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, Claire.
Well, they're peaceful as can be, Captain. I just checked their camp again.
Eh, they've been fed?
Yes, sir. Men have just finished feeding.
From all the records I've seen, I got the impression that the Arapaho were more warlike, like the Sioux and Cheyenne.
But these Indians are... Am I bothering you, Captain?
I say, if you're busy with something, I won't...
Oh, no, you're not bothering me, Mr. Cybert.
Yes, sir. About the Arapaho, I'm saying they don't seem very warlike to me.
These with us?
Yes, sir.
They're starving to death, that's why we're moving them.
Now, where the devil did I put them?
Can I help you?
They're not in my pockets. I thought I might have put them in something in my saddle roll.
If you've lost something, Captain, I'll be glad to help you look.
Yeah, fine. Oh, you didn't see me putting any stuff together before we left Fort Laramie, did you?
Well, you packed up when I saw you.
Ah, sure, I'd hate to lose them now.
Put them in at the last minute, know them we'd be coming this way.
Them, Captain?
Sure, them. They come in pairs, always kept them in a little leather pouch and...
Thought you were going to help me look.
Well, I was. I am, only you haven't said what we're looking for.
The earrings.
Oh, the... the earrings?
I don't think I took them out of the pouch, but I got no memory for where I did put them.
Captain, there's a little leather pouch hanging from your gun bag.
Eh?
Heh, sure, that's it. Heh heh. I wanted them handy so I wouldn't have to look for them.
Yes, sir. You did say earrings.
Sure. Here, I'll show you.
Eh, kinda... kinda small, aren't they?
Well, they're nice, sir. Garnets, aren't they?
Oh, little ones. Littleer than that are the little chip diamonds.
In real bright sunlight, they got a little glint to them.
I think they're very nice, Captain.
Yeah.
I'll bet you're glad you found them all right.
Eh, they were my mother's.
Near to the only bright things she ever owned, I guess.
You wanted to bring them along on this trip, especially.
Eh, sure. Don't get up this way too often.
Well, glad you spotted the pouch, Mr. Sybertz.
Captain Quince...
Where do you suppose I'd find Harrison about now?
He was giving the Mass Sergeant a hand the last time I saw him, but Captain...
Well, I'll find him. Wonder if it hurts much, Mr. Sybertz?
Hurts, sir?
Pretty tender around the earlobe.
Bet it hurts like sin to have them pierced.
I imagine it's very painful, Captain.
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, that's one problem we don't have, Mr. Sybertz.
Harrison!
Yes, sir, Captain?
Come here. I want to show you something.
Yes, sir.
These mean anything to you?
Ear bobs?
Mm-hmm.
Well, now, they're right pretty, Captain.
But they don't mean nothing to me.
Well, they should.
I sure ain't ever seen them before. I swear to that.
No, you've never seen them before.
I, uh, see you still wear that ring you bought.
St. Louis, wasn't it?
Yes, sir, St. Louis.
But that was a spell ago, Captain, and...
you ain't figuring to strike up a trade.
Course not.
Oh, I'm glad to hear that. Mighty glad.
Of course, I got no need for ear bobs.
Oh, I promised him once, Harrison, a long time ago.
You were there. I thought you'd remember.
I'm trying hard to recollect, Captain.
She took quite a shine to your ring.
Stole it for a while.
Then she said something about pretty's not being for her.
You talking about old Hattie, what's her name?
Mm-hmm, Hattie Pelfrey.
Why, that old buzzard. I clean forgot about her.
She near killed us, Captain.
Then turned around and saved our lives.
This is Hattie's country, Harrison.
I figure her cabin can't be more than five miles to the east.
I'm remembering her now, something fierce.
I carried you up to her cabin.
You recollect you had that bad leg?
Yeah, I remember.
There you was shot up to a fare thee well.
That old lady just stood there with a shotgun on us.
Wouldn't let me bed you down till she took every bit of food, money and guns we had.
And our horses.
Them too. And them engines, dog soldiers.
While they was coming and going from her place to live long time we was there.
Bringing her food and all.
She was right friendly with the engines.
Rappahoe.
You mean these same ones we're toting over to the Wind River Valley?
They're all Hattie's friends.
And I've been over there feeding them, seeing to the needs?
Hattie's gonna miss her friends.
I thought we ought to ride over to her place first thing in the morning.
Give her these earrings.
She was the meanest, most cantankerous old witch I ever saw.
And she was a witch, Captain.
More of that than a woman.
I never in my life...
Did you say ride over to her place?
Yep. Before we break camp in the morning.
You mean call on her proper?
