Original subtitles

Something that killed off the cattle.

You still couldn't tie it in with the people.

Well, you can't be sure. You have to make the connection.

You're wasting your time!

You say you have 12 patients?

No. I got 15 now.

Fifteen? Yeah, three more admitted this morning.

The patient in 109... He's having trouble breathing.

We've been breaking our necks to find out

what is wrong with these people and how to treat them.

Now that we've found out, you say hold on for a while?

Dr. Quincy, I cannot allow this hospital to be wiped out.

Gentlemen, you are about to enter

the most fascinating sphere of police work,

the world of forensic medicine.

Chris? Chris!

What, Grandpa?

Can you hear me now?

Yeah, of course I can.

Good, good, good.

What did you wanna say?

Nothing...

Now that you have the radio turned down.

I forgot, you're not with it.

I'm not against it,

but I like things in moderation.

First, when you get to be my age,

you'll find you'll need a lot of things in moderation.

Uh-uh.

I'll get it, Chris.

I gotta earn my keep.

Hey, Grandpa, are you all right?

Yeah, yeah. I'm just a little dizzy, that's all.

Are you all right?

Go up to the house, Chris, will you?

Don't try to scare your mother too much,

but I think I need a doctor.

All right, one game of Liar's Poker, right?

Loser pays for lunch.

It sounds good to me.

Okay.

All right, you start, Brill.

Two sixes.

Ed? Three sevens.

Three eights.

Four sixes.

Five sixes.

Five!

Five sevens.

Six sixes.

Six sixes?

Seven sixes.

Seven...

I challenge.

I challenge.

Yeah.

I got four sixes. How many you got?

I got one six.

That's five. How many you got?

I got one.

That's six. How many you got?

None.

You can't have none. You said six sixes.

This is Liar's Poker.

But what kind of a way is that to...

Okay, okay.

What are you gonna have, Brill?

I'll have fillet mignon, medium rare,

and a bottle of Pouilly-Fuisse.

What? You usually have a cheeseburger and a bottle of beer!

Eddie? That sound good to me. I'll have that.

The usual for you?

Oh, no. Something more expensive.

That is the most expensive thing we have.

What they got? Mmm-hmm.

Okay, make it three. Naturally.

And?

I'll have a cheeseburger and a bottle of beer.

Dr. Quincy? Telephone.

All right, listen, I'll take his hand.

Let's play one more.

Yeah.

Quince, Astin wants you to hurry back.

He has a 3:00 appointment

and he wants to see you before then.

I know what he wants.

He wants me to give a lecture to the morticians in Pasadena.

No... I don't want to do that, Sam.

That's not it.

He wants to see both of us.

Oh?

I think he wants us to get out of town.

Okay, I'll get there right after lunch.

"Pouilly-Fuisse."

And because you've been working too hard, Quincy.

You know, the air in Arizona would be terrific for you.

It's a small, quiet town called Porterville.

Who knows me in Porterville?

You mean they specifically asked for me?

They certainly did. You know, you have quite a reputation

as an epidemiologist.

Well, it's hardly a major epidemic, twelve people.

We don't know how serious it is.

I'm sure if there were more, they would have asked for someone

with even a bigger reputation.

I don't know about that!

Now, Quincy, please! You're to see a Dr. Jessup.

Louis Jessup.

He's one of three doctors there.

He also doubles as the County Health Officer.

You'll find him at the hospital.

What kind of lab do they have?

The lab? Oh, well, their lab, it's...

It's...

It's adequate.

Well, of course it's not as good as ours,

but you'll be taking along our very best lab assistant.

Well, if you'd rather go to that convention of morticians...

Who says I didn't wanna go?

Horses, wide open spaces, fresh air...

Everything we don't know anything about.

Come on, Sam, let's go.

I should've brought my Stetson.

You own a Stetson?

Yeah. A pair of cowboy boots, spurs, chaps... I'm a Western buff.

Look at you, a regular Hopalong Fujiyama.

Thanks.

Gentlemen.

Dr. Robinson in Tucson speaks very highly of you.

Said I couldn't do any better.

He's very kind.

You say you have 12 patients?

No, I got 15 now.

Fifteen?

Yeah. Three more admitted this morning.

They all have the same symptoms?

