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Hey, Hoss. Did you hear that?

No, I don't hear nothing.

Oh, come on, Harry, you're as spooky as a fox in a forest fire. Settle down.

I don't know, I got a feeling something is wrong.

Howdy, fellows.

Howdy. Howdy.

Harry, this here is George Whitman. He's a new hand we put on.

Howdy.

Ain't I seen you somewhere before? I don't think so.

George Whitman.

He's the one they call The Jinx.

Come on, Harry. Everything's quiet, Poole.

They're yours. Good enough.

See you in the morning. Come on, Harry, let's go.

Is, uh, that true? Huh?

What old Harry says about you being a jinx.

Some folks think so.

Well, what do you think?

I don't know.

Hmm, well, uh, just in case, you stay here. I'll do the circling.

Hoss.

I've been thinking on it. Now, you better listen to me.

I know. I worked the Forbes spread with that George Whitman

and we had nothing but trouble.

Now, Harry, that's a bunch of nonsense

and you know it, dadburnit.

Besides, we need all the hands around here we can get.

Come on, let's turn in.

But I'm telling you, now, I got a feeling.

Look, Harry,

if you happen to see any witches flying by the moon tonight,

don't wake me up and tell me about it. Wait until morning, will you?

Stampede! Stampede!

On your feet. Stampede!

The cards say you will be happily married.

What else do they say?

They say you will have many children.

Beer.

Make it two. Whiskey.

Hello, Susan. Hello, Jim.

Buy you a drink? All right.

Bartender.

Do you mind if I watch? No, heh.

How have you been, Charlie?

Right prime.

Hey, Harry, what happened to you?

Oh, got caught right dagnab in the middle of a cattle stampede.

It'll be all right in a day or two.

I hear the Canwrights hired on George Whitman.

Yeah, this week.

We had him on the Box-W.

You fellows are in for it.

How so? Ain't you heard?

Whitman's bad luck. Yeah, yeah.

Heh, yeah. Now maybe you'll believe me.

Everywhere he goes, trouble.

One of you had better tell the Cartwrights.

Don't you think I haven't?

Don't make no difference to them.

They don't know the forces that's in him.

Oh, Harry. I'm gonna tell you something.

I'm gonna tell both of you something.

Now, if you was to look into George Whitman's eyes

you'd see evil things stirring in his soul

beyond all understanding.

But don't ever look him dead straight in the eye.

Why not?

Because that's how he puts the sign on you.

Well, I ain't afraid of nothing I can't see or touch.

Well, you'll see. You'll see.

Uh, they wouldn't believe me. I told them it was a jonah.

Hi, Little Joe. How you doing?

Hoss. Howdy, boys.

Buy you a--?

Order me a beer, will you, Hess? Yeah.

Couple of beers, Cosmo. Hi, Susan.

Hi.

Has that, uh, dark-haired lady I'm supposed to meet

shown up yet?

If you want to, we can look again.

No, that's all right. I'll give her a day or two.

Three beers, Hoss. Yeah, thank you, Cosmo.

Hoss, there ain't no use to stay here and get jinxed.

What do you mean by that?

Bunch of superstitious...

Excuse me.

George?

Oh, hello, Susan. I heard about the stampede.

I just wanna make sure you didn't get mm or anything.

No, I'm all right.

Oh, cheer up, honey.

I don't know why you waste your time on a guy like that, anyway.

You're right.

Well, sure isn't the way I'd handle it, George.

Me either.

George, what in tarnation is the matter with you, anyhow?

All that little gal wanted was just to be friendly.

Come on, let's go talk to him.

Look, George, come on back-- Will you leave me alone?

Hoss, Hoss, I'm sorry.

I just never should have gone in there in the first place.

I'd like to know why not.

Because I got a hex on me, that's why not.

Come on, will you, George? There's no such thing.

No?

I'm the 13th child of a 13th child.

I got 13 letters in my name.

I was born on February the 13th.

What a bunch of baloney. Well, it's true.

I've been bad luck to everybody I've ever been around.

