Rawhide (1959–1965): Season 6, Episode 18 - Incident at Gila Flats - full transcript

Hiyah!

- Hiyah! Hiyah!
- Hiyah! Hiyah!

- You see it?
- I'm afraid so.

Have to have a pair
of eyes short not to.

Well, might as well get used to it.
We're in Mimbreno Country now.

Two things I can't stand:
Apaches and corn liquor.

Hiyah! Hiyah!

Mr. Favor.

Look there.

Mimbreno, they jumped us.

All right, take it
easy, sergeant.



Scarlet?

No chance. He's been
packing a dead man.

I'll get some of the boys. We
can backtrack, pick up a trail.

Quince, this is army
business. We'll leave it like that.

You double back to
Sumner and let them know.

Well, now, Quince. Now.
Scarlet, get Wishbone up here.

Eight years of training, nine years
of beans and hay, sun-fried hell.

That's all it adds up to, a pile
of rocks and a couple of sticks.

Sorry it had to
happen this way, major.

Well, that's just the point,
Mr. Favor. It didn't have to happen.

Captain Stoner rode
up there to talk, not fight.

Major, he's coming around.

That's fine now, sergeant.

You can talk just as loud
sitting as you can standing.



Major Blaine.

Where's the captain?

He's dead.

Sergeant, what happened?

Well, sir, we got up
to Gila Flats all right

and we sat down with old
Nantanta for the better part of a day.

And the captain, he
talked himself blue

trying to buy more time,
but it just wouldn't go down.

Nantanta just said that either
the Army honors that treaty

or buries it.

So we pulled out,

we got as far as Rio
Seco, and they jumped us.

White flag and
all, they jumped us.

Who jumped you, sergeant?

When an Apache jumps
you, nobody sees him.

But it don't take
no heavy thinking

to take an educated
guess it was Del Latigo.

Del Latigo. Yeah, he ain't
no plain Apache either.

Well, short of the horns,
he's a home-grown Lucifer.

This is broth. Take it down.

Hey, major.

I thought you boys had thrown
away the key on that renegade.

Well, like bad pennies, Mr. Favor,
keys have a way of turning up.

One of the terms of our treaty with
the Apache was complete amnesty,

even for an incorrigible
hostile like Del Latigo.

Whoa!

Nothing, sir. Not
even a hoof print.

Well, I didn't think
otherwise, lieutenant.

I want you to make camp
up there on the ridgeline.

You're gonna be
here for a while.

Oh, lieutenant, I
want five volunteers.

- Full pack, ready to ride in one hour.
- Right, sir.

Major Blaine.

Sir, me and that Del Latigo, we
got something that needs settling.

I'm ready to ride
any time you say.

We're gonna ride all right, sergeant.
That's all we're gonna do, just ride.

Sergeant, I don't think you're
in any condition to go along.

Begging the major's
pardon, sir, I feel just fine.

- All right, sergeant.
- One hour, sir.

And I'll pick the best
volunteers in the platoon.

Look, major, if that's it,
uh, we'll be pulling out now.

We got a lot of miles to
cover before sundown.

I'm afraid not, Mr. Favor.
You're not going anywhere.

You see, we've got exactly
seven days, one week

to honor our end of the treaty
with Nantanta and his Mimbrenos.

Now, if we don't, this territory
will be knee-deep in blood.

You keep riding north,
and you and your men

and your herd will be
right in the middle of it.

Look, major, I've got 3000
head of cattle out there

who got nothing but water
and graze on their minds.

If I have to hold them
here for over a week,

they ain't gonna have
nothing on their minds.

Mr. Favor, better 3000 dead
steers than 20 dead Texans.

I'd suggest that you go back.

What do you mean, turn back?

Across 60 miles of desert?

Well, we just got here as it is.

Then you have no other
alternative other than to wait here.

And hope I make
the Gila Flats in time.

One other thing, Mr. Favor.

I'm commandeering
200 head of your herd.

You're commandeering what?

That's the only way that I can
keep Nantanta and his Mimbrenos

on the reservation.

You see, that was one
of the terms of our treaty.

The delivery of
200 head of cattle

by the first, and that's
just seven days off.

Like most requisitions,
the order for that beef

is probably in some fat
politician's desk drawer.

That's why I sent Captain Stoner
up here to ask for more time.

There's your answer.

So I better get
the cattle up there.

