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Come on.

Come on.

Come on.

Come on.

Come on. Come on.

Yeah. Come on. Come. Come on.

Move. Come on.

Come on. Now you go. Come on. Yeah.

Come on. Move. Come on. Yeah. Move.

That's it, boy.

Howdy. Howdy.

Uh, something I can do for you?

Uh, you're Mr. Cartwright? That's right.

My name is Harry Starr.

You mind if I have some of that water?

Oh, help yourself. Thank you.

What happened to your horse?

I had to sell him for his feed bill.

And mine.

Mr. Cartwright, I'm looking for a job.

I sure hope you have work for me.

Well, Mr. Starr, I think you're in luck.

We're looking for some extra hands for roundup

so why don't you take your gear, put in the bunkhouse,

we can start you out in the morning. I thank you, sir.

You know, this is, uh, a handsome Palomino you have here.

Uh, you know the breed? Oh, yes.

I worked one up in Oregon.

Oh.

Well, maybe someday I'll let you...

I'll let you work this one.

When?

Well, you can start by putting him up in the barn, heh.

That will be a pleasure. Thank you.

Hi, Pa. Well,

how's things at the roundup? Oh, just great, Pa.

Adam says he ain't never seen so many little twin calves all fat and sassy.

Oh, yeah. And who's that?

My new stallion.

No, no, the fellow who's there? Heh.

A new hand I just took on. Good, we need some.

Yeah, there are five new men in there.

I've had them working on a new remuda.

They should be ready to join Adam in the morning.

I hope you get the idea, In jun.

If you don't, Lee Burton will be glad to give you a few more lessons.

I'm not going to fight you, mister.

Maybe I'll let you decide that, maybe I won't.

It's decided.

Now, both of you listen,

this goes for the rest of you new men too.

This is a working ranch.

We don't have any time for gentlemanly spans.

It's get along or get out.

There's just one more rule.

Anything you break, you fix.

Now both of you shake hands.

I don't shake hands with no Indian, I'd draw my pay first.

All right, Burton.

You've been here two days, two dollars ought to about cover that.

I'll go to the barn and get some tools and fix that rail.

Oh, oh.

Oh.

This is where you get your boots, Harry.

Yeah, take your time, we're gonna be a while.

Why don't I go down to the blacksmith's with you

and help unload this stuff. Don't worry.

Come on, we can manage. We'll be back to get you in a minute.

All right.

Take your time.

Hyah! Hyah!

Oh, what do you have? I'll have a whiskey.

Don't you know better than to serve Indians in here?

I didn't know he was In jun. Well, that's what he is.

And you know Injuns and firewater don't mix.

Will you look at the boots this guy's got on, brand-new and shiny?

None of us here got new boots, not even halfway new.

Most of us could probably stand on a five-cent piece

and tell whether it was heads or tails.

Speak for yourself, stranger.

I haven't seen a five-cent piece in so long,

wouldn't know which was head or tails.

That's because Injuns and breeds took all the jobs like this one here,

came along and got me fired from a good job.

Now, whoever heard of an In jun wearing a white man's boots anyway?

They'll ruin his feet.

And that would sure be a shame.

Why, it's our duty to look after our poor, uneducated red brother.

Hey, Joe, same thing on this one, buddy.

Got it? Yeah.

Just pick up Harry.

You know, for an In jun, he sure does talk good English, don't he?

He not only talks good, even watching him with horses last couple of days?

Talks pretty good to them too, heh. Darn right.

Giddy up. That's one thing about a horse.

Don't make any difference what color the man's skin that gets on.

He knows it's a man when he's on there.

Hey, pull by the saloon.

Hyah.

Hyah.

Whoa, whoa.

Harry, who did this to you? It doesn't matter.

Look, nobody can get away with this, not in this town. Now, who did it?

Do me a favor, Joe, and get me out of here.

He needs help. Let's get him to the wagon, come on.

Bring him on. Come on.

Hyah! Hyah!

Thanks, Hoss.

You know, Harry,

I've nothing but admiration for a man who

bucks big odds and fights his own battles.

You know, sometimes it just isn't practical.

And that's why we have a government of law and officers to enforce that law.

Well, Mr. Cartwright, those laws don't apply to me.

Hmm, have you tried them? Sure, I've tried them.

Now, suppose I named the men that beat me up

and brought charges against them.

But what court ever took the word of a half-Comanche for anything?

