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You all right? Ah, yeah, Pa, I'm all right. I'm sorry.

Sorry, I woke you up. I just had a little nightmare.

You did have yourself a little nightmare.

You've been having quite a few of these lately, Joe.

Ugh, you don't have to tell me, Pa.

You, um, wanna come downstairs have something to eat, talk about it?

There's nothing to talk about, I can't remember anything.

Can't remember anything that you dreamt?

No, not a thing. All I know is I have a bad dream.

Next thing I know, I wake up scared.

You're sure you're all right? Ah, yeah, I'm fine.

Why don't you go on, go to bed, I'll be all right.

Hmm.

Good night. 'Night.

Pleasant dreams.

Come on.

Come on, man. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on, man.

Come on.

Come on, man. Put him down. Come on, man.

Come on, I got 2 bucks on you. You can beat the champ. Come on.

Come on, Mitch, he's just a kid, put him down.

Come on.

Beautiful!

All right, who's next here?

Hey, Cartwright, how come you never challenge the champ?

What about that, fellas? Yeah, why not?

Look, fellas, I got nothing to prove. You're afraid he might take you?

Look, I'm not asking for any arguments.

Look, I'll be back next Friday, you hear, I'll take on all comers.

Except your pal Cartwright, huh?

I said I'm not asking for any arguments,

but I'm not running away from one either.

And don't forget, you boys, you practice real hard,

bring plenty of money next Friday, huh? Come on, Joe.

Come on, I'll buy you all a beer.

Well, I guess I'll see you Friday.

Thinking about that Ken fella, Joe, he was trying to stir up a little trouble

between you and me, wasn't he? I'm sorry about that.

Forget it. There's nothing to be sorry for.

Like I said, we got nothing to prove between us.

Yeah.

Besides, you're unbeatable, champ. Absolutely unbeatable.

Heh, yeah?

Yeah, but don't let go to your head, You're liable to get a little top-heavy.

Hey, Mitch, look.

Well, that puma was feeding out of your sheep herd last week, Joe.

That way.

Ah, we better forget about it for now. Nothing doing.

Well, he's liable be in the brush waiting to jump on you.

Yeah, I just hope he is.

That way I can spot him, by the third Eagle's Nest.

That's a pretty rough climb, Joe.

Well, I want that cat.

Joe? Joe!

I just took a shot at him.

I missed him, Joe, but you're gonna have a clear shot at him.

He's coming right underneath you, Joe.

He's coming your way, Joe, you ought to have a clear shot at him.

Heads up now, right underneath you, to your right.

Joe, there he goes.

Joe?

Joe, are you all right?

Joe, are you all right?

Yeah!

He, uh...

He ran on through, went over Clements Ridge.

How come you didn't take a shot at him?

I dropped my gun.

Well, all right, let's go back up and get it.

Ah, oh, forget it, it's along climb, I'll get it tomorrow.

What do you mean, Joe, forget it? It's an expensive rifle, come on.

It's my rifle, I said forget it.

All right. All right, whatever you say, Joe.

See you Friday.

What's the matter with your brother Joseph?

Oh, Pa, you know Joe. Sleeping is his favorite pastime.

Yeah. He got all the work to do at the lumber sluice.

You better wake him up.

Ah, that's quite a chore.

It's like wrestling with an angry, old bear.

I know. Just go wake him up. Yes, sir.

Good morning. Morning, Pa. Same to you, big brother, Hoss.

Boy, weather is clear, sunny, like they say, "Top of the day."

The sky is clear, sunshine, I slept like a lamb and I'm hungry as a bear.

Pass me some of those eggs.

Well, what's up?

You? Me?

Yeah, what's all this cheer and bright and shiny

before your breakfast coffee. Is this the new you?

Well, don't try to strain your brain figuring me out.

Just, uh, take care of the inner man, but first let me have some eggs.

Thanks. Hey, where's the, uh, Plato of the Ponderosa this morning?

If you're referring to your brother Adam, he left on time.

Oh.

Yeah, the railhead. I forgot. I'm sorry.

