As quickly as you can, snatch the pebble from my hand.
When you can take the pebble from my hand
it will be time for you to leave.
Time for you to leave.
Can you tell me where Black Mountain is?
It is five miles beyond Three Rivers.
I am going there.
I would like to go with you.
You are welcome.
Hey, Daddy, I'm gonna get a drink.
Go ahead. You can catch up later.
Howdy, Ying. Long time since you been in my saloon.
Howdy, Mr. Packer.
What're you drinking?
Water, please.
Water?
And you?
Water, please.
How do you like it, Ying? You like it clear or muddy?
Excuse me, please?
How do you want your water? Clear or muddy?
Clear, please.
And you?
Clear.
Buy yourself a drink.
Thank you, sir, I prefer the water.
Now, wait a minute, friends.
You ain't gonna drink water while we're offering whiskey.
That's not friendly, friends.
Excuse me, please.
I came in only to pay the grocery bill
my village owes to Mr. Packer.
That's $112, please, Ying.
Go on, Ernie. Go ahead, give them the whiskey.
They don't want no whiskey.
Look, a man offers you a drink
you got a human obligation to drink.
That's only decent.
-Isn't that only decent? -Yeah.
Unless you don't like the fellow.
Sir, we thank you. We prefer not to drink liquor.
You got two minutes to drink up about half that bottle.
Then your friend there's got two minutes to drink the other half.
In the pond there are some lotuses
which stand above the water.
And though their roots feed
they are themselves untouched by it.
Some others have risen only to the water's level.
And others are still underwater.
Shall I seek to measure these differences, master...
...that I may treat them differently
each according to his growth?
Examine the flower.
Is not the flower, in each position, yet a flower?
Shall I then treat each man the same?
As far as possible, without surrender
be on good terms with all.
Yet the flower beneath the water...
...knows not the sun.
Other men, not knowing me, will find me hard to understand.
Accept the ways of others.
Respect, first, your own.
I ask you to excuse us. We do not drink.
I said drink!
Bank slip.
He's got $600 here for gold that ain't his.
How do you know it does not belong to him?
He stole it from my daddy.
Ying.
Who did this?
A young man with a scar killed him and took his money.
I am Po Teng.
That is Cloud Shadow.
I will take him home.
Who killed my father?
The colonel's son, Douglas.
Why?
For the same reasons the others were shot.
They hired a killer, Pa. They hired a Chinese killer.
-Well, that's their mistake. -What happened?
Well, Ying was in the saloon. This killer was with him.
They started a fight.
And this killer laid out about five men in five seconds.
And then Ying joined in.
Well, I had to shoot.
Get back to town.
Use the telegraph.
Find out what you can about this hired killer.
Yes, sir.
Did you ever see that one there before?
No.
Doesn't look like much.
I won't speak ill of the dead.
I'm sorry my son had to kill him.
When will you stop stealing gold from my mountain?
I'm afraid there's only one way.
You're going to have to leave.
I'll give you 24 hours.
And ready, aim, fire!
Gun is only as powerful as the man who aims it.
You aim along the barrel, see your target
squeeze the trigger.
Alright? Ready, aim, fire!
Now, see that green marker there?
In its place, see Col. Binns.
Ready, aim....
Ying did not die for nothing.
He journeyed far and sent these.
We, too, have guns for the first time.
Fire!
To shoot a man riding fast, aim ahead. Move the marker.
Ready, fire!
Do not think of what you wish to attack with the rifle.
Think of all the lonely nights you have lived alone
and see the colonel.
Think of the small children to give comfort
to your silver years and see the colonel.
If we are men, we will learn to use these weapons
and defend ourselves.
Aim, fire!
Don't go away.
The men of the village plan to stay.
You heard my father. If they stay, he's gonna kill them.
They'll fight back.
And you?
I made that choice when I left your ranch.
There has to be something we can do.
There was, but you wouldn't.
I can't.
You know why.
Then nothing's been changed, David...
...except now your father's going to bring in men
and guns and we'll have to fight back.
Goodbye, my David.
You wish to help?
Very much.
Take three sticks of this dynamite--
Excuse me, sir.
I wish an end to your trouble, not a beginning to more killing.
The colonel has men and guns.
If we do not resist, we must be slaughtered or give up.