Look, Harry, without you telling us,

we know that the man Pa fired was in on this somehow.

Now, why not just admit it?

Please, Joe, let's forget the whole thing.

And after tomorrow, you can forget about Harry Starr

because I'm moving on.

You can't keep running all the time. Oh, yes, you can.

That's how I've stayed alive up till now.

You see, I know that if I stay around here and work the roundup,

the same thing will happen again, trouble.

Not while we're around.

Well, I thank you,

but I guess the only hope for me is to find a job some place where

the only thing I can offend are rattlesnakes and jackrabbits.

Boys, would you say that Harry has just given us an excellent description

of the line shack up in Perdido Canyon?

Sure does, Pa, like he'd been there.

You know,

we got a lot of work that has to be done up there.

It's lonely work, but it's yours if you want it.

I sure don't know why you folks bother with me, Mr. Cartwright.

Well, uh, it's about time somebody did, huh, Harry?

Little Joe can ride outwith you as soon as you feel up to it.

If you're willing to take a chance with me.

I thank you, sir.

I hope you're never sorry.

Joe, why don't you take Harry up to his room?

I think he needs a little rest.

Right, Pa. Come on, Harry.

You're up early this morning.

Yeah, me and sunrises, we're old friends.

You feeling better? Just as good as new.

You ready to go out to that line shack?

Any time you say.

I'm ready right now, as soon as I put this horse in the stall.

Do you mind if I ask a favor? Go ahead.

You think your Pa would mind if I climbed aboard this horse

just to get the feel of him?

Go ahead. Pa wouldn't mind. Okay.

There you are, horse.

Aah, yes.

Good horse.

Well, that takes care of that.

How about another cup of coffee, Joe, before you leave?

Don't mind if I do. You make good coffee.

Yeah.

I'm good at coffee making and horse breaking.

I guess it's because I've had plenty of practice at both.

You like horses, don't you, Harry?

Yeah, that's the Indian pan of me, Joe.

It's like they say, an Indian takes better care

of his horse than he does his squaw.

Tell me, how long did you live with your people?

Well, Joe, the Comanches are no more my people than the white man is.

See, my mother was a captive white woman

and my father was a big brave until he met up with white man's firewater.

And soon after my mother died, they just kicked him right out of the tribe.

What happened to you then?

Oh, they had as little use for me as they did my mother and father.

You see, Joe, when you're only half of something,

you're really half of nothing.

So I left.

Well, you had it pretty rough.

Well, that taught me a lot.

I picked up a few things like making coffee,

breaking horses and living alone.

Yeah, living alone.

One thing about living alone,

you don't have to put up with the likes of Lee Burton.

By golly, that's right. That's one good thing.

I don't have to put up with the Lee Bur-tons.

Thanks for the coffee.

I'll be back in a couple of weeks with some supplies for you.

All right, Joe.

Joe, thanks again for the help. All right.

See you in a couple of weeks.

Harry.

You took long enough getting here.

Yeah, well, I came along way.

The Canwrights sent me to a line shack in Perdido Canyon.

Told them I wanted lonely work. They sure came through.

How do you do it, Harry?

You take a man as smart as Ben Cartwright,

and make him give you exactly what you want.

Old Harry must hypnotize them.

Yeah, well, I couldn't do it alone.

Is this the stuff I'll need? You're in business.

Yeah. It's very nice.

Now, what would a nice, clean working cowhand

from the Ponderosa want with a tool like this?

You can count on me being around to answer that question when it's asked.

Where do we hit first? The Ponderosa.

You can't beat biting the hand that feeds you for a dirty, half-breed trick.

Yeah, heh. That's always been a winner.

I knew you'd liked it.

You know, Lee, you're a great Indian batter.

Why not? That's my job, ain't it?

You just keep doing your job, Lee.

How do you figure Harry? I don't try.

I wonder if he is still with us.

Why not? There's no place else for him to go.

Let's get out of here.

I'm much obliged, sheriff. Don't you mention it.

Howdy, Ben.

I heard you had some horses stolen last night.

Where'd you hear that?

Well, maybe I only expected to hear it.

I was talking to Chet and Billy, they were telling me

that they lost some horses last night. Like as not, I'm gun-shy.

Oh, you aren't. They got six of ours,

including the Palomino stallion of Pa's.

They took four of Chet's best stock horses,

seven of mine, including a mare in foal.

It beats me.

