Red Dust

I thought so!

This flow isn't worth a dime!

I told you Guidon

tapped them too young.

It'll take three years with the best

of care to get them back in shape.

Guidon, that squealing liar!

Before he left, he told me he'd

cleaned out all the bamboo in 347.

- Yes, he did.

- We could use some rain.

The rains will just flood us rotten if

those drain ditches aren't finished.

And look at those slugs!

That's another one of

Guidon's finished jobs.

Whining for leave

when I'm shorthanded.

I knew he'd overstay it.

He would have come up

on today's boat, sure.

Yeah? He tells me any more of his

lies, and I'm gonna kick in his face.

Not that, Denny.

It's hard enough for a man

to breathe up here as it is.

Here she comes, for fare!

That roof'll go in a minute!

Here's Limey.

Hey, did you bring Guidon?

Yes, I dropped him.

He's home to stay all right.

The prodigal is returned.

He's got a lot of nimble

explaining to do.

Maybe he's already pawned in here. ?

These dust storms...

are something like the fogs

off the coast of Labrador

Only the result is different.

Hold up a whole day's distilling.

Tomorrow, you and Guidon

take a clearing squad

Mr. Guidon come back,

him very happy see me.

Me hit like hell to see him.

Grab his feet.

Smells like he could have

been drinking benzene.

At that, he'd sell pretty

well in the States,

if you put a label on his chest

and sealed up both ends.

All right...Heave!

Hey! What's the idea?

You poor sap...

How many times do I have to

tell you, you haven't a chance of...

Well, for the love of mud! Where

am I sleeping, on a race track?

Come on, let's have it. Who are you?

Where'd you come from?

Don't rush me, brother.

I'm Pollyanna, the glad girl.

I see. Came on up the boat

with him, eh?

I came up on the boat,

sure, but not with that.

He was in the steerage,

as far as I was concerned.

I thought I had convinced

this drunken...

Get him out of here, will you?

Why did you get off the boat at all?

You know it doesn't stop here

again for four weeks, don't you?

Sure, I do.

Think I'm overjoyed about it?

But it's just got to be, that's all.

- Well then?

- I left the boat here

for the same reason I took it

at Saigon. - What reason?

I got mixed up in a little trouble

and I thought I'd stay away out of town

until the gendarmes forgot about it.

And what a cast-iron nerve you got!

You have to have in my line.

But don't worry, big boy,

I'll stay out from under foot.

I'll even pay for my board if

you insist on it nicely.

You're the head man

around here, aren't you?

- Come on, Mac. - You're not

gonna leave the corpse here?

It's his room. Didn't you know?

Honest, I didn't. I just took the first

room the houseboy showed me.

Oh please, you guys.

This place is full of lizards

and cockroaches as it is.

One more won't hurt.

You know, Denny,

she might be able to sew.

I haven't got a pair of pants to my name

with a full set of buttons on them.

It's bad enough having to play

around with them in Saigon,

much less have one in your house.

Not bad-looking.

That doesn't change her.

Aha! Beans!

What happened to

that quarter of beef?

You leave the refrigerator

door open again?

Yes, sir, Mr. Denny.

Ice all water.

You don't want the beef now.

All stinky! Stinky!

Better eat something, Denny.

Yeah, later maybe.

Mac...did you ever want to quit?

Oh, sure.

I quit your old man once.

When I sobered up in Singapore

I saw a Britisher loading rubber,

and I turned around and came back.

The company's made me a swell offer.

I could sell out pretty.

- But you won't.

You was born smelling rubber

and sweating to get it

and you'll die that way.

You think so?

Do you think I'll spend my

whole life in this dry rot

just so the rest of the world

can ride around on balloon tires?

- Sure you will.

- Who says so?

Why should I spend the rest of my

days worrying about guys like Guidon?

Kicking a herd of crawling

coolies around...

fighting fever...

swallowing dust one month,

wading in mud the next,

just so some old woman can take

her hot water bottle to bed with her?

Yeah and just as long as

there's one baby in the world

to suck on a rubber nipple.

Now, listen, Dennis, you've got

your yearly case of nerves.

Now why don't you go

down to Saigon and...

to blow the lid off?

Get a laugh out of your liquor?

With this outfit running away as it is,

how am I going to get to Saigon?

Well, as a matter of fact, what came up

from Saigon isn't so bad-looking.

I've been looking at her kind

ever since my voice changed.

Let's lay off tomorrow,

and knock that fellow over.

I never got time.

Don't mind me, boys.

I'm just restless.

Hello, Polly.

I thought you were

going back to sleep.

Not with that alley cat

yodelling out there.

Guess I'm not used to

sleeping nights anyway.

Listen.

Tomorrow you and Guidon see about

clearing a road down to that creek area.

I thought you were

going to let that wait

until that new

survey engineer fellow...

- You mean Willis?

- Yeah.

He's due on Limey's

next trip up, isn't he?

Yes, but I'm not counting on him.

Probably some textbook

ingenue like the last one.

What's Polly's name?

She never had one.

Well I'll have to tend to that.

You can't have a poor

bird without a name.

You just tend to minding

your own business.

This place certainly reeks of

hospitality and good cheer.

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