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♪♪

Morning. Morning.

You riding through or do you plan

to stay awhile here in Concho?

Oh, I thought I'd stay a day or two. Why?

You'll have to check your rig over at the sheriff's office.

You can pick it up on the way out.

That apply to strangers only?

No. Everyone.

No weapons allowed in town.

It's a law Sheriff Rowen's a real stickler for.

Well, can't say it's a bad law.

Paul Rowen in town today?

He sure is.

You know the sheriff?

Yeah. I know him.

Ben Cartwright!

I'll be, you son of a gun.

Been a long time, Paul.

It sure has. Along time.

Last time was when you tracked that fella all the way down

to Virginia City, that escaped convict.

Yeah. Good to see you, Ben.

What are you doing in Concho?

Well, I came to see you.

And Catherine. And Timmy.

Had some business over at Menden,

so I thought I'd swing by this way

before I headed back to the Ponderosa.

Menden? 70-mile swing just to say hello?

The miles went easy.

How is the family?

Fine. Come on, find out for yourself.

Bill, we'll be back shortly.

Oh, uh, your gun.

Uh, sorry, Ben, no exceptions.

Put that with the others, will you?

Cathy, when she sees you, she's just gonna laugh and cry,

and then she's gonna give me the devil for not warning her

so she could've been ready.

I'll tell you something-- this, uh,

this town is sure peaceful and quiet.

Good family town now, Ben.

Yeah, well, you've made it that way now.

Well...

Major Landers!

Hold it.

Right there.

Paul, what is it?

What's the matter?

You know what's the matter. Hand me that rifle.

Oh... I want the weapon!

Now, you know what my orders are.

What did you bring this into town for?

If you look, Paul, you'll see the hammer is broken.

I was taking it to Charlie's to have it repaired.

I'm sorry, Tom. I'm...

a little tired. It's made me edgy.

Forget it.

Appreciate it the next time though,

if you stop by my office and let me know.

Next time I will.

Uh...

Ben, this is Major Landers.

Old friend of mine, Ben Cartwright.

Mr. Cartwright.

Major.

I'm running a little late. I'd better go.

You won't forget, you and your missus,

an invite to dinner Saturday night.

Ah, we'll be there.

Paul? You, uh... you're working too hard.

Why don't you take a couple of days off? Go fishing.

You sound just like Catherine.

Like I tell her, don't you fret about me.

Come on, we're keeping her waiting.

Mm-mm!

That smells good.

Catherine, I'd be hard put to tell you

when I've had a better meal.

Oh, thank you, Ben.

I must say, if Paul had told me you'd be here,

I could've prepared something special.

What did I tell you, Ben?

Well, on such short notice, it's been a mighty fine meal.

I'll tell you, Hop Sing couldn't do any better.

Well, I've had plenty of practice,

doing things on short notice.

You mean to tell me that after all these years,

you still haven't put that man of yours on a regular schedule?

Not in 12 years.

His job runs 24 hours, seven days a week.

Oh, come on, now.

A couple of Sundays ago, we took the day off

and went on that picnic.

Darling, that was two months ago.

Two months, huh?

You mean it's-it's been 12 years

since you've been wearing that badge?

12 years.

And seven months.

Yeah, years go by.

Doesn't seem that long.

Maybe not to you, Ben.

But it seems like a hundred years to me.

Good coffee, hon.

Bang, bang, bang!

Got you, Running Horse!

You and your braves surrender or I'll kill you all!

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Bang, bang, bang' Bang! I

I have told you again and again

I don't want you to do this anymore!

Do you understand?!

Don't do it anymore!

All the kids play cowboys and Indians, Pa.

There are other games you can play.

They ain't as much fun.

"Fun."

"Games," huh?

Games.

That's who they learn it from. Us-- right, Ben?

See the grown-u p's

fighting and killing each other.

Then they play it doing the same thing.

And so it goes on and on.

Never stops.

All right, Timmy, it's...

Come on, you go on upstairs

and... do your schoolwork.

Well, it looks like the two of you were right.

I sure need that vacation.

Give this old head of mine a little rest.