I can't go in official force nor
can I go in any capacity at all.

Well, that's why I
asked for volunteers.

Major, if this Del Latigo is the
one that jumped your captain,

you don't think he's gonna let
you up there to the Gila Flats.

Well, I'm gambling that
he hasn't many men.

Well, there's a little
more to it than that, major.

Gila Flats is a good 50 miles
east of here and it's all desert.

It's gonna take a lot of
luck and a lot of knowhow

to push 200 head through
there in seven days.

I know it and you
ought to know it, major.

You ain't got a chance.

Mr. Favor, if I were
a gambling man,

I'd like to make you
a little wager on that.

You see, I have to make it.

Now, here's your requisition
notice for 200 head even.

The Army will honor it in
the due course of time, that is.

You heard the man.
Cut out the beef.

One more thing, Mr. Favor.

If any of your cattle
decide to stray off,

Lieutenant Jenkins will
be under order to open fire.

Been a real pleasure, sir.

Can't go on, can't go
back, can't stay here.

- What are you gonna do?
- Only one thing to do, Wish. Enlist.

Two hundred head, major.

You want to count?

Well, arithmetic was never one
of my strong points, Mr. Favor.

- I'll have to take your word for it.
- All right.

Joe, Rowdy should be
back sometime tomorrow.

You tell him to hold the
herd here till I get back.

If I don't show by the first, you'd
better start heading south again.

Right, boss.

Till you get back?

Yeah, well, like you, I ain't
much of a gambler, major.

But don't take any riverboat
card shark to figure the odds

against your, uh, volunteer cattlemen
getting to Gila Flats in any seven days.

Have a look.

Hiyah! Hiyah! Hiyah!

You, uh, think you can
cut those odds down?

Yeah, well, that's what I'm paid
for. It's my job, pushing cattle.

And if you don't get
through, I'm out of a job.

But you go along with
me and I don't get through,

you might be out of
a lot more than a job.

Like I said, that's
what I'm paid for.

Now, as to who's giving
orders about the beef...

Now what?

Well, Wish and I figured you
could use a little company.

Well, a man needs something more
in his belly than army beans and hay.

Well, I left Mushy with plenty
to feed the men till we get back.

Mr. Favor, I've been through
there once or twice before,

and you're gonna
need a few shortcuts.

I thought Apaches
made you nervous, Jim.

Well, it's that doggone waiting,

makes me break
out something terrible.

No use you breaking
out in a sweat.

If those army fellas can
volunteer, so can we.

Jim, you better get on out
there and settle them down

before they get scattered
from here till kingdom come.

I'll take the lead.

Giddyap.

Like I told you, Del Latigo.

The treaty cattle and the
yellowlegs who drive them.

You're wrong, Cado.

The cattle are driving
them into my hand.

All I have to do is
but to close it. Now go.

Before there were only two.

Now there are nine. Nine rifles.

Nine or 900, it
makes no difference.

This I promise you, they
will never reach Gila Flats.

Now go.

Hey, get away from there!

All right, come and get it.

All right, now back
off there. Form a line.

Who do you think you are?
This isn't any Army mess.

Just mind your manners.

Ten hours pushing them
four-legged locomotives you call cows

and you expect manners?

You don't hurry up, you'll
have to run for your life.

I ain't smelled nothing that good since
my last hog fry up Chattanooga way.

Ha, ha. You hear that, Quince?

I always did say these boys
in blue got taste, real taste.

Wish that coyote would hush
up. Gives me the squeakers.

Yeah, that coyote's got
two less than four legs,

he'll give you the
squeakers, boy.

Hard to tell them
apart from Apaches.

- Sure does make me break out.
- Well, then scratch on that for a while.

Yeah, about time.

Five more minutes, and there
wouldn't have been anything left.

Well, that's Army
training, Wishbone.

As long as it ain't froze or
don't wiggle all over the...

You fear one Apache
without weapons?

The yellowleg is a woman,
fit only for the driving of cows.

And the Apache is an animal, fit
only for shooting men in the back.

Sergeant!

Put that sidearm away.

Del Latigo, to keep a treaty,

this yellowleg would gladly
wear a bonnet and skirts.

That's why we're
here, to keep a treaty.

Treaty is a word, and
words are like the air,

to be used and blown away.

And how could it be that one of
the whip now speaks for Nantanta,

Chief of the Mimbrenos?

