Gunsmoke (1955–1975): Season 18, Episode 7 - The Fugitives - full transcript

When Danny Stalcup, a young member of a gang on the run, is mortally wounded in a fall, Doc Adams is kidnapped, along with Festus, and forced to help.

With...

and starring James
Arness as Matt Dillon.

We made it clean away, ain't we?

If you start figuring that way,

you'll wind up in a box.

Well, there ain't nobody
down there Bede,

you can see that.

Maybe,

maybe not.

We got us 30 miles
between us and Ashland,

and there ain't
no sign of the law.



The way I read it is clean.

The way you read it?

Are you all that
experienced, are you?

Well, I figure being your
brother puts me one up

on knowing just about
all there is to know.

At the same
time, I'll feel better

when we get to the shack.

You got your bellies filled?

Hey, Bede, we just set down.

The sooner we get to the shack,

the sooner we can stop
watching our tail end.

Come on, let's go.

Start counting
the folding money.

Oh, you're full
of it, ain't you?



Full of what?

I'll race you, Bede.

Danny!

Danny?

Hankins, give me
your knife down here.

Come on, move!

It's all right. Here.

Get this thing out of him.

- Bede.
- Don't talk.

It's all right.

Link, Curly, we
gotta get a doctor.

The nearest one is in Dodge.

Then get yourself to Dodge, now.

Bede, Dodge
belongs to Matt Dillon.

Get going!

Are you gonna be here?

We'll leash him onto a
horse and get to the shack.

Now, hold onto him.

You'll pull it out?

I've got to.

Festus, I'll tell you something,

if Newly had told me that story,

I'd have believed
every word of it.

Well thank you, Marshal,
but I wouldn't have believed it

even if Miss Kitty had told me.

It's the gospel truth now.

If I'm lying, I'm dying.

Much obliged, Miss
Kitty, but that there

ain't near hard to
believe as something

that happened to
me a few years back.

I was trapping muskrats
down in the Cisco River swamp.

All of a sudden, there I was,

clean up to my
armpits in quickie sand

with a circle clean around
with water mossakins

a snapping at my vitals.

Well, here's Doc,
thank goodness.

How are you?

Come on in, you're just in time.

- Time for what?
- Howdy, Doc.

So anyhow, I grabbed
hold to this first snake

and I pinched his
jaws together like that,

and I make him glom
onto that next snake's tail.

No, I'm too tired for this.

How do you think we feel, Doc?

Well wait a minute Doc,

this here is the
interesting part.

Well, I doubt that.

Come on Doc, sit down,
you look exhausted.

I sure am, Kitty, I'll tell you,

in all of my years of practice,

I have never put in
a day like this, never.

You look like you've been
fighting an epidemic, Doc.

Don't you want to hear how
he got out of the swamp?

No, I, I don't think
I do, Kitty, not now.

I tell you what
I'd like, though.

I would like a tonic
that is strong enough

to persuade my old bones
to carry me upstairs to bed,

can you do that?

I got just the thing.

Well, anyhow, Doc, these
here water mossakins

was a movin' in fer the kill,

but do you think I was scared?

Doc, what was going on at
three o'clock this morning?

Oh you heard that, did you?

Everybody from here
to Hutchinson must have.

Here Doc, see if that isn't
what the doctor ordered.

Kitty, I can tell
that is precisely

the prescription the
doctor prescribed.

Well, seeing as I can't get
a word in with a knife blade,

why don't you just
go on and tell us

what you've been
so blamed busy at?

Well, I've been busy
plying my profession,

pulling my weight in this
world, earning my keep,

that's what I've been doing.

Oh, fiddle, there you go again

with a bunch of blamed old
silly words stringed together

so they don't mean
a blamed thing.

- Well I'll tell you what, I...
- Festus, wait a minute.

Doc, I sure would
like to hear about it.

All right, well, Abe
Hoskison came into town,

yelling and screaming that
his boy was having convulsions.

Well now, by the
time I got out there,

that big Hoskison girl had
everything under control,

the boy just swallowed
a thimble, that's all.

Thimbles ain't near as
interesting as snakes is.

Doc, why don't you go on to bed?

Sleep all day if
you feel like it.