I thought that on the Ponderosa, things might be different,

but after last night,

it just seems to me like it's starling allover again.

I just can't take the chance of anything bad happening to her too.

George-- Come on.

There's nothing you can say to him. Let's finish our beers.

Come on, get that saddle on. Thatta boy!

Get the saddle on.

Hoss, you all right. Yeah.

Thanks to George, I'm all right.

They're gonna get rid of you.

Hey, what's going on here?

It's that jonah I was telling you about. He almost got Hoss killed.

Oh, Pa, there wasn't nothing to it.

Spoonyjust spooked a little bit, that's all.

Mr. Cartwright?

I'd like to, uh, pick up my time.

You've only been with us a couple of days.

Yes, sir, I know, but, uh, I'd like to quit.

Well, of course,uh, ahem, that's your privilege, but I'd sure like to know why.

Heh. I've caused enough trouble around here already.

I'd like to move on before there's any more.

Heh, well, George, as far as we're concerned,

that's no reason to leave at all.

Oh, Mr. Cartwright, let him go.

We don't want him around here anymore.

Ahem, seems to be some doubt as to who's running this Ponderosa.

Is there?

Because if there isn't, I'd sure like the privilege of deciding

who stays and who goes.

Yeah, but Mr. Cartwright, this fellow is just plain bad news.

He's already put the sign on me and Hess.

Yeah, me too.

I'm not running this ranch according to hexes or voodoos

or hoodoos or any other kind of claptrap.

As long as George Whitman does his work

and does it right, he gets paid and he stays.

I'm not so sure we wanna work with him anymore.

Well, of course, that puts a different conflict on things, doesn't it?

Well, if any of you are so scared of old wives' tales

that you're willing to give up a good job,

I'll be willing to pay off right now.

No, there's no need.

Oh, come on, let's get back to work.

That was a mighty nice thing you did, Mr. Cartwright,

but, uh, I still think I ought to move on.

I don't want anything to happen to you people.

Well, that's, uh, mighty nice of you, George,

but why don't you let us take our chances?

I kind of believe that a man makes his own luck.

It's different with me.

Tsk, well, you just saved my life. You figure that's bad luck?

I was the closest one to you, anybody would have done that.

It was my bad luck it happened in the first place.

All right.

You think that you're bad luck, huh? A jonah, is that right?

That right?

I'm kind of surprised at you.

I mean, why don't you do something about it?

How can you just accept it?

Why don't you do something to change it?

If only I could.

Well, of course you can. You can try.

All right.

IWill.

George, I'm glad you made that decision.

I, uh...

Do you think it'd be all right if I went into town later today?

I reckon so. Why? Well, I kind of got this idea.

Do you wanna come along?

Yeah, I'd just as soon do. Hey, what--?

George Whitman, the cards say you are very troubled.

Well, ma'am, heh, we already knew that. That's how come we came in.

I have known for some time.

You have? You mean, you've known about this

and you ain't tried to help him?

These gifts are not to be given lightly.

They are to be sought after.

You mean, you know about me being bad luck and all?

Well, George, it ain't exactly no big secret, you know.

Right now, you are wondering if I can help you.

I've tried rabbit's feet and four-leaf clovers and--

Playthings.

The curse of number 13 requires a charm of unusual power.

And I, uh, suppose you got one.

I mean, some kind of mumbo jumbo, huh?

You mean, a charm?

It will not be easy.

Oh, ma'am, I'll try just anything at all.

There is a charm that works without fail,

but it will cost $2.

Oh.

Uh, Hoss, have, uh, you got some money on you?

Yeah.

Thanks.

I will write it out for you.

You cannot make this yourself.

It must be done by someone who is close to you.

Hess?

Yeah. I'll do it for you, Georgey.

Probably find most of this stuff without a whole lot of trouble.

I don't know how to thank you, ma'am. Let's go, Hoss.

Hess? Oh, yeah.

You must follow that very closely,

or else...

Or else what? Don't worry about it, George.

I'll take care of everything.

