Hudson's Bay

Jonathan Banner:
I'm with the Hudson's Bay Company and I...

Chick:
That doesn't impress me - so is the Factor here.

Jonathan Banner:
He's a scared man.

Chick:
Aren't all men?

Jonathan Banner:
Maybe, maybe not.

Chick:
So you're the "maybe" type, are you?

Jonathan Banner:
Maybe.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] Hearing news of an armed force near the border, I was sent by the Hudson's Bay Company to investigate. I decided to ask these soldiers a few questions. My companions were a Cree chief named Cavendish and a trapper named Jean Lebouef, who took a dim view of my questioning an entire army.

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
See here, Banner, have you been in this territory long?

Jonathan Banner:
Just a week or so. I, uh...

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
No no, I mean you Hudson's Bay men.

Jonathan Banner:
Oh, um, fifteen years.

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
Fifteen years!

Jonathan Banner:
Something the matter?

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
Mr. Banner, I was sent in command of an expeditionary army and when you lead an expedition for five months through considerable hardship, through what you honestly believe is wild unexplored territory, and then suddenly you find...

Jonathan Banner:
Sorry about that, Lieutenant. Of course, we just trade here.

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
My instructions are from Congress and my superior officers are as follows: One, to follow up the Mississippi River to its source.

Jonathan Banner:
Oh, well, that...

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
And two, to establish friendly relations with the Indian tribes and three, to locate that line due west of Lake of the Woods to where it intersects the Mississippi River which, according to the Treaty of 1783, establishes the border between the United States and Canada and there, sir, to plant the American flag.

Jonathan Banner:
Mmm.

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
Why do you say, "Mmm", Mr. Banner?

Jonathan Banner:
Well, you say a line drawn due west from Lake of the Woods.

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
Yes - to where it intersects the Mississippi.

Jonathan Banner:
Well, Lake of the Woods you know, that's 120 miles further north.

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
I'm aware of that, Banner. Does it make any difference?

Jonathan Banner:
It wouldn't, only you see the Mississippi...

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
Yes?

Jonathan Banner:
The Mississippi starts right here.

Jonathan Banner:
I can't help what it says in the treaty. There's this lake basin here; half a hundred muddy brooks flow into it. Take your pick, but this is where the river starts.

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
You know, I was afraid of something like this.

Jonathan Banner:
Well, I guess it's just one of those days.

[last lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] So we stood and watched them march off over the prairie - that small, ridiculous, brave and wonderful army. And then we looked up to where our two flags flew in friendship and, please God, they always shall.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] Pretty and well-bred women didn't often come to Fort Gannon in the year 1822. Susan Murray was both pretty and well-bred. She was also tough, determined and looking for a man - one particular man.

[last lines]

Pierre Falcon:
[after a wedding] Isn't it beautiful? You know, someday, I would like to see you get married.

Jonathan Banner:
You know, I think I ought to buy you a drink.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] Fort Gannon, 1821 - We were taking on some of the niceties of civilization in the Northwest... and also assuming some of civilization's problems.

[last lines]

Pierre Falcon:
Mary is like a new woman.

Jack Cherry:
She'll make Shaw a good wife, not just a dutiful one.

Jonathan Banner:
She will. She has a great love for him, although she'd never, ah, shoot him in case he decides to give her up.

Jack Cherry:
Now what could you mean by that?

Jonathan Banner:
I don't know. I feel a little vague today - a touch of the sun I guess. Um, I, uh, I have to turn in that report about the shooting, Jack.

Jack Cherry:
Oh? Don't you have it already? I told you the whole story - I was shot by an Indian who bore me a grudge...

[grasps Oussitta's arm]

Jack Cherry:
...but doesn't any longer. [laughs]

Jonathan Banner:
That's what I thought.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] Acting on orders from the Hudson's Bay Company, Pierre Falcon and I started for our destination. Mr. Peter Swayze was nephew of Milord the Lord of Sedgeway of our Board of Directors in London. They decided to send him here for experience. They decided to put him in charge of Wolf House and they sent me to look after him.

Peter Swayze:
What do you do for amusement?

Jonathan Banner:
Amusement?

Peter Swayze:
Swat mosquitos, eh?

[see the lovely Sally Hay walking towards their canoe]

Peter Swayze:
If she goes with the post, the mosquitos will have to wait.

[discussing Swayze]

John Hay:
Is that the best man the company could send?

Jonathan Banner:
The best man the company wanted to send.