Between giving up
and making bombs must lie many paths.
No, you are wrong!
We are going to fight. This is our mountain.
The colonel never claimed it until we found gold.
When the whites were here, we were their slaves.
They whipped us like dogs.
When the gold ran out, they left. We stayed.
We kept digging, months and months...
...working, going hungry, living on nothing but hope.
We found gold.
Not much...
...but enough for simple men to live free.
We are not whipped. We do not have to kowtow.
We look at each other, and we see men, not dogs.
Will shooting guns and making bombs make you men and not dogs?
That your heart is good is clear.
Without rudeness, I must say you are welcome to remain...
...but do not interfere.
We have too much to do.
The scissors cut the paper.
The paper covers the rock. The rock crushes the scissors.
Is not playing a child's game a waste of time?
In games, children teach, sometimes more than books.
Come, instruct an old man and yourself.
Rock crushes scissors.
Look beyond the game...
...as you look beneath the surface of the pool
to see its depths.
Each, in turn, conquers the other.
There is no stronger or weaker.
This is the harmony of nature and not a waste of time.
I will treasure this lesson, master.
I have three treasures which I hold and keep.
The first is mercy, for from mercy comes courage.
The second is frugality
from which comes generosity to others.
The third is humility, for from it comes leadership.
Strange treasures.
How shall I hold them and keep them?
In memory?
No, grasshopper, not in memory...
...but in your deeds.
How do you know the colonel?
How do you know his sons?
When I was 9 years old in China
my parents sold me to a sea captain.
The sea captain brought me and several girls to San Francisco
with the intention of selling us to a house of prostitution.
And that is how you met the colonel?
No.
On the dock was a missionary.
He trained us as nurses.
But no white people wanted a Chinese nurse.
So we became kitchen maids...
...I, at the elegant home of Col. Binns.
And you did not work there long?
Long enough. He is offended by all that's Chinese.
The color of our skin, the way we speak...
...our food.
Our ways.
That is why you left?
That and other reasons.
What other reasons?
His son, David, loves me...
...and I him.
But his father forbids us to marry.
And David would not refuse his father.
And I would not be his pillow girl.
So I left.
Dynamite!
The dynamite!
Dynamite!
Look, his arm. He is a priest.
Honorable sir, we seek your wise guidance.
Perhaps you will go to the colonel
and end our trouble with him.
And what will I propose?
The colonel claims the mountain is his.
We claim it is ours.
We seek a peaceful bargain.
There must be no more death.
Perhaps you will propose that we pay him...
...part of what we take from the mountain.
What would you be willing to give?
Two tenths of all that we gather?
Two tenths.
We can live on what remains.
There will be peace.
We will be free and men.
I will tell the colonel your wish.
You're a fool. This isn't China!
In America, this is the way to end our problem!
My son tells me you fight like 10 tigers.
They hire you to kill me?
I am a man of peace.
I like that.
A man of peace who fights like 10 tigers.
I'm a man of peace myself.
The Army taught me that guns keep the peace.
I made that one. It's called a mortar.
Throws a small projectile over 400 yards...
...accurately.
A worker is known by his tools.
A shovel for a man who digs.
An ax for a woodsman.
A gun is not a tool for peace.
Didn't the Chinese people invent gunpowder?
Yes. And silks and medicines...
...and the compass and printing...
...but not guns.
A man who fights like 10 tigers must have had a lot of training.
I was taught a good soldier is not violent.
A fighter is not angry.
A victor is not vengeful.
You spoke of a settlement.
Why should I settle when I can just blast them off my mountain?
They have bought guns.
They will shoot back.
Well, maybe I better listen to your offer.
What do you propose?
Of the gold that is taken from Black Mountain...
...the village will give you a fair portion.
Thirty percent.
One tenth.
Thirty percent.
One tenth.
Twenty percent.
Two tenths.
Let's drink to that.
Will you join me in a glass of champagne?
If it will not offend you
I would prefer to drink tea.
Alright, my peaceful friend, you drink tea.
I'll drink champagne.
Tell your people, I'll draw up a letter of agreement.
Who killed my father?
The colonel's son, Douglas.
Pa!
What is it?
They shot Doug.
Ying's son shot him in cold blood.
Closing up early tonight?
