Written by CALVIN CLEMENTS Directed by VIRGIL W. VOGEL Guest Cast ROBERT RYANas Bob Stuart VERA MILES as Janice Stuart BILL SMITH as Thomas ANDREW PRINE as Felix TOMMY SANDS as Keith STACY HARRIS as The Sheriff

William Smith

When Coop Smith (Robert Fuller) comes into town to pick up three wagons that are joining Hale's wagon train, he finds three old friends and one old enemy.  They bring back the days when he led a group of hired guns during a Kansas range war ten years earlier.

Coop is obviously happy to see his old friends Thomas [Bill]  and Felix [Andrew Prine] although a little saddened to see the mental condition of Thomas' brother Keith [Tommy Sands].

When Thomas points out that the groom in the wedding just taking place is Shotgun Bob, Coop approaches him and provokes a fight.  The fight is broken up by the local sheriff who obviously admires Stuart.  He lets Coop know he's unwelcome in town and has an hour to clear out.

The boys retire to the saloon for a drink where Thomas and Felix persuade Coop to give them a job on the wagon train.  After Coop leaves, we see a little of Thomas' real character as he slaps his helpless brother around when he doesn't follow orders fast enough.

We learn that Keith's condition is the result of being bashed in the head by Stuart wielding a shotgun.

On the way out to join the train, Janice Stuart remarks that Cooper Smith seems like a responsible person.  Stuart responds that Smith was the leader of the biggest gang of hired guns involved in the Kansas range wars.  It's clear Stuart thinks of Coop as no better than the scum he's had to deal with all his life as a lawman.

Hale has heard of Shotgun Bob.  He's surprised at Coop's hard-edged animosity.  He lets Coop know that when someone has a grudge against a lawman, he's on the lawman's side until he has proof that his side was in the wrong.

Hale and Charlie Wooster throw a little party for the newlyweds.  Barney is impressed over Stuart's history as a manhunter.  Mrs. Stuart sticks up for her husband when Coop makes some caustic remarks over the advantages a lawman has when no one questions him when he brings a man back dead.  However, she also tries to play peacemaker.  Hale also tries but is unsuccessful in impressing upon Stuart how much he trusts Coop.  Stuart tells him there's nothing he can do to reconcile himself and Smith.  He shot Smith in the back from ambush and has no apology for it.

In the meantime, Charlie takes poor Keith under his wing.

When the wagons line up to go down a steep grade, Thomas waits until the Stuart wagon is on the top of the hill.  He digs his spur into Barney's horse, causing him to spook and spook the wagon horses resulting in a runaway.  Coop stops the wagon horses but refuses to acknowledge Stuart's polite thanks.

When Hale chides Barney for not controlling his horse, Thomas claims to have seen a rattler that caused the fuss.  Stuart knows the score and threatens Thomas.  Thomas is happy for the threat.  He wants Stuart to come after him so he can kill him without having the law after him.

Stuart later seeks out Coop to tell him if there are any more accidents involving himself or his wife, he's going to go after his friends.  Coop is hostile, but also shows his surprise when Stuart informs him that Thomas and Felix spent most of the past ten years in prison for beating a miner half to death in a robbery.

When Coop questions his friends, he realizes they were responsible for the runaway wagon and plan to go after Stuart until they force him into a fight.  Coop's own  hatred for Stuart and his loyalty to his friends is not enough to override his duty to the train and his loyalty to Hale.  He gives them their wages and sends them packing.

That night Thomas sends the usually mild Keith to kill Stuart with a knife.  Stuart disarms him and recognizes that Thomas pushed him into it.  Thomas collects Keith and warns Stuart that they'll be waiting for him in Colby - the town to which Stuart is traveling to start a sheep ranch.  Stuart goes after the three.  His wife tries to convince him he'll regret it, just like she knows he regrets shooting Coop instead of talking to him first.

Mrs. Stuart goes to Coop who doesn't much care if Stuart gets killed.  She tells Coop that he owes her husband something for separating him from his friends, saving him from prison and showing him the life of a hired gun wasn't a glamorous one.

Coop decides to go after his friends and bring them back to the wagon train on an assault charge.  When he catches up to Stuart, the hostility has not lessened on either side.  Coop tells Stuart he's going to convince them to give up.  Stuart advises him to wait until Stuart can get to higher ground.  Coop says with scorn that he doesn't want Stuart at their backs.

Thomas claims they're willing to talk it over.  But from Stuart's position, he can see they have revolvers tucked into the back of their belts.  When Coop is startled by Keith coming down from the rocks to the side, Felix pulls out his revolver but he's shot by Stuart.  When the shotgun jams, Thomas goes after Stuart and Coop is forced to shoot him.

Coop quietly disarms Keith who never really posed a threat.  Stuart sardonically notes that people may ask why they didn't bring the two in alive and why they were both shot in the back.

The Stuarts leave the train at Colby, taking Keith with them.  When Coop refuses to return Stuart's parting good-by gesture, Hale talks to him about human failings.  When the wagon is a good ways down the road, Coop gives a little salute as though perhaps he can forgive or at least that he understands Hale's point and respects it..

NiteOwl Review:  This was a well-crafted and thought provoking episode.  Of course, since he's the character we knew and trusted, we had to believe that Cooper Smith was in the right and that no man, lawman or not, who shot him in the back could have anything resembling right on his side.  However, by the end of the episode there was room to believe that both men had been doing what they thought  necessary on a frontier where uncorrupted law was hard to come by.  And of course, we were presented with a clear villain in the persona of William Smith's Thomas, aided by Andy Prine's Felix.  Despite having been on the same side as Coop in the old days, the writers let us in on Thomas' bad character up front with the temper he shows against his helpless brother.  Cast Note:  This is probably the last guest shot Bill did prior to making the Laredo pilot which aired in April of 1965 as an episode of The Virginian "We've Lost a Train."  The Riley of the pilot bore some resemblance to Thomas in manner and style, although not in character, more so in some ways than to the kinder, gentler Joe Riley of the actual series. Vera Miles was of course the sister who wasn't murdered in the shower in Psycho.

Left: Bill as Thomas    Right: Bill as Riley in the Laredo pilot