George, why don't you run along and I'll try to gather some of this stuff up.

I'll join you after a while. All right.

Yeah.

Howdy, Miss Susan. Hello, Hoss.

Miss Susan, I wanna tell you something.

Old George is-- He's real fond of you.

He takes a very funny way of showing it.

Yes. Look, me and him is gonna be in town Saturday night, see?

I couldn't be less interested.

Well, now, you might be surprised.

There's liable to be a big change in old George.

I just thought I'd tell you

in case you wanted to get all spruced up or something. See you.

I don't know, that doesn't look like a goat's horn to me.

Dadburnit, George, I got that from Granny Greer.

If she says it's a goat horn, it's a goat horn.

Now, we got the dried bat wings? Yeah.

Got the snakeskin? Mm-hm.

And we got the feathers from the owl's eye.

Mm-hm.

You know?

Joe, I haven't seen such a conglomeration of stuff

since you and Hess tried to follow one of Hop Sing's recipes.

Only difference is, I think this might taste better.

Pa, heh, we might as well try it if it might make old George feel better.

Mr. Cartwright, rustlers hit us last night.

How many? They got 31 head of prize stock,

stampeded them right out of Box Canyon.

Well, did anybody get hurt? No, nobody.

Well, you have to wonder-- Oh, Harry, will you stop it?

Let's start tracking them down. Everybody, let's move.

Get my horse for me, Joe, you hear?

This is where the Indians put their dead, isn't it, Hoss?

Yeah.

Well, why don't we move on? It's getting late.

Wait a minute.

It's a good place for me to pick up that graveyard dust.

That charm I'm making for you.

If I'm gonna make it, I might as well make it right, hadn't I?

Yeah, well, hurry up. It's spooky here.

This will do it nice.

Save me a trip to town.

Come on.

This one here, I can't make out. What is that?

Uh, that looks like a hasenpfeffer or a hasselbach, something like that.

Well, I'll just use both of them.

Okay.

Hassenpfeffer-- Or hasselbach.

A pinch of this.

Higgly, PiQQIY.

Abracadoo.

Add a bit of that too.

Pour it in,

drop it in.

Phew.

Shake it all around.

Ah, it'll never work.

Dadburnit, George, you'll never know till you try it.

Here. It says you're supposed to wear it right next to your head.

All right.

Hoss. Yeah?

I can feel the power of it working. Yeah?

I really can.

Do you know something? Heh.

I feel lucky. Yeah?

Yeah. Doggone it, that's the spirit, George.

I'll tell you what, we'll get Little Joe and we'll go into town tonight and try it.

I still say we're making a mistake being anywhere near

where that jonah is hanging around.

We ain't got nothing to worry about since Hoss gave him that concoction.

That's right, Harry. He's a changed man.

Leave him alone. Four beers.

Fine. Thank you, Cosmo.

Hey, thank you, Hoss.

Thanks, Hoss. Yeah.

Look at that. I've never seen such a change in a fellow.

That charm never fails.

You know, you sure do look pretty tonight, Susan.

Thank you.

I bought the dress this afternoon.

You see, Hoss said you might be coming in.

Do you mean that you did it for me?

Son of.

I'm going to keep this dress forever and ever,

as a remembrance of tonight.

Yes, sir, that sure is a mighty potent magical potion at that.

The only trouble I had finding all them ingredients

was that graveyard dust.

If I hadn't found that Indian burial ground,

I'd have to come all the way in hereto Boot Hill.

What?

You did not use dust from an Indian burial ground?

Sure. Sure, I did.

What's the matter? That was dust

from unhallowed ground.

Well, you just said dust from a graveyard.

You didn't say nothing about no special kind.

Dust from unhallowed ground.

The charm is no longer a charm.

Don't get excited and all upset.

I said the right words and everything.

It doesn't make any difference.

You put a most horrible curse on him.

Look, you don't really believe this stuff, do you?

Yes. Yes, I do.

I do.

I told you not to talk to this guy, honey.

He'll cause you nothing but trouble.

You leave us alone, Poole.