We haven't had a horse-stealing around Virginia City in so long,

well, I'd about figured it was going out of style.

Well, whoever stole these horses had plenty of style.

We checked Hazelton Creek, both sides of the bank for miles,

not a sign of him coming out.

There's no chance of trailing him from my place.

Figure he must've took them out over trail we used

to bring in our remuda.

There's no question about it.

This here one's a real smart hombre when it comes to covering his tracks.

Boys, you keep in touch. And we'll do the best that we can.

Horse thieves make mistakes too, you know. Even smart ones.

Right. Well, thanks, sheriff.

All right, take care. See you.

I'd like to make a little bet.

This horse thief.

I say he's that half-breed that's working for you.

Well, I'll take that bet, mister.

Well, now, I ain't got no rich papa.

You just make it for how much you want to make it for.

Fifty dollars? You're covered.

Burton.

You're pretty sure of this bet.

Have you seen Harry Starr stealing any horses?

No, I'm just putting my money on what I know about breeds.

You going to tell me you've had this In jun

where you can watch him every minute?

He was about as far away from where those horses

were stolen as a man can be.

In Perdido Canyon, that's where he's working.

Anybody with him?

That little half-In jun must be getting lonely out there all by himself.

Sheriff, if you want to catch yourself a horse thief,

I got a hunch this Perdido Canyon is a good place to start

Seems like kind of a long way to me to check on a man's hunch.

Should've realized you wouldn't want to embarrass the Canwrights.

Maybe after he gets away with a few more horses, you'll see it different.

I agree with you, Roy.

There's no evidence that Harry Starr stole any horses.

It's a long way to go to check on a hunch.

But if Mr. Burton here is gonna be shooting his mouth off around town,

maybe Little Joe and I could save a little time

by checking on it on the way home.

You do that, Ben. I'll be obliged to you.

And let me know after you've talked to this Harry Starr.

I'm going with you. I'll meet you here with my horse.

Sure want to see your faces when you find out

how this half-Comanche has paid you back for trusting him.

Way that Burton talks, I can't figure out if he thinks

every horse thief's a half-breed or every half-breed's a horse thief.

A man like Burton uses it either way.

Whichever way suits his purpose. Now let's get going.

Take it easy, Roy. I'll do that.

Hyah.

Harry?

It's funny he ain't here.

What's so funny about it? We didn't send him here

to lie around the shack all day. Sent him hereto work.

It's probably what he's doing.

He's probably up in the canyon working that watering basin.

That's one of the jobs he was supposed to do.

We'll ride out and look for him there. I think I'll stick here.

Poke around the shack a little bit.

I'll stay up here too, Pa.

Yeah, well, I'll go up the canyon.

How long you say he's been living in this shack?

I brought him up here four days ago.

Looks pretty neat, don't it?

Almost like he hadn't been here at all.

You remember what he brought with him?

Mm-hm.

Well, would you say there's four days' grub missing?

There's a lot of game in this canyon, Burton.

Is that right?

Now, what do you expect to find? I don't know.

Maybe I'm looking around just for the fun of it.

Well, look here.

Looks like branding irons, don't they?

Never saw one like this before.

Maybe I'm not as smart as you are, Cartwright,

but, uh, couldn't this iron be used to change the Ponderosa brand?

When I find a brand that's been changed, I'll remember your idea.

Let's try something, Cartwright,

see if there's anything to that crazy idea of mine.

That's the Ponderosa brand, right?

Mm-hm.

See how easy it is.

Sure no trick to change a brand, is it?

No sign of Harry, huh? No.

Just found that corral hidden up in the draw.

About half a dozen horses there.

Some of them ours, some of the neighbors'.

Do you mind paying me that bet now, Cartwright?

Not until we find Harry. I tell you what I'll do.

I'll let the bet ride.

One hundred dollars says that Comanche friend of yours

is off right now fixing to steal some more horses.

I'm going into town and tell the sheriff.

He'll want to get up a little search party.

And that's one party I don't want to miss.

Pa, it just can't be.

When I rode out here with Harry the other day, we had a little time to talk.

He told me about how it was when he was a kid.

He had no friends. Nobody wanted him.

He said we were the only friends he had.

I want to believe in him, Pa.

I'd like to too.

Now let's get the rest of the horses.

Hyah.

That stream must be fed by snow back in the mountains, unh.

Never mind that stream.