Lack of coordination, lapse in memory, difficulty swallowing...

And, in a few cases, seizures.

And no clue as to why, huh?

None.

Now, I took all the standard tests.

I'll tell you the truth, Doctor,

I wouldn't be offended if you wanted to double check.

The sign of a good doctor.

These 15 patients,

have they got anything in common besides the symptoms?

Well, that's the big question.

And so far, I haven't found the answer.

Now, they're split evenly between men and women.

Age range is 14 to 69.

Most of them don't know each other.

They don't go to the same restaurants...

Anybody critical?

Not yet.

But a few appear to be getting worse.

Lou... Oh, excuse me.

Oh, you must be Dr. Quincy.

Yes, I am.

I'm Dr. Lench. I'm the hospital administrator.

Nice to meet you. Sam Fujiyama.

Happy to have you here. Listen, we're really glad to have you aboard.

If you can bail us out of this mess,

we'll build a monument for you

right in the middle of town.

What we want is really all the help you can give us.

I assure you, you have that.

Lou, can I see you for a moment? Most important.

Of course. Excuse me, gentlemen. Sure.

Sam, what do you think?

Small but functional.

Yep. Now we go to work.

See if we can find the common denominator.

Right.

Dr. Freeman, report to Radiology, please.

Dr. Freeman, please report to Radiology.

Take it easy, Pa.

Paul, get me out of here, will you, please?

Come on, now. You can use the rest.

Who's going to pay the bills?

Janie, do you know what a room like this costs today?

Dad, we can take care of it. Now, wait a minute.

I've been to the hospital only once in my life, right?

Let's see now, that was...

Back in '52.

Room like this, 18 bucks.

You can't get an aspirin for that today.

Just let us worry about the bills, okay, Pa?

We've got a little set aside, and...

Oh, yeah?

And you spend it?

How are you gonna replace our cattle?

What do you do about that?

I'll tell you what you do.

You'll take it easy, like the doctor says.

They'll find out what's wrong with you,

all the other people...

They'll know how to treat it,

then they'll turn you loose. All right?

All right.

I'll give 'em one more day.

All right.

And now we're going.

Because Paul has to get back to work,

and Chris has chores to do.

Like Jane says, you can use the rest.

- Goodbye, Grandpa. - Bye.

I don't wanna rest.

Bye.

I don't like it that much, anyway.

Yeah.

My daughter?

Send her in.

Dad.

Well, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?

Dad...

I'm worried about Chris' family.

Oh, what about them?

Well, they're in trouble.

Money trouble.

Uh-huh?

Well, you know, with all these hospital expenses and everything...

Chris told you this?

He didn't mean to,

but I got it out of him anyway.

Uh-huh. And you wondered if I could help?

Could you?

Honey, I already offered.

I asked Paul... Mr. Davis, if there was anything I could do,

but he said that they could manage it.

But they can't.

I know.

But I can't ask him a second time.

The man has his pride. You've got to respect that.

All right, honey.

I'll find a way, somehow, to help him.

Thanks, Dad.

I'm a lucky man

to have a daughter as understanding and compassionate as you.

You're a pretty nice guy yourself.

Mmm-hmm.

Right. Thanks. Thanks very much.

So much for the sputum cultures.

Normal growth?

Normal growth. Take a look.

Who was that on the phone?

The state lab.

The arsenic and lead all within normal range.

There's no increase in the antibodies.

Which pretty well rules out any infection.

Except for a slow virus, and I'm sure we can write that off.

Have any luck?

Oh, a lot of luck, all of it's bad.

Well, I've been working the other end.

Looking for a common denominator?

Yeah, yeah. I gave all the patients a questionnaire to fill out,

the returns are in.

Drew a blank.

Doctor, I want to make the afternoon rounds,

would you care to join me? I sure would like to.

Should I repeat the spinal taps, Quince?

Oh, no, Sam. What we got was conclusive.

I don't wanna put those poor people through it again.

Try the blood counts again, will you? See how stable they are.

Right.

Hi, Nan.

Hi, Chris. How's your grandpa?

Well, he's a lot better, I think.

Are you going to the basketball game tonight?

I don't know. I hadn't planned on it.

I don't have any homework.

Did you want to go?

Well, yeah. I mean, if you wanted to.

Yeah... I don't have a car.

