"ANNOUNCER:" "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC." "(fanfare playing)" "Morning, Mr. Blair." "Be with you in a minute, Adam." "(dog barking)" "(wagon driver whistling)" "DRIVER:" "Ho!" "Ho!" "Welcome to Virginia City, Reverend." "I thank thee, sir." "Uh... planning on staying?" "No, sir." "Just long enough to water our animals." "You're very welcome, Reverend." "Just help yourself." "I thank thee, and may God bless your day." "MAN:" "Yeah." "Our people have had a very long journey." "We've come all the way from Ohio." "Adam." "I'm glad you rode in today." "DRIVER (in distance):" "Hyah!" "Hyah!" "Come on in." "How's Ben these days?" "Adam?" "Oh, uh... he's fine." "Here's your bill of lading, Adam." "Tell Ben I want the cattle shipped by the first of the month." "It'll be there." "Good." "Time for a little drink?" "No, thanks." "It's a little early for me." "I like my cards from the top." "You been getting them from the top!" "That card you were just gonna deal me came from the bottom of the deck, mister." "It's the five of clubs." "Mister, you're just asking for trouble." "Hold it..." "Get out of here, the both of you." "And stay out of here." "Mine." "Get him off to the sheriff, you tinhorn gambler." "I'd have beat him anyway." "Why did you step in?" "Uh, he was going to shoot you." "Well, I guess that's as good a reason as any." "But now I owe you." "(theme song playing)" "Which way you riding?" "West." "Ride a piece with you?" "Fine." "Last time I saw one of them sect trains, was just outside Salt Lake City." "Funny thing about them people." "They don't use guns." "I know." "They don't believe in them." "Where's your horse?" "Livery." "(goats bleating in distance)" "I didn't get the name." "Cartwright." "Adam Cartwright." "From the Ponderosa, huh?" "That's right." "You in the ranching business?" "Not yet, but I'm looking for a stake." "I want some land and some cattle that don't belong mostly to a bank." "I don't like owing anybody." "Throw my saddle on the calico." "(horse sputters)" "Well, I rode the edge of the Ponderosa yesterday on my way here." "Mighty big place." "How does a man get a place like that?" "He works." "From the shape that horse is in," "I'd say you've been looking for that stake a pretty long time." "I have... but then it takes a lot of looking." "Well, we can always use good help at the Ponderosa." "You offering me a job?" "$40 a month." "At the end of the year, you get your pick in ten head of stock... bonus." "You make this offer to everybody?" "No." "Why me?" "You look like you can handle it." "You talk right out, don't you?" "I try to." "Well, that's a mighty tempting offer." "Well, you think about it." "I'm doing just that, right now." "(laughs)" "Oh..." "Black hat." "Black coat." "Beard like a billy goat." "(laughter)" "We are weary." "We must find a campsite and rest for the night." "Camp right here." "Sure!" "You can have a prayer meeting tonight." "We'll get Hoopla Sal and her gals to come and join in." "(laughs)" "I know thou art seeking amusement, but please allow us to pass." "How do we know you ain't desperate characters?" "My friends, I assure thee, we wish every man good days and a long life and ask... and ask only to pass in peace." "Pass in peace." "(laughing)" "He's asking." "Ask them for nothing, Father." "Well, what do you know?" "You're kind of pretty to be with this kind of outfit." "How about them clothes." "What do you say, honey, you and me have a drink of whiskey, huh?" "Huh?" "And maybe I'II, uh, buy you a new dress, huh?" "(laughs)" "Come on, honey." "Ain't you got any life in you?" "Come on, honey." "Let's have a little fun, huh?" "(grunts)" "(onlookers murmuring)" "You all right, ma'am?" "I believe so, yes." "BORD:" "Hold it." "Get him out of here." "We was just funnin'." "Get ready to move." "Hurry!" "Please, Matthew, before there's more trouble!" "I thank thee very kindly." "Thou art a very brave man." "Is everything all right, sir?" "Yes, thanks to thee and thy friend." "I am Jacob Darien." "I'm Adam Cartwright." "This is my daughter Regina." "Oh, uh, this is, um..." "Sam Bord." "You're riding west, sir?" "Why, uh, y-yes." "So are we." "Uh, maybe it would be a good idea if we rode along with you." "If