Nantanta is no
longer a Mimbreno.

He's a bent old branch,
bent to the will of his enemies.

Better to be the branch
of a living old tree

than the trunk of a dead one.

What's your price for peace?

The Mimbreno need no
white man's peace or his cattle.

Take them both back
where they belong.

You may try to fight, but not
Nantanta, not your people.

One voice is not a nation.
You will not be heard.

You hear me, yellowlegs.

Between here and Gila Flats
there are many miles, Apache miles.

Go on, and only your
spirit will cross them.

This I promise you.

Sergeant!

Why not stop it
now before it starts?

Because we have a
treaty with the Mimbrenos.

That includes Del Latigo.

Until he starts to fire on us,
we can't risk breaking that treaty.

- Is that understood?
- Understood, sir.

Well, I'll say one
thing about that buck.

When he says something,
there ain't no guesswork about it.

Mr. Wishbone, I'll need
provisions for three days.

- Provisions?
- Oh, I agree with you, Pike.

Del Latigo will try to stop us.

I can't bring up the company in
force, but I can bring up Nantanta.

The Mimbreno themselves
will stop Del Latigo.

So until I return,
Mr. Favor will be in charge.

- Major?
- Just get the cattle through.

They come first.

Major, Del Latigo's
gonna have his scouts out.

It would take a person half
shadow and half desert rat

to get through alone.

Do you have another
alternative, Mr. Favor?

Now, it's just jerky and hard
tack, but it ought to do you.

I'm sure it will, Mr. Wishbone.

Good luck, major.

And to you, Mr. Favor.

To all of you.

Hiyah! Hiyah! Hiyah!

I spotted them
about an hour ago.

Figured I'd better swing in
and tell you before I took a look.

Pike!

Visitors.

Could be a trap.

It could be something else too.
Keep them moving, Wish. Let's go.

And I volunteered. Tsk.

There's only one thing
could do that, a whip.

Go back and get him.
Have Wish bring up a wagon.

All right, sergeant.
Let's cut him down.

Dirty, stinking animals.

Lousy, filthy animals.

No man could that,
Favor. That ain't human.

It's done, Pike. Talking
ain't gonna change it.

No. It ain't done.

Not till every mother's
son of them is dead.

Do you hear that?!

You hear that, Del Latigo?!

Not till every mother's
son of you is dead!

Well, come on!

Come on out and fight!

- Come on!
- Pike!

Put it away. I'll
need some help.

Coffee's hot. Black
enough to stand by itself.

Uh...

I don't need any coffee
for what I got to say.

Well, just what have
you got to say, sergeant?

Just one thing.

What are we doing down here?

You heard what the
major said, sergeant.

I heard.

Wait till we deliver 200 cows
to Gila Flats and just like that,

the Apaches take up
needlework and toe dancing.

You saw what they
did to the major.

That's the only kind
of treaty they'll honor.

There's just one peace for
an Apache and that's a bullet,

belt-buckle high,
front and center.

Your own Major Blaine said
it, Pike. No one man is a nation.

Del Latigo dug that grave
over there, not the Mimbreno.

We get those cattle through, his
own people will dig a grave for him.

Yeah. And if they
don't? What then, Favor?

Think we can fight our way out
of here, eight rifles against 800?

Look, I'm Army. I
get paid for fighting.

But what we're doing
here ain't fighting.

It's suicide.

You think we ought to
hightail it out of here, sarge?

Only long enough to pick
up the rest of the company.

Sixty men behind us, we'll
make a treaty with them Apaches

they'll never break.

Cover the remuda!
They'll hit the horses first!

Wayne, Larson, over there!

Hiyah!

- How many horses we lose?
- Four of them.

It could've been a lot worse.

- Anybody hurt?
- Oh, I've been flea bit worse.

Flea bites don't bleed.
You come along with me.

No need, sergeant.

Get a rope on them ponies.
We're gonna need them later.

I hope you ain't still
thinking of going back.

With or without you, Favor.
It's your choice to make.

You're wrong.
There's no choice left.

Not for none of us.

Well, take a look.

I don't care how you read it.

That smoke says the
back door just got closed.

So it's Gila Flats.

Suicide or no,

Nantanta and his Apaches
are the only choice we've got left.

I still say we can get through.

Well, just keep on saying it,
sergeant. You'll end up believing it.

Mr. Favor's right.

We got to keep on going
just like the major said.