My dad's gotta keep the pickup,

in case he has to go to the hospital.

Oh. Well, we can use Daddy's car.

I guess. Yeah.

Good. Then I'll be by about 7:00.

Okay?

I gotta be home by 11:00.

Okay. That'll be great.

What do you see, Doc?

Just your brown eyes.

Touch that finger with your forefinger, please.

You mean just touch it?

Yeah, just like that.

Let me try that again, Doc.

Sure.

I don't know... I don't know what's wrong.

We're gonna find out. You're gonna be fine.

How was lunch?

It was okay. What did you have?

I don't remember.

It couldn't have been more than an hour ago.

Wait a minute. Meat loaf, wasn't it?

No, I don't think so.

Come on, Doc...

First I can't touch your hand,

then I can't remember what I had for lunch...

What's wrong with me, Doc?

You're gonna be fine, as soon as we find out what it is.

Dr. Jessup, the patient in 109, he's having trouble breathing.

It's okay, Mr. Davis. It's all right... Relax, relax.

It's all right.

Nurse, I want you to stay with Mr. Davis until this clears.

And then, get me a set of chest x-rays and some blood gases.

He was the first one.

Really? Yeah. And the one in the most danger.

If we don't beat this thing in a hurry, he's the oldest, so...

I don't know how many more attacks like that he can take.

It sure is a hard luck family.

It is?

They run a cattle ranch on the outside of town.

Had maybe three, four hundred head of cattle.

Right now, they don't have a one.

What happened?

Some kind of disease. Nobody ever could find out what.

The whole herd?

No, just a few. But the rest had to be destroyed.

Can I make a guess at what you're thinking?

You would be making a pretty good guess

if you would say that I'm trying to link

those diseased cattle with the people.

I already checked it You did?

Sure. But don't let me stop you, Doc.

I mean, that's one of the reasons why I brought you out here.

Maybe you can find something I couldn't.

Maybe I can. All right.

It's weird, sad.

Some of them,

their hooves began to curl upward, you know?

Their hides got tougher.

Wrinkled. Like elephant skin.

And they began staggering around.

Yeah. You'd swear they were drunk.

I got some pictures.

Can you imagine, Doctor?

A bunch of drunken cattle!

Then they began to die off.

Did you check the feed?

That's the first thing crossed our minds.

They made a complete analysis. Nothing wrong.

Who made the analysis? Independent lab.

Independent?

They're straight. That's one of the things we looked into.

And none of the other ranchers had this problem?

Just me.

Remember, honey, we talked about it?

Yes, we...

First, I thought it was my fault somehow.

That I wasn't caring for the animals properly.

But I was, Doctor.

I know I was!

You think there's some connection

between this and what's happening, don't you?

It's certainly a possibility worth considering.

But no one around here ever ate that meat.

We shipped our cattle to a buyer about 200 miles away from here,

and then it went straight to the slaughterhouse.

And we never sold a cow as soon as we saw something was wrong with it.

I know it's a long shot, but I wanna check out the feed anyway.

Where did you get it?

Porter Products. Where I work.

Where you work?

Where I work now.

When the herd was destroyed, we...

We didn't have any income at all. A lot of debts.

They offered this job at Porter's, I took it.

Just a stop gap, you understand.

I'm saving my money.

I'm going to be able to rebuild the herd soon.

Porter Products? Yeah.

I'll give it a try in the morning.

We pride ourselves on our quality control.

Not only do we

have samples running back over 20 years,

but every run has a number.

That's 764, Series 9.

This is what you delivered to Mr. Davis?

Over 21 tons of it.

Twenty-one tons?

Cattle eat a lot.

Can I take this with me? Certainly.

Oh, by the way, Doctor...

How are your patients doing?

Well, they're stable for the most part.

We are pretty concerned with one only.

Oh? Henry Davis.

Thank you very much for this.

Yeah.

Give him some more IV bronchodilator.

Better keep a tracheotomy set handy, just in case.

Do you wanna continue the IVs?

We have to. He can't swallow. He'll aspirate.

Well, it looks like we won another one for now.

I'll be in the lab.

Nothing here.

Me, too.

Cattle feed is clean.

Mr. Davis just had another attack.

He came out of it?

Yeah, he's okay. It wasn't easy.