Pierre Falcon:
One thing I say about him: he doesn't learn much about trading and Indians - he doesn't care about them and he doesn't have much respect. He made me carry his bag, but by golly, he dance the best waltz best of anyone north of Great Portage.

Jonathan Banner:
Seems like great fuss to make over a tribe of Indians.

Peter Swayze:
Well, when you trap for a whole winter, travel a month to get here... They lost a few canoes on the way and maybe a few men. They like ceremony - maybe they've earned it.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] Immigrants were coming to Canada from all the countries of Europe. They came to the frontier with their hopes and their dreams... and their fears and their legends.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] They came to the frontier with their hopes and their dreams... and their fears and their legends - Fort Gannon, Northwest Country, 1823.

Pierre Falcon:
Do you think there are witches around here? I don't think there are witches around here. They send us on a wild witch chase.

[Banner and Falcon have raced to McLeod's cabin to prevent him from killing his daughter]

Jonathan Banner:
I'll tell you what. Pierre and I will wait up for him and, if he comes, we'll wake you up.

Cloris MacLeod:
Well, if you don't think me rude, I'll...

Jonathan Banner:
A lady is never rude, only misunderstood.

Jonathan Banner:
Cloris!... She's sound asleep.

Pierre Falcon:
But where's McLeod?

Jonathan Banner:
I don't know. There's something strange going on around here.

Pierre Falcon:
I told you, Johnny.

Jonathan Banner:
We'd better not take any chances. You sit by the door and I'll stay by the window.

Pierre Falcon:
I have a better idea.

Jonathan Banner:
What's that?

Pierre Falcon:
We go back to Fort Gannon.

Jonathan Banner:
And leave the little girl alone?

Pierre Falcon:
How do we know she's a little girl?

Jonathan Banner:
Pierre, everything in this life is a gamble. Don't fall asleep.

Pierre Falcon:
Who can sleep?

Pierre Falcon:
Johnny, how did you know all that?

Jonathan Banner:
The same way you knew which witch was which.

[last lines]

Geordie MacLeod:
Jonathan, I don't know how to thank you.

Jonathan Banner:
I hope you like it. Being a company clerk isn't the life you've been used to.

Geordie MacLeod:
If it will make her happy, I'll be happy, too.

Jonathan Banner:
You've got a sweet young girl there. Pierre saw it right from the beginning.

Pierre Falcon:
Oh, yes - from the beginning.

Jonathan Banner:
[to Pierre] When we get into town, I'll buy you some silver shot.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] Working for the Hudson's Bay Company as a kind of ambassador in buckskins, I got used to almost any kind of assignment. Bringing a sick man in for treatment at a settlement - that was, of course, routine. Transporting a whole bevy of mail order brides to prospective bridegrooms in the wilderness - that was cheerful mission that once broke the routine. But during the early days of my service with the Hudson's Bay Company a most peculiar, and I will say a not very pleasant duty, fell to my lot. Pierre Falcon and I were to be accompanied on our return from a long overland trip by a corpse.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] The hardest thing to bring out into the open is the full weight of justice and its meaning. It's been so in all ages, and it was so in the Northwest country, Hudson's Bay, 1825. When it involves your best friend, it can get pretty complicated and hit pretty close to home.

[last lines]

Pierre Falcon:
It is a good thing I did not kill Jingo. Do you know why, monsieur?

Jonathan Banner:
No.

Pierre Falcon:
Then I would be no better than him. We are good partners, eh, Jonny?

Jonathan Banner:
Oui. You know, I think the snow's going to fall early this year.

Pierre Falcon:
[laughs] You said that last year!

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] Midsummer 1820: Pierre Falcon and I were in the Upper Peninsula Region inspecting some of the smaller Hudson's Bay Company outposts. Warrant's Depot was our first destination. The trade there was small but growing. As we made our way we had no idea that we were not the only ones on our way to Warrant's Depot that steamy midsummer afternoon.

[Banner and Falcon spot Indians fleeing from Warrant's Depot]

Pierre Falcon:
I saw the Sioux run like that. They said there was going to be a big rain, but the sky was clear. For three days there was no rain and then, poof! Sacre bleu! Oh, many of the trappers were drowned. I lost everything.

Jonathan Banner:
They seem to be running from Warrant's depot.

Pierre Falcon:
The sky was clear! Like the time of the Sioux. Then when I see a frightened Indian, I look three times.

Jonathan Banner:
Three times?

Pierre Falcon:
For the three evil spirits of the Cree. They say if you see their image, all will be well.

Jonathan Banner:
What image?

Pierre Falcon:
Well, the hawk on the wing, the running animal and the snake. I have seen two of their evil spirits - the hawk and the running animal.