Did they raise the reward money yet?

They doubled it. Oh, it's about time.

I was beginning to wonder if I was appreciated.

Appreciated? That's all you hear anybody talk.

Harry Starr, Harry Starr, where'd he hit last night? It makes our job simple.

Lee's right.

Nobody questions anything except where's that breed getting off to

with all them horses? They're spooked. Real spooked.

Well, it took ten days to get them spooked enough to raise the reward.

But, you know, this is rich country.

They'll double it again in a couple more days.

We're pressing our luck now, Harry. I say we cash out.

We move to Wyoming or the Dakotas,

let them folks take a look at Harry the half-breed horse thief.

No, no, I want to see that reward money doubled again.

You're talking like you're hungry, Harry.

Listen, these ranchers got up a kitty.

They'll pay 20 dollars a head for every stolen horse that's found.

Add that to the reward money, we can be in the clear with 5,500.

Why take any chances?

Lee, you sound like a man whose skin might be a little yellow.

Well, even so, Harry,

I never thought I'd hear you judge a man by the color of his skin.

We pull out when I say. Not before.

I see it different, Harry.

Stokey? I do too.

Klawson? Me too.

Warren?

So you had it all worked out before you even got here?

No matter when we worked it out, Harry. We worked it out.

You've got to live with it.

Little Joe, I've been watching for a chance to talk to you.

That's funny, I've been wanting to talk to you too, Harry.

Do I talk to my friend, or do I talk to his gun?

Oh, I'm not a horse thief, Joe.

I know it's hard to believe, but I'm not.

You tell me how the horses got in Perdido Canyon?

You answer that and I'll meet you halfway.

I can't Joe. All I know is what happened to me.

What happened to you?

Well, it was about the third night in the line shack,

and I thought I heard somebody outside.

I remember opening the door, and taking about two steps and that's all.

The next thing I knew it was day, and I was coming to in pine thicket

about ten miles from the shack.

Why didn't you go back to the shack? I did.

We were there. You weren't.

I saw Lee Burton first.

So I crawled back into the brush.

Then I heard you all name me a horse thief.

No, not all of us,

but if you weren't, why didn't you come out and tell us?

If your father was a renegade Comanche,

you wouldn't ask that question.

A lot of horses are stolen, Harry.

People are in a real angry mood. You didn't help yourself by running.

All these people have to do is think a half-breed guilty

and he's liable to hang. You'll get a fair trial here.

A trial?

You asking me to turn myself into the sheriff?

You have to.

Tsk, oh, no.

No.

At least I had this chance to talk to you, Joe.

I'm sorry. I can't let you go, Harry.

Then you're gonna have to shoot me down.

I'm not buying a lynching party, even from you.

Oh, Harry.

All I'm trying to tell you is you'll get more justice in Virginia City

than you will by running into some bounty hunter out on the road.

I'd never get as far as that sheriff if I rode into town.

We'll be with you. You'll get there.

Well, now, if you and your father rode in with me,

then maybe I would have a chance.

Pa's in the house. I'll tell him. Well, just a minute now.

If I go your way, I'll meet you at the Furnace Creek crossing

tomorrow at noon, straight up.

We'll be there.

Don't let me down, Harry. I'm believing in you.

I won't, Joe.

Sol made a mistake.

Oh, give him a little more time.

It's an important decision for him to make.

I never should have left that decision up to him.

You did what you could. It's up to Harry now.

That's far enough, Canwrights. Stop right there.

Ride out. Now.

Canwrights are in there.

Well, I don't have to tell you that I, uh, earned this reward.

You earned yourself a rope around your neck.

For hanging a horse thief?

Poster says "Dead or Alive," don't it?

Roy, I've been trying to tell you,

all he ever wanted to do was kill a half-breed.

Now, I say the object was murder, and that's what it was.

Now, Ben, I don't believe you've got any real proof of that.

And besides, hanging a horse thief simply ain't murder in this territory.

Look, Roy, there were four of them.

They could've brought him in for trial if they wanted.

Cartwright, that half-Comanche got away with over 75 horses,

some of them yours. Hold on there,

nobody saw him steal one horse

and nobody saw him in possession of any horses.

What about the animals we found out at your line shack?

What about them branding irons?

This poster said there's $4,000 coming to me.

And that's all I care about.

Mister, I've got to see the remains before I authorize the payment

of any reward money.