Is the pain very bad?

Oh, no. No, not right now. Don't...

fret about me.

Give Ben some more coffee.

Catherine?

How long's he been like this?

Well, it, um...

it started about six months ago.

I just, um...

Got headaches, and lately it's been getting worse.

No eating.

And the nightmares.

Has he been to the doctor?

Ben, you know Paul.

The only time he'll see a doctor is

to set a broken bone or...

take out a bullet.

Well, he's... he's tired.

He's overtired. He's...

Now, Catherine, you've got to see to it

that he has a vacation.

It's up to you.

Oh... oh.

Oh, Paul, you still own that piece of land south of town?

Owned and almost paid for.

Gonna raise prime stock on it soon as I retire.

When are you going to retire?

I don't know exactly.

Shouldn't be too long now though.

Well, that'll make Catherine happy.

Soon as I get things squared around here.

Always keep the family happy is what I say.

That's ol' man Bleeker all right.

Shooting up the countryside again.

I control the guns here

in town, but out there it's different.

Out there, a man needs a gun.

Does he?

Let's bring him in.

♪ I know you of old ♪

♪ You robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold ♪

♪ If the ocean were whiskey and I was a duck ♪

♪ I'd swim to the bottom and never come up ♪

♪ Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, rye whiskey, I cry ♪

♪ If I don't get my whiskey ♪

♪ I surely will die. ♪

Timmy likes it when I bring the old-timer in.

He sits outside his cell and listens to him tell stories

about how he was a buffalo hunter

and how he fought the Indians.

You know, I kind of like to hear those stories myself.

Well, go on, get him out.

And make sure he doesn't have a bottle

under his shirt this time.

Yes, sir.

Soon as I'm sure he can do his job all the way

and keep Concho clean the way I made it,

that's when I walk, Ben.

That's when I start my Ponderosa.

Ah. Had a bellyful of it

in my lifetime, I can tell you.

All right, son, let's go.

Well, you can't take that gun into jail with you.

If I can't take Bess with me, I ain't a-going.

All right, no more nonsense, Bleeker.

Give me the gun.

You'll have to take her from me first, son.

Now, I'm not fooling with you.

Give me that gun! No!

I ain't a-gonna go without Bess.

For the last time, give me that gun.

I better get in there.

I'm sorry, Sheriff.

I... I didn't handle it right, did I?

It never should've happened.

♪♪

"Never should've happened."

They died for no reason.

Paul, why don't you go on home?

Your report can wait till later.

I'll do what has to be done with them.

You all right, mister?

Billy!

What's happened to him? I don't know.

He's gone mad, stark raving mad.

Get the wounded off the streets before he starts shooting again.

Everybody! You, too, Tollar!

He's in there.

Got to go in, maybe talking some sense into him.

Hurry that wagon.

Get that wagon over.

Come back in the morning, and I'll check that wound.

Be careful.

I'll tell you, Doctor, it's a miracle no one was killed.

You're lucky that bullet just grazed you.

I j-just don't understand it.

I thought I knew Paul so well.

I was standing there and...

suddenly he was turning on that horse and firing.

It was all so sudden.

Perhaps not so sudden, Mr. Cartwright.

Those years in the war,

the horrible responsibility of command.

I saw it happen with men who had been in combat too long.

Did you ever notice that Paul never talked about the war?

It was building up inside him all the time.

Then he became a lawman, it was the war all over again.

But he hated the killing part of it.

I begged him to take a vacation, but he said he didn't have time.

Said he wanted to make this...

a safe town to live in.

Ben! Ben, are you all right?

Oh, Y-yes, yes.

No, this is J-just a... just grazed.

Uh, where's Timmy?

I-I left him with neighbors, they told me what happened.

What are we gonna do?

Oh, everything's gonna be all right.

Ben, what are we gonna do? Don't worry about anything.

But... I've got to find Paul. Now, you can't go...

One of his shots ricocheted off a wall, nicked me in the wrist.

All right, get over here.

Oh, Ben, I've got to find Paul!

Catherine! I've got to talk to him!

Now listen, you're gonna stay right here.

You can't go out there, you understand?

