Gunsmoke (1955) s04e39 Episode Script

Starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.
Boot Hill.
This is the graveyard of the violent ones men killed by their own kind.
Whites killed by whites.
A lot of men are buried here.
But a lot more men hundreds more lie in unmarked graves, scattered all over the prairie.
They, the unknown, the forgotten, were killed by red men, and they were killed because they brought violence to the Indian.
And the Indian, as any honorable man would, struck back.
I, for one, never blamed him.
Matt Dillon, U.
S.
Marshal.
Want to stop and rest a while, Chester? Well, uh, I'm so right nodding out, it don't matter much one way or the other what we do.
How far do you think it is to Dodge anyway? Oh, probably 50 miles, anyway.
Well, I'd just as soon get rid of as many of them as we can today.
I think we've been gone long enough.
Let's keep pushing on, then.
They scalped him, Mr.
Dillon.
Yeah, the boy, too.
I'd better take a look inside.
What did you find? Well, they killed the woman, too.
- A woman? - Yeah.
Oh.
- And we got one of them.
- Yeah.
What is he, Mr.
Dillon? He's a Cheyenne.
Well, look at that.
That there's a Spencer, ain't it? Brand-new.
- That explains one thing, anyway.
- What do you mean? I haven't seen any arrows anywhere around here.
You know, I hadn't noticed.
Cheyennes with brand-new Spencers.
He must've stole that from somewheres, huh? I don't think so, Chester.
There isn't an arrow or a lance or a spear anywhere around here.
The whole war party must have had these.
That only means one thing.
They've been getting them from a gunrunner.
Oh, that's bad, Mr.
Dillon.
That there's real bad.
Well, they must be from Fort Dodge.
Who's that in command there, though? I can't tell.
I tell you, I never seen that captain before myself.
As a matter of fact, I don't recognize any of them men.
Well, I heard there was a new troop out there.
- This must be part of it.
- Yeah.
Halt.
Who are you men? What are you doing here? We just got here.
I asked you what you were doing here.
Well, Captain, I guess we're doing the same thing you are looking around.
Captain, look at that rifle he's holding.
It's one of those '44 Spencers, sir.
- Disarm him, Sergeant.
- Yes, sir.
Now, Captain, maybe I'd better tell you who I am.
I'm a United States Marshal over in Dodge City.
My name's Dillon.
Ah? Where's your badge? You don't look like a Marshal to me.
- Proceed, Sergeant.
- Yes, sir.
I'll take that rifle, mister.
Get his pistol, too.
You men are prisoners.
I'm taking you back to Fort Dodge.
Captain, aren't you interested in what happened to these Indians that did this? - Sergeant.
- Yes, sir.
Detail a guard for these men, and then form a burial party.
Yes, sir.
Smith! Waller! Schwartz! Get down here! Captain Nichols reporting with a prisoner, sir.
Bring him in.
Are these your prisoners, Captain? Yes, sir.
You think they have something to do with the gunrunners? I think so, sir.
Hi, Matt.
Hello, Chester.
Hello, Major.
Captain, this is Matt Dillon, Marshal of Dodge City.
And this is Chester Goode.
Well, heh.
Well Marshal, I'm sorry for what happened.
It's all right, Captain.
I probably would've done the same thing under the circumstances.
Oh, come on, Matt.
You could've proved who you were.
Why didn't you do it? To tell you the truth, Major, I was kind of curious.
About what? The only thing we found at that ranch was a brand-new Spencer rifle.
No arrows, no lances, spears, nothing.
Now, what's going on? Well, Matt, you know about the reservations east of here.
Well, yeah, I know you're holding a couple of thousand Cheyenne up there till you can move them to Oklahoma.
That's right.
Except we lost a few, about 10 or 15.
That's bad enough you saw that.
Yeah.
You got any idea who's leading them? Yeah.
A renegade Indian named Stone Eagle.
The captain's orders were to catch anybody that was supplying them with rifles.
We don't stop this gunrunning, each one of those braves is going to slip away from that reservation and join them.
Yeah, that's bad.
Real bad.
Captain, show them where to clean up.
Set up a couple of extra places in the mess.
And we have time for a drink just before dinner.
