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It's a doggone shame,
ain't it, Charlie?
Yep, sure is.
Doc said she
had pneumonia.
Time he got here,
wasn't much to do
but call the sheriff.
Well, didn't anyone know
she was sick?
CHARLIE:
First thing anybody
knew was him
riding all the way in
for the doc by himself.
Fred?
Boy have any relatives?
Not a soul, Ben, except
an uncle back east,
and the boy's
father, of course.
Well, where is the
little feller going to stay?
Well, how about it, folks?
None of you want him?
We got our own
to worry about.
SHERIFF:
Well, I guess I could put
him up in one of the cells
till his uncle
can come get him.
He's only a little boy.
He's all alone now.
He needs a home
and affection.
He's tainted, that kid.
Bad stock
the whole tree goes
rotten sooner or later.
I don't want him
around my home.
Come on, Sarah.
Well, I can't stay here
all day, Ben.
Sheriff
send for the boy's uncle.
I'll keep the boy
with me on the Ponderosa.
All right. He's
all yours, Ben.
That's a
that's a pretty flower.
Weeds will choke it out
before it takes root.
Uh, son, you'll, uh
you'll be staying
at my ranch till your uncle
can come for you.
Pa said he'd come
back for me,
and I'm going to be waiting
right here until he does.
Well, we'll
we'll see.
Uh, we'd better get
your things from the cabin.
I'll go myself.
Hoss there's
a lot of hate
piled up
inside that boy.
Yes, sir.
(theme song playing)
BEN:
Hello, Billy. What
have you got there?
It's nothing.
What is it,
a secret?
It's nothing!
Well, you
you don't have
to show it to me if
you don't want to.
Let's just have
a little talk.
Mr. Cartwright, look,
you've let me sleep here,
and you've let me
eat here.
All right, thanks,
but I can do chores.
I can help
with the
Now, hold on there.
(sighs)
You, uh you don't have
to pay me back.
We're friends.
I want you
to trust me.
Well, there's no one else
left, son.
There is, too-- my pa!
Do you know where your pa is?
Why he went away?
He had to go away.
My ma said so.
My pa promised
he'd be coming back, though.
(sighs)
Well, you know (chuckles)
Billy, uh, sometimes we, uh
we promise things, and we
well, we mean
to keep the promise, but,
well, something
happens and we can't.
My pa promised
he'd be coming back,
and I'm going to be waiting here
until he does.
He doesn't tell lies.
Why is he so
touchy, Pa?
Hmm?
He won't let you
get close enough
to reach him with
a ten-foot pole.
How should I know
why he's so touchy?
If I knew that,
I wouldn't be so dang worried.
Take your feet
off the table.
Hey, Hoss,
how do you suppose you and I
grew up to be
so sweet-tempered
with such a grouch
for a pa?
I don't know,
Little Joe.
I reckon
he must've been
a mite more mellower
when he was younger.
(sighs)
I guess I had
that coming.
That boy has me so
so worried, I
Well, when's
his uncle coming?
Sheriff hasn't
heard yet.
Well, he's got
to know
about his father
sooner or later.
Maybe you should just,
uh, tell him.
Mr. Cartwright,
Mr. Cartwright,
come quick!
Hop Sing's having
trouble again.
Oh, no.
Mr. Cartwright!
What what is it?
What's wrong?
Him bad-- him very bad boy.
Oh, what
did he do?
He take Hop Sing knife,
the big knife.
What, the
butcher knife?
I see him,
I say, "You give back."
He say, "No."
Very sharp.
You better get back quick.
All right, Hop Sing,
all right.
Well, I've just got
to discipline that boy somehow.
Wait a minute, Pa.
Let me talk to him.
Well, don't you think
I'm capable of talking to him?
Well, yes, sir,
you are, but
maybe you been talking to
us roughnecks so long,
you done forget how to
talk to a little feller.
Well maybe you're right.
Go ahead.
Hoss.
Yes, sir?
Be careful of that knife.
Billy.