George. Come on.

Oh!

Well, you did it again, jonah. Ha-ha.

Hey, I'm awful sorry, mister--

Well, you ain't gonna believe this but someone just...

Break it up, break it up.

Joseph. Joseph! Break it up.

You boys had your fun for today.

Break it up. We're all friends. Let's all step up and have a belt now.

Come on, fellows.

Somebody's gonna stump their toe and mm themselves.

Oh, you guys.

Gee, it's great to have relatives.

It's a big help. Give me a drink.

I knowed it.

Even with all that hocus-pocus, that didn't help, he's still a jonah.

Will you shut up? George.

Give me a whiskey. Coming up.

Sit down. What for?

Just sit down.

Shuffle them. Huh?

I must see what the cards are going to say.

Oh, well, that's a lot of dang nonsense.

No matter what she does with them cards,

it ain't gonna change nothing.

Are you all right, Little Joe? Oh, no. I'm not.

I'm in a lot of pain right there.

Is that better? Oh, yeah.

You know, Martha, you're the best friend I have.

Am I? Mm-hm.

Look, ma'am, we ain't got time for these games.

There is a fight. That is pan of it.

Shuffle them.

Why me?

What is going to happen will affect you too.

Will you look at that?

You ever see such a silly mess of mumbo jumbo in your life?

Fortune-telling.

What does it mean?

The lifelines are identical.

You are bound together by a common fate.

I don't understand.

The charm has become a curse.

She says it's all my fault, George.

Listen. I saw five events in the cards.

The first one already happened, the fight.

On the first night, I see an explosion and a fire.

On the second, a wolf howling three times.

The next day, a snake is going to strike and miss, and yet not miss.

That night the third night,

a black horse will come to the Ponderosa bearing your saddle.

Death...

...looking for a rider.

After that, it is not long, a few hours.

Then I see you, Hoss.

And you, George,

your body stretched out in the moonlight.

And that is the end.

Yeah, well, uh, Madam Teresa, you make this sound mighty exciting.

But thank you, anyhow. Come on, George, let's go home.

I don't guess I'll need this anymore. So long, ma'am.

I wouldn't sit so close to that fire.

You know that prediction. Fire, explosion, phew, heh.

You go ahead and josh all you want, little brother.

Funny thing, somebody makes a prediction like that.

No matter how much you disbelieve it,

you find yourself waiting for it to happen.

Oh, yeah, I agree with you.

I mean, I'm waiting right here for that dark-haired girl to show up.

Uh, Pa, Hmm?

What are we gonna do about them rustlers?

Well, welcome home.

It's about time you started thinking of something besides hocus-pocus.

I'm sorry, Pa.

You know, we done lost 31 head.

Ain't we gonna put out guards or nothing?

Of course we're going to put up a guard.

I've just been trying to figure out where, though.

Yeah, we lost the trail of those cattle just around that rocky outcrop.

Maybe starting tonight, we ought to do that, huh?

Good idea. Good idea.

Help put out the fire!

Here, here.

Hoss, come on out here.

Explosion.

Ugh, Hoss! Yeah, Pa.

Don't just stand there.

Ah, don't stand there. Do something.

Fire and explosion on the first night.

That's what she said, wasn't it? Yup.

Oh, come on, will you?

Little gas pocket formed among the logs.

Happens all the time.

George, will you go out and saddle your horse

and saddle Hose's and wait outside?

Now will you stop worrying about this hocus-pocus business?

Now, come on, get your hat and gun, go outwith George.

Ah. Stan guarding against those rustlers.

Oh, Hoss. See if you can talk some sense into George, huh ?

Yeah.

You really think that explosion was caused by a gas pocket?

George,

it just ain't reasonable that anybody could tell the future by a deck of cards.

Ain't but one way you can tell the future with a deck of cards

and that's by holding four aces in a poker game.

A wolf is supposed to howl three times.

Yeah.

That's the first one.

I reckon if he just howls twice, it don't count, huh?

Shh.

Come on.

One more time, make it four.

