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Ah, here, let me get ahold of that.

Shove your end over into line.

Whoa.

Well, there's some more of them.

That makes the fifth bunch all together.

Yeah.

Let's go talk to them.

You wait here.

Howdy.

My name's Ben Cartwright.

Young man behind me is my son, Joseph.

I'm Mike Sullivan.

The boy behind me is my nephew, Bobby Jacks.

The kid is Eddy Wheeler.

He told me you were coming.

Oh, yes, then you know all about me and why I'm here.

The kid says you're gonna claim

that I'm building on your property.

Well, I suppose you have a deed for this land?

All signed, legal and proper,

by the man who sold it to us, John Polk.

Mr. Sullivan, I don't like to tell you this,

but the man who signed that deed

had no right to sell you the land.

It wasn't his to sell.

You've been swindled.

Mr. Polk told us that you'd be

coming around claiming something like that.

Oh?

If it's his word against yours, we're obliged to take his.

Then I'm afraid we're in for a little trouble.

Well, you try putting us off this land,

and you'll find out what trouble is.

Put that rifle down; there'll be no shooting.

What about him?

Joseph!

Now, Mr. Sullivan,

I was hoping you'd be a reasonable man.

I brought these people a long, hard ways to get here.

We fought hunger and thirst, disease and Indians and thieves.

We did it all to get a little land that we could settle on.

I am a reasonable man, Mr. Cartwright,

but I'm not a weak one.

I'm not a coward.

I'll fight for what belongs to me.

If need be, I'll kill for it.

So will I, Mr. Sullivan.

So will I.

Are my eyes deceiving me?

No, your eyes are all right, Pa; I see it, too.

I'm Amanda Gates, and this is Victoria, my sister.

How do?

We're unmarried ladies.

When we bought this place,

the man told us that ranchers would want

to water their stock here.

Now, it's perfectly all right, for a small fee, of course.

Well... there must be some mistake.

Why do you say that?

Well, ma'am, this-this land and-and the water...

They-they belong to the Ponderosa,

and we haven't sold any of it.

Excuse me, my name is Ben Cartwright.

This is my son, Joseph...

We know you, Ben Cartwright, you black-hearted scoundrel.

Well, ma'am, there's no need for rifles.

Our people are settling this valley to the mountains,

on land legally bought and paid for.

No bandit named Cartwright's gonna run us off.

Pa, w-why don't you just be a-a cowardly man named Cartwright

and let's get out of here before that thing goes off?

No, I-I-I...

P-Pa, why don't you come with me.

Pa.

Good day.

My name is Henri Belrose.

My name's Ben Cartwright.

This is my son, Joseph.

- Joseph. - How are you?

This is my friend, John Wheeler.

Well, just how many are you?

And how did you all happen to come here?

We came here in our wagon train.

My wife and I... we came to this country to build a home.

Mr. Belrose, this happens to be my land.

It is my land, Mr. Cartwright.

Do you wish to see the deed?

Yes, I would very much like to see the deed.

Lisette, please bring our deed

and come out and meet Mr. Cartwright.

My wife, Lisette.

This is Mr. Cartwright and his son, Joseph.

Mrs. Belrose.

How are you, ma'am?

You came all the way by wagon train with this infant?

She came only part of the way.

She was born on the trail.

That's why we are so happy to be here in our new home.

It's even got a seal.

Does the deed look all right to you, Mr. Cartwright?

Best-looking deed I've ever seen.

Well, we'll talk again, Mr. Belrose.

Ma'am.

Mr. Wheeler.

Good-bye.

Good day, ma'am.

Hop Sing, get me a decent piece of soap.

I can't wash myself with this sliver.

Hop Sing, this water's getting cold!

You want me to catch me death?

Hop Sing?

Hop Sing, put a little more wood on that fire.

Why aren't these towels warming by the fire?

Good heavens, man, be somewhat... Be efficient, for heaven's sake.

All right.

Now the hot water to rinse me.

On the double, boy.

Now, hold on, hold on.

That's not too hot, is it?

No, sir, Colonel Bragg, not hot.

- Not hot at all. - Oh.

Ice water!

Ice water, you fiend!

That was deliberate!

Where are you going, you monster?

Take long trip for health.

Maybe go back China.

Oh!