Well, I sure would
like to, Kitty, but

you know, I came by Will
Bellfield's place on the way in,

and his wife's expecting again,

she's about due,
as a matter of fact,

and I'm kind of
worried about her,

she lost the first
one, you know.

I think I ought to go
right back out there.

Doc, you're not gonna
be much good to anybody

unless you get some sleep,
it's a long ride out there.

Well, I guess that
makes sense Matt,

you may be right
I tell you what...

I'm gonna go upstairs
and I'll get a little rest,

and I'll start out
about four o'clock.

That's a good idea.

I'll see you all
tomorrow sometime.

- See you later, Doc.
- So long, Doc.

Goodnight.

I think it's a shame that
he has to work like that.

Festus, why don't you
hitch up his buggy for him

in the morning and
drive him out there?

You betcha, Matthew,
you know that old scutter's

a working like a coal
mine mule, ain't he?

Well, now let me see,
where was I at now?

You were just getting ready
to tie the snakes together

to make a rope out of them

to pull yourself
out of the swamp.

Oh, you've heared it before?

Well, I'll tell you
something now,

it wasn't easy as all that.

You know, with them
water mossakins a being

so slipperdy thataway,
every time I was to go to work

and tie a knot in them it'd
slip loose, don't you see?

So, I'll tell you what I done.

I reached in there
and I got me a handful

of that quickie sand,
sculled the water out of it,

and then I sanded
them snakes down.

That way, I could pull myself
out with them, don't you see?

That old pill pusher keeps
hours like an owl, don't he?

The only thing I can
see, we go up there easy,

and talk him into going with us.

Whoa.

Morning, Doc.

Where you think you're going?

Well, I'm going with you out

to the Bellfields'
place, Matthew's orders.

Well, I'm giving the
orders now, not Matt,

and you're gonna
do no such a thing.

Just get on out of there
and go on back to bed

where you belong.

Now Doc, it ain't
gonna do you no good

to get all humped
up like a mad ant,

Matthew told me to go
and I'm a fixing to go.

I don't care what Matt said.

I wish he'd mind
his own business,

and let me pick my own
traveling companions.

Well, you ain't the onliest one.

All right, let's go.

I don't wanna hear one
peep out of you, not one,

all the way out
there, you be quiet.

Get up, Clobber.

They're heading
the right direction.

Just fine.

We'll lay back a while and
let them head out of town.

♪ I'm a fixin' to fly ♪

♪ With the wild, wild goose ♪

♪ I'm fixing to fly away ♪

♪ All free and loose ♪

Will you stop that
yowling, will ya, hush up.

Well, I didn't aim to
wake you up, Doc,

but I just couldn't help myself.

Look how pretty it
is and everything.

Well, pretty is as
pretty sounds, hush up.

Doc, whilst you was
a sleeping a while ago,

there was the biggest old
flock of geese come over,

and they was just a
honking just prettier than...

Well, just let the geese
do the honking, will ya?

Be quiet.

There's some more.

- There they are.
- Where?

See them?

You know, Doc,
it's a blamed pity

we didn't bring our
shotguns with us,

we could have shot
ourselves a goose.

You know, I just don't think

I could trust myself
with a shotgun.

Go on back to sleep,
you grumpy old grump.

Marshal, Barney just got
a telegram from Meade.

Bede Stalcup and
his boys hit the bank,

wounded the sheriff and
deputy, and got away.

Does he have any idea
where they're headed?

South, a citizen's
posse caught sight

and then lost it again
near Crooked Creek.

Crooked Creek?

That's where Doc and Festus
were headed this morning.

- Morning.
- Morning.

I'll take that gun
of yours, Whiskers.

We ain't got no money.

Give it right here, now.

Just a minute.

I'm a doctor and I've
got to deliver a baby.

A doctor is what we
want, and babies can wait.

Now, you move that buggy
on out of here right now

and follow close.

Danny?

Don't let me go, Bede.

How you talk.

You're gonna be fine.

I'm a little scared.

I always took care
of you, didn't I?

I'm taking care of you now.

They're here.

Whoa.

There's your doc. Get inside.

Who are you?

Festus Haggen, if
it's any of your lookout.

Well get inside, both of you.

Move it.

He's the only
brother I got, Doc.