Sheriff, you mean to tell me you don't take the Canwrights' word

for what they saw?

You think they'd come in here just to make me an easy $4,000?

Mister, it don't make no difference what I think.

I have got to see the body.

I believe it's late to head out that way this evening.

We'd no more than get to the crossroads, it'd be dark.

But we'll go out the first thing in the morning and examine that grave.

Well, I'm ready whenever you are, sheriff.

Me and the boys will be glad to take you there.

Ben, don't look at me like that.

I'm doing my job the best way I know how.

Suppose some regular rancher had caught Starr and strung him up?

Would you be telling me to lock him up for murder?

If he'd gone out of his way to kill him, yes.

Ben, I agree with you that every man is entitled to his day in court and all that.

But let's look at this thing practically.

An expensive court trial wouldn't make no difference to Starr.

He'd have been hung anyway.

Oh, yeah, that's right, Roy.

Just forget about him. He's only a half-breed.

Joe. Forget it, Joseph.

I'm sorry, Ben, but it's in the books,

hanging a horse thief just ain't murder in this territory.

Sure it ain't.

Didn't expect to see you Canwrights out here this morning.

Don't you ever give up?

We came out to claim Harry Starr's body.

I guess we're a little late.

Wolves got to him already.

This is all we could find, Roy.

Burton, don't you even have enough respect for a dead man

to give him a proper grave?

Did you ever see a white man after Comanches got done with him?

Don't talk to me about respect for dead Indians.

Sheriff, you still have to see the body before you pay the money?

You'll get your money all right.

But I'm gonna see to it personally that you spend it

any other place than Virginia City.

Well, we might as well go home.

Pa, you and Hess go ahead. I'll be along after a while.

What do you have in mind?

Nothing. I just want to take some time

and think this thing through.

You, uh, like to talk it through?

I just can't help thinking I put that rope around Harry's neck myself.

Look, Joe, if Harry had done like you told him,

if he had gone in and turned himself into the sheriff,

he'd still be alive, wouldn't he?

That's right.

Joe, we're men, we're not mystics

or foretellers of the future.

We can't be responsible for the consequences of our actions.

We don't know what they're gonna be. Even in the best of faith.

Yeah, I think that's the word, Pa.

What? Faith.

I really had faith in believing what Harry told me

and it's about time I did something about it.

Like what?

There were 70 horses stolen.

If I'm gonna be honest in believing Harry didn't take them,

I want to find out who did and where they are.

Son, don't use this as an excuse to go after Burton for what he did to Harry.

I won't. I promise you. I won't.

I'll be careful.

Hey, bartender, bring some whiskey over here.

Come on, let's go.

Go? We're just getting started. We gotta go, come on.

Wait a minute.

Iwon.

What are you looking at? Go on, get out of here.

Get out of here, heh.

You'll be back to see me?

Sure, honey, just keep your light burning.

I can't afford to keep it burning too long.

Well, let me see.

That will be enough to keep it burning till I get back.

Hey, what did you do that for? Shut up.

Stokey, get back down the trail, see if anybody's following us.

We'll wait for you up ahead.

See anything? Ah, no, I didn't see a thing.

You sure? Sure, I'm sure.

What are you getting so spooky about?

Easy, Joe. Easy.

Harry.

Yeah, I'm not a ghost, Joe. I'm as real as this gun.

Yeah, but I saw--

I saw you hanging from a tree.

Sure, I still have the rope burns under my arms

trying to keep the weight out of the noose.

That's why the grave was empty, huh?

Yeah, that's why, Joe.

Now get your hands behind your head.

Move on down there.

I said move.

Come on, Burton, keep digging.

I want Harry Starr's grave real deep this time.

Go on, throw it over with the others.

Throw it over with the others.

I just can't believe I could've been so wrong about him.

I wanted to be his friend.

I'm afraid that isn't what Harry had in mind.

I hope I'm never that stupid again.

You weren't stupid.

I wasn't? No.

You have to admit, Pa, I sure made it easy for him.

Try asking yourself why you did.

Why? I thought I was the only friend he had in the world.

He was alone, taking a beating, he couldn't help himself.

In other words, he was an underdog.

You had no way of knowing that he was anything else.

Joe,

never feel guilty about having warm human feelings toward anyone.

If it'll be of any comfort to you,

I felt exactly the same way about Harry as you did.

For the same reasons.

That doesn't make the reasons wrong.

Just Harry.

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