"ANNOUNCER:" "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC." "(fanfare plays)" "Hmm?" "Aw!" "Well, well?" "The claims that have the X's on them belong to us, Mr. Harrison." "MAN:" "Th-That is correct, Mr. Harrison." "Uh, we've gotten control of all the silver claims in the area but this one." "What?" "Well, why haven't we got that one, too?" "The claim belongs to a stubborn Irishman by the name of Tim O'Brien." "Holmes has been unable to get him to sell or negotiate in any manner whatsoever." "Won't negotiate?" "Negotiation is the backbone of our civilization." "Force him to negotiate." "I think I've got the answer, chief." "Item number one-- Tim O'Brien has all his money deposited in the Virginia City branch of our bank." "And to the tune of nearly $100,000." "Oh, the man's a fool." "Item number two-- about a month ago, he bought $10,000 worth of machinery from your mine equipment company." "And we've seen to it that the bill has not yet been paid." "Were you also farsighted enough to require his claim as collateral for the equipment?" "That is item number three." "Close the doors of our Virginia City branch." "Declare it insolvent." "And demand immediate payment for the equipment." "And when O'Brien can't pay, foreclose and take over his claim." "Chief, we might have just one problem." "I don't have problems, I give them." "It's Ben Cartwright." "He's a good friend of Tim O'Brien's, and he might cause a stink about this." "Let him." "It won't do any good." "Ben Cartwright will have troubles of his own soon enough." "What do you mean, sir?" "After we acquire Tim O'Brien's claim, can you guess what piece of Nevada real estate we're going after next?" "Not the--the Ponderosa?" "Precisely." "The Ponderosa." "I want it all." "I want everything." "(theme song playing)" "This is really a good-looking briefcase you got, Pa." "Oh, it ought to be." "It's genuine kangaroo." "We got your horses all saddled up, Pa." "Oh, thank you." "Oh, boys, now you know what my policy is." "When Adam and I are away on business," "I like to leave one of you two in charge." "Yeah." "I'm leaving you in charge, Joseph." "Huh?" "Me?" "That's right." "You'll be in charge of ranch operations and, uh, make all the decisions just as I do." "Wait, now, you mean that I'm the boss, I'm the head man?" "That's right." "I'm giving you a blank check as far as the Ponderosa is concerned." "Well, you know, I've been thinking there's a few changes we ought to make around here." "Changes?" "Oh, well, n-not exactly changes, sir-- improvements." "I mean, like, uh, well, cleaning the stable and all those fence posts above the ravine, they need to be replaced." "They're all full of dry rot." "You know, things like that." "All right." "Oh, uh, Joseph, about those, uh, improvements-- nothing too drastic, huh?" "No, no." "No, no, sir." "Nothing drastic." "Now, listen, y-you and Adam, you go have a good time." "Stay as long as you want." "I'll take care of everything." "You sure you know what you're doing?" "Yes." "I want Joseph to have the responsibility." "He's got to learn that running a ranch as big as the Ponderosa isn't as easy as it seems." "Yes, but you left him with a blank check." "When we get back, we'll probably find the ranch has been traded off for a salted gold mine up in Alaska." "Now, stop worrying." "He'll be so busy cleaning stables and repairing fences he won't have time for anything else." "And then after you've finished branding the new calves," "I want you to whitewash the smokehouse..." "Whitewash the smokehouse?" "!" "Joe, we've got hired hands to do stuff like that." "I got other plans for the hired hands." "Hoss, don't you remember what it was like when Pa left you to be boss?" "Yeah." "What else you want me to do?" "After you've finished with the whitewashing," "I want you to build a new ramp up into the stable." " And then..." " Wait a minute, Joe." "Just one thing I got to find out." "What do you want me to be doing when I ain't busy?" "Oh, I'll think of something, Hoss." "(thump)" "What's taking you so long?" "You wanna go in town with me, you're gonna have to knock on it." " Town?" " Mm-hmm." "Come on, hurry up." "There's another brush there." "Oh, yeah." "Hmm!" "Hey." "Hmm, that's good thinking." "Hey, I'm going to go down to the telegraph office for awhile." "What you gonna be doing down there?" "Well, there-there's a fella advertising he's got a prize bull for sale