Ah, well, I'll go out and get that wagon all rigged up. I'll see you at the barn.

Hmm. Well, see you outside.

Hey, Pa, what happened to that stallion Harry Dickson had on the market?

Met Harry in town yesterday. Made the deal.

That's gonna be some fun, training that one.

I bet you the horse traded the pants off.

It's untried animal, you never know.

Come on, when it comes to horse flesh, Pa, you know.

Well, you can never tell an animal by how he looks or his manners.

Just like people.

Boy, is it good, Pa.

Hey, hey, Joe, come on, wake up. Put a little steam on it, will you?

Put on a little steam?

All right, we'll put on some steam.

Hyah! Come on! Come on, here you go!

Come on! Hey, Joe.

Hyah! Let's go! Hey, Joe. Slow a slim down.

Hyah!

Joe, slow down. You're gonna turn us over!

You want steam, we gonna have it! Slow them down! Hyah!

What are you grinning about? What's the matter with you anyhow?

What's the matter? Not scared, are you, big brother?

What are you trying to prove?

What's gotten into you? It's like you said,

we haven't got all day. No, you don't.

Hyah! Hyah!

Well, I'm going to bed.

Don't you wanna play another game?

Shut up. Ha-ha-ha.

Good night, Pa. Good night, Hoss.

I guess I ought to let him win one, once in a while.

I, uh, I had a talk with Mitch Devlin today.

What, he come over here?

No, I stopped in at the Devlin place on the way back from town.

All right. What's he got to say?

Well, he was talking about what happened yesterday.

Why should he talk about it? He doesn't know anything.

Well, he could see how upset you were

about losing that puma and your rifle.

You did your best. No need to be so upset about a thing like that.

Is that all he had to say?

Mm-hm. Why? Is there something else he should've said?

Heh, no. Uhn-uhn.

I think I'll turn in.

Joe?

Wasn't that your favorite rifle?

Yeah, I'll get it, Pa. Don't worry about it.

Good night. Good night, son.

What's the matter?

How long you been here?

Just got here. Pa sent me after you.

What are you doing up here, anyhow?

Nothing.

That's telling me a lot, thanks.

Do you have to know everything? Look, Joe, you disappeared,

they sent me after you.

I ask you a simple question and you jump down my throat.

All right. All right. I'm tracking a puma.

What's pa want?

I don't know. He just told me to bring you back in a hurry.

How he expects me to find that puma if they won't leave me alone?

Funny way to be tracking a cat. Yeah, what's so funny about it?

You ain't got a rifle.

You wanted to see me? Sure do.

What about? This.

The horse I traded Harry Dickson for.

Yeah.

Dynamite on four fuses. It's all saddled up and ready to go.

And you got your work cut out for you, Little Joe.

Pa wanted it to be a surprise for you. All right, I'm surprised.

I thought you'd be pleased. Pa, I'm pleased.

I had figured you'd wanna jump right up there and start working him.

Got nothing to do with not wanting to jump up there and start working him.

I'm up a mountain trying to get a rifle

and he tells me to come back and look at a horse.

Did you get it? No, I didn't get it.

He said you wanted to see me about something important.

Heh, all right, cool off now. Cool off. Go on and get it.

Hoss, you try at this horse.

I ain't as good at this as Little Joe is, but I ain't as scared of him either.

All right.

It's for dang sure, he ain't afraid of me either.

Easy, boy. Easy, boy.

Easy.

You saying I'm afraid?

I didn't say that.

You get down off there because you're right,

you're not as good at this as I am.

You want that horse educated right, you're gonna let me up on it.

How come just a minute ago you wasn't interested in educating him?

Maybe I don't wanna see you ruin a good horse.

And don't you think I'm ever afraid.

Tsk, you're welcome to him, little brother.

Oh, boy.

I don't know what to think of him, Pa.

One minute he's laughing at you

and the next minute he's snarling at you.

All right, let me have him.

Quit ragging him, Joe. You'll live a lot longer.

Talking to him is just like spitting in the eye of a tornado. Is he crazy?

No.

What's he showing off for, anyhow?

Maybe himself.