Haven't seen you here before.
Haven't been through here before.
What you peddling?
This.
Pinkerton.
Dowager empress is looking for this fellow for murder.
Sent a Manchu agent over here. Can kill you with one hand.
Start training them when they're 6 years old.
Wouldn't want one of them after me.
Of course, you can spot one of them. That's why they hire us.
I got this here telegram from Col. Binns. You seen him?
It's a big reward.
You lead me to him...
...you get the reward.
He headed south a couple of days ago.
I'll keep it in mind.
Goodnight.
Mr. Sung?
Yes?
He has been seen.
I have avenged my father.
While they were killing my son...
...they sent him here to trick me.
I can assure you that Kwai Chang Caine
is as good as dead right now.
Yellow heathens.
All of them!
Sir, leave that one to us.
Son...
...we have an ugly job to do...
...but we're going to do it thorough.
He said he'd take care of the one who tricked us.
This is a war, David.
I didn't start it...
...but I intend to win it.
We'll warn them, of course.
But if they don't quit, we'll blast them with mortar fire...
...and seal that mine off for good.
That's butchery, murder.
What do you call what those animals did to your brother?
One man killed Doug after Doug killed his father.
Those are innocent men down there!
And an innocent girl?
I love her.
You're not gonna marry a Chinese girl!
My only son. You want to breed me a bunch of yellow-skinned
slant-eyed brats to leave the legacy of my whole life to?
If you want her, take her.
What would you do?
You made a deal with them.
Stick to it.
And just forget your brother?
The law will handle that.
Just telegraph the sheriff, and I can testify
that it was Ying's son.
David, I don't want to fight with you.
You're all I have left.
But I'm gonna do what I have to.
Wait. Let's see what he's up to.
What is that the boy has?
I don't know.
He made a bargain.
It wasn't kept.
Now, I'm gonna make one.
I'll give you one last chance.
Twenty percent, as agreed.
And you send that girl, Cloud Shadow, for my son, David.
I must understand this.
You propose the same bargain as before...
...and Cloud Shadow will marry your son?
Marry?
Why, I can buy 10 of her in San Francisco
for the price of a good meal.
You will not shame her as you did us!
You will have to kill every man here.
Then so be it.
Am I, alone, worth so much?
You have one hour to make your decision.
We got him.
I can pick him off from here.
No, we wait.
He might slip away.
When the forces have spent themselves, I'll be waiting.
I'm taking no chances on $5000.
Much money and endless permissions...
...are required to bring to this land a wife or a child.
That is why she is so precious.
In her gentleness and beauty
we see the daughter we will never father...
...the sister left behind...
...the sweetness and comfort of a wife.
Your friends will suffer.
I am one. They are many.
To lose me is to only lose a hazy mirror of their dreams.
To lose the mountain is to lose their dignity as men...
...and again become slaves.
Were you Po Teng, would you not do the same?
I am not Po Teng.
Have you no advice to give me?
Shall I advise you it is right to gain good for some...
...by debasing another?
You do not help by asking such questions.
Come with me.
I do what I must, but I am afraid.
We've won.
I am going.
Tell her what she means to these men.
She knows, better than you.
The man of peace...
...who must fight like 10 tigers.
Faced with two evils...
...must not every man choose?
Master, how may I walk a peaceful path
when the world is seldom peaceful?
Peace lies not in the world, grasshopper
but in the man who walks the path.
But in my path may be men not filled with peace.
Then seek a different path.
And if, at each turn, appear those who would be violent
and do not love peace?
To reach perfection
a man must develop equally compassion and wisdom.
But, master, how do I not contend with a man...
...that would contend with me?
In a heart that is one with nature
though the body contends...
...there is no violence.
And in the heart that is not one with nature
though the body be at rest...
...there is always violence.
Be, therefore, like the prow of a boat.
It cleaves the water, yet it leaves in its wake...
...water, unbroken.
Choose.
Dad...
...I don't want to hurt you...
...but I've made my choice.
You marry her, don't come home...
...ever.
Until you came, we lived in fear and darkness.
Stay with us.
Put down your roots.
Be our teacher.
What you suggest is inviting.
My way is on.
But how shall we learn to be one with the universe without you?
The path is known to each man...
...by finding it.