You can't go out there.

You've got to take care of Timmy.

Now, I'm going to take you home.

Doctor?

Where does that door... that door lead?

The alley.

Use it-- it's safer.

Come on. Come on.

No, no, no.

You-you stay.

I'm all right, I'm...

Please help Paul.

I'll help him all I can.

The others, they want to kill him.

No, th-they don't want to kill him, Catherine.

They just want him to stop firing.

♪♪

It's a war.

Kill 'em all.

Cut them down.

It's a war.

Levering,

check the ammunition.

Mullens, you all right?

Get your heads down!

Danforth,

take the rest of the men.

Tell them not to move around too much.

♪♪

Anything?

It's been quiet.

He's still inside.

He's surrounded.

There is no way for him to get out without us seeing him.

Good idea, Major, these torches.

He tries to break out,

we'll gun him down before he goes two feet.

Shoot only if he shoots first.

Your gun, Mr. Cartwright.

We need all the help we can get.

There's got to be another way.

There ain't no other way.

We'll get a chance to talk about it at the meeting.

You'll be there, Mr. Cartwright?

Yeah, I'll be there.

Catherine!

Paul!

Paul, it's me, Catherine!

Paul, please come out! Catherine!

Paul, please, we want to help you!

Paul!

Now, get down!

Hold your fire. Hold your fire.

He tried to kill me, Ben.

Why?

Now, Catherine,

Paul is-isn't well.

He... he needs help.

He's sick.

Now, I-I don't know how I'm gonna help him,

but somehow I will.

But right now, I got to get you out of here.

Come on.

It's a trick.

A reb trick.

Reb dressed up as a woman.

Tried to make me think she was...

Catherine.

No, she wouldn't be part of this killing, it...

Catherine, stay back.

Watch the window now.

Timmy.

Timmy, come here, boy.

Get down low.

Get down low, now.

Come on, stay low.

That's a boy, Timmy.

Don't worry now, son.

I'm gonna protect you.

You don't need to worry anymore, boy.

You'll be safe with me, boy.

Yeah.

Oh, well, I'm so glad to see you is all.

Timmy.

Now I told you not to play with these guns.

I've had enough.

How many more folks he got to shoot

before you figure we should stop him?

I agree,

I've already said so,

that Rowen has to be stopped, but not by the way you suggest.

Man's got a point.

Sure don't like the idea of having to kill Rowen

lessen we have to.

We have to.

You ever see a range steer go berserk?

He stomps,

he hooks his horns into anything that gets in his way.

Cows, calves, makes no difference.

He just wants to kill.

Now, Rowen is like one of them steers, for sure.

Tollar's right.

There ain't no way to stop him

except with a bullet in the head.

Paul Rowen is no range steer gone berserk.

He doesn't want to kill.

Why won't he come out?

It's all he has to do. Major's right.

We've tried to talk him down from there a half a dozen times.

All he does is cut loose with that rifle.

You saw what happened with his wife.

He's not coming out.

So we force him out, same as we do

with a steer gone bad who hides in the brush.

And, uh, just how... how do you do it, Tollar?

We burn him out.

Well, I suppose that would solve your problem.

I don't want any part of it.

Paul Rowen...

put his life on the line

I don't know how many times for you.

He made this town a place where you can raise your family

without danger--

Safe, secure.

I sure think you owe him more

than a bullet in his brain.

Mr. Cartwright, Paul Rowen is our friend, too.

We served together in the army.

There's not a man in this room

who doesn't owe him a debt of thanks.

But he shot

five innocent people.

We all live in this town.

We must protect our families,

'cause our families are the town.

Now, what do you expect us to do?

Wait.

Wait a little longer.

Why give him time to do more damage?

Because I'm begging you to.

I'm begging for a few more hours...

hours that might just

bring Rowen back to his senses.

Doctor, that is possible, isn't it?

In a case like this, anything's possible.

I don't see no harm in waiting a spell longer.

Well?

Until morning.

♪♪

Catherine,

they've given us fill morning, that's all.

Sometime between now and then,

we've got to get through to Paul.

We've got to make him understand.