Like she was a great lady?
I promised her the earrings next time I came her way.
Well I know, but...
Why Captain Quince, she'd soon fire on you as look at you.
You're awful rough on an old lady, Harrison.
Old lady?
You coming with me voluntarily or do I make it an order?
I tell you the truth, Captain.
I'd sooner face the Sioux Nation armed with nothing but a toothpick.
We leave it sun up, Harrison.
That is an order.
Yes, sir.
If you got any money on you, leave it in your ring with Sergeant Gorse.
I'm riding there with these earrings and my carbine.
I'm getting a sick feeling just knowing we're getting near it, old Hattie, every minute.
You better ease up in your talk, Harrison.
We're only about a quarter mile from her cabin.
Chances are Hattie can hear every word you're saying.
I'm going to get a little more of a good night's sleep.
I'll see you later.
Chances are Hattie can hear every word you're saying.
Probably standing up on her perch watching us, too.
I got a kind of instinct when I'm riding into a body's gun sight.
Oh, Hattie wouldn't shoot at this distance.
She's got Buffalo guns.
They'll shoot nearly a mile away.
Yeah, but she'd have to walk clean out here to fleece us after the shooting.
Hattie'd consider that a waste of motion.
Captain, you going soft on that old lady?
She's ever been as lovable as a polecat.
But she did save our lives once.
And I promised her the earrings.
It ain't that you trust her no then.
She's pure larceny and a little murder thrown in.
No, I don't trust her. I'm just paying an old debt, Harrison.
Yes, sir.
Ah, that's the slant of her cabin just beyond the rise.
A man of deep plum foolish to ride straight up to a door.
Uh-huh.
The way she goes around thieving, she might have took a howitzer off an infantry regiment passing by.
She called you a ballin' calf once.
I swear you're sounding more like one all the time.
Don't you fret yourself, Captain.
Once we get around her, I'll be right quiet like her.
She ought to be within earshot now.
I can make out the door from here.
It's open, sir.
Addy! Addy Palfrey!
Now, she ought to heard that, Captain.
Yeah, she should have.
Come on, we'll lead our horses in.
But if a man was of a mind to get...
Disc mount, Harrison.
Yes, sir.
All right, now keep a sharp eye out.
She wasn't one to stay quiet in her cabin.
I'm looking, don't you think I'm not?
Behind every rock, every blade of grass.
Addy!
Uh, Addy!
Maybe she's off calling somewhere, Captain.
Only life near here was the Arapaho, and they're back in our camp.
But they was one friend in particular, remember?
Sent her a side of beef whilst we was with her.
Yeah, standing bear.
Yeah, that's the one.
He was an Arapaho chief.
I asked about him from the others.
They told me he didn't last the winter, died of the cold.
Sure not a sign of her around.
Miss Palfrey?
You around somewhere, Miss Palfrey?
Yeah, let's go inside, Harrison.
And leave the horses?
Tether the horses, I'm going in.
Addy?
This is awful.
Tilt.
Captain, you all right?
Captain!
Just a rat, Harrison. I shot it.
Oh, well, sure sounded like old times for a minute there, sir.
The place is probably full of them.
She was nothing too tidy when we was here, Captain.
But she's let it go for fair now, ain't she?
Nothing humans lived here for a spell, not even Hattie.
Why, it's no more than a lean-to.
Just crumbling. Everything's just crumbling.
I wonder what's come of her.
I...
I don't suppose we'll ever know that, Harrison.
Well, we better get back to camp.
Yes, sir.
She was right old, wasn't she, Captain?
Right old.
I tell you, she was a mean old critter.
I didn't warn to her, and I feared her some.
But I sure didn't wish her no harm.
Well, maybe you were right before.
Maybe Hattie's off calling on her friend, Standing Bear.
You said he was dead, Captain.
Yeah, he is.
Oh, you come to see Morby too, Captain?
They said over at headquarters that Major Daggett was over here expecting me.
Major Daggett sick?
I don't know.
Went over to his office to give him my report.
His orderly said they were expecting me at the hospital.
Sure hope nothing's wrong.
Well, I better find him.
Oh, how's Morby getting along?
He's fine.
His leg was broken, wasn't it?
Yeah, but it's mended.
Well, I'll try and look in on him.
See you later, Gorse.
Yes, sir.
Major Daggett.
Captain.
Lee, it's good to see you.
Good to see you, sir.
But why over here at the hospital?
We can talk in Major Trucks' office.
You're worn out, aren't you?
Yeah, no more than anyone on the duty.
Three weeks is a long time.
Any trouble?
Move kind of slow.