Well, I ain't gotta watch it.

Joe!

That's enough. I said that's enough.

Come on, Pa, let me go!

I said that's enough! Look, I can break the horse!

Not in the mood you're in.

You'll not only hurt yourself, but the horse too. Now, cut it out.

Why can't you leave me alone and just let me do things my own way?

Just let me do things my own way.

Hi, Joe.

Hey, Mr. Cartwright.

What you doing, old friend, how's it going?

Busy. Oh?

Say, Joe, that's a real nice looking hunk of horseflesh you got--

Look, I said I'm busy.

So you finish what you're doing, it's all right. I'll wait for you.

For what? To have a little talk, that's all.

Oh, about me? Matter of fact, yeah.

Probably the same kind of talk you had with my pa yesterday, huh?

Huh?

Why don't you mind your own business, Mitch?

Come on, Joe, what's eating you, huh? Look, what's going on here?

I just come by to give you a message, that's all.

I don't want to hear any news from you.

And you keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you.

Hey, Mitch.

Oh, come on, this is silly.

What do I have to climb it for? I got nothing to prove.

Just a mountain, what am I trying to prove?

I can shoot it down, I don't have to climb it.

Why do I have to climb it for?

Come on, Joe, take your time.

Come on, hit it.

Shoot it down.

Hit it! Hit it! Hit it!

All right, but I'll be back!

Joseph?

What, are you waiting up for me, Pa?

No. Look, I'm a big boy now.

Ah, yes, of course, you are. But it is kind of late.

Tell me, you have a real nice talk with Mitch today?

Mitch came over to tell you--

I don't care what Mitch came over to tell me. It's a lie.

He came over to tell you that Hank Kitterge had shot that puma.

All right, fine. Then it's settled.

What's settled? The whole thing is settled.

The puma, everything else, it's settled.

What about the rifle? Did you get that?

No, I haven't found the gun. I haven't had the time.

Joe, what else is bothering you?

Come on, Pa, please don't be a mind reader.

There's absolutely nothing bothering me.

I don't have to be much of a mind reader

to know that something's gnawing away at you.

Now, son, we've been able to talk things out before.

Pa, we have nothing to talk about. Joseph.

Look, there are some things that a man has to settle by himself

if he's ever gonna call himself a man.

Come on, Frank.

You've got him. Come on, you've got him.

Come on. Come on.

Frank, you didn't practice.

I told you, you've got to practice, else how you gonna beat the champ, huh?

Why don't you shut up?

Look, I put my money here where my mouth is.

Now, how about you?

Huh? Uh...

Heh, all right, who's next here? Come on, let's go get a drink.

What's the matter, boys, no takers here?

You gentlemen don't want fame and fortune, fellas?

Hey, old buddy. Good to see you. Come on over here.

Look, I'm getting fat here today.

Yeah, Sir Joe, I'm glad you stopped by.

Next.

Hey, did I hear you right, Little Joe? You say you was next?

Yeah, that's what he said. We all heard him, right?

Right.

Hey, he's even got his money up.

Come on, Little Joe.

Is there anything wrong with my money?

His money looks good to us, don't it, boys?

What's the matter? You're afraid to give him a chance, champ?

Listen, Joe. I said, next.

Hey, a little less conversation, more action.

Come on, get going. You stay out of this, you hear.

You keep your mouth shut. Like he said, let's get going.

Yeah, champ, put up or shut up.

Joe is the new champ.

Yeah, we got ourselves...

Joe is the new champ.

Attaboy, Joe, next time we'll all take him. And I'll go first.

Hey, Mitch. Leave me alone, Joe.

Look, I just want to try to explain. There's nothing to explain.

We were friends, but for years we said

there was never anything we would have to prove to each other.

Joe, what made today different?

I don't know.

I don't know. I just needed something today, that's all.

You needed something, but what about me, Joe?

Joe, you know what that championship meant to me.

I mean, it made me different.

It made me bigger than anybody else around here.

It gave me something.

It gave me dignity, it gave me self-respect.

And nobody could ever take it away from me, Joe.