in Placerville." "See?" "I'm going to send him a telegram telling him I want to buy it." "It says here he wants $1,000 for that bull." "Yeah." "Well, Pa left me a blank check, didn't he?" "Told me to make all the decisions?" "Figure buying this bull is a decision." "(loud ringing)" "Oh, hey, hi, Little Joe." "What are you doing in town?" "Well, business, Frank." "You know, now that I'm running the ranch, I've got a lot of business to take care of." " You're running the ranch?" " Mm-hmm, yeah." "Oh, that reminds me, I want to send a telegram to Placerville, California to a Mr..." "Uh, wait, wait, wait." "We haven't strung any telegraph wires to Placerville yet." "The only way to get in touch with anyone there is, you know, regular mail." "Well, better get the letter written." " Hey, hey, hey, Little Joe." " Yeah." "You ain't forgot how to send and receive Morse code, have you?" "Oh, no, I remember." "Of course, you know, I gave up the idea of being a telegrapher." "It's, uh, kind of kid stuff compared to running one of the biggest spreads in Nevada, you know?" "Why do you ask?" "Well, nothing." "I was..." "I was just figuring on showing you something I got for the, uh, the new rig, if you'd watch the key for a minute, but I guess you wouldn't be much interested now." " A new rig?" " Yeah." "Hey, you didn't get a sulky, did you?" "Better than that." "I got my pa's old buggy, see?" " What I'm doing, I'm stripping it down, see?" "Uh-huh." " I'm cutting it under." " Yeah?" "And I'm adding a stick seat." "Oh, stick seat, huh?" "Hey, what about the springs?" " Oh, oversized, naturally." " Good." "You don't know the best part." "I got myself a pair of-- get this-- panel-boot Victoria lamps from Boston." "Oh, panel-boot Victoria are nice." " Hey, want to see 'em?" " Yeah, I'd love to." "Watch the key for a minute." " I'll go get 'em." " Right." "One minute." "(telegraph key clacking)" ""To J.R. Huggins." ""Manager Harrison Branch Bank..." ""Virginia City, Nevada." ""Declaring Virginia City branch..." ""insolvent." "Stop." ""You are hereby ordered to close bank" ""and forward all assets to Harrison Corporation." "John J. Harrison."" "(loud ring)" "Well, there it is, Little Joe." "What do you think of that, huh?" "Yeah, it's, uh, it's really great, Frank." "Great?" "That's all you're going to say about it?" "Look, have you seen my brother Hoss?" "Uh, yeah, I saw him down in front of the Bucket of Blood." "All right, thanks." "Oh, hey, any messages while I was away?" "No, no, Frank, none to speak of." "Uh, he probably never even saw a panel-boot Victoria lamp before." "(grunts)" "Here, read this." "(men laughing)" "Over here, everybody." "Come on now." "Quiet, boys, quiet." "Tim O'Brien has something to say." "(laughter)" "You are now looking at the Leaning Tower of O'Brien." "Drink hearty, lads, drink hearty." "And there's more where that came from." "For I have $100,000 in the Harrison Bank down the street." "Drink up, drink up." "That's the way." "(hearty laughter, jaunty music)" "Insolvent?" "Don't... don't that mean the bank's going broke?" "Yeah, that's what it means, but the bank ain't going broke." "They're doing this deliberate." "How come they'd want to break their own bank?" "I don't know." "Some kind of shady deal." "I remember Pa saying that old man Harrison was as crooked as a dog's hind legs." "As a matter of fact, I remember Pa's pa saying the same thing about the old varmint." "If this telegram ever gets delivered it'll bust this town wide open." "If it gets delivered." "New in town." "Pretty face." "What do you mean, if it ever gets delivered?" "I don't know if I'm going to deliver it or not." "I saw Tim O'Brien in the Bucket of Blood." "Bank closes, he'll lose every cent he's got to his name." "I heard Pa tell him not to put a penny in that Harrison Bank." "You know Tim." "He's so contrary, whatever Pa told him to do," " he'd do the opposite." " Yeah." "Let's go in and talk to him." "(raucous laughter and shouting)" "Hey, Tim!" "Tim O'Brien!" "Wee Joseph and Hoss Cartwright!" " How are you?" " (laughter)" "Hey, Tim, we want to talk to you." "Ah, today, Tim O'Brien is a drinker, not a talker." "Irish whiskey to wet our whistles." "Tom, well, give the boys a couple of bottles." "Two bottles." " There you are, boys." " (men shouting)" "Hey, look, Tim, we want to..." "Ah, now, where's..." "where-where's your dad, the big Cartwright, me old friend?" "Well, he's