thou art going that way." "Uh, we are." "Then thou art indeed welcome." "Indeed." "Nice girl, that." "Yeah." "Sam Bord, huh?" "Your name is familiar to me." "I figured it might be." "You could have used another name." "Don't see any reason to." "I figure, I owe a man something, the least I can do is be honest with him." "Thanks for the job offer." "It still goes, Sam." "JACOB:" "My friends." "DRIVER:" "Hyah!" "Hyah!" "DRIVER:" "Hyah!" "Hyah!" "(driver whistles)" "DRIVER:" "Ho!" "Ho!" "Whoa!" "(fading in):" "...give Thee thanks for the protection and the guidance" "Thou hast given us this day." "And especially we give thanks for our new friends, who have served us so well, and for this earth and this sky and this water." "And we wish Thee, Lord, a peace-filled night as we wish it for ourselves and our fellow men." "Amen." "GROUP:" "Amen." "(dog barking)" "(child shouts, laughs)" "Here, let me help you." "No." "Thou art a guest." "And thou art..." "a most pretty young woman." "Thou art a strange man, Adam Cartwright." "Strange?" "Why do you say that?" "Thou had much to say to me every time thou looked at me today, and yet, now that the opportunity is here, thou sayest nothing at all." "Well, maybe, uh... maybe I just don't know what to say or how to say it." "Simple and direct, as is everything under God's sky." "What puzzles thee?" "Um... your father, uh, them and... your customs." "All disturb thee, Adam?" "Yes, uh... well, no." "I mean, um..." "Well, if, uh, for instance, if it were my train," "I'd-I'd circle the wagons at night instead of, uh, stringing them out." "REGINA:" "Oh." "And I'd pen the stock inside, in case of trouble." "What trouble?" "Well, any trouble." "Uh..." "Look, uh... (Adam sighs)" "Yes?" "Well, I think and, um, do things one way, and..." "And-And we do them differently." "Is that it?" "Yes." "Well, isn't every man entitled to his... his own beliefs, or his own manner of living?" "Yes, but, um..." "But what, Adam?" "It's you." "You disturb me very much, Regina." "Oh?" "Why?" "Because I'd like to know more about you." "Because, um... (sighs)" "(laughs)" "Well, we're, uh... right back where we started, aren't we?" "Oh, no." "We've come a long way from there." "I'm disturbed by thee also, Adam." "(dog barking)" "Children!" "Children..." "Go help thy mother." "Susan, go along with thy brother." "(goats bleating)" "Where is thy friend Adam?" "Uh, he's with your daughter, helping her to get some water." "My daughter allowed a guest to help?" "Uh, Reverend," "I kind of got the idea he wanted to be with her." "And, uh, I kind of got the idea that, uh, perhaps she wishes to be with him." "No objections?" "A man might as well object to the wind and the sun and the rain." "(horse neighing, dog barking, children shouting)" "What do you carry in here, Reverend?" "Hymn books?" "No, my friend, not exactly." "MAN:" "Jacob?" "Jacob, we have visitors coming." "Welcome." "Welcome, friends, to our humble campsite." "Welcome." "Peace be with you, my friends." "And with you." "Who's in charge here?" "I am." "Call me Jacob." "And this is my friend Matthew." "Hey, that fella's sure got a face full of hay, ain't he?" "I'm Ben Cartwright, and you're on Ponderosa land." "Ah!" "Then these men are..." "are thy sons?" "Oh, we are indebted to thee." "All of thee." "Oh, is that so?" "Indeed, sir." "Why, we have all this fine grazing for our stock, plenty of water to take care of them." "What more could a man ask?" "Well, a man could ask how long you're planning to stay here." "We leave on the morrow." "Oh." "Oh, is something amiss?" "No." "No, no." "You're, uh, most welcome." "If there's anything that my sons and I can do to serve you, please, uh... please ask us." "Oh, thou art most kindly." "May God bless thee often." "Thank you." "Oh, uh, there is one thing more we would ask of thee." "Oh?" "That, uh, thou remain and dine with us." "Oh, well, I, uh..." "Yes, sir." "Sure do thank you." "Hi, Pa." "BEN:" "Well..." "Uh, these people are..." "BEN:" "I know." "Adam, thy father has just bid us welcome on the Ponderosa." "Well, I'm glad of that." "Oh, this is, uh, Regina Darien." "My father." "Ma'am." "(children shouting)" "Now this is Sam Bord." "Ah, Mr. Bord." "These are my sons..." "Hoss