They were a puny lot, the Arapaho.
But we left them at Wind River better off than when we found them.
Oh, that's good.
In here, Lee.
Sit down.
Make yourself comfortable.
You got someone sick, Major?
Mary, is she sick?
Mary's fine, thanks.
Well, then?
Lee, ever since I've known you,
I've had the impression that you have no people, no family.
That's right.
Your father died just before the war?
A couple months.
And your mother?
First winter of the war.
You went home, did you, when your mother died?
I didn't hear about it for almost a month.
Word moved kind of slow then.
Major, what's this about?
How did you hear about your mother?
Her minister wrote me a letter.
It was written in ink, and the corporal who delivered it to me
wore a bushy red mustache.
All right, Lee, all right.
I'm not trying to make this hard on you,
but this is peculiar business.
Yeah, it is.
There's a woman down the hall.
Major Trucks put her in the isolation room.
An old, old woman, Lee.
And she says she's your mother.
She couldn't be.
It wouldn't seem so.
I don't know how she got here, but she came about three days ago.
Whoever she is, she's sick.
Awful sick.
You better talk to Major Trucks about her.
You can look in on her, Captain.
Let her know you're here, but don't excite her if you can help it.
You want to listen to me, Major?
Please, keep your voice down.
I'll be in the ward if you need me.
I don't know, maybe I'm crazy.
Hello, Sonny.
Oh, Hattie.
I might have known it would be you.
You get it.
I might have known it would be you.
You got a kiss for your old ma, have you?
I'm not supposed to excite you.
My name the only one you could think of?
You don't think I'd breathe the name of that ballin' calf you had with you last we met.
Besides, I figured I owed it to myself and Mr. Pelfrey to have an officer first, son.
Hattie, how do you figure to get by with this?
Well, Sonny, I'm getting by with it.
I don't have to figure a thing about it.
There might be the light in here, but you're looking downright seedy.
You got a lookin' glass?
Flawsy, Sonny, I'm old and sick.
You just made my quaint about 60 years late.
I was a fine-looking young thing.
Yeah, I know you were.
You walked down here from your cabin, I suppose.
Road, partway, walked, crawled, finally hooked on with his scrubby little wagon train.
I don't know, you hate the Army, Hattie. How come you'd make your way here?
Now, where's an old woman like me gonna go when she's ailin'?
Standing bare, he's dead.
I know.
I cut that bullet out of you.
Saved your hide once, Sonny.
Yeah, you sure did that.
Look on it. It's your turn.
All right, I'll do that.
Yeah, you'd best run along now, Sonny.
Let your old ma sleep.
I declare, I'm worth it.
All right, you sleep, Hattie.
I'll look in on you later.
Oh, uh, Hattie.
Hattie.
I...
I almost forgot to give you these.
Understand, I'm not calling it a miracle, but the way that old lady's taken hold since you got back, Captain,
well, it's an amazing thing to me.
She's a tough one, Hattie, is.
The men are giving her a lot of trouble.
That helps her spirit, of course.
If it needs helpin'.
Uh, Captain, you're not eatin' much.
Something on your mind?
Hattie.
She takes my appetite.
Oh, I'm tellin' you, you can rest easy about her.
She's gonna make it.
She'll make it.
Not that that's any cause for me to rest easy.
I just don't understand you.
Sure, she claimed she was your mother.
You gonna hold that against her?
Why, she means that as a favor to you.
She means it as a favor to herself.
Look, Major Trucks, you don't know Hattie like I do.
She'd pull all your teeth out if she took a fancy to the gold in them.
Sure, sure.
She puts on a big show of bein' crusty.
But I saw through that right away.
Underneath, she's a sweet old lady.
Uh-huh.
And you don't fool me much either.
You think she's pretty fine yourself.
Well, I gotta get back.
Oh, you, uh, gonna look in on Hattie, I'll go with you.
I'm stoppin' off at the storage room.
First, trouble I've had with it in months.
Trouble?
Pilferin'.
Somebody's pilferin' the medical whiskey.
Captain Quint.
Oh, hello, Gorse.
I just come from the hospital, Captain.
How's Morby's leg, Sergeant?
He's comin' along.
I come directly from Mrs. Pilferi, though.
She's complainin' you ain't been to see her in days.
She's gettin' plenty of attention.
The men are bein' right good about callin' on her,
takin' little things and like that, but...
Captain...
Well, sir, we was always ones to speak our minds to one another.
You got somethin' to say. Say it, Gorse.
I know she ain't your maw,
but she looks on you like a son,
and it grieves her that you don't show her more concern.
Hattie told you that?