I thought you didn't believe in Teresa's predictions.

I don't, not a dad-burn word of it.

Then explain them wolf howls to me.

Just like she said, three of them.

Go on, explain it to me.

Well, it's...

It's a coincidence.

You know, heh, George, if Teresa could really predict the future,

it seems to me that she'd be making a lot more money

than the dimes and quarters she's picking up at the saloon.

Don't you think so? Look at the predictions she's made.

The, uh, fight. Well, that had already taken place.

The explosion and fire, she didn't say where or when.

And wolf howling-- Why, these are all commonplace occurrences here

in this pan of the country.

But I'll tell you, George, I'm gonna make a prediction of my own.

I'm gonna predict that she comes riding up here today

with some kind of charm or hocus-pocus of some kind

that's gonna cost you a lot of money, heh.

No, sir, it won't, because I'm leaving right away.

Oh, George, you can't do that.

Well, the real big predictions are supposed to happen today.

I mean, like that snake that strikes and misses, but don't miss.

Now, that I gotta see.

And that mysterious horse that comes up here with your saddle,

don't you wanna stick around to see if they do happen?

Don't you see, Hoss? She said we're in this together.

Now, if I get far enough away today, that will all be changed.

I'll get you out of this, anyway.

I'd like to thank you for everything you tried to do for me.

Oh, uh, I wish that, uh, you'd see that Susan gets this watch,

even though she is pretty mad at me, heh.

Doesn't keep much good time, but

it's the only thing I ever had that was worth anything, and

it belonged to my father.

I'm going into town tonight. I'll give it to her.

I wish you'd stay, George.

Well, George, sorry to see you go.

I wish I could say that.

But I'll take good care of that little girl for you.

Bye, Hoss. So long.

Good riddance.

Uh, now Pa ain't paying you yahoos to lollygag around here. Get at it.

And that goes for you too, Poole.

George. Come on in.

It happened.

What happened?

The snake missed, but he spooked my horse so bad

he dumped me and ran off.

I couldn't do anything else but walk back here.

So in a manner of speaking, you could say

that the snake didn't miss his purpose.

Yeah.

It's gonna happen, Hoss.

Tonight.

And there ain't no way in the world we can escape it.

Well, I told you I was a pretty good predictor myself, didn't I?

Yeah, let's go see how expensive this is gonna be.

Oh, I've been so worried about you.

I'm, uh, awful glad-- I mean, I'm glad that you're not mad at me anymore.

Oh, George.

Madam Teresa, this here is my pa.

Hello, Susan. Mr. Cartwright, Hoss.

Hi, Susan.

Teresa was telling me such terrible things.

I was getting so worried about George-- and you too, Hoss

--that I finally made her tell me

that there is a way to put a stop to this curse.

Oh, there is, is there?

Tonight, both of you must get back to the Indian burying ground.

I have written out what you must do

and brought everything you will need.

The charcoal brazier, into the fire of which--

Ahem. Madam Teresa.

I'd like to, uh, see what you've written out here, if you don't mind.

"Roots of violets, sulfur,

spirits of hanshorn,

marjoram and rosemary.

A witch hazel rod

with which you must inscribe the magic pentacle on the ground."

Look, I don't know how much you expect to get for this paraphernalia.

There is no fee, Mr. Cartwright, and no charge.

Nor is there, as you are thinking, a dishonest purpose.

My only interest is in helping both these unfortunate men.

Well, it seems to me that these, uh, unfortunate men are old enough,

or should be, to help themselves.

I'm sorry that you had to come here for nothing,

but I'm afraid that's just what it is.

Hey, Susan, Susan.

I appreciate what, uh, your intentions were

but I think you ought to go back to town and take this with you.

Uh, Susan.

Susan, I want you to go on back to town and not worry about a thing.

Now, I'm gonna be all right.

George, please take this.

Oh, heh, I don't think I'll need this.

George Whitman, if you change your mind

be sure you follow the instructions to the letter.

You be careful.

Hey. Little Joe!

Boy, I hope this weather clears up.