I'm gonna need some hot water,

you better build a fire.

No, smoke's too easy to spot.

You fix that kid or
you're all done fixing.

Why don't you hush, big mouth?

He'd doctor the devil
hisself if he found him ailing.

Why don't you shut up?

Move!

Wait a minute!

You pull that trigger and
your brother's a dead man.

All right, tie him to
the post, get outside,

this doctor is going to work.

Newly, if we're this close

you better ride on
over to Bellfield's

and check on Doc and Festus.

Where do you want
me to meet you?

Well, we'll work our way
down to Live Oak Ford,

you shouldn't have
any trouble finding us.

- You bet.
- Bring Festus if Doc doesn't need him.

Yes, sir.

You've been at it long
enough to know how he is.

Well, he's badly hurt.

I know how bad he is, I
just want you to fix him up.

Now do it.

Doc, cut me loose.

You all right?

I'm all right.

Listen, you've got
to get out of here

as fast as you
can, and find Matt.

I can't leave you
here by yourself, Doc.

Never mind that.

If you don't, neither one of us

are gonna get out of
here alive. Now get up.

What about the boy?

He hasn't got a chance in
a hundred anyway, now go.

But Doc, they're
liable to kill you.

Festus, they won't touch me

as long as they think they
need me, now go, go on.

You take care of yourself, Doc.

Festus, I will.

Now, this is gonna hurt, son.

He's as pale as a sheet.

Danny.

Dumb kid.

Curly, Link!

Whiskers is loose and running.

Where'd he head, Bede?

I don't know.

He had to go that way
or we'd have seen him.

Well get mounted, come on.

If he ever gets to Dodge...

He don't get to Dodge.

You find him, you
don't bring him back.

Slow, Bossie.

Slow, Bossie.

Slow, now.

Just be easy, Bossie.

Slow, Bossie.

You're gonna help
me get out of here.

Take it easy, now.

That's the way, get
up Bossie, get up.

They'll see my tracks going in,

but they ain't gonna
see them going out.

Hold it.

He went in right here.

Ho, whoa, whoa.

There's nothing
here but cow tracks.

I'll go downstream, you go up.

If I see him, I'll squeeze
off a couple of shots.

Never mind about that,
you drop him where he's at,

Bede don't want him
causing no trouble.

Now, get moving.

Ha.

Giddy up Bossie, ha, ha.

Much obliged, Bossie.

Will!

Mr. Bellfield!

Will!

Will!

Newly, what are you doing here?

Delivering a baby.

Where have you
been, and where's Doc?

He's been took prisoner by
Bede Stalcup and his outfit.

Stalcup, the one
that shot them fellers

over in Meade yesterday?

I don't know what all they did,

but old Doc's in an awful fix,

we gotta get Matthew, do
you know where he's at?

He's out on a posse right
now looking for Stalcup,

I just left him a
couple hours ago.

We gotta find him,
Newly, come on.

Well, I can't leave
here, Festus,

Miss Bellfield,
she's in hard labor.

You take my horse
and ride to the marshal,

they ought to be near
Live Oak Ford by now.

All right, loan me your pistol.

You bet.

Ha!

Looks like they went
through here not too long ago.

Is that Festus?

Matthew, Matthew, it's old Doc.

Bede Stalcup took
us for prisoners

on our way out to
the Bellfield's place.

Where's Doc?

They got him at Cimarron Bend,

he's doctoring old
Bede's pup brother.

Let's go.

Bede says if the boy cashes
in, he's fixing to kill old Doc.

Well?

Well, if by some miracle
he's alive in two hours,

he may make it.

Another two hours,
we gotta be riding.

Well mister, I didn't
get him into this, you did.

But I'll tell you something,

if you drag him around the
country, you're gonna kill him.

I got every law man
from here to Abilene

on the lookout for me, and
you're telling me to settle down?

No, I'm just telling you
that I have to have medicine.

I have to have antiseptic,
laudanum to kill the pain,

unless you want
to hear him scream.

Now, you'll have to
get me the things I need,

I don't care how you do it.

All right.

If Link and Curly stop that
sodbuster friend of yours

from drawing attention,
we'll settle down here

for a day or two.

You get him fixed up,

and we'll get you
the things you need.

