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Don't burn that steer.

Marcus Alley?

Changing a Bar V brand into a Box W.

No, I found that here.

Look, you can ask Arch Hollenbeck. He'll tell you who I am.

Oh, I know who you are. You're a thieving cattle rustler.

No, I ain't. Look, just as I got in, somebody rode out, fast.

Honest.

That's too bad, now there ain't anybody here to back up your story.

Hollenbeck's one of the men who hired you, Mr. Alley, you can ask him.

He'll tell you who I am.

Or Ben Cartwright. You ask him.

I don't have to ask anybody anything.

That running iron and this hog-tied steer

tells me everything I have to know.

You see, the Cattlemen's Association doesn't pay me to ask questions.

The Cattlemen's Association pays me to stop rustling.

That's exactly what I'm gonna do, in my own way.

Now you can go for your gun.

I don't want to go for my gun.

You don't understand, mister.

You don't have a choice.

A Bar V steer, a running iron and a fire.

Well, a combination like that's got to add up to rustling.

No, wait a minute, wait a minute.

Welles was one of my hands. He had every right to be here.

With a running iron?

Well, I admit that looks bad, but maybe there's some explanation.

Oh, he had an explanation.

He said he came across the fire,

the running iron and the steer by accident.

I didn't want to kill him. He went for his gun.

Mr. Hollenbeck, I know how you feel.

You said you surprised him.

Why didn't you just hold your gun on him and take his away from him?

You should have brought him in, Alley.

He would have talked to me, Alley.

Gentlemen, I didn't have no choice.

Unless you figure that I should of let him get off the first shot.

Gentlemen, what I'm saying is that I believe that the man

that you hired as a range detective,

and the man that I deputized, is telling the truth.

Now, if the Welles story is correct,

there'd be another set of tracks coming in to the fire and going out.

- And there wasn't any. - Just shows you how wrong you can be.

I'd have sworn Welles was an honest man.

That seems to wrap it up, Roy. We're much obliged.

All right, Ben. See you later, boys.

Oh, Roy, Alley is waiting outside. Would you ask him to step in, please?

- I sure will. - Thank you.

Why do we have to see Alley again, Ben? He's not on trial, and we're no jury.

Well, there's been some question about the way he's been doing his job.

And since we're his employers, I think we should...

We should tell him our investigation proves

that his report is completely accurate.

Well, I'm going on record as being dead set against everything

that he's done in this case.

Mr. Alley, would you sit down, please.

We... We wanted you to know, Mr. Alley,

that the sheriff has corroborated the report that you made to us.

Alley, the Association is satisfied that you shot in self-defense.

The Association also wants to impress on you, Mr. Alley,

that the next rustler you catch, you bring in alive.

Well, I'll agree to that, if the Association can guarantee

that the man won't draw on me.

Nobody's expecting you to let yourself get shot.

We just want to be sure that the...

You want to be sure that there are no more surprises.

What's that supposed to mean?

Like finding out who's really stealing your cattle.

I think perhaps you'd better explain that remark.

I'll be glad to.

The men that are stealing your cattle are on your payroll.

That's right, on your payroll, Mr. Cartwright,

Mr. Hollenbeck, Mr. Johannsen, Mr. Pauley.

Any spread with steers to steal. You see, it's a pattern.

And it never changes, whether you're in Arizona, Nevada, Texas.

They're quiet, decent ranch hands during the day,

and they're thieves at night.

Well, just... just think about it now.

Who else knows the country, the herds, the back trails,

even in the dark, but the very men that work them day in, day out?

I tell you, there's nothing worse and more dirty

than a man that'll steal from his employer.

And I'm not gonna lose a minute's sleep

over some fool that gets killed trying to draw on me.

Any more questions?

No more questions.

Fine.

Then I'll be getting on with the job you gentlemen are paying me for.

Good day.

Well, I've seen some nervy ones, but that Alley's got them all beat.

Well, I've got to get over to the bank before I leave town, gentlemen.

Yeah, we are finished, aren't we, Ben? Mr. Chairman?

Well, there is one more thing: Mrs. Welles.

I think someone ought to go see her,

see if there's anything we can do for her.

He worked for you, Arch.

Yeah, it's a thing I'll have to do.

But I don't mind telling you I sure don't look forward to it.

Well, I... I know her.

Her father worked for me on the Ponderosa.

- If you like, I'll go along with you. - I'd be obliged, Ben. I'd be much obliged.

Fine.

- I was wrong after all. - About what?

Mr. Hollenbeck did come.

Mr. Cartwright's with him.

Ben Cartwright?

Um, Mrs. Welles, I...

Lamar.

Glad to see you.

