Gunsmoke (1955) s03e15 Episode Script

starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.
Life's a hard thing on a lot of people in Dodge, but it's hardest of all on strangers.
The stranger's got to prove himself all the way before anybody will even suspect him of being anything but the devil in disguise or treat him like anything but a pariah dog.
That's a natural thing on the frontier- maybe even necessary, but sometimes we're wrong real wrong.
That's something I know from experience.
Matt Dillon, U.
S.
Marshal.
Bartender.
Whiskey.
Buy you a drink, mister? No thanks.
Come on, I'll buy you a drink.
I said no.
Too good, huh? Take it slow, Pete.
Aw, he ain't even armed.
Don't be a fool.
Man like him's always got a gun or two hid out.
They're mighty tricky.
Ain't that right, mister? I don't know what you're talking about.
Oh, no? Hello, Kitty.
Hey there, Bill.
Thought you had taken the evening off, Kitty.
Well, I just thought I'd drop by and see how things are going.
Well, we're not going broke.
We're not getting rich neither.
Excuse me, miss.
My name's Jim Rackmil.
I'm a stranger here and I'm, um I'm wondering if I might have the privilege of buying you a drink.
Well, all right, why not? Set a drink up for the lady, please.
I'll take a beer, Bill.
I'm Kitty Russell.
How do you do.
Where you from, Mr.
Rackmil? New York.
I'm on my way to Denver.
Believe it or not, I've never been west of Chicago before.
You going to live in Denver? Oh, no.
No, no, I'm only making some mining investments.
Then I go back to New York.
Here you are.
Thanks, Bill.
Thank you.
To a very kind lady.
Kind? I've been called a lot of things, but that's a new one.
You know, Miss Russell, I, um, I really envy you living out here.
Why? Lots of reasons.
Fresh air for one.
Fresh air in this place? No, I meant outdoors.
You know there's a full moon tonight? No, I didn't notice.
Miss, Russell, I, uh, I have an idea.
You do? Believe me, I mean nothing wrong.
Well, then what's your idea? Come with me and I'll show you.
Oh, now wait If you don't approve, we can come right back.
Well, I got nothing to lose in that.
Shall we go? Well, good morning.
Morning.
Sit down.
You want some breakfast? Oh, no.
I was, uh I'm just looking for Miss Kitty.
You seen her? Well, she wouldn't be in here at this hour, Chester.
I went up to her room, she ain't there.
Nobody's seen her around.
You make it sound like it's important.
Oh, no, no.
It's just that I tore my Sunday pants and she was going to patch 'em up for me.
I see.
She said they'd be ready this morning, and it being Saturday, I Why don't you go over and check with Bill Pence? He probably knows where she is.
Oh, well, yeah.
Morning, Doc.
Morning.
I thought you was going to wait for me in your office.
I got tired of waiting.
You got hungry, huh? No, no, just trying to keep from getting hungry, Doc.
Well, I'm the one that's late anyway.
I've been waiting up at the office for Kitty.
Kitty? Yeah.
She was supposed to be in there first thing this morning.
What for? Oh, toothache.
Wanted me to look at a tooth.
I guess she hasn't gotten up yet.
Everybody's looking for Kitty this morning.
Chester was just up to her room- she wasn't there either.
Oh, is that so? Well Oh, let's see, Emmie Oh, just uh, bring me a bowl of mush.
Mr.
Dillon, I just run into Bill Pence outside.
He said that she left the Long Branch about 10:00 last night with some dude from back east and she ain't been back yet.
Well, who was he? Did Bill say who he was? Just some stranger.
But he was real rich looking.
Wearing real fancy clothes and all, and Well, it just don't seem like Miss Kitty to go off with a perfect stranger like that.
No, it isn't.
But Pence didn't say what his name was, huh? Well, I didn't ask him.
Man like that most likely be staying over at the Dodge House I guess.
Yeah.
Let's go over there and check into it.
Oh, Matt, I'll wait for you in your office.
All right, Doc.
Only one man fits that description, Marshal.
A fella named Rackmil, James Rackmil.
Got in here yesterday on the Santa Fe.
Said he was headed for Denver.
Is he here now? No.
He wasn't here all last night.
You know, Marshal, I was kind of wondering about him.
What's he gone and done, anyhow? Well, I don't know, Mr.
Dobie, but if he shows up, I want you to let me know right away, will ya? I sure will.
I don't trust them dudes anyhow.
All right.
Sure.
Good-bye, Chester.
Look, you better check in with the stage depot, and I'll try the Santa Fe.
I'll meet you back at the office later.
Yeah.
If that fella's done anything to Miss Kitty, I'll shoot him myself.