Un-Until the morning, right.

Now... the nightmares.

What about the nightmares?

What-what were they like?

Did he... did he talk about them?

Did he discuss them with you? No.

No, he, uh...

he, uh, always refused to talk... talk about them.

Well, you... were you around when he had the nightmares?

Or did he, did he... well, did he scream out?

Did he talk? Yes, he used to...

He used to cry out men's names. Yeah?

And then he'd shout, uh... Well, what? What?

...uh, m-military orders, that had to do with battles

and-and then he'd wake up in a cold sweat and trembling

and then he'd-he'd stay awake until morning.

Ma? Ma?

Has Pa come home yet?

No.

He hasn't come home yet.

And what are you doing up out of bed?

Do you want to kill my pa, too, Mr. Cartwright?

Well, what kind of a question is that, Timmy?

Don't be silly.

Because when I was at Jody's house,

he said they were going to kill my pa.

Now, Timmy, no-no...

no, nobody's going to kill your pa.

Nobody's going to hurt your pa.

Why, we wouldn't, we wouldn't let anybody...

anybody hurt your pa.

Of course not.

Nobody's gonna hurt him.

He's the... he's the sheriff in this town.

Nobody hurts the sheriff.

No, Timmy.

Timmy, you, uh... you go on up to bed.

Huh?

All right?

Up you go.

Don't let them kill my pa, Mr. Cartwright.

Don't let them.

Timmy, go up to bed now.

Timmy...

nothing is going to happen to your pa.

All right?

You go on up to bed

and your mommy will be right up.

Catherine,

what about those nightmares?

Swale, Gray, check the rear.

Keep your eyes open for a flank attack.

Jespers.

Jespers!

Take a look at Garland.

That leg wound's pretty bad.

Garrett.

Garrett!

Garrett.

Garrett!

It's no good.

You can't handle the job yet.

It's no good.

No good.

Garrett?

Garrett.

Bleeker.

How do you take a man's brain out,

repair the damage done to it

and then put it back?

Medicine's come a long way, but not that far.

Like trying to fix an unseen wound.

Yes.

You could call it that.

This town sure seems to have a cure, doesn't it?

Doctor?

Does it have to be that way?

I was up all night asking myself the same question.

Mr. Cartwright, there's a hospital...

Hospital?

Oh, please don't tell me about a hospital like that.

They're not hospitals, they're prisons.

They're dirty, filthy dungeons.

I've seen what they do to people like Paul in...

in those hospitals.

Put iron rings around their neck.

They... they chain them to concrete walls.

They throw food through the bars at them.

They... they lie there in their filth.

They die there in their filth.

They bury them in unmarked graves.

God forgive me for saying this,

but Paul would be infinitely better off

with a clean bullet through his brain

than having to live out his life in a hospital like that.

I received this medical journal some time ago.

There's an article I reread last night.

It was written by Dorothea Dix.

She was head of the Army Nurses Corps.

Well, she knew about those hospitals.

She even worked in them for some time. Oh.

She finally went to the President of the United States

and told him what was going on inside those walls.

Well, the President authorized Congress

to appropriate money to build a hospital.

A hospital, Mr. Cartwright, to treat those patients.

Did they build it?

It's just been completed.

It's in Washington, D.C.

It's called St. Elizabeth's.

According to that article,

they've already started taking in patients.

Doctor...

if we could get Paul in that hospital,

do you think they could help him?

Well, I think so.

I know they can do a lot more

than what this town plans to do-- that's for certain.

Well, it's full morning, and he's still in there,

and still shooting at anything that moves.

We waited, mister.

Now what?

We do all we can for a sick animal before we destroy it.

We could do at least as much for Paul.

Anything more that happens

is on your neck, mister.

Major, I've been out here most of the night.

I'd like to get some coffee.

You know where it is. Yeah.

Wait?

Give him more time? To do what?

Put a bullet in all of us?

I've had it-- and you, mister--

Clean up to my throat.

I say we get him and we get him now.

Well, Major?

Get the torches ready, Tollar.

Stay where you are.

What happens next, Mr. Cartwright?

