[ON POSTER -- The three men's faces are on the wanted poster -- artist's renderings -- above the announcement: WANTED FOR MURDER. A man, BIG JOHN, walks into frame past the poster.]

[Big John walks outside as a car pulls up and several back packer types get out.]

[On the hills above. ZOOM IN ON: A man watching the outpost through binoculars, EDDIE DOYLE.]

[The place has customers. Another enters through the front door.]

[Richie stands in the center, trying to answer a question from a customer about a very old figurine.]

RICHIE - That's from... umm... [He takes the figurine and looks in vain for a label on the base.] From Mali... which... as we all know is in... Africa? [the woman stares] And it dates back to the early... ah... well, I suppose it could be a little later, but I place it as being... old. Very old. [hands back figurine] Could you excuse me for a moment?

[Tessa is involved with an ornate sculpture... which could be some kind of Native American shaman, if you tilt your head and squint, which is what Tessa is doing as Richie knocks on the office door.]

RICHIE - [pokes head in] Hello! Is the boss lady in?

TESSA - The boss lady is stuck.

RICHIE - Listen... sorry to rain on your inspiration... but we've got a store full of customers.

TESSA - I told you not to put that ad in the Yellow Pages.

RICHIE - It seemed like a good idea at the time.

TESSA - [nods to sculpture] What do you think?

RICHIE - This is a trick question, right? What is it?

TESSA - A shaman.

RICHIE - That's like a Medicine Man?

TESSA - Mac showed me a wall painting in a narrow little canyon, years ago. There were these wonderful symbols all around, and in the center... a figure of the shaman, juggling the universe. [She smiles at the memory.]

RICHIE - Yeah, well I know how he feels.

TESSA - I'll be right in. Don't sell anything you can't bear to part with.

[He goes through the office door. She takes off her smock and stands staring another moment at her sculpture.]
 

[The proprietor, who can only be BIG JOHN, leans over a new topographical map with Tessa, glad to be of service to such a charming woman.]

BIG JOHN - I know a lot of wall paintings along that trail, but I can't say I've heard of no shaman in no canyon.

TESSA - I was with an expert guide. He showed me. I remember it was just under a sharp peak.

BIG JOHN - That be Springer Peak, right here. You say it's in a canyon?

TESSA - Yes. I'll find it. How much do I owe you?

BIG JOHN - That'll be four-fifty. [as she pays] You'll need to sign in here, so the rangers can find you if you get lost.

TESSA - [signs the roster] I won't, I promise. [She smiles and starts out.]

BIG JOHN - Be careful up there.
 

 
TESSA - That's... That's crazy. You've just seen me once.

CALEB - Well, that's as may be... But up here, we have a different set of rules and customs.

TESSA - What customs?

CALEB - I like to do things the old way. Before folks got together in towns and made it all so complicated.

EDDIE - Fact is, up here the customs is what we say they is.

[Tessa tries desperately to remain calm. She feels like Alice who just fell down the rabbit hole.]
 

 
CALEB - Oh, I do. But that'll change. I'll show you things that'll make your heart burst just to be a part of it. You don't believe me, now, but you will.
 

 
CALEB - [to Tessa] You're under my protection, now. No one nor no thing will harm you.

TESSA - [rueful smile] You sound like... like some ancient god. Do you command the elements, too?

CALEB - [small smile] No, but I can influence them a mite. [then, ardently] You know I'd die for you, if it came to that.
 

[Tessa idly scans the sky. Eddie Doyle is eating a dried strip of venison jerky and staring at her. The Coles are not there.]

EDDIE - They can't see us from up there, even if they could see through them clouds. Which, they can't. or maybe you're lookin' for some guardian angel to swoop down and rescue you.

TESSA - [defiant] Maybe I am. Where did the others go?

EDDIE - They're back tracking, just in case we were followed, which we weren't. Both daddy and sonny Cole are real meticulous.
 

 
[Joshua takes his rifle and goes. Caleb rises, takes the tin plate and puts it next to her.]

CALEB - It's venison with dried mushrooms. We have a cache of food here.
 

 
CALEB - One day she was alive, and smiling and whole. Just a routine operation, they said. Next day she was dead.
 

MacLEOD - Carl... I've been thinking about moving on... alone.