Hey, we got us a
live one out here.

Well, I'll be dogged.

This ain't no
buck. It's a female.

Well, now, what's a female
doing riding with Del Latigo?

Male, it makes no
difference. They're all vermin.

Let me take a look.

Somebody squished
her head pretty good.

But she's gonna be all right.

Would you just get out
of the way and I'll fix that?

Hold it, Pike.

An Apache's an Apache.

You saw what they
did to the major.

All the more reason for keeping
her alive. Let her own people settle it.

Alive, she's proof that the major
tried to keep his end of the treaty.

Dead she'd just
be the best reason

we never should have started
up this way in the first place.

So it's Gila Flats, me and my
men, 200 head of cattle and the girl.

If you want to cut out, you
can, but you do it right now.

I would keep in my mind
though that it'd just be you

against the whole
of Del Latigo's pack.

Together, the odds
make a little more sense.

But then that's up to you.

All right, Favor.

But just remember, you got
seven lives riding on your deal.

Let's get moving.

Take care, Rokka.

Four horses, one
yellowleg, maybe two.

Hmm.

- And us?
- Joaquin, Brazo and Lalota.

Three to one.

- We're ready to ride.
- No. They expect that.

Now we fight them with a weapon
they cannot see, their own fear.

How's she doing?

Why don't you ask Favor?
He's got all the answers.

Hey, what have you
done with your sling?

Oh, that thing just
gets in the way.

Well, blood poisoning
gets in the way too.

That wound opens up, you can
start looking for your coffin lumber.

Now, get over there.

What're you doing,
boy? Keeping a diary?

No. I promised Ma I'd write
once a week so I'm writing.

Run across a post
office, I'll let you know.

Keep this up, why, you're
gonna have to hang out a shingle.

Sweet talk isn't
gonna get you a thing.

Now, whether you like it or not,
whether it gets in your way or not,

sling will keep this
thing from festering.

Take a look, boys.

A real live Apache female,

right down to the knife.

Now, you can do this
easy or you can do it hard.

It's all up to you.

Sergeant, she's
scared half to death.

Oh, only half?

Well, maybe I can do
something about that.

Pick it up. FAVOR: Pike!

Leave her be.

I will, Favor, after I
teach her some manners.

I said, pick it up.

All right, then,
we'll do it your way.

Pike!

When I said leave
her be, I mean it.

Forget it, Pike. It'll keep.

Not for long, it
won't. Not for long.

Let me have the knife.

You could have let him
kill me, but you didn't.

Why?

Among other things, you're
worth more to me alive.

Wish, you'd better
take a look at her head.

Come on over and
sit down, now. Sit.

Here, you better
have some of this.

You're gonna need it.

What is it you want?

Well, first off, let's start
with your name here.

Well, this is gonna smart some.

How many warriors
ride with Del Latigo?

Just a little
turpentine and alcohol.

If it don't kill the germs,
it'll scare them away.

Now, come sun up, you'll be as
good as new, short of an ache or two.

How come you
ride with Del Latigo?

Because the Apache and
yellowlegs are enemies.

Well, your men
folks and us, well,

we might be enemies, but
I couldn't shoot no woman.

Canada Alamosa, yellowleg.

The place you call Camp Grant.

Ninety Aravaipa Apaches without
weapons, without food, without shelter.

When they came, we fought.

With sticks and rocks we fought,
until we could fight no more,

until the ground was
red with our own blood.

Canada Alamosa.

Sixty-two women and children
butchered, and six old men.

But not me.

Not Lalota.

I lived...

only to die another way.

They gave me to the yellowlegs.

And when they were done...

I was alive only because
there was no strength left to die.

It was then I found Del Latigo.

They'd tied him to a
wheel and whipped him

until they thought he was dead.

But he lived,

and in living, gave me life.

No, yellowleg, I am not
a woman. I am a warrior.

Kill me now while you still can.

Like I said, Favor, an
Apache is an Apache.

Just one more step, Apache.

That's all the excuse
I'm gonna need.

When does a yellowleg
need an excuse to kill.

The men are tired.

It would be a shame to
wake them up for nothing.

Now, you get on back
where you belong.

How long, yellowleg?

How long do you think you
can watch me in the night?

Del Latigo is here.

So is death.

Very soon you will meet both.

Not alone.

Not without a couple of
dogs to keep me company.