Jonathan Banner:
What if you don't see the third one - the snake?

Pierre Falcon:
That means the third one is away to make mischief.

Jonathan Banner:
You really believe all that, don't you?

Pierre Falcon:
I must see a snake before sundown.

Mrs. Warrant:
I hate this place. Savages... death every second of every day, No place to turn to.

Jonathan Banner:
Yes, ma'am. I-I know.

Mrs. Warrant:
How could you know, Jon Banner, when this is your life, this wilderness.

Jonathan Banner:
But don't we all suffer from the same thing?

Mrs. Warrant:
What thing?

Jonathan Banner:
Loneliness. It's a thing one time or another we all have to live with - one way or another.

[an Indian attacks the Warrant's cabin during the night]

Pierre Falcon:
Did you hit him, Johnny?

Jonathan Banner:
Hit him? I can't even see him!

[last lines]

[before leaving for York, Jeremy gives his mother the music box Banner had given to him earlier]

Mary:
Why did you tell him to give her that?

Jonathan Banner:
What happened here last night happened because of hate. If things are going to change around here, well, it's gotta be because of love. We'd better be going. Take care of yourself.

Buck Warrant:
Thank you, Banner. Thank you.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] At the request of His Majesty's government, the Hudson's Bay Company had sold a large area of land near Fort Rowe to an organization of settlers. The Metis, of mixed French and Indian descent who considered themselves a separate people, were getting pretty tough and I, getting worried about the situation, sent that master spy, Pierre Falcon, to Fort Rowe to let me know what was happening.

[first lines]

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
Dangers in the Northwest Country came in a dozen ways - animal bite, then blood poisoning, rattle and dart of a snake, the silent hush of an Indian's arrow. It came, too, when men sought the truth behind a crime

[after killing the innocent McInnis, Hall is mortally wounded by his father's real killers]

Bob Hall:
You said... McInnis... innocent?

Jonathan Banner:
Brockton and Ames killed your father.

Bob Hall:
May their souls rot in Hades!

Jonathan Banner:
Bob, what about your soul? You've killed a man, too.

Bob Hall:
But I - I didn't...

[Hall dies]

Jonathan Banner:
[sighs] Maybe, He'll take that into account.

[last lines]

Jonathan Banner:
We buried Bob Hall next to the grave of his father. It was an ironic tragedy - the guilty would get a fair trail; the innocent, McInnis and young Bob himself, had died violently and unfairly. I had done all I could for Bob. All we could do now was to pray for him. Then Pierre and I took Brockton and Ames to the governor to be tried for murder.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] When I write about it now, it's hard to believe it ever happened at all, but it did - as it must in every man's life.

[after fending off an Indian attack and suffering many casualties]

Pierre Falcon:
I-I think we won, Johnny!

Jonathan Banner:
What? What did we win?

[the Indians are attacking the fort]

Pierre Falcon:
This always happens just when I'm taking a bath!

Jonathan Banner:
Well, this is to celebrate that great event.

Jonathan Banner:
Do you know to whom this little boy belongs?

Pierre Falcon:
Huh? Where they all belong - to their mother!

Jonathan Banner:
Well, find one for him will ya?

Pierre Falcon:
Johnny, they need me at the stockade!

Jonathan Banner:
I'll tell you what - if I see we got a war on our hands, I'll tell them to wait.

[while Hamilton pounds on his drum to distract the Indians, Banner sneaks into the tent to rescue the captive soldiers]

Captain:
God bless you, sir! What regiment is that out there?

Jonathan Banner:
Hamilton.

Captain:
The Hamiltons? But they're not in this part of the country.

Jonathan Banner:
Not the Hamiltons - *Hamilton*.

Captain:
Private Hamilton?

Jonathan Banner:
That's the man. Better untie these men and get out of here.

[last lines]

Jonathan Banner:
Fort Gannon is about five miles up the way.

Private Hamilton:
Yes, sir.

Jonathan Banner:
I guess your captain ought to be back by now.

Private Hamilton:
Yes, sir.

Jonathan Banner:
Still want to go in and take your chances?

Private Hamilton:
Yes, sir! Are you coming?

Jonathan Banner:
...Yeah, I think I'll take my chances, too.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
There comes a time in each man's life when he suddenly stops cold and takes an accounting. It happened to me on an early fall morning in 1821, Northwest Country.

[Banner and Falcon are about to be attacked by a Cree war party]

Jonathan Banner:
Break out the powder, Pierre. Good times are here again.

