"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 cutting' edge." "That's right." "You see, this knife here was made for carving up meat, not throwing-- not like an Injun'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 aiming' on pulling' 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 trusting' 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." "* *"