I'm going out for a
breath of fresh air.

Hold it, Doc.

Don't do any fast shuffles.

You got any whiskey?

Yeah, a little, do
you want a drink?

- I sure could use one.
- All right.

Hey, take it easy.

You never could take it
straight down like a man.

I don't feel much
like a man, Bede.

You're gonna be riding tomorrow,

and that's a true fact.

Where you been all this time?

Did you kill him?

Never even seen him.

Lost his tracks
down at the river.

Went in and never came out.

You saying he got away?

I'm saying me and Link
followed that far river bank

five or six miles, there
wasn't never a track.

I don't know how he done it.

Bede'll be kinked up over this.

Well, we ain't gonna tell Bede.

What are you gonna tell him?

Tell him we killed
him in the river.

Well, that kid'll be
dead by tonight anyway.

We'll be long gone
before anybody gets here.

I thought it would
ease his pain.

You idiot!

You don't give whiskey to a
man with a stomach wound.

Did you kill him?

Down by the river,
seen him sinking.

- There's a posse out there.
- How many?

About four or five.

You lied to me
about killing Whiskers.

It's no lie, Bede,
we seen him sinking.

No matter, they're out there.

Four or five ain't many, Bede.

If we scatter,
they can't find us.

You gonna call
them out, Marshal?

I can't take a chance
with Doc in there.

Don, circle around that
clump of trees there.

Larry, go to the left.

Festus, why don't you stay here,

I'll see how close I can get.

Matthew, I done eyeballed
that whole shebang down yonder,

it could be that I could
get in there real tight,

and then if they get to shooting,
I can snatch old Doc out.

All right, it's worth a try.

We'll give you a couple minutes.

All right.

Marshal, this is Bede Stalcup.

I got your old doctor in here.

I guess this makes me boss.

You and the others
step out in the clear

and let me get a look at you.

You all right, Doc?

I'm all right.

You better move, Marshal,
or there ain't gonna be

nothing left of this old
pill rower worth picking up.

Pitch them guns away.

Get up, let me see you.

We're leaving.

You running out on your brother?

Not quite, Doc.

You and me is gonna
get Danny on his horse.

No, not me, not on your life.

It's your life we're
talking about, old man.

Let's get out.

Don't leave me here, Bede.

Let them take you to Dodge.

I'll come back to get you.

Bede.

Bede, Bede.

Doc?

Well, he's breathing, Matt.

That's about all.

All right, hold it.

I'm going in to
Dodge for the kid.

What are you, crazy?

With Dillon following,

that means there ain't no
real law men left in Dodge.

I'll have Danny and be out
of there before they know it.

You don't even know if
they took the kid into Dodge.

I ain't asked ya,

you just ride for the
line and lay a wide trail.

Come on.

Whoa.

- Doc?
- Thank you.

Now here, I want him
handled awful easy.

Doc, what happened?

Easy now, as easy as you can.

Hey Doc, should
we bring the boy up?

No Burke, I lost
him on the way in.

You better get Percy Crump.

Right here on the table.

All right now, right
on the edge here,

and roll him over.

Get that left arm.

There, that's the way.

That's fine, that's
fine Rudy, thanks.

- I'll need hot water, Kitty.
- Oh.

Doc?

I gotta, I gotta take
that out of there...

but I...

He's so doggone weak,
he's lost so much blood.

Do you suppose it would
be better if you waited?

I don't know, it might be worse.

Festus, old boy...

I'm gonna take that
bullet out of you.

I know as well as I know
anything, if you could,

you'd say to me,
"Doc, you old scutter,

"don't just stand
there, do something."

That's what he'd say, ain't it?

Looks like they split up here.

There's a set of tracks
headed back toward Dodge.

If that's Stalcup,

I'm gonna follow these tracks,
you boys take this set here.

How's Festus?

Is there anything I can do, Doc?

Yes, you can take
Kitty to the Long Branch.

Kitty, I want you
to get some rest

and I'll call you if I need you.

Why'd you have to pull
such a dang fool stunt?

You could have just...

you didn't have to...

If you wasn't so
dang mule-headed...

Don?

Thanks, Sam.

More coffee, Miss Kitty?

I sure wish somebody
would let us know

what's going on up there.

- Matt?
- Doc.

