Rawhide (1959–1965): Season 6, Episode 4 - Incident of the Travellin' Man - full transcript

Hey, Toothless.

[SPEAKS IN SPANISH]

What do you think that is?

One thing's sure, Hey
Soos, it ain't no alligator.

You better go get the boss.

[SPEAKS IN SPANISH]

Señor Favor, there's
a body in the river.

WISHBONE: Let me see.

Well, he's got some fever.

It don't seem like anything's
broke. He must've just bellied up.

Well, some blankets and
some of my stew will fix him.



Quince, Scarlet,
give Toothless a hand

and drag him over
to the chuck wagon.

Boss.

Where I grew up, leg
irons meant only one thing.

Chain gang.

I don't see any stripy suit.

Ain't hard to get
rid of a stripy suit.

If there was any.

By the time you get through
talking about this man's past,

he isn't gonna have any future.
Now, he needs help and now.

Well, I said to drag him
over to the chuck wagon.

Mushy, hot up the fire.

Yes, sir.

Say, you want me to send
a man up to Split Rock?



It's a 60-mile ride. For what?

Bring back a sheriff.
The way I see it,

lawmen and leg irons
usually go together.

Can't you at least wait and
hear what the man's got to say?

Well, might be trouble, though.

So we got trouble.

- Rowdy.
- Hmm?

Let's just say that
I don't like chains.

Not even when they're broken.

All right?

[JAGGER GASPS]

Take it easy, mister.

Nothing to fret about.

How's he doing?

Fever's about broke.

He'll be coming
out of it any minute.

Fine.

Hey, maybe now you can spare
some time for Mushy's stew.

Mushy fixed stew?

Well, I'm guessing that's
what it is. Hard to tell for sure.

Oh, turn my back.

That's all I gotta
do, just turn my back.

[ALL CHATTERING]

MAN: That's better.

[PANTING]

Just what do you call that?

A slumgullion. Just like
you make it, Mr. Wishbone.

Just like I make it?

Since when did I ever make stew
out of bare bones and potato peelings?

All the time.

One more smart
remark out of you,

and I'm gonna part your
hair from the ankles up.

Oh, it's wonderful having
Wishbone back on the job again.

Oh, yeah, it's so peaceful.

Must be because
his patient is...

Boss.

Just stand clear.

Hey, let's drop that thing, huh?

Don't none of you
come any closer.

Nobody's gonna hurt you.

Ain't an ax in the world
that can beat a bullet.

You better put that down.

Yeah, I'll put it down.

I'll pick it up and put it
down all night for you

after you let go
of them gun belts.

Ah, Rowdy.

You know, uh...

You think I'm a-bluffing,
you just keep on a-coming.

Look, who you are and what
you are ain't no never mind to us.

That's your problem.

It's a cattle drive,
not a courthouse.

You got two choices.

Use that ax,

you'll end up back in the
river where you come from.

Or you can drop it, come on
in, and have something to eat.

Well, might be I mistook
you for someone else.

Or it might be I didn't.

But like you said,

a man's a fool to buck a house
tiger on an empty stomach.

[PANTING]

Mushy, spoon up
some of the broth.

MUSHY: Yes, sir.

Now, who are you, mister?

Jagger.

Bolivar Jagger.

This is Wishbone, our cook.

Rowdy Yates, ramrod.

I'm the trail boss, Gil Favor.

Cook, ramrod, boss.

[CHUCKLES]

Even sounds like a
cattle drive. Heh, heh.

I'm...

I'm sorry about the ax.

I guess I made a mistake.

It's good and hot, Mr. Wishbone.

It's the only way to steam
a fever, from the bone out.

Do you always travel
with iron ballasts?

Only when I drag my foot,
Mr. Ramrod, and forget what I am.

What are you?

I'm a walking, talking, traveling
Tennessee sharecropper

with an itch in my sitting pocket,
a yard-wide hole behind my belt,

and a ten-color rainbow
between my ears.

Uh, if you're up to it, we'd
appreciate some straight answers.

I'll see if I can't find something
more to fill that hole behind your belt.

Yeah, like starting
with the leg iron.

