc leaves to go downstairs, Trixie approaches Al’s door, knocks softly)

Trixie: It’s Trixie – that’s overheard the Doc’s instruction. So let me just shout my information from here. (We see Al, in the same, shaking position on the floor he was before…) Nobody’s dead. Bullock’s gone to that house he built. Star is on his feet, more or less. (Al is writhing in pain) Anyways, I’m gonna stay on the ear over to the hardware store.

Al: (strained) Yeah.

Trixie: (Pauses) Fucking telegraph poles, Al, are the next thing to landed in the fucking thoroughfare. Next leap of the creature, they’ll be here. (She pauses, still hearing nothing) All right, Al.

(Al whimpers in pain. Trixie strides downstairs, determined. She approaches Dan at the bar...)

Trixie: Where’s fucking Dolly?

Dan: Fuckin’.

Trixie: When was she last with him?

Dan: Daybreak, just before he give Bullock back his iron.

Johnny: We’ve seen him after she did.

Trixie: (To Johnny) You brew him my fucking tea. Put it on a tray, take it up to him and make him fucking drink it.

Johnny: All right.

Trixie: (To Dan) If he don’t present himself in a few hours, kick down the door and get the fucking Doc in there.

(She downs a shot and leaves.)

(Wolcott enters the Bella Union, Cy nods to Lila to greet him, she stands and grabs his elbow)

Lila: I’m Lila. Welcome to the Bella Union. (She strokes his hand)

Wolcott: And I’m Frances Wolcott, which I would be grateful if you would tell your employer.

Lila: (Escorts Wolcott over to Cy, standing at the bar…) This is Frances Wolcott, Cy.

Cy: Cy Tolliver, Mr. Wolcott. How do you do, and what’ll you drink?

Wolcott: Kentucky Bourbon if you got it.

Cy: Pour Mr. Wolcott a bourbon, Jack, and tell him it’s from Kentucky.

Jack: Kentucky Bourbon. Straight up?

Wolcott: Please.

Cy: Shall we have Lila drink with us, or would you like to drink with Lila alone?

Wolcott: I would rather we two converse privately.

(Cy motions with a nod of his head, for Lila to leave. She walks to the other end of the bar…)

Cy: Just talk now, sir? I’m not that kind of fella.

Wolcott: Maybe you’re just waiting for the right offer. (drinks)

Cy It’s late in the game, but I suppose anything is possible. (drinks)

Wolcott: Will you take the air?

Cy: If I’m to lose my virtue, I’d as soon do it outside these walls.

(They walk outside, Cy puffing on his cigar…)

Wolcott: You’ve approached a group in San Francisco that does business with my employer.

Cy: That group and employer bullshit really quickens me with fuckin’ trust.

Wolcott: That group you’ve approached is a fraternal Chinese organization.

Cy: “Tong” is not a clever enough word?

Wolcott: You offered them a contract to send members to this camp. That organization has a pre-existing arrangement with my employer.

Cy: So you work for who, Wolcott? The railroads, some mining combination that brings those slant-eyes in by the boatload?

Wolcott: No, sir. I work for one man.

Cy: Jesus Christ. Doesn’t every one of us?

Wolcott: George Hearst.

Cy: (Cy immediately straightens up) I meant no disrespect of any kind to you or Mr. Hearst by any word I’ve said from the moment we have met.

Wolcott: I understand that.

Cy: I have nothing but respect for Mr. Hearst. He’s in the Comstock of Montana, every other place he’s ever operated, without jape or jest.

Wolcott: And the overture you made to the group in San Francisco showed imagination and foresight and a tolerance for risk that was impressive to Mr. Hearst. We want to work with you here.

Cy: (Blinks) You do?

Wolcott: Yes, we do.

(Cy smiles, nods over to Con Stapleton & Leon)

Cy: Con Stapleton! Leon! (They begin to approach) Get over here and meet a fucking gentleman! Those two work for me now among the Celestials, setting up that (nods to Mr. Wu, glaring over at him) miserable cocksucker to get knocked off his high horse. Con, Leon. (They’ve just about arrived behind Wolcott)

Wolcott: I don’t want to meet them.

Cy: (pauses) Go inside. (Leon eyes Wolcott, Con looks expectantly at Cy.) Meet me inside.

Con: Yes, sir.

Leon: Yes, sir, Mr. Tolliver.

Cy: Just go on in, fellas. (They do.)

Wolcott: My only contact’s with you.

Cy: As far as they’re concerned, you and Mr. Hearst don’t even exist.