Tired, Kip?

Well, I wouldn't exactly like to wrestle a bear about now.

Well, about all we got to do tomorrow

is go up and bring in those strays.

Well, don't make it easy on my account. I hired out to work.

Well, for a new hand, you're doing fine.

Hey, will you look at that?

Any man who sneaks away from danger is a deserter.

In any army in the world,

he'd be put against a wall and shot.

I no deserter, Mr. Adam.

I take long vacation.

Colonel Bragg... all time yell.

Head go boom, boom, boom.

Very bad.

Pa served with the colonel.

Old Fussed and Fuddled, his men called him.

Pa even saved the colonel's life one night

when he wandered into the enemy lines.

I know. He tell me same story 50 times.

Well, that makes it a privilege

to have him as a guest in our house,

to keep his valuables in our safe,

and to look after his busted leg.

No privilege, Mr. Adam.

Just too much dad-burned trouble.

Now, look, Hop Sing, it's not just a privilege.

You see, the horse the colonel fell from

when he busted his leg was one that Pa sold him.

Now that makes it an obligation.

Hop Sing obligation?

Well, you're one of the family, aren't you?

Just like me, Hoss and Little Joe?

You too smart for me, Mr. Adam.

You say, I one of the family?

I cannot go.

I stay.

Colonel.

Benjamin, I still say you're avoiding the main issue.

And that's a...

And that's an easy thing to do

when the duty is an unpleasant one.

What do you consider the main issue, Colonel?

These people are trespassers.

That's the main issue.

No matter what they say,

no matter what rights they claim, they're trespassers.

And you've got to treat them as such.

Well, how do you go about doing that?

Remember your military training.

Assemble your facts, make your decision,

and then proceed with vigor.

You order these people off your land, Benjamin.

If they refuse, call out your hands,

mount, ride and drive 'em off.

These people don't think they're trespassers.

They think they own the land.

And with every reason.

They paid for it with every penny they had.

They're trespassers.

They're stealing your land. Thieves!

No, Colonel.

The man who sold them land that wasn't his to sell...

He's the thief. These people are victims.

Victims... I tell you they're thieves.

I kind of go along with Pa.

What about you, Adam?

Victims.

These people aren't thieves, Colonel.

They just trusted the wrong man, that's all.

You're being sentimental, soft, weak.

You can't take the troubles of every man alive onto yourself.

These are tough-fibered people.

They've fought to get this far, and they'll fight to stay.

Then fight.

Some of them would be killed.

You've got a right to protect your land.

If they force you to it, your hands are clean.

Some of us would be killed.

What comforts clean hands then?

There's risk from the day a man's born.

True.

But I'm not gonna add to that risk.

I'm not gonna turn this into a range war.

We'll proceed legally.

I'll see my lawyer.

Meanwhile, if we can find

their money and give it back to them,

the settlers might be more inclined to listen to reason.

Adam, tomorrow morning,

why don't you ride into Virginia City

and let the sheriff know what's been happening.

Well, I was going with Kip up to the north range

to look for strays, but I guess he can go alone.

Oh, he should be able; he's a good man.

Joe, the last we heard of this man, Polk,

he was in Carson City.

Maybe you can cut his trail there and follow it.

Right, Pa.

One of us should really see the settlers

and try to get a line on Polk.

Hoss, why don't you do that?

Yes, sir.

Start on your land first.

My land?

Yeah, Horse Heaven.

Why them dirty, no-good-for-nothing...

Ah, ah, ah.

You ought to see your guests first,

before you use such language.

But I wouldn't give them your right name.

They'll shoot anybody named Cartwright just like that.

For a country loaded with deer,

you sure go a long ways and never see one.

Moved to the high mountains is my guess.

You'd think we get a shot at least, but no.

Been out the best part of three hours.

Ah, shut your whining.

I'm so hungry I could eat a boot.

What are you doing? That's a steer.

Well, it's food.

Must be a Ponderosa stray.

Well, it's liable to be the only food

we'll get for a couple of days.

What's going on here?

You can see for yourself.

We've just shot a steer.

We're getting ready to skin it out and butcher it.

That's Ponderosa beef.

You've got no right to it.

A hungry man's got a right to the closest food, boy.

If you're hungry, you can buy a beef

or you can ride in and ask for it.