We, uh... We came to express our... Uh...

Mrs. Welles, Mr. Hollenbeck and I came by to see

if there was anything that we could do.

Do? Thank you, no, gentlemen.

I don't think there's anything to do, under the circumstances.

Mr. Cartwright, Prudence is gonna come to live with me.

A fine idea, Lamar. Very fine.

We're deeply sorry, Mrs. Welles.

You weren't sorry when you hired the range detective.

- Why be sorry now? - Prudence, hush.

I won't, Papa. That's the way I feel.

Nobody's sorry except you and me.

The cattlemen are getting what they want,

and hiring strangers to kill anyone they want.

Mrs. Welles...

Harlan was rustling.

There was a hot running iron in his hand.

And that's good enough reason to hire a gunman from somewhere

and murder him?

Mrs. Welles...

Mrs. Welles, there's...

Well, I'm sure you didn't know anything about it.

But there's a pretty large organization,

and they were rustling hundreds of heads of cattle.

Mr. Cartwright, I did not know about the organization,

but I did about Harlan.

He took that steer.

I'm sure of it.

Last October when things were so bad for everyone,

he took one then too and sold it.

I don't know where, but he sold it.

He was going to sell the one he took last week, too.

How much are steer now, Mr. Cartwright, $14?

$16, Mr. Hollenbeck?

Yes, he was wrong. I admit it.

He should have been sent to jail.

With shame I admit it.

But did you have to hire someone to shoot him from ten feet away?

How do you pay your Marcus Alley, Mr. Cartwright?

By the dollar value of the beef?

Two steers, $30?

How do you pay your Mr. Alley? In silver?

I'm gonna have me a real big time tonight.

I'm gonna get all sheared and shaved

and a new pair of pants and a clean shirt.

And I'm gonna buy me a great big white Stetson like Hoss wears.

Sounds like you've been saving up.

You know, I never had it this fine before.

I mean, hunting varmints for you guys,

and the cattlemen give me a bounty on every cougar pelt I bring in.

And they still leave me the furs to sell.

Joe, a fellow that rich ought to have to buy the drinks.

Hoss, I think you're absolutely right.

I'll tell you what I'll do.

As soon as I deposit these over at Mitchell's, I'll come back and do that.

Good enough.

Well, well, well.

- Josiah Heath. - Mr. Alley.

- How long has it been? - Quite a spell.

Four years.

Four years and better.

You weren't carrying pelts the last time I saw you.

But there was an animal around, if I remember.

Josiah Heath, and now you're trapping.

I... I work for the Cartwrights.

That's nice. Nice as apple pie.

You know we got unfinished business.

I expect I'll be seeing you.

Come to think of it, I'm sure I'm gonna be seeing you one last time.

What was that all about?

You heard him. I'm a dead man.

And Alley caught us cold.

Me and the two Taswell boys that lived on that hardscrabble place

right next to ours.

With running irons, changing brands?

No.

No running irons. No fire.

Hard times in Texas then.

It was the early spring

of the big blizzard winter of '64.

We'd lost every head we owned, so had the Taswells.

For three months we lived on shadow soup and rabbit track stew.

Then we happened on this little stray belly deep in the bog.

We got a rope around it and pulled the little critter out.

The little thing could scarcely stand.

It sure would have died if we hadn't happened along.

Now, that don't change the truth.

We were stealing beef that didn't belong to us,

and Alley caught us.

You tell him you pulled the steer out of the bog

- and that you were hungry? - Yeah, we told him.

But like I said, the why of it didn't matter.

- Leastways, not to him. - Well, what did he do?

He told how he hated rustlers.

Scum... worse than scum, not fit to breathe the air

or walk the face of the earth.

And all this time he was holding a gun on you, right?

Yeah, while he was talking.

And then he put the pistol back in his holster.

And he stood there grinning, daring us to draw.

What, three of you, and he wanted you to draw?

Well, three to one's pretty big odds,

but not when gunfighting's your business.

- And the three are scared. - But you got away?

Mm-hm.

Benji Taswell drew on him first.

And then Hack.

And Alley gunned them down,

but he took a bullet in the leg. And I got away.

Well, that was in Texas and a long time ago.

Yeah, four years.

Three and a half I've been working for you all.

I ain't ever been in any trouble since.

That don't make too much difference to Mr. Alley.

One thing he hates worse than a rustler is the one that got away.

Here comes Alley now, with Hollenbeck and Allison.

I don't think that man's ever gonna rest while I'm still alive.

Crooked shoe, worn thin, a half-moon chunk out of it.

You know, most people ask permission before they start fooling around

with another man's horse.