You find anything? No.
I went back up to her room again, too, and she still ain't there.
By golly, Matt, Kitty just couldn't vanish off the face of the Earth like this.
She wouldn't do a thing like this without telling us.
No.
No, Doc, not if she could help it.
What do you mean? The only place I haven't checked so far is Moss Grimmick's stable.
I'm going over there right now.
Well, Moss Grimmick's over at the Dodge House, Mr.
Dillon.
I seen him on the street.
Huh.
All right.
But Well, Doc, you I mean, Doc, you don't think this fella No! No, no, of course not, Chester.
Hello, Moss.
Oh, hello, Marshal.
You want to read the paper, too? No, thanks.
I'm almost finished with it.
Look, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions, Moss.
Oh? What about? Have you rented out any horses last night or early this morning? You mean saddle horses, don't you? Yeah.
Don't suppose you'd be interested in anybody in a horse and buggy, would you? Well, I sure would.
Who'd you rent it to? Oh, some stranger last night.
A dude? Oh, he was a dude, all right.
Was there anybody with him, Moss? He had a girl with him, but she waited outside.
I don't know who she was.
But I want that horse and buggy of mine back, Marshal.
They said they was only going for a short drive.
Did they say where? Well, they asked me how far it was to Indian Springs and I told him, oh, about ten miles.
Thanks, Moss.
What are you stopping for, Mr.
Dillon? Chester, we got to give these horses a rest or we'll be on foot out here.
Better loosen your cinch.
I just hope that that buggy don't get too far ahead.
I just hope it's the right buggy.
It's got to be.
Why, 'cause it's the only tracks we've seen out here? Well, it's just got to be.
I know at least half a dozen ranchers that drive their wives to town in buggies, Chester.
But there here are fresh tracks, Mr.
Dillon.
That still doesn't tell us who made 'em.
Well, do you aim to stop following them? Not going to stop following them- it's the only thing we got to go on.
Well, I sure hate to stop when Miss Kitty might be needing us real bad.
Well, let's walk them a while.
Why didn't I bring some matches? It's a little late for a fire, don't you think? Could have had one last night.
Cozy.
I'm going to give it one more try.
Well, if it doesn't work, flag down a train, will ya? Sure a lot of horses crossed here.
Yeah.
Look at the size of those tracks.
Yeah, they ain't very big, are they? They're pony tracks, Chester.
Indian? Let's go.
Well, you all ready to go? Oh, it's impossible.
The axle is bent right where the wheel came off.
All my fault, I suppose.
No, I'm not blaming you.
You're not? You're not blaming me? Well, of all the Well, if you hadn't slapped me, I wouldn't have run over that log and lost the wheel.
You had the slap coming, mister.
For trying to kiss you? I don't want to talk about it.
We went through all that last night.
Well, what's wrong with taking a girl for a ride in the moonlight and trying to kiss her? Nothing, except I'm not the girl.
I know.
I shouldn't have come out here with you anyhow.
Kitty, you were perfectly safe with me.
Safe? You call this safe out here in the middle of nowhere? with nothing to eat, not even a blanket? Look, Kitty, the only reason I didn't let you ride the horse back to Dodge last night was because it's too dangerous.
Well, it's daylight now, and I'm leaving.
I'll send Moss Grimmick back for you and the buggy.
Now wait a minute, Kitty.
You can't ride all the way back to Dodge even if it is daylight.
I'm not from New York, Jim.
I can ride.
Oh, you think I can't ride, huh? Well, you're wrong.
My father taught me when I was a boy.
Well, it's too bad he didn't teach you how to fix a bent axle on a buggy.
Kitty, that prairie is no place for a woman alone.
What do you want me to do, spend the rest of my life out here? No, but there's water here.
Somebody's bound to come by sooner or later.
Well, good, they'll find you, but they're not gonna find me.
All right, now wait a minute.
If you insist on going, I won't stop you.
You wait here.
I'll get the horse.
That's the first helpful thought you've had.
Now what? There's no saddle.
You can't ride him bareback.
I'm half Indian, mister, and these skirts are all the saddle I need.
All right.
Ho! Hah! Maybe it's just an old one that somebody went off and left.
No, Chester, this is Moss Grimmick's rig.
Well, he sure must have hit something awful hard to bent the axle up like that.
Yeah.
Knocked the wheel off.
You ever see these before? No.
Sure is a fancy one, though, ain't it? Yeah, looks like a dude's to me.
Oh, Matt, Matt! Oh! Ain't a sign of nobody out there, Mr.
Dillon.
No.
How's Miss Kitty doing? Oh, she'll be all right as soon as she's had a little coffee, I guess.
Sure.