and Little Joe." "Howdy." "Mr. Bord, don't we know each other?" "We do now." "Howdy." "That chow smells mighty good." "Then thee will remain, Mr. Cartwright?" "MATTHEW:" "We insist." "Well, then, we will remain." "Splendid!" "Come, friends!" "Come on, Joe." "Hoss, what would you say to a man who wore a gun that easy?" "Nothing." "Leastways nothing I couldn't back up." "Miss Regina, give me a little more of that." "Certainly." "You folks been eating this kind of food all the way from Ohio?" "We have, sir." "Yeah, well, you keep shoveling it out to him, you're not gonna have any left." "Where are you headed?" "We hope to be in Slatersville by week's end." "We have word of a large, fertile valley there, and God willing, we hope to buy land and settle in peace." "Hmm." "BEN:" "Buying land..." "that could be pretty expensive." "Yes, but we worked for many years and put all of our money together to do it." "It is our dream to start a fresh new life, free of debt." "All of your money?" "All of it." "BEN:" "You traveled 2,000 miles across the United States, to settle in a land that you've never seen." "Oh, I've been there." "We've-We've all been there many times in our, in our minds." "My daughter speaks truly." "Before all this, the Ponderosa belonged to thee, was it not a dream in thy mind, also, Mr. Cartwright?" "Yes, of course." "Very much a dream." "How was the prayer meeting?" "What do you want?" "(snickers)" "You'll never make a preacher, Sam." "You know what I want." "What's the matter?" "Don't you want to let us meet your hymn singers?" "Take them and get out of here." "Who do you think you're fooling, Sam?" "Not them, not me." "We want our cut of that five." "It's gone." "I lost it." "Mm-hmm." "Well, we figured you'd do that, Sam." "But we figured you'd like a chance to make it up, instead a getting killed." "You can make it up, can't you, Sam?" "There's a meadow about a half a mile from here." "I'll meet you there in the morning." "You've got an hour, Sam." "Thou art a strange woman, Regina Darien." "(coyote yipping and howling)" "What is it?" "Coyote bother you?" "Thee treat me well, Adam." "What do you mean?" "Thee would think me faithless and hate me if I spoke of it." "You could never be faithless." "I know that much about you." "And I could never hate you." "I know that much about myself." "Oh, Adam, I do have faith, but I..." "But what?" "Well, we will pass on from here tomorrow, and thee will think of me as that one with the strange people." "And thee will forget me." "I could never forget you." "Oh, Adam, I'm supposed to believe that what will be, will be." "Well, that was before we met?" "Yes." "You'll be gone tomorrow and nothing will be." "Oh, Regina." "I'm coming with you." "To Slatersville." "I'll ride along with the train." "It'll give us more time together." "Oh, Adam, yes, we have need of that." "Oh, Adam, you must think me foolish and forward and..." "No." "I think of you as... beautiful, lovely." "BORD:" "Adam?" "Thee thinks we've been observed, Adam?" "And what if we have?" "Oh, Adam." "Where you going, Sam?" "Tell the folks good-bye for me." "Kind of sudden, isn't it?" "Well, I'm kind of like that." "I don't figure you." "I get an itch every time I hear folks talking about what they got and what they're gonna get." "What are you running away from?" "Maybe a fella named Sam." "About the job..." "I never was much at ranch-handing." "Cards are more my line." "You can take the job... and get everything you always wanted." "You're all right, Cartwright... but it wouldn't do for me to listen to you too long." "(birds chirping)" "(indistinct conversation)" " Adam?" " Yeah?" "You, uh, you sure you know what you're doing now." "I mean, going with the train and all." "I know what I'm doing." "We're different from them, Adam." "She's different from you." "I'm saying this badly, son, but I... it's what I want to say." "I heard you." "(sighs) Good luck." "I better go say good-bye to Jacob and the rest." "Hey, Adam." "Now, where are you going?" "Oh, about the same place you are, I reckon." "Yeah?" "Yep." "Your idea or Pa's?" "Well, I..." "I reckon it's mine." "I sort of got to likin' this Ohio cooking'." "As a matter of fact, I..." "I like everything about