Original subtitles

They ain't gonna last the day.

The rest of the flock will go, too.

What do you think it is, garth?

Don't know.

Don't know for sure, Virgil.

Could be the Anthrax.

If we lose the whole flock,

we're not going to make it through the winter.

What are we going to do?

Only thing we can do.

Butcher them that dies and sell the meat to whoever will buy it.

Well, no one's going to buy mutton with the Anthrax.

We're not sure it's Anthrax,

and we ain't telling nobody nothing.

We can't do that, garth.

Says who?

But if it is Anthrax,

well, people will get it, too.

They'll die.

Maybe, maybe not.

But I'll tell you one thing, Virgil.

We'll die, starving, if we don't peddle them sheep.

Now, we'll set a real bargain price,

and people will just snap that mutton up.

I ain't going to do it, garth.

You are, Virgil. Now, you listen to me.

I've always taken good care of you, haven't I?

Haven't I been a good brother to you?

Yeah.

Then you do what I say, all right?

Well, who we going to sell them to?

Well, anybody.

Anybody that will buy them.

Them... them folks up at the blind school's dirt-poor.

Lots of mouths to feed and always looking for a bargain.

Yeah.

All right.

All right, Virgil, come on. Let's get to butchering.

I never will get over how the children can bear the bitter cold.

They keep their blood circulating so fast

they don't even feel the cold.

I just hope it doesn't snow before Jonathan and Charles get back.

Afternoon, Mrs. Garvey.

Come in, Mr. Fenton. Come in out of that cold.

Thank you. Mrs. Ingalls.

Virgil and me, we just butchered some sheep,

and we've been selling the mutton around.

Well, we got two nice, big roasts left.

Thought you might be interested.

How much you asking?

50 cents each.

At that price, I can't afford not to buy one.

I'll take the other one.

Then I'll fetch them.

Why don't the Ingalls share the garvey roast tonight?

Oh, we'd love to.

And when the men get back,

the garveys can have some of the Ingalls roast, huh?

Here we go, ladies.

Caroline: Hurry and get dressed, Carrie, and you won't be cold.

Here we go.

Children, time to get up!

10 minutes till breakfast.

Laura? Albert?

What's the matter?

Laura: I don't know, ma, but I feel awful sick.

Albert: Me, too.

You're cold as ice.

Where do you hurt?

All over.

My head and my stomach.

My legs.

I got the same thing, too, ma.

Real bad.

You two stay in bed. I'm going for Dr. Baker.

Carrie?

Carrie: Yes, ma?

Laura and Albert are sick.

Can you manage breakfast for grace while I go get Dr. Baker?

Sure, ma. What have they got?

I don't know. Here, don't get cold.

Mush is on the stove.

Jonathan: Well, this ought to do it.

Man: Right on the nose, as usual.

Well, here's the bill of lading.

How about I buy you both a drink?

Keep you warm in this weather.

Thanks, Mr. Rawlings, but the sooner we start back, the better.

Well, maybe next time.

Have a safe trip, now. See you in the spring.

Charles: Right-o.

Let's make tracks... a warm house and a warm bed.

Don't forget a hot meal.

Yep.

Hyah!

What is it, doctor?

I don't know yet, Mary. Not exactly.

Pain, debility,

initial chills, and then fever.

Some sort of massive infection, I'd say,

like most of the children here at school

and a lot of others around walnut grove.

I can't treat everyone who's come down with this

unless we concentrate them all in one place.

Well, why not here, doctor?

This is the biggest house in walnut grove.

That's very good, hester-sue. Thank you.

I'm going to get this blood sample of Adam's under a microscope,

see if I can get a line on what we're dealing with here.

Mary, Thomas Murray's crying for you.

He won't settle for anyone but you.

What do you think, hester-sue?

What if we move him and some of the other children in here?

I could care for them better.

That's a good idea.

I'll go and see about moving some beds in here.

Could I have some water, please?

Here, Adam.

Hester-sue.