So do I, Harry. It sure is squally tonight, though, ain't it?

It's time to relieve your pa and Charlie.

Yeah, I know.

Hoss, we'll see you in the morning. Okay, Joe.

Hess?

Go on, George, you scared me out of a year's growth, huh?

What are you doing back here, anyhow?

Waiting.

Waiting for what?

The black horse.

Oh, George.

I still got that magic stuff Teresa left.

You think that maybe--

George, you know what Pa said about that magic stuff.

It's the horse.

He's coming.

That was my saddle. Ah, you still got them instructions?

I got the magic stuff in the bunkhouse.

Fire light, fire bright,

higgledy, higgledy, booms in the night.

Curses be gone with a big shin bone.

Abracadoo.

Zazzamazoo

Take this curse off of me and you.

Dad-burn you, Poole, you scared the daylights out of me.

What are you doing here, anyhow?

Guess.

You're the one that's been stealing the cattle, ain't you?

Wrong.

Turn around, both of you. Turn around.

It was George. Me?

Yes, you.

You see, you and me were out riding.

We came upon George and caught him red-handed.

He shot you, but I was lucky enough to get him before he could get me.

Strange, isn't it, how Teresa's predictions came true?

Right down to the last one.

You and George, lying dead in the moonlight.

Poole!

Poole, it, ah, looks like somebody else has done some figuring too.

You better drop that gun. Shut up.

Pa.

All right, break them up, Hoss. Break them up.

Joe.

Joe. Get back to the herd. Everything's all right down here!

Harry.

All right, Mr. Poole, you can get up now.

We got the rest of your gang. You might as well join them.

Take him in to the sheriff, Harry.

Making a feel out of me.

You did good, jonah.

Hey, Pa, how did you know where we were, anyhow?

I followed Poole here. Did you know that he was the head rustler?

Well, just found it out.

His gang was trying to get away with some more cattle tonight.

Poole was also the fellow

who was making Madam Teresa's predictions come true.

Did you know that?

Well, I'll be dang--

How come you didn't let us know about it?

Oh, well, you were so busy with your hocus-pocus-ing

that I thought it might be better if you'd keep on doing

what you were doing,

and Poole would keep doing what he was doing

until he finally hanged himself.

Tsk. Boy, Pa, you sure played it close to the vest.

Well, I had to. Wasn't sure until tonight

that Poole was the man we were after.

Then maybe I wasn't a jinx this time.

Heh, oh, George, of course you're not.

There's no such thing as a jinxed man.

Yes, sir, I'll remember that, heh.

Hey, why don't you go help Little Joe take care of the herd?

Right.

You know, ha-ha, old George really did think he was a jinx.

I never did believe that stuff. I was going along with it,

because I thought it was helping George feel better.

Higglety-pigglety.

Well, Teresa, still no sign of her?

The dark-haired lady? That's the one.

I do not believe I was wrong about her. You will see.

All right, if you say so.

I'm telling you, I'm glad that's over with. I'll have one, ahh.

So am I, Pa, except for one thing.

What's that?

Can't figure out how Poole got that black horse

with George's saddle on it to come in there.

Poole found the runaway, put George's saddle on the black horse

and did it to scare him. Thank you.

He did the same thing with the shotgun shells.

Put them on the log. And he imitated the wolf calls.

It was always Poole. Always Poole, all the way.

No hocus-pocus.

Well, that explains those things right nicely.

All but one thing.

What? That rattler.

What about the rattler?

Well, now, how do you reckon that Poole knowed

which trail George was gonna take out of the Ponderosa?

Well, uh...

Harry, haven't you got anything to do?

Well, why don't you go do it?

Why, why, rattlers.

Hey, Pa, wait a minute. How did he know?

Hoss, what difference does it make?

Look, one out of five, one out of five.

Now, is there anything wrong with that?

Mm-hm.

Just like the cards said.

I'll be doggone.

Hi, I'm Joe Cartwright. Yes, I know.

Now, Pa, what about that?

The dark-headed lady.

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