Did you find one
of Hop Sing's knives out here?
I didn't find it.
I took it.
Oh.
Go ahead, let me
see you chuck it.
Go on.
Hey, that ain't bad.
It's hard to throw.
Well, I don't wonder.
Come here, let me
show you something.
See, this here knife's
got a thick edge
here on the back
and a thin edge on the front.
Sure, that's the
cuttin' edge.
That's right.
You see, this knife here
was made for carving up meat,
not throwing--
not like an ***'s knife.
I didn't want it to throw.
I wanted it to whittle.
Hey.
How would you like
to have this one?
No, thanks.
Billy, I I wasn't going
to give it to you.
You got to earn it.
How?
Well, by by doing some chores
for me tomorrow.
Well all right.
Here.
Go ahead and take it.
You just hold on to it,
sort of as a loan,
till you can do
them chores for me.
Thanks, Mr. Cartwright.
And just one other thing.
Son
it ain't right to take something
that don't belong to you.
Let me take that knife back.
Let me let me
take it in to him.
Ol' Hop Sing's pretty riled up
right now.
Why don't you why don't you
let me take it in to him,
and then you can go by
and tell him you're sorry later.
All right.
If you want
it that way.
Hop Sing?
* *
HOP SING:
Mr. Hoss.
What happen
to little boy?
What you doing
in Hop Sing kitchen?
I just brung your
knife back, Hop Sing.
That so?
The little boy
take knife.
The big boy
take a doughnut.
Bad boy, very bad boy!
I-I got some real important
things to be doing, Hop Sing.
I'll see you.
(knock on door)
Who's there?
It's me, Hoss.
Oh.
Just a minute.
I sort of thought
I'd come up and
show you some
real fancy whittling.
Well, I'm sort of busy
now, Mr. Cartwright.
Billy.
Where did you
cut yourself, feller?
What do you mean?
Bill.
Don't you think it's about time
me and you
quit playing around
like a couple of puppy dogs
don't know when
they're fighting for real
or just funning?
Let me see it.
I knew you'd cut yourself
when I first come up here.
Should've come
right on out
and said it in
the first place.
It hurt?
Nah.
I got some medicine
here for it.
Will it sting?
Oh, that's not a bad cut.
They always seem like they
bleed a little bit more
when they're on
the thumb, though.
Here's your knife back,
Mr. Cartwright.
(sighs)
Billy, that wasn't your fault.
It was all mine.
Any fool ought
to know better
than to give a man
something that he
that he don't know
how to use right.
Well I shouldn't have
told you I knew how to use it.
Everybody makes mistakes, Billy,
but it takes a real man
to admit it.
You go ahead and
use that knife
till I learn you
how to use it.
Gee, thanks, Mr. Cartwright.
Hoss.
If that thumb don't
get to feeling better,
you let me hear, you know?
Billy.
Are you hungry?
Yeah, I guess I am.
Well, what do you say
me and you go down
and get us a couple
of them doughnuts
while Hop Sing
ain't looking?
Well would that
be all right?
All right?
Why, he'd be
downright insulted
if any of them things
was left by supper.
Well
Besides that,
I'm bigger than he is.
(chuckles)
You're about bigger
than anyone, Hoss.
Come on.
Hey, Hoss you want
to see something?
Yeah, I reckon I do.
What?
It's a picture
of my ma and pa.
It has "Ellen and Vance"
on the back.
Your ma was
a real pretty woman, Billy.
That's the only thing
that's really mine
except for this knife now.
You know
something?
It sure is going to be fun
when my pa gets back.
Ain't it?
Yeah, Billy, it's liable
to be a while, though.
Well, I can wait.
Come on.
Come on.
Hyah, hyah!
Hyah, hyah!
Hyah, hyah!
(gunshot, horses neighing)
(stagecoach stops)
You, get down.
Come on out, Vance.
It's safe now.
I said get down.
See if if he's got something
I can use on this iron.
I can barely walk.
(groans)
Old fool.
We come too far
to play games.
Here, stone chisel.