I can't let you kill him.

Just can't let you kill him, Major.

Do you intend to kill all of us

in order to save him?

'Cause that's what you're going to have to do.

Get the torches ready.

When I give the signal, set fire to the warehouse.

Mr. Cartwright...

I respect your point of view.

In turn... respect mine.

Let's go, Johnny.

Get ready for an attack.

Remember, no surrender.

If this is gonna be it,

then take as many of them with you as you can.

Fight like soldiers and die like soldiers.

Paul will be killed before he gets ten feet out of there.

We both know it.

That's it, Johnny.

You go first.

This is it!

Here they come!

Kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em!

Kill!

Kill 'em! Kill 'em!

Kill 'em!

Kill!

Get that ammunition up here!

Get the ammo up here, Levering!

Timmy! Timmy!

T-Timmy! Timmy!

Pa, where are you?

Hold your fire!

Hold fire!

Levering, you keep that ammo moving.

Collins, you all right?

Danforth? Kaufman?

All right.

Just keep your eyes open.

Please, Pa!

Please answer me!

Tollar, no, no!

Tom?

Tom, what's happened?

Tell me, I have a right to know-- is it Timmy?

Is it?

He's inside.

I won't let them kill my pa.

Timmy, come to the door.

Timmy?

Timmy?!

Timmy?

Timmy?

Timmy?

Timmy. Timmy?

Paul?

It's Ben.

It's me, Ben Cartwright.

Paul?

Ooh!

Paul?

Paul?

It's me, it's Ben.

It's Ben Cartwright, Paul.

You know, from the Ponderosa.

Paul?

Come on, stop your hiding.

Come on out.

Ben?

Ben?

That's right.

Sure, it's me.

Hello, Paul.

Ben.

Good to see you, Paul.

When'd you become a gunfighter, Ben?

What do you got to do with those killers out there?

Paul, I'm not a gunfighter.

Well, you know me better than that.

Nobody wants to kill anybody.

We're your friends.

Friends?

The friends that killed those men up there--

Levering, Danforth, Kaufman?

Collins?

The friends that are gonna tell their wives

and their families and their kids?

Oh, Paul, Y-you've got it all wrong, there's...

there's nobody upstairs.

Those fellas, they...

they were killed a long time ago.

In the war, Paul.

There's nobody up there now.

Now, come on, I'll show you.

They're up there, all right, and they're dead.

They were killed by them out there.

It's a killing world, and they won't change it,

but I'm going to.

Paul.

Paul, I'm Ben Cartwright.

From the Ponderosa.

Remember, I was at your house?

Yesterday.

We had a wonderful meal.

Your wife, Catherine,

she made it.

Catherine, your wife.

Your beautiful wife.

And your little boy was there, Timmy.

You remember Timmy.

Catherine and Timmy.

It's your family.

I brought Timmy to say hello to you.

Yeah?

Timmy?

Timmy, say-say hello to your pa.

Timmy?

Say hello to your pa, Timmy.

Timmy?!

Pa? Pa?!

Timmy?

Timmy?

Timmy?

Tim?

Paul, watch out for the fire. Tim?!

Tollar, fire one more shot without an order,

I'll kill you personally.

All right, Cartwright.

It didn't work. It didn't work!

Now it's your turn!

First you, and then the rest of you!

Pa?

Pa, I'm hurt.

Please help me, Pa.

♪♪

♪♪

Why...

Why, Daddy'll just have to...

fix that up, won't he, Timmy?

♪♪

Major!

Hold your fire!

Hold your fire!

♪♪

Well, I'll take along a couple of books here

in case Doc's conversation gets dull on the way.

It's a long trip to that hospital in Washington.

See what I mean?

Two days' rest, and already he's insulting his doctor.

I'm sorry, Doc, that you have to go

all the way back there just because of me.

It's all right.

I can use the time off myself.

Well, uh... guess I better be going.

What about, uh, Timmy and Cathy?

Are they going to the stage with us?

No, I said good-bye upstairs.

I-I think it's better that way.

Fine.

Pa?

You'll be coming home soon, won't you?

You take care of your mom, now.

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