Adam.

Oh, doctor.

I picked Danny up on the road,

on my way to get you.

Looks like he's got the same thing Albert and Laura have.

He says Alice is sick, too.

Got a lot of sick people here, too, Caroline.

Adam. The children.

It's beginning to look like an epidemic.

Do you know what it is?

I'm working on it.

We've got to bring all the sick here.

I can't be everywhere at once.

I'll go get the children and Alice.

Hester-sue, we'll need all your spare blankets for pallets.

There won't be enough beds to go around.

We've got to clear out this furniture.

I'm afraid we're going to need the room.

Family's at the blind school.

Doc baker's turned it into a hospital.

What is it?

Anthrax.

Man: I brought my boy Nate, like the doc said.

Bring him right in here, Mr. Berwick.

Put him right down here.

Your wife?

Martha's dead, an hour ago.

I'm sorry.

I'll be back in a minute to look at your boy.

Hester-sue: Doc?

We're getting kind of full.

Do you think there will be many more?

I don't know, hester-sue.

The incubation period for Anthrax runs

from 12 hours to as many as 12 days.

So then any of us could still come down with it.

That's right.

I just hope we have enough medicine to see us through.

What about the patented medicine

the olesons keep on stock in the mercantile?

Will any of it do?

Quinine and the tonics.

I already asked nels to bring over everything he's got.

I best see about the children upstairs.

Doc?

Your families are holding their own.

That's about all I can say right now.

Can we see them?

Certainly. Anthrax isn't contagious,

not in the way smallpox is.

In there.

Charles: Caroline?

How are Carrie and grace?

They're all right so far.

They're staying in hester-sue's room.

But Adam's got it, too.

Albert's been asking for you.

Albert?

Pa.

You're here.

How you feeling, son?

Hey, you're going to be all right.

Don't you worry.

You and Laura are going to be all right.

I guess I got it.

It looks that way, Mr. Olsen.

Put him in here with the rest of his family.

Oh... oh, nels.

Charles: You're sure it's Anthrax?

No question.

All these blood samples

show the same filamentous bacteria.

How did they get it, doc?

Well, from what I've been able to determine,

the one thing the sick have in common

is the mutton garth and Virgil fenton sold them.

They had to know it was diseased meat.

Why didn't everybody that ate the mutton get infected?

None of these medical books

can explain why some people

contract the disease and others don't,

but one thing is certain.

The rest of the fenton sheep

have to be destroyed and buried right away

to prevent this thing from going any further.

We can handle that.

Now, don't touch those sheep barehanded.

You can get Anthrax just by handling those animals.

I don't know where they were going, but they didn't get very far.

This one's still breathing.

So is this one, but barely.

All right, let's get those sheep buried.

We'll get them to doc baker.

Keep applying the alcohol, Mr. Berwick.

We got to get your son's temperature down.

I can't lose him, doc.

He's all I got.

Are we going to die, doc?

No, sir. Forget that.

What?

You ain't giving them any medicine.

I know who these two are.

No, not medicine. Not the medicine that my boy and the others need here.

Mr. Berwick... No.

Listen, they're sick, too,

and they need medicine just like the rest of the folk.

What's the matter with you?

Huh?

Hey, I know who they are.

They're the ones that killed my wife,

maybe my boy and these other people.

They don't deserve to live.

Why don't you let that be the lord's decision, Mr. Berwick, not yours.

What...

Mr. Berwick, go back to your boy.

Charles? Jonathan?

I need your help.

Just name it.

To fight the infection,

each one of these patients needs 15 grains of carbolic acid

and 30 grains of quinine daily.

Now, we're running dangerously close on both.

Just as important, maybe even more so,

they need something to sustain them.

Now, none of them are eating very much at all.

They need something to strengthen them,

like iron, cinchona, wine.

Wine?

Strong wine, easy to digest.

What do you want us to do?

First of all, send this telegram to the hospital in Rochester.