Well, I guess I induced her to.
I been see her a few times, come to know her a bit.
I could tell somethin' was, well, like I say, grievin' her.
She's gettin' along all right, isn't she?
Doin' a good job amendin'?
Major Truck says it's near a miracle,
but, Captain, that ain't what I'm talkin' about.
You used to be a good judge of character, Gorse.
Now, I'm not sayin' Hattie's all meanness,
but I spent some time lookin' at her
from the wrong end of a shotgun once, and I know what I...
Captain, if you don't mind,
I'd just as soon not hear any more about that.
You don't believe me, ask Harrison.
Why, I listened to Harrison a while, too,
but I got some stripes on him, and I can shut him up.
Mm-hmm.
To me, she's just a nice old lady who's poorly.
You, uh, you off duty, Sergeant?
Yes, sir.
Usually can tell when you are.
Thought you wore your watch and chain when you were off duty.
Well, I do.
It is, it did.
Now, that's funny.
I'd swore I put that on special just before I went to the hospital.
I think maybe you're right, Sergeant.
How's that, Captain?
I think maybe I have been neglecting Hattie too long.
Come in, come in.
Afternoon, Major Trucks.
How's your patient?
I'm doing fine.
No thanks to you, Sonny.
Captain, you missed the show.
Mrs. Pelfrey was just up walking around the room like she was a kid.
I'm glad to hear that.
Well, I'll leave you two to your talk.
Now, you keep walking like you did just now.
You'll be out of here in a couple of days, ma'am.
To think I'm gonna live to enjoy my twilight years after all.
Oh, there, now there.
I don't want to see tears in your eyes.
Sonny'll wipe my way, won't you, dearie?
Yeah.
Yeah, I'll take care of the tears.
Oh, Major Trucks.
Yeah?
You ever get a line on that Missin' Whiskey?
Her cough medicine's there on her table.
I couldn't help myself.
Oh.
Goes right to the spot.
What did you ask me, Captain?
Oh, nothing.
Oh, all right.
Well, what are you peering at?
You got a fine color, Hattie.
I've heard teller folks recovering from bad spells
getting roses in their cheeks,
but yours is more of a flush.
Body's entitled to a bit of tonic
and a potion to soothe their throat.
I heard a bite in the hand that feeds you,
but you come near to stealing it off, don't you, Hattie?
I got most the whole caboodle of them fools.
But not you, Sonny.
Well, it's all right.
I tried, and I said Mother-Lily liked to tell that Major Trucks
I'd spark to a little whiskey now and then,
but I seen he wasn't going to make the offer of his own free will.
Mm, he thinks you're a sweet old lady now.
Sweet old ladies don't drink whiskey.
Well, you'd be surprised about that, Sonny.
Now, me, I've been nursing my own ills for more years than I can tell.
There comes a time when they nip as all these old bones will respond to.
The earrings look mighty nice on you.
Yeah, well, they don't look nice at all,
but I mean to wear them.
You told me there's your own maws. I would like that.
I'm right proud to wear them.
Well, with them diamonds, though, Sonny, not the size of hen's teeth even.
I was at your cabin, Hattie. You can't go back there.
You rushing me out.
You're coming back strong.
You might get an idea to steal old Bedlam or the Platte River Bridge, and we need them.
You know, I've got a mind to go up, live with standing bears, kinfolk, Wind River.
If anyone was to see, I got there safe.
I'll see you there, Hattie, when you're right able.
Well, you're a fine son, dearie.
Well, me, best you go now. Let your old maw get a rest.
I might just want to kiss your cheek, just to be sure you'll rest easy.
Why, Sonny, did you can?
Sergeant Gorse will be glad I found his watch.
Now, how do you suppose that got under my pillow?
Doesn't matter. Must have been kind of bulky sleeping on anyway.
I'll rest easier now, Sonny.
I know you will.
Oh, the money belt you took off me just now, Hattie.
You won't bother your resting nun.
I took the money out before I came in.
Sleep well, maw.
Fort Laramie is produced and directed by Norman MacDonald
and stars Raymond Burr as Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry,
with Vic Perrin as Sergeant Gorse.
The script was specially written for Fort Laramie by Kathleen Height,
with song patterns by Bill James and Tom Henley,
musical supervision by Amerigo Marino.
Featured in the cast were Virginia Gregg, Sam Edwards, and Paul Duboff.
Jack Moyles is Major Daggett, and Harry Bartell is Lieutenant Cybert.
Company, attention!
Dismissed.
Next week, another transcribed story of the Northwest Frontier
and the troopers who fought under Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry.
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