But you kill a steer out here on the range,

and it's the same as stealing it.

Don't call us thieves.

I don't know what else to call you.

There's a dead beef, and it doesn't belong to you.

What are you gonna do?

I'm gonna go back to the ranch and tell the Cartwrights

exactly what I found out here.

I don't know what they're gonna do about it,

but I've seen men hang for less.

You don't hang me.

Oh, you blasted fool.

Uncle Mike, I had to kill him.

You want me to hang for a steer?

Ah, no one was gonna hang you.

That was talk.

Now our fight for land

has turned into a fight to stay alive.

Howdy, ladies.

I was just riding by,

and I thought I'd stop in and say...

howdy.

Uh, whereabouts is your men folk at?

We have no men folk.

We're unmarried ladies.

Who might you be?

Uh, my name is Hoss... Jones.

Yeah, that's my name, Hoss Jones.

What do you want?

Well, my pa... What I mean to say is, uh...

While I was nearby, I thought maybe I'd stop in

and see if there was something, uh, a man could do?

That depends on the man.

Do you know a Ben Cartwright?

Oh, yes'm,

it seems to me like I have heard that name.

Worst black-hearted scoundrel alive.

Yes'm.

I'm afraid right now I've got to agree with, ma'am.

Just a little bit.

We warned about him by Mr. Polk.

Who's he?

Why, the nice gentlemen that sold us this place.

Such a fine man.

Except for that one thing.

Yes.

Do you smoke, young man?

Oh, no, ma'am.

I chew a little bit every once in a while.

Ugh.

Such a nice man.

How could he smoke those big, nasty things?

All twisty.

Yeah, it's disgusting, ain't it, ma'am?

A woman can always tell a gentleman.

Doesn't your wife say that, Mr. Jones?

Oh.

No wife, ma'am.

Then you can helps us with those big logs.

It's no nice to have a man around.

Especially a single man.

All in through there.

And they've plat maps as well as deeds to the property, huh?

Well, the plats aren't very accurate,

but they're close enough.

This fellow, Polk, he must have known

the Tucker Creek side of the Ponderosa pretty well.

He knew enough that we didn't get over there very much.

How long you figure they've been in there?

Two weeks, going on three.

How many families there?

Well, there's six different outfits,

300 acres apiece.

And they all paid their last dollar for worthless claims.

I don't like it, Adam.

A man will really fight

to hang on to what his last dollar's bought for him.

Some will kill.

Well, that's all I need.

I'll get on the telegraph right away

to Sacramento and San Francisco,

and I'll get back to you just as soon as I hear anything.

All right, thanks, Roy.

- Bye. - Bye.

Uh, he's a big man.

55 or 60, an average kind of a man.

John Polk was his name.

He had a beard and... A-Anything else?

He had a wife, too.

Good-looking woman.

Looked to be much younger than he was,

but stunning, though.

And they stayed here?

Oh, yes, yes, yes, indeed.

They had our best suite, as a matter of fact.

Mrs. Polk was a very good-looking woman.

Yeah, so you said.

Uh, did they leave any forwarding address of any kind?

No, no, they didn't.

Look, you have any idea at all where they went?

No, I haven't.

Is there anybody in Carson City who might have an idea?

No, I'm positive there's not.

Why positive?

Well, many people would like to find him.

He left owing $1,000 in debts around town.

I'd say the man was a crook.

I think his wife was, too.

But she was a lovely woman,

absolutely stunning.

Yeah, yeah, so you said.

Now look, is there anything else in particular

you can remember about this man, Polk?

Oh, yes.

Yes, as a matter of fact, there was.

He always struck his matches across his posterior.

He what?

He smoked cigars.

He, uh, he always lit his matches like this.

His wife didn't like it much, though.

Didn't like what?

The gesture, uh... this.

- Oh. - Oh, but she was a...

Stunning woman; thank you very much.

Benjamin?

Colonel, I thought you were napping.

Are you going into Virginia City today?

Well, yes, Colonel, I am.

I'm gonna see our lawyer.

Anything you wanted?

Well, I thought you might ask the doctor to come out.

I'd like to get this splint off this leg.

I-I've been a prisoner long enough.

Well, really, Colonel,

our guests don't usually refer to themselves as prisoners.