Leg iron ain't a
beginning, it's an ending.

Well, then, why don't you
start wherever you want?

[CHUCKLES]

Wherever I want, Mr. Favor?

Mm.

Might be should be the
time the land got so poor,

it took two roosters
to crow once.

[CHUCKLES]

I decided to put
myself out of my misery.

Scared my old
pistol wouldn't work,

so I got me a gallon of coal oil, a
piece of rope, bottle of rat poison.

Rode me out to the lake
under the branch of a tree.

Run a noose around my neck,

pour that oil all over myself,

ate the rat poison
and set myself afire.

Figured to shoot myself

just as I kicked the boat
out from under my feet.

Well, that fool pistol
shot the rope in two,

I fell in the river,
put the fire out,

got to choking and
throwed up the poison.

[JAGGER CHUCKLES]

[ALL LAUGH]

Well, after that, I figured my
luck had to turn the other way.

So I just picked up one foot and
put the other one down behind it,

and that's where it started.

Poor, ignorant, little old
dirt digger from Tennessee

trying to put a set of
traces on sundown.

Well, dreams
like that bust slow.

Mine didn't come apart
till I tried to talk my way

past a six-bit bill at a saloon
back down the line a ways.

Argument started,
finished in front of a sheriff.

The man said, "Six
dollars or 60 days."

And me six great big
bits in the hole already.

"Work it off on the
bond," they said.

"Ranch work, 60 days, then
you can keep on traveling."

Well, since anything's better
than four walls and iron bars,

I made my mark
and took to ranching.

Sixty days I put in.

Then I allowed as how
I'd start traveling again.

But this here rancher,
he sees it different.

Figured I owed him more time.

And to make sure
he got it, I got this.

Heh. But it wasn't strong
enough to hold this traveling man.

I busted that chain
and started to run.

Didn't stop till
I hit that river.

That's when you woke
up with an ax in your hand.

There's a thing about being
your own man, Mr. Ramrod.

Like the feel of
swamp-stilled tangle-leg

when it first hits your middle,

a bellyful of fireflies.

Come slow to me,

being born with another
man's collar around my neck.

Getting my weaning
on blacksnake whips

and back-busting
work from can to can't.

Can to can't?

Yeah.

Work from the time you
can see in the morning

till you can't see
no more in the night.

All us sharecroppers got for it
were due notes at the company store,

the back of the planter's hand.

But that's done now.

Put it behind me
when I took to traveling

and found me a place in the sun.

I figure I earned my
bellyful of fireflies.

There ain't any man big
enough to chase them away.

- Uh, yeah.
- Maybe, mister,

but I've never seen a man
who could travel very far

without a bellyful of real
food. Now, you go right ahead.

Amen, Mr. Wishbone.

I feel I could wear myself
to a jackass' jawbone

before you could
rattle a pot. Heh.

There's a town a couple
of days up the trail.

There's some law there

and you can settle whatever
you might wanna get settled.

You're welcome to go
along with us if you want.

Well, with vittles like
this passing around,

a man deserves to be hoeing
rocks if he walked away.

[CHUCKLES]

Mushy, pick him up some clothes.

And he can ride in
the supply wagon.

I'm much obliged, Mr. Favor.

Oh, and I'll have Hey
Soos see about those irons.

If you want anything
more, you just holler.

I'm hollering,
Mr. Wishbone, loud and clear.

I'll hot up the pot.

All right.

Oh, there's that look again.

Well, what is it?

What's so heavy that
you got on your mind?

Ah...

Probably nothing, but, uh...

I don't know. I never heard of
anybody hiring out for bond around here.

Leastways this side
of the Mississippi.

That's a funny thing.

I never heard of anyone around here
using leg irons for anything neither.

QUINCE: Better hold him still, or
I'm gonna wind up dehorning you.

SCARLET: I keep telling him
to lie still, but he won't mind.

MUSHY: Don't that hurt?

No more than toenail
paring hurts you.

Sure looks like
it ought to hurt.

Well, he's a droop horn, Mushy.

If we don't cut it off,

it's gonna wind up
growing right in his eye.