Jonathan Banner:
If I could put an end to all this senseless killing, wouldn't that be worth something?

Pierre Falcon:
Not your life!

Jonathan Banner:
Is my life worth so much?

Pierre Falcon:
Is it worth getting killed, monsieur, over a peace that will end as soon as a trapper gets too much to drink or sees an Indian with too much furs? So we get the peace - how long will it last, Jonny?

Jonathan Banner:
You and me, Pierre... you and me, we'll keep it. So for a day or a week or a month or as long as it lasts, we don't have to be big heroes.

[last lines]

Jonathan Banner:
The sun's coming up. Looks like its going to be a beautiful day. Somehow I don't think the company would mind us taking this day off. No... You know what, Pierre - we're going fishing!

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
Dangers in the Northwest country came in a dozen ways - animal bite, then blood poisoning, rattle and dart of a snake, the silent hush of an Indian's arrow... It was late summer when Pierre Falcon and I were ordered to one of their trading posts in the Great Peninsula region.

Montgomery Velvet:
We have business together.

Jonathan Banner:
Business?

Montgomery Velvet:
Yes. Frankly, I regret it. You seem an agreeable enough fellow. Nothing personal, of course.

Jonathan Banner:
What is?

Montgomery Velvet:
I regret that I shall have to duel with you.

Jonathan Banner:
What! Duel with me over what?

Montgomery Velvet:
For me, it's always open season on country-style heroes. I hope you play your part like a man.

Jonathan Banner:
Mr. Velvet, I don't kill for sport.

[last lines]

Jonathan Banner:
We buried Montgomery Velvet and started back to Gannon. Sometimes I wonder if the killing will ever stop for men should not kill each other; we should wait for God to take them.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] White men, red men - two peoples, two ways of life, two forms of justice. Difficult in the best of times, tragic in the worst, for what may be justice to one may be infamy to the other. Northwest country, 1824...

Jonathan Banner:
Sam, doesn't it mean anything to you that you killed a man?

Sam Gifford:
An Indian.

Jonathan Banner:
A man!

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
My instructions are from Congress and my superior officers are as follows: One, to follow up the Mississippi River to its source.

Jonathan Banner:
Oh, well, that...

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
And two, to establish friendly relations with the Indian tribes and three, to locate that line due west of Lake of the Woods to where it intersects the Mississippi River which, according to the treaty of 1783, establishes the border between the United States and Canada and there, sir, to plant the American flag.

Jonathan Banner:
Mmm.

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
Why do you say, "Mmm", Mr. Banner?

Jonathan Banner:
Well, you say a line drawn due west from Lake of the Woods.

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
Yes - to where it intersects the Mississippi.

Jonathan Banner:
Well, Lake of the Woods, you know, that's 120 miles further north.

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
I'm aware of that, Banner. Does it make any difference?

Jonathan Banner:
It wouldn't only you see the Mississippi...

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
Yes?

Jonathan Banner:
The Mississippi starts right here.

Jonathan Banner:
I can't help what it says in the treaty. There's this lake basin here - half a hundred muddy brooks run into it. Take your pick, but this is where the river starts.

Lt. Zebulon Pike:
You know, I was afraid of something like this.

Jonathan Banner:
Well, I guess it's just one of those days.

[first lines]

Jonathan Banner:
[narrating] In the early spring of 1817, the governor of the Hudson's Bay Fur Company sent Pierre Falcon and me to Fort Gannon. My assignment with the company was to handle trouble anywhere it started, anytime. It was a big job because it was a big land. The Indian tribes were traveling to Fort Gannon to trade their winter fur catch. Moving to intercept the Indians came the whiskey traders.

Pierre Falcon:
What did the Factor say?

Jonathan Banner:
Stop the whiskey traders. What did you expect him to say?

Pierre Falcon:
Comme ci, comme ?a - he make it sound very easy.

Jonathan Banner:
Yeah.

Pierre Falcon:
I tell you what we do. We start right in... first thing tomorrow.

Jonathan Banner:
We start right now!

Pierre Falcon:
If a man starts tomorrow's job today, than what job will he have for tomorrow?

Jonathan Banner:
Tomorrow, he'll probably stop more whiskey traders.

[last lines]

Pierre Falcon:
Well, we have finished the work for yesterday and today for tomorrow?

Jonathan Banner:
We'll go down the river to stop more whiskey traders who may be coming this way.

Pierre Falcon:
Ahhh, then we start fresh in the morning.

Jonathan Banner:
Pierre, my friend, we start fresh right now.

[Banner and Falcon mount their horses and ride out of the fort]