gone, Tim." " Now, here's..." " Gone?" "Ben... gone?" "Me boozin' friend, Ben Cartwright." "Now you tell me that he's gone." "He just rolled over to Cedar Creek, Tim." "Cedar Creek?" "Oh, for a minute, I thought you meant something more permanent." "(laughs)" "Now that he's back amongst the living, me spirit roars for another drink." "Right away." "Joe, we're wasting our time." "Come on, Tim." "Let's go sit down." "Irish whiskey, the nectar of the gods." "Consumed by gentlemen in all the civilized capitals of the world." "Tim, you got any money in the Harrison Branch Bank?" "Have I got money in the Harrison Bank?" "(laughing)" "Have I got money in the Harrison Bank?" "I don't think you lads realize that it's Tim O'Brien you're talking to." "Here, have a look at that." "That's me bankbook." "$98,649." "And 82 cents." "Yeah." "And 82 cents." "Yeah, well, Tim..." "hey, Tim, see," "Hoss and I were thinking it might be a good idea for you to take your money out of the Harrison Branch Bank and put it into another bank." "Why?" "(Joe inhales)" "(chuckles)" "No special reason, Tim." "Just thought it'd be a good idea." "Take me money out of one bank and put it into another?" "That don't make sense at all." "Have you boys been drinking?" "Well, if you haven't, you should be." "Here, do justice to that while me back is turned." "Ain't no use in talking to him, Joe." " He's so drunk, he can't hit the floor with his hat." "Yeah." "Sure wish Pa was here." "He'd know what to do." "Yeah, well, Pa ain't here, so it's up to us to do some thinking." "Let's go on over to the bank, pussyfoot around, ask some questions." "What sort of questions?" "Now, what kind of question's that to ask me-- what kind of questions?" "Questions!" "Here, Tim." "The idea-- me taking me business away from a nice old man like Mr. Harrison." "(scoffs)" "Out of three branches, they pick this one to break." "That proves it's crooked." "If it wasn't, the whole bank would go busted, not just one branch." "Dad-burnit, Joe, how..." "how do they get away with it?" "Well, crook like John J. Harrison gets away with it all the time." "Listen, you keep a lookout out here." "I'm going to talk to Mr. Huggins." "Hey." "Keep a lookout for what?" "Would you just..." "just keep a lookout?" "Mr. Finch, that young Cartwright boy, uh, must think we're running a general store." "He actually wants me to take all the money out of the safe so he can see it." "Well, Mr. Huggins, you're the manager." "I'm just your assistant." "But if I were you, I'd humor the boy." " You would?" " Mm-hmm." "Why?" "Who knows?" "Maybe Ben Cartwright sent the boy here to check on our financial structure." "You may be right." "Very well, Mr. Finch." "Get everything out of the safe and bring it into the office." "Yes, sir." "♪♪" "♪♪" "Here we are." "$60,000 in cash and our securities." "Now, let me get this straight." "You said you had deposits totaling $150,000." "Yes, in that neighborhood." "You only have $60,000 here." "Well, I can see you don't know much about banks." "Those bonds can be cashed at any Harrison Bank on demand for $100,000." "Hmm." "Well, then, gentlemen, I suggest you cash them before your depositors read this and want to withdraw their money." "Close the bank?" "But that would mean I'd have to go back..." " What?" " Oh, nothing." "I was just, uh..." "All right, here's what we'll do-- you cash the bonds, let the depositors draw out their money, then I'll deliver the telegram." "Are you trying to tell me how to run this bank?" "No, but do you want to ruin a bunch of innocent depositors?" "Oh, no, no, no." "Of course not." "All right." "Me and my brother will ride to Placerville to the Harrison Branch." "We'll cash the bonds, bring the money back here to Virginia City." "You want me to turn these bonds over to you and your brother?" "Do you think I'm out of my mind?" "Mr. Huggins, come here." "Gentlemen, I am trying to be reasonable." "(Joe chuckles)" "Joe." "Hey, Joe, what are you..." "what are you doing?" "Oh, robbing a bank." "Well, come on." "We're in this together." "Bread and butter." "Come to supper." "Hey, uh, everything satisfactory, fellas?" "(door closes)" "(gasps)" "Oh, uh... (stammering)" "The bank's been robbed." "Um, uh, Sh-Sh-Sheriff!" "Mr. Huggins and Mr. Finch!" "Negotiable bonds: $100,000." "What else did they take?" "Nothing else." "Only the bonds." "You're dead sure it was Little Joe and Hoss