All right.
You know, Major, you may be chasing some gunrunners that you're not going to find.
Why won't we find them? You haven't yet, have you? No.
If you were a Cheyenne, I bet you could.
So what? Tell me, is Long Robe still out on that reservation? The old man? Yeah, why? I used to know him a long time ago.
He was a friend.
What does that mean? Maybe I'll go out there and have a talk with him.
That's impossible.
Those Indians are so restless they'd kill any white man that went near that reservation.
Maybe I can to him before they do.
It isn't worth it, Matt.
I'll tell you about that later.
You mean you're going anyhow? Yeah.
Maybe it'll help to get the sight of that homesteader family out of my mind.
Don't go in there unarmed, Mr.
Dillon.
A gun wouldn't do us much good, Chester, if those Cheyenne decide they want us.
No, I reckon not.
You wanted to come.
Well, I ain't complaining.
Not yet, anyway.
Whatever you do, move slow, because they're watching us all the time.
Yeah.
Some young buck could could get his first coup feather by spearing us, too.
Well, you wouldn't want to keep a man from becoming a brave, would you? Oh, no, of course not.
Sit down, my sons.
It's been a long time, Long Robe.
I know why you have come now.
Stone Eagle.
Four more braves went past soldiers last night, leaving reservation.
There will be more tomorrow, and for days to come.
It'll just lead to war, Long Robe.
Big war.
I cannot stop them.
Stone Eagle has many rifles.
He has a few.
The Army has as many rifles as the leaves on that tree.
The Cheyenne cannot win, Long Robe.
He must live in peace, or be destroyed.
You're a wise man.
You know that.
Yes, I know.
Now, Stone Eagle must be stopped, or many Indians will be killed.
You want to know where rifles come from.
It will save many Cheyenne lives.
For the sake of my people, I will tell you.
A place north of here Rock Mound.
There is cabin there.
Rock Mound.
Yes, I think I know where that is.
- And I must warn you, my son.
- What? The feelings of my people are like powder.
If your soldiers kill Stone Eagle and his braves, word will come.
Every brave here will rise and go on the warpath, whether they have rifles or not.
If the soldiers or you kill one Cheyenne, this will happen.
It's as bad as that, huh? I speak the truth.
All right, Long Robe.
When this is all over, I'll come back.
- We'll smoke the peace pipe.
- Yes.
If you come back.
Go right in, Marshal.
He's waiting for you.
Thanks, Sergeant.
- Good morning, Marshal.
- Hello, Captain.
Where's Major Henneman? Well, the major was ordered to Fort Larned for a few days.
Word came late last night obliging him to leave at once.
I'm in full command until the major returns.
I see.
Now, uh, did you learn anything yesterday? Yes, I found out where Stone Eagle meets the gunrunners.
Well, that solves our problem.
Well, not quite, I'm afraid.
Well, all I'll have to do is take my troop out there and wait for Stone Eagle to come get more rifles.
I can wipe out him and the gunrunners at the same time.
I'm afraid it's not quite as simple as that, Captain.
No? Why not? Long Robe's a wise old chief.
He knows his people pretty well.
So? Your soldiers kill one brave, there'll be an uprising.
There's an uprising already, Marshal.
This would mean the entire Cheyenne nation.
Doesn't make sense.
Maybe not to us.
It does to them.
I'll chance it, Marshal.
Now, uh, where is this meeting place? I'm afraid I can't tell you, Captain.
I order you to tell me.
Sorry.
I can have you thrown in the guardhouse.
Captain, you do what you want.
I'm heading back to Dodge.
- Sergeant.
- Yes, sir.
Come in here, please.
What are you stopping for, Mr.
Dillon? Well, we're out of sight of Fort Dodge now.
Yeah, well, what are you looking for? I'm trying to figure out the best trail over to Rock Mound.
Rock Mound? I thought we was going back to Dodge.
Well, Chester, the Indians may belong to the Army, but I got a claim on those gunrunners.
Well, I sure was looking forward to a nice, cold glass of beer.
Well, you don't have to come.
Well, no, no.
Now, I didn't mean that.
I know I don't have to go.
l Come on, let's go.
Did we find it? Yeah, it looks that way.