Now, I'm asking them to send us the medicines

and the supplies we need by train, all speed, to Springfield.

We'll pick it up there?

That's right.

We're on our way.

Mary, how is Adam?

No change.

And the others?

The same.

I brought some beef broth,

if we can just get them to take it.

Adam.

Hester-sue brought some broth for you.

I don't want any.

Adam, you have to eat something.

Come on. It's nice and hot.

Open up.

I can't.

You need all your strength to fight the infection.

I wouldn't be able to keep it down, anyway.

I feel so helpless.

I know.

Isn't there anything we can do?

There's nothing else our Dr. Baker can do,

except pray.

Aw, hester-sue, I've been doing that.

I know.

But it's the best

and practically the only medicine we have left.

Mrs. Kendall!

Yes, Thomas? What is it?

I-I-I ca-can't...

Br-breathe.

Hester-sue, get Dr. Baker.

Thomas?

Thomas!

Dr. Baker?

I'm right here, Mary.

He's gone.

How many more are going to die, doctor?

I don't know, Mary.

I don't know.

You got a freight consignment here

for Dr. Baker, walnut grove?

No.

Supposed to be on today's train.

From the hospital in Rochester.

Today's train hasn't come in yet.

Supposed to be in here over an hour ago.

Should have been, but it ain't.

What's holding it up?

I don't know.

What time do you expect it?

I don't know that either.

Telegraph wire's down.

There's a blizzard coming through Rochester.

Nels?

Nels...

Nels?

What?

Oh...

Oh, good lord. I thought y...

Oh, I do love you, nels oleson.

I know that.

Do you?

Even though...

Well, honestly, I just don't know

how you put up with me sometimes.

I don't put up with you, Harriet.

I love you.

Laura: Ma?

Yes, darling?

Where's pa?

He went to get some medicine so you'd be better.

When will he be back?

He'll be back very soon.

Real soon.

You got a shipment for doc baker from Rochester?

Under the canvas.

Can't tell what a welcome sight you kids is!

Run out of horsemeat.

Been hunting for food.

Ain't had nary a morsel, 4 or 5 days.

Didn't expect hell to freeze over like this.

We got some food here. You're welcome to it.

Give you a ride to the next town, if you like.

I like it.

Get down off that wagon.

Easy, like.

What are you doing?

Taking advantage of your generosity.

Get down!

We got a wagonful of medicine here for sick people.

They need it to live.

Them sick people is family and friends.

I ain't got no friends, mister,

but I got a family needs to live, too.

Me and mine comes first.

Come on. Just take the food.

Get down off that wagon, or you're dead!

Take your pick. Don't make no nevermind to me.

Good. Your wagon will take me out of here,

and your horses will feed us for a nice, long spell.

Get down, or you're a dead man.

Go on, get down there with your buddy.

Get down there!

Go on!

Doc, it's my boy.

He's got a funny color. It's blue, like.

He's all right, isn't he, doc?

He's going to be all right?

Oh, Nate.

Oh, Nate...

Aah!

Stop it!

Berwick!

Stop it!

He's already dead!

He's dead.

Caroline, whispering: Come on.

How are you feeling?

My head's a little fuzzy, that's all.

You up to traveling?

That blizzard's about caught up with us.

Which way did he head in the wagon?

Southwest.

Come on.

Doc?

That was the last of the quinine.

I have one bottle of carbolic acid left.

Charles and Jonathan should be here anytime.

They're already a day overdue.

Do you think maybe they got caught in the storm?

A blizzard?

Blizzards don't stop Charles and Jonathan.

He must have the horses in that shed.

I'll harness them up. You check the wagon.

The wagon's empty.

It must be inside.

Inside!

You heard me! Inside!

Get on in there.

Over there. Squat in them chairs.

Who are they?

They're the guys who donated this stuff I brought back.

What are you going to do with them?

First thing, you going to tie them up.

Then I'll think on it.

You can't keep them tied up forever.

I don't intend to.

Well, you can't kill them, Hank.