Well, I didn't mean it that way, Benjamin, I...

- Of course you didn't.

- It's just that I ought to be on my way.

Well, I know it's hard for an active man to be tied down,

but I can promise you Doc Martin

won't let you get out of that splint for a while yet,

so you best grit your teeth and enjoy your rest.

You didn't think I'd become a fixture in your home

after you saved my life ten years ago, did you?

I'm sure someone else

would have come along to save your life, Colonel.

I'm still beholden to you.

I sold you the horse that threw you when you broke your leg,

so I suppose I'm beholden to you.

Nonsense; I fell off that horse.

Well, go along Benjamin.

I'll be all right.

Of course you will be.

Mr. Ben, Mr. Ben Where you go?

I'm going to Virginia City.

Do you need something?

I afraid for boy, Kip Taylor.

His horse come back without him.

Well, I'll go by the north range and check.

I'll take his horse with me.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Who... who is he?

One of my hands.

What do you know about this, boy?

Nothing, Mr. Cartwright... Like you, I just seen it.

You see what happened?

Somebody was butchering a steer, looks like.

Yeah.

Ponderosa steer.

And it looks to me like Kip Taylor caught him at it,

and he just killed him and left him here.

Why were you following me, boy?

My folks thought it would be best

to know what you was up to.

They was afraid what you might do

if you got men together.

I was gonna let 'em know.

You can let 'em know something from me now.

You can tell 'em I want them to gather at the Belrose place.

You can tell 'em I'll meet them there.

You can say that I'll be riding in

with only one man.

This one.

Here he comes!

Across that saddle lies the body of one of my men.

He found someone butchering a Ponderosa beef,

and that someone, whoever it was,

shot him down.

I don't know who it was that shot him down.

Could've been a stranger who rode on out of the country

after the killing was done.

It could be.

Could also be the killer is one of you.

If the killer is one of you, it would be best

if you found them out and turn them over to the law,

before all of you are blamed.

Thanks for the advice, Mr. Cartwright.

It's good advice.

Kip Taylor's relatives and friends

might want an eye for an eye,

and you're strangers here.

What started out as a dispute over land

could turn, with this, into a shooting war,

with more dead to bury on both sides.

Well, what about our land?!

You can all stay here, for a while.

All I ask is that you don't build

and don't cut trees and don't break sod.

We don't want your charity!

We want to build... and cut and dig...

here, on this land, land we paid for,

our land!

You think about all this.

Talk among yourselves, decide what you want to do.

And remember, I'll help you follow any sensible course.

But if you fight me, I'll have to fight you.

You decide.

There's nothing to decide!

We've got to fight him now.

But why? Why must we fight?

To survive!

It doesn't matter now who killed that man.

It doesn't matter now who has the best claim to this land.

All that matters now is root hog or die.

We came a long way...

Henri and I, to get away from violence.

We don't want killing.

We move on.

Move on to where?

You got no money to buy more land here.

You can't go on to free land.

Your animals and your gear are beat out.

The season's gone; the passes are full of snow.

It's this place or nothin'!

But there is a right and a wrong to choose between.

Not for you, Belrose.

And not for you, Wheeler.

And not for any of us!

Men with several choices

can fret between what's right and what's wrong,

but when there's only one thing you can do to stay alive,

you got to call that one thing "right"

and go ahead with it!

♪♪

♪♪

Hello, the house!

Is anyone home?

Hello in there!

Hello, the house!

Hello in there!

Is there anyone home?

Who are you? What do you want?

My name is Belrose.

I must talk to Mr. Cartwright.

He isn't here. Come back some other time.

But it's quite important.

- I would like to wait. - You come back.

The settlers are in an ugly mood.

They are ready to fight.

I think Mr. Cartwright should know.

I told you to come back, now you're gonna

have to do what I tell you!

I know you.

Yes, of course, I know you.

The beard is gone, but you are the man that...

Colonel! Colonel!

Colonel?

- Colonel, you're all right? - Yes, of course.

- Have my boys come back yet? - I'm all alone.

What in the world's wrong?

That... young Belrose.

One of the settlers...

He's dead. I just found his body

in a wagon about a quarter of a mile from here.

And I've just taken Kip Taylor's body

to his parents in Virginia City.