And you just might be one of
them if you don't watch your step.

A dog does what it
is told, not an Apache.

- Better your gun speaks now.
- Not yet.

Not till you know why.

Hmm.

Open it. Open it.

Now, take a good look.

And listen. Listen real good.

Names don't matter.

She was only a girl, my girl.

She was on her way
out here to say the "I dos"

when your people
jumped her stagecoach.

Had the prettiest brown hair.

Time we found her...

Nobody uses a knife
like an Apache. Nobody.

Now, you can take your
choice right here, right now

or later on with the rest of us.

You know, I can just
feel them out there.

Yeah, it's been
building to this, Jim.

Del Latigo's gonna hit, he's
gonna have to do it pretty soon.

I'll send Pike and Larson
out to keep you company.

Right.

My nerves are getting
to me, Mr. Favor.

Next thing you know, I'll be
stomping on my own shadow.

Well, as long as it
ain't mine, Hawkins.

- You seen anything?
- No.

It's quiet as Martin
County churchyard.

Yeah. Don't expect it
to stay that way too long.

- Keep your eyes open.
- All six of them.

Pike, Larson, on to the herd.

Wishbone, you and Wayne...

Stay here. If she tries
to get away, shoot her.

Hiyah!

That does it.

You know, for a cowboy,
you soldier pretty good.

- I'm obliged.
- We need every gun we've got.

- Hawkins?
- Never knew what hit him.

Mr. Favor!

Del Latigo hit the herd on the far
side. There's no way I could herd them.

By now, they're
scattered real good.

Nothing we can do about
it now, not without horses.

All we can do is
dig in and wait.

Bone's busted, I think.

Most of them there's
got to come out.

It ain't the first time.

Might as well get started.

With what? My left hand?

Guess that elects you, Favor.

Yeah, well, I can give it a go.

You're gonna
have to take it slow.

This knife's about
as sharp as it can get.

Oh, Larson, I'll need some help.

When I say, you grab on
to him and hang on tight.

No.

I will do it.

Like you say, no one can
use a knife like an Apache.

This I've done many times.

The yellowleg barks like a bear.

I want to see if he
bleeds like a man.

Maybe even like an Apache.

Never like an
Apache. Start cutting.

Now.

If you tighten that thing any tighter,
won't be anything left to bandage.

So, uh, that could have
come out a lot harder.

You made it easy and then why?

Because for a girl with
brown hair, it was not so easy.

Also, now you will live to die from
Del Latigo's rifles, not from a knife.

You owe me nothing, yellowleg.

Long night?

It's gonna get a lot longer
before it gets any shorter too.

Yeah.

Why don't you take breather,
Quince? I'll stand your watch for you.

- Oh, you feel up to it?
- Sure. I wouldn't have offered.

- Well, maybe for a short time, huh?
- I'll call you.

Well, you do it loud
and clear, sergeant.

In say 15 minutes, I'm gonna
turn my back on that horse,

which means nobody
is gonna be watching it.

You turn your back
on an Apache. Why?

Well, the way I see it, ain't
none of them treaty cows

gonna get anywhere near Gila
Flats and neither are any of us,

which means that Del
Latigo and his bucks

are gonna bust the top
right out of this territory.

Before it's over, there will be
more burnt-out stagecoaches

and more Camp Grants.

Now, somebody should
know that six yellowlegs

and three cow-pushers
at least tried to stop it.

And died trying.

And you're gonna
be that somebody.

You're gonna live the
rest of your life with that.

Fifteen minutes.
And don't look back.

I might change my mind.

There goes our last horse.

You were on guard.
What happened?

I must have dozed.
Didn't see a thing.

Too late to do
anything now, anyway.

Here they come.

Fire until you can't
miss, then don't.

It's Nantanta.

Take another look,
sergeant. Take a close look.

Believe me, that
buckskin of mine

never looked so
pretty before in his life.

You broke a treaty and with
it, the word of your people.

You have until the sun
is gone to leave this land.

Show your face again to me
and I will show you your grave.

My grave, you woman.

It is better than your treaty.

You have honored the
treaty. It will honor you.

Your horses will be returned and
my warriors will gather the cattle.

When you have rested, you
will be welcome in my village.

It's funny. I always used
to think sleeping on duty

was a pretty bad offense.

Well, let's get traveling.

Head them up!

Move them out!

Hiyah! Hiyah! Hiyah!