How is he?

Well, he's still alive,
but it's a miracle.

It's touch and go.

Well, I hate to give
you more problems,

but I got an idea that Bede
Stalcup's doubled back,

he's come back
to get his brother.

Well, his brother's dead.

He died on the way in.

Well, Stalcup doesn't know that.

He thinks he's still alive,

and he'd be coming
back here to get him.

Now Doc, I'd feel
a whole lot better

if I'd get you and
Festus down to the jail.

Oh no, I can't do that
Matt, I can't move him.

Well all right,

I'll just have to get some
guards around this place.

I'll be back later.

I need some men to
help patrol the street.

Sure thing, Marshal, what's up?

I'm looking for Bede Stalcup.

Because of the time,
he may already be here.

We'll have these men
head down the alley.

Newly, you and Al go that way.

I'll be patrolling the street
here, if you see anything.

Sit tight, Doc.

I come for Danny.

I appreciate your
sitting up with him.

Well, how do you figure
to get him out of Dodge?

You and me, working together.

First thing, we gotta
even the odds a bit.

Get the marshal up here.

Matt, can you come up here?

Stalcup's brother
just took a bad turn.

I may need some help.

So much as twitch of
hair and you're both gone.

Sure is a hot night, isn't it?

Doc?

Festus, Festus?

It's Doc.

I can't see you, Doc.

I'm here Festus, I'm
right here, right here.

I'm all swimmy-headed.

Now I can see you, Doc.

Plum's land,

you just get uglier
every day, don't you?

He just came to,
just for a minute.

Did he, did he recognize you?

Sure did.

He described me to a T.

You hadn't ought to
be drinking, you know,

you're on a diet, you've
been sick, you know it?

Well, that don't
make no never mind.

Well listen, now,
you do what I tell you.

You're not gonna
go running in...

Oh, much obliged, Miss Kitty.

Now, that there is medicine
can cure a fella right there.

Festus, I want to hear how
the cow crossed the river.

How'd you ever think of that?

Oh, fiddle, Miss Kitty,
that there wasn't my idea,

that there was my
Grandpa Hog Haggen's idea.

Now wait a minute, Festus,

how'd your Grandpa
Haggen get in this?

Well you see, Matthew,
the way it was is

Grandpa Hog Haggen was
the onliest one of us Haggens

that could read reading,

and I recollect when I wasn't
no bigger than a tater bug,

Grandpa used to read us
young’uns these here stories

out of the Bible.

And they was this here one
story about this here feller

in Egypt that was
escaping from the fairies.

Wait a minute, hold on.

Oh, you mean the Pharaoh?

One of them fellers.

And directly they come
a running up to this here

great old big wide crick.

It wasn't a crick, it was
the sea, the Red Sea.

Well, when this here Moles...

His name was Moses.

When he seen the sea, see,

well he went to work and
scrunched up his eyeballs

and he commenced to
get to bearing down on that,

and directly, why he
balled up his fists like that,

and then he flang them
out sideways and he said,

"Open yourself up, waters."

And the waters parted, right?

Oh, of course they did,

just like they wasn't even
there at all in the first place.

Just a minute,
now, just a minute.

Are you gonna sit
there and tell me

that you went into some
kind of a rooster dance

and parted the waters
of the Cimarron River?

Golly bell no, Doc.

Of course, I done
a few little jee jaws

at the very beginning.

Well, what in thunder
is all this silly story

you're telling about then?

Well, when I seen
that them there waters

wasn't a gonna open up fer me,

and them fellers a
nipping at my boot heels

about to catch up with me,

I seen this old heifer
and I just collared her

and rode her right on
through, don't you see?

This is the most
ridiculous and inane story

that I think that I have
ever heard in my life.

Festus, why in thunder
don't you learn to read

so that when you
want to tell something,

you will have read it and
then you could get the facts

and you could
tell them straight?

Doc, I've told you a
hundred dozen times,

when you start to read reading,

how do you know that the
feller that wrote the reading

wrote the reading right?

Just because some
feller writes some reading,

it don't mean that the
feller just a setting down

to write the reading,
wrote the reading right.

And then if he's wrote
the reading wrong...

Stay tuned for exciting scenes

from our next Gunsmoke.