Cartwright?" "Of course it was them." "Oh, I know those boys well, Sheriff." "It was them." "No mistake about that." "Mr. Johnson, you better get back to your window." "Yes, sir." "I just can't believe it." "Yes, it came as quite a shock to us, too." "I'd have sworn that those boys just couldn't do a thing like that." "When Ben Cartwright finds out that they're bank robbers, it'll... well, it'll just break his heart." "And our bank, too." "You got any idea where they'd go to cash the bonds?" "Yes, they went..." "Uh, yes." "Yeah, I heard the young Cartwright say that they were heading south for the Mexican border." "Mexican border, huh?" "I'll send telegrams to all the law enforcement officers within a radius of 100 miles to keep a lookout for them." "I'll keep you advised." "(door closes)" "Mr. Finch, I was almost sure that Cartwright boy said he was going to Placerville." "Exactly, Mr. Huggins." "Do you think they'll have any trouble cashing the bonds there?" "Oh, no trouble at all." "Our Placerville branch is equipped to handle the largest kind of transactions." "Precisely." "We're going to let the Cartwright brothers pull our chestnuts out of the fire." "What do you mean, Finch?" "You know what I mean, Huggins." "Mr. Finch, if you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting..." "Why not?" "Spoken in the true spirit of John J. Harrison." "Now, we've got the $60,000 cash, plus the $100,000 we are going to get from the Cartwright boys, which gives us a grand total of $160,000." "$80,000 each." "$80,000 each!" "Yes, a man could live handsomely on that in Switzerland." "Switzerland?" "I think I would prefer the South of France." "I've heard the women in France, uh..." "Uh, by the way, Finch, you've met my wife, haven't you?" "Yes." "Once." "Now, I have one suggestion." "We'll leave $10,000 of the money with Johnson for the teller's safe." "That'll take care of the transactions for the next three days." "The rest of the money, we put in the big safe." "The big safe?" "Why?" "That's what we tell Johnson." "Very wise." "You know, Mr. Finch, in time, you, too, could have risen to the post of branch manager." "Thank you, Mr. Huggins." "(telegraph key clacking)" "Frank." "Send this message..." "Hey, wait, wait, shh, shh." "Now, that can wait." "You send this message to the peace officers of every town on this list." "Joe and Hoss?" " See, now, I knew it." " Knew what?" "I knew something was wrong when he wasn't interested in my panel-boot Victoria lamp." "In your what?" " My panel-boot..." " Never mind!" "Just send the message." "(thudding)" "(creaking)" "Joe, are you... you right sure we're doing the right thing?" "Well, Pa said I was boss and I make all the decisions, didn't he?" "Yeah, but you done had us robbing a bank, and now it's destroying private property." "I..." "I don't know whether Pa would consider that coming under the title of making decisions or not." "Yeah, well, what if Mr. Huggins telegraphed the Harrison Bank in Sacramento?" "They'd send a messenger to Placerville who'd get there before us and tell 'em not to cash the bonds." "Come on, you better knock on it." "Yeah." "Well, what's the matter?" "The line just went dead." "Must be a loose connection along the line somewhere." "Or a pole might've fell." "Now, what do you mean a pole might've fell?" "Yeah, last month over in Carson City a bull tower went down." "Bull?" "Bull!" "You send a message as soon as you can, you hear?" "Dad-burn it, Joe, my feets as cold as a couple of bushel baskets of icicles." "How come we didn't stop by the house and pick up some bedrolls?" "(coyote howls)" " Hey, Joe." " Hmm?" "What's the average time a man gets for-for bank robbery?" "Ten, 15 years of hard labor." "Yeah, you got nothing to worry about." "Yeah?" "A lynch mob usually saves the government cost of a trial." "BEN:" "Adam!" "Look at that!" "Now, is this somebody's idea of a joke?" "Hmm, looks pretty official to me." "No, not Joe and Hoss!" "They wouldn't do a thing like that!" "I'm gonna see the sheriff." "I don't believe it!" "I wouldn't believe it if there were 50 witnesses." "I know my boys!" "They just wouldn't do a thing...!" "Ben, I understand how you feel, but nonetheless it's the truth, and you just gotta face it." "It just isn't possible!" "My boys..." "How much are they supposed to have taken?" "$100,000." "I'm just fixin' to swear in a half a dozen deputies now and go after 'em." "Well, there's