- Taylor dead? - Murdered.

My boys aren't back yet, huh?

No. There's been no one here.

Even Hop Sing's off somewhere.

I've been alone all morning.

Why are you staring at me like that?

Huh? Oh, I wasn't staring, I was...

Belrose has a wife and a baby.

Now I'm gonna have to take his body back to his widow.

Look, when my sons get back here,

tell them that I want them to stay here.

- Shouldn't they be with you? - No. If they were with me,

someone might think that I was out for more killing,

and I'm not.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

I bring you tragic news, Mrs. Belrose.

Your husband lies dead in that wagon.

I know.

Eddy came to tell me.

I found him...

in the wagon about a quarter of a mile from my house.

I don't know...

how he got killed, and I don't know who killed him.

He was going to your place.

He didn't want killing.

He hoped you will know how to stop it.

He was going... to my house?

And now he lies dead.

Mrs. Belrose, I... I'll be back and we'll talk again of this,

but... for the moment, please accept my deepest sympathies

for yourself and the child.

Thank you, Mr. Cartwright.

♪♪

Tell me now that we don't have to fight to stay alive,

and I'll tell you the fight's already begun.

We don't know who killed Belrose

and we don't know who killed the ranch hand.

I do.

My nephew Jacks here killed Cartwright's ranch hand.

Jacks killed him?

Why didn't you speak up?

Why didn't you turn him in?

He's my sister's boy, and I'm sworn to keep him safe.

Besides... he didn't kill him out of meanness.

He was scared into it.

You know how he is.

I know it.

Killed that Indian crossing the plains, being scared.

That darn near got us all killed.

I didn't turn him over to the Indians then

and I am not turning him over now.

Same as then, this is a finish fight and we need everybody.

We've got to let 'em know we don't scare easy.

Then they'll leave us alone,

then they'll leave us have our land.

A fight goes to him who hits first and hardest.

Pa, you all right?

Colonel told us all about it.

Yeah, I'm all right.

You find out anything new?

Bits and pieces, nothing definite.

Colonel... now, are you sure there was no one here all day?

No, there was no one here.

And there was no one moving around outside?

Well, I don't know about that.

I haven't been outside.

I've been sitting here all day.

Then, you didn't go outside yourself?

I just told you I didn't.

Colonel, there's mud on your sock.

Well, I-I may have gone outside for a moment... a breath of air.

I-I can't be expected to...

Desk clerk told me Polk used to light his cigars

by striking a match on his trousers.

The old spinster ladies...

They, they told me about his cigars, too.

Black and twisted.

Then you weren't alone today, were you?

Comrade in arms,

old friend, guest in my house.

And now you know how low a man can sink.

Belrose came here to see me

and recognized you as Polk,

the man who sold him our land.

Isn't that right, Colonel?

That's right.

And you killed him.

And I killed him.

The young wife... Beautiful, greedy.

Spent all I had on her, went head over heels in debt.

An old man making a fool of himself over a young woman.

It isn't a new story, is it?

No, it isn't a new story.

But it's just what you might have expected

of Old Fussed and Fuddled, isn't it?

Oh, I knew what the men thought of me, Benjamin,

not that I could blame them.

Never did anything right in my life.

Got lost in the woods at night, fell off horses.

Not a man, a fool.

Not a soldier, a clown.

Now she's gone, too.

When she found out that I'd broken this leg,

she thought I'd botched the whole deal on her,

ran off with another man.

I thought I could get away with swindling these settlers.

I'd take their money and you'd send them packing,

and that's all there would be to it.

I didn't think there would be any killing.

Where is the money, Colonel?

In the small satchel in your study...

Every dollar of it.

Boys, hitch up a wagon...

The colonel and I are going to return that money...

And saddle up your horses.

You'll ride along with us.

I wouldn't want anyone getting the idea

of hanging the colonel without a trial.

I didn't want to kill him, Benjamin, but he recognized me.

You can't put a bullet back in a gun once it's been fired.

You can't give a father back to his child

once that father's been buried.

But you can pay back part of the debt

by returning this money

and by facing up to the law for what you've done,

so we'd better get going, Colonel.

No, Benjamin, nobody's gonna hang me,

trial or no trial.

You stand in my way and I'll kill you.