these folks." "I didn't think I could even talk to 'em at first, but... then I don't reckon they're so much different from the rest of us..." "none of 'em." " (no audio)" "When?" "When I say." "Well, if it's the kind of outfit you say it is, and if it's as easy as you say it is, why not right now, in the daylight?" "Or maybe you need the night." "DRIVER:" "(whistles) Ho!" "Ho!" "Adam, what are you stopping for?" "Well, this would be a good place to camp for tonight." "There's still..." "two hours of daylight left." "I know, Mr. Darien, but the, um, the animals are all worn out." "Poor beasts." "So are all of us." "We've traveled a long way." "But our fear has been that the land will be taken before we get there." "Forgive us, Adam, if we seem impatient, but we're so anxious to reach our new home." "Well, what about it, Hoss?" "You, uh... think that old trail across the plateau might still be good?" "Well, I don't know, Adam." "It ain't been traveled in a long time." "Don't know if we can get them wagons across there or not." "Well, don't you think it's still worth a look-see?" "Yeah." "Um... water your animals, but, uh, leave 'em hitched up." "We'll see if we can't get you a little further along." "Thank you, Adam." "Hey, wait a minute." "These are fresh tracks, Adam, not over an hour old." "How many do you figure?" "Well, looks like at least four." "Well, whoever they are, they could see the wagons all day." "I never knew a man yet didn't come into a wagon train to get some good home-cookin'." "Yeah." "Me, neither." "Unless they had a reason for not wanting to be seen." "Well, those wagons and the stock alone on that train good pickings." "Yeah, and if they're planning to do anything about it, it'll probably be tonight." "Father." "(group murmuring)" "Is something amiss?" "Uh, something I have to tell you." "What is it, my friend?" "If you people have any guns on this train that you use for hunting or anything else, get them out." "What I'm trying to say is that... we found the tracks of four horses up there." "Now, we have reason to believe that these four men have been watching and following this train all day long." "Well, do you want them to come in and take everything you own without fighting for it?" "Surely you must have some guns of some kind." "We have no guns, Adam." "And we can do no violence on our fellow man." "Well, they can do violence on their fellow man, and they will." "Still, it would not be right for us." "Matthew." "Can't you do something?" "He's only thinking of us, Father." "Regina!" "Hast thou forgotten what we all live by?" "We shall pray that this test comes not to us and that once more we shall be delivered." "Mr. Darien, don't you reckon you could pray just as well if the wagons were circled up and they thought you was gonna put up a fight?" "I can't see how that'd violate nothing." "Whatever thee thinks best, Mr. Cartwright." "Yes, sir." "Adam thee would use this on a man?" "If I have to." "(urgent indistinct conversation)" "(cows mooing, goats bleating)" "I will stay beside thee, Adam." "If thou canst believe with us, then I will try to believe with thee." "(coyote yipping, howling)" "That's them." "We may not have to use 'em." "They see the wagons circled, it might make 'em skittish." "They don't seem very skittish to me." "Seems like they got lots of confidence." "(coyote yipping, howling)" "Yo, wagon!" "Adam, it is thy friend." "He's made some friends." "Train, ho!" "Easy pickings, huh?" "The easiest." "Yeah, they was just gonna invite you right in soon as you got here." "You won't need that." "That's what you told me, Sam." "But you told me a lot of things." "Now I'm gonna tell you something." "I want to pick that up, easy or any way I can get it." "(cocks gun)" "And I want to pick it up now." "Wait here." "It's too quiet." "Let's wake 'em up." "(gunfire)" "(glass shatters)" "Hyah!" "Come on, get!" "(baby crying in distance)" "Bord." "Mr. Bord." "My friend." "I pray thee not to do this, my friend." "Get out of my... (gunshot)" "(baby continues crying)" "Regina!" "Hoss, get down!" "(grunts)" "(gunfire)" "(baby continues crying)" "(Regina crying)" "Earth to earth... ashes to ashes... dust to dust... in sure and certain hope of resurrection