Did you guys come up with anything?

Cattle feed is clean.

Well, I guess it doesn't make any difference really.

What do you mean, it doesn't make any difference?

I mean, if there was something in that stuff,

something that killed off the cattle,

you still couldn't tie it in with the people.

Well, you can't be sure. We have to make the connection.

You're wasting your time!

I'm sorry. Forgive me.

Doctor, I tell you, I feel so damn impotent!

I got 18 patients.

One of them almost died,

and the rest are stable.

But what the hell does that mean, stable?

Respiratory infections,

lack of coordination, lapses of memory.

What happens, Doctor?

Does it go on for the rest of their lives?

If we could find out what touched off the cattle.

But you've already checked the feed once, twice!

But there are other things out there besides the feed that we haven't checked.

Come on, Sam.

Slow down, will you? Slow down!

Holy Mackerel, slow down.

Come on, Midnight, slow down.

I'm telling you, Sam, next time,

we're gonna use a Jeep like I said.

I think the proper expression is, "Whoa!"

Oh, I didn't want him to stop, I want him to slow down.

I can't believe you're a cowpoke.

As a matter of fact, I wanted to be one till I was 10 years old,

then I changed my mind. What happened?

I got on my first horse.

Here it goes again. Here it is, look at this.

What are you doing?

Testing the water, see if it's pure.

How do you do that?

Well, put in the solution, if it turns purple, it's contaminated,

if it doesn't, it's pure.

It's okay, Sam. Let's go.

Since we haven't had too much rain,

we're checking the foliage for herbicide residue.

That's the stuff they spray out here to get rid of fungus and mold, isn't it?

You know your chemistry.

So, what are you going to do with all this soil?

Check it for mercury, lead and nuclear spill.

You know, there aren't any nuclear plants around here.

Yes, I know. But we use so much nuclear energy

that we have to take the waste,

put it in giant drums, and then transport them.

Sometimes during the transportation there's a leak.

Where does it all wind up?

Sometimes they bury the drums deep under the ground.

Other times, unfortunately, they drop them in the middle of the ocean.

Still searching, huh?

I've read more books in the last couple of days

than I did all through medical school.

Can't get a hint.

The soil samples told me exactly what I thought they would.

Nothing.

Where do we go from here?

I know where you have to go,

someplace else for help. Somebody with more experience.

You're quitting?

Well, it's not a question of quitting.

Sam and I have done every test we could possibly think of.

And not once, not twice, but over and over again.

We've analyzed, we've re-analyzed.

We made a lot of guesses, some educated, some dumb.

They have all added up to zero.

Look, I'm sorry.

Besides, they're not pushing, but I'm needed back at my office.

Work is piling up.

You're leaving in the morning?

Yeah, about 10:00.

I wanna go over to the Davises. I figure I owe them an apology.

Doc!

Thank you.

I mean that.

What you're saying is that...

That the answer can't be found.

I'm saying, I can't find it.

Sam and I have done everything we can.

But then, what's the next step?

Except praying.

No, Dr. Jessup will stay on it, of course.

And I'm sure he'll have some government specialists in very soon.

Soon, soon, that's all I've heard.

Soon enough to save my father?

Paul, please.

We hope so.

I'd like you to know that we thank you.

Both of you.

For trying and for caring.

Yeah.

I'm sorry I exploded.

I understand that. Thank you.

Well...

Can we offer you some coffee?

Well...

And some cake.

I have a specialty on cake.

I couldn't help noticing.

Well, it's a charity affair and I think I baked a few too many.

Well, if it's no trouble maybe...

Looks so good. Oh, yeah.

Paul, would you mind carving and I'll go get the coffee.

We have one of these all the time.

There's rummage sales, charity drives, barbeques...

Barbeques?

Only one of those a year. Pioneer days.

The end of summer, the town has a big celebration.

You know, the whole county shows up.

The big parade, the games for the kids.

And barbeques? Where do you get the meat?

It's donated. Some of it...

Hey, wait a minute.

You donated one of your cows, didn't you?

Yeah, a bull.

When?

About a month before the cattle started getting sick.

No, you mean a month before you noticed the cattle getting sick.

But they weren't sick!

Look, you may be a good rancher, but you're not a pathologist.

Wait a minute.

That could be a connection?