CARL - [nods, eats, wipes his greasy chin] Knew you were. As contrary as I am, I admit I've enjoyed the company these past few months. Don't blame you for wanting to be shut of a cantankerous old fart like me, though. Wish I could get shut of myself, sometimes.

MacLEOD - It's not you.

CARL - Someone tracking you, too, are they? I knew it.

MacLEOD - No one at the moment.

[A silence between them. MacLeod sits next to Carl, who tears off a hunk of venison and hands it to him.]

MacLEOD - If you wanted to get away from people... as far away as you could, up here? Where would you go? North?

CARL - [chewing away] Yep. Take the Big River. If'n she don't kill you, she'll take you where you wanna go faster'n anything. She'll take you right to the heart of the big nowhere. That's what you're really aimin' at, ain't it? I can see all the signs.

MacLEOD - I just want to be alone for a while.

CARL - Well, you can't have that. You'll never be alone. Sooner or later everything out here will start talkin' to you... especially the river. She'll wrap her big coils around you tighter than any snake; then she'll start a'whisperin'. And you'll have to listen. [belches; eats] Yeah, I'm glad you happened along. I was startin' to answer her back.

[MacLeod and Carl both smile. Carl wipes his greasy hands on his buckskin pants and rises.]

CARL - Jest one more thing.

MacLEOD - [rueful, half grin] Not again, Carl.

CARL - I taught you to track, didn't I? Come on, now.

[Reluctantly, MacLeod rises. The two men circle around the campfire. Carl gestures for MacLeod to charge him. MacLeod rolls his eyes, then does so. Carl rolls to his back, and flips MacLeod over his head and into the bushes. Carl is mighty pleased with himself. He offers a hand to the bemused Highlander and helps him up.]

CARL - I'll be tryin' that on the next government scout comin' up here after me. They'll be along anytime.

[MacLeod throws his rucksack over his shoulder, picks up his rifle, and shakes Carl's hand.]

MacLEOD - Take care of yourself, Carl.

CARL - Oh, don't worry about me. I'm ready for 'em. [MacLeod starts walking off into the darkness. Carl calls after him.] Let 'em come! I'm ready for them all! [MacLeod disappears into the darkness. Carl sits back down in front of the fire and pokes at it, muttering] I'm too ornery to kill.

[Sparks and smoke spiral upward as we END FLASHBACK and follow the smoke and sparks upward until they blend into--]

[A thick plume of smoke rises from the campfire. PULL BACK to reveal it is fed by a dozen green fir boughs laid over the embers of a built up fire. Benson and his deputies approach the campsite, rifles at the ready. The campsite is deserted. The Deputy walks over to the outcropping wall, where a simple message has been written in charcoal: THE RIVER.]

[Benson comes into the camp.]

DEPUTY - Find anything?

BENSON - Willy and Joe. Or what's left of them. At the bottom of a damned crevice.

[Nobody talks. Benson takes his hat off and wipes his brow.]

BENSON - I knew in my gut those boys was dead, and I knew Caleb Cole and the others killed them. But it makes me mad all over again. [Benson reads the message on the wall.] Damned if this boy don't make me feel like I'm on a guided tour. Let's try to find the fastest way down to the river.
 

 
TESSA - If that's what you think.

CALEB - An animal will protect it's young, but once the fight is lost and the cub or fawn is dead, she just walks away.

TESSA - And if you kill her mate, she follows you. Is that how it works in your world, Mister Cole?

CALEB - She just gets on with her life. That's what you'll have to learn to do. And you will, too.
 

 
CALEB - He's gotten soft, there, down in the city.

TESSA - He doesn't think he's a god, if that's what you mean.

CALEB - When we get where we're going, you'll learn not to talk like that.

[Tessa shakes her head. She can't get through to him. Instead, she reverts to her plan.]
 

 
MacLEOD - [hollers from cover] You've been out here too long, Caleb. You're beginning to think you're a god. [MacLeod begins to move forward again.]

CALEB - And why not? Haven't you? What we have, you and me... it's a sign!
 

 
MacLEOD - [to Benson] You think there are ghosts in these mountains?

BENSON - [quietly] You killed Caleb?

MacLEOD - This place did. Wrapped its coils around his heart.

[Benson nods slightly. He may even have understood.]