into eternal life." "Amen." "We will move on at once, my friends." "Prepare." "HOSS:" "Adam..." "Thee will leave me, too, Adam?" "I have to." "I brought Sam Bord among you, and he did all this to you." "His sins are not thine." "In a way, they are." "It's my job to get that money back." "I better go with him." "Well, they'd probably head south." "Bord needs a new town." "Yep." "Man like that's always needing a new town, I reckon." "That's real pretty, isn't it?" "(coyotes yipping, howling)" "Yeah, really looks good, and I'm gonna enjoy it." "All of it." "Why, we're partners, Shen." "Are we?" "Now, I don't figure it that way, Sam." "As I remember it, you owed me and the boys, and since they ain't here to collect," "I just figured I'd take all our shares." "Don't you trust me?" "No, I don't, Sam." "Now, you just throw the money over here." "Right down there." "Uh-huh." "Oh, and I'II, uh, I'll have your gun." "Real easy, butt first." "Right down there, too." "(coyotes yipping, howling)" "You could have had half." "You never did have any brains." "Could be a trap." "Well, it figures." "Yeah, Bord's gone all the way now, Adam... he's a killer." "Yeah." "Well, ain't but one of 'em left now." "And that's where the money is." "Where's the man belongs to that horse?" "I don't know, he left him here, he took another, and give me a $20 gold piece not more than two hours ago." "Which way did he go?" "Uh, west, toward Towbridge Creek." "We'd like some fresh horses." " Well, now, may..." " In a hurry, huh?" "(gun clicks)" "Well, he's left the trail again." "Adam, he ain't doing a bloomin' thing but leading us on one big merry chase around and round a circle in these blooming' rocks." "Yeah, well, sooner or later, he's got to go to water." "(gun clicks)" "We're even." "I don't owe you now." "Well, he'll have to find a town now." "Yeah." "Which one's nearest?" "Slatersville." "Hey, ain't that where?" "That's right." " Howdy." " Howdy." "What can I do for you?" "This fit any animal you got in here today?" "Mare near rode to death." "Goin' to get him another horse tonight." "You got any idea where the man is?" "I wouldn't be surprised he's over to the saloon there cooling his dampers." "Pretty hot out today." "Thanks." "(sighs)" "(wagons rattling)" "Miss Regina." "Miss Regina." "Hoss!" "Oh, Hoss, where is he?" "Where's Adam?" "Is he?" "He's all right, ma'am." "Thank God." "But where?" "Ma'am, Bord's in town here, and Adam's gone after him." "Oh, no." "Ma'am, I know how you feel," "I know how Adam feels." "There ain't nothing nobody can do to stop him." "The only thing we can do is try to help him!" "WAGON DRIVER:" "Whoa!" "Hoss, I've got to find him." "(door shuts)" "Adam!" "Adam, I beg thee, thou must not do this thing." "What about your father, these people?" "For whatever the reason, it would be violence." "Adam, I see vengeance in thine eyes!" "I saw it when thee rode off!" "I've to get that money back." "If thee get it this way with a gun, then it is not worth having!" "Thee will find him, and he will be killed or thee will be killed." "I'm sorry." "Adam, if thee do this thing, it will be between us all our lives." "It has to be done, Regina." "You'll get over it." "Will I?" "Look at me, Adam." "I am no child." "I've waited a long time to find the kind of a man I could love." "Listen to her, Adam." "You know I don't have any choice." "I'm responsible for Sam Bord!" "Thee are not responsible to him." "Thee are responsible to nobody but thyself." "Adam, I beg thee, put away thy gun!" "(footsteps approach)" "Adam, no, no!" "But we befriended thee!" "Get out of the way, old man." "I've run all I'm gonna run." " Hoss, get her out of here!" " Adam!" "MATTHEW:" "No, no!" "Take this back." "I'm all right." "I had to do it." "(cattle bellowing)" "(sheep bleating)" "Thee are well enough to ride now?" "Yes." "Thee will come and visit us?" "No, I, I couldn't do that, knowing what it would do to you... and them." "And to thee, Adam?" "And me, yes." "He was my father, Adam." "Their leader." "I would be breaking faith with him, and them... and myself, if I..." "Neither one of us had a choice, did we?" "Bless thee, Adam." "WAGON DRIVER:" "Giddyap!" "(whistles)" "Hep." "Hyah!" "Hup!" "Home, Adam?" "Home."