no need to do that, Roy." "I..." "I'll bring the boys back." "I'll, I'll see to it that everything they're... they're supposed to have taken is returned." "Well, that's very nice of you, but the trouble is this is not just a family affair." "The boys have committed a crime." "That means it's my job to go after 'em, not yours." "Now I'm asking..." "Roy..." "I'm asking this as a favor, Roy." "I..." "I'll, I'll bring 'em back." "All I need is a little time to do it in." "Ben, I can't..." "All right, I'll give you a little time, but to protect me, now don't tell anybody." "All right, Roy, thanks." "Thanks." "(sighs)" "Hurt your hand?" "(clears throat)" " Whoa." " What's the matter?" "Joe, you know how my head always itches when somebody's following me?" "You always claim that." "Well, it's itching right now." "I don't think they could organize a posse this soon." "You sure your hair just doesn't need washing?" "I just washed it last month." "What, sheep dip and water?" " No." " That explains it." "So far so good, Mr. Huggins." "Onward and upward, Mr. Finch." "Ho!" "Hey, ma'am, didn't I see you in Virginia City?" "Reckon it must have been the hat or the..." "Hmph!" "Good day, ma'am." "Hey, Hoss, you know, I just..." "Yeah, I just made the same mistake." " Did you get the money?" " Oh, sure, I got it." "It's what what I went in there for, isn't it?" "Yeah, but $100,000, that's a lot of money." "Ah, the bank manager knew Pa." "Figured he was working on some kind of a big business deal." "I didn't see any reason to tell him otherwise." "Joe, we ain't ate since yesterday, and we got another cold night on the trail." "How come we don't buy us a couple of blankets" " and some beans or something?" " Here." "Yeah." "You got any cash money on ya?" "No, I ain't, right on me, but I was thinking that maybe..." "Hoss, what you thinking ain't honest." "But Joe, we'd just be borrowing' it." "Well, we're on the right trail, Pa." "That horse has a break in his shoe." "That Joseph is getting lazier by the day." "I told him more than a week ago to replace that shoe on his horse." "Got dang, my feet nearly froze last night." "I ain't, I ain't gonna let that happen again." "(Little Joe groans)" "(Hoss chuckles)" "(gun cocks)" "The Cartwright brothers, I presume?" "(Little Joe groans)" "Joe, we got us more troubles than a horse without a tail at fly time." "How are we gonna explain all this to the sheriff?" "It ain't the sheriff" "I'm so much worried about as it is Pa." "Dad-burn it, every time I think about the brace game them two bank fellers playing on us, makes me mad enough to bite myself." "Well, better get on back to town." "We got a lot of tall explaining to do." "Yeah." "We gonna be just about as popular in town as a couple of wet dogs at a parlor social." "Well?" "Go-go ahead and-and tell 'em." "You're the boss." "Well, you... you see, Pa, wha..." "what ha... what happened is..." "I think I'll get me some water." "That's the most unbelievable cock-and-bull yarn" "I've ever heard." "You steal the bonds from the bank because it's going broke, then you cash them, and then the bankers steal the money from you!" "Well, that's exactly what happened, Pa!" "It sure is, Pa." "And then, then they stole our horses on top of that." "Oh." "Where's that telegram you got over the wire?" "(chuckles):" "It's here." "Wait-wait a second." "You-you got the telegram?" "I ain't got it." "You got it, ain't ya?" "Well, I, I ain't exactly got it with me, Pa." "You ain't exactly got it with you, because it wasn't exactly sent." "Oh, now, listen!" "No, you listen, and you listen good." "I don't know what you boys did with the money, but there's one thing I do know for sure." "You're gonna give yourselves up to the sheriff and stand trial for bank robbery." "Understand?" "Adam, you and I'll ride back to Virginia City and make arrangements to pay back every cent that these... brothers of yours took." "Uh, Pa, where you gonna get a quick $100,000?" "Sell the Ponderosa, if I have to." "Hey, Pa, how are we supposed to get back into Virginia City if we ain't got no horses?" "You'll walk." "We'll-we'll walk?" "And make sure you get there, ya hear?" "Like you said, Pa, you really know Little Joe." "He'll be cleaning out the stable, repairing the fences." "Oh, come on!" "(crowd clamoring)" "What's going on?" "Well, looks like a bank run." "(angry shouting)" "(banging on door)" "Keep them out of here until