Wolcott: As far as you’re concerned, Cy, (Wu glares) in the tasks you’ll be performing for him, Mr. Hearst doesn’t either.

Cy: (smirks) Who?

(In Charlie’s freight building, he opens a jail cell door, we see Jane, bare footed, sleeping on a cot under a fur coat)

Charlie: Wake up. Take account you’re indoors. (He pours a glass of water while Jane stirs…) Here. (Offers her the cup, she sits up, to take a sip…) That’s water now.

Jane: Oh, get it the fuck away from me then.

Charlie: Drink it and don’t be stupid.

Jane: (Takes a sip, looks around) Oh, Christ, are we arrested?

Charlie: I explained all this to you, Jane, that I’m the fucking Deputy, and I fixed the overflow cell in case you come back.

Jane: Shut up then. (She lays back down.)

Charlie: And you replied I was boring the shit out of you ‘cus Doc already told you all about it.

Jane: Well, evidently, I don’t remember fuck-all.

Charlie: No, ‘cause after every other fucking think we went through last night, you got to make us stop at that new joint across from Nuttall’s.

Jane: Would you kindly shut your fucking mouth? (Charlie stands up) Hey, what the fuck’s Bill’s coat doing here? (She sits up, in awe and confusion.)

Charlie: Well, he wouldn’t have seen it useless or a souvenir. I figured I’d give it work keeping the bed warm.

Jane: Uh, where is it headed now I’m the occupant?

Charlie: It ain’t going anywheres.

Jane: (She smiles, looks at the coat, lays back down) Thank you, Charlie.

(Charlie smiles and leaves.)

(Chez Amie, the whores are lounging around.)

Joanie: It’s cool. Sit outside. (She opens the door and the girls stand, exiting…) Wide knees. (She shuts the door behind them.)

Maddie: Are we gonna argue?

Joanie: We’re partners, ain’t we, Maddie? Ain’t that a lot of planning and thinking to not let your partner in on?

Maddie: Not sharing it before I even knew the trick was in camp—don’t put me wrong, Joanie.

Joanie: It don’t put you right, far as an atmosphere of trust.

Maddie: Joanie, was there any odds when me and my girls got out here that you might have told us you’d changed your mind?

Joanie: I guess there was a chance.

Maddie: Or I’d have found you dead or moved along?

Joanie: No chance on moved along.

Maddie: Only way to guarantee an outcome, Honey, is contracting to be fucked. Everything else is a chance – including me letting you down. But if I do, using my head won’t be the tip-off. (She sits)

Joanie: How will you bring the girl in to it?

Maddie: At the trick’s fierce insistence.

Joanie: What’s our split?

Maddie: 50-50 (She lounges back in the chair.)

Joanie: What’s the girl’s end?

Maddie: I wouldn’t rule out a wooden box. (Joanie looks surprised.)

(Hardware store, Seth lays a pick axe down on the counter for a customer…)

Seth: Timely purchase. That’s our last in stock. (The customer nods, takes the pick axe and leaves.)

Sol: Goddamn out-thinking myself—resupplying in smaller orders.

Seth: You’ve been dealing with a few uncertainties.

Sol:If the claims get allowed or they don’t, or Yankton stacks the commissioners or not, we’re either in business, or we ain’t, and if we are, you reduce costs buying in volume.

Seth: Your old man?

Sol: On his death bed in fucking Vienna.

(Seth chuckles, Charlie enters, holding a box.)

Charlie: Fellas. (To Sol) On the mend?

Sol: Doing better, thank you. Hope you are too.

Charlie: (To Seth) We was gonna thin these inquiries yesterday before that trouble with Bummer Dan. (Holds up the box.)

Seth: We’ve been gonna thin them for several weeks.

Charlie: Is Farnum’s slop-house okay? Jane is sleeping a load off in my place. (Sol looks to Seth.)

Seth: (To Sol) Inquiries from other jurisdictions, we’ve been somewhat remiss.

Charlie: Whose that fella said “Never put off till tomorrow what’ll wait till the day after?”

Sol: Not my old man.

(Seth turns and smiles, leaves, Charlie follows with a smile…)

(Grand Central, Wolcott places an envelope of money on the desk)

Wolcott: To buy the Hickok letter.

EB: Wonderful.

(E.B. puts his hand on the envelope, Wolcott does as well, stopping him…)

Wolcott: Uh, I’ll have a bill of sale.

EB: Well, certainly, sir. Of course. Uh…(Picks up his notebook, dips his quill in ink and starts writing.) For reasons of legal nicety, we’ll say you’re purchasing the right to deliver.