Sure takes a lot to get her down, you know? Yeah.
Did you get the buggy fixed? Yeah, the axle was bent.
I fixed it enough to get back to town anyway.
When are we gonna leave? As soon as she's ready to go.
You better keep a lookout here, though, just in case.
All right, sir.
You sure carry everything in those saddlebags, don't you? Yeah, usually I got a little jerky with me, too, but All I want is coffee.
Now, Kitty, as soon as I get a horse hitched up to that buggy, you'll be eating in Delmonico's.
Say, Matt, about how far is it from Dodge? Oh, it's about ten miles.
Do the Indians usually come that close to town? Yeah, sometimes they do.
Here you are.
Now watch out 'cause that's hot.
I need this.
Well, I guess I'll go harness my horse up to the buggy.
Matt, wait a minute.
I told you everything except how Jim Rackmil happened to drive the buggy over the log and break the wheel off.
I know it sounds silly, but I gotta tell you.
I'll bet I can guess.
Well, he tried to kiss me, and I slapped him, and it made him jerk the horse around.
Kitty, you got quite a temper.
I sure paid for it this time.
Bet you haven't learned a thing.
No, but Jim Rackmil's gonna learn something when I find him back in Dodge.
Well, maybe you won't have to.
Huh? Well, you said you didn't watch how far those Indians chased him.
What makes you think he got away? I hope he didn't.
I hope he didn't.
Running out on a woman like that.
Mr.
Dylan! Mr.
Dylan, come here.
Could that there be Rackmil? It might be.
What on Earth is he doing coming back here? I don't know.
Maybe he got lost.
Maybe he's been going around in circles or something.
Fancy him trying to ride off and leave Miss Kitty here.
Uh-oh.
Well, Kitty, that your friend? Yep.
Uh-huh.
No, Matt, you let me handle this.
Kitty, you all right? Who are those men? Them? They rode in a little while ago.
They been bothering you? Bothering me? Well, have they? You're a fine one to talk about bothering a woman.
The lady's with me, gentlemen.
Now, look here, you tinhorn Lothario.
Kitty, hurry up and get on the horse.
Come on.
I'll keep them I'll keep them from being distracted.
Hurry.
Are you really crazy? Will you hurry up and get on the horse? I'll keep them from following you somehow.
Come on.
I don't understand you! Kitty, it's perfectly simple.
I don't trust those men.
I've gotta get you out of here.
Now come on.
You've got to get me out of here? You?! Kitty, will you be sensible before it's too late? You're the man who saw those Indians coming and jumped on his horse and ran for his life.
That isn't true! Well, I stood right over there and watched you do it, didn't I? Kitty, that was the only way I could think of of saving you! I rode out there so those Indians would chase me and leave you alone! I was scared, sure.
I was so scared I didn't even dare look back.
You bet you didn't.
Now wait a minute, Kitty.
Oh, no, you don't, mister.
Now you two just get on your horses and ride on out of here right now.
Wait a minute.
No.
No, wait a minute.
Maybe you don't understand.
This lady, she's my wife.
Your what?! Look, you idiot, that's Marshal Dillon from Dodge.
Marshal Dillon? And that's Chester Goode.
They're friends of mine and they came out looking for me.
And what's more, I told them everything that you did.
Now wait a minute, Kitty.
You know, Rackmil here was ready to protect you any way he could just now.
I think that took a lot of courage.
Especially seeing he isn't even wearing a gun.
Well, maybe, but he still left me to the Indians.
Well, sure, but he had his reasons.
And I believe him.
Thank you.
It's true, Kitty.
I wouldn't have done a thing like that.
Sure, I was scared, but I'm not that much of a coward.
Well, I don't think you are, either, Rackmil.
But I tell you one thing, you were mighty lucky.
I sure was.
I don't think you know what I mean.
If that had been a war party, you wouldn't be here now.
What? Those must have been peaceable Indians.
No, I think they were a hunting party.
They probably came down here to the water hole to look for game, and when they saw you ride out, they figured there wasn't any so they just probably went away.
Are you sure about that, Matt? Well, I, I don't know what else it could be, Kitty.
But you certainly couldn't expect Rackmil here to know that.
Guess I owe you an apology, Jim.
No.
I'm sorry.
I know it took a lot of courage for you to do what you did.
I'm proud to know you.
Thank you.
Chester? Yes, sir.
Hitch this horse up to the buggy, will ya? We want to be back to Dodge in time for supper tonight.
Yes, sir.
Rackmil, will you drive the buggy back to town? Certainly.
Just try not to wreck it this time.
How about having supper with us tonight? Kitty? Well, it'd be a pleasure.
Thank you.