It's plum deserted-looking to me.
It won't be for long.
Come on, let's get down there.
I'd sure hate to call this place home.
I'm afraid we'll have to for a while, Chester.
This place ain't fit for a hog.
Well, you'll get used to it, Chester, if we stay here long enough.
You want to stay in here? Yeah, it's a good a place as any.
Got a pretty good view all the way around.
Ain't going to do no cooking on this here stove, that's for sure.
It's not likely we'll be building a fire anywhere.
Well, I reckon I could clean it up a little bit.
Well, no telling how long we'll have to stay here.
We'd better get the horses hidden.
You know, Mr.
Dillon, I was just thinking.
What if them Cheyenne get here before the gunrunners do? Yeah.
I've been thinking about that myself.
Well, what would we do, though? I mean I don't know, Chester.
It's like Long Robe said we kill one Cheyenne, even in self-defense, and it's liable to start a war that'll set the whole frontier on fire.
I just thought of something else, Mr.
Dillon, about our horses.
You know, we don't know what's going to happen to us, one way or another.
Don't you think it might be a good idea to get them all saddled up so they could run if we have to get out of here fast? I saddled them this morning, Chester.
Oh, well, that's good.
Listen, you'd better get back to that window.
Those Indians will be coming any minute, any they might be coming from any direction.
I just hope that them gunrunners get here first.
Yeah.
Uh-oh.
- What is it? - Look at this.
The gunrunners.
It's got to be.
We're in luck, Mr.
Dillon.
They beat the Indians here.
Whoa! You know, we could stand right here in the cabin and just pick them right off that wagon there.
No, Chester, I want to see those two hang.
Might serve as a warning to keep others from running guns.
Well, we made it.
Yeah, in good time, too.
Say, you still got that jug of whiskey hid under the seat? Yeah.
And it's still half full.
You and me both need a drink.
- Cover them from this window.
- Yeah.
I'm going outside.
Hold it! - Good shooting, Chester.
- Is he dead? Yeah.
How did you find us? You got rifles in that wagon? Mostly ammunition.
Them Indians need it worse than rifles.
Where did you get it? Wichita.
I'm I'm dying, Marshal.
And you're going to die, too.
Them Indians they're never late when they're out of ammunition.
They'll be here any minute.
I wish I could stay and watch what they do to you.
Mr.
Dillon, maybe he was lying to us about them Indians and all, just trying to scare us.
No, I'm afraid not, Chester.
They need ammunition, and this wagon here is full of it.
We've got to figure out a way to get rid of it.
I seen me some kerosene in the house when I was cleaning up.
Get it, and hurry.
Mr.
Dillon? Mr.
Dillon.
There was only four of them.
What do you make of that? Well, they're scouts for the war party, Chester.
They'll be down here any minute.
- Get going.
- Yeah.
Well, look at that.
That's probably the reason why Stone Eagle and his braves took off as fast as they did.
Yeah, it could be.
They sure are riding kind of slow, ain't they? Well, they're tracking us, Chester.
They don't even know that Stone Eagle is anywhere around.
Well, he ain't.
He's more likely halfway to Canada by now.
Well, he's finished in this territory, anyway.
With no ammunition, and nobody to furnish him with any more, it'll be a long time before he's back around this country again.
But I think we'll let Captain Nichols find that out for himself.
Well, Marshal.
I knew that you were lying when you said you were going to Dodge.
Did you find the gunrunners? We found them, Captain.
We killed them.
We also destroyed all the rifles and ammunition they brought with them.
Well, that's fine, fine.
Now all we have to do is wait for Stone Eagle and his warriors.
They should be along any minute, I imagine.
Where is this place? Over the hill here? Yeah, just behind there.
When they ride in, I'm going to kill every last one of them, by heaven.
And no one can stop us now, Marshal.
No, I guess not.
Are you going to stay around for the fight? No, I think we'll probably head back to Dodge.
Good luck to you, Captain.
Don't need luck.
I know what I'm doing, Marshal.
Sure.
Detail, forward! Ho! Well, I'm afraid he's going to have kind of a long wait.
Heh.
Yeah.
Well, let's head to Dodge, Chester.