Original subtitles

Starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.

Hello, Cyrus.

Well, how are you, Cyrus?

Here, Cyrus.

Oh. Hello, Doc.

Well, I thought you was going to pass me right up there.

You haven't been drinking, have you?

No.

I didn't think so. How's Bertha?

She's fine.

Why shouldn't she be?

Well, no reason, except I knew she'd been poorly all winter.

I was wondering... - She's fine. - Good.

Tell you what you better do, though, Cyrus.

Next time she's in town, you have her drop by the office and see me, will you?

Yeah. I'll do that, Doc.

Marshal? Marshal Dillon.

Oh, hello, Cyrus.

How are ya?

Oh, tolerable, I reckon.

Rheumatism is plaguing me a little.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

Well, when you get to my age, you got to expect a few miseries.

You... You headin' to the office?

Yeah.

Oh, well, I don't get into town too often, you know.

No, you sure don't.

Everything all right out at the farm?

Same as usual, you know.

You get a good crop one year, you get a bad one the next.

But it kinda evens out, I guess.

Sure.

I... I'd kind of like to sit a spell and talk.

Well, sure. Why don't you come on back to the office?

Might even have some coffee on the stove.

Thanks.

Well, Mr. Tucker.

Chester.

By golly, we don't see you in town too often.

The place keeps me pretty busy.

Yeah.

Sit down, Cyrus.

Thanks.

Chester, you don't have any coffee, do ya?

Uh, well, I got some makin'.

It'll be ready in a couple of minutes.

Good.

Ahh. Feels good to sit.

I ain't gettin' any younger.

Cyrus, what was it you wanted to talk about?

Well, nothing, exactly.

I just wanted to sit and talk.

Mind if I whittle?

Not at all.

Seems to help some.

Whittlin' and talkin', they just go together somehow.

Well, fine, you just go right ahead.

Chester, it's gonna muss up your floor some.

Well, that's... that's all right.

I got to broom it out later anyway.

Whittling's the one thing Bertha would never stand for.

She figured that should be done out in the barn or in the yard.

How is Bertha, Cyrus?

We've been together a long time.

Married 32 years.

That's a long time, Marshal.

Finest woman that ever lived.

Married back in Ohio.

Then we moved to east Texas for a while.

A lot of changes in them years.

Lost our boy the second year.

We used to raise corn down in the bottom land.

Sold it to the garrison at the fort...

if the Indians didn't get it first.

Cyrus, you didn't come here just to talk about old times, did you?

I don't know what you're talkin' about, Marshal.

Sure you do, Cyrus.

Now what's on your mind?

Bertha's left me.

She's run off... disappeared...

without so much as a by your leave.

I can't believe it.

I woke up one morning, and she was gone.

I kept hoping that she'd come back.

But she ain't.

Well, maybe she went to visit one of the neighbors or something.

No.

I been to all the neighbors.

She ain't nowhere.

Well, she must've had some reason now.

She wouldn't just run off and leave you like that, Cyrus.

She'll be back.

That's what I kept hoping.

It's awful lonely on the place, Marshal.

I can't go on without her.

Now, don't you worry, Cyrus.

We'll help you find her.

Neighbors thought I ought to come and tell you about it.

How long has she been gone?

She's been gone three weeks.

Three weeks?

Yeah.

Three weeks to the day.

Well...

I got to be going.

Got the chores to do.

Getting dark soon.

Marshal.

Chester.

Well, I don't understand that.

Neither do I.

She's been gone three weeks,

and he's just now gettin' around to tellin' you about it?

Well, it's addled him, Chester.

I don't think he really knows what's going on.

What about Mrs. Tucker, though?

She don't seem like the kind of a woman that would do a thing like that...

Just up and run off.

No. No, she sure doesn't.

Well, we'll have to start asking around town.

See what we can find out.

Mr. Dillon, I didn't know you was in there.

You told me to show up here at 10:00.

It ain't hardly 10:00 now.

- Doesn't matter, Chester. - Well?

She didn't take the train.

Ol' Peabody remembers every ticket he sold in the past 10 years.

Well, maybe she sneaked on.

They would have sent her back.

Come on, let's try the stage depot.

Well, she sure didn't ride out on no stage.

No, not unless she was dressed like a man.

They said a woman hadn't bought a ticket

in there for a month.

Where do we try next, Mr. Dillon?

The stable, I guess.

Stable?

An old lady like that wouldn't ride out on a horse, would she?

Chester, you never know what a woman will do,

especially a frontier woman.

You know, Mr. Dillon, maybe... Maybe she got stole by Indians.

I'll go check the stable first

before we start chasing around after Indians.

Hello, Moss.

Oh hello, Marshal, Chester.

Can't make up my mind about these mules, Marshal.

He wants me to buy 'em.

Marshal.

Chester.

Hello, Cyrus.

Howdy, Mr. Tucker.

Moss, that there team is one of the finest in the country.

I raised them myself.

As I recall, that's your only team, isn't it?

Yep.

They done a lot of work for me in their day.

Well, you're not planning to sell 'em are you, Cyrus?

I won't have no use for 'em if I ain't gonna be here, will I?