(Jewel & Doc are at Al’s door, She knocks…)

Jewel: You gotta let me get to your piss-pot, Al. (Dan & Johnny watch from below.) Otherwise, when your mood changes, you’re fucking gonna yell at me for not doing it. (Doc nods to her) I think I should get the Doc, Al. You need to let the Doc in. You need to let him see to you. When I was sick, the Doc helped me. And you ain’t fucking yelled since then my foot’s dragging. (She pounds the door, turns to Doc…) Fuck this, right, Doc?

Doc: (nodding) Fuck it.

Jewel: (Screeches to Dan) Dan! You need to fucking break the door down.

Dan: (yelling) Now?

Jewel: Isn’t that what I just fucking said?

(Dan runs up the stairs, Johnny following, tripping over himself and the others on the stairs as he tries to keep up with Dan.)

Dan: (yelling) Al!

Jewel: If I was you, Doc, I would get out of the fucking way!

(Dan charges the door with his shoulder, he slams into it…)

Dan: Ow! Jesus fucking Christ! Uh. (Kicks down the door, grabbing his shoulder…)

(Doc runs in, Dan’s clutching his shoulder, Johnny leans toward him…)

Johnny: You all right?

Dan: Mm…I think I broke my fucking shoulder.

(Doc steps over to Al, still laying on the floor, writhing in pain.)

Doc: (To Jewel) Would you open up my case? (Jewel kneels down and opens Doc’s medical bag…) Al? (Al twitches) Al, Al?

(He probes Al’s belly, Al doubles up in pain. Johnny watches with his hand over his mouth, not sure what to do, Dan’s still clutching his shoulder.)

Jewel: Do we need to get him laudanum?

Doc: Please. (Johnny looks to Dan & back…Jewel gets out a bottle of laudanum…) All right, Al. (Holds Al’s forehead) All right, It’s all right.

(Seth & Charlie are sitting in E.B’s restaurant, Seth’s reading from a letter…)

Seth: “Please don’t let up on the Stackpole case, as I’m sure he’s out there.”

(Seth looks up at Charlie, Charlie looks back with a blank face.)

Charlie: No idea.

Seth: I never hear of it either.

Charlie: All the portions you had on your plate, I hesitated to fucking inquire.

Seth: I couldn’t have helped if you had.

Charlie: Fuck the Stackpole case then, and the letter from Arapaho County concerning it. Which goes in the fucked-case file. (He tosses the letter under his hat, laying on the table.)

(Alma & Ellsworth are traveling back from the claim, the wagon bumping along…)

Alma: I’d like to buy Mr. Farnum’s hotel.

Ellsworth: To do what with, Mrs. Garret?

Alma:To renovate and make my residence.

Ellsworth: I can think of better locations, Ma’am. With friendlier views.

Alma:None that would offer the further pleasure of putting Mr. Farnum in the thoroughfare.

Ellsworth: I expect a man like Farnum finds quarters pretty easy.

Alma: I would expect even with his venality satisfied, a man like Farnum would feel himself dispossessed and unanchored. I think he’d be very sad, and I would like to see him in that condition.

Ellsworth: I guess most of us got enough luck to be too broke to act on them type ideas. (The wagon stops in front of the hotel, Ellsworth gets up to climb out.)

Alma: What type ideas do you refer to?

Ellsworth: The type the lowborn would say we get when we’re pissed off. (Ellsworth steps out of the wagon) Although…my own aristocratic lineage causes me to use the term “sore-disappointed.” (He helps her down.)

Alma: I am pissed off.

Ellsworth: Well, last turns the wheels took for you, Ma’am, I’d say you’ve come by it honest. If punching somebody in the nose would help, I’ll volunteer one that’s well broke in.

(They enter the hotel, Alma turns her head toward the restaurant and sees Seth. Their eyes meet. Alma continues upstairs…)

EB: Safely returned.

(Alma stops, takes a deep breath, grabs her skirts and walks upstairs.)

(Trixie enters the hardware store and closes the door.)

Trixie: Is he here too?

Sol: No. (Trixie approaches Sol) He’s my friend, Trixie.

Trixie: Among other fucking things. (She smokes a cigarette, pacing.) Anyways…I wonder could you teach me to do accounts?

Sol: All right.

Trixie: I’ll pay you. Or you can take it out in cunt.

Sol: I won’t teach you if you keep that up.

Trixie: Fuck every fucking one of you. I wish I was a fucking tree.