I'll do what I have to, Bess.

Boy: Ma!

I told you to tie them up!

The boy's bad sick, and I'm scared he's going to...

He can wait.

Now, do like I said. Go on.

Here, tie them up, good and securelike.

Boy: Ma, please!

I'll be up in a minute, Ethan.

Hey, put your hands behind you, mister.

Is that better?

Yeah. Thank you.

Do you feel a little better?

I guess so.

Laura: Ma?

Pa?

Where are you?

Here, Laura.

Where is everybody?

Where did everybody go?

Albert's here. Mama's here.

Where are you, ma?

Here, darling. Half-pint?

Pa?

Where is everybody?

Here, honey.

Pa?

Half-pint...

Albert, where are you?

I'm here, Laura.

I'm over here.

Where did everybody go?

Where is everybody?

Where are they?

My god, where are they?

They'll be here.

Ethan: Ma!

Oh, Ethan.

My head's busting, ma, and my belly.

All over.

Bess: I told you he was in a bad way.

Hank: Yeah. He don't look too good.

Boy may have the same sickness we got in walnut grove.

Charles: You said you been eating horsemeat.

Hank: Yeah. So?

You just butcher that animal for food,

or did it come down sick first?

Keeled over dead. Then I butchered it.

That important or something?

All our people took sick after eating infected meat.

Anthrax.

That boy can die if he's not treated proper.

We got the medicines and tonics right here in them boxes.

We'll show you what to give him

if you just turn us loose, let us go on our way.

You two think you're pretty clever, huh?

Get out of here and set the law on me.

I swear on the holy Bible,

we won't say a thing to anybody.

We won't even go near the law.

All we want to do is get them medicines back to our families.

Hank?

Hank, I'm feared for the boy.

Oh, they're lying, Bess.

What if they ain't?

I ain't risking losing this chance. May be my last.

All my life, I been a loser.

If we can just hold out here till spring,

I know I'm going to strike a vein.

It's not just the boy. You two can get the Anthrax, too.

You shut up! I ain't listening to no more.

Ethan: Ma, help me, please.

Charles: Ma'am, I'm telling you, your boy can die.

Hank: Shut up!

I'm going to help you, Ethan.

Bess...

You set them men free, Hank.

Oh, you wouldn't shoot me, Bess.

I don't want to,

but I will if I have to to save Ethan.

I put up, all these years, with your scheming and dreaming.

I stayed on here with you even after the company

closed down the mine and everybody else left,

but I ain't going to set by and let Ethan die!

Hank...

We had our chance at life.

The boy's got to have his.

Hank, you cut them loose.

All right, Bess.

I'll hitch up the horses.

I'll show you the amounts the boy needs, ma'am.

Who?

It's the other fenton. Garth.

I'm not a doctor anymore.

I'm a funeral director.

Hester-sue: They're back! They're back, doc!

They're back with the medicine!

Caroline: Pa's back.

Dr. Baker: Thank god you're here! We've got a chance now!

Jonathan: Our families?

They're holding their own.

Oh, Charles!

The children?

Alive.

Thank god.

All right, Nellie, open wide.

Come on. Uhh.

Nels?

Oh... Come on, now.

I hate the taste of that stuff.

I'd much rather have some more Sherry.

Yeah. Same here, pa.

Oh, good grief. Open wide.

Ha ha ha! That's a better number.

Adam: Mary?

Right here, Adam.

I'm starving.

Oh, Adam.

Adam...

Everybody's looking good down here.

Upstairs, too.

How are you feeling?

Oh, hester-sue, I'm so tired...

But thankful.

It's over.

When the storm of life are ragin'

stand by me

when the storm of life are ragin'

stand by me

when the world is tossin' me

like a ship out on the sea

thou who rule both wind and water

stand by me

when my body's racked with pain

stand by me

when my body's racked with pain

stand by me

when my heart is filled with fear

and my eyes are filled with tears

thou who love and thou who cares

stand by me