You gonna go away?

Yep.

Got it all figured out.

It'll work, too.

What'll work?

I'm gonna go away, Marshal.

I'll send back word where I am.

Bertha'll hear about it, and she'll get real curious-like.

She'll come and find me.

I won't be looking for her no more.

She's gonna be lookin' for me.

Pretty smart, huh?

You're not planning to sell your farm, are ya?

No, I'll do that later.

Well, Moss, what do you say?

Well, I can't make up my mind.

Give me a little time, hmm?

I ain't in no big hurry.

I guess I'll go on over to the post office.

Might be something there from Bertha.

Never know.

You know, there's something wrong with him these days, Marshal.

Yeah.

Did Bertha really run away and leave him?

That's what he says,

though we sure haven't been able to find any trace of her.

Maybe the Indians sneaked up and got her.

Yeah.

What would the Indians want with a woman her age?

Well, you can never tell about these Indians, Marshal.

I'm gonna head back to the office.

All right.

You got a dime, Moss?

Yeah.

I'll match you for it.

You're on.

I'll match you.

You never told me you loved me, sweetheart.

Now, how could I have ever forgotten that?

I bet you're not as hard to get along with as you make out.

You keep trying to find out, and you're going to end up in a ditch.

All right, come on. Let's have another drink.

- What do you say? - No, thanks.

That's no way to be.

A friend of mine just came in.

I'm a friend of yours, too, aren't I?

- Hello, Matt. - Kitty.

Well, what are you in here for?

A talk? A drink?

You gonna enforce the law?

Or are you gonna propose marriage?

As a matter of fact, I came here to ask you a question.

Now keep away from my gal, mister.

Leave me alone!

You better take it easy there, cowboy.

Just because you're big don't mean bullets don't make holes in ya.

Hey, you're marshal, eh?

I never killed me no marshal.

All right, now you'd better get out of here.

Go on.

If you got any sense, you'll try to sober up.

I'm gonna get me another gun, Marshal.

I'm gonna get me a shotgun,

and I'm gonna come in here after you.

Come on, Kitty. Let's sit down.

Thank you.

You think he means that?

Well, I'll tell you, Kitty.

If I tried to hide out every time something like that happened,

people would forget what I looked like.

Well, anyhow, you started to ask me somethin'.

Yeah, you know...

You know Cyrus Tucker's wife Bertha?

Mm-hmm.

She's disappeared, Kitty.

What?

Nobody has any idea where she is.

Well, that doesn't make any sense.

Well, I was kinda hopin' you'd know somethin'.

No. Nobody around here's mentioned it.

Hmm.

- Kitty. - Hey there, Doc.

- Matt. - Hello, Doc.

Mind if I join you here? I'd like to talk to you.

- Not at all. Sit down. - Pull up that chair.

Thanks.

As a matter of fact, I'll buy you a drink. What would you like?

I'll have a beer.

Kitty, how 'bout you?

No, not for me. How 'bout you?

- You bet. - What? Beer?

Mm-hmm.

Clem, 2 beers.

What's on your mind, Doc?

Well, I was just wondering

if you'd found out anything about Bertha Tucker.

Not a thing.

I just can't understand it.

You know, I'm worried about Cyrus, too.

Yeah.

32 years is a long time to be married.

Doc, was there anything wrong with her?

Well, yes. Plenty wrong with her.

Well, what?

16-hour work days.

Too much heat in the summertime.

Too much cold in the winter.

And too many nights laying awake out there in Indian country.

Gets all frontier women sooner or later.

Mr. Dillon.

Doc.

It's Mr. Jonas over at the general store.

He wants to see you right away.

What? Is there trouble?

Well, yeah, there's a fella over there

trying to sell secondhand clothes and things.

And Mr. Jonas recognized them.

They belonged to Mrs. Tucker.

I'd better get over there.

You gonna buy it or ain't ya?

Well, now hold your horses, young fella.

I gotta be sure what I'm buying, don't I?

It's taking an awful long time.

Well, there's more time than money in this world.

That's the first thing I found out when I went into business,

and I ain't never forgot it.

Oh, am I glad to see you, Matt!

Mr. Jonas. This is the man here?

This is him.

What's your name, mister?

Hody Peel. I ain't done nothin'.

How long you been in town?

Just today.

- Mm-hmm. All right. - What are you doin'?

Stand easy there.

I'm collecting quite a few of these today.

What's this all about?

I tell you I ain't done nothin'.

This the stuff, Mr. Jonas?

This is it.

Now, look. What's going on here?

Now, Marshal, most of these things...

This mirror and this comb,

most of these clothes, they could belong to just anybody.

But this shawl and this shoppin' satchel

I sold Bertha Tucker myself.

I didn't steal this stuff! I swear I didn't!

We'll talk about that back in my office.

- Let's go. - You got no right.

I said let's go.

Chester, bring that stuff back to the office, will ya?

Yes, sir.

You can't lock me up. It ain't right.

Sit down there, will ya?

All right.

Now where'd you say you got that stuff?

It was give to me.

Give to you, huh?

I told you I didn't steal 'em.

Some farmer stopped us when we went by his place

and he give 'em to us.