Why, you're bristling like a porcupine, Mr. Cartwright.

You been talking to your rustler?

Either tell us what you want or move on.

There ain't a man alive who'll believe an employee will steal from him.

Makes him look too much like a fool, they fight it every time.

I think my little brother's right, you better mount up and ride.

What's going on?

I'm just trying to do my job, Mr. Cartwright.

Your boys are kind of getting in the way.

Look, Pa, all I wanted Alley to do was tell me what he wanted.

- He wouldn't do it... - Joseph!

He was out hunting evidence.

He asked us to come along as witnesses.

Well, I've been looking for a horse wearing a crooked shoe

with a half-moon piece out of it.

You see, the first time I saw the track was up by the ashes of a rustler's fire

up on the high meadow near Twin Peaks.

The second time I saw the track was today right in this street.

Mr. Cartwright, it's my horse.

I figured that once I find the horse, I'm gonna find the rustler.

That's exactly what I did.

I was up at Twin Peaks a couple of weeks ago,

when I got that cougar, remember?

You see, someone moved ten or 12 steers across that high meadow,

left one of them with a broken leg in rocks.

The kind of thing happens when you're driftin' cattle in the dark.

The steer had a Bar V mark on it.

That's Mr. Allison's mark.

Somebody had taken a running iron to it...

Changed it into a Box W.

Not me.

Box W is a Texas brand. It's easy to sell in Arizona.

Heath hunts varmint for us. He got that cougar at Twin Peaks.

I'm sure he said he did, but, you see, hunting...

That crooked shoe.

- That the only evidence you've got? - That's right, Mr. Cartwright.

But I'm gonna find some more.

You've got a rustler on your payroll.

He got away with it in Texas, but he ain't gonna get away with it here.

You've had four years without any trouble.

Apparently the Texas authorities think

that you've squared the mistake you made too.

- Well, Marcus Alley sure doesn't. - Hm...

Tom.

Mr. Cartwright, here's that lumber list.

Oh. Tom, could you use another man

on that crew building that bunkhouse addition?

I sure could, Mr. Cartwright.

From now on, you're on his crew, starting right now.

Well, look, Mr. Cartwright, I want to thank you, but no.

What do you mean no?

Don't you know better than to argue with the fella who's paying your wages?

I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to keep me around close

out of Mr. Alley's way, but a man just can't hide out

- and feel much like a man. - Heath, I don't want you

around any cattle, not even ours.

All right, but it won't do any good.

The way Mr. Alley feels about me, he'll find some excuse to come out here.

Now, look, you say that Alley doesn't kill unless he's alone.

There's seven men on that bunkhouse crew, stay close.

Yes, sir.

Marcus Alley's a killer. I say get rid of him.

- How? - Pay him off. Send him down the road.

Joseph, he was hired by the board of directors

of the Cattlemen's Association.

Well, Pa, you're the president of it.

And chairman of the board.

But I still have only one vote, and there are six others.

Well, at least we can keep him off the Ponderosa, that's one thing.

Well, there are five ranches bordering the Ponderosa, Joseph.

Rustled cattle could be driven anywhere across it.

Even hidden somewhere on it.

Closing the Ponderosa to Alley,

that could do a lot of harm to a lot of people.

You're just not gonna do anything about it, is that what you're saying?

Well, before I can try to change the board's mind about its decision,

I have to be able to prove it was wrong. And at this moment I don't know it was.

When in doubt, ask questions.

Who's gonna answer them?

The cattlemen down in Texas who hired him to stop the rustling there.

"Urgently request you telegraph collect immediately your opinion Marcus Alley

and the work he did in your area, methods used and results obtained.

Ben Cartwright, Ponderosa Ranch, Virginia City."

Sixty cents for each ten words. That'll be $1.80.

Well, it's gonna be a little more. Pa wants the same telegram sent

- to every name on that list. - It's gonna cost you.

- There must be 20 names here. - Twenty-four.

All them different towns, it'll take me a while to figure it out.

We'll wait.

- Hey. - Huh?

Looks like we're late already.

Alley got himself another rustler.

Caught him at a water hole. The man tried to draw.

And Mr. Alley was alone and shot him in self-defense.

Well, Alley was sure right about how blind we was as to what was going on.

If we'd thought about it for even a minute we'd have known

that this one was one of the gang.

- And who was it? - Lamar Forbes, that's who.

Prudence Welles' Pa.

Joe, you see if any more telegrams have come in.

- Right, Pa. - We'll be inside.

Prudence, I... I don't know what to say.

How much is Alley getting for killing my Pa?

How much are you giving him?

We didn't bargain on any killings.

You hired Alley. You turned him loose to kill.