I get my money." "Your money?" "What about my money?" "Bennigan, don't be selfish." "Let's go!" "Hurry up!" "Give me my money and quick." "Right away, Mr. Miller." "Mr. Miller, did you remember to fill out your withdrawal slip in triplicate?" "Triplicate?" "!" "What seems to be the trouble, Mr. Johnson?" "Bank run, Mr. Cartwright." "That $100,000 your two boys stole is turning this town into..." "All right, all right, now, now quiet down, folks." "Please quiet down now." "Just..." "Now, look, your deposits are perfectly safe here." "I-I promise you that." "Who's gonna make up the money your boys stole?" "Well, I will." " The whole 100,000?" " Every cent." "Now, you can, you can take my word for that." "Where are you going to get the money, Mr. Cartwright?" "Well, I'll, I'll get it, e-even if I have to sell the Ponderosa." "And as you all know, the Ponderosa is worth well in excess of $100,000." "(crowd murmuring)" "Well, I'll go along with that, Mr. Cartwright." "We all know what the Ponderosa means to you." "You heard it, folks." "Mr. Cartwright says we won't lose a penny." "That's good enough for me." "Come on, I'll buy the drinks at the Bucket of Blood." "(crowd clamoring)" "(loud murmurs)" "I tell you, Mr. Cartwright, if you hadn't stopped them when you did, we'd have been plum out of money." "Where's Huggins?" "Oh, Mr. Huggins and Mr. Finch have gone away on a hunting trip." "A hunting trip?" "The bank is robbed, and the two men in charge go hunting?" "Well, they had vacation coming to 'em." "Matter of fact, I got a vacation coming, too-- three weeks and two days!" "Course I ain't had time recently to..." "Mr. Johnson, what exactly did my boys steal?" "Don't you know?" "Well..." "I sure hate to be the one to tell you, Mr. Cartwright, but... it was $100,000..." "In bonds." "Bonds?" "But they didn't take any cash?" "Mm-mm, just the bonds." "There was $60,000 in cash right there that they could just as easy taken as not, but didn't touch that." "Mr. Johnson, you can tell any of your depositors who ask that I'll have the money in the bank tomorrow." "You have to believe them." "Wait a minute, Ben." "If what the boys told you is true..." "It must be true!" "The fact that they didn't touch any of the bank's cash would prove that." "Certainly all in their favor." "I can't say as I've heard of any bank robbers passing up ready cash." "Roy, doesn't it strike you as being pretty strange that the, uh, manager and his assistant would go on a hunting trip the morning after their bank was robbed?" "Yeah!" "Well, it doesn't seem like the natural thing to do." "Well, it seems to tie in with Little Joe's story about the bankers having robbed them." " Well, yeah..." "Now, mind you..." "mind you, Roy," "I'm not saying that I approve of what the boys did, but it was certainly a..." "a great relief for me to learn that at least their motivations were honest." "Ben, I don't want to jail Little Joe and Hoss" " if it can possibly be avoided." " Yeah." "But I've got to remind you that bank robbing in this territory is still a crime." "If anybody's committed a crime, it's that John J. Har..." "Harrison and that confounded conspiracy of his to bankrupt his own bank." "And I think you know it!" "Maybe I do, but who's going to convince the depositors?" "Well, I'm going to personally pay back every deposit, whether the bank closes or not." "Ben, you could go broke doing it." "I came here with nothing, and if I have to," "I can start out all over again!" "Hey." "(panting)" "Hoss, we're heading in the wrong direction." "What are you talking about?" "This is the right way home." "No, we ain't going home." "We're going to get that money back." "We're going after the crooks." "On foot?" "Joe, the way I feel, I couldn't catch a turtle on foot." "Yeah, well, we need some transportation." "And if my eyes aren't as sore as my feet," "I have two vacant mules I'm looking at." "Hey, hey, Joe..." "Wait a minute, Joe." "These dang mules don't belong to us." "Yeah, well, we got no time to argue about ownership." "Nah, not me." "I done got enough again' me already without adding mule-stealing to the list." "Yeah, and when it came time to explain to Pa, you said I was boss, didn't you?" "Well, didn't you?" "All right, then, I'm still boss, and I'm telling you to get on that thing and ride it." "And hurry up!" "Joe, you sure we're doing the right thing?" "(clicking tongue)" "Come on." "Get." "Well, I