Maybe.

Common denominator. Why not?

- May we use your phone? - Sure.

Call, will you, Sam? Cancel the reservations.

Right.

Honey, you forgot your lunch.

Oh, thank you.

You and Chris gonna see him?

Yeah, about 11:00. The Medinas will drive me in.

Dad?

No, no, no, there's been no change.

I didn't know what else would bring you out here so early in the morning.

Oh, yeah? You've heard about the early bird.

I wanted to check out all the patients as soon as they got up.

I found my common denominator.

They were all at the barbeque.

Well, I guess that settles it, huh?

That settles the easy part. Now, comes the hard part.

The cows picked up something, they transmitted it to human beings.

Now, how did they pick it up?

Eating, drinking, what?

No, we'll have to rule out water.

I checked yours and it's pure,

so is the soil and the pastures.

I'm afraid it takes me back to the feed.

Which has already been analyzed twice.

Did you mix anything with it?

No, nothing at all.

Could anything have accidentally been mixed with it?

Well, they don't make anything else at the plant...

Wait a minute, wait a minute, they used to, though.

They did? Yes. Remember the...

Some kind of insulating material.

Insul'aid, it was called.

But they moved the whole operation down to the Dos Robles plant

five, six weeks before our cattle showed any signs of trouble.

Sometimes it takes more than a lot more than five or six weeks

for the first symptoms to show up in humans or animals.

You wanna get a hold of some of this Insul'aid?

I'd like to, very much.

Well, they don't sell it here in town.

But I have two friends who work down at Dos Robles.

I'd appreciate it.

One more of Porter's cattle feed,

one more ground up Insul'aid.

Sam, take a look. Tell me what you see.

Gosh, I don't see anything except cattle feed, nothing else.

Ain't that terrific? What do you mean?

Lou, take a look, come on.

Tell me what you see.

Cattle feed, nothing else.

That's right. And that's exactly what they saw at the lab

when they checked out Porter's cattle feed, nothing else.

Look at this, here.

Here's the cattle feed.

Here's the Insul'aid. Poison.

Look at the bags, they're both the same.

Some worker at the plant could have made a mistake

and mixed them both together.

I mean, the microscope won't show it up.

There's only one instrument that would.

Yeah, a gas chromatograph.

That's right.

I gotta get to LA.

Sorry I'm late. How are you?

Fine. What's happening?

Well, as you know,

when the original cattle feed was sent to the lab,

this was sent to an independent lab for examination.

All they could see under the microscope

was pure cattle feed. Right.

Now, when I mixed cattle feed with Insul'aid myself,

put it together, and I looked under the microscope,

all I could see was pure cattle feed, too.

Right, a microscope cannot separate materials.

The gas chromatograph can.

Now, here's the graph of pure cattle feed.

See that? Yeah.

Here's the graph of cattle feed and Insul'aid

that I mixed myself.

Very definitely. Okay.

Now, I'm going to inject

a liquefied sample of the cattle feed sold to the Davises.

If it matches the second graph, then we know.

Bingo.

They match, now we know.

What was the Insul'aid?

RD 2.

You mean, those people have been ingesting RD-2?

I'm afraid so, but at least now we know the antidote.

RD-2? Never heard of it.

It's a catalyst. Has a lot of industrial uses.

I wouldn't recommend it for people, though.

Why did it take so long, Quince?

I mean, before that epidemic got started.

That... That barbeque was more than three months ago.

First, the stuff had to go through the blood-brain barrier.

That accounts for part of the time.

Then the symptoms didn't show up

until the RD-2 reached the critical level.

That's the antidote?

Right here. Drive carefully, will you.

And it was just the other night.

What was?

You had given up.

We didn't have anything to look forward to then.

We do now.

Oh, Dr. Jessup, you're wanted in Room 125, right away.

Mr. Davis? He's had another attack.

Don't take your eye off that.

Dr. Roberts, report to Emergency please.

I'll take over, Nurse.

How bad is he?

Complete respiratory arrest.

Heart rate's 37.

I've got to get his P02 up.

Isuprel.

He's breathing on his own, but very shallowly.

Keep bagging him, Doctor.

Heart rate is at 80.

Get a respirator.

If he doesn't improve in the next five or six hours,

I'll trach him.