Now. Okay.

Joe, turn him loose.

[MOOING]

Is he gonna be all right?

Well, sometimes you
never can tell, Mushy.

- Sometimes it gets them up here.
- Horn itch.

Horn itch.

[HEY SOOS GRUNTS]

[SPEAKS IN SPANISH]

This iron is as hard
as a miser's heart.

Or a two-faced gal's smile.

I know one like that
down Nashville way.

That female had a look
that could stop the big river

- right in its tracks.
- Ha, ha.

Ah.

[SPEAKS IN SPANISH]

An old saying, señor.

"There is no evil which
may not be turned into good."

And this thing, it can
never be anything but evil.

Evil and good is a
smart man's right and left.

Words don't count
for nothing, boy.

Unless you use them like a gun.

The only thing that matters is
who's on the other end of this.

[JAGGER GRUNTS]

[JAGGER CHUCKLES]

FAVOR: Mushy.

Ah. Feeling better?

Right now, Mr. Favor,

I feel tall enough to
get a haircut in heaven

and a shoeshine way down below.

Yeah, well, first things first. It's
about time we get this herd moving.

Well, that's me, Mr. Favor.

The fastest-talking,
longest-walking traveling man this...

[HORSES TROTTING]

Friends of yours?

Two things a traveling
man never collects:

money and friends.

The herd's all set
to move out, boss.

The herd might be,
but I'm afraid we're not.

At least not yet.

Something I can do for you?

MATT: One thing, a horse.

Name your own price.

Sorry, our remounts
ain't for sale.

Then he'll be walking

at the end of this.

Uh, we do our own
roping around here, thanks.

Now, who are you
and what do you want?

You got a name to
go with that mouth?

Oh, yeah. Favor.
I'm trail boss here.

All right, Mr. Favor.

My name's Harger, Matt Harger.

Me and my brothers,
Luke and Billy Bob,

we've been in the
saddle 12 hours straight

tracking something
that belongs to us.

We just found it.

You put that on me once.

You ain't gonna do it again
this side of a 6-foot hole.

Maybe you'd better
take it with you,

because I'm afraid that's all
you're gonna take with you.

What's holding you up,
boss? We're ready to pull out.

The man said pick it up.

If I was you, I'd
take his advice.

Till now, this was private.

You step in the
middle, it'll cost.

Why? Why should a bond
jumper mean that much?

Is that what he told you?

He ain't running
from no bond, cowboy.

He's running from a white-headed,
bent-legged old rancher.

A stubborn old fool that got
tall-talked out of bed and board

by a poor-mouthed,
raggedy dirt digger.

For a few dollars he
had in a coffee can,

that old man took
a pistol-whipping.

Ain't much of him
left to keep alive.

When we rode out,
he was still sucking air.

Oh, sure, we helped the
sheriff track him down.

Helped put that iron on him too.

Because we wanted to make sure
he'd be around for the circuit judge.

But we stopped helping. We
left the sheriff alone with him.

It wasn't an hour

till that old sheriff had
an 8-inch hole in his back.

His prisoner was gone.

You're asking us to believe that
you came after a man like that alone?

Where's your posse?

Back in Morgan County, waiting.

We come alone because
this is personal, like I said.

That old rancher,

what's left of him,

he's our old man.

Comes easy, don't it?

All you gotta do is say it,
and it comes out pure gospel.

FAVOR: Jagger...

Own your own land, wear a
string tie, and there ain't no need

for writing in books or
a big stone law house.

Just make your own right. It
always comes out everlasting true.

Huh.

Sure, I killed men.

I used cold steel too.

Back in them Tennessee mountains,
they called knives "bayonets."

I got so good at it,

old Billy Breckenridge,
he put a pair of stripes

on my gray coat I was wearing.

What did it change?

I was still just a
poor-mouthed dirt digger

bleeding in
somebody else's fight.

But not good enough to
come calling at their parlor door.

I lied, Mr. Favor.

I'm not a traveling
man, I'm traveling trash.

I could sprout wings, grow me a
halo, and holler up the day of reckoning,

and it wouldn't change nothing.