That ought to do it.
Yeah.
(pounding)
Look at this.
Plenty of
paper money.
That's luck.
We can get straight
to Sacramento now.
No, Pike, we agreed.
I go for the boy first.
I ain't getting killed
for no kid.
We need him, Pike.
He can get food for us.
It's a long way
through those mountains.
(pounding)
You wouldn't try and lose
me, would you, Vance?
You know these
mountains and I don't.
How do I know you'll
come back for me?
You keep the money
here with you.
All right.
I'll give you 48 hours.
If you're not back,
I go on without you
and the money
goes with me.
I'll be back.
Sure, you will.
Now, you better get
that thing off your leg
while I get us a
change of clothes.
Then you and me'll find
me a place to wait
for 48 hours.
(horse snorts)
Morning, Ben.
What brings you out our way,
Fred?
It's not election time
again, is it, Sheriff?
Where's the boy, Ben?
Billy?
Oh, he's off fishing
with Hoss.
Say, did you hear
from his uncle?
Nope, but we sure heard
from his father.
Him and a killer named Pike
broke out of the penitentiary.
When?
Three days ago,
and yesterday I got word
a stagecoach was held up
about 30 miles from here.
Driver and guard
both killed.
You think it
was Vance?
I don't know, but there
ain't been no trace of 'em
since they killed a farmer
right next to the prison.
Probably on their way
to California.
They'd be safe there.
That's what I figured.
Vance knows this country
well enough
to slip right past us
into the mountains.
Yes, he does, and
there are three passes
into the mountains
from the Ponderosa.
I was hoping you
and your boys
would point 'em out
for us.
Well, we'll we'll
be right with you.
Thanks, Ben,
we'll wait for you.
I'll take some men
to the Truckee.
Adam, you and Joe will have
to take the sheriff
all the way to the Donner gap.
That'll take a
couple of days.
Yeah.
Hoss better look after the boy.
I'll get back here
as fast as I can.
Tell Hop Sing
to rustle up some food.
Right, Pa.
(snoring)
(snoring)
BILLY:
Hey, Hoss, Hoss.
Got me another
one, Hoss.
Look
(snoring)
Best fisherman
west of the Mississippi.
Ha.
(snoring)
(snoring)
(snickering)
(snoring)
(Hoss snoring, Billy snickering)
(water splashes)
Hey, hey, hey!
Billy, Billy,
I done caught
the biggest dang fish
in the world.
(laughs)
Hey.
What are you laughing about?
I got a real fish here.
(laughing)
Not one of them puny little ol'
outfits like you got over there.
(laughing)
Look here what I done caught.
(laughing)
Well, I ain't never seen no fish
like that before.
(laughing)
You're not sore,
are you, Hoss?
You pistol, you know
I ain't sore at you.
I told you I'd catch
something, didn't I?
Even with my eyes shut.
Now, I'll tell you
what else I'm going to do.
I'm gonna throw you out there
with the rest of them fish.
No, Hoss!
One, two, three!
(Billy laughing)
If I ever hear anything about
this from Little Joe or Adam,
I know a little boy
that's going to have
a mighty sore bottom.
Oh, I wouldn't tell on you.
Well, I wouldn't spank you
either, Billy.
I was just teasing.
Hoss.
I wish I were this happy
all the time.
I do, too, Billy.
* *
Billy.
Billy?
Hello, son.
Pa.
I come back for you, just
like I promised I would.
I knew you would, Pa,
I just knew it.
Easy, boy.
We can't talk much.
I need your help, son.
Sure, Pa.
Do you think you
can keep a secret
just between
the two of us?
Yeah, but
there's something
I got to tell you.
About your ma?
I know.
I heard before
I got here.
I couldn't help it, Pa.
I know.
Listen, you got to pretend
you ain't seen me.
You mustn't tell
nobody, hear?
This is what I
want you to do.
Tomorrow night, I want you to
make sure everybody's asleep.
Make real sure.
Then get some food.
Now, do you remember the
cave on the back hill
of Spider Creek that
you and me found?