That's on your head, Mr. Cartwright.

I object to Ben Cartwright bringing Hoss to a closed meeting.

We don't have closed meetings. Read the constitution.

Any member in good standing or guest of a member in good standing

can attend any meeting as long as he doesn't create a disturbance.

Well...

All right, but I don't have to like it.

Mr. Chairman, let's get on with the work.

Do we fire Alley, or do we keep him on the payroll?

- Show of hands. I say keep him. - I'm for that.

Gentlemen, gentlemen, please.

I believe discussion is in order.

Every board member has a right to state his opinion.

Well, gentlemen, I ain't lost a cow since he come here.

I say keep him, and pay him a bonus to boot.

And I say he's a killer and worse than a hydrophobic dog.

I say fire him... fast!

Sure, that's because you had two rustlers on your payroll

- and you're afraid he'll find more. - You say they're rustlers!

- Never been proved in a court of law. - Gentlemen. Gentlemen, please.

Both of you, sit down.

This is a discussion, not a shouting match.

Four of us had a meeting of our own before this one started.

We're for Alley, and talk ain't gonna change our minds.

Now, you other three got anything to say, say it

- and let's get this voting over with. - I had my say.

I vote to fire him.

I, uh, have some telegrams here which I'd like to...

We heard about them. Good way to stack the deck.

Twenty replies to my inquiries.

Fifteen of them say that Mr. Alley did a good job.

He stopped the rustling.

Ten of them didn't like the way he did it.

In four years, Mr. Alley brought 28 men to trial.

He also shot and killed ten men.

There were no witnesses to any of the killings.

In every instance, Mr. Alley was alone.

He said the other man drew first.

Now, gentlemen, the same thing is happening here.

Mr. Alley was alone when Harlan Welles was killed.

Mr. Alley was alone when Lamar Forbes was killed.

They drew first.

Since it's my hide you're trying to nail to the barn door,

I think I better say something.

Every man that I brought to trial was found guilty, except one.

And his uncle was one of the best lawyers in Texas.

That's 27 out of 28 men.

I guess that proves that I know my job.

And as for there being no witnesses to the killings,

I'm afraid that Mr. Cartwright is just plain wrong.

He's got one working on his ranch.

What is it that Heath said about when I caught him and the Taswells?

Were they guilty, were they innocent?

Gentlemen, I was quoting the messages I got by telegraph.

And this one that Joe brought in is a further confirmation.

Guilty or innocent?

Heath told Hoss and Joe what happened. I was...

I got it secondhand.

Well, they...

They roped this little steer out of a bog. They were... They were hungry and...

Was it their steer or was it someone else's steer?

- Well, it was somebody else's, but... - They stole it.

They were rustlers.

We're talking about one mangy steer and three hungry men.

One steer or a hundred steers. They were rustlers.

I was the only man against three of them. Who drew first?

The Taswells did, but you sort of squeezed them into it.

They drew first. I shot in self-defense.

You shot to kill.

Ten times in Texas, twice here, 12 men.

Twelve criminals, and they were trying to kill me.

A man breaks the law, he's gotta expect to pay for it.

With his life?

The law says one to 14 years for stealing cattle.

One to 14 years. Now, that sounds pretty good.

But if Welles or Forbes or any of the others had let me bring them in,

why, people would be crying salty tears over them

before the sheriff could... could lock the cell.

The men that they stole from would be saying that they shouldn't get hit

too hard for making one mistake.

They only get a year in prison, and other rustlers come drifting in

because, you see, a year isn't that much to risk.

Those that are sent to prison, they'll come out and they do it all over again.

It happens every time.

But I'll say this, that the 12 men that drew against me,

they stole their last cow.

The whole 12 were guilty, right?

- How can you be sure? - I know, Mr. Cartwright.

I always know.

Show of hands, Ben. Let's take a vote.

Four votes to keep him. Count them, Ben.

And three against.

All right, so be it. You're still employed, Mr. Alley.

But I must ask you to make every effort to bring in alive

any rustler you may find. Bring him in alive to stand trial.

Unless he tries to kill me first.

Prudence.

You should have let me kill him!

Come in.

- Mr. Cartwright, Heath's gone. - Well, take it easy now.

Take it easy. Gone where? When?

He left for White Creek breaks about an hour ago.

Yeah.

He went down the west slope through Devil's Parlor.

I tried to stop him, but he pulled a gun.

What's chewing at him?

Well, he's been trying to stay clear out of it, not wanting any trouble.

But he figures the only way to save his life is to find those rustlers

before Alley comes here for him.

Well, he's one of our best trackers.

If anybody can find anything up in that wild country, he can.