So, all the cases have been confirmed?

All seven.

Five in Tucson, two near Flagstaff.

And it was traced.

Meat from the Davis cattle was sold

in supermarkets in both areas.

But why weren't there more victims?

I mean, right here in Porterville alone,

a hundred people must've eaten meat from that steer.

We got a handful of cases, why?

Lou, I went to a party with 20 other guests.

We all ate the same food, five of us came down with ptomaine,

the rest of us were fine.

Individual tolerance?

That, and the amount of food consumed,

the different toxic levels in the food itself.

Now, I think we ought to give this antidote as quickly as possible.

That's exactly what I planned to do.

Just exactly what is in this stuff?

It's a chelating agent.

A chelating agent?

Yeah, but that can be toxic in its own right.

It could have some side effects.

Severe ones.

Yeah, but not as severe as what they've already got.

Wait a while, wait a while. I think we ought to

wait a little while on this.

Come on, will you?

We've been breaking our necks to find out

what is wrong with these people and how to treat them.

Now that we found out, you say, hold on for a while?

We're not sure of anything. All of this is supposition.

Now, don't misunderstand me, Dr. Quincy.

I think you're right. I think that the...

The RD-2 got into the cattle feed,

I think the cattle got sick, and I think that the people picked it up.

Of that, I'm 90 percent sure.

But not 100?

Not 100 percent.

And until I get hard proof, it could be something else.

Now, you're asking me to give drugs to patients

that might not help them at all,

but could harm them a great deal.

But, you said yourself, you're 90 percent sure.

We don't know how much time we have, we have to move fast.

Dr. Quincy, please try to understand me.

I just don't want this hospital to go down the tubes.

Once, I tried to help a man who was in an automobile accident

and I was just passing by.

His family almost wiped me out.

Dr. Quincy, I cannot allow this hospital to be wiped out.

Gentlemen, will you excuse me?

Where you going?

You said you're 90 percent sure?

I'm going to get him the other 10 percent.

Couldn't have happened. There's just no way possible.

But it did happen, and it happened the way I told you.

The bags got mixed together.

But, we take every precaution.

No, Doctor. You're wrong.

Then why did you suddenly shift

the whole Insul'aid operation to another plant?

It wasn't sudden. We planned that months earlier.

I can give you all the proof in the world.

I'm not interested in proof.

Look, I'm not accusing you of anything.

I'm talking about an accident, not a crime.

Nothing that you've said

would hold up in a court of law and you know it.

Who cares about courts,

and laws, and right or wrong.

I care about a lot of sick people here and elsewhere.

One of them is a very dear friend of yours.

He could die at any moment.

You have the antidote, why don't you use it?

How many times do I have to tell you?

I have to be certain that the Insul'aid was mixed in with the feed.

Now, why don't you tell me the truth?

I have!

Dr. Quincy...

You're talking about 16 people.

My heart goes out to them, it really does.

They're more like family than they are neighbors.

But if I were to say

that this company's responsible for their condition,

and I'm not in any way saying that.

But if I were to say that this company is responsible,

it would involve more than just 16 people.

It's not... No, no, no, let me finish.

If this company is guilty,

we're laying ourselves open to all kinds of heavy law suits.

Oh, we're insured.

But the coverage isn't nearly enough.

We'd have to go out of business.

You're worried about business?

It's more than a business.

We're the largest employer in this area.

There's here, Dos Robles, and a lot of smaller factories.

That's 1,000 people.

Not just 16, 1,000.

You put that many people out of work in a county this small,

then you add the families in. The ripples get wider...

You're rationalizing, Mr. Porter!

Do you really care about those people,

or are you concerned about your business?

'Cause what you're saying sounds like one giant cover-up.

You knew, didn't you?

You knew from the very beginning.

You knew that the cattle were eating contaminated feed.

There is no way to prove that those cattle made these people sick.

Ms. Field, will you come in, please?

Dr. Quincy, I share your concern for your patients.

But, further than that, I have nothing to say.

Almost? Almost? He almost admitted it.

I'm sorry, that's not good enough.

That's as close as we're gonna get.

See, we can't prove it in the lab.

All right, we'll question some of his employees.

Do you know how long that would take?

Weeks, maybe months, before we found out anything.

We don't have that kind of time.