You mean
our secret cave?
That's right.
I want you to bring
the food to me there.
In a couple of days you and
me are going to California.
California?
I can't stay no more.
Pa.
You didn't tell me
where you were all that time.
Son, I kept my
promise, didn't I,
like I said I would?
You sure did, Pa.
Trust me, son.
I'll tell you
everything later.
Pa.
I'll be waiting.
And remember, son,
this is our secret.
(hoofbeats
approaching)
Hey, Billy, come on out.
We got company.
Hello, Hoss.
Howdy, Mr. Sherman.
How are you, sir?
Fine.
Orville.
Hello, Hoss.
Pa's got the contracts
ready for you, Mr. Sherman.
Come on in.
Good.
Well, how is
the lumber business?
Well, I don't reckon it could be
any better, Mr. Sherman.
These dang trees keep growing
as fast as we can cut 'em.
That's good.
Keep building
in the city
and I'll make you Cartwrights
the richest men in Nevada.
(chuckles)
Orville,
wait outside here.
Uh, Daddy won't be long.
Hello, boy.
I'm Orville Sherman.
Who are you?
Over here at the desk.
Sheriff must have sworn
in a dozen extra deputies
just to help find
that boy's father.
Yeah, I I reckon folks'll
be blaming them two convicts
with everything
that happens
within a hundred mile
radius of here.
Probably so.
How is the boy taking it?
Well, sir, he
he just lost his ma.
Don't seem
hardly fair to me
to have to tell the boy
about his pa right after that.
I suppose not.
My father told me he
broke out of jail.
You're a liar.
Your pa's nothing
but a dirty ol' convict.
He is not.
He is not.
He's a murderer.
You liar you liar.
Say it.
Say he's a murderer
or eat dirt.
No!
Say it.
Say he's a murderer
or eat dirt.
No!
Say it or I'll break your arm.
Say it, say
he's a murderer.
You're going
to eat dirt.
Say it.
SHERMAN:
Orville.
He called me a liar, Pa.
I'm going to have
to take a switch to you.
Rolling around in the dirt
like a barroom brawler.
Now, get in that buggy.
Go on.
Billy you
all right?
He said my pa
was a convict.
Are you hurt?
It's all right, Mr. Sherman,
I'll take care of it.
You go ahead.
Children can be very cruel
sometimes.
Yes, sir.
SHERMAN:
Giddup.
(hoofbeats receding)
He said my pa
was a murderer and
and that he had escaped
from prison.
Billy
it's true.
I should've told you
a long time ago.
They-they think he might
be coming this way.
Couldn't make me eat dirt.
You're proud of that, ain't you?
No one's gonna say anything
about my pa!
Billy, I
I ain't sayin' they should.
The the thing is it
it don't matter what your ma
or pa was, son,
'cause you ain't them.
Now,
my ma was a real pretty woman,
but that don't mean
that folks have gotta
enjoy lookin' at a big ugly
cuss like me, does it?
Don't you see
what I mean, Billy?
It's more important
what you are
than what your ma
and pa was,
or what people might say
about 'em--
good or bad.
But, Hoss,
my pa promised he was gonna
come back for me.
And when he does,
he's gonna explain everything
to everybody.
We better get you
fixed up.
I hate to lose a hand
with just me and you running
this ranch by ourselves.
Wouldn't you?
(thump)
(horse snorting)
From now on,
it's just the two of us.
We haven't got
any friends?
Folks ain't interested
in you and me, son.
They never was,
and they ain't
never gonna be.
Nobody?
Nobody.
Pa
w-would it be all right
if I said I love you?
Sure.
That's a good thing
for a man and his son.
To say to each other.
We better get back to the cave.
Pa?
Yeah?
You said you were
gonna tell me
about where you been.
You don't know?
A boy said you were a convict
and a murderer.
Billy
I shouldn't have been
sent to prison.
But nobody cared,
so that's where
they sent me.
It was pretty bad
there, son.