He said he saw smoke over that way last week.

Well, you better round up Hoss and Joe and get my horse saddled.

Yes, sir.

It's been a long time coming.

Well worth waiting for.

You got away from me in Texas.

Finding you up here is the best thing that could have happened.

You led me right into the middle of it, like I knew you would.

Mr. Alley...

I never been in this camp before.

I got here two, maybe three minutes before you did.

You're all alike, just can't stop stealing.

Mr. Alley, I heard somebody ride off just before I rode in.

You know, if I had a dollar for every time I heard that lie,

I could buy the Ponderosa.

- It's true, sir. - It's a lie.

Scum.

Dirty the air you breathe, the ground you walk on.

I'd like you to make your play.

No, sir, Mr. Alley.

No, sir, I ain't gonna draw.

You're gonna have to take me in.

Four years I've waited for this minute.

I would like you to make your play.

You're gonna kill me anyhow, aren't you, Mr. Alley?

Even if I don't draw.

I'm not guilty.

You're gonna kill me, aren't you?

You're guilty, Heath.

I ain't gonna draw.

You're a couple of minutes too late.

He didn't even try for his gun. You just shot him in the back.

- You murdered him. - I caught a rustler.

Tried to get away, I had to shoot him.

Running iron's in the fire, stolen beef.

Heath found the camp and you followed him here.

I killed a rustler.

He said he heard someone ride away when he came in,

but it's the oldest lie there is.

I think it's the truth. And I think you're gonna hang.

Maybe you'd like to try me first.

Go on, reach for it!

Joseph.

Get the horses into cover. All but one.

Come on.

- Hoss? - Yes, sir?

Get a blanket from the lean-to.

Heath is your boss rustler.

He learned his trade in Texas, went into business up here.

The rustling's over.

The rest of them will scatter when they see me bring his body into town.

Suppose Heath was telling the truth?

Suppose somebody did ride out when they heard him coming?

And that same somebody is gonna be riding back in.

Then we'll have ourselves a real live prisoner.

And maybe we can get to the straight of this.

Now, Joe, you just do everything the way we figured it out.

- Don't try to be a hero. - Right.

Now, turn over.

Keep a sharp lookout.

He was a rustler. You ought to be glad he's dead.

He was a human being. A man just like anybody else.

Scum, just like all the rest of them. Dirty, filthy murderers.

You got to stamp them out when you find them,

or they'll drive every decent man and woman clear out of the country.

Burning, killing, stealing.

It's the gospel truth.

I know. I seen it happen.

They shot my pa, dragged my ma and my sis out of the house,

burned the house to the ground.

How old were you when this happened?

I was 13, going on 14.

If I had a gun, I'd have shot every one of them.

But you see, that's the point,

I didn't have a gun.

They gotta be killed, Mr. Cartwright.

You think about it like I've thought about it, and you'll see I'm right.

Hey, Pa! Pa!

You can't pat them on the head and lock them up for a little while,

and let them loose to do it again. They got to pay for what they've done.

Come on.

Come on, Alley!

You drunken bum.

You were supposed to have moved those steers two hours ago.

You haven't even changed the brands yet.

I pay you all this money, and what do you do? You drink yourself stupid!

Don't move. Don't reach for it.

What is this, Joe? You got no cause to hold a gun on me, Joe.

- Looks like we got the big one, Pa. - You must be joking.

He thought I was his foreman, Porter.

Started chewing me out for not changing the brands on the cattle.

I don't know anything about this camp. I...

Hollenbeck. Don't try to lie.

Sheriff Coffee will find Porter and he'll talk to save his hide.

He'll name all the others, and they'll name you.

End of the line, huh?

You ought to be proud of yourself.

A cattleman stealing from other cattlemen.

Spare me the sermons, boy.

You too, Cartwright.

You don't even know what it's like to lie awake nights

worrying about past due bills and loans.

I enjoyed stealing your beef, Cartwright.

It kind of made up for what was happening to me.

You ain't even sorry.

One question.

Josiah Heath.

Was he one of your men?

Cartwright, I'm not completely stupid.

I knew that Heath was the one man I didn't even dare approach.

He'd have told you before I was out of sight.

I could have used Heath too.

If he'd been with me, we could have stolen you blind

and you'd never have caught us.

You ain't even sorry.

Soon as they let you out, you'll do it all over again,

the killing and the burning and the stealing.

I ain't gonna let it happen!

Ah!

I'm unarmed, and he was gonna murder me.

Kill him! It's the only way to stamp them out!

Killing them, don't you see? Kill them!

Killing creates more problems. You've created enough of them.

You're going to trial for murder.

This has been a color production

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