I'm just back-county,
dirt-digging trash.

You take him back
to Morgan County,

what's gonna happen
without the sheriff to take over?

What should've happened
the first time we run him down.

That's why we
brought this along.

So he can think
on it all the way.

Nope. I'm afraid he'll have
a mite longer to think on it.

You see, I told him he
could go along with us

as far as the
marshal at Split Rock.

That's the way it's gonna be.

- Favor... FAVOR: Tell
your story to the law.

I can't settle this any more than
that piece of rope can settle it.

All right, Mr. Trail Boss.

You took your spot
right in the middle.

Just remember,

your men and your herd,
they're sitting on it with you.

Look on it, traveling man.

Close your eyes, you'll
still see it, it'll still be there

waiting for you.

[ROPE THUDS]

All right, Favor, no
Split Rock, no law.

Like I said,

he's ours.

FAVOR: What are you
standing around for?

We've got a herd to
get across the river.

You want me to
spell it out for you?

Mushy, get that
other wagon moving.

Mr. Favor, thanking
don't come easy to me,

especially second time around,

but I'm deeply obligated.

Save it for Split
Rock. You may need it.

Oh, and what I said for
them goes for you too.

Why? You think I'm
gonna try to run off?

Heh, not with my own personal
army and three squares, I ain't.

You can bet on that.

I am.

Well, yesterday it was just
him, today it's different, isn't it?

- What does that mean?
- Harger was right.

You're putting the whole herd
on the block just for one man.

You got a better way out?

I got a better way out.
Send him up to Split Rock,

or else have the
marshal come down here.

Till it's more than just
two sides to a story,

that leg iron earns him
that much of an edge.

Now do you think
we can get moving?

[MEN YELLING AND WHISTLING]

Hyah! Hyah!

Matt, we got a lot
of miles to cover.

Wrong. You got a
lot of miles to cover.

I'll expect you back with the rest of
the boys sundown tomorrow, latest.

- What about you?
- I left my rope down there, boy.

Just wanna make
sure it don't get lost.

Sundown tomorrow.
Now, get going.

JAGGER [SINGING]:
Pleasant-looking And coal-black hair

Delilah, she gained
Old Samson's mind

When he saw the woman
And she looked so fine

ALL: He said, "And
if I had-n my way"

He said, "And if I had-n my way"

He said, "And if I had-n my way

I'd tear the building down"

Read about Samson From his birth

The strongest man
That ever lived on earth

Read away down in ancient times

He killed 3,000 Philistines

ALL: He said, "And
if I had-n my way"

He said, "And if I had-n my way"

He said, "And if I had-n my way

I'd tear the building down"

All the earmarks
of a revival meeting.

Singing don't make saving.

It'll take more than
a little toe tapping

to revive some of the
drovers we got on this drive.

Except you, of course.

Naturally. Except for
the halo and the harp,

I'm a tenth-generation Gabriel.

Uh-huh.

So that's why that horn
of yours goes off so often.

Mr. Favor, if you're referring
to the fact that I lose my temper

from time to time,
you gotta realize

that somebody has gotta
keep those lead-headed drovers

from eating the wheels right
out from under this chuck wagon.

- Where's Rowdy?
- Took a little ride.

He said he wanted to see
that Harger fella some more.

You know, it's about
time that boy learned

men like Harger and conversation
just add up to a waste of time.

Mr. Favor, about twice a
day for the last five years,

I've been listening to a
trail-boss friend of mine

preach his own pet
cattle-drive sermon:

"There's one rule, and only one rule
when it comes to pushing the drive.

The men and the herd come first.

Don't matter if it's Saint
Peter himself coming at you,

if he's packing trouble,
you go the other way."

I don't care how you slice it,

that traveling friend
there is trouble.

Don't matter whether
Rowdy's right or wrong.

Point is, he's just following the
advice of that trail boss I mentioned.

ALL [SINGING]: "My way"

He said, "And if I had-n my way

I'd tear the building down"

He called a little
boy About 3 feet tall

Say, "Place my hands
up Against the wall"

He placed his hands
up Against a wall

And he tore that building down

He said, "And if I had-n my way"

He said, "And if I had-n my way"

He said, "And if I had-n my way

I'd tear the building down"

[ALL CHEERING]

TOOTHLESS: What
took you two so long?

Oh, that old droop-horn
steer just wouldn't settle down.

This steer, he giving
you some trouble?

Ah, worse than that. Got
half the herd walking on eggs.

Gets it in his head
to start running,

he just might take the
whole bunch with him.

Sounds simple. Just fix
him so he can't cause trouble.

I'll tell you, Jagger, there's three
things around here that can't be fixed.

Mushy's head, Wishbone's
cooking and that droop-horn steer.

All right, who's got the cards?

- I know where to go. Let's
play. MAN: Wishbone's got them.

Let's go. I'm ready to play.

Come on, Mushy, squeezing the
spots isn't gonna change them any.

I bet a dollar.

A dollar? What do you think
we are, Saint Louis bankers?

I said a dollar, I bet a dollar.

Now, you put up or shut up.

Put up or what?

You heard the man, Wish.

Now, just put the green
where the funnel is.

WISHBONE: Funnel?

- You have a nice ride?
ROWDY: Well, mostly long.

Well, I didn't find
Harger, anyway.

Sort of kind of didn't
think you would.

One thing's for
sure, he'll be back.

Man like that don't give
up easy on what he's after.

Might be you'd like to give
Mr. Matt Almighty Harger his way.

Is that it, Mr. Ramrod?

Depends on the
price tag, Jagger.

Big or small, there
isn't any price, Rowdy.

And that's the
way it's gonna stay.

Unless, of course,
you change it, Jagger.

Me, Mr. Favor?

You was told to stay
with the supply wagon.

Well, I was just trying to help.

Earn my keep, you might say.

That cow that's been giving
Mr. Quince and Mr. Scarlet

all that trouble, the
one with the short horn,

he ain't gonna
bother you no more.

Meaning what?

Why, I just walked him downwind
out of the herd and cut his throat.

That way, he isn't
about to cause a ruckus.

I borrowed one of your knives,
Mr. Wishbone. Didn't hurt it none.

Wiped it off good and clean.

[MEN YELLING AND WHISTLING]

You get that drag closed up?

- Everything's fine except one thing.
- Hmm?

He's back.

With company.

What was that you
said about a price tag?

Turn them in here. Pull
everybody off the herd

- and get them over to the wagons.
- Boss...

FAVOR: Now, Rowdy. Now!

Mr. Harger, he must've
meant what he said.

Maybe you better
get inside, Mr. Jagger.

Why, Mushy, don't you know?

The man's got friends.

There ain't no need to hide.

There he is.

Setting like a pigeon on a rail.

What are we waiting
for? Let's take him.

Wait. We ain't got nothing
against them Texas Samaritans.

- At least not yet.
- Man sets down to play,

he takes the cards
the way they come.

- Them cowpokes just got...
MATT: They ain't going nowhere.

That Jagger ain't
worth a shooting fight,

leastways not to them.

Might be seeing is all
the believing they'll need.

Hold the boys here
where the believing is easy.

Might be I can make
them see sense. Hyah!

Like I told you,
trail boss, I'm back.

One way or another, we
mean to take what we come for.

It stands, Harger.

Unless you got a
badge with you up there,

Jagger stays put until
the law takes over.

Boys brought back the word.

Pa's dead.

Him and that sheriff each
had 60 hard years out here.

They deserved
better than they got.

There's a law in that too,
Favor. Now, think on it.

Think on it real good
till sunup tomorrow,

because we'll be coming in then.

You stand in the middle,

you'll be standing in
the middle of a cemetery.

Sunup, Favor.

FAVOR: All right,
everybody back to the herd.

Bed them down and stay
until you hear different.

Hey Soos, as soon as you
get the remuda squared away,

you get out to the herd too.

Mr. Favor?

Just like the good book says:

Pride goeth before destruction
and a haughty spirit before a fall.

What them men won't
do to keep their lies alive.

You done the right
thing, Mr. Favor.

Ain't no other way to cure them.

We set up here.

Better start doing your cooking
now. It's gonna be a long night.

- Boss...
- I know, I know.

This is not our fight.

Not that it makes any
difference, but you were still right.

Well, it makes a difference.

- Wait, Mr. Favor... FAVOR:
Keep the men in the saddle.

Make it look like we're getting
ready for fireworks come sunup.

That ought to hold off
Harger long enough.

- Mr. Favor. FAVOR:
What I said still goes.

Only it will be sooner
instead of later.

Soon as it gets dark, you and
me are riding for Split Rock.

By the time Harger
and his boys catch on,

you'll be standing
alongside the law.

Either that or starting a
fight that nobody can win.

Any objections?

Anything you say, Mr. Favor.

Come on, Wish, let's get moving.

I'll be back as soon as
the herd's bedded down.

I gotta hand it to
you, Mr. Ramrod.

Push long enough
and hard enough,

a man's just bound
to get his way.

Come on, Jagger, it's still
an hour before sundown.

You can make yourself
useful. Unhitch the team.

MUSHY: Mr. Favor.

Mr. Favor.

Mr. Wishbone.

FAVOR: What happened?

He was smiling when he did it.

Said the only thing worse
than Harger was another sheriff

or a ramrod with a
built-in question mark.

Is he gonna be all
right, Mr. Rowdy?

Better get something to bandage
him with and some water, will you?

It was Jagger.

Yeah, I know.

- I'll square it, Wish.
WISHBONE: No.

Don't put that man
on your conscience.

He already is.

You gonna be all
right, Mr. Wishbone?

Of course I'm not
gonna be all right.

Go get me the cooking wine.

Is he gonna be all
right, Mr. Rowdy?

Well, if this don't fix him, that
cooking wine will. Go ahead.

And put something on that head.

[GUN COCKS]

[GUNSHOT]

[GUNSHOT]

[CLICKS]

FAVOR: Don't move.
Don't even think.

Just drop it.

Mr. Favor, you gotta have
some cat in your family tree.

Now.

That old man, he means so much?

[CHUCKLES]

First the cat in you got me,
now it's got your tongue. Heh.

The knife. Down there.

Come on.

Why, Jagger?

You didn't have to
use a knife on him.

Why?

Because he got in my way.

Standing between
me and my sunset.

Because he tried
to show me the light.

Heh. Preaching. It
makes my gut turn over.

Just like that old rancher
and that fool lawman.

Little, loud, lousy men trying to fit
me on their own straight and narrows

with their three-day-old
handouts and back-door sermons.

Pat him on the head,

boot him on his way
and wipe the slate clean

with lye soap and a
shiny clean conscience.

It don't go down with me, Favor.

I've been someone else's man
since the day I took a first step.

But not anymore.

Not since I set my sights on
a sunset with my name on it.

I take what I want,

and I use whatever rules fit.

Mine, yours, Harger's,
it don't matter none.

Just so I get what I figure this little
old world owes me for being born.

All right, Jagger,

you can start collecting.

- Right now.
- Unh!

[BOTH GRUNTING]

[BOTH PANTING]

One step... One
step at a time, Jagger.

You remember?

That's what you're
gonna do all the way back.

Not me.

Not me.

There's only one
way I'm going back.

And you're not
man enough to do it.

[WISHBONE GRUNTS]

- Come on, you gotta eat something.
- Well, I will, but not until I'm ready.

You'd think I was
sick or something.

Señor Rowdy, Señor
Favor is coming in.

- All right, Favor, where is he?
- Wish?

He's fine, but I can't
say the same for you.

You let him get away.

Jagger's at Split Rock.

Just like I promised
him he'd be.

Anything else you wanna know,
you can ask the sheriff there.

- Well, wait a minute, Favor.
- Let's go, Matt.

Let's go.

- Well?
- Oh, oh.

I know, head them
up and move them out.

If I had meant head them
up and move them out,

I would have said, "Head
them up and move them out."

All I want now is some
coffee, hot and black.

Oh, right. Yeah.

FAVOR: Hot and black
and, uh, Wishbone-thick.

[WISHBONE GRUNTS]

Head them up!

Move them out!