So I I got out
and I come back for you,
like I promised I would.
I knew you would, Pa.
You'd have done the same
for me, wouldn't you, son?
Sure.
No matter what.
No matter what.
You better get goin'.
Pa, do you have to go
back to that cave?
Yeah.
But maybe
by tomorrow night
we'll have enough food
so we can go to California.
Now you hurry.
I don't want no one
to find you gone.
Be back tomorrow,
Pa.
(cocking gun)
Let me go, Hoss.
I ain't aimin' on pullin' this
trigger unless you make me.
Don't you remember
me, Hoss?
I'm Vance Allen.
I rented my farm
from your pa.
I remember you, Vance.
You could say you
never seen me.
I can't do that.
I can help you
turn yourself in,
and then do
what I can for you.
I got a bad deal
once, Hoss.
Vance, you got
a fair trial.
A jury found you guilty.
Now, bustin' out of prison
ain't gonna help you none.
I'll go to California.
Nobody knows me there.
I'll go through
the mountains.
Nobody's gotta know.
What about the little boy?
I won't wait for him.
I'll go now.
I'll send for him later.
He brung you that food,
didn't he?
Yeah, he's a good boy.
You could tell him, Hoss.
He'd understand.
Vance, it just ain't no good.
Go on, let's go.
Can't ya understand?
They kept me in a cage
like an animal.
I had to get up when they say,
eat when they say,
sleep when they say,
work when they say.
I can't go back!
Vance!
(groans)
Vance?
Billy.
(hoofbeats approaching)
Good morning,
Mr. Cartwright.
You take enough
food along?
Yes, everything was fine,
Hop Sing.
Hoss up yet?
He never get up until
he smell cooking.
The other boys get back?
No, sir.
Well, I'm hungry enough
for three people.
Unsaddle the horse,
see that he's fed.
Oh, Hoss!
I thought you were
upstairs asleep.
What're doing up
Vance.
Pa, I couldn't help it.
He pulled a gun on me, Pa.
And
I didn't even
have time to aim.
Sure, son.
He came back for Billy
just like he said he was.
Better tell the boy.
Pa
I'll tell him.
Ain't nobody can do it
for me.
Billy
No, Billy.
(crying)
He's dead, son.
That's your horse, Hoss.
I'm sorry, Billy.
I'm terrible sorry.
You said you were
my friend.
You knew he was coming
back for me!
You killed him!
Well, Billy, he didn't
leave me no choice.
I'm terrible
sorry, Billy.
I'd do anything to bring
your pa back to you,
but I can't.
I'm sorry.
I hate you, Hoss!
I hate you!
I hate you!
You killed my Pa!
I hate you!
You killed him!
I'm sorry, Billy.
I'm terrible sorry.
I hate you!
Stop it, Billy!
(sobbing)
I wish I were big enough.
I wish I were big enough
to kill you, Hoss!
(door slams)
Hoss, it's not
your fault.
Leave me alone, Pa.
(sniffling)
(crying)
Hoss, that boy was not
responsible for what he said.
You did
what you had to do.
Pa, I ain't never had to
do anything like that.
I hope I never have
to do it again.
I didn't even
sight my gun, Pa,
I
I just pulled
the trigger.
And if you hadn't,
he'd have killed you.
If I hadn't
have butted in,
he never would've
drawed on me, Pa.
No, Hoss, Vance was
a fugitive from justice.
Now, you obeyed your duty
to the law.
There ain't no law
that says I can go out and take
a man's life away from him.
I ain't got no tin badge
that says it's all right
for me to
to kill a little boy's pa.
A little boy that trusted me.
(sighs)
I wish I had some words
to take your pain away, Hoss.
What am I gonna say to him?
What's he gonna think
about trustin' folks,
and lettin' folks
be his friends now,
after what I done to him?
What did you think
when your mother died?
I thought the world
had come to an end.
But you got over it.
And so did I.
Pa
I can still feel
them little fists
hitting and
and hitting me.
It hurts, Pa.
It hurts worse
than anything.