Nobody except my very best friend.

Look, Mitch, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry.

Joe, it doesn't help.

It just doesn't help at all.

Morning.

Well, I didn't know you're up yet, Pa.

I was trying to get an early start out, was gonna leave you a note.

Oh.

A note saying what?

I was just gonna go up on the railhead for a couple of days.

That's saying where, but not why?

No special reasons, just help Adam.

Seems to me that Adam has more than enough hands to help him.

I just want to get away for a few days, Pa, let me go.

Mm-hm.

Why the railhead? Why not St. Louis?

Or, uh, New York, Africa?

Why not to the very ends of the earth itself?

Or wouldn't that be far enough either?

I have nothing to talk about. Talk? All you do is avoid talk, Joe.

Pa, it's my problem. Just let me handle it my own way.

I've been trying to do just that. And what is your problem?

I don't know.

You've been ripping yourself apart for a week now.

Your bed hasn't been slept in. You've been having nightmares.

You hurt your best friend.

You've been like mercury with your brother Hoss, first up, then down.

You've been deliberately avoiding me.

Now you're running off and you say you don't know what your problem is.

That's right. Joseph,

is it that you don't know what it is,

or that you don't want to face it?

Who you talking to, Pa?

Your brother Joe.

Joe up this early?

Heh, I know there's something wrong with him.

Hess? Yes, sir?

What do you think is wrong with him? Ah, gosh, I don't know, Pa.

He's sure been a caution these past few days.

He dang near killed us both

racing that wagon up by Eagle's Nest the other day.

Then yesterday when you sent me out looking for him

I found him back up there by Eagle's Nest,

why, but he liked to have bit my head off.

Eagle's Nest?

What was he doing up there?

I don't know. He was just standing there looking up at it.

He said he was after a puma.

Is the rifle up there?

You got something figured? I don't know.

Hope we're not too late.

Pa, you want me to come along?

No.

I think I'd better handle this myself.

Joseph?

Joe, listen to me.

Pa, leave me alone.

Joe, listen to me good,

back down real slow and easy.

I'm right down here below you.

I can't.

Joe, you gotta try.

Pa, please, I can't.

Why, Joe? I'm afraid, Pa.

I'm a grown man and I'm afraid and I don't know why.

There's nothing to be afraid of. I know that.

I'm not a kid anymore, Pa, but why am I acting like one?

Do you know how many times I've come back to this mountain

just to get my rifle?

How many times I stood in front of it and cried because I'm afraid.

And I just don't know why.

Joe. Joe, listen to me.

When you were about 5 years old, just a little kid,

you ran off one day and I had, uh, a whole bunch of people looking for you.

And we combed this whole area and I came up upon you

late that night right up here at Eagle's Nest.

I carried you down in my arms.

Pa, I'm not 5 years old anymore.

Joe, the human mind is a funny thing.

You know, man has his little fears and he gets stored up in his mind

and there's no point in being afraid of anything.

Especially now and, well, I think maybe you know why you might be afraid.

Maybe that makes sense to you, Pa, but it doesn't make any sense to me.

I know that I have to do and I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna do it by myself.

Now, please go home because I'm gonna do it by myself, Pa.

I'm gonna, Pa. Why?

Oh, why can't I?

Joe, I'm coming up to the top of Eagle's Nest alongside you.

Pa, I know you want to help me, but you're only making it worse.

I'm coming up alongside you, Joe.

Please go home, Pa.

I know I can do it.

Joe, help me!

Help me, Joe! Help, Joe!

Pa!

Pa, hold on, I'm coming!

You won't be able to reach me here. You gotta get a long stick.

The rifle, Joe. That'll do it. Get the rifle. Get the rifle, Joe!

Hold on, Pa!

Hold on, Pa, I'm coming.

Come on, Joe.

Good boy.

Pa, I'm coming.

I'm coming, Pa.

Pa, hold on!

Try to reach it, Pa.

Come on.

Thanks, Joe. Thank you.

Good thing this rifle was up there.

You really didn't need me to help you, did you?

Joe,

you ready to go home now? I am ready to go home.

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