What's become of you, Jonathan?

I warned you, Benjamin, don't stand in my way.

You'd pull that trigger?

Don't try me, old friend.

I hate you.

You hate me?

You have always been the better man, haven't you, Ben?

You've always had the success, and I've had the failure.

You had the money and the land and the family,

and I had nothing.

You even took over my command when I was relieved.

I was following orders, Colonel, you knew that.

For incompetence.

I was relieved for incompetence, old comrade in arms.

You knew that.

Now I am going to give the orders

and I'm going to tell you what's going to happen.

I'm going to take that money and I'm going to take your buckboard

and I'm getting out of here,

and if any of your boys stand in my way,

there's going to be one or more of them dead.

All right, Colonel.

There's your money.

My boys are hitching up the buckboard.

You can start running,

but first you'll have to kill me.

Will this money change what you are?

Will killing me give you the courage you lack?

'Cause if you think it will,

you'd better pull that trigger.

It isn't me you've hated all this time, is it, Colonel?

It's you, yourself.

No matter how fast you run

or where you hide, sooner or later

you're going to have to face the truth

and live with yourself.

Give me that gun, Colonel.

Better do what we have to do.

Hyah!

They'll be coming along this way.

Now, they're a weaker party than we are

and we got surprise on our side.

I'll have no part of a massacre, Sullivan.

Will you fight?

If they give us no choice,

but I got to see it's fight or die before I shoot.

You'll see, ha.

Now, take the horses around back and take cover.

I'll do the talking.

Whoa.

Judgment Day, Cartwright.

Here and now is where we get things settled.

You're not going to settle anything this way.

Look around you.

There's no need for this, no need for any ambush.

That'll depend upon you.

We want clear title to our land.

The land is not yours.

You're getting your money back.

The money'll do us no good.

We haven't got time to wait for it.

You don't have to wait for your money.

I'm the man that called himself John Polk.

- Colonel, sit down. Sit down. - The money is here.

- Darn fool, do you want to...? - And I killed Belrose.

I'll stand trial for it.

Give us the man who killed Kip Taylor and the fight is ended.

The fight is done.

Jacks there is the man that killed Kip Taylor.

Hold your fire.

Benjamin,

I couldn't put the bullet back, but I, I stopped one.

I finally did something right.

Well, are we done with killing?

Yes, we are.

We'd be obliged to have our money back,

but we'd rather you kept the money and let us keep the land.

Sullivan, I can't do that.

We've got this land staked out for other purposes.

Would you be willing to take some land

on the other side of the Ponderosa?

We would if we could pay the price.

You know what?

I figure you, you could have killed my three sons and me.

I guess you paid the price.

Mighty proud to have you as neighbors.

Thank you, Hop Sing.

Dad-burn, I'm glad you didn't catch that slow boat to China.

Thank you, Hop Sing.

Hey, I got the winner.

I guess you'll be playing me, then.

The game is not over yet.

Oh, did you deliver that lumber to the settlers?

Yeah, a wagonload to each place.

Good.

It's gonna be the difference in them folks being warm

and comfortable this winter and freezing to death, ain't it?

Mm-hmm.

Hey, Hoss, how'd you make out with those schoolmarm ladies?

I understand one of 'em almost hogtied you.

Me?

Ha, I know how to handle them female women.

I just told 'em that I was a bachelor

and I was gonna stay a bachelor,

and there wasn't a dad-burned thing they could do about it.

I told 'em I had promised my dear old daddy

I was going to stay single.

Oh, is that what you promised, huh?

Hey, Hoss, you know, I didn't realize

you knew so much about women.

Ah, Joe, it's easy.

You just got to know how to handle 'em.

I've learned that females is

pretty much the same the world over,

whether they're a horse or a woman.

You just got to be firm with 'em.

Tell 'em what you want 'em to do in no uncertain terms,

and, by golly, they'll do it, hmm.

Right.

Oh, hey.

Well, ladies, what brings you here?

Oh, well, we were just passing by

and thought we'd drop in for a minute.

Well, believe me, it's our pleasure.

We're having a little box social tonight and

we wondered if we could persuade Mr. Hoss to attend.

Well, I, uh, I think if you would ask him

in no uncertain terms...

by golly, I-I think he'd do it.

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