(She leaves…Sol staring after her…)

(E.B. is at his ledger…Wolcott approaches)

EB: Mr. Wolcott.

Wolcott: Mr. Farnum. The contents of that letter are a deep disappointment. Not a word of any find or promising location.

EB: You opened it then?

Wolcott: Are you trifling with me?

EB: It occurs to me, sir, this conversation were best had elsewhere. (He puts the cashbox behind the desk.)

Wolcott: But not postponed?

EB: Not postponed, Mr. Wolcott, no. (E.B. puts on his hat & walks out from behind the desk.) We are men, sir. When we disagree, we come to resolution promptly.

Wolcott: Where are we going?

(E.B. places his hand on Wolcott’s shoulder, leading him outside…)

EB: The Gem Saloon. It’s just over there.

Wolcott: Please take your hand off my shoulder.

(E.B. quickly does as told, they walk across the thoroughfare towards the Gem…)

EB: Some ancient Italian maxim fits our situation, whose particulars escape me.

Wolcott: Is the gist that I’m shit outta luck?

EB: Did they speak that way then?

(They enter the Gem, Wolcott removes his hat…We hear Dan screaming at the top of his lungs from a whore’s room…)

Dan: (yelling) Oh for the love of God!

(The patrons turn around to see where the yell came from, we see Doc leaving the room carrying a large leather sling of the sort used to re-loacate dislocated shoulders)

EB: Please, won’t you sit down?

Wolcott: So you would have me take the experience then as a lesson dearly purchased?

(They sit, Dan stumbles out of the back room into the bar. As Wolcott watches him, he holds his arm stiffly by his side…)

EB: I should tell you, Mr. Wolcott, I have seen men in this very camp, (Wolcott eyes Dan) feeling themselves victimized, seek redress in fashions I thought imprudent.

Wolcott: Violently, you mean?

EB: Thus, at the lesson, dearly bought as you would have it, is where I would leave this business.

Wolcott: In any case, I was an intermediary in this transaction.

EB: Ah, then, having been a pupil, it falls to you now to instruct your principal. I wonder, Mr. Wolcott, if some second letter couldn’t be drafted to put some sharper point on the lesson, maybe remunerative to both of us.

Wolcott: So, your idea would be that we fuck Mr. Hearst twice?

EB: I missed the name, sir, but I can aver as a general principle, (Dan is lifting his arm up onto the bar to support it) My days of fucking anyone are long in the past, whomever you represent.

Wolcott: George Hearst of the Ophir find in the Comstock.

EB: Of course I know George Hearst. (He shifts uncomfortably in his seat.)

Wolcott: Oh, you know him personally?

EB: I do not know him personally, I do not know him personally.

Wolcott: Oh.

EB: But of course I know of George Hearst, and his reputation and accomplishments and wealth, and his power and reputation. And I would say, as well, most importantly, I have nothing to teach that man. George Hearst need learn no lesson from me. Nor would I permit him entrance into a lesson, either inadvertently or by accident, I wouldn’t subsequently and immediately cancel him back out of. Or his agent or intermediary.

Wolcott: Mr. Hearst doesn’t renege on contracts.

EB: (pauses ) Then what am I to do? What am I to do, Mr. Wolcott, (stands up to move to the chair next to Wolcott) but to admit a terrible and tragic miscalculation and supplicate myself and beg mercy (EB sits down now in the new chair, Wolcott moves his hat out of E.B’s way…) and understanding and forgiveness? (He puts his hand on Wolcott’s arm) And to offer, if you would contemplate, any separate or side transaction or understanding.

Wolcott: Remove your hand from my forearm. (E.B. jumps to obey) Do not touch me again.

EB: (He clasps his hands, looking down @ the table) I look poor, but that is a cultivated pose and posture. I am not poor and I am not stingy when fundamental interests are at stake—(he leans over and spits on the floor) as a complete aside.

Wolcott: (studies EB) There is a service you could do Mr. Hearst that would set off exactly against the funds he might otherwise believe you fleeced him of.

EB: Anything, Sir.

Wolcott: This service would enlist you and one or two others, circulating certain rumors about the future of the camp. In particular, about the validity of the present titles to the claims.

EB: (considers this) Done. Consider me enlisted. Consider the validity called into question.

Wolcott: (hushed) I also wish to know the location of your highest-end brothel.

EB: As it happens, a whorehouse succeeding to that title has just opened.

Wolcott: (leans in to E.B.) Nothing just happens, Mr. Farnum. (He puts on his hat, sits back in his chair) Do you think this hat makes my head look big?

EB: