At the gallop, ho!
Fort Laramie
Fort Laramie, starring Raymond Burr as Captain Lee Quince.
Specially transcribed tales of the dark and tragic ground of the wild frontier.
The saga of fighting men who rode the rim of empire.
And the dramatic story of Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry.
Oh, you want another piece of pie, won't you Captain?
Oh, no ma'am, I sure won't.
Oh Captain, just another little sliver.
I think you're kindly Mrs. Daggett, but I've got no more room.
Why, you hardly ate a thing.
Mary.
Oh my, I promised, didn't I dear?
You promised. Although why I thought you'd keep it is beyond me.
You see Captain, I'm under orders too.
When you come to dinner, I'm not to urge more food upon you than you voluntarily take.
It was a fine dinner ma'am.
Thank you.
But you see, I've been guilty of smothering you.
I can never remember which.
It amounts to about the same thing, doesn't it Lee?
I'm a neutral in this kind of war, Major.
Smart neutral too.
You've got both sides looking out for your best interests.
I haven't finished telling you the rest of my orders, Captain.
Under the circumstances, I've really behaved with remarkable restraint all evening.
Yes ma'am.
I haven't once mentioned the name Willa Burgess.
At least you know I tried, Lee.
But now that her name has come up, I'd like to say that I think she's a lovely person.
Quite lovely in fact.
To me, Willa is an amazing combination of qualities.
You should have taken another piece of Pile Lee and spared yourself this.
Well, next time I'll remember.
She's warm, feminine, yet she's capable with great strength of character.
And if I were a man...
But you're not, my dear. A fact which delights me most of the time.
But not now.
Emphatically not now.
Well then this must be the time for me to remember the mending I must do.
If you gentlemen will excuse me.
Let me help you dear.
It doesn't look as if I can avoid it.
Miss Daggett.
Oh please come again, Captain.
I'll probably be every bit as bad next time, but I do enjoy having you.
Oh, it's my pleasure ma'am.
Oh, there's brandy and cigars in the living room.
You'll be glad to know I don't care for any.
Good night dear.
Good night. Try not to miss me too much.
She's improving, Lee.
That's the fastest retreat she's ever staged.
Oh, she's all right, sir.
Yes. Yes, she is.
She said brandy.
Hmm? Brandy.
Oh, yes, yes she did.
Oh, I can remember how it was, Lee.
When I was a bachelor officer, I thought the worst duty I could draw was a dinner invitation from a ranking officer who was married.
Oh, it depends on the officer.
And his wife.
I didn't suffer tonight, sir.
Oh, good.
Now make yourself comfortable, Lee.
Sit down.
If your belt's tight, your blouse or your boots, undo them.
Hmm.
Much obliged.
Cigars are in the humidor.
Yep.
Hmm.
You're smoking better tobacco than you used to.
Yeah, I am.
Here's your brandy, Lee.
Thanks.
Cigar, Major?
Hmm. Thanks.
Have them made up special, do you?
Oh, a friend sends them to me.
Must be a good friend.
It's good tobacco.
You remember that night outside Richmond, Major?
It was cold as sin.
We were billeted in that plantation.
I remember.
It's funny you think of Richmond just now.
Yeah, it is.
What was her name?
Lee, I, uh, pretty little thing.
Wouldn't pass the time with the rest of us, I remember,
but she kept worrying whether you were going to be warm enough.
That was a long time ago.
Seems to me that was a tobacco plantation.
Lee, Mary and I have been married for almost six years.
It's a good marriage.
Yeah, I think it is.
Mary wouldn't understand Richmond.
You weren't married then.
She still wouldn't understand.
No, no, these cigars, they're...
They're good cigars.
Oh, yeah.
They're good cigars.
Well, we go back quite a ways, you and I.
Since the old days of the Third Cavalry, the Battle of Bull Run.
A lot of years, Lee.
A lot of life, a lot of death, Major.
I guess I know you as well as you permit anyone to know you.
Permit?
That's heavy talk on one brandy, Major.
Well, there's more brandy.
And more talk?
More talk, Lee.
You better brace yourself.
Well, I'm fortified.
I took the last two patrols out for a purpose.
Yeah, I suppose that.
I wanted to prove something to myself.
I think I have.
You know, he's a different man when you're not around, Lee.
Who is?
Lieutenant Cybertz.
How different?
He's still learning, but he's a good officer.
He has judgment, he takes responsibility, makes decisions.
And on the whole, they're good decisions.
I don't remember passing judgment on Mr. Cybertz to you, Major.
You never have, and I'm not asking you to now.
That's good.
But I've watched him when you were around.
At routine reports, strategy sessions.
He freezes up, he acts stupid, bungling.
And he isn't.
All right, he isn't.
He's scared to death of you.
You just have one brandy, Major.
I know what I'm talking about.
It isn't your rank.
He has a respect for rank, but he doesn't fear it.
It's you, Lee.
Has Mr. Cybertz said it was me?
He hasn't said anything.
I haven't asked him about it.
Now, these are my observations.
I think they hold up.
What do you think?
I don't know.
Well, think about it.
Think about a man being scared to death of me?
I don't know how.
What do you think of Cybertz, frankly?
I think he's very young.
Come on, Lee.
Come on where?
We've both worked with men, and we're younger.
I thought you weren't going to ask me to pass judgment on Mr. Cybertz.
That's right, I wasn't.
I just as soon leave it there, Major.
We can't leave it there.
You can.
We can't.
You know what we're up against out here as well as I do.
An ineffective trooper is bad enough,
but an ineffective officer is dangerous, and it's wasteful.
You figure and I can do something about Mr. Cybertz?
Well, I'm leaving that up to you.
I'm asking you to think about it.
I'm asking for your help.
I don't know that I'm the one to help, Major,
but I'll think about it.
It might call for a change in your attitude toward him, Lee.
It might.
Of course, I'd have to find out first what my attitude toward him is,
wouldn't I?
He's steady and toward Flint.
Just you stay with him.
Fire straight away next time. Get closer to his head.
Got some new recruits, Sergeant?
Morning, Captain.
You talking about the men or the horses?
Oh, the horses.
They're new.
Flint's training them to stand fire.
The horse knows that, does he?
I keep saying he does.
Some take a little bit more encouragement than others, you know.
You talking about men or horses?
Excuse me, Captain.
All right, Flint, take him out now.
Be on the hay yard.
Run him real good and try firing at the gallop for a while.
He sure was ugly for a while,
but Flint'll make you a steady goer out of him.
You can tell about horses.
Plungers, kickers, rearers, you work them enough.
You can tell if it's in them to be a steady goer.
You know horses, you can tell.
Be helpful if you can tell about a man is easy.
A man standing fire?
A man standing anything.
If you could tell by looking, that sure would be helpful, Captain.
Now, that horse Flint's training,
he's afraid of that pistol now.
He's first afraid looking at it,
but mostly it's the sound that scares him.
That's it. Sure it is.
We can look at that horse and know he'll train out of it.
Is that because we know horses
or because we know what they're afraid of?
I'd say it was both, Captain. Maybe one thing more.
What's that?
We can understand the horse would be afraid of the pistol.
We figure him to be right from the start.
Yeah.
Yeah, knowing he's afraid to begin with, that's a lot to know.
And then too, that horse is bound to find out
he's got nothing to fear from that pistol.
Once he finds out, he ain't afraid anymore.
You saying the man ought to face up to his fears?
I was talking about horses.
Yeah, sure you were.
But about a man, he ought to face up to his fears.
Well, maybe he can't.
Maybe he don't know what they are.
Or maybe knowing he don't understand them.
That way his fears got to face up to him.
Seems like just one thing about it, Captain, sooner or later,
they got to get together.
MUSIC
KNOCKING
What? Captain Quince.
You busy, Mr. Sybert?
No, sir, I was just...
Certainly not at all busy, Captain.
You mind if I come in?
I wish you would.
Have a chair?
Yeah, I...
You're sure you're not busy?
Not busy, no, I wasn't.
Please sit down, Captain.
All right, I guess I will.
Well, I guess I'll just sit down too.
Yeah, yeah.
Make yourself at home.
I will, thanks.
I guess you were working there at your desk.
Oh, nothing important.
I keep a journal, Captain.
You know, what happens day by day.
Just a journal, you know?
Yeah, I know.
Just to pass the time.
You don't keep one, do you?
No.
No, no, I don't.
No, I didn't think so.
No, it's all right, though.
I mean, the man wants to...
Well, he wants to set things down.
Why, he ought to do it.
I remember once you said that you didn't keep one
because there was a lot you wanted to forget.
I probably said that.
Well, I know I just took from that.
You didn't approve of journals.
Did I say I didn't approve of journals?
Did I say I didn't approve, Mr. Sybritts?
No, sir, I just took from what I thought was...
No, wait a minute.
I didn't mean to bark at you.
Well, what I mean is a lot of men keep journals, that's all.
It's...
Man wants to do it.
It's up to him.
It's all right.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Sybritts, do you drink?
Drink?
Yeah, drink, whiskey.
You know, whiskey?
Well, sometimes.
I'm not sure I know what you're talking about, Captain.
I'm talking about drinking, Mr. Sybritts,
you and me in a bottle of whiskey.
Now?
Right now.
I'd be proud to, Captain.
Yeah.
Well, I'll drink, Mr. Sybritts.
Got to be a first time for everything,
isn't that what you say, a first time for everything?
Yeah, you hear it all the time.
That's what I say, too.
First time I ever came over to Laramie Village.
The drink, I mean.
I was a fellow officer.
To drink.
You do it a lot?
Sometimes.
When it seems like a good idea.
No, that's a good idea.
When it seems like a good idea.
Best time.
You know, I was a cadet at the point.
A couple of us upperclassmen decided
we want to go over this little tavern.
Only it's across the Hudson River.
And where we have to cross is no bridge.
Makes kind of wet walking.
Yeah, it does.
So we made these plebs.
You know, a pleb's our captain.
Yeah, I ever heard about them.
We made these plebs get an old barge for us.
We crossed that a lot so that, like,
washing across in the Delaware.
Sounds like a lot of fun.
It was a lot of fun.
We sure enjoyed the...
Oh, pour you a drink?
Oh, sure, thanks.
You know, the way I'm talking,
I guess I don't need one, except...
Well, I do need one.
Does that sound all right?
You don't need one, but you do.
Sounds all right to me.
Well, I'm glad.
Yeah, I drink a little, Captain.
I always get talking about West Point.
I hope you don't mind.
You talk about anything that comes into your head.
You mean that?
I said it.
There's something I've wanted to talk to you about
for a long time.
Well, this would be a good time to say it.
It's Clausewitz.
I've always wanted to discuss Clausewitz with you.
It might be a very short discussion.
Well, you've read him, of course.
Karl von Clausewitz is the Prussian.
I know who you're talking about.
He wrote a stack of books hip-high about military strategy.
Oh, I couldn't believe you wouldn't know about him.
I think I read every word he ever wrote.
Some of it in the original German.
Clausewitz's field was artillery.
That is true, that is true.
But still, most army men I've known feel that as a strategist,
he was the greatest of them all.
You can find army men who say he produced no system of strategy at all.
No system of strategy?
What was it?
Well, in his exposition of the philosophy of war,
he pointed out that all of the enemy, men, women, children,
they were all part of war.
You call that a system of strategy?
In total war, you bet I do.
How about our war is here, now?
Well, it doesn't apply, naturally.
Next time you fight a total war, you file Clausewitz to the letter.
Don't you worry a little bit. I will.
You don't like Clausewitz.
I can't use him. I'm in the cavalry.
I fight little wars.
You don't like Clausewitz.
And I don't understand it because you're a good man, Quince.
A good man, smart.
Imagine me talking to you man to man, this way, imagine that.
Don't have to imagine it, we're doing it.
Now that calls for a little drink. Oh my.
Sorry, I guess I knocked that over.
You knocked it over?
Yeah.
Funny, I thought I did.
Are you drunk, Captain?
Drunk and disorderly, Mr. Simon.
Drunk and disorderly.
That's wonderful.
I don't think you know how wonderful that is.
Don't you worry, Captain.
We'll see that we get back to the fort in good shape.
Well, morning Mr. Sybertson.
Morning, Captain.
You look very fit.
I'm fine, sir. And you?
I'm alive, Mr. Sybertson.
That's pure exaggeration.
I doused my head in a cold basin a few times, it made all the difference.
I left my head in the basin.
About last night, Captain, if I said anything, sir, out of line.
Well, I did have quite a bit to drink.
And so did I. I might have said a few things myself.
I enjoyed it, Mr. Sybertson.
It was my pleasure.
You seen the Major yet?
I thought we ought to present a united front, Captain.
Fine. We'll do that.
Captain Quinn's, Lieutenant Sybertson reporting, Major.
As you were, gentlemen.
Sit down.
Thank you, sir.
Strange bit of business has come up.
I think maybe you're the man to take a patrol out and check into it.
Ever been a part of a roundup, Lieutenant?
Cattle, sir? No, I haven't.
No, not cattle. These are wild horses.
I didn't know you could round up wild horses.
I don't say it's easy, but are you listening, Captain?
No, I'm listening. How many wild horses?
The report says about 50 over near the Mud Springs Station.
Some settlers and some folks from a wagon train are supposed to have them contained in a canyon near there.
Who says they're wild?
Until I know different, I'll have to go by the telegraph message, Captain.
It says they're wild.
The settlers want no part of them. They're stampeding off a lot of their stock.
I think we should get them if we can before any renegade Sioux capture them.
It's worth a try, sir. If we get any of them, we're ahead of the game.
When do we leave, Major?
As soon as you pick your men. Take as many as you need.
I'd say it wasn't a question of how many, Major, so long as we picked the best riders.
Don't you agree, Captain?
Completely, Mr. Sybertson.
Ah, if that's the case.
Now, look here, Lee.
Gentlemen, I'll want reports regularly by telegraph and...
Huh? Move out.
Is this your plan? We're working out here, Captain.
Something wrong with the plan, Sergeant?
I can't say it's wrong. It's working.
Was Mr. Syberts with you?
No, sir. He's down there, operating a lot like Napoleon.
Like Clausewitz, Sergeant.
Who's that?
A friend of Mr. Syberts.
You have any trouble bringing the Indians over from the reservation?
Not a bit. You know, they're kind of peaceful, like, when you've got guns and they ain't.
Good idea bringing Indians. Reckon they know more about wild horses than we do.
Yeah, reckon they do.
Captain, you're right. Sure this is your plan?
Mr. Syberts and I discussed it and agreed on it.
Any questions, Sergeant?
No, sir. None I'm readying to ask.
I'm riding down to the mouth of the canyon.
Looks like they're cutting them out of there at a good rate. You coming?
I was told to hold this position, Captain, as a lookout.
Yeah. See you keep a sharp eye, Sergeant.
Yes, sir.
Looked good from a distance, Mr. Syberts.
Thanks, Captain. I'm glad you rode down. It looks even better close up.
Yeah, you got some of them on lead ropes already.
Borrowed a corral from the next ranch.
Some of those Indians can sit them already.
Best natural riders in the world, you know, Indians?
That's what I understand.
Looked to me like you got most of the 50 out of the canyon.
Well, we'll get back to Fort Laramie with at least 40 of them, Captain.
Of course, that's a few days off, but we got what we came for.
Yeah, that's the important thing.
Are you feeling better?
Hmm?
Your leg. It doesn't bother you anymore?
Oh, oh. Yeah, it's coming right along, thanks.
You've, uh, done a good job, Mr. Syberts.
All of it. Mighty good job.
Thank you, sir. Feels like I have.
Oh, I almost forgot. Brought you some cigars, Captain.
Thank you, Major.
That's still good tobacco.
You've come a long way from that smelly hodge you used to carry.
I'm not the only one that's come a long way, Lee.
That so?
Lieutenant Syberts around?
He left just a few minutes ago.
Went down to the post office.
They sent word a book he'd ordered had come through.
A book?
General McClellan's book.
On the regulations and instructions for the cavalry in time of war?
Yeah.
Well, I'll be...
I don't know what you did.
How are you managed, Lee, but you work wonders with him.
I want you to know I'm grateful.
I'm no hand at that kind of thing, Major.
If the problem's not a problem anymore, you should thank Mr. Syberts.
He's a different man. That's all the thanks he needs.
It's a big change, Lee.
We're welding a tight-knit little force here, men who fight together and live together.
Now that you and Syberts are friends, why don't...
Just a minute, Major. I'm a soldier.
If I can help lick another soldier's problem, that's fine with me.
But you're talking about friends.
You don't like Syberts?
Like him?
Well, that's not my kind of word.
Ask me once what I thought of him.
I told you he was very young.
I took it you meant inexperienced.
Young, inexperienced.
I'm calling it immature.
You can get old with years, you can get experience, but maturity, that's something you earn.
It's got to be in you to earn it.
Well, I don't believe in miracles, Captain.
You and Syberts are night and day. Nothing will change that.
We're different men, that's all.
Syberts has licked a big hurdle with your help.
Maybe that's the beginning of maturity.
Maybe it is, Major.
Maybe.
Maybe it is.
Fort Laramie is produced and directed by Norman MacDonald and stars Raymond Burr as Lee Quinn's captain of cavalry
with Vic Perrin as Sergeant Gorse.
The script was specially written for Fort Laramie by Kathleen Hite with sound patterns by Bill James and Ray Kemper.
Musical supervision by Amerigo Marino.
Featured in the cast were Jack Moyles as Major Daggett, Harry Bartel as Lieutenant Syberts, and Helen Klebe as Mrs. Daggett.
Company, attention!
Dismissed.
Next week, another transcribed story of the Northwest frontier and the troopers who fought under Lee Quinn's captain of cavalry.
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You're driving along through a woodland and out the window goes a live cigarette butt.
Would you be apt to connect it with the next day's headlines of property, perhaps human life too, gone up in smoke?
When in or near the woods, take personal responsibility for matches and cigarettes.
Make certain your matches, cigarettes, and campfires are out before you leave them anywhere.
When you leave your balloons you're not really does that hairpiece make you look white?