I know, son, I know.
I've been sitting here
praying as hard
as I know how
that God would tell me
what to say to him.
We were friends, Pa.
I killed his papa with that.
Pa
I got these big hands, Pa,
and I can lift a heifer
clean off of the ground,
and I can whup most near
any man I ever met,
but I'd cut them both off
if it'd make that little boy
quit looking at me
like he wanted to spit.
Why don't God help me, Pa?
Why don't he tell me
what to say?
Why do I have to just be a
a big, dumb Hoss?
There's nothing you can say.
He'll have to understand
by himself.
(hoofbeats approaching)
(horse snorts)
Hoss, do you want me
to go along with you?
No, thank you, Pa.
All right,
I'll go on ahead.
I'll try to find
Adam and Little Joe.
What about the boy?
He's gonna he's gonna
come along with me.
(horse galloping away)
Billy
we better get going.
(Hoss clicking tongue)
Whoa.
(snorting)
I reckon I ought to let these
old ponies rest here a minute.
HOSS:
Still cool.
Howdy.
Sure am glad
to find you, mister.
Near dying of thirst.
What happened?
My horse broke his leg
last night.
Must've got lost.
Who you got under there?
It's Vance Allen.
He was one of the
one of the two escaped convicts
the sheriff's looking for.
Well, what about the other one?
I don't know.
Well, you sure
are lucky, mister.
You just found me.
Don't try anything.
Now, put your hands
in the air.
You, kid,
keep your mouth shut.
Mister,
sheriff's got every man
in this country looking for you.
You ain't got a chance.
Oh, you're wrong.
I've got every chance now.
I've got all this
and you to show me
through the mountains
instead of Vance Allen.
That's where you got it wrong.
I ain't helping you.
Oh, you're gonna help me,
all right.
Or I'll kill the kid right here.
HOSS:
You'll what?
I ain't no pushover
like Vance Allen.
Now, what's it gonna be?
The kid
or you gonna show me
through those mountains?
Run, Billy!
You're the one I need now.
It may take me a while
to convince you
but you'll show me
through those mountains,
won't you?
It's Billy!
Well, Billy, what are
you doing out here?
Where's Hoss?
He's with that other man,
back in the woods.
What other man?
The one
that was with my pa.
Where are they?
Can you lead us back to
where they are, Billy?
Listen to me, boy.
That man is desperate.
Now, he could kill Hoss.
I want you to lead us
back to where they are.
Hoss killed my pa!
I hope he does kill Hoss!
I hope he does!
Did you hear what
I said, Billy?!
Take it easy, Pa.
Billy!
BEN:
Billy!
Billy, Hoss is my son.
And to you he's
big and tough
but he's my boy.
Now, I know how you
felt about your father.
You loved him no
matter what he did.
And he loved you.
And that's a good thing
between a father and a son.
Now, Billy, that's the way
it is between me and my boy.
No matter what
you think of him,
I love Hoss, Billy,
he's my son.
Now you understand
how I feel?
I'm I'm begging you
to save his life, Billy.
You're the only
one who can.
I'll show you.
But, Ben
(sobbing):
he was beating him.
Well, big boy,
did you have enough?
You gonna take me through
those mountains now?
(grunting)
(gunshot)
BEN:
Hoss!
Hoss?
Hoss?
(Hoss groaning)
Easy, boy, easy.
Took quite a beating.
I reckon I'm lucky my ol' head's
as hard as it is, Pa.
We'd have never
found you
if it hadn't have
been for Billy.
He's a good boy.
Yeah.
He's gone.
We'd better go after him.
Wait, wait.
Let me go.
Billy, you can't catch many
fish without a pole, can you?
You're alive.
Yep, I'm alive, Bill.
My father,
he was like that man, wasn't he?
Well, I
I reckon he had a little
mean streak in him, Billy,
but lots of folks do.
Billy, your papa loved you, son.
But he did come back for me,
didn't he?
You bet he did.
Can I go back to the ranch
until my uncle comes?
Come on.
* *