We're gonna lose Davis, and a couple of others, to boot.

All right, suppose we use the antidote,

and suppose we lose a couple of them that way,

and suppose there's an autopsy

and no trace of RD-2 is found, what then, Doctor?

Dr. Lench, that is a 1,000-to-1 shot.

Yes, and that 1,000-in-1 chance POPS UP,

and we have to close this hospital.

No, I'm sorry.

We won't use the antidote.

I was talking to Chris today about what might have caused the epidemic.

I see.

And he thought that we might have been responsible?

Are you?

No!

Well, then, why does he think so?

And what about that doctor they brought in?

They are jumping to conclusions, Nancy.

There's nothing to it at all.

Would you like a drink? Cola? Root beer?

Cola.

Chris seems to think that, that doctor knows what he's talking about.

Since when is Chris a medicine man?

Daddy, be serious.

I am, Nancy.

You remember when those cattle got sick?

Everybody thought there might be something in the feed.

To be honest with you, I was afraid there might be, too.

That's why I had it tested

at a very reputable lab.

I feel kind of dizzy.

Come on, let's sit down.

Nancy!

What's the matter?

I don't understand, Dad.

Help me.

We'll be in Phoenix in time for the LA. plane.

What a waste, Sam. What a waste. To lose a ball game like this.

Quince, we did everything we could.

But we were so close. I mean, we are so close.

Doctor!

Sam, I think it's RD-2. You better get her in the hospital.

All right.

What happened?

She got dizzy. I think she's got what the others have.

That drug, whatever it is you have.

The antidote?

Yeah, I want you to give it to her right away.

We can't. Not until we're sure what caused the illness.

It's what you say it is.

That's not enough, Mr. Porter.

That's my daughter. What do you want me to say?

I want you to say that you know that Insul'aid was mixed with the cattle feed

and that you're responsible.

All right.

It was mixed with the feed and I'm responsible. Now, help her.

Tell Dr. Lench. The antidote, all the patients get it. Start with Mr. Davis.

She's going to be all right.

I want you to tell me something.

You believe that the sick cattle

are responsible for what's happening to my daughter?

Yes, I do.

And you believe that I'm responsible?

Yes.

Tell me something, if your daughter hadn't gotten in,

would you have told us the truth?

His coordination is better already. Did you notice?

I guess that stuff must work pretty fast.

I'll meet you out at the truck in a couple of minutes. Okay?

Sure.

Nan?

Hi.

Hi. How are you today?

Oh, pretty good. How's your grandpa?

Oh, he's a lot better. Thank you.

Good.

Listen, you know my dad and your dad,

there's gonna be a lawsuit.

Yeah. We're gonna be on opposite sides, too.

Right.

It's nothing personal.

You know, I hope it won't affect you and I.

Oh, I know.

I mean, it won't.

Okay, good.

If it's okay, I'd like to come by after school.

Oh, that's okay.

It's fine. Good.

All right. All right, well, I'll see you then.

I got to go, bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Jerry, cut my budget 10 percent? That's ridiculous.

Did you read about us in the paper again today?

Page 23, the right hand column.

About how I was instrumental in checking this massive epidemic in Arizona.

Well, of course Quincy was there. Yes, and Sam, too.

Jerry, I authorized the plane fare. That's three round trips.

I authorized the phone calls. I authorized the telegrams.

I authorized the special labs.

Right, Jerry, that is about 10 percent. Thank you.

Jerry... Come in. I have four people here in my office.

Right.

Our hero returns.

You were in the paper today. Page 23, right hand column.

Really? Jerry just called to congratulate you and Sam.

Well, did you tell him we couldn't have done it without you?

Oh, no, no. I take no credit for this whatsoever.

Did Jessup call?

Yes, he did, about an hour ago. He says the epidemic is just about over.

Oh, and how's the old man, Mr. Davis?

Up and around. He'll be okay in a couple of weeks.

Oh, isn't that terrific? Well, I'll see you later.

Where you going?

Well, see, Sam and I went horseback riding out there,

and I kind of like it, so we're gonna do it here.

He's out getting me some equipment.

Come in.

Oh, you know, there are three or four cases that...

Oh, did you get it, Sam? Yeah.

Hat. Riding gloves.

Terrific.

What's that?

I saw you ride.