saw Colonel Duggan;" "he's willing to help." "Oh, good." "How much?" "$50,000." "He'll meet you at the bank at 2:00, it'll be a ten-year, low-interest loan." "Oh, he's a good friend." "Well, I've been figuring out we should be able to get about $25,000 on the timber rights..." "(hoofbeats)" "Afternoon, Pa!" "Howdy, Pa." "Guess what we done, Pa?" "We..." "We got our horses back." "Yeah, we-we got the money back too, Pa." "The money from the bank?" "Yeah." "Here." " This is the bank's money?" " LITTLE JOE:" "Yeah." "Well, how'd you get it?" "Well, wasn't easy." "What happened to Huggins and Finch?" " Oh, they got away." " Well, no, not exactly." "You see, Pa, there was a little, a little argument about that money." "They didn't want to give it up." "So there was a little pushing' and shoving', and I... reckon them two fellers sorta" " fell in the Truckee River, huh, Joe?" "Last time we saw them," " they were floating on their way to Lake Tahoe." "Yeah." "This is the, uh, the whole 100,000?" "No, th-that's 150,000." "150,000?" "Yeah." "Th-There's, uh, the 100,000 they took from us, and then see that other little bag there?" "Says "Virginia City Branch"?" "That's got $50,000 in it." "I reckon they robbed their own bank before they robbed us, Pa." "(sighs)" "Where'd you get the mules?" "(gasps)" "Oh." "Them mules." "Well... (mule brays)" "Tell 'em, Joe." "Tell 'em?" "(clears throat) Well, we, uh... we borrowed them." "Sort of." "You borrowed them?" "Yeah, well, we, we had to get some transportation" " to go get that money, Pa." " Yeah." "Now you two boys are going to take those mules." "You're going to find the owner of those mules, and you're going to pay the owner for renting them." "Yeah." "Oh." "We-We haven't got any money, Pa." "Now, Adam and I are going to ride into Virginia City." "We're going to give this money back to the bank." "This afternoon, you two boys are going to ride into Virginia City." "To the sheriff's office." "Yes, sir." "Yes, sir, Pa." "Adam, you take these to the bank." "I'm going to see the sheriff." "You going to press charges against Hoss and Joe?" "I'm going to press some charges." "Uh, so, so we'd li... we'd like to pay you a rental fee for the mules-- say, uh... say $10." "Uh, we, we woulda asked you before we took 'em, but..." " Yeah." " It was sort of an emergency." "Make it, make it $15." "Yeah." "Here." "Uh, of cour... course, that's $15 for the rental of mules, and, uh, there's $10 more for the time you lost plowing." "Well... mister, you, uh, you tell us." "What-What's it gonna take to make you happy?" " Hi, Miller." " Hi, Sheriff." "Mr. Cartwright, the people of Virginia City, well..." "Thank you." "We ain't gonna forget what you've done." "Well, I hope they forget what Hoss and Little Joe "done."" "And I'll have no advice from you, Mr. Ben Cartwright." "Not as much as you'd put in the eye of a needle." "This money goes up to my claim." "To be buried in a tin can." "There's too many different kinds of bank robbers around here to suit me." "(doors crash open)" "(stammers)" "What is the meaning of this?" "Why hasn't this bank been closed, as I ordered?" "This is no place for an honest man." "Well?" "Well, uh, it's closed all right, Mr. Harrison." "We're plum out of money." "Out of money?" "That's impossible." "Well, there is enough to cover three weeks and two days' vacation." "Vacation?" "Nobody who works for me ever gets a vacation." "Finch, what is this fool blathering about?" "BEN:" "Mr. Harrison!" "What's that?" "Who are you?" "Oh." "Ben Cartwright." "Yes." "Ben Cartwright." "I can promise you, Mr. Harrison, that if you try to pull one more shady deal in Nevada Territory," "I'll make a special trip to Washington and use all the influence at my command to have you investigated, and jailed." "SHERIFF:" "And that's my department." "You heard what the man said." "This bank is closed." "Adam." "Wait!" "You wait till I find out who's responsible for all this." "Which reminds me, uh, Hoss and Joe should be back by now." "I wonder where they are." "I just hope they returned those mules." "I wouldn't want that charge hanging over their heads." "Sort of a... sort of a wiry little man, ain't he?" "He sure was." " Hey, Hoss?" " Huh?" "Why don't I let you be boss for awhile?" "No." "No, no." "No, brother, I'm perfectly content just being a hired hand." "ANNOUNCER:" "This has been a color presentation of the NBC Television Network."