Who's us?

I got a wife and two kids.

And they're waitin' for me right now.

Where?

We're camped up the river about 5 miles.

Been looking for a piece of land to take up.

You a homesteader, are you?

If I can find a decent piece of land, I am.

How long you been camped up there?

Three weeks.

Now, what did you say the name of that farmer was?

I don't know. He never said.

He was pretty old, kinda strange.

It was about 8 miles up the river.

Let me ask you this... What did his wife say

about giving away all that stuff?

I never saw nobody but him.

What do you mean? He just came out and stopped you as you were riding by?

No, sir.

He was digging out in back of the house.

We went over to water the horses.

He was digging?

Yes, sir.

It was funny.

It was funny now that I think of it.

He was digging a hole that...

Well, it looked sort of like a grave.

Let's ride out and talk to your wife.

You don't believe me, do ya, Marshal?

We'll find out soon enough.

Come on.

Hody. Hody, what...

This here is the marshal from Dodge.

That's Chester Goode.

Howdy, ma'am.

How do you do, ma'am?

Is something wrong, Hody?

That stuff I took in to sell,

he thinks I stole it.

Well, that ain't so.

That stuff was give to us.

You go ask him, Marshal.

The farmer that done it,

he just lives over here about 3 miles.

I know, ma'am.

We're goin' over to see him now.

I wish you would. I'm gettin' tired of being treated like a thief.

It's not a matter of theft.

It so happens the man's wife has disappeared, Hody.

What?

You accusing me of killin'?

I'm not accusing you of anything yet.

Hody didn't do it, Marshal.

We never even seen a woman there.

You gotta believe me.

That hole he was diggin',

I told you it looked like a grave.

He killed her. That old man did it.

By golly, Mr. Dillon, maybe he's right.

Let's go over and have a talk with him right now.

I want you to come along, Hody.

Please, we already told you, Marshal!

I know.

Please don't take him away. It ain't fair.

A woman may have been murdered, ma'am.

A woman like yourself.

He'll be back later.

Well is this a surprise! Marshal, Chester.

Cyrus.

Get down out of them saddles and rest yourselves a while.

I'm mighty glad to see ya.

Thank you.

You remember me, mister?

What?

You remember me.

I come by here about three weeks ago with my wife and kids.

You give us some old clothes and stuff.

I did?

Of course you did. Right there.

We came over to the house for the pump.

That's fine. I like to help folks whenever I can.

Well now come on. Let's go in the house.

All of us.

He's crazy, Marshal. I told you.

You ask about it. Make him remember.

Just take it easy.

He's daft.

Well, he sure don't act like he ever saw you before.

Darned old fool. I wish I'd never come by here.

Cyrus.

Come on in out of the hot sun, Marshal.

Well, I want to ask you something first, Cyrus.

Ask me what?

Now, this is Hody Peel.

Do you ever remember seeing him before?

Marshal, you know any friend of yours is welcome here any time.

But you remember me, don't ya?

It was just three weeks ago.

Hody Peel. Well, I don't remember the name.

That's for sure.

But you remember me. My wife and kids.

And giving us all that stuff.

Think hard, Cyrus.

Oh, oh yeah.

You... I gave you some clothes and everything.

There. There, Marshal.

I told ya. I told ya I didn't steal nothin'.

Now, come on.

I'll have Bertha fix us a cup of coffee.

Wait a minute, Cyrus.

You say Bertha is going to fix us a cup of coffee?

She'd be awful disappointed if she knew that you came by

and I didn't offer you a cup of coffee.

I thought you said she's gone.

Gone?

Now, Cyrus, don't you remember coming into my office about two days ago,

saying that she'd disappeared, run away or something.

Bertha? Disappear?

Oh, she'd never do that.

Marshal, we've been married 32 years.

All right, Cyrus. Let's go see her.

Yeah.

No.

No, I don't believe she's home.

Where is she?

Oh yeah. She... She went to visit her sister

in San Anton. That's where she is.

In San Anton.

Mm-hmm.

All right, Cyrus.

Well, I'll tell ya. I'd kind of like to take a look around out back.

You go right ahead, Marshal.

Would you mind coming along with me?

Well, of course not.

Funny thing, ain't it?

My forgetting Bertha went to visit her sister.

Things that happened way back. I can remember real clear.

It's just the last few weeks that are clouded. I...

Cyrus.

Yeah. Bertha's in San Anton, Marshal.

Cyrus.

This is Berth's grave, isn't it?

No.

Now, Cyrus, you can't go on living in a dream.

You'd better tell me what happened.

Happened at night.

She'd been feelin' poorly for some time.

The next morning, she was already gone.

So you buried her here?

Then you gave away her clothes and things.

Bertha won't mind.

I'm gonna get her some new ones.

Cyrus, Bertha's gone.

She's dead.

And I'm afraid that no amount of pretending is gonna bring her back.

Mr. Dillon.

Ain't there nothin' that... That we can do for him?

I don't think so, Chester. Not now.

Marshal.

I'll get my wife to come over.

Women sometimes know.